Ghosts in Medical School Horror Files

Chapter 51

In the shadow of the sunlight, the wall appeared particularly glaring.

Led by the police officers, Ye Cheng and Li Xiao arrived at the chemistry lab on the fourth floor. As soon as the door opened, an even stronger, more pungent stench assaulted their senses. Even though Ye Cheng was somewhat prepared, the stench still brought tears to his eyes. Li Xiao's reaction was even more dramatic; after a second or two of stunned silence, she dropped her toolbox, leaned against the corridor wall, and vomited bile. The police officers who had brought them had already vanished without a trace.

Ten minutes later, both of them were wearing three thick masks, and Li Xiao had even sprayed perfume on them, but the smell still managed to get into their nostrils and make their stomachs churn. They barely managed to endure it.

After gradually getting used to it, Ye Cheng didn't rush in. He first looked around.

This is a seemingly normal chemistry lab, with snow-white walls and a clean marble workbench. Various experimental apparatuses are scattered haphazardly on the workbench, some of which still contain experimental liquids.

All of this seems normal, and no one would object, but the person lying on the ground is extremely abnormal.

Only the chest and above remained of the body; her hands were outstretched in tension, and the taut, terrified expression on her face suggested that she had witnessed the most horrible thing in the world before her death!

Her mouth was wide open, but maggots kept crawling out.

Below her chest was almost a pool of blood, radiating outwards in a funnel shape, mixed with various pieces of flesh. The flesh looked as if it had been shredded by the most cruel meat grinder, scattered wantonly around. Each piece of flesh was covered in an unidentified green liquid, within which fat, white maggots wriggled rampant. Ye Cheng immediately thought of a bomb; only something like that could cause such an effect.

Ye Cheng circled the body once, then quickly abandoned his idea. He found no fragments of the object the body was holding, nor any traces of gunpowder around the corpse. More importantly, if it were a bombing, the police would have received the report much earlier, and the chief wouldn't have sent him.

Li Xiao steeled herself and opened the toolbox, taking out tools to examine the corpse. Even though she was a worldly person, this body still opened her eyes. Compared to it, the female ghost in "Midnight Ghost" suddenly seemed quite cute. She believed that from now on, she would never be frightened by female ghosts in horror movies again.

Ye Cheng asked from the side, "How long has she been dead?"

"Judging from the stench and the presence of maggots, the time of death was at least five days ago!"

Five days?

Li Xiao turned her head and asked, "Is there a problem with my deduction?" Ye Cheng's tone clearly revealed his doubt. Determining the time of death is a required course for every forensic doctor, and Ye Cheng's doubt about her deduction was practically an insult to her.

"But according to the statements I have, the time of death could not have been more than ten hours ago. She was still alive and well before 10 p.m. last night."

"Impossible!" Li Xiao snatched the folder from Ye Cheng's hand and read it carefully. Before the heavy rain last night, the deceased had been doing experiments with two female classmates. "How could it have decomposed to this extent in ten hours?" Li Xiao threw the folder to Ye Cheng, picked up her tools to examine the body, and suddenly squatted down, getting very close to the corpse, almost hitting its head. A plump white maggot was crawling out of the corpse's mouth. She couldn't hold back any longer and rushed into the corridor, retching violently.

Ye Cheng watched Li Xiao's retreating figure, his expression complex. If she really was from the Xia Group, it was truly remarkable that she had managed to go this far. Let alone a young girl, even he was finding the smell almost unbearable. How to describe it? The stench of blood mixed with decay and an indescribable fishy smell. This fishy smell was like rotting fish, and the stench was like a used diaper that had been left in a box for three days. In short, it was extremely bizarre. Ye Cheng suddenly thought of another person. If that guy were here, he would probably faint from this strange smell. This just meant that Ye Cheng was still a little better than him. A smug smile appeared on Ye Cheng's lips.

"What are you laughing at? Has the stench of death ruined your brain?" Seeing Li Xiao return, Ye Cheng immediately suppressed his smile and secretly resolved to solve the case before Li Xiao even knew about it. He believed he had the ability to do so.

Li Xiao put on her goggles and knelt down beside the corpse again, concentrating on the autopsy. The white maggots disappeared from her sight, leaving only the body, and her intense urge to vomit gradually subsided. Standing to the side, Ye Cheng watched Li Xiao working diligently and couldn't help but wonder, what if such an excellent policewoman really was a member of the Xia Group?

