Ghosts in Medical School Horror Files

Chapter 9

015 Ghost Report

Food scraps shot out of Ye Cheng's mouth. Because they were too close, Xia Chen couldn't dodge in time and his face was covered in them, making it look like his face was covered in pockmarks.

Xia Chen rushed into the bathroom to wash his face, and a curse came from inside, "I won't buy from you next time, I'll just let you starve to death." This made everyone burst into laughter, and even Hu Rongrong's usually gloomy face showed a slight smile.

After dinner, Ye Cheng and Xia Chen went out to inquire about the ghost story from the previous night. Hu Rongrong, though not seriously injured, didn't want to stay cooped up in her hospital room and insisted on going with them. Thinking there was no danger, they agreed. After asking several people, the four of them were at odds. Everyone had their own version of the story, and each person's account of the ghost was basically different. They all swore they were right and that they had witnessed it with their own eyes. Finding any clues from this would be extremely difficult.

Luo Shimin, on a sudden impulse, thought of Sang Long. She beckoned to one of the thugs, saying she wanted to see their boss. The thug vanished like a gust of wind, and half a minute later, the wounded Sang Long reappeared with lightning speed. Luo Shimin whispered a few words in his ear, and Sang Long disappeared again in a flash. The slight difference was that Sang Long's old face was beaming with a smile as he left.

Two minutes later, the thugs scattered throughout the hospital disappeared. Just as people were clapping and celebrating, the thugs returned, this time with something new in their hands. Even the thugs themselves felt a little awkward; instead of the steel pipes and machetes they usually used in fights, they carried pens and paper. The boss's order was simple: within two hours, each person had to submit five testimonies from people who had seen ghosts in the hospital. The handwriting had to be neat, and the descriptions detailed. The punishment for failing to complete the task was simple: stand outside the police station for four hours wearing a sign that read, "The police are all idiots."

On their way back to the ward, the group overheard two thugs complaining, "It's unbelievable! How could the boss assign such a task? I haven't written anything in three or four years."

"You're alright, at least you graduated from high school. I only have an elementary school education. I should have studied harder. If you encounter any words you don't know how to write, you have to tell me. Otherwise, I'll have to go to the police station with a sign on my wrist."

"Stop talking, time is of the essence, let's get to work."

After the two thugs had walked away, the four of them couldn't help but burst into laughter. Ye Cheng laughed the loudest, "That move was amazing, I love it."

Hu Rongrong couldn't help but want to pour cold water on Ye Cheng's head, "If you ask me, these days even petty thugs are more useful than the police. I don't know what the police are doing with our taxpayers' money?"

"What do you mean?" Xia Chen and Luo Shimin realized that the two were about to start a fight again, so they fled the place of trouble as quickly as possible, their speed no slower than that of a rabbit.

Two hours later, Hu Rongrong was still arguing with Ye Cheng. Their argument had expanded beyond the case to include everything from national policies to trivial matters like rising pork prices. They were having a great time arguing, as if they were born to find each other to fight.

Xia Chen and Luo Shimin watched the two from a distance.

Luo Shimin asked Xia Chen, "Don't you think those two are tired? They've been arguing non-stop for two hours."

"Not tired at all." Xia Chen took a leisurely sip of water. "They're having a great time!"

"Can arguing be fun?"

"Happiness, they just haven't discovered it yet, but one day they will."

Luo Shimin didn't quite understand, but she nodded nonetheless.

Sang Long, carrying a thick stack of papers, stepped out of the elevator. Upon seeing Luo Shimin, he immediately ran over, moving almost as fast as a cheetah, and didn't look injured at all. "Miss, I've prepared what you wanted."

"So many!" Luo Shimin took them and praised Sang Long, "I didn't realize you were so capable. I'll tell my brother later that you're a talent, and we can't let your talent go to waste."

Sang Long smiled so much that all the wrinkles on his face disappeared.

