Ghosts in Medical School Horror Files

Chapter 24

Ye Cheng couldn't figure it out. "What kind of person could make a murderer with some special abilities feel afraid?"

Xia Chen looked at the girl's painting for a while and said, "This girl paints really well. Her style is somewhat similar to Su Youqing's. The girl's dress is also a bit like Su Youqing's. Could she be her student?"

Ye Cheng chuckled and said, "Go ask Luo Shimin, she might know about this girl."

Xia Chen hesitated for a minute, then turned and called Luo Shimin in. Luo Shimin covered her mouth and stared at the corpse for over a minute before recognizing it. "Her name is Liu Yanting. Her father seems to own a company called Liu something-or-other Heavy Industry. She was a popular figure on campus, a very talented painter who participated in national art exhibitions and even won awards. She was Su Youqing's prized student, and many boys pursued her. She was supposed to graduate this semester, but I never expected something like this to happen."

The sound of sirens came from afar. Ye Cheng patted Xia Chen on the shoulder and said, "If you don't want to get into trouble, you should leave."

"Get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll contact you tomorrow morning." Luo Shimin led Xia Chen and the others out the back door. Ye Cheng didn't actually want his colleagues to see Luo Xie. If they did, who knew what rumors would spread in a few days? Ye Cheng could imagine the director's face turning as black as the bottom of a pot after it reached his ears.

Only Ye Cheng and Li Xiao remained in the classroom. Li Xiao sat on the floor, covering her head, and said, "Today was the craziest day I've ever had. But I like it. I've decided that I'll follow you from now on. If you dare not take me with you, I'll go to the director and complain that you've been bribed by Luo Xie and that you're an undercover agent."

Ye Cheng realized he was being threatened. As a police officer, he was being threatened by another police officer. Who could he turn to for justice?

"Don't move!" A group of police officers rushed in, and after seeing Ye Cheng and Li Xiao, they put away their guns. "Where did you two come from? You stink!"

"Believe me, you won't know." Ye Cheng left the scene to the other police officers and took the equally exhausted Li Xiao back to the police station. The police officers left at the scene went about their business, and no one noticed, or perhaps no one could have discovered, that someone was standing outside the window, quietly watching everything.

Xia Chen escorted Luo Xie to the school gate, where a group of thugs on Harleys picked him up. Luo Xie remained expressionless, and no one guessed what he was up to. By the time everyone received the news, it was already the next day. After seeing Luo Xie off, Xia Chen took Luo Shimin and Hu Rongrong home, then returned to his dormitory, took a shower, and changed his clothes.

After dinner, Xia Chen was bored in his dormitory, so he turned on his computer, typed "Duan Gan" into the search bar, and clicked OK. He found the information he wanted to see.

According to historical records such as the *Lu Shi* and the *Records of the Grand Historian*, Li Zong, the grandson of Laozi (Li Er) during the Spring and Autumn Period, was first enfeoffed in Duanyi of the State of Wei, and later in Ganyi of the State of Wei. He then adopted the name of his fiefdom as his surname, thus becoming the Duangan clan. The Duangan clan has a history of over two thousand years. The State of Wei during the Spring and Autumn Period was located in what is now Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province, and areas to the north. Therefore, the Duangan clan's origin should be in Shanxi, and they gradually migrated eastward. Descendants of the Duangan clan regard Li Zong as their founding ancestor.

Another origin is from the Ji surname, which originated from the Duan clan. It comes from Shu Duan, the second son of Duke Wu of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn Period. The surname is derived from the name of an ancestor.

The progenitor of the Ji surname is the Yellow Emperor. After defeating Chiyou, the Yellow Emperor enfeoffed twelve of his twenty-five sons with different surnames, including Ji. The thirty-first generation descendant of the Yellow Emperor, Duke Wu of Zheng (surname Ji, personal name Jue Tu), was the second ruler of the State of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn Period. Duke Wu's wife, Wu Jiang, had a difficult childbirth with their first son, Duke Zhuang, but gave birth easily to their second son, Shu Duan. Therefore, she favored Shu Duan over Duke Zhuang. When Duke Wu fell seriously ill, she requested that he make Shu Duan the crown prince, but Duke Wu refused. Later, Shu Duan conspired with Jiang to attack Duke Zhuang. Upon learning of this, Duke Zhuang dispatched troops...

