The two worked well together, and neither of them spoke as they helped each other walk out from the room. Compared to when they entered the place, the corridors seemed to have changed. They had a feeling that something was different from before, but what was different, the two could not put their fingers on it. Li Jiu walked in front with the flashlight. Ma Wei activated the flashlight function on his phone and followed closely behind.
"Be careful, there might be more than one monster in this underground morgue." The scenario was like the most difficult escape-the-room game for Li Jiu and Ma Wei. They had to face cadavers that came back to life, monsters that could show up at any time, crazed murderers walking around with a murder weapon, and unknown deadly traps.
"Li Jiu, should I just drop my phone here? Holding it makes me feel like the man might call me at any time." Ma Wei held his phone, but he did not feel any trace of security. The image of Chen Ge dragging Doctor Skull-cracker's hammer across the floor appeared in his mind more than once. The young man had a creepy smile on his face, and imagining him on the other end of the phone gave Ma Wei the creeps.
"I think we should keep it. This is our only means of communication with the outside world. However, remember to change it to silent mode in case our location gets exposed during the key moments." Li Jiu thought further and deeper. Being caught in a dangerous situation seemed to have brought out his hidden potential. Ma Wei followed his partner's advice and changed his phone's setting. The two stuck their backs to the wall and walked back the way they came.
After turning the corner, when they passed Morgue No. 8, Li Jiu, who walked in front, suddenly stopped. "Did the man open the door of the morgue? We closed the door when we left earlier, right?"
There was a sticky liquid stuck to the door handle. A thick mist of formalin circulated in the morgue. Li Jiu raised his flashlight and looked into the room. When he did, his eyes widened into two big circles.
"What's wrong?" Realizing something was wrong, Ma Wei also leaned over to take a look. The glass tubes in the room were sitting where they were, but the cadavers that they were supposed to be holding had all completely disappeared!
Li Jiu's legs were shivering, and he pointed his flashlight to the ground. There were a few water trails leading out of the room and entering the corridor they were in. "The 'people' inside the tubes have escaped, and they are now also in this corridor."
Li Jiu's Adam's Apple was quivering. He moved his flashlight slowly to the corner, worried that something scary might pop out.
"Should we continue to move forward?" Ma Wei asked with uncertainty. His legs were still weak, and he could not run fast. If they ran into danger, he would be stuck there, waiting for death—that was the most despairing thing for the man. Li Jiu was also conflicted. The dark corridor was hiding the cadavers that crawled out from the glass tubes and various unknown dangers. However, if they stayed there, they would need to face the crazed murderer who was not less dangerous than the monsters.
"I think we should still move forward. If we move at full speed, we should be able to leave in about ten minutes if there's no accident." Li Jiu grabbed Ma Wei's phone. "The person with the hammer is probably still in the passage. I'll call the police first before contacting the security guards that are outside."
Li Jiu used the phone to call the police, and the number was answered; however, the signal was so bad that he could barely finish a complete sentence.
"This shouldn't be! Even though we are underground and the signal is understandably not so good, it shouldn't be at the level where we cannot even contact the police!" There seemed to be something in the underground morgue disturbing the phone signal, and Li Jiu had to give up after giving it a few more tries. Misery loves company—he felt like all the bad luck had gathered on him that night.
"Let's move outward first. If we run into any monster, we'll retreat backward." Li Jiu held Ma Wei, and he forced a smile. "At the very least, the man with the hammer doesn't seem like he's in cahoots with the monsters inside this place. That's good news."
The flashlight shone the light down the corridor. The two picked up speed, and when they passed Morgue No. 8, there was a weird sound coming from inside the room. Of course, they did not have the courage to stop to take a look. They pretended they did not hear anything and continued to move forward.
The corridor was so dark that it felt like it was endless. They ran past Morgue No. 7, and at the end of the corridor was a split in the road. Standing in the middle of the junction was a dark figure. It was not tall and very thin. It seemed to be holding something in its palms. Ma Wei touched Li Jiu's arm. "Shall we continue to move forward?"
Li Jiu could not tell for sure. He felt like the underground morgue was exceptionally crowded that night. He raised the flashlight slowly to let the light fall on the person before them.
