Ghosts in Medical School Horror Files

Chapter 45

"Please spare me," Ye Cheng said, exasperated. "Our chief ordered the case of the boneless corpses to be kept strictly confidential. Even many of my colleagues don't know about it. Both boneless corpses are kept in the morgue in the basement of the police station and are under tight protection. I can't possibly take you to see them."

Xia Chen said, "Taking me alone shouldn't be a problem, right? I'm sure I can find out who the mastermind is. Shi Min and Rong Rong can stay at school. Once I solve the case, you'll be able to see Teacher Su."

Luo Shimin obediently clicked "agree," but then she took out her phone and asked, "Do you need help? Should I call my brother over?"

"Please don't!" Ye Cheng rushed over and grabbed Luo Shimin's hand. "It's already chaotic enough. If you call your brother here, I'd rather die than live like this. You might as well just kill me. Xia Chen isn't in danger yet. I'll have you call him when we need your brother." Luo Xie would definitely bring a horde of henchmen when he appeared. Ye Cheng tried to imagine the crazy scene at Yishi School, filled with Luo Xie's underlings, each wielding a machete. His chief would definitely go crazy too.

“Okay, I’ll do as you say.” Luo Shimin put away the phone, and suddenly an idea came to her mind. She whispered it to Hu Rongrong in her ear. Hu Rongrong nodded in approval, “Great idea, I’ll do it with you.”

Ye Cheng exclaimed in surprise, "What are you going to do?"

Hu Rongrong snorted, "It's our freedom to do what we want, as long as we don't break the law. Officer, it's none of your business! You should worry more about yourself, solve the case as soon as possible, and stop letting innocent people die unjustly, and stop wasting taxpayers' money."

"You..." Before Ye Cheng could finish speaking, Li Xiao's voice came from downstairs, "Officer Ye, where are you? The statement has been taken, and the body is almost out. We should go back to the police station."

“We’re upstairs, we’ll be down in a minute,” Ye Cheng said to Xia Chen. “You come back to the police station with us, and don’t say a word about the case. We’ll talk about it when we’re alone.”

"I understand." Before going downstairs, Xia Chen reminded Luo Shimin, "No matter what you do, be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Luo Shimin smiled gently, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of myself, I'll be fine."

The four reached the stairwell and happened to encounter police carrying Xu Zihua's body out. One of the officers accidentally bumped into the corpse, and with a thud, a gash appeared. Disgusting slugs and milky white liquid gushed out, spraying directly onto the wall opposite the stairwell, instantly filling the hallway with a foul stench. A few still-living slugs clung to the wall, wriggling slightly. Many officers couldn't bear it and vomited. Ye Cheng and the others covered their mouths and noses as they rushed out of the dormitory building. After the police finished processing the scene, Xia Chen got into Ye Cheng's police car and headed to the police station.

Watching Ye Cheng's police car drive out of the school gate, Luo Shimin excitedly hugged Hu Rongrong's neck, "Are you ready? We're about to start!"

"I've been prepared for this for a long time. I'm going to let that stinky cop Ye Cheng know that I'm much more powerful than him."

Luo Shimin teased, "You don't actually have feelings for Officer Ye, do you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Hu Rongrong snapped. "If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll beat you up! How could I possibly like him? He's a useless little cop, all he does is laugh like an idiot all day, and he argues with me the moment we meet. Even a pig is a hundred times better than him!"

Luo Shimin laughed and said, "I've known you for almost twenty years. I know you better than you know yourself. You haven't realized it yet, but one day you will."

Hu Rongrong's cheeks flushed red. "Luo Shimin, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll really get angry with you and never talk to you again."

Luo Shimin chuckled and said, "I was just teasing you. Why are you so anxious? Do you think I was right?"

Without saying a word, Hu Rongrong turned and left, and Luo Shimin chased after her. The two girls walked towards the Yishi Academy office building.

Office of Academic Affairs, Yishi College. Office of Director Wang Shaoyi.

A middle-aged woman with eyes almost as thick as the bottom of a bottle said to Luo and Hu, "Director Wang and the principal went into town last night. There's an important meeting at the Education Bureau this morning. They won't be back until noon at the earliest. If you really have something to say, just tell me. If I can't handle it, I'll pass it on to Director Wang."

Hu Rongrong smiled slightly.