As a result, Uncle Duan suffered a major defeat and fled to a place called Gong, hence he was also known as Gong Shu Duan. He was later killed by Duke Zhuang of Zheng. To commemorate their ancestor, Gong Shu Duan's descendants changed their surname from Ji to Duan. The fifth generation descendant was Duan Ganmu, a famous sage of the State of Wei during the early Warring States period, thus giving rise to the Duan Gan clan.

It's truly astonishing what you find when you do some research! The Duan family's lineage is either descended from Li Er (the founder of Taoism), or from an emperor. Li Er is practically a deity, and some folk tales even claim he was the reincarnation of Yuanshi Tianzun (the Primordial Celestial Venerable). The Yellow Emperor is even more extraordinary; the term "descendants of Yan and Huang" originates from him. Could the bloodline inherited from these people possess some kind of mystical ability?

After examining the scene, the police loaded the girl's body into a police car and took it back to the station for an autopsy.

Terrifying vampire legends quickly spread throughout the campus. Almost all students believed that vampires were responsible, and before midnight, garlic and crosses were hung on the doors of all the dormitories.

Tonight is destined to be an unavoidable night.

After Liu Yanting's body was sent to the police station, Li Xiao conducted an examination. As predicted, there wasn't a single drop of blood in the body, indicating that the killer was the same person who killed Old Chen. Upon hearing that Ye Cheng was the first to discover the body, the police chief assigned the case to him, demanding he solve it within seven days. Ye Cheng was immediately overwhelmed. The killer had the ability to suck blood and was impervious to bullets. Even if he found him, how could he apprehend him? After taking a shower, Ye Cheng fell asleep in his office, feeling utterly dejected.

In the middle of the night, he was awakened by a series of explosions throughout the city. The violent blasts startled everyone, the powerful shockwaves shaking the ground and sending flames soaring into the sky, terrifying the citizens who thought a war had broken out. Immediately afterward, the police station phones rang incessantly. After answering two calls, Ye Cheng understood what had happened: Xia Group's businesses in the city had been simultaneously attacked by unidentified bombers, suffering heavy losses, but fortunately, no one was injured. All the police officers were dragged out of bed and rushed to the scene to maintain order; the chief of police himself was on the scene.

Ye Cheng arrived at a factory under the Xia family's control. The entire factory was a huge ruin made of reinforced concrete, with smoke still rising from some parts. Ye Cheng sighed inwardly, "Luo Xie is too terrifying. I mustn't anger him."

While all the police officers were busy, a strange thing happened at the police station.

The cabinet storing the body made a creaking sound.

012 The Vanished Corpse

Old Qin was a distant relative of the police chief. Through the chief, he got a job guarding the police station at night. It was a very easy job. Even the most daring bad guys wouldn't dare to cause trouble at the police station. Every night, he only needed to take a flashlight and symbolically walk around the police station's courtyard before he could go back to sleep and sleep soundly until dawn.

Old Qin didn't sleep well tonight. First, he was awakened by an explosion; the loud bang startled him so much that he fell off the bed. Then, the noisy footsteps and sirens kept him awake. The police station was quickly emptied, leaving him alone in the large courtyard. He couldn't sleep tonight; if something happened, he'd lose his job. Grabbing a flashlight, Old Qin went on night patrol.

After circling the courtyard and finding nothing unusual, Old Qin turned his attention to the police station building. The entire building stood dark and gloomy, with a cold wind howling through the deep night. A strong thought arose in Old Qin's mind: he had to go inside the building and take a look.

Reaching the main entrance, Old Qin pushed open the door. The hallway was pitch black; the flashlight beam reflected a faint, cold light off the smooth marble floor. Old Qin felt a mix of fear and excitement, his breathing becoming rapid. After waiting a minute at the door, he finally took his first step inside.

He spent ten minutes touring the entire first floor of the police station building, which was far less luxurious than he had imagined, leaving him somewhat disappointed. Just as he was about to leave, he saw the elevator; he had never ridden one before. Walking to the elevator, he pressed the button, and with a ding, the doors opened. Old Qin stepped inside and pressed the button for the ninth floor, knowing that the chief's office was on the ninth floor.

