Translator: Reina Editor: Killian
“Look carefully at Lao Mao’s record again.” Lu Xia stuffed the book into Sun Zheng’s hands.
“What?” Sun Zheng didn’t understand the underlying meaning in Lu Xia’s words. “Why would I—”
Before he finished speaking, his body was pressed down by Lu Xia and he immediately fell silent.
Clack, clack, clack…
Footsteps!
It was those footsteps again!
The footsteps sounded like a rhythmic midnight bell. Chime by chime, step by step, floor by floor.
He was heading downstairs.
Sun Zheng wanted to move, but his body was firmly held down by Lu Xia.
After making thirteen steps, the footsteps became softer. Yet each sound still penetrated bit by bit into their nervous and tensely fluttering hearts.
For a moment, Sun Zheng felt as though he could see that hunched figure dragging his feet, taking one weary step at a time, into the darkness.
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.
“Ofa’r mbcalcef ilrafclcu,” Oe Wlj ktlrqfgfv lc Vec Itfcu’r fjg.
Ccbatfg oiluta bo atlgaffc rafqr. Ccbatfg ibcu rajlg ijcvlcu. C abaji bo akb oibbgr.
Jijmx, mijmx, mijmx…
Lf kjr ralii ublcu vbkcrajlgr.
Ktf lcrbieyif, tfjns vjgxcfrr kflutfv vbkc bc atfw.
Kkb oilutar bo atlgaffc rafqr, akb ibcu rajlg ijcvlcur. Lf kjr cbk bc atf rfmbcv oibbg.
“Lu… Xia?” After the encounter with those footsteps again, Sun Zheng felt as though the cold air around him had thickened into a cloying layer on his skin, and he couldn’t help but call out to confirm that his friend was still beside him.
“The footsteps have disappeared, Zheng.” Lu Xia released Sun Zheng. “He only went down to the second floor.”
“Huh?” Sun Zheng was puzzled.
“He only went down to the second floor. There is a morgue on the second floor.”
Morgue? A mortuary?
Hair stuck in the elevator doors, footsteps lingering between the second and fourth floors.
In the darkness, Lao Zhang’s figure stopped on the second floor.
He turned around slightly, the last ray of light reflected on his face.
He looked over, a bleak smile raising the corners of his lips.
Sun Zheng was gripped by terror. This one terrifying scene conjured solely by his imagination lingered in his mind.
“Zheng, your back is all wet,” Lu Xia commented, concerned.
“Lu Xia,” Sun Zheng turned to look at Lu Xia’s hazy outline. “You said you understood something earlier. What was it?”
Lu Xia paused for a long moment, then spat out his next sentence word by word.
“Lao Mao was lying. This record contains a huge lie.”
Sun Zheng’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes widened.
“Look at what was written by Lao Mao.” Lu Xia switched the flashlight on.
It was only now that Sun Zheng saw the interior of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine clearly.
As expected, there were diagrams detailing the locations of the acupuncture points used for acupuncture and massage. There was even a vertical bookcase in the left corner, lined with books. Before the shelf were two desks which were pushed together, with shabby bamboo chairs on either side. Opposite this working space was an awning window, separating them from the vast darkness outside.
Lu Xia led Sun Zheng to the table.
“Look here,” Lu Xia opened the red record book and flipped to Lao Mao’s entry.
After inspecting the sixth floor, I hurried downstairs…… As soon as I reached the stairs of the fourth floor, I spotted Lao Zhang rushing up…
“Lao Mao only inspected the sixth floor. But during that same amount of time, Lao Zhang had actually inspected three floors.” Lu Xia’s tone was cold.
“Yes…” Sun Zheng echoed. Why hadn’t he noticed this discrepancy before? “Then what exactly happened during this period?”
“Only two things are true in the records here,” Lu Xia said. “One would be all the content related to the nurses, because the hospital can check the authenticity of that information easily by asking the nurses. So the lights on the first floor did actually remain on until two or three in the morning, and also that Lao Zhang never went all the way down to the first floor.”
“The second truth would be the legend about the fierce corpse, because you also know of that same story. It’s just that…”
“Lao Mao did not mention anything about wrapping pure gold in hair and stuffing it into the corpse’s mouth?” Sun Zheng suddenly realised.
“That’s right,” Lu Xia sneered. “Mao Zhonggui did not go to the sixth floor at all and he didn’t lock the elevator in the first place either! After separating from Lao Zhang, he took the elevator straight down to the second floor!”
That was why when Lao Zhang heard a “ding” coming from downstairs when he reached the third floor.
“Second floor… the morgue on the second floor?!” Sun Zheng couldn’t help but gasp.
“Yeah, Mao Zhonggui heard that there might be gold in the corpse’s mouth. That greedy man was obsessed with money, so he decided to steal the pure gold used to suppress the corpse…” Lu Xia said, then paused again. “Of course, this is all just my speculation. But if the footsteps just now really belonged to Lao Zhang, then—”
“Then wouldn’t Lao Zhang find him when he patrolled the second floor?”
reina: I remember that when I first read this novel, I was all excited about what and when the ghosts would appear, then felt inexplicably disappointed when Lu Xia was like nah it’s all the work of a human~ But don’t worry though, there is indeed something supernatural going on, just that in addition to battling ghosts in this godforsaken chasm, they will also have to unravel the lies and outwit some scummy humans.
Everyone know that humans are the main monsters
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Humans are really more terrible than ghosts *sigh
Thanks for ud!
I’m too naive, I didn’t even think the record could be falsified 😓 Thank God for Lu Xia!
I’m still a bit worried about the bqd gut feeling they got in previous chapter…
Thank you for the update!