Upon seeing the documents arrive, Ye Cheng and Hu Rongrong stopped arguing. The four of them sat on chairs outside the ward, each taking a stack and starting to read. Sang Long, knowing he couldn't help, tactfully left.

Time: Around 2 AM Location: Second-floor corridor Person: Old Wang

The incident: Last night I drank too much water and woke up needing to pee. After relieving myself, I couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to take a walk in the corridor. I hadn't gone far when I regretted it. The atmosphere was strangely eerie; I felt a chill down my back as if something was following me, but I was too afraid to turn around. When I reached the elevator, I heard a hissing sound, and something flew past my eyes. I broke out in a cold sweat, collapsed to the floor, and felt weak all over; my limbs wouldn't obey me. It took me more than half an hour to get up and run back to my ward; I never came out again.

Time: 1:58 AM Location: First floor duty room Person: Nurse Liao

Event: It was my turn to be on night shift again, and I hate night shifts the most. Why? Because I'm scared. Life, death, and aging happen every day in hospitals. You'd think that seeing it all would make you less scared, but for me, it's the opposite—the more I see, the scarier I get. When I'm on night shift alone, I often feel a chill down my neck; the bodies of those deceased patients seem to wander the hospital corridors. We change shifts at 2 AM, and at 1:58 AM I reached the door of the duty room. Before I even opened it, I suddenly felt like I was being watched. My hands were shaking violently, and I couldn't open the door. I became even more terrified. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the darkness behind me and saw a pair of blood-red eyes staring at me. I almost fainted. Luckily, Nurse Zhou, who was in the room, heard me open the door and opened it. The eyes that had been staring at me disappeared. I still get scared thinking about it now. I guess I need to go to a temple and get a talisman.

Time: 2:20 AM Location: 14th floor, elevator entrance People: Ms. Lan and her son

Incident: My child and I checked into the ward yesterday afternoon. My son had a small tumor in his abdomen, requiring minor surgery. He's a light sleeper and couldn't fall asleep last night. Around 2 AM, he insisted on going for a walk, so I took him for a stroll in the corridor. As we passed the elevator, we saw it going up. My son, being mischievous, pressed a button, and the elevator stopped on the 14th floor. When the elevator doors opened, I saw it was empty, but my son screamed, saying he saw a female ghost in red. He was genuinely terrified, and I was a little scared too, so I took him back to our ward. One last look back, and the elevator continued upwards to the 15th floor.

Time: Around 5 a.m.

Location: 14th floor restroom

Character: Aunt Xie, who cleans the house

Event: I'm over fifty years old this year. I've had a hard life and never enjoyed any happiness. Now that I'm old, I still have to earn money to support myself.

To be honest, my job is pretty good, not tiring at all. It's just that every day before the patients get up, I have to clean the public restrooms and hallways. The old lady has been doing this for over a year and has never encountered anything like this before. It scared her to death.

Around 5 PM, the older woman was cleaning the men's restroom when she suddenly heard a noise from one of the rooms. Thinking someone was getting up to use the restroom, she politely said, "Excuse me, please wait a moment, I'll be finished cleaning soon." But no one answered. She assumed he had left and continued cleaning. A few seconds later, she heard a clicking sound, turned around, and saw that the room was completely empty. The older woman was terrified.

Time: 6:00 AM

Location: The lawn in front of the ward

Character: Old Man Liu

Incident: I've been retired for almost five years, and the first thing I do every morning is go out for exercise—I'm in great shape! A couple of days ago, I had a minor health issue, and my son took me to the hospital. For several days in a row, I wasn't allowed to exercise in the mornings, which made me incredibly itchy, like countless ants were crawling all over me. This morning, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I sneaked out. I saw a nice lawn in front of the building and started practicing Tai Chi. While I was practicing, I heard a swish sound. I thought someone was coming, but when I turned around, there was no one there. There was a line of footprints on the grass in front of me. I immediately remembered what my parents used to call "ghost footprints," and my scalp went numb. All the blood rushed to my head, and I almost collapsed on the grass. Luckily, my son found me early and came looking for me, saving my life.