The moment the elevator started moving, blood rushed to Old Man Qin's head. He felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. The cramped space in the elevator made him feel suffocated. The shiny metal sheets around him reflected his shadow, as if countless versions of himself were watching him, which made him feel terrified. Beads of sweat appeared on Old Man Qin's forehead.

Ding! The elevator stopped on the ninth floor. Old Qin stepped out and quickly found the director's office, but unfortunately the door was locked, and he couldn't see what was inside.

Old Qin was extremely disappointed.

Back in the elevator, the doors slowly closed. Just as Old Man Qin was about to press 1, he noticed a -1 below it. He thought there might be something interesting on the -1 floor, so he pressed -1.

A few seconds later, the elevator stopped; they had arrived at -1 floor. The elevator doors slowly opened, and a ghastly green light shone in, casting a green glow on Old Man Qin as well. Seeing his own reflection in the gleaming metal of the elevator, Old Man Qin was so frightened that he slammed his head against the wall. After a long while, Old Man Qin remembered something a fortune teller had said: the police station was filled with malevolent energy; even the most powerful ghosts wouldn't dare to haunt it. Old Man Qin was eager to see what was on -1 floor, so he mustered his courage and stepped out.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and the hairs on Old Qin's body stood on end. He was surprised to see his breath turn into white mist. To bolster his courage, he said to himself, "This is a great place to escape the heat. A bottle of ice-cold beer and a small dish of peanuts would be perfect." As he walked, Old Qin heard strange noises.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

"The water pipe is leaking? That can't be right, how could there be a water pipe here?" Old Qin shone his flashlight around, only seeing a few electrical wires, but no water pipe. Old Qin knew where he was; it was the morgue, a place where corpses were stored. When he came to work that night, he saw a body being carried out of a police car. A gust of wind blew open the shroud, revealing a young and beautiful girl. He only glanced at her, but her image was deeply imprinted in his mind.

The ticking sound stopped. Old Man Qin stood at the entrance of the morgue.

The door wasn't locked. Old Qin placed his hand on the doorknob, his hand trembling slightly. He took a deep breath and prepared to push the door open.

There were soft footsteps coming from inside the room, as if someone was walking barefoot on the floor.

Old Man Qin was terrified, but strangely, he didn't run away.

The footsteps disappeared; it must have been my imagination because I was too nervous. Old Qin thought so.

He made up his mind and gently pushed open the door. The door creaked open a crack.

Old Qin crouched down and peered inside. A chill ran from his feet straight to his head. On the other side of the door, a pair of pale eyes were looking out, and a cold breath washed over his face. Old Qin was so frightened that he fainted.

bell……

Xia Chen was woken from a deep sleep by his phone ringing. He was a little annoyed; his friends knew he hated being woken up, as poor rest affected his mental capacity. Xia Chen grabbed his phone and hung up, but it rang again a couple of minutes later, which made him even more annoyed. He picked up the phone and saw it was Ye Cheng calling. He pressed the answer button. "Hey, what is it that you had to wake me up?"

Ye Cheng's voice came through the phone, sounding extremely tired, "I have two pieces of news to tell you, one is about last night's big explosion, and the other is about Liu Yanting's body. Which one would you like to hear first?"

"Explosion? What explosion?" Yishi Academy was in the most remote corner of the city, the only place in the city that was not affected by the big explosion.

"I forgot your place is too remote. At 2:30 this morning, all of the Xia Group's properties in this city, except for residential buildings, were attacked by bombs. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The Xia Group suffered heavy losses, with preliminary estimates exceeding 100 million yuan. The police station is in complete chaos, like a vegetable market."

"Did Luo Xie do this?"

Ye Cheng lowered his voice and said, "Who else could it be but him? I can't think of anyone else with that kind of strength. This kid is too ruthless. I only got three hours of sleep last night, and I'm still maintaining order at the scene."

Xia Chen was silent for half a minute before asking, "How did he manage to avoid any casualties? Xia's company must have security guards on duty."

“I was curious too, so I asked a security guard. He said he fell asleep while on duty and was awakened by the explosion outside the building. The others were in similar situations.”

"Were they hypnotized? How many hypnotists would that require?"

