Chapter 1 A Scream

A scream woke the whole family.

No wonder.

Imagine opening the bathroom door in the dead of night, without turning on the light, bladder bursting, only to see someone inside. That alone is enough to scare anyone half to death; most people have experienced something similar.

Except, what his sister-in-law encountered was a ghost.

Lin Wanqiu came out of the bedroom and reached out to pull up her younger sister.

"What's wrong? What's wrong!"

The father-in-law and mother-in-law also came upstairs from the first floor, saw their youngest daughter crying in her sister's arms, and then glanced at Zhou Ze, still sitting on the toilet.

"You good-for-nothing Xu Le, you're bewitched! You're even setting your sights on my youngest daughter!"

The mother-in-law picked up the broom by the bathroom door, ready to hit Xu Le.

The father-in-law was the same, angrily preparing to come in and teach his good-for-nothing son-in-law a lesson.

No wonder.

Seeing this scene, everyone would naturally jump to that conclusion.

The brother-in-law had gone mad and was making improper advances toward his sister-in-law.

After all, as the saying goes, a sister-in-law is half the brother-in-law's.

"Dad, Mom, Xiao Yi was just frightened when she went into the bathroom," Dr. Lin said.

The mother-in-law paused, the broom raised but unsure where to put it down.

The father-in-law also faltered and then took a few steps back, somewhat awkwardly.

Zhou Ze, interrupted by this commotion, suddenly realized that the blue veins on his arms had faded away at some point, and the intense pain had also disappeared.

He felt extremely tired, sleepy, and just wanted to sleep.

He stood up, preparing to leave the bathroom. As for his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Zhou Ze really couldn't be bothered to argue with them. He had no interest in cleaning up the mess left by that wimp Xu Le.

However, when Zhou Ze stood up, his sister-in-law immediately shuddered several times, hiding even further into her sister's arms.

"Ah! Don't come over here! Don't come over here!"

Zhou Ze frowned slightly. What had she seen just now?

"What exactly is going on!" The mother-in-law, hands on her hips, asked her youngest daughter. This didn't seem like just being frightened. "Xiao Yi, my precious, tell Mom, what exactly happened? Did he do something to you?"

The sister-in-law was still honest, and she also knew that she couldn't lie about such things, otherwise, the situation would become very serious.

"No, I came to use the bathroom, and I opened the door and saw him sitting inside. It was so scary!"

After saying this with courage, the sister-in-law buried her head back in her sister's arms.

Okay, it was just a misunderstanding after all.

"You blockhead, going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and not turning on the light?

Do you think my house is your house, being so stingy and miserly,

Reluctant to spend a little on electricity!

If my daughter is scared out of her wits, what will you compensate us with…?"

The mother-in-law began to berate Zhou Ze, her finger almost poking him in the face.

Zhou Ze was very tired at this moment. When a person is extremely sleep-deprived, they tend to be irritable. In addition, Zhou Ze was already impatient with the deadbeat relationships Xu Le had left him.

If they hadn't been sleeping in separate beds, Zhou Ze might not have exploded.

But now that they were even sleeping in separate beds, Zhou Ze didn't want to put up with this snobbish mother-in-law's anger anymore.

"Smack!"

Zhou Ze waved his hand and directly slapped away the mother-in-law's finger pointing at him.

"Leave me alone."

The mother-in-law's eyes widened, obviously unable to believe that her son-in-law, who had always been timid and cowardly, would dare to speak to her like this.

"How dare you talk to your mother like that! Where are your manners!" The father-in-law reprimanded at this time.

"If you want your daughter to become a divorcee, then go ahead and lecture me about manners!"

Zhou Ze retorted directly, then pushed past his father-in-law with his shoulder and walked back to the bedroom.

"Bang!" The door slammed shut with a loud noise.

"Outrageous, outrageous!" The father-in-law's chest heaved with anger.

The mother-in-law hurriedly came to her husband's side to pat his chest.

But in the end, the two of them didn't dare to continue making a scene.

After all, Zhou Ze's words just now had a great deterrent effect on them.

Although they didn't know what was wrong with their usually cowardly son-in-law today, he was right. Once their eldest daughter divorced, her next marriage would be a second marriage. This would be bad for her reputation and their family's reputation.

Moreover, in their opinion, a divorced woman was worthless and wouldn't be able to find a good family.

In fact, a person's quality and whether their thinking is feudalistic really don't have much to do with their education or family background. It all depends on the individual's own quality.

For example, Xu Le's father-in-law and mother-in-law, even if they were angry, didn't dare to provoke their good-for-nothing son-in-law at this time, fearing that he would really jump up and demand a divorce.

Zhou Ze lay on the bed, taking deep breaths, closing his eyes, intending to sleep. He was really tired.

About fifteen minutes later, Zhou Ze heard a knock on the bedroom door.

"Xiao Yi is scared, I'll sleep with her tonight."

It was Lin Wanqiu's voice, and then she left.

It's as if you really sleep with me;

…………

The next day at noon,

The father-in-law and mother-in-law were eating lunch.

"Did he go to the bookstore?" the father-in-law asked the mother-in-law.

"He hasn't gotten up yet," the mother-in-law said bitterly.

