Hospital Morgues are generally used to store the bodies of patients who have not been claimed by their families. For example, if a patient dies suddenly in a hospital while their family is working out of town, the body will be temporarily stored in a Morgue until the family arrives to sign for and claim the body. Sometimes, families leave bodies in the hospital for a day or two to prepare for the funeral, and the body will be taken away by the funeral home once arrangements are made.
The bodies here are generally not stored for long periods; they are only used as a temporary transit point.
The air conditioning in Morgue was very strong, the lighting was dim, and the environment was somewhat eerie, but the actual number of corpses was not very large.
The rows of large freezer drawers here resembled shipping containers, each with a number tag on the outside and the deceased's name written on it. Xiao Lou's gaze quickly swept over Morgue, noticing that only five drawers currently had names written on them.
They are numbers 5, 7, 11, 15, and 17.
The other drawers, which were labeled with numbers, had no name information on the outside. Xiao Lou tried opening one and found it empty.
It seems that there are currently only 5 drawers in Morgue's house.
Starting with drawer number 5, Xiao Lou opened all five drawers and found people inside—four elderly people and one young man. He didn't recognize any of them, and there were no signs of dismemberment.
Liu Qiao looked up and asked Xiao Lou, " Professor Xiao, could these five corpses have been murdered?" It's understandable that she was suspicious, after all, the current escape room has the Hearts element, and the first reaction upon seeing the corpses is that the deceased are likely to have been murdered.
She was wearing a nurture and a mask, revealing only her bright eyes.
Most people would be terrified to see so many corpses in Morgue in the middle of the night. But Liu Qiao showed no fear whatsoever; her gaze was calm, as if she were looking at a row of exhibits in a museum.
Xiao Lou admired Liu Qiao's composure.
After all, "ghosts" are just plots in TV dramas. They are materialists who learn about the human body and uncover the truth of cases by dissecting corpses. They do nothing wrong and don't have to worry about "vengeful ghosts taking their lives".
Xiao Lou put on sterile gloves and whispered to Liu Qiao, "Your suspicions are valid. Now that we've seen the bodies, let's investigate the cause of death of these people. You'll be my assistant."
Liu Qiao nodded readily and stood next to Xiao Lou, asking, "Is an autopsy necessary?"
"No need for now, we'll talk about it if we find anything suspicious." Xiao Lou gently lifted the white sheet covering the body and said, "I'll do a check first to confirm the cause of death and the approximate time of death for these people. Xiao Liu, you remove all the white sheets from the bodies."
Being in a hospital means investigating every suspicious detail.
Xiao Lou trusted Yu Hanjiang's intuition: the place in the hospital most closely connected to the body was Morgue. Even if the missing body in the dismemberment case couldn't be found in Morgue, it was definitely a crucial clue that shouldn't be overlooked.
Late at night, in the quiet Morgue.
Liu Qiao helped Xiao Lou turn the body over. Xiao Lou, wearing gloves, examined the body's pupils, muscles, and lividity while quietly recounting the findings to Liu Qiao and the image of Yu Hanjiang in his mind.
"A 60-year-old woman with traces of a pacemaker implanted on her left chest. Judging from the livor mortis, she had been dead for more than 48 hours. The most likely cause of death is heart failure."
"An elderly man over 80 years old with severe jaundice and no surgical scars was hospitalized for late-stage liver cancer. His condition was critical, leading to his death within 24 hours."
He reported one by one, while Yu Hanjiang quickly took notes in his notebook.
When they found the last young male, Liu Qiao had just lifted the white sheet covering the body when Xiao Lou frowned in confusion: "Two surgical wounds were found on this deceased person's body."
Xiao Lou gently touched the two surgical scars with his gloved hand and said, "The deceased was a young man around 30 years old. He had old surgical scars on his lower right abdomen and upper right abdomen. Judging from the healing of the wounds, the surgery was probably performed more than a year ago. Judging from the location, the surgical incision on the lower right abdomen near the iliac bone was probably an appendectomy. And the liver and gallbladder are located in the upper right abdomen."
"Two surgical scars?" Yu Hanjiang immediately became alert: "Can we perform an autopsy to confirm?"
