"This is the information on Loming Hospital."
In a department bustling with dozens of busy staff, Beck handed a file to Jeffrey, who was overseeing operations there.
"It's confirmed, just like you said—there's something fishy about this private hospital."
Jeffrey accepted the file with a blank expression and began to review it.
From the moment he started the inspections, it was clear that although there were issues with various morgues, those were not his concern. What he needed to confirm was the status of the bodies.
Among many hospitals, Loming Hospital was one of the most suspicious.
The relatives of the deceased who were supposed to have bodies stored there had not seen their loved ones for the last time.
This was unusual compared to Loming Hospital's usual practices, as there had never been such vague excuses for denying family members the opportunity to see their deceased relatives.
Therefore, Jeffrey was certain that this so-called private hospital had lost a significant number of bodies at some point.
And indeed, the file confirmed this.
Jeffrey skipped over the miscellaneous and distasteful parts of the investigation, focusing on the purchase records, then sternly said, "Take control of the people from Loming Hospital and tell the hospital management to cooperate with us in setting up the next operation."
Beck nodded and responded, "Okay."
As a member of the special department, he did not find this task particularly challenging.
Their authority was greater than that of ordinary departments, allowing them to command resources as needed.
He knew that they could uncover anything they sought.
Watching Beck leave with a team, Jeffrey shook his head and pulled out his phone to call Father Archibald.
------------------------------------------
Late at night.
In an ordinary security room.
Four men on duty exchanged nervous glances.
"Are we really going?" Zachariah asked his three colleagues, unable to help himself.
As security guards at Loming Hospital, their duties were categorized into three main areas:
1. Patrol and monitor various hospital areas, including corridors, floors, lobbies, and parking lots, to ensure no unauthorized access or unusual incidents.
2. Respond to emergencies such as violence, theft, and disputes, maintaining order and reporting to the appropriate management.
3. Assist patients and visitors.
Several colleagues had already gone on patrol, leaving only the morgue area.
The morgue, used for storing bodies, was a specific area of the hospital that generally required special permission or authority to enter out of respect for the deceased and their families.
Typically, this area did not require security patrols—just a quick check was sufficient.
But now, an unexpected order had come through, instructing them to patrol the morgue area during the night.
And it was now time for their patrol.
"Of course," Chris said, glancing at Zachariah with a hint of sarcasm.
"Unless you don't want this job, my answer is to go."
Zachariah twitched his mouth, looking at Chris, then at the other two colleagues, Ixella and Felipe.
"What about you guys?"
Felipe and Ixella exchanged looks, their faces expressing resignation.
"The higher-ups gave a firm order. My thoughts are the same as Chris—I have a family to support, and I can't afford to lose this job."
Felipe, tall and showing signs of fatigue from working nights, sounded even more resigned.
Finally, Ixella, the youngest of the security guards, simply shrugged. Though he didn't say a word, his gesture made his position clear to Zachariah.
Zachariah rubbed his face, feeling increasingly uncertain.
"What's the matter? It's just a place for storing bodies," Chris said, already packing up his things and picking up a flashlight, puzzled by Zachariah's hesitation.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts?"
This comment drew curious looks from Felipe and Ixella.
For these seasoned guards, a morgue was slightly eerie for ordinary people, but it was within the realm of the acceptable for them.
Thus, they didn't believe Zachariah would be afraid.
Hearing Chris's words, Zachariah glanced at the surveillance equipment beside him, hesitated, and finally spoke quietly to his already-preparing colleagues.
"You guys know I have a friend working here as a doctor."
Chris raised his eyebrows slightly: "So what?"
Zachariah took a deep breath and said, "He told me some very strange things have been happening in the hospital morgue recently."
After this statement, seeing his colleagues turn to him, Zachariah paused before continuing hesitantly.
"He said many bodies have gone missing from the morgue. An entire room of fully stocked body coolers just vanished into thin air. You know, a room that can store up to a hundred bodies..."
His words echoed ominously in the dim security room, casting a sinister air.
Zachariah didn't stop there: "It's so bizarre that the higher-ups have issued a
gag order. If my friend hadn't needed to check on a body, he wouldn't even know about it."
He looked at his now tense colleagues: "Now you see why they want us to patrol there."
This connection made the other three take a sharp breath.
The morgue was a place already ripe with creepy tales under normal circumstances—stories of bodies walking the hallways, sealed coolers opening inexplicably, or long-stored bodies moving to lie elsewhere.
They were already nervous, but within tolerable limits. A simple patrol seemed manageable.
But now, with Zachariah's words, Chris and the others felt an increase in tension, making the creepy tales seem all too real.
"Are you serious?" Chris asked, his bravado from earlier gone.
Zachariah grimaced, thought seriously for a moment, and said reluctantly, "I don't know if it's true or not, but I think he wouldn't lie to me, and there's no need for him to. If it weren't for the boss suddenly ordering us to patrol tonight, I wouldn't have even thought of it.
Of course, we still have to go on patrol, but we need to be careful."
With that, Zachariah walked over to the equipment rack first, picking up a security helmet and cut-resistant gloves, then put on a stab-proof vest.
Chris and the others, initially only holding powerful flashlights, thought for a moment and shivered, then joined Zachariah in gearing up with the full set of security gear.
Soon, the four were fully equipped and left the security room, passing under the puzzled gaze of their colleague monitoring the cameras, punching out and heading to the hospital's specific area, the morgue.
The four arrived at the lobby fully armed.
The lobby at night felt different from any other time—particularly empty and silent, with only a few lights on, creating a quiet atmosphere.
Occasionally, vague footsteps could be heard.
