Corpse Caregiver

At the very back of the bedroom stood a bamboo-and-rattan reclining chair, the kind that could rock. It creaked every time it swayed.

The curtains were drawn tightly shut, but it was so dark that the guide had turned on the lights.

Nightmare had often felt that her eyes were the perfect example of paying money to suffer. If the "truth" were beautiful, or even ordinary, that would be one thing. But in these absurd games, the truth was usually horrifying.

She was always seeing things that made her sick, yet she had to pretend she hadn't noticed and keep a calm expression. Otherwise, those things would tear her apart.

Just like now: the guide had led her to the recliner, where she was staring face-to-face with a corpse that had been rotting for a long time.

The corpse's face had the withered look of an old person. Its flesh had rotted beyond recognition. It was dressed neatly in a winter padded jacket, but the wriggling maggots and the fluids seeping from the body kept staining it.

"Look, my dad's so sick that he can't even walk by himself anymore, but he keeps moving around. I just changed his clothes, and they're dirty again." Gao Yiling gave Nightmare a troubled smile, with a hint of complaint.

But before Nightmare could respond, she immediately turned to the corpse and spoke to it in a coaxing voice. "Oh, Dad, I told you, washing clothes in winter is so cold. You can't go wandering around now, so just lie down and rest, okay? Don't move around. When you're better, I'll take you out to have fun, all right?"

"I'll take you on every tour I ever led at the travel agency. We'll go traveling and never stay in this freezing town again. But