"Outrageous," the father-in-law commented.

"Exactly…"

At this moment, the mother-in-law suddenly stopped talking because she saw Zhou Ze walking down from upstairs. Zhou Ze's eyes were red, and he had severe dark circles under his eyes.

The atmosphere was somewhat stagnant.

Perhaps it was because of what happened last night that Zhou Ze's status as a live-in son-in-law in this family had risen to a certain extent. At least, at this time, the father-in-law and mother-in-law didn't say anything to provoke him.

Of course, it was also because Zhou Ze's current appearance looked like he was ready to grab a knife and start hacking people at any moment.

Scanning the table,

Zhou Ze reached out and covered his chest.

The aroma of rice,

The aroma of meat,

So disgusting,

He wanted to vomit again.

Zhou Ze walked out of the house, breathing in the slightly cool fresh air outside, feeling a little better.

His head was a little dizzy, and Zhou Ze began to wander aimlessly down the street. He needed to think about some things quietly, but his current state of extreme sleepiness yet inability to sleep made it difficult for him to truly calm down.

Very conflicted,

Very uncomfortable,

It was like coming out of an internet cafe after staying up for two consecutive nights, or like a middle school student hiding under the covers all night reading novels and getting up early to go to school the next day.

Walking and walking, Zhou Ze suddenly stopped. The surrounding environment was somewhat familiar.

Then he saw the sign in front of him.

Tongcheng First Affiliated Hospital.

He had actually wandered to his old workplace. Heh, perhaps it was because Tongcheng was too small.

Zhou Ze walked into the hospital, not to revisit the old place, but to get some sleeping pills to try.

Not eating, he could still endure it. At worst, he could drink more water and temporarily make do with a water-filled stomach. But not sleeping was a long-term torment.

Familiar hospital, familiar work environment. Zhou Ze saw on the name and photo album of the emergency department on the ground floor that his photo had turned gray.

Then, he subconsciously walked to his original office. His desk had already been replaced. A middle-aged doctor with many freckles on his face was sitting in his position. Glancing at the nameplate on the desk, the doctor's surname was Kang.

Taking a deep breath, slightly regretful.

Zhou Ze temporarily forgot about getting sleeping pills. Perhaps it was this emotion of "things are different, people are not" that temporarily suppressed the torment of sleepiness. Zhou Ze began to wander around the hospital.

He was reminiscing about the bits and pieces of his life here,

His work,

His life,

And,

His past,

Or rather, his previous life.

He couldn't go back, he really couldn't go back, Zhou Ze muttered in his heart.

Then, unknowingly, he actually walked down the stairs and came to the first basement level.

He stood in place. As a doctor who had worked here for many years, he knew the layout of this floor.

Some equipment storage rooms, and then, the mortuary.

He remembered that he had once lain in the hospital's mortuary and had been made up there by a mortician.

He started walking again, heading towards the mortuary.

Zhou Ze wanted to go see the place where he had once lain. This was his own explanation for walking there now, but in reality, it was a special feeling in the dark that was luring him forward.

Walking and walking, Zhou Ze saw the door of the mortuary. The door had an electronic combination lock. Coincidentally, Zhou Ze remembered the password. Doctors from other departments probably wouldn't have any contact with this place, but Zhou Ze used to be in the emergency department. People who were sent to the emergency room were usually patients with serious injuries and illnesses. Inevitably, some people couldn't be saved and had to be sent here for placement.

In fact, this hospital also served as the police station's morgue. Some corpses of unknown origin or that needed to be "processed" would be temporarily placed here. This was common practice in many places. If the local police station's conditions were insufficient or the forensic doctors were not adequately equipped, the corpses would often be placed in the local funeral home or hospital.

Entering the password,

The door lock opened directly,

Zhou Ze walked in.

A chill came over him,

Not the kind of chill that stimulated the skin,

But a special coldness that seemed to be able to cover the temperature of your heart.

In the mortuary, of course, were corpses. Here was the temporary resting place for the dead.

Logically speaking, there should be a designated administrator outside, but for some reason, Zhou Ze didn't see anyone when he first walked in. Maybe the person was slacking off.

Zhou Ze walked among them. Some corpses were placed on cold stretcher beds, covered with white sheets, and one corpse was wrapped in a flowered quilt for home use. From the gray hair on the corpse's exposed head, the deceased should have been an old grandmother.

Because of his profession, Zhou Ze was originally not very afraid of corpses. What's more, he himself was now a ghost.

Zhou Ze walked to the freezer here, which was the kind of freezer that could be pulled out layer by layer.

The freezers with corpses inside all had labels attached, recording the corpses' names, genders, and other information.

Zhou Ze pulled open an empty freezer, reached in, closed his eyes, and slowly sensed it, gradually producing a drunken emotion, as if he could only find peace here.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Ze lay down on it.

"Creak…"

The freezer was slowly pushed in, to the final closure.

Quiet,

Cold,

Silent,

Zhou Ze slowly closed his eyelids,

Sleepiness came,

He had finally found the feeling of sleep,

But he couldn't sleep yet,

Because he didn't know,

Who was standing outside just now helping him push the freezer in…