Ye Cheng shook his head, banishing the thought from his mind. Such a brain-taxing thing, he'd think about it when it actually happened; that was his style.

Li Xiao took a cotton swab from her toolbox, dipped it in some green liquid, and put it into a test tube. She needed to analyze the liquid's composition later; it might be a clue to solving the case. She took out another cotton swab, dipped it in a little blood, and was about to put it into the test tube when she suddenly stopped. She took a small amount of reagent from her toolbox and dripped it onto the cotton swab; the swab's color didn't change. It was this action that led to an important discovery. After trying it several times with the cotton swab, she was certain—yes, that was it, absolutely correct.

"Did you find anything?" Ye Cheng had already noticed Li Xiao's actions.

"This is not human blood."

"Not human blood? What do you mean?" Ye Cheng didn't understand.

Li Xiao removed her mask and said, "I have a reagent that turns pink when it comes into contact with blood. If it's human blood, the reagent will turn pink. If it's not human blood, it won't change color. I've sampled and tested all the bloodstains I could see, and only a small number of them were human blood, while the vast majority were not."

"What kind of blood is that?" Ye Cheng's head was spinning. It wasn't human blood, bringing him one step closer to his guess. Xia Group, what shady business are you up to now? What exactly are you trying to achieve?

"I can't answer that right now. I need to know what kind of blood it is before I can tell you after I get back and analyze it."

Ye Cheng nodded, not saying anything earlier.

Li Xiao continued examining the body, and another huge question arose before her. From the surface features, it appeared the body had been killed by a bomb. But in reality, the body resembled a burst balloon, an explosion from the inside out. She had heard of spontaneous human combustion, but never of spontaneous human explosion. Li Xiao's eyes fell on the various chemical reagents on the table. Could it be that this girl was researching a new type of explosive and accidentally blew herself up? She couldn't rule out this possibility and took samples of the reagents on the table.

Ye Cheng, head down, stared at the documents in his hand. "Zeng Xiaorou, female, 18 years old. One of the few local students at Yishi Academy. Her father, Zeng Lin, is a well-known chemical tycoon in the city. Zeng Xiaorou displayed extraordinary talent in chemistry from a young age. At twelve, she accidentally caused a large explosion while synthesizing high-energy chemical materials, fortunately without causing any casualties. She was then forcibly sent to Yishi Academy, where she quickly became a top student in chemistry." *This little girl didn't blow herself up, did she?* This strange thought popped into Ye Cheng's mind.

Continuing to read, "Xiao Rou is a bit withdrawn, doesn't like making friends, has simple interpersonal relationships, no enemies, no friends, and no boyfriend. She rarely goes back to the dormitory, spending most of her time in the lab. Only one girl named Hu Rongrong is close to her, living across from her dormitory." Ye Cheng put down the folder, rubbing his temples. Just mentioning Hu Rongrong gave Ye Cheng a headache. This girl was too amazing; how could she be connected to just anyone? Hu Rongrong was not only Luo Shimin's best friend, but also Luo Xie's ex-girlfriend. That's right, when Luo Xie saw him with Hu Rongrong, his eyes looked like he wanted to kill. And Luo Xie was a truly ruthless killer. Thinking of the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow blade in his hand, Ye Cheng shuddered. The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, capable of slaying all demons and evil spirits, Ye Cheng didn't want to become a victim of its blade.

Li Xiao happened to see Hu Rongrong's name in the statement and said gloatingly, "That's good, there's going to be a good show, my dear little Ye Ye."

Ye Chengchen's expression changed, and he said seriously, "The autopsy is over? Then hurry up and clean up the scene. The smell is really too bad. The body also needs to be moved back. I'll give you two hours. You need to find out the real cause of death and complete a satisfactory autopsy report."

Li Xiao complained, "It's too much to make me write a fake report again. My mentor taught me that no matter what the situation, surveyors must tell the truth."

"Did your mentor teach you how to solve this case? If not, then do exactly as I say."

Li Xiao was speechless.

Ye Cheng called for help. They covered the body with five body bags, but the peculiar stench still made people want to die. Even after the body was moved and all the windows were opened, the stench lingered for a long time.

Just as Ye Cheng was about to leave, something next to the corpse caught his attention. Ye Cheng immediately bent down and picked it up with his gloved hand. He opened it and couldn't help but frown.

