Chapter 692: Chapter 539: The Third Ghost_2
Standing in front of the first corpse, Yang Xiao hesitated to act. A scene flashed through his mind: as he lifted the white cloth with his hand, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist from the other side. It was ice cold, and then the corpse sat up.
A few seconds later, Yang Xiao took out the Ghost Lantern and used the longer end of the lantern pole to gently lift the white cloth covering the corpse’s face. The next second, he was momentarily stunned to see that this was not a corpse at all but a rag doll, indistinguishable from a normal human body in shape.
Next came the second, the third... until the twelfth, Yang Xiao was shocked beyond words. All these so-called "corpses" were rag dolls.
Unconvinced, he then walked to the morgue cabinets and pulled open 5 cabinet doors in succession, all of which contained ice-cold dolls covered with a thin layer of ice.
All these morgue cabinets had power lights, each turned on. The temperature inside was extremely low; if a body was stored here, it would freeze to death within an hour, so he concluded that the bodies could not possibly be hidden in the cabinets.
That left only the remaining 10 iron beds, but by now Yang Xiao had little hope left for this morgue; the bodies were definitely hidden elsewhere.
Reaching back for his phone, Yang Xiao thought to communicate with the rag doll again, but he unintentionally noticed a message on his phone. The sender was 144552.
It was that woman!
Before, Yang Xiao had messaged her, but she hadn’t replied.
"I just ran into some trouble. There’s a ghost on the fourth floor, very dangerous. There’s also a corpse near the stairwell corner, died a gruesome death," the woman said.
"How did they die?" By analyzing the victim’s body, Yang Xiao couldn’t help asking as it would reveal the ghost’s method of killing.
"It was burnt to death. The body is strange; although part of it was carbonized, the other half is completely unharmed," the woman replied, puzzled.
"How are you now?" Yang Xiao asked.
"I’m okay, just shook off that ghost. You must be careful, this ghost is invisible and makes no sound when it moves."
"There’s one like that on the first floor too, kills by sound, I locked it in a room. Be careful when you pass through," Yang Xiao cautioned.
"First floor? Then it doesn’t concern me, I need to keep heading up. How’s your situation?" the woman asked.
"Basement level is still fine for now." Right now, Yang Xiao had to be careful of the Frog Ghost, which moved too fast.
"Is there anyone else with you?" the woman suddenly asked.
It was this very question that instinctively made Yang Xiao feel uneasy. The woman’s question was odd—seeking cooperation in such a place was a luxury, and under the "bad" threat, generally speaking, people wouldn’t join together, especially when their objectives diverged. His encounter with Qu Muzhi was an exception.
At the same time, Yang Xiao heard a faint sound from outside the corridor, crisp as if an elevator had arrived.
"No one else, I’m heading upstairs," Yang Xiao quickly replied.
"Where do you plan to look?" The woman’s typing speed did not seem human, almost instantly replying, which immediately chilled Yang Xiao.
"Second floor, there might be some clues," Yang Xiao typed.
"Okay, stay safe." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"Ssst—"
After seeing the woman’s reply, Yang Xiao was completely certain; the entity on the other side of the phone was definitely not a woman. No, this... this was a ghost!
It was Hu!
The last ghost... found!!
This had been a trap set by Yang Xiao, as he and the woman had originally encountered each other on the second floor, where she had advised him that no further searches were necessary there.
The woman hadn’t replied for a long time before, and now, thinking about it, she must have been found and killed by this ghost, which had also taken her phone to fish for information.
Cold sweat instantly covered his forehead. Yang Xiao knew clearly that his location was now exposed. The sound of the elevator just now was the ghost arriving.
But the other party shouldn’t know Yang Xiao’s exact location, he had only mentioned being on the minus first floor, and did not specify being in the morgue. Additionally, upon realizing that something was off about the other party, he immediately misled the ghost by saying he was going upstairs to inspect the second floor.
"You reached the second floor yet?" a message appeared on Yang Xiao’s phone.
"Just got there." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"I came down, why didn’t I see you?"
"I’m hiding in the rightmost room in the corridor, don’t come here yet, there seems to be some problem." Yang Xiao continued to lay a trap for the ghost.
The next second, as Yang Xiao pondered how to deal with the ghost, his body trembled, and he abruptly lifted his head to look towards the door, only to see the iron doorknob was being pressed down bit by bit, producing a slightly discordant noise in the quiet surroundings.
At that moment, Yang Xiao quickly crouched down, hiding behind an iron bed with a rag doll on it, and peered through the crack, staring at the iron door in terror.
After a few breaths, the iron door opened, but there was nothing outside, only the empty corridor was visible.
The next second, another message arrived on Yang Xiao’s phone: "You’ve left the minus first floor already, haven’t you?"
"Of course, I’m on the second floor." Yang Xiao stifled his trembling fingers, replying with a feigned calm demeanor.
"Have you been to the morgue?"
Looking at the ceaselessly popping up message, Yang Xiao’s heart jumped to his throat, but he still answered calmly, "Been there, I once went to the morgue looking for a body, but didn’t find one, it felt weird there."
Seconds later, Yang Xiao saw the morgue door close again, it seemed like the ghost had left; Yang Xiao hardly dared to breathe, fearing the ghost might suddenly double back. Indeed, these three ghosts were more difficult to deal with than the next; this Hu even managed to take control of the mobile phone.
Yang Xiao wasn’t sure if the ghost had really gone or was hiding just outside the door, and he had no other option but to wait quietly.
A minute later, he couldn’t help sniffling, finding it strange as he detected a burning smell, like that of burning flesh.
Yang Xiao immediately felt a sense of dread, but before he could react, two messages promptly arrived:
"You are in the morgue."
"Found you..."
As soon as he smelled the burnt scent, Yang Xiao realized he had been exposed. This ghost was far more difficult to handle than he had anticipated.
The ghost was searching for him, and he too was analyzing this ghost. Based on the information he had so far, some of this ghost’s previous words weren’t random. It could turn invisible, was also noiseless in its movements—similar to the sick ghost. However, unlike the sick ghost that made crying sounds and occasionally coughed to expose its location, this ghost did not.
Furthermore, the talk about the corpse wasn’t nonsensical; this ghost’s way of killing was by burning people to death, turning them into charred remains. No wonder the person who attacked him previously screamed miserably for over ten seconds before dying—it was a death by burning.
Including the woman, this burnt ghost had killed at least two people already.
No ghost is perfect; every ghost has strengths and weaknesses. The Frog Ghost was the fastest, able to see moving objects with its eyes, while the sick ghost killed by tracking sounds— one using eyes, the other ears. But this third ghost, Hu, Yang Xiao surmised its killing method was likely related to smell.
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became; if that were true, then he was in big trouble. If the ghost could track him by scent, it meant hiding was futile.
"Hu and I are in the same room, I can smell a burning scent, do you have any solutions?" Yang Xiao could only seek help from the rag doll.
"Hu can’t see or hear, and it’s the slowest of the three, but it’s also the most dangerous. Don’t be scared though, it will take some time for it to track you by scent." The rag doll seemed somewhat panicked too, but still tried to comfort Yang Xiao.
"Cut the nonsense, what are its characteristics, how can I pinpoint its location?" Yang Xiao typed quickly.
"Scent. You’ve smelled the burnt scent, the closer it gets to you, the more pungent it becomes. You can use this to your advantage...."
Yang Xiao was already tired of the rag doll’s ramblings, it was too late for those words, as he was already feeling the burnt scent growing increasingly intense.
The ghost was here.
Nearby...