"The wound has already healed. If I cut it open again, it will leave obvious suture marks and cause unnecessary trouble. Xiao Liu and I sneaked in, so let's not risk an autopsy for now." Xiao Lou paused and said, "I'll check it again; maybe there are other clues."
"Okay." Yu Hanjiang sat on the hospital bed, holding a notebook in his hand, and whispered, "Be careful."
"Don't worry, we have Invisibility Cloak. We can become invisible if things get bad." Xiao Lou looked at Liu Qiao. "Xiao Liu, help me position the body in the left lateral position."
"Okay." Liu Qiao quickly assisted Xiao Lou in turning the body over. Xiao Lou carefully touched and examined the body, and soon a look of doubt appeared on his face.
Liu Qiao asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"
"...This person only has 11 ribs on the right side," Xiao Lou concluded.
"A normal human should have 12 pairs of ribs, right?" Although Liu Qiao was a freshman, she still knew some basic anatomy.
"Let's turn to the left and take a look." Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao worked together to turn the body over and secure it. After a careful examination, Xiao Lou said in a deep voice, "There are 12 ribs on the left and 11 ribs on the right."
Look here.
"Is it a surgical mark?" Liu Qiao's eyes widened slightly as she followed Xiao Lou's finger. She noticed a very shallow mark on the right back of the deceased. Due to the passage of time, it had blended into the surrounding skin. If Xiao Lou hadn't been so careful, she would have almost missed it.
"The surgery used special sutures from plastic surgery, also known as cosmetic sutures, which leave very shallow scars after the wound heals." Xiao Lou had seen these sutures before, and given the missing rib on the right side, he quickly thought of a possibility: "The deceased did not have a congenital rib loss; his 12th rib on the right side was artificially removed."
"Could it be a tumor on my ribs that needs to be removed?"
"Not necessarily." Xiao Lou's expression was serious. He drew a line along the faint mark with his finger and frowned slightly. "Judging from the location of this incision, it is more likely to be a nephrectomy."
"......" Upon hearing Xiao Lou's deduction, Liu Qiao was stunned for a moment, then immediately looked down and carefully examined the male corpse in front of her.
"Many nephrectomies involve the surgeon placing the patient in the lateral decubitus position and making an oblique incision near the 12th rib. Because the 12th rib on the back can obstruct the view of the kidney, the surgeon often removes the 12th rib along with the kidney to ensure the surgery is not obstructed. Then, the right kidney is separated, ligated, and completely removed from the body," Xiao Lou explained to Liu Qiao in a low voice, while also explaining to Yu Hanjiang.
"It seems that not only was the 12th rib removed from this deceased person, but their kidney was also removed?" Yu Hanjiang's deep voice echoed in his mind. "Was it kidney cancer that required removal, or was a healthy kidney removed... to be sold on the black market? An organ smuggling case?!"
"I'm more inclined to believe the latter; his surgical wound is quite strange..."
Before he could finish speaking, a series of "clack-clack" footsteps suddenly came from the doorway—the sound of men's flat leather shoes on the floor. Xiao Lou's expression changed drastically. He immediately told Liu Qiao to support the corpses, took off his gloves, and quickly snapped a few photos with his phone. The two of them moved with the speed of an army march, covering all the corpses with white sheets in less than 10 seconds and pushing the five bodies back into the freezer.
"Invisibility!" Xiao Lou took out the Invisibility Cloak and disappeared. Liu Qiao also quickly wrapped herself in the cloak.
Just as the two had concealed themselves under their cloaks, there was a knock at Morgue's door.
A tall man strode in, wearing a neatly ironed white overcoat, his spotless white clothes and silver-rimmed glasses reflecting a sharp, cold light under the Morgue's incandescent bulbs.
——It's Zhao Sen!
Seeing the dismemberment killer with his own eyes, and recalling the scene replay he'd just seen at Peach Blossom Spring, Liu Qiao's pupils suddenly contracted, and his entire body instantly stiffened as if frozen. Dead people aren't scary at all; it's the twisted living that's terrifying!
And now, this freakish, living person is right in front of the two of them.
Xiao Lou also felt a cold sweat break out on his back.
In the dead of night, Zhao Sen walked into Morgue alone. Even though Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao were invisible and wouldn't be discovered by Zhao Sen, Xiao Lou still felt as if a snake was staring at her back when the man coldly surveyed the surroundings with his sharp eyes.