Wearing a white, loose jacket, with a head of long flowing hair, it was a little girl who stood at the junction. She had her face lowered and was holding a rotten apple in her hands. This curious scene made Ma Wei and Li Jiu stop moving. They froze where they were as a chill crawled up their spines.
Feeling the light on her, the girl slowly raised her head. She looked cute and sweet. It gave the feeling that she was a quiet, introverted child. She had a pair of light brown eyes, and her gaze was locked on the apple like she was considering giving the apple a bite.
With her silky-smooth skin, exquisite facial features, and cute appearance, the girl formed a great contrast with the rotten apple. However, the most curious thing was, staring at the apple, there was more than a hint of desire that was inexplicable in the girl's eyes. The light from the flashlight made the girl frown slightly. Her small nose twitched like she smelled something fresh, and she continued to lift her head.
The light brown eyes turned to fall on Ma Wei and Li Jiu. The edge of the girl's lips moved, and the thin lips curved into a light smile. The smile was pure and innocent. There was not really kindness, but there was no maliciousness either; it was as if the girl had found a toy that she liked. Other than the smile that appeared on the girl's face, nothing changed about her. The girl seemed to be acting according to her own consciousness.
"Her hair and dress are all wet, and her skin color is not normal. Do you think she could have crawled out from the glass tubes?"
"But when we entered the morgue earlier, we didn't see any tubes holding a girl."
"Wasn't there a tube that was already opened? I suspect she came out from that particular tube."
Ma Wei and Li Jiu were shivering under the girl's scrutiny. Considering the fact that she might be a dead body, the shivers became even more violent, and their bodies staggered involuntarily backward. The girl stood where she was, but there were weird noises coming from the corridor. There was the sound of wheels running on the ground coming from the corridor that was painted white, and Morgue No. 7 that was next to them had a knocking sound like the thing trapped inside was trying to come out. The smell of formalin in the air thickened. Li Jiu and Ma Wei did not have much time left to make a choice.
"Going back is definitely a dead end—we might still survive if we move forward!" Li Jiu gritted his teeth and grabbed Ma Wei's shoulder. "Let's give it our all! We'll charge our way out of here!"
"Okay!" The two made their decision, and like a cornered animal, they planned to make their last stand!
Li Jiu aimed for the opening next to the girl. Dragging Ma Wei, the muscles in his legs tensed, and he jumped forward like a spring. "The corridor on the right is not painted!"
Normally, it was Li Jiu hiding behind Ma Wei, but now that Ma Wei's legs were injured, Li Jiu stepped forward. He cut a way out for them, and his expression turned ugly due to fear. His features scrunched up together, and a yell escaped from his throat. "Quick!"
The two charged toward the girl, and the sound of the wheels coming from the corridor was nearing. What Li Jiu and Ma Wei needed to do was enter the corridor that did not have the white paint before the wheels arrived. Every second was important. The girl saw the two men charge after her, and she remained immobile. The smile continued to hang on her face like she was unaffected by what was happening around her.
"This is our chance!" The girl was too careless. Li Jiu raised the flashlight. He had planned everything in his mind. When they ran to the girl's side, they would crawl past the opening next to her. The gap was large enough for him and Ma Wei to go through. If the girl did anything to stop them, he would use the flashlight in his hands to whack at her. This was the most tense and important moment of Li Jiu's life, but he had confidence that he would be able to do this.
"Come on!" Running at full speed, when the sound of the wheels stopped, Ma Wei and Li Jiu had already reached the split in the road!
When they ran past the girl, the girl did not stop them; she just stood where she was, maintaining the same pose, not moving at all. It was surprisingly successful, but Li Jiu did not have the time to get excited because he knew it was not yet time to relax and celebrate. Running past the girl was just the first step; there was still a long journey before they could leave the underground morgue.
"Don't let your guard down!" He turned to look down the corridor that was painted white. There was a trolley used by the university staff to transport dead bodies sitting in it. They did not see anyone pushing the trolley, but they did see the several human bodies sitting inside the trolley, and one of them even had its head already yanked off!
"Thankfully, we didn't run down that way. Those bodies are definitely suspicious from the looks of it." Li Jiu was glad that he had made the right choice at the most crucial moment. He pulled back his gaze and used his flashlight to illuminate the unpainted corridor.
