Translator: Reina Editor: Killian
That was the sound of the elevator!
The elevator?
“Clang.”
The elevator door closed.
“Clang.”
The doors knocked into something… something soft.
“Clang.”
The doors automatically inched back open, then slid close again.
“Clang.”
It knocked into the object again.
“Clang.”
The elevator door kept opening and closing and opening again.
Sun Zheng recalled the “ding” he’d heard earlier.
However, the elevator was on the fourth floor.
And there was something jammed in its doors.
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.
Sun Zheng felt Lu Xia gripping his hand tightly.
Kgera wf.
Ojb Itjcu abiv Ojb Zjb atja tf tfjgv atf “vlcu” bo atf fifnjabg.
Ojb Zjb rjk atf tjcvoei bo tjlg pjwwfv lc atf fifnjabg vbbgr.
Ccv veglcu atf qjagbi, Ojb Itjcu kfca vbkcrajlgr ktlif Ojb Zjb kfca eqrajlgr.
Oe Wlj tfiv Vec Itfcu, vgjuulcu atf ijaafg jibcu. Dea Vec Itfcu yjmxtjcvfvis ugjyyfv Oe Wlj pera jr tf kjr jybea ab ub vbkcrajlgr. “Gbc’a.”
Clack.
The elevator doors were still opening and closing, but they caught a second sound in this never-ending darkness.
Footsteps.
Step, by step, by step, they were slowly, firmly, climbing up the stairs.
Fear seized the two men, spreading up from their soles to the very ends of their hair.
Zhang Bing had come back up after patrolling the lower floors. He was dragging his feet wearily, holding his torch which no longer had any light.
Step, by step, by step, he climbed up the stairs.
“Zhang—that Lao Zhang is coming up!” Sun Zheng hissed.
For a moment, his intuition overcame reason.
“This way!” Dragging Sun Zheng, Lu Xia turned and ran towards the corridor on the fourth floor.
They couldn’t take the route which passed by the elevator, yet they also had to make sure to keep away from the footsteps coming up the stairs.
Lu Xia switched the flashlight on without any prior warning. The sudden bright flash made Sun Zheng squint his eyes involuntarily.
He remembered: the two instances when the flashlight was switched on and off were when they had to be more vigilant than ever.
They didn’t have the time to pause!
The footsteps landed onto the last step, the dull sound echoing throughout the entire fourth floor.
Sun Zheng felt a chill piercing into his heart.
“Here, the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Massage!” Lu Xia exclaimed excitedly and kicked open the yellow door to their right.
The flashlight swept across the sign on the door: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Massage.
It was a safe room because all four walls were covered. Diagrams detailing the locations of acupoints on a human body, as well as advertisements about traditional chinese medicine products caught their eye.
At the same time, the acrid bitterness of herbs assaulted their nose.
Sun Zheng whirled around and slammed the door behind him shut. A gust of cold wind generated from the action rushed out and down into the corridor.
They, they were finally safe.
No… no…
Something felt wrong.
The safe rooms on the fourth floor were the Injection Room and the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
And the location of those rooms on the map… was to the right of the elevator.
They came down from the left of the elevator… and Sun Zheng was certain they definitely did not run by the elevator.
However, the sign above the door clearly read “Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Massage”.
So why did he feel this uneasy?
Could it be that there was a lapse in his memory?
“Zheng… Zheng…” Lu Xia cautiously called out to him from behind.
“It’s nothing.” Sun Zheng turned around, already regaining his composure. “What happened just now? What the hell happened to the elevator and stairs?!”
“Zheng,” Lu Xia walked over with light steps and placed his hand on Sun Zheng’s shoulder. “Fuck if I know what’s going on. Nothing in this godforsaken place has been right since the start.”
“I have no idea what’s going on either. Why was there the sound of that Lao Zhang going upstairs, why was there…” Sun Zheng’s chest heaved. “What if… that was from someone else who’s trapped here too? Maybe we can team up with them…”
“That’s impossible. Zheng, you know we are the only ones here.”
“Lu Xia… Did you know, actually… actually I’ve heard of that same story about ‘fierce ghosts’.” Sun Zheng raised his head and stared straight at Lu Xia. “But I’ve never believed in ghosts. There is no such thing as ghosts in this world.”
“I know that you are a sceptic, Zheng.” Lu Xia’s smile was slightly dejected. “Tell me what you’ve heard?”
“People who have been wronged unjustly or have suffered a great misfortune—in fact, it’s exactly like what Lao Mao recorded. Shave their hair and blindfold their eyes with a black cloth, to prevent them from turning, and…”
“Shave their hair and cover their eyes with a black cloth to prevent them from turning? But the phenomena is actually scientifically attributed to biological reactions caused by external stimulation to the corpse in a closed environment.”
“That’s why—that’s why they would also wrap a piece of pure gold in hair and stuff it into the corpse’s mouth.”
Lu Xia’s eyes widened. He grabbed Sun Zheng’s shoulders with both hands and met his gaze.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.” Sun Zheng nodded.
“I understand now… I’ve felt… I’ve always felt that…” Lu Xia’s smile deepened meaningfully.
reina: I’ve heard of Chinese death rituals involving placing jade or pearls on the corpse’s lips or in their mouths, but nothing about gold. Of course, this could be because the corpse in this story died tragically, so they didn’t use the usual jade/pearl. China also has many differing traditions in different provinces and a province out there somewhere could have this tradition. Nevertheless, China aside, placing gold or coins with corpses isn’t an uncommon concept in other countries, and this could have been a source of inspiration for the author.
Thanks for the chapter!
People ignoring their guts feeling stress me out!!!
Thanks for the cultural tidbit! And for the update! 😍
This is getting interesting~
Thank you for the ud!
I’m so scared!!!
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
There is another story here, the Miaojiang thing, where the big ghost had his eyes and lips sealed with gold thread, gold poured into the nose and ears and the ears pierced through with golden nails… Basically, they sealed his senses, and while it keeps the ghost from perceiving it’s surroundings, it also seems to make them more aggressive.
And other cultures, like the greek, put a coin in a corpses mouth as ferry fee to Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx which had to be crossed to reach the underworld. Therefore, these coins were called “Charon’s Obols”.