Translator: Reina Editor: Killian
Entry by: Li Ting (a nurse in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine during 1999 to 2002)
The room allocated to the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine was changed, and our staff were all dissatisfied. Why must we move to that one particular office? No one knew, but the dean’s stance remained firm with no room for negotiation. Who knew which physician in our department offended the Board?
Though the new room was just on the other end of the same corridor, it was after all, the room that everyone feared!
That was the room burned down in the fire in 2000! After it had been vacant for more than half a year, who’d expected that the bad luck would have fallen on their department.
I’m someone who is a little superstitious. This kind of place where someone died in it, and even died in such a bizarre accident, is considered extremely unlucky. Furthermore, no one knew exactly how bad the fire was. The room was sealed off right after the incident and no one was allowed to see the aftermath.
Everyone assumed that the scene inside must be terrifying.
Many of the staff said they saw the female corpse when she was carried out of the room, and they said the body was so charred that it was practically a curled up black mass. A white cloth was placed over the body, but the exposed parts looked scorched and brittle, as though any amount of friction will cause it to crumble into ashes.
Of course there was no way to identify such a corpse. The hospital didn’t want to spend an extra sum of money for it either. They simply stuck a notice for it at the front gates over the next few days, and swept the entire matter under the rug when no one came to claim the corpse.
In the end, after putting it off, the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine still had to move over.
After moving in, I didn’t think there was anything wrong. With all the papers on the walls, I didn’t feel like it was as scary as I’d expected.
I was on the morning shift today and there weren’t many people coming by, so I started chatting with the other few staff on duty.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ma Yu was eating an apple, and she started recounting the case that happened several days ago in the hospital once again. “I heard that they didn’t manage to save that abandoned baby. After all that, the baby still died!”
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“The hearts of people these days…” Dr. Xu, an old physician, sighed.
“It’s not necessarily good for the child to survive. With such irresponsible parents, their life would be a living hell!” I said.
“That reminds me, have you heard what Qunfang-jie said? About, about the toilet in our building?” Ma Yu perked up and was about to start telling ghost stories again.
“I’m tired of hearing it!” The other two nurses grumbled, waving their hands.
“That’s the story of a baby too. There are so many irresponsible parents around. It’s hard to say whether these babies will take revenge on them one day!” Ma Yu said contemplatively.
Dr. Xu’s expression stiffened when he heard her comment. “Don’t talk nonsense, especially in a place like here.”
Hearing the physician’s serious tone, the nurses merely pouted and stayed silent.
“It’s not just the parents,” I hurriedly changed the subject. “Isn’t there a person who looks like an aunt sitting at the door these days? Who knows why she has been coming here daily and sitting there alone. No one ever approaches her either. I passed by her today, and asked her out of curiosity but guess what happened?”
The others looked at me strangely. Ma Yu paused, then asked, “What?”
“She told me she came to look for her daughter. Her daughter works in our hospital, but I didn’t manage to catch what job it was. Her accent was too strong. It’s as if she came from a country far, far away. Her speech is also all over the place, and she kept repeating herself. Anyway, basically all she kept saying was “looking for her daughter, looking for her daughter” and “bringing her granddaughter” to find her daughter. I guess it’s because her daughter has been working here and didn’t go home for a long time. Her husband probably died of illness, so she brought her granddaughter to find her daughter.”
“Then, then where’s the daughter?” Ma Yu frowned.
“Wait, wait,” Xiao Cui interrupted our conversation with a puzzled look on her face. “What aunt are you talking about? At the gate of our hospital? Why haven’t I seen her before?”
Another nurse also interjected timidly. “I, I have never seen her before either.”
I was surprised. “How is that possible? She’s just by the door all the time. I think I’ve seen her around since last week, right, Ma Yu?”
Ma Yu shook her head vigorously, and the look she shot me appeared even stranger than before. “Actually, I have never seen her either.”
I wanted to interject, but Dr. Xu, who was reading a book by the corner, suddenly spoke up. “What about her granddaughter? Didn’t she say that she brought her granddaughter along with her? Have you seen the child before?”
“Oh, I’ve never seen her, I guess she’d gone out to play…” My heart leapt right after saying this and a chill rushed up my back. “But, but… that aunt, she always seemed to be in this pose…”
A pose where her arms were lifted, as though she was carrying a baby, only that, there was no child.
*
“Wait,” Sun Zheng held Lu Xia’s hand, stopping him from turning the page. “Stop here first. It’s getting hotter and hotter in this room. It’s getting too difficult to breathe.”
Lu Xia’s face was also flushed. Beads of sweat trickled down his face. “But I think this story has a connection with this room!”
“You’re right, there’s definitely a connection,” Sun Zheng said between light pants. “But I think we will still need to start finding a way to get out of here first. We can’t go on like this.”
“You’re right.” Lu Xia’s complexion was much poorer than before too. He stood up to survey the area, then turned to the window. “How about we try to climb over to another room through this window?”
Sun Zheng took one look at the window. “That’s probably not a good idea.” But he still walked towards it while saying so.
He wanted to open the window, but withdrew his hand rapidly. “Hot!”
Lu Xia immediately put down the record book in his hand and rushed to Sun Zheng’s side. When he reached out her hand to touch the window and immediately withdrew too. “It’s just like it’s burning!”
“How could such a thing happen?” Sun Zheng frowned at Lu Xia.
Lu Xia could only return his question with a bitter smile.
Sun Zheng tousled his hair angrily. “I refuse to sit around waiting for death like this. Let’s put our clues together. Who was that woman who was burned to death?”
Lu Xia pointed at the record book. “Isn’t it the aunt who was looking for her daughter?”
“What?” Sun Zheng exclaimed in surprise.
“After reading part of the record, I have a good guess of what happened already. Besides, isn’t the connection obvious?” Lu Xia looked at Sun Zheng, “Everything has a reasonable explanation.”
Sun Zheng lifted the corners of his lips. He peered at Lu Xia. “So what you’re saying is that the aunt who was looking for her daughter was the woman who was burned to death. Then, the daughter she was looking for would be Chen Juan, right?”
Lu Xia smiled. “See, wasn’t that simple for someone as intelligent as you?”
Sun Zheng averted his face.
“The only pity is that no matter how intelligent a person can be, they wouldn’t be able to tell what a vicious person Chen Juan is!” Lu Xia’s tone was full of anger.
Sun Zheng was startled. “Why do you say that she’s vicious?”
Lu Xia pointed to the handprints on the wall, trembling slightly with anger. “Didn’t she set fire to her own mother and child with her own hands?!”
reina: yes, the chapter title is not a mistake. It doesn’t go in order since they jump through different entries in the record book 
It’s 1 am rn and I’m so SCARED
Don’t be reading this so late! 😭
Lu Xia I’d appreciate it if you said these things earlier WITH an explanation! 😭😭😭
Lu Xia knows how to set the mood and keep the suspense 😂