As experienced hospital security staff, they knew what these sounds typically meant.
They came from the hurried steps of medical staff, particularly noticeable at night. Ordinary people might be startled by this, but not them.
However, perhaps because of Zachariah's earlier words, as they looked at the familiar scenes and heard these faint footsteps, they began to feel uneasy.
But now that they were here, they continued down the right-hand path leading to the two-floor connecting hallway and the morgue area.
So Zachariah and the others looked at each other and continued towards the morgue.
The hallway they walked through became eerily quiet, the dim corridor lights illuminating their close-knit, suspicious figures.
They all turned on their flashlights, their heads swiveling, fearing something might leap out at them from the darkness.
Zachariah, in particular, seemed the most tense, his body taut as a drawn bow, ready to react to any noise.
The four of them cooperated, moving deeper and deeper until they reached the dim morgue area.
Here, they could only hear the low hum of medical equipment, and of course, their own footsteps, adding a touch of mystery and horror to the already quiet atmosphere.
"Fuck!" Ixella, the youngest, looked around the surroundings and couldn't help but curse quietly.
"After this, I'm never taking this assignment again."
He glanced at Zachariah with a reproachful look.
It was all because of him, casually mentioning the mysterious disappearance of a large number of bodies.
Now, even the normally brave Ixella, facing this somewhat terrifying environment, felt more than just uneasy—his scalp tingled.
Everything seemed suspicious.
Ixella's words made the other three nod.
Zachariah gave a wry smile, looking at the distant, dimly lit corridor that seemed like a black hole ready to devour souls, every door appearing as if it concealed some horror.
"Should we just walk around a bit and not go inside? Just check the outside of the morgue and skip the inside," he suggested quietly.
"I feel like there's some monster locked up inside."
This immediately received agreement from the others.
Chris nodded, "That should be fine. Walking down this corridor should be enough."
"Alright!"
Everyone nodded, and they settled on a plan.
They would stick together, patrol this area, and then head straight back, never to return tonight.
However, what these four didn't know was that five uninvited guests had appeared outside the building.
All dressed in black hoodies and jeans, they emitted a rotting smell, moving swiftly through the dark like crawling creatures, eventually stopping on the building's walls.
They proceeded expertly, without any hesitation.
The hospital building at night seemed particularly desolate, emanating a unique quiet atmosphere, with flashlight beams occasionally shining from the windows above, indicating that people were patrolling the morgue building.
"Humans..."
A spine-chilling voice sounded as four hooded figures looked up at the beams of light coming from
the fourth floor, strangely inhaling deeply.
The moonlight and the corner lights revealed their faces.
Their gray-white skin was ragged and featureless, with hollow eyes emitting a deep red glow, and dry, cracked lips revealing sharp fangs.
These four figures, clearly not human, touched the building's wall.
In the next instant, a scene unfolded that was far from human.
The four hooded figures, like true crawling creatures, clung to the wall with their hands and feet and swiftly climbed towards the fourth floor where the light beams originated.
Inside.
"Do you smell something?" Zachariah asked, shining his flashlight around the room and sniffing tentatively.
"Huh?" Chris voiced his confusion, his current concern being to quickly complete the patrol and return.
Because he felt increasingly uneasy, as if continuing the patrol would lead to encountering something.
At that moment, Ixella, turning to the speaking Zachariah, frowned and spoke up.
"I think I smell something too, it's awful, like rotting food."
This made Felipe pause: "I smell it too."
Even Chris, with his less sensitive nose, detected the rotten smell described by Ixella.
"It must be some garbage that hasn't been cleaned up yet."
But as Ixella kept sniffing, he recalled the source of the smell.
"No, this smells like a corpse."
Chris's mouth twitched, and he shone his flashlight around the room, onto the sealed coolers and then the nearby door: "This is the morgue, so it's not strange to smell something bad here."
"True." Zachariah relaxed a bit and nodded in agreement.
But at that moment, his body tensed up again.
"Did you hear something?"
Again, it was Zachariah who spoke first, and Chris sighed in exasperation.
"What did you hear this time?"
However, as soon as he spoke, Chris also heard a faint noise.
It sounded like something scraping against something.
He stared at the partially open door.
"There's a noise outside."
As he spoke, the other three instinctively looked in that direction, their strong flashlights illuminating the partially open door and the hallway beyond.
Suddenly, they saw a shadow quickly pass by, causing all their hearts to tighten, and they all grabbed their defensive batons, staring fixedly at the half-open main door and the outside corridor.
"Who's there!"
Ixella, already on edge, shouted loudly.
In the next second, the door burst open, and four figures emitting a deadly rotting smell appeared before them.
Like a wild beast pouncing on its prey, one lunged towards Zachariah and the others.
The other shadows climbed onto the walls and around them, effectively surrounding them.
In that moment of eye contact, Zachariah and the others could only see the ferocious figures lunging at them from the air.
This was just sensory information being absorbed by their nerves and couldn't be immediately translated into physical reactions.
So, Zachariah and the others just watched the shadows lunging at them from the air, unable to make any defensive moves.
To an outsider, they appeared to be frozen in place.
If the airborne shadows were to reach them, one could only imagine the outcome, given the sharp fangs illuminated by the flashlight.
But in that critical moment, faster than the shadows, the doors of the coolers suddenly burst open, releasing a series of robust figures.
Among them, one figure moved faster, placing itself between Zachariah and his colleagues and the surprised ghouls.
"I've been waiting for you!"
The monk Lichirati, who had previously led the way for Father Archibald, suddenly drew his knightly sword and fiercely slashed at the ghoul in the air, unable to control its trajectory.
___________________
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