…………

The four reviewed all the records, most of which were merely hearsay; only these five records were based on firsthand experience. These records showed that around 2:00 AM, something entered the ward, and by 2:30 AM it had reached the fifteenth floor, precisely the time Hu Rongrong discovered the room was haunted. Around 5:00 AM, this thing left the ward, and by 6:00 AM it was on the lawn in front of the building, after which its whereabouts became unknown. The records couldn't provide a specific image of the unknown visitor, but one thing was certain: it was something mysterious and eerie, like a ghost.

Everyone looked grim, especially Hu Rongrong, who was deathly pale and bloodless. She kept repeating, "A ghost, there really is a ghost, it's Qi Xiaoke who has become a ghost. She came to find me. I felt her return last night."

During this investigation, the four made a small oversight: they didn't investigate events outside the wards. Ghost stories were circulating throughout the hospital, and the wards were just one part of the overall hospital experience. The doctors were telling even more terrifying and bizarre ghost stories—the morgue was haunted!

016 There's a Ghost in the Morgue

Hu Rongrong wasn't as brave as Luo Shimin. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, and tears streamed down her face. A ghost had come knocking on her door. What was she, a helpless little girl, supposed to do? Perhaps tonight, Qi Xiaoke's ghost would visit again and take her life with it.

Ye Cheng said, "Cry, cry, cry, all you do is cry. If crying could solve anything, what would we police be for? Even if Qi Xiaoke's ghost really wanted to harm you, she would have done it last night, not tonight."

Xia Chen also said, "No matter what comes in, I don't think it means you any harm."

Hu Rongrong gradually stopped crying and asked between sobs, "Then why did it come to me? Just to scare me?"

No one can answer this question. If Qi Xiaoke were replaced by Luo Shimin, perhaps she could have done something like this, but Qi Xiaoke wouldn't. Whatever enters the ward must have its purpose; it's just that no one has discovered it yet.

Ring... Ye Cheng's phone rang. After answering the call, Ye Cheng's face turned into a personal one!

Hu Rongrong asked anxiously, "What happened again?"

Ye Cheng said, "It's haunted! The morgue where the bodies are kept at the hospital was haunted last night too."

Luo Shimin was puzzled. "So what if it's haunted? What's the big deal? Don't we have enough haunted cases already?"

"There were six corpses in the haunted morgue. You can probably guess which six they were without me saying it." The room fell silent.

Master Liao is an eccentric.

Working at Huaxia Hospital, you might not know who your boss is, or who the hospital director is, but you can't not know who Master Liao is, because he's an eccentric.

On the first day a new colleague arrives at Huaxia Hospital, his colleagues will point him out from afar, saying, "See that? That's Master Liao. He's a strange guy."

Master Liao wasn't a high-ranking official; he managed a small department with only one person. But his position was extremely important. His job was very leisurely—he simply spent his days listening to music and sipping wine while facing a row of metal cabinets, living a carefree life. His monthly salary was quite good, and occasionally, people with special requests would give him a substantial tip. However, no one envied his job, because not everyone had Master Liao's courage. Perhaps you've already guessed what Master Liao did; that's right, he was the morgue's doorman, also known as a corpse watchman.

People called Master Liao an eccentric because of his extraordinary courage. His predecessor died suddenly of a heart attack one night under mysterious circumstances. That afternoon, the police brought in a body. No, to be precise, a quarter of a body. It was a dismemberment case; the murderer had cut the victim into eight pieces, and the rest of the body was missing. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the story of the dismembered corpse causing death sent chills down the spines of everyone who passed by. Just when the hospital director was worried about not finding someone to replace him as the body guard, Master Liao came to his door and took over the job. He did this for over ten years, eventually moving his entire family there, eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping with the corpse every day, without showing any signs of discomfort. Someone once witnessed Master Liao watching a comedy sketch on TV, laughing heartily, while behind him was the body that had just been delivered—a horrific car accident. The person who saw this was terrified, fell ill afterward, and missed a week of work. When he returned, he saw Master Liao hiding far away, and he instinctively felt fear.