"Thank you, but let's wait for Director Wang to return before we talk about it." After the two left the Academic Affairs Office, Hu Rongrong said, "There's nothing left to investigate, right? Director Wang went to the city last night. He has an alibi. Director Wang is just a little old man in his fifties. I believe he might embezzle, but murder is a bit of a fantasy. He can't even beat me, how could he possibly kill someone?"

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Luo Shimin said firmly. “Xia Chen once said, ‘Don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment.’ It only takes thirty to forty minutes to drive from the city to Yishi Academy. He could easily kill someone and then rush back. Besides, the method of murder is uncertain. He might even be able to remotely control insects to kill someone.”

Hu Rongrong retorted, "How dare you criticize me? You're convinced that Director Wang isn't a good person, but that's purely subjective. You have no evidence. Aren't you being blinded by your emotions?"

“I have evidence that he embezzled a lot of money from Xia Chen and his sister. It’s impossible for him to have that much money. He also hit Xia Chen. Would a good person just hit someone like that?”

"Maybe the school gave him the money to hire someone to search for horror files. The Xia Group is a major shareholder of the school, and a hundred or two is nothing to them. As for hitting someone, people's emotions can get out of control sometimes. Director Wang may have been under too much work pressure and lost his temper for a moment. We can't call him a murderer just because of that."

Luo Shimin's stubbornness kicked in: "I trust my first instinct. The moment I saw Director Wang when I first enrolled, I knew he wasn't a good person. Don't worry, I'll find the evidence. I bet you, if I lose, I'll clean the dorm for a week."

Since Luo Shimin started studying at Yishi Academy, she hasn't cleaned her dormitory much. Hu Rongrong said with a mischievous smile, "If you want to bet, bet big. How about cleaning the dormitory for a month, plus breakfast every morning?"

"Let's bet!" The two high-fived to seal their promise.

Hu Rongrong laughed, "What should we do next? I'll listen to you."

Luo Shimin glanced at her watch; it was almost ten o'clock, and half of her class was already over. She decided to skip it. "Let's wait at the school gate," she said. "I want Director Wang to be in our sight as soon as he returns to the academy. I'll soon be able to prove that old man Wang is a bad guy. Even if we don't see Director Wang, we'll at least see Xia Chen."

Hu Rongrong bought snacks and sunflower seeds, and the two sat down on the steps at the school gate, chatting and eating sunflower seeds. Before they knew it, it was eleven o'clock. A black sedan pulled up at the school gate. Luo and Hu hid behind a tree. The car door opened, and Director Wang got out, while the principal remained inside. Director Wang said, "It's almost lunchtime; I'm going to the market to buy groceries." The sedan drove away, and Director Wang headed towards the market.

"Follow him and see what he's up to." Luo Shimin and Hu Rongrong followed behind Director Wang, watching him enter the market. This was the first time the two had ever followed someone, and their hearts were racing. Director Wang stopped several times, almost getting discovered.

Upon entering the market, the vendors greeted Director Wang warmly, clearly indicating that he was a regular customer. The butcher greeted him enthusiastically, "Director Wang, you're here again! What would you like to order today? How about these ribs? I just got them this morning. I know you love bones, so I saved some especially for you."

"Thanks." Director Wang smiled brightly. "The ribs look good, they make my mouth water. Weigh this piece and I'll buy them all."

The vendor was grinning from ear to ear. A huge pork chop, weighing at least ten pounds, was weighed. Director Wang didn't even haggle over the price; he paid, carried the rib around the market, bought nothing else, and went back to school. Luo and Hu followed Director Wang all the way to his apartment building, watching him open the door, go inside, and close it.

Luo Shimin rested her chin on her thumb and forefinger, her eyes narrowed into slits, and said in a low voice,

"This is too strange, too abnormal. There's something wrong, there's definitely something wrong."

Hu Rongrong looked at Luo Shimin as if she were an alien. "What's wrong? What's abnormal? What did you find? I didn't find anything."

“You lack the eyes of a detective. First of all, when Old Wang went to the market to buy vegetables, all the vendors greeted him, but the butcher was the most enthusiastic, which is suspicious.”

"What's wrong with that?" Hu Rongrong's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Can't you analyze this? This shows that Old Wang often goes to buy meat. He just bought more than ten kilograms of pork ribs. His wife and children went to Europe many years ago and only come back during holidays and Chinese New Year. Since he lives alone, more than ten kilograms of pork ribs is enough for him to eat for a month. Don't you find that strange?"

