Tales of Aegiceras: Cave in

11. The Night Watchman (11)

Translator: Superbomb

Feeling his heart skip a beat, Sun Zheng widened his eyes.

“Take a look at the record written by Mao!” Lu Xia turned on the torch.

Only then did Sun Zheng see everything clearly in the TCM Department.

Sure enough, the walls around them were plastered with pictures of human acupoints needed for acupuncture and massage. There was a vertical bookshelf in the left corner, which seemed to be filled with books. In front of them were two butted desks, each with an antique, shabby bamboo chair beside it. now they were facing an extrapolated window, through which they could see nothing but pitch darkness.

Lu Xia and Sun Zheng sat down at the desk.

“Look here!” Lu Xia opened the notebook and turned to the page recorded by Mao again.

“After checking the 6th floor, I hurriedly went downstairs. When I reached the foot of the staircase of the 4th floor, I saw Zhang running up…

“Mao only checked the 6th floor, and Zhang checked from the 1st floor to the 3rd. How come they finished the inspection in the same amount of time?” Lu Xia questioned coldly.

“Yes…” Sun Zheng responded. Why didn’t he notice it before? “What the hell happened during this period?”

“Only two of the things he recorded are true,” Lu Xia said. “First, everything related to those nurses. As the leaders of the hospital could confirm with the relative nurses everything that happened that night, Mao didn’t dare to lie. So the lights on the 1st floor were indeed on until about 3 o’clock. Actually, Zhang had never been to the 1st floor that night.”

“Second, as you also mentioned it, the tale about the dead is true. But…”

“But Mao didn’t speak of putting a piece of gold wrapped in hair into the dead’s mouth?” Sun Zheng suddenly wised up.

“Yes!” Lu Xia answered with a sneer. “Mao Chonggui didn’t go to the 6th floor at all, nor did he lock the elevator in the beginning! After he separated from Zhang, he took the elevator down to the 2nd floor!”

That was why Zhang heard a “ding” coming from downstairs when he walked to the 3rd floor.

“The mor… morgue on the 2nd floor?!” Sun Zheng couldn’t help but cry out.

“Hmph! When Mao Chonggui heard that there might be gold in the dead’s mouth, he was seized with an impulse to pocket it, so he decided to steal it from the dead…” After pausing for a short moment, Lu Xia continued, “Of course, this is just my speculation. If the footsteps we heard just now were really from Zhang…”

“But, Zhang might find him when he was inspecting the 2nd floor!”

“Zheng, look here.”

“I slowly climbed up the stairs. The light from the torch was dim…”

“Zhang nodded and strode downstairs quickly. From afar, I could see his worried look in the dim light of the torch…”

“Have you seen through Mao’s trick? The light from the torch was dim because it was about to run out of battery. Knowing that the battery of his torch was dying, Mao secretly swapped his torch with Zhang’s,”Lu Xia said confidently.

“So, Zhang couldn’t see anything when he reached the 2nd floor because his torch was dead…” Sun Zheng thought Lu Xia’s speculation made sense.

“And Zhang… just as the record shows, was timid and overcautious. Instead of going further downstairs, he rushed upstairs in a panic from the 2nd floor. I drew this conclusion from the footsteps we had just heard. The nurses on the 1st floor didn’t see him, and he was lying when he said that everywhere on the 1st floor was dark.”

“At that moment, Mao Chonggui had already taken the elevator back to the 4th floor, pretending that he was waiting for Zhang there?” Sun Zheng went on with what Lu Xia said.

Now he understood why he had heard a “ding” in the darkness.

“Yes! This plan seemed simple and flawless, but as Mao was eager to get the gold and he was not careful enough, he left quite a few fishy points in this record. He wrote the record to cover up his theft with the mysterious occurrence, but… ”

Lu Xia chucked before he could finish his words. “He left something he shouldn’t have left.”

“What’s it?” Sun Zheng asked.

“He took out the gold from the dead’s mouth, but there was still a ball of hair. To avoid arousing suspicion, he threw the hair into the elevator shaft through a gap. However, he didn’t expect that the lump of hair would have been found stuck in the elevator the next day.”

“But where did Zhang go? What about the livid mark around Mao’s eyes?

“Because Mao summoned the soul of the dead or something, Zhang entered this city’s cavern by accident. Of course, Mao didn’t know that this ominous situation had not only brought Zhang into the cavern but also made himself become the victim of some curse.”