Master Liao's appearance was also strange. His face was very ordinary, but his eyes were odd.

Master Liao's right eye is normal, but his left eye appears to have been injured; the black part in the center is gray, a lifeless gray. Being stared at by his eyes gives one a chilling feeling. Some say that eye wasn't injured at all, that it's a ghost eye, and that's how it's always been. If you look closely, you can see another world reflected in that eye, but no one has ever verified this.

Even the fearless Mr. Liao was terrified and hasn't recovered yet, still shouting, "There's a ghost in the morgue! There's a ghost in the morgue!"

This is how it happened.

The day before yesterday at noon, the police brought in three bodies, saying that the station's freezer had broken and they were temporarily storing them there. At first, Mr. Liao didn't think much of it; such things weren't uncommon. But when he saw the bodies, Mr. Liao's eyelids twitched; he had a bad feeling. Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked the police about the origins of the three bodies. The police didn't hide anything from him and told him that the three had died from murder, and the case was still under investigation. Mr. Liao knew something was wrong; the spirits of those who die unjustly are the strongest, and his bad premonition intensified. After the police left, Mr. Liao felt a chill creep into his familiar room.

That evening, passersby occasionally saw incense, candles, and paper money at the morgue. Master Liao was performing a ritual to deliver the dead. People were curious, but no one dared to ask. Rumors began to circulate, the most common being that the three corpses brought in by the police were too malevolent, and Master Liao couldn't control them, so something terrible was about to happen.

Nothing happened that night, except that Mr. Liao felt his house was too cold, so cold that he couldn't stand it. He didn't dare sleep all night, staring at the three corpses until dawn. Only after the sunlight streamed in did Mr. Liao feel a little warmth, and the exhausted man slept soundly under the sunlight.

Mr. Liao hadn't slept long when he was woken up around noon. It was the police; they had brought another body, two of the three brought in the day before, belonging to colleagues who worked in the infirmary. Mr. Liao was now quite certain that these people had offended something very powerful. After the body was placed in the freezer, the room became even colder than the day before. The police probably sensed this too; after placing the body, they slipped away without saying a word to Mr. Liao. This body's death was even more bizarre. Mr. Liao mustered his courage and took a look. The body cavity had been opened, and every drop of blood had been drained; the body had undoubtedly suffered considerable torture before death.

Master Liao was frightened. He left the house and went outside to bask in the sun.

Less than an hour later, the police arrived again, bringing another body. Mr. Liao was on the verge of a breakdown.

In the afternoon, Mr. Liao noticed a strange mist filling the house, slowly flowing along the ground. The mist would dissipate when exposed to sunlight, but it grew thicker in areas where the sun didn't reach.

"This room is uninhabitable!" Master Liao, who rarely left the morgue, came to the director's office to ask for leave.

The reason was simple: he hadn't had much rest after working for so long, and he wanted to go out for a walk to clear his head. The hospital director was a shrewd and calculating person; anyone who climbed to that position had long since become a master of manipulation. He had heard rumors about the morgue, and Liao's arrival was most likely a confirmation of the truth. He couldn't let Liao leave; who would look after the morgue if he did? After showering Liao with praise for his hard work and merits, Liao couldn't leave, and he reluctantly returned to the morgue.

Mr. Liao returned to the morgue with a worried look on his face. The fog inside the room was even thicker. As soon as he opened the door, a wave of water vapor carrying a cold air rushed out. Mr. Liao even felt that he would not see the sun rise the next morning.