A sticky liquid dripped on his face. Li Jiu raised his head in confusion, and what he saw would be branded in his mind forever. The unpainted corridor was crawling with dead bodies, and their limbs and bodies were sewn together with red threads. They walked toward Li Jiu and Ma Wei like string puppets. There was so many of them. The pungent smell caused Ma Wei and Li Jiu's sense of smell to go haywire temporarily. Twisted dead faces fill their sight; everywhere they turned there were broken limbs and shattered bodies. Their brains were buzzing, and their thoughts were put on hold.
"Who would be able to survive this‽" Running on inertia, Li Jiu almost ran into the crowd of dead bodies, but thankfully, Ma Wei pointed on his shirt at the last minute. "Back, back! Retreat!"
The two were quite good at survival. They had danced on the line of life and death so many times, and they had survived each time. There was definitely no way they were getting out. Seeing the corridor filled with monsters, Ma Wei and Li Jiu suddenly realized that the man with the iron hammer looked much friendlier and nicer.
They retreated quickly, and when they passed the girl, the child who stood where she was slowly turned her head. Like a toy whose spring had been turned, the girl's spine creaked noisily as the head slowly twisted around. The lips were turning white, but the smile still did not leave her face.
The head turned 180 degrees, and the girl who looked so normal had completely shattered Li Jiu and Ma Wei's last psychological bulwark. The fire running through their veins froze instantly, and a deep chasm of chilling helplessness opened up to swallow the two men. At a time like this, they could only try their best to run and escape. In their mind, the only person who could save them then was the young man from before.
Without once turning back to look, they raced back down into the middle section of the underground morgue. They rushed into the room with the cadaver pool, locked the door from the inside, and moved the closet to block the entrance. There were footsteps coming from the corridor. After a few seconds of silence, something slammed heavily into the room where the cadaver pool was. Ma Wei and Li Jiu leaned against the closet.
Just as they were locked in a standstill with the monsters outside the door, the hole in the middle of the cadaver pool started to gurgle and bubble again. After some time, the human remains that were supposed to have sunk to the bottom of the hole started to gush upward like there was something pushing them up from below.
"We cannot stay in this room any longer. Brother Wei, let's go into the secret tunnel as well!" Li Jiu's suggestion was very risky. After all, no one knew what was at the other end of the passage. "Since there was no other option, why not just give it a try‽ The man did not hesitate when he entered the passage earlier. I feel like he should know something about this place."
"Okay! We'll do it your way." Ma Wei picked up the chain from the ground to tie the closet tight to the door. They needed to buy as much time as they could. The two crawled into the secret passage, and they moved so quickly, giving no thought to the type of danger that they might face inside the passage. The passage was small and narrow, so the two moved with one in front and the other at the back. The distance between them and Chen Ge slowly closed.
After running several meters, they could hear the sound of the closet being shoved down coming from outside. Their hearts shook, and they raced as fast as they could down the secret passage.
…
Chen Ge walked for a long time inside the passage, and the deeper he went, the thicker the layer of 'moss' became. It became so ubiquitous that he could not stop his shirt and body from accidentally touching it.
However, weirdly enough, when the fragrant liquid from the 'moss' touched the surface of his skin, his body temperature that had become so much lower than normal started to rise again. Even though it was only temporary, it made him feel warm, a sensation that he had not experienced in a long time.
This might not be a good development. Chen Ge was familiar with the fact that the 'moss' was covering human bodies. Even though he had been searching a method to make his body temperature return to normal, if the method was related to body bodies, he would need to give it a second consideration.
The ceiling of the corridor lowered, and the walls squeezed in from both sides. At the deepest part of the corridor, the path was almost completely swallowed by the 'moss'. The white cat scratched its way through, and without any other choice, Chen Ge had to use his hand to move the peels of 'moss' that blocked the way apart.
His fingers touched the wall. Under the bright red 'moss' were human faces. Their eyes were tightly closed, and Chen Ge literally walked before their eyes.
These human bodies are probably preserved with some special method. They look no different from normal, living humans. Chen Ge felt slightly uncomfortable. It would be no laughing matter if they suddenly opened their eyes when I am walking past them.