Translator: Reina Editor: Killian
As soon as I reached the stairs on the fourth floor, I spotted Lao Zhang rushing up. He was sweating profusely, and he let out a long sigh of relief when he saw me.
“Old Mao, it seems that everything is still fine,” he panted.
“That’s good to hear.” Relieved, we turned around, returning to the fifth floor.
He pushed past me, brisk walking as if there was something chasing him.
“Look, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I added.
“Yeah…” he answered weakly.
I smiled, but quickly realised that our surroundings seemed to be darker than before. After taking a closer look, I noticed that the flashlight in Lao Zhang’s hand had long gone out and only mine was still emitting a faint light.
“What’s wrong? Did it run out of battery?” I asked.
“No idea. Anyway, it was pitch black all the way down to the first floor, so the dark doesn’t really scare me anymore,” he replied, his tone hesitant.
I briefly responded with an “oh”. With his hasty pace, we quickly returned to the duty room.
After tidying up the room, I estimated it to be almost 2:30 in the morning, so I went to bed early.
The light turned off with a click, plunging us back into complete darkness. The hospital around us was dead silent.
“I say, Lao Mao, you are too careless. The elevator wasn’t locked. When I made my way to the third floor, I heard a ‘ding’ downstairs and it scared the hell out of me…” Lao Zhang muttered on his bed.
I turned onto my side. My heart skipped a beat.
The elevator was not locked? No, I obviously locked it, so how did Lao Zhang hear the ‘ding’?
And just now… he just said it was pitch black… all the way down to the first floor?
But that’s not right either. There were still people in the nurse’s station and emergency room, and the lights in the hall were still on…
“Old Zhang,” I called out to him.
No response.
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.
Mbgufa la, P’ii jrx jujlc abwbggbk. P gbiifv yjmx bnfg jcv ofii jriffq.
August 15, 1998
Qtfc P kbxf eq lc atf wbgclcu, la kjr qjra fifnfc b’mibmx. Ktf tbrqlaji kjr yehhlcu klat qfbqif.
Ktewq, atewq, atewq. Ktfgf kjr rbwfbcf qbecvlcu bc atf vbbg.
“Yiv Zjb, jgf sbe eq? Jbwf bnfg delmxis, atfgf lr rbwfatlcu kgbcu klat atf fifnjabg.” Pa kjr atf tfjv cegrf’r ibev nblmf.
I sat up abruptly. “Ah, I got it!” I responded, and heard the head nurse’s retreating footsteps.
“Old Zhang, wake up!” I yelled towards the bed next to mine.
However, the bed was empty. The white quilt was folded neatly into a square and the bowl of leftover noodles with beef soup was still left to the side.
So you’re already up… Damn, couldn’t you have called me up too?
I stumbled out of the duty room in a daze and the smell of disinfectant washed over me immediately. I frowned, then felt a sudden pain pricking my eyes.
They felt swollen under my fingers.
“Aiyo, old Mao, what happened to you!” A little nurse passing by gasped when she saw me.
“Huh?”
“Your eyes are so swollen! I’ll apply some medication for you.” She took out a soaked gauze and held it up, wanting to apply it for me.
I briefly thanked her but hurried away with the gauze instead. There was still the matter with the elevator.
When I reached the fourth floor, I saw a large group of people, including the head nurse, as well as several male nurses and electricians in the courtyard.
“Ah, old Mao, you are here!” The head nurse cried, “Oh, these eyes…”
“They’re alright. What’s wrong with the elevator?”
“When you locked the elevator yesterday, did you find any problems with it? This morning, after Lao Feng (the substitute employee) unlocked the elevator, a patient used it to go to the fourth floor, but the elevator door wouldn’t open for the longest time, and everyone got worried…”
“Ah?” I was shocked, “But last night…”
Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang said that the elevator moved again…
“Fortunately, Lao Feng managed to get it open… Fortunately, otherwise…” The head nurse added, and the people around also started discussing in whispers.