As evening fell, two male workers wheeled in a corpse—a pitiful person who had died of illness. Master Liao placed it above the five corpses the police had brought in. Just as they were putting the body into the freezer, the three men heard a cracking sound coming from the freezer below, like something gnawing on bones. The three grown men were nearly fainting from fright. After a short while, the sound disappeared. The two workers ran away, but Master Liao had nowhere to run. He staggered to his feet, not caring which freezer the sound came from, locked the door, and left. Master Liao sat by the door all night, and as dawn approached, he drifted off to sleep.

In his sleep, Mr. Liao felt someone push him. He opened his blurry eyes and glanced at the scene. All his sleepiness vanished instantly. Standing in front of him was a policeman, and behind the policeman was a corpse. Mr. Liao was on the verge of going crazy.

Sudden death is not frightening, because one dies before even feeling fear. What is most agonizing is the long wait in the face of the unknown, where fear slowly erodes courage, causing mental breakdown and submission to the tyranny of death, clinging to life for just one more day.

There's an old Chinese saying: "If the King of Hell wants you to die at midnight, you won't live to see dawn." After understanding this, Master Liao felt much more at peace. He hadn't achieved much in his life, nor had he done anything wrong. He went out and bought some good wine and food; even if he were to die, he couldn't let himself go hungry.

Sipping wine and eating snacks, Master Liao found the morgue less frightening. The drinking continued until nightfall. The moonlight was beautiful, so Master Liao didn't turn on the lights, leaving the morgue shrouded in a somber glow. The moonlight illuminated Master Liao's face, making him appear deathly pale. If someone were to walk in now, they would surely be terrified. But Master Liao wasn't afraid. Enjoying the fine wine and pleasant atmosphere, he even began to sing a little tune.

Before he knew it, it was past midnight. Master Liao was a little drunk and had completely forgotten about the haunted morgue. He stumbled toward his bed, ready to sleep.

Click click...

The terrifying sound came from the freezer again. Master Liao seemed to be petrified, as if he had fallen into an ice hole, emanating cold air from the inside out.

Click click...

Living is truly a torment; no one is unafraid of death, but when death truly arrives, how many can face it calmly? Even in death, one should die knowing why. Reeking of alcohol, Master Liao walked step by step towards the freezer where the bodies were kept, listening intently. The clicking sound came from one of the first three bodies brought in.

Master Liao took a deep breath and suddenly pulled open the morgue cabinet.

A bloody, ghostly hand emerged from within.

Master Liao suddenly lost consciousness.

017 Discharged from hospital

Whether it was a coincidence or fate, the hospital where Master Liao worked was Huaxia Hospital. After Ye Cheng hung up the phone, he rushed to the morgue, and Hu Rongrong and the others, having nothing else to do, followed him.

At the entrance of the morgue, the four men saw Master Liao, who was staring blankly into space. He was still in shock and kept muttering, "There's a ghost, there's a ghost."

Police guarded the entrance to the morgue, allowing only Ye Cheng to enter. In front of the refrigerated display case, Ye Cheng saw Dr. Zuo's body. His chest was a mangled mess, as if he had been hacked several times with an axe, his ribs broken into pieces. There was a large hole in his abdomen, as if something was crawling out of it, though he knew that was impossible.

"Do you also feel something is strange?" the forensic doctor asked, standing next to the freezer.

"It just feels a little strange."

“Look,” the forensic pathologist said, pointing to the broken ribs. “These wounds look like they were caused by chopping, but they weren’t. The ribs were broken with clamps. That’s not the problem. The strangest thing is the hole in the abdomen. Something drilled through from the inside. I’ve been a forensic pathologist for almost twenty years, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Also, a section of the intestines is missing. I can’t imagine how much hatred someone could have to harbor to treat their body like this after death.”

Ye Cheng was startled. The corpse looked remarkably like Qi Xiaoke's. Was someone deliberately imitating it? Ye Cheng then reviewed the on-site investigation report. The person who did this left no trace; either they were an extremely experienced veteran, or they were inhuman. In the past, Ye Cheng would have unhesitatingly chosen the former, but now he hesitated. He was even beginning to think that the latter might also be true.