Translator: CinderTL
"That's when the rumors of the Medical Building being haunted began to spread."
"Some classes were going smoothly during late-night sessions when suddenly the lights would go out. An electrician would be called in, but everything would appear normal. Yet as soon as the electrician left, the lights would mysteriously turn off again."
"Then there's the second specimen display room at the end of the third floor. Even when no one was inside, strange noises would emanate from it late at night—many people have heard them."
"They describe the sounds as someone tapping on the glass jars containing the specimens. And," Yuan Xiaoyi suddenly lowered her voice, her hands gripping the hem of her shirt, her expression uneasy, "the sounds were very muffled, as if... as if they were coming from inside the specimen jars."
"Moreover, the second specimen display room is noticeably cleaner than the others. Students conducted an experiment: they touched the jars while observing the specimens, leaving fingerprints. But when they checked the next morning, the fingerprints had vanished, and the jars were spotless, as if they had been freshly wiped down."
"But when they asked the maintenance teacher about it, he claimed he hadn't even been there the day before."
Yuan Xiaoyi paused, her breathing growing rapid, as if giving herself—and Jiang Cheng—time to process the information.
Jiang Cheng sensed that the main event was about to begin.
"Senior Jiang," Yuan Xiaoyi's voice trembled as she turned to him, "there have been many strange occurrences similar to the two I've mentioned. But what truly sparked panic among the students—and even the entire School of Medicine—was the story I'm about to tell you."
"Go on, Xiaoyi," Jiang Cheng said encouragingly, nodding. "I'm listening."
"This happened a long time ago, and Xiaoting told us about it," Yuan Xiaoyi said earnestly.
Hearing Xiaoting's name, Jiang Cheng focused his attention, his expression turning serious.
"It was a cadaver dissection class. Two professors led the procedure, while over a dozen medical students observed and took notes in the Anatomy Classroom on the fifth floor."
"Since it was the students' first time participating in a full dissection, they were excited and curious, arriving early."
"When the cadaver arrived, the professors led everyone in a bow and a moment of silence. This is a traditional part of anatomy classes—a way to honor the deceased for their voluntary body donation and to apologize for the inevitable disruption of their remains."
It seemed as if some unseen force was watching over them. The dissection proceeded remarkably smoothly, and the students learned more in this hands-on session than they ever could have from textbooks or theoretical lectures.
To maximize the learning experience, the next day the students, guided by their professor, began reviewing the entire dissection session based on their recorded observations.
But halfway through the review, the classroom door suddenly burst open. A teacher in work overalls stormed in, looking visibly distressed.
The teacher's face was grim. After exchanging a few terse words, he abruptly pulled the professor away from his lecture. Peeking through the crack in the door, the students saw a crowd of faculty members standing in the hallway, including the rarely seen dean of the School of Medicine, who rarely made public appearances.
The students found this odd. The faculty's pale faces and the tense atmosphere suggested that something serious had occurred.
They waited a long time, but the professor didn't return. Finally, an assistant teacher rushed in with an urgent announcement.
"Everyone go home now," he said. "All classes are canceled indefinitely. The Medical Building is undergoing a complete equipment overhaul. Don't come back until further notice. Study independently in the university library."
At first, everyone just thought it was strange, but things kept getting weirder. Soon, rumors began circulating that the two professors who had conducted the anatomy class that day had fallen ill, and their profiles were removed from the university website.
"Could there have been something wrong with the cadaver used for the dissection?" Jiang Cheng asked softly.
Yuan Xiaoyi nodded. "Senior, you're right. Not only was there something wrong with that cadaver, but it shouldn't have existed at all!"
The cadaver used in the dissection wasn't the one prepared by the department. The next day, during a routine inspection of the morgue, staff found a completely bald body tucked away in a corner.
It was the corpse of a young man, but what baffled the staff was that, according to their records, this particular body had already been taken out the day before for the anatomy class.
This was no minor matter. The staff immediately contacted the department, but the response only deepened the mystery. The department claimed the anatomy class had already concluded and the reports had been submitted.
Could they have taken the wrong body? The staff instinctively felt there was more to it than that. They immediately took inventory of the morgue and discovered that not a single cadaver was missing.
Panic erupted. No bodies were missing, yet one had clearly been dissected. The question was: whose body had been dissected? Or rather, what had been dissected?
The news traveled swiftly up the chain of command, and soon the top administrators of the School of Medicine arrived. Their first instinct was to verify the condition of the remains.
At this point, Yuan Xiaoyi explained, "Dissected bodies aren't immediately disposed of. Useful parts are preserved as specimens or used for further research."
But when everyone rushed to the cold storage facility where the remains were temporarily kept, they were shocked to discover that the remains had vanished.
No, not just vanished—it was as if they had never existed at all. Not a single trace remained. The storage space was as clean as if it were brand new.
The sight sent everyone into a frenzy. However, these were medical professors, and they had all heard their fair share of bizarre tales. The dean immediately ordered a news blackout, forbidding any leaks until the matter was resolved, to prevent public alarm. He also prepared to contact the police.
"Secondly," the dean ordered, "organize the two professors who performed yesterday's autopsy to recall the details of the dissection and, most importantly, to draw a portrait of the deceased."
The reconstructed portrait was completed quickly. The moment the deputy dean saw it, his eyes widened, he kicked his legs out, and toppled headfirst from his chair.
Yuan Xiaoyi looked at Jiang Cheng. "The portrait is of an old woman—the same Old Madam I mentioned earlier, the one with the Ghost Face growing out of the back of her head."
Jiang Cheng had already guessed as much.
"The Old Madam's body isn't in the morgue, is it?" Even though Yuan Xiaoyi had already said so, Jiang Cheng felt the need to confirm.
"No, it isn't," Yuan Xiaoyi replied, her tone turning peculiar. "Her body was disposed of many years ago. The chief surgeon... was the deputy dean himself."
"No wonder," Jiang Cheng murmured, imagining the psychological trauma the deputy dean must have endured.
"And supposedly, some of her remains were preserved and are still stored somewhere in the School of Medicine's Medical Building," Yuan Xiaoyi added finally.
(End of the Chapter)
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