"The Xia family has eighteen large enterprises and more than thirty smaller ones throughout the city. Each location has at least ten staff members on duty. You can calculate for yourself how many hypnotists are needed."

Xia Chen did some mental calculations and exclaimed, "That's impossible! It would require all the hypnotists in the country to work together. Even if Luo Xie had that ability, he couldn't possibly gather all those hypnotists in just a few hours."

“Remember to remind me not to make Luo Xie angry whenever you're with him. And what’s even more unbelievable is that Liu Yanting’s body disappeared at the same time as the explosion. There was an eyewitness, Old Qin, who was on night watch. He was terrified. According to him, he saw Liu Yanting’s body walk out of the morgue and disappear into the night. Old Qin is telling everyone that there’s a zombie in the police station. The Liu family came running to get the body. The police station is very lively now. You should really go and see.”

Xia Chen thought for a moment and said, "I need to go to the scene to take a look. I don't believe that Liu Yanting would turn into a zombie. Her cause of death is the same as Old Man Chen's. If anyone should have turned into a zombie, it should have been Old Man Chen first. There must be something fishy about this."

Ye Cheng chuckled and said, "I've been waiting for you to say that. I have half an hour before my shift ends, and then I'll go to your school to find you and take you back to the police station."

After hanging up the phone, Xia Chen lay in bed unable to fall asleep. These two incidents were too bizarre; he had to find out the truth. He decided to start with the bombing. Xia Chen then dialed Luo Shimin's number.

Ten minutes later, Xia Chen waited for Luo Shimin at the restaurant entrance. Luo Shimin's cheeks were slightly flushed, and she had a faint fragrance. She had obviously dressed up carefully after receiving Xia Chen's call.

Seeing that Xia Chen suddenly seemed a little nervous, he stammered, "Rongrong is still sleeping, so I didn't wake her up."

"It's alright, I wasn't planning on calling her anyway." Learning from Ye Cheng's experience, staying away from Hu Rongrong is the choice any wise person would make. "Let's go inside and get something to eat."

"Does this count as a date?" Luo Shimin suddenly asked.

"It's... a date..." Xia Chen ordered two egg tarts and a cup of original pearl milk tea for Luo Shimin, which, according to his observation, was Luo Shimin's favorite flavor.

"Thank you!" At this moment, Luo Shimin became very ladylike. If someone who knew her well saw this, they would definitely stare in disbelief.

Xia Chen sipped his coffee slowly. He hadn't slept well and needed coffee to perk him up. He had many questions on his mind, but didn't know how to bring them up.

"Do you have a question for me?" Luo Shimin asked, taking a sip of her milk tea.

Xia Chen was somewhat surprised, "How did you know?"

“I’ve noticed that you raise your eyebrows when you’re thinking about something for a long time.”

"Really?" Xia Chen himself didn't know he had this habit. "I wanted to ask if your brother called you after you broke up last night." Xia Chen told Luo Shimin about the bombing in the city.

“It couldn’t have been my brother,” Luo Shimin said with certainty. “That’s not my brother’s style. If he wanted to do something to someone, he would definitely let them know beforehand. In the past few years, my brother might have used a bomb to attack. But these days, my brother likes to take everything from his opponents and take over everything from them. That makes him feel more accomplished.”

"But no one else has that ability except your brother. Maybe he'll change his approach when he gets angry. You saw it yourself, your brother was really angry yesterday."

"If you don't believe me, I'll call my brother." Luo Shimin dialed Luo Xie's cell phone. Luo Xie had gathered many economic experts for a meeting to discuss how to economically defeat the Xia Group. Last night's bombing was not Luo Xie's doing, but it had inadvertently helped him. After the news spread, the stock market would definitely crash when the Xia Group's stock opened. He had raised a large amount of funds to buy up Xia Group's stock.

Xia Chen was puzzled. If it wasn't Luo Xie, then who could it be? Who in this city possessed such power? What was even more terrifying was that no one had ever known of this force's existence—that was the most frightening part. He paid close attention to everything concerning the Xia Group and had no idea that the Xia Group had such a powerful adversary. Who could it be?

After finishing her breakfast, Luo Shimin looked at Xia Chen with affectionate eyes and asked, "What are we going to do next?"