“Oh, it’s already resolved, that’s good.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
I approached the elevator. The doors opened slowly, only to reveal Lao Feng coming out while dripping with sweat. When he saw me standing in front of him, he was taken aback for a moment, then laughed loudly. “Hey, Lao Mao! Did you see something you shouldn’t have seen? Why do they look like they’ve been covered under a piece of black cloth, haha!”
Black cloth?
A sudden chill ran down my spine. I took a careful look at my reflection on the elevator’s walls, and froze up.
There was a large bruise from my eyebrows to cheekbones. The feeling it gave me was indescribably weird.
It looked just as though I was blindfolded by a black cloth.
I just hoped this wasn’t because I’d seen something.
“Look. See what I found!” Old Feng yells rang out from behind me.
“Oh, so someone used this to jam the elevator doors! How wicked!
“See, I told you there had to be something! So this was what caused the problem with the elevator. But how could such a small item cause the elevator to jam?!”
As the crowd continued discussing, I turned my head and saw Lao Feng holding a misshapen round object in his hands. It was covered in paint and dirt.
Something dark.
A mass that was all tangled together.
I walked over and lifted the round object up to take a closer look.
Hair. It was hair with thin strands, but they were all oily and covered with a film of dirt which resembled black mud.
I threw it away quickly and dusted my hands vigorously, but they still felt inexplicably dirty.
“Where’s Lao Zhang?” I yelled loudly over my shoulder.
“Lao, Lao Zhang?” the head nurse was puzzled at my question.
“Ah, I meant, where did Lao Zhang go so early in the morning?” I increased the volume of my voice.
The head nurse replied, “I didn’t see him last night! Even on patrols, we didn’t run into each other at all.”
“How could it be? He obviously…” My heart tightened. “Then what time did you rest last night?”
“The emergency room was closed at one o’clock in the morning, but we stayed until two or three o’clock!”
“That’s strange. Lao Zhang told me that there were no lights on on the first floor!”
“Nonsense, the lights were on!” the head nurse exclaimed.
I sprinted back to the duty room on the fifth floor. Lao Zhang was still not there.
August 16, 1999
Attachment: Mao Zhonggui left Tonghua Hospital in October 1999.
Zhang Bing had never appeared since then.
*
After closing the notebook, Lu Xia glanced sideways at Sun Zheng. “Did you understand that?”
“Ah?” Sun Zheng was momentarily stunned by the unexpected question. “Actually, I don’t quite understand what it means.”
“Weren’t you a smart honours student?” Lu Xia jested half-heartedly. “This entry was written by a night watchman on duty, someone who’d experienced something odd. Simply put, this dark incident record book is supposed to detail the experience of those who have come across supernatural stuff in this very hospital. We instructed them to write down every detail. Treat it just like writing a novel, where they can write anything they want to. The important thing is to reflect the main points of the paranormal incidents.” Lu Xia patted the bright red book in his hand.
“So the story here can be regarded as a real event record?” Sun Zheng smiled. “Then why can’t I find the ‘main point’ that you mentioned?”
Lu Xia returned his smile. He pulled a small item out from the pocket of his trousers. It was a clipping from a book, and he handed it over to Sun Zheng.
“I cut this stub out from a book. It was from the research of a Japanese folklorist by the name of Furushima.”
‘In every city, there are evils and curses that cannot be eliminated, and the resentment gathers to form the chasm of the land.’
“Do you know the top ten haunted places in Japan? This is the conclusion he has made after a decade of research on those ten places,” Lu Xia elaborated. “And my own conclusion is that it is impossible for us trespassers to resolve the resentment gathered in the chasm. All we can do is hope we don’t get devoured by it.”
Lu Xia: I do not taste good. Do not eat me.
Sun Zheng:
Chasm:
Lmao, I didn’t think Lu Xia would say “let’s give up, we can’t do it” before even trying 😂 that’s a nice change from mc and ml of other novels
Thank you for the update!
Hahaha, when I read the parts about Lu Xia wanting to give up, I’m always like ‘sir what??’ 😂 Lu Xia is someone who gets enthusiastic fast and also loses interest very quickly lol
Thank you for reading!
Is Lu Xia a hidden salted fish???
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