"What's so strange about that? If you can't finish it, you can put it in the refrigerator. It won't spoil no matter how long you keep it. You can eat it whenever you want. Is that even a problem?"

Luo Shimin tapped Hu Rongrong's head with her finger. "Please, can't you use your brain for a second? Xu Zihua's cause of death was that all his bones were eaten by disgusting worms. Old Wang bought over ten kilograms of bones, which is probably for some kind of perverted experiment at home, and the bones are used to feed the worms. We'll go back to the market later and ask the butcher if Old Wang comes to buy meat very often, and that will verify what I said."

"Uh..." Hu Rongrong was speechless, not knowing what to say.

"Now let me address the second point. Old Wang is around fifty years old, rather thin, and weighs less than 100 pounds. He carried over ten pounds of pork ribs in one hand all the way from the market to home without resting or switching hands, and he wasn't even out of breath or red-faced. Could you do that?"

Hu Rongrong thought about it seriously for a moment, "I can't do it, but isn't this strange? Many people exercise regularly, which only means that Director Wang is in good physical condition, not that he would kill someone. As for the perverted experiment, it's all your speculation, without any basis at all."

“When have you ever seen Old Man Wang exercising? I certainly haven’t. I’ll find the evidence. Come with me to the market again.” Luo Shimin pulled Hu Rongrong back to the market and found the butcher who sold ribs to Director Wang. “Two beautiful ladies, what would you like to eat? I guarantee the meat I sell is fresh and clean. You’ll want to eat it again after the first time, and you’ll never forget it after the second time.”

Luo Shimin said, "We're not buying meat. I wanted to ask you something. Does the person who bought your ribs often come to buy meat?"

Upon hearing that he wasn't buying meat, the butcher's smile vanished instantly, and he said rudely, "I don't know anything. If you're not buying meat, then get out of here and don't interfere with my business."

"This might help you remember something," Luo Shimin said, placing a hundred yuan on the meat counter.

The butcher grabbed the banknotes with lightning speed and stuffed them into his pocket. "The person who just bought the ribs is Director Wang from Yishi College. He's a rich man who never haggles. He comes here often to buy meat. From what I've observed, he especially likes ribs. He bought more than ten kilograms of ribs from me the day before yesterday. I didn't expect him to come again today."

Luo Shimin said smugly, "See? I told you so, old man Wang. He really is suspicious."

Hu Rongrong insisted on her point of view, "It's just a dozen or so pounds of pork ribs. There are plenty of people who come to the market to buy pork ribs every day. I still maintain that it doesn't prove that he was related to Xu Zihua's death."

"Come with me." Luo Shimin dragged Hu Rongrong back to the staff quarters of Yishi College, found Director Wang's trash can, and, ignoring how dirty it was and how smelly it was, covered her nose with one hand and started rummaging through the trash can with a small wooden stick in the other. Hu Rongrong pinched her nose and said, "Luo Shimin, what's wrong with you now? It stinks too much, let's go quickly."

"It'll be over soon." A minute later, Luo Shimin threw down the stick. "Just as I thought, there were no bones in the trash can. Now you should believe me, right? Old Wang is a bad guy."

Hu Rongrong covered her nose and looked at the trash can; there were no bones inside. "Okay, I admit Director Wang has a problem, but I still don't believe he would kill someone. Don't you remember? The night Teacher Su's husband died, Director Wang went to Teacher Su's house to check on her. I don't believe he would kill Teacher Su."

“Rongrong, you’ve been fooled by his appearance. There are plenty of people who are two-faced. My dad always tells me, never judge a person’s character by their appearance. If bad people wore their badness on their faces, our world would be as beautiful as a fairy tale.”

"Let's eat first, I'm a little hungry." Hu Rongrong suddenly realized that she didn't understand Luo Shimin very well. She used to think of Luo Shimin as very simple, but in reality, Luo Shimin was far more complicated than she thought.

Kamijing City Police Department, underground morgue.

Under Ye Cheng and Li Xiao's cover, Xia Chen finally entered the underground morgue. Ever since the disappearance of Liu Yanting's body severely damaged the police station's reputation, the chief had invested heavily in installing state-of-the-art security facilities. One had to pass through layers of checkpoints to enter the morgue, and police officers were on duty 24 hours a day. If it weren't for Ye Cheng's father, Ye Fanye, still having some influence in the police station, Xia Chen wouldn't have been able to see Su Youqing's body at all.