Zhao Sen leisurely strolled around Morgue, then suddenly turned back to look at Xiao Lou's location and walked gracefully toward where the two were hiding.
Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine and held his breath, afraid to make a sound.
Liu Qiao also felt as if she were frozen, her heart pounding violently, and her breathing almost stopping.
The two clenched their fists nervously, holding their breath.
Zhao Sen's face was only 10 centimeters away from Xiao Lou. Xiao Lou's mind went blank, and he didn't dare to move. Yu Hanjiang also sensed Xiao Lou's tension and immediately said, " Peach Blossom Spring lasts for 3 hours. You need to teleport immediately!"
Although Xiao Lou didn't want to face this pervert at all, reason told him that he couldn't back down.
He remained motionless, holding his breath, and mentally said to Yu Hanjiang, "It's alright, Zhao Sen can't see us. This man must have some intention coming to Morgue in the middle of the night. I want to see what he's up to."
Yu Hanjiang instructed, "If anything goes wrong, teleport immediately. I'll be here to meet you."
A fully leveled Peach Blossom Spring can last for 3 hours, which is why Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao dared to venture into Morgue at night. If they encountered trouble, they could instantly teleport back.
Although Zhao Sen was right in front of them, which was quite intimidating, Xiao Lou quickly calmed down.
He wanted to see what Zhao Sen was doing in Morgue.
Zhao Sen's face stopped 10 centimeters away from Xiao Lou. Xiao Lou could almost feel the air this pervert was exhaling. Just as Xiao Lou held his breath for almost half a minute, Zhao Sen whispered, "I thought there was someone here. Looks like I was overthinking it. The Morgue being haunted? That's something that only happens in horror movies."
He turned and left, and Xiao Lou's almost out-of-control heartbeat finally calmed down a little.
After all, the murderer's enlarged face is right in front of you. The psychological and visual impact is even more terrifying than a horror movie!
Xiao Lou stared at Zhao Sen's back as Zhao Sen turned and walked to the far right corner of Morgue, where all the drawers and freezers only had number tags and no names. Zhao Sen stopped there.
Then, he gently pulled open the freezer and looked at the person inside.
Since Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao were hiding quite a distance from Zhao Sen, they didn't dare to approach and make a sound, lest they arouse his suspicion. Therefore, Xiao Lou couldn't see what was in the freezer drawer.
but
What's hidden in the Morgue must be a corpse.
When Zhao Sen saw the corpse in the freezer, a strange smile appeared on his lips. He only glanced at it before closing the freezer, then turned off the lights in Morgue, turned around and left, locking the door behind him.
After Zhao Sen left, Morgue became pitch black. Xiao Lou took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, took off his Invisibility Cloak, and whispered in Liu Qiao's ear, "There was someone in the drawer without a name on it."
As expected of a high-difficulty escape room, not only did they break into Morgue at night to collect clues, but they also set up hidden clues!
Of the four freezers, five clearly had names written on them, while the others were blank. This would lead one to subconsciously assume that the drawers with names on them contained corpses, while the ones without were empty.
Xiao Lou had just checked two drawers without names on them, and they were indeed empty. So, he didn't waste time going through the other dozens of empty drawers one by one.
Who would have thought that there would be a corpse in a drawer in the corner?!
Xiao Lou quickly walked to the spot where Zhao Sen had just been standing. Zhao Sen had turned off the Morgue's headlights, so Xiao Lou didn't dare turn them on. To lure Zhao Sen back, he turned on his phone.
Using the dim light of their cell phones, Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao opened the drawer together.
Inside the drawer was a black plastic garbage bag. I opened the bag…
It has only one head.
The head was cleanly severed, with not a single extra blood vessel or skin adhering to the neck. The eyes on the head were wide open, almost bulging out of their sockets. The look of terror on his face seemed to have been frozen in time.
The light from the phone was already dim, and in the darkness of Morgue, the sight of a head with wide-open eyes was so striking that the two of them couldn't help but gasp.
Liu Qiao, her face pale, said, "This person looks somewhat familiar?"
Xiao Lou's teeth were chattering slightly. He took a deep breath before finding his voice: "It's... the body that Zhao Sen took away after chopping up the Red Heart 2 Secret Room —his cousin, He Yongqiang."