"The construction team had long since lost any desire to stay deep inside the morgue. They blocked off the path leading into its depths and began expanding the morgue according to the blueprints."
"After emerging from the underground depths of the morgue, there really were no more accidents. The construction team threw themselves into their work."
"Time was tight. As the deadline approached, they would work overtime deep into the night to speed things up."
"The school understood their difficult situation and would send people to bring them water and provide whatever help they could." At this point, Zhang Li gritted his teeth. "The school assigned this task to the teachers staying on campus and the security team. In the beginning, everyone would go together. But after a while, that teacher probably figured the morgue was fine and started leaving early. The other security guards couldn't be bothered either, and in the end they dumped the whole thing on me alone."
"The underground morgue had already been expanded several times over the years, and its interior corridors were incredibly labyrinthine. As a new security guard, even with a map in hand, it was easy to get lost going there alone."
"Three days before the deadline, the construction crew got anxious too. They brought in a fresh batch of workers and split into two shifts, working around the clock."
"Since they worked around the clock, I had no choice but to accompany them. During the day it was fine enough, but every time I entered the underground morgue at night, it felt… off."
"It was summer at the time. Outside, it was scorching hot, like a steamer. But once you stepped into the morgue, not only was there no heat—sometimes you'd get inexplicable chills for no reason."
"That new batch of workers had no idea about what had happened deep in the underground morgue. They were blissfully unaware, actually thinking the work environment was pretty decent. When someone got tired at night, they'd just lay down on the ground using flattened cardboard boxes as padding and sneak a nap." Zhang Li crushed his cigarette butt viciously against the iron tray. His story was nearing its end.
"The underground morgue at night was different from the daytime. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what was different, but on the third night before the deadline, the strange incidents started again."
"I got the call at one in the morning. The underground morgue called to say someone had gone missing. I rushed to notify the others and headed toward the morgue."
"Halfway there, the morgue called again to say the person had been found. I was already furious, but what made it worse was that when I reported the situation to the teacher in charge, he chewed me out, saying I had called him without even confirming the facts first."
"There was nothing I could say in my defense. I went back to my dorm and had just lain down when another worker from the underground morgue called. His voice was frantic—another person had disappeared."
"This time I asked him for details. He told me the first missing worker had heard someone calling his name. He looked up and saw someone in the corridor waving at him, so he followed. Halfway there, he realized the passage seemed to be heading deeper into the morgue. Feeling something was wrong, he turned and ran back."
"The second worker had gone out looking for the first one and gotten lost. His phone wasn't connecting, and nobody knew where he'd gone."
"I realized this was serious. I raced toward the underground morgue while calling another teacher on a different phone."
"When the teacher heard about the incident, he told me to go first and keep things under control. He'd follow shortly."
"I spent that entire night in the underground morgue with the workers. It wasn't until just before dawn that we found the missing worker deep in the underground tunnels."
"He was lying next to an unfinished corpse pool, unconscious."
"No one could explain what had happened. A wave of unease spread through the construction crew. They refused to stay any longer. But the deadline was looming, and the expansion was nearly complete—giving up now seemed too wasteful."
"In the end, the school stepped in and ordered the security team to accompany the construction crew in the underground morgue every night, ensuring the expansion would be finished within the deadline."