Ye Cheng opened the iron door of a morgue and dragged out a long shelf covered with a pristine white sheet. "This is Su Youqing's body. You should be prepared before you look at it."

Xia Chen slowly walked over, his hand touching the cold, ruthless steel of the morgue. Lifting the white sheet, Xia Chen saw a horrifying face. Even though he was somewhat prepared, he still took several steps back. It didn't resemble a human face at all; it looked more like a flattened ball from a car crash, the skull broken, features distorted, eyes crooked, mouth drooping, and a nose like a dead snake crawling across its face. Was this still the gentle, charming, and captivating Teacher Su? Xia Chen stammered, "This...this...how...could this...be like this?"

Ye Cheng understood Xia Chen's meaning. He supported Xia Chen and said in a sorrowful tone, "We've done DNA testing, and it is indeed Su Youqing."

Xia Chen suddenly went berserk; the anger he had been deliberately suppressing with reason finally erupted. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face contorted with madness, and she roared hysterically, "Bastards! These bastards! I'm going to kill them! They ruined Teacher Su's family and drove her to insanity, and these bastards still won't let her go! And my roommate Xu Zihua, my sister Asan! What do these beasts from the Xia Group want?"

Ye Cheng hugged Xia Chen tightly and cried out, "Please calm down. I know you're heartbroken. I'm also devastated by Teacher Su's death. She saved my life; she's my savior. You can't let anger blind you. Even if you rush out and kill five or six people from the Xia Group, you'll be caught quickly, and it won't change anything. The Xia Group will continue its criminal activities, and more innocent people will die. So, you need to calm down. What we need is evidence. With evidence, we can completely destroy the Xia Group." Ye Cheng's words had an effect, and Xia Chen gradually calmed down.

Li Xiao stood aside watching, her face pale. She heard Xia and Ye cursing the Xia Group, and she wanted to speak several times, but she hesitated and swallowed her words.

"Let me have some peace and quiet." Xia Chen walked to a corner of the morgue, squatted down, looked at the floor, and remained silent.

Five minutes passed, and Li Xiao asked, "Is he alright?"

Ye Cheng said firmly, "He'll be fine. All the anger that's been bottled up inside him for years has finally been released. I was really afraid he'd get sick from holding it in, but now it's all good. I noticed you seemed to have something to say earlier, is there something you wanted to say?"

Li Xiao shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, I just wanted to comfort Xia Chen, but I didn't know how to bring it up. I'm relieved to hear that he's alright."

Five minutes later, Xia Chen stood up, walked over to Ye Cheng, and said, "I have an idea that can catch the murderer!"

008 Bait

Based on Ye Cheng's understanding of Xia Chen over the years, he immediately guessed what Xia Chen was planning and refused, "No, I won't let you do it. It's too dangerous. If something happens to you, how can I face Ah San in the afterlife? Let the police handle the case and catching the murderer. You should go back to Yishi Academy and be a good student."

Xia Chen countered, "Do you have any leads on the murderer? Can the police catch the murderer within 24 hours? If you can't, then follow my method. If everything goes smoothly, by this time tomorrow, the murderer will already be locked up in the police jail, and you can sit in your office leisurely drinking your tea."

Ye Cheng roared, "No, I mean no. It's too risky, I'd rather die than agree to it."

“I don’t need your permission.” Xia Chen walked to the door of the morgue. “What I do is my business, it’s none of your concern. I’m going back to Yishi Academy now.”

Ye Cheng said, "I won't let you do it. I will tell Luo Shimin about your plan, tell Hu Rongrong, and tell everyone in Yishi Academy."

Xia Chen laughed and said, "It's alright. Analyzing the killer's behavior, he's an arrogant guy. He thinks no one can catch him, otherwise he wouldn't have killed the people around the target before killing the target. If the killer really wants to kill me, even if it's a trap, he will still kill me. Furthermore, even if we can't catch him tonight, we can figure out his methods of killing, and catching him will be a very easy thing."

Li Xiao understood what Xia Chen's plan was, and shouted, "Stop arguing! Please, you two calm down. You're both in your twenties, yet you're arguing like children. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at if word gets out? Let's sit down and calmly discuss this. Maybe we can find a solution that sat out the best of both worlds."