Xia Chen checked the time; it was almost time to meet Ye Cheng. He said, "Next, I need to go to the police station. Liu Yanting's body is missing. According to witnesses, she walked out of the morgue on her own. Ye Cheng wants to pick me up and take me to the scene."

"I'm going too!" Luo Shimin exclaimed excitedly. "Has Liu Yanting turned into a zombie? Will she bite?"

"Uh, I don't really believe in zombies. Ye Cheng didn't mention any witnesses being bitten. If you're not afraid, come along."

"That's great!" Luo Shimin jumped up excitedly. The two walked out of the restaurant and headed towards the main entrance. On the way, Luo Shimin said, "I almost forgot. I asked a few classmates who were close to Liu Yanting, and only Liu Yanting and Su Youqing had the key to the art studio where we found the body. Liu Yanting is preparing to participate in an international competition. Among all of Teacher Su's students, she likes Liu Yanting the most. She specially gave up the art studio for Liu Yanting to use for practice. I think Teacher Su must be very sad right now. Her husband just passed away not long ago, and her favorite student has been murdered. Shouldn't we go and see Teacher Su?"

Luo Shimin's words reminded Xia Chen that her husband and student had been murdered one after another. Could this be a coincidence? The probability of this happening is one in tens of millions. She should go and see this teacher named Su Youqing when she has time. When she last met her, she felt that she was not as weak as she appeared.

Ye Cheng had already arrived at the gate of Yishi Academy and was waiting anxiously. When he saw Xia Chen and Luo Shimin arrive together, a mischievous smile crept across his face. Xia Chen had finally figured things out and knew how to get a girlfriend. The two of them were quite a good match. Not bad, not bad.

"What are you laughing at?" Xia Chen asked.

"It's nothing, get in the car quickly." Ye Cheng hailed a taxi and said to the driver, "Back entrance of the police station."

Luo Shimin asked, "Why didn't we go through the front door?"

"We can't get in through the front door at all. People from the Xia Group and Liu's Heavy Industry have blocked the front door completely. The only way to get into the police station is through the back door."

There was still one intersection left before reaching the police station, and the three of them could already hear a cacophony of voices inside the car, like a thousand flies buzzing around their heads. The taxi stopped at the back entrance of the police station, and to their surprise, the back entrance was also packed with people. The three of them got out of the car, squeezed their way through the crowd, and finally climbed over the wall to get into the police station. Ye Cheng joked, "What kind of mess is this? Police officers have to climb over a wall to get into the police station. Our chief's face must be as black as the bottom of a pot right now."

The police station courtyard was also packed with people. After a difficult journey, the three of them finally made their way to the bottom of the building. Li Xiao opened a window and let them climb in. Li Xiao said, "Come with me. The chief is in a bad mood right now. If he sees me letting you two in, Ye Cheng and I will be in trouble."

Li Xiao and Ye Cheng carefully led the two men, avoiding the other police officers, down the stairs to the basement. "This is the morgue," Li Xiao said, stopping in his tracks.

Xia Chen pushed open the door and looked around. There were two rows of mortuary cabinets in the room, and two trolleys were placed by the door. The door of one of the mortuary cabinets was open, and the lock had been broken. Xia Chen glanced at the lock, and Li Xiao said, "It was forced open from the inside out. The force was considerable. A living person definitely couldn't have broken it open."

"Where is Old Chen's body?" Xia Chen asked.

“It’s right next door.” Li Xiao unlocked the cabinet and dragged out a corpse. Xia Chen examined it carefully from head to toe but found nothing unusual. “Didn’t you say there were witnesses? Can I see them?”

“No.” Li Xiao shrugged helplessly. “The witness is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment, and you need the chief’s approval to see him. However, I have his statement, which I can show you.”

Xia Chen took the statement and read it intently, while Luo Shimin stood to the side, also watching attentively. After Xia Chen finished reading, he asked, "The witness said he heard a ticking sound. Have you checked that?"

Li Xiao said, "There are no water pipes on this floor at all. I suspect he was hallucinating because he was scared."

“It doesn’t seem like it.” Xia Chen shook his head and said, “Judging from your statements, the witness’s thinking was clear and logical, and he doesn’t seem like someone who was terrified and hallucinating. Furthermore, he heard the ticking sound before he saw the body and had not yet been frightened.”