"How could it be him?" Ye Cheng murmured.

002 Shadow

Spring day, sunny day.

It was a rare beautiful day. The spring breeze rustled the branches of the willows that had just sprouted new buds, as if it were blowing through a girl's soft, long hair. The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass.

A warm, ambiguous feeling permeates the air. Tilt your head slightly, and the sunlight gently caresses your face. On days like this, you should sit under the newly sprouting trees in the yard, enjoying the sunshine while reflecting on the overwhelming emotions of life. Or perhaps savor a cup of fragrant tea and read a good book, enjoying the unique freshness of spring.

Of course, you can also visit the most famous local temple, Tianguang Temple, to admire the flowers, just like Xia Chen, Luo Shimin, and Hu Rongrong.

The history of Tenkoji Temple dates back eight hundred years, and it has appeared in the poems of countless literati. However, what it is most famous for is not the eminent monks and pagodas, nor the scriptures and lamps, but the countless cherry blossoms.

It's cherry blossom season now, and Tenkoji Temple is famous for its cherry blossoms. A gentle breeze blows, and the cherry blossoms in front of the window scatter in the air like snow. They fall into the stream that runs through the center of the temple, turning the stream pink.

Standing atop the high pavilion and looking down, bathed in the pale golden sunlight, vast expanses of pink cherry blossom petals danced in the air like fairies. No matter what troubles you face, the moment you see a cherry tree in full bloom, all your worries are destined to vanish.

Cherry blossoms are poignant; their brief, vibrant bloom is ultimately followed by endless desolation. The moment the petals drift away in the wind is like love and life itself—after a dazzling display, only death awaits.

Walking under the cherry blossom trees, the ground is covered with petals, resembling a pink "carpet." In such a scene, you can't help but imagine a stunningly beautiful woman sitting under the tree, playing an ancient sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument), telling stories of joy and sorrow from another distant land, with pink petals dancing in the wind along with her dark hair.

But in reality, there was no sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument), no stunningly beautiful woman, and no songs of stories from another country. Only Luo Shimin's delicate face and her booming voice, like a megaphone, exclaimed, "Wow, the cherry blossoms are so beautiful!" Today she wore a light pink coat, the color of cherry blossoms, and walking among the petals, she seemed to be a blooming, vibrant cherry blossom herself.

The wind blows, and cherry blossoms fall.

Luo Shimin raised her hand to catch the cherry blossoms, and the moment her slender, white fingers shot up, Xia Chen was stunned. She was the most beautiful sight in the world!

Xia Chen felt his heart race, his eyes fixed on Luo Shimin. This must be what it felt like to like someone; he desperately wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her how much he loved her. But Xia Chen suppressed this impulse. Before finding the terrifying files and unraveling the mystery of the Xia Group, he couldn't indulge in romance. The Xia Group was his nightmare, his curse, and he didn't want Luo Shimin to live in its shadow. That kind of bleak existence made living feel like pure suffering. And it could also bring various dangers to her and her family. Thinking of Luo Shimin's brother, Luo Xie, Xia Chen's eyebrows twitched involuntarily. Well, comparatively speaking, Luo Xie seemed to be the more dangerous one.

"Hey, hey, I invited you here to have fun, why aren't you happy at all? Please, with such a beautiful view, don't always have that deadpan look on your face," Luo Shimin's friend Hu Rongrong complained.

Xia Chen deliberately turned his head nonchalantly, shrugged, and said, "What's so interesting about cherry blossoms! All you see are petals falling from the sky. I really don't understand you girls, why are you so moved? What's there to see? It's boring!"

"Hey!" Hu Rongrong shouted angrily, her eyes wide. "You have absolutely no sense of romance! I really can't understand what's going on in your head. I just don't get it. How could Luo Shimin like such a blockhead like you?"

"Why are you two arguing and dragging me into it? And who said I like him?" Luo Shimin's voice trailed off, her pretty face flushing red like a ripe apple. Anyone could tell she was lying.

"Sigh..." Hu Rongrong sighed helplessly, "This thick-skinned girl has fallen for a blockhead. This is going to be interesting."

Tears were practically streaming down Luo Shimin's face. She grabbed Hu Rongrong's hand and said, "Rongrong, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Hu Rongrong laughed heartily, "It's not easy, the little girl has learned to be shy."