Xia and Ye stopped arguing. They stood back to back, silent. Li Xiao sighed. These two seemed mature on the surface, but inside they were still children. She finally understood the meaning of "birds of a feather flock together." "This isn't the place to talk. I know a coffee shop not far from the police station. Let's talk there. We can grab something to eat while we're at it; I'm a little hungry." Xia and Ye exchanged a glance, snorted, and followed Li Xiao to the coffee shop. After arguing for three hours, they finally settled on a plan: Xia Chen would act as bait, and Ye Cheng would pretend to be Xia Chen's roommate, waiting for the murderer in the dormitory. This was a classic case of "Jiang Taigong fishing"—waiting for the willing to take the bait. The plan didn't require many people. After gathering the necessary equipment, Xia Chen, Ye Cheng, and Li Xiao returned to Yishi Academy.

At the entrance of the teachers' apartment, Xia Chen found Luo and Hu, who were still monitoring Director Wang. Ye Cheng deliberately teased Hu Rongrong, grabbing her shoulder and asking gruffly, "What are you doing?"

Hu Rongrong was startled. "We'll just rest here for a bit and leave right away." Hearing laughter behind her, she turned around and saw Xia Chen and the others grinning at her. She angrily cursed, "You stinky cop, you actually played a trick on me! How awful! I'm not finished with you!"

Ye Cheng retorted, "You can't blame me for this. I just asked you what you were doing. It's your problem that you're timid. How can you blame me?"

Enraged, Hu Rongrong stomped hard on Ye Cheng's foot, sending him tumbling more than a meter into the air in pain. Everyone burst into laughter. After the laughter subsided, Luo Shimin explained her suspicions about Director Wang and the suspicious points she had discovered while following him. After listening to Luo Shimin, Xia Chen said, "Director Wang does have many suspicious points. Shimin, you don't need to follow him anymore. We'll catch the murderer tonight, and then the truth will be revealed."

Luo Shimin praised, "Xia Chen, you're amazing! You came up with a solution so quickly. I admire you so much."

Ye Cheng said sarcastically, "Don't get excited yet. Wait until you hear his plan before you speak. I think this is a suicide plan made by a madman. Shooting him in the head with a pistol would be faster. He wants to sacrifice himself to catch the murderer."

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Xia Chen explained his plan to Hu and Luo. After hearing Xia Chen's plan, the two women fell silent.

After a while, Luo Shimin suddenly rushed over and hugged Xia Chen, "Xia Chen, you're amazing! I love you so much! I support you! Tonight, I'm going to wait with you for the murderer to come, catch it, and avenge Teacher Su!" Hu Rongrong also said, "I want to join too! I want to show it how powerful I am!"

"That's not a good idea." Xia Chen didn't want Luo Shimin to be in danger, so he declined, "You two are girls. Tonight we're going to ambush in the boys' dormitory. In the summer, the boys' dormitory is full of naked men. It's not convenient for you to go there."

Luo Shimin blushed and pretended to be nonchalant, saying, "What does it matter? I've seen everything, I've seen plenty of naked men." Hu Rongrong chimed in, "I've seen at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, naked men. I don't believe those guys in the boys' dormitory would dare to be naked in front of me." Hu Rongrong was right. In the vote of the boys at Yishi Academy for the ten most terrifying people, Luo Shimin ranked first with an overwhelming advantage, Hu Rongrong came in second, and the combined votes of the remaining eight people on the list couldn't even come close to a fraction of the two girls' votes.

Ye Cheng suddenly laughed and said, "I just found out that your family runs a bathhouse. No wonder you've seen so many naked men."

"You can go die now." Hu Rongrong stomped hard on Ye Cheng's other foot, and Ye Cheng jumped up again. His poor foot was almost flattened from being trampled.

Xia Chen said, "We don't know the killer's method yet. It's really not suitable for you two girls. If the killer senses something is wrong and stops showing up, we'll have failed completely."

Luo Shimin clapped her hands and exclaimed, "I understand now. It has to be a boy, right? There are only two of you, you're missing one. We can skip it, but I have to help you find the last one." Luo Shimin then took out her phone and made a call.

Ye Cheng immediately guessed who Luo Shimin was looking for and exclaimed, "No way, she's looking for him again?" Looking at Hu Rongrong's mischievous smile, Ye Cheng had a bad feeling.