Chapter 54: The Mortuary

"Have you asked Old Black? What did he say?"

Sister Li shook her head.

"I asked just now, but Old Black hasn't replied yet."

Kumba, who had been silent the whole time, said, "Maybe he just doesn't want to reply."

The group fell into silence once again.

Hao Zhou clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

"Pull yourselves together. Everyone might have doubts about this mission; to be honest, so do I."

"But if you think about it carefully, whether the generator is running or not makes no difference to us."

"We are mercenaries. Our primary goal is to complete the mission. In short, we begin preparations to retreat in 50 minutes."

No one voiced any opposition.

Hao Zhou wasn't wrong.

After all, Old Black had only said they needed to blow up the generator set; he hadn't specified whether it should be on or off.

Fang Heng increasingly felt that Old Black's mission was linked to the T-Virus serum mission currently in his hands.

It was necessary to check out the first basement level.

"There's still some time. I want to go downstairs and take a look. Does anyone want to come with me?"

The squad members looked at each other.

No one responded.

Hao Zhou advised, "Fang Heng, there's no need. We just need to destroy the generator set to complete the mission. Don't go looking for trouble."

"I'll go alone. I'll try my best to make it back within 50 minutes. Same as before—if I don't make it back, don't bother with me."

"Wait a moment. I'll go with you. It's safer with an extra person."

Kumba stepped forward.

"Thank you for saving my brother not long ago. We brothers don't like owing people favors."

"Alright."

Having an extra person for backup was indeed safer.

Fang Heng agreed readily, and he and Kumba left the generator room to head toward the basement morgue.

"Actually, I also think there's something strange about this mission."

On the corridor leading to the first basement level, Kumba broke the silence. He handed Fang Heng an A4 sheet of paper.

"I found this just now while searching; it was taped to a cabinet in the maintenance room."

Fang Heng took the note and examined it.

【Work Notice: All maintenance personnel please note, given the recent frequent accidental incidents, please ensure that the air conditioning in the first basement morgue remains on twenty-four hours a day, and establish a twenty-four-hour rotating inspection team】.

【Note: The indoor temperature of the morgue must be below 0°C, and the freezer temperature must be below -28°C】.

Fang Heng scrutinized the contents of the A4 paper and muttered softly, "On its own, the content doesn't seem to have any issues."

"Yeah," Kumba nodded. "There was only this one note in the room. I wonder what those 'frequent accidental incidents' mentioned in the note refer to."

The entrance to the first basement level was next to the corridor elevator.

Due to the loss of power, the elevator was out of service.

The two men dealt with several zombies blocking their path and entered the first basement level.

On the left side of the basement, there was a passage leading to the morgue.

On the right side was the direction leading to the underground parking lot.

The iron gate leading to the parking lot passage had fallen, completely blocking the way.

Fang Heng and Kumba exchanged a glance and walked into the passage together.

The morgue was at the end of the passage.

The emergency exit sign above the door was still lit.

As expected, the backup generator set was providing power to the morgue.

"What's this?"

Reaching the morgue door, Fang Heng noticed another note taped to it.

【Emergency Notice: Due to frequent problems in the morgue, its use is temporarily suspended. It has entered an emergency maintenance state】.

【During the maintenance period, the hospital's second-floor warehouse will serve as a temporary replacement. Under normal circumstances, corpses are sent directly to the funeral parlor】.

Fang Heng scratched his hair.

Frequent problems in the morgue?

He felt as if he had vaguely grasped onto something, but he couldn't quite make sense of it at the moment.

Fang Heng turned his head to look at Kumba.

The latter had the same bewildered expression on his face.

Kumba whispered a suggestion, "Shall we go in and take a look first?"

"Yeah."

Fang Heng approached the large door, leaned in, and tried to listen for any movement inside the morgue.

It was unnaturally quiet inside.

Fang Heng tried to push the door.

It wouldn't open.

There was a card slot on the right wall of the morgue.

Fang Heng thought of the magnetic card he had just found while searching the Director's office.

【Item - Director's Magnetic Card】.

Type: Miscellaneous.

Description: The magnetic card of the Hope Town Community Hospital Director. It has the Director's professional photo on the front. You can decompose it into waste plastic.

Fang Heng tried inserting the magnetic card into the slot.

"Beep! Verification successful. Welcome, Director Wei."

*Click.*

The morgue door opened automatically before Fang Heng.

A gust of cold air rushed out from the morgue.

The air conditioning in the morgue was set to a very low temperature, and dim lights were still on inside.

Holding his shotgun in one hand, Fang Heng stood at the doorway, trying to see clearly into the interior.

The morgue was in total disarray, with bloodstains splattered everywhere.

At a glance, more than ten corpses were lying haphazardly on the floor.

Are they all dead?

Fang Heng looked down at the two corpses near the door.

The parts above their necks were missing; the neck area was a bloody mess.

Were they decapitated because of a zombie transformation?

The method of disposal was quite professional.

Fang Heng pursed his lips. He and Kumba cautiously entered the room and began searching carefully.

"Fang Heng, the zombies here have no heads. It looks like they were cleared out in advance."

Kumba also noticed the abnormality of the corpses and knelt down to examine them closely.

"Huh?"

"What is it?"

"It's very strange. The shape of the wounds on the corpses' necks is quite odd. It doesn't feel like they were cut off, nor does it look like they were blown open by firearms."

A look of confusion appeared on Kumba's face. "It looks more like they exploded from the inside out."

"What? You mean they exploded on their own?"

Fang Heng's brow furrowed deeply. Before he could continue his search, his heart suddenly gave a violent thud.

He felt an extremely dangerous sensation. He whipped his head around, his gaze locking onto a small iron door on the side of the morgue.

The Danger Sense skill had been triggered!

Fang Heng immediately raised his shotgun, aiming it at the small door and staring at it intently.

What exactly was behind that door?

Even when encountering mutated zombies, Fang Heng had never experienced such an intense sense of crisis.

Noticing Fang Heng's expression turn extremely solemn, Kumba immediately stood up and moved to his side, adopting a combat stance.

He asked in a low voice, "What's wrong, Fang Heng?"

"One of my skills. I feel like something is wrong behind that door," Fang Heng responded quietly.

*Snap...*

A very faint, soft sound.

The lights above their heads suddenly went out.

The entire morgue instantly became pitch black.

A power outage!?

Startled, Fang Heng quickly took two steps back and pulled out a flashlight to illuminate the front.

Kumba also pulled out a flashlight and began scanning the surroundings.