A spring breeze swept by, and cherry blossom petals danced in the air like a rain of petals. The three people beneath the petal shower couldn't help but smile slightly; the scene was exquisitely beautiful. A perfect moment, a beautiful view, beautiful women, love, friendship—if time could freeze at this instant, it would be a perfect picture. Unfortunately, things rarely go as planned. A few hours later, the last thing Luo Shimin saw was also a shower of cherry blossoms. At that moment, she smiled, for in the final, enchanting view of her life, she saw Xia Chen's smiling face and felt his soft lips press against hers. She died without regret.

A young couple walked past them. Luo Shimin stared at them enviously. How she wished that one day she could hold Xia Chen's hand and stroll together under the cherry blossoms, enjoying the romance of spring. She wanted to forget everything and simply savor that most beautiful minute of her life.

Luo Shimin turned back to stare at Xia Chen. There was something special about Xia Chen that deeply attracted her. Only Xia Chen could fascinate her like this.

"Oh my, is someone swooning over a girl?" Hu Rongrong said with a coquettish laugh.

"You're the one who's infatuated! Wait till I get my hands on you!" The two girls were playfully bickering. Xia Chen secretly glanced at Luo Shimin, a happy smile spreading across his lips. This was life—this was the life a normal person should have. Xia Chen wanted to live this kind of life.

So close yet so far, two hearts so close yet so far apart.

The two girls, who were playfully fighting, accidentally bumped into someone. Luo Shimin said apologetically, "I'm sorry!"

The man ignored him completely and continued walking forward without turning back. Xia Chen stared at the man. It was early spring, yet the man was still wearing a thick, earthy-yellow overcoat, a scarf wrapped around his head, and a large mask covering half his face. His head was bowed low, making it impossible to see his features; only a wisp of white hair revealed that he was an elderly man. An elderly man appearing in a place where young couples were expressing their love seemed rather strange. And, looking at the man's figure, something seemed vaguely familiar.

Hu Rongrong looked down and saw a notebook on the ground; it must have fallen from the person earlier. She picked it up and called out, "Hey, you dropped your notebook." Her shout seemed to make the person quicken their pace, and they quickly disappeared from the three of them's sight. Hu Rongrong angrily cursed, "My kindness has been taken for granted! I finally managed to be a good person, and this has hurt me so much!" Hu Rongrong raised her hand to throw the notebook away.

"Don't throw it away yet, let me see it." Xia Chen had a feeling that this notebook was deliberately left for them by that person. The cover of the notebook was very ordinary, dirty and tattered, but when Hu Rongrong raised her hand just now, he saw that several pages inside were completely black, which was very similar to the horror files.

"Is there a problem?" Luo Shimin asked excitedly. Ever since solving several bizarre cases with Xia Chen, Luo Shimin had gradually come to enjoy being a detective. The sense of accomplishment you feel when you peel back the layers of mystery and find the culprit is simply indescribable.

"A few pages here look like a horror file?"

"A horror file?" The two women were both taken aback. Luo Shimin recalled the nightmare she had the day Xia Chen came to report: a long-haired man with a face full of mouths, drooling, told her he was holding a horror file. Hu Rongrong paused, then asked, "The horror file of the horror file?"

Although her question was a bit confused, Xia Chen understood what she meant and nodded, saying, "It's that terrifying file." Xia Chen flipped to the black pages; the paper felt slippery to the touch, like toad skin, and carried a cold aura that seemed to seep into his body through his fingertips. Seeing the contents written in blood-red lettering, Xia Chen shuddered, a look of terror crossing his face.

Luo Shimin asked, "Is there a problem?"

“Our three names are on this.”

"WHAT?" Hu Rongrong exclaimed. Luo Shimin reached out and took the notebook, turning to the black page and reading it aloud.

There was a couple at Yishi Academy. The man was handsome, dashing, and talented, while the woman was so beautiful that she could make fish sink and geese fall from the sky, and the moon hide its face in shame. They were the most enviable couple in the school.

One day, for reasons no one knows, the girl broke up with the boy. The reason was simple: she no longer loved him. The boy didn't believe it. He tried everything to win her back, but to no avail. He finally understood that the girl truly didn't love him anymore. One afternoon, he asked the girl to meet him at the lakeside where they often went on dates. He said to her, "I've been looking into things these past few days. No other boys have appeared in your life. Come back to me. Without you, I feel like a walking corpse. If you don't come back, I'll just have to die."

The girl said coldly, "No one in this world can live without anyone else. You won't die if I leave you; you're still alive and well, aren't you?" She sneered, "If you really died, maybe I'd consider being with you."

The boy lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.

The girl shook her head dismissively and turned to leave. She hadn't gone far when she heard the boy call out to her, "After I die, I want to be like your shadow, inseparable from you, accompanying you every day."

The girl hesitated for a moment, then left without turning back.

The next morning, the girl was awakened from her sleep by a commotion. Her roommate ran into the room shouting, "Something terrible has happened! Someone committed suicide by the lake!" The girl broke out in a cold sweat, wondering if he was really dead. She couldn't resist going to the lake to see for herself. She pulled one of the girls from the dorm to the lakeside, and in the distance, she saw a familiar figure hanging near the tree where they often met. It was him! He had hanged himself; he was dead! He was using the belt she had given him for his birthday. His body swayed in the wind, and his shadow on the ground trembled gently.

The girl's mind went blank. She didn't want him to die; she had just casually said something that made her angry, but he died!

A dozen minutes later, the police car arrived. She watched as the police lowered him from the tree. He lay quietly on the grass, just as he used to sleep in her arms. She wanted to go closer and take one last look at him, but she couldn't muster the courage to go over. Just as the boy was about to be loaded into the police car, she walked to the side. A gust of wind blew away the white sheet covering his face, and she saw his face. He was no longer as handsome as before. His face was swollen and purplish-black, his eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets, and a line of bloody tears hung from the corners of his eyes. His tongue was pulled out, like a dead snake crawling on his once handsome face. The belt she had given him was tightly wrapped around his neck, leaving a horrific scar.

Tears blurred her vision, and just as the boy was being lifted into the police car, she heard his familiar voice again.

'I will be with you like a shadow, always by your side.' The girl felt a cold aura enveloping him.

Not long after the boy's death, the girl's friends noticed that her behavior was becoming increasingly strange. She often sat alone in a corner talking to herself, sometimes even letting out happy laughter. When her friends asked her what was wrong, she would happily reply that he was back and that she was so happy to be with him. When her friends asked where he was, the girl would point to her shadow on the ground and say, "He's right there. Can't you see him? He's smiling at you, smiling so happily."

Her friends all thought she had gone mad and gradually distanced themselves from her. The girl had fewer and fewer friends, and her complexion worsened. Finally, one evening, the girl was found dead in her dormitory. She lay naked on the floor, seemingly embracing her own shadow. Just as people called the police and were about to leave, those present witnessed a scene they would never forget: the shadow on the floor moved on its own, and amidst screams, it walked out the door and disappeared into the darkness of the night. A few days later, a boy in the same class as the two girls committed suicide. From his suicide note, everyone understood the truth: he also loved the girl, and he had lost control and defiled her, which was why she decided to leave the boy she loved. According to the boy's friend, in the days leading up to his suicide, he had told everyone he met that his shadow had disappeared!

Although the truth came to light, the resentment of the deceased boy could not be dispelled. From then on, a story about a shadow began to circulate in the school. When a girl walked alone on campus late at night, she might encounter the boy's shadow and be taken to another world by it.

Luo Shimin said, "It's nothing. It's just a very ordinary ghost story. It's just that the setting is our school."

“Keep reading.”

Hu Rongrong turned to another page, where it read in crooked handwriting: "On the 19th... at... approaching Luo Shimin... Xia Chen tried his best... but he still couldn't solve it... and could only watch with Hu Rongrong... die in agony! The door has opened, terror is about to descend!" Smaller print next to it described the door's location in detail. The door was actually inside the laboratory building, a place she had been to countless times, and there was no door there at all.

Upon seeing these malicious words, Hu Rongrong angrily questioned Xia Chen, "You've solved several cases, yet you believe something like this? This must be some guy's prank."

"No...no...that black paper is the kind of paper unique to horror archives, you can't mistake the feel of it."

The two women simultaneously touched the paper; the smooth, cold feel was indeed characteristic of ordinary paper. Hu Rongrong, still somewhat skeptical, asked, "How can you be sure this is the paper from the Horror Files? Have you seen it before...?"