"Thank you!" The nurse nodded her thanks as she entered. She was panting heavily, as though exhausted from running, but Jiang Chen couldn't sense the slightest warmth coming from her.
"No problem." Jiang Chen smiled and even offered a compliment. "Miss Nurse, you have such lovely skin. Someone who's been dead for three days probably wouldn't be as pale as you."
The nurse: "..."
If you can't fucking give a compliment, just shut up.
She had originally intended to say something, but Jiang Chen's compliment left her too embarrassed to speak. Silence settled over the elevator.
A little later, the nurse cleared her throat and started a conversation.
"By the way, handsome, have you ever heard of a certain taboo?"
Jiang Chen asked, "What taboo?"
"It's best not to take hospital elevators at night, because you never know who you might meet inside. People wearing black identification tags, for example! If you run into one, you'd better get out of the elevator immediately."
"Why?"
"Because in a hospital, only the corpses in the morgue wear those black tags. Every corpse's name is engraved on one!" the nurse said, her expression turning sinister.
After hearing this, Jiang Chen frowned, his expression gradually growing grave.
Seeing this, a cold smile curled the nurse's lips.
"Do those tags only come in black? Personally, I don't really like such a depressing color. I wonder if I can bring my own tag when I come here to die?"
Jiang Chen's next words froze her cold smile on her face.
"The corpse ghost's smile gradually disappeared. I spent all that time building a scary atmosphere, and this is what you want to talk about?"
Ghost Qi +30.
Jiang Chen gave her another look. She was actually a vicious ghost.
For a moment, the nurse had no idea how to respond, and the atmosphere inside the elevator became even more stifling.
After a while, something seemed to occur to her. Suddenly, she spoke again in an eerie tone. "Handsome, do you want to know what those black tags look like?"
Jiang Chen looked curious. "Sure, but you're not a corpse. Where would you get a tag?"
The nurse's smile grew even more sinister. She reached up and felt around her neck... once... twice... then again.
What the fuck? Where's my tag??
Just then, Jiang Chen suddenly leaned closer. He rummaged in his bag, producing a clatter of plastic, then pulled out a large handful of black tags tied with red string and held them before the nurse. "Beautiful, is this what you're looking for?"
The nurse's eyes went wide.
Fuck!
That many tags?
Did you fucking loot the morgue?
Ghost Qi +90.
She couldn't help stepping back, pressing herself against the elevator wall as though Jiang Chen had cornered her there.
Just then, the elevator reached the second basement level, and the doors opened.
A doctor carrying a black plastic bag stood outside. Seeing the scene, he gave Jiang Chen a suggestive wink, then cleared his throat and stepped inside.
Jiang Chen looked at the black plastic bag in the doctor's hand.
Noticing his gaze, the doctor volunteered an explanation. "I'm not here to steal anything. A patient upstairs isn't feeling well, so I came to get some medical equipment. It was urgent, so I just grabbed whatever bag was handy."
Jiang Chen didn't believe him. He could clearly hear liquid sloshing inside the bag, and there was a smell of formalin.
Just then, the nurse leaned toward Jiang Chen's ear and whispered, "Heh, he's lying to you. The medical equipment room is on the first basement level. The second basement level shares refrigeration equipment with the third, so it's used for storing organs."
"Who knows? That bag of his might be full of human organs!"
Seemingly having heard the nurse, the doctor suddenly stared straight at them, showing a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I think I heard you talking about my bag. Do you want to know what's inside that badly? Don't regret it after you've seen it!"
As he spoke, he crowded closer, seemingly intent on forcing them to look inside his bag.
Jiang Chen hadn't said a single word throughout this exchange. Working in tandem, the nurse and doctor had backed him into a corner.
"Since you want to see it so badly, I'll show you!" With a sinister expression, the doctor released his grip on the mouth of the bag. A pungent chemical smell mixed with a bloody stench instantly filled the elevator.
Jiang Chen looked down and saw several kinds of organs soaking in liquid inside the bag. One even had a few bites taken out of it. The doctor bared his teeth in a cold smile, the smell of formalin coming from his mouth as well.
The nurse wore an equally sinister expression.
Trapped between them, Jiang Chen fell silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke. "Doctor, my friend, let me quiz you. How much does a kidney transplant cost?"
"About two hundred and fifty thousand," the doctor answered instinctively.
"Then do you know what you're carrying in that bag?"
The doctor looked bewildered.
"Money!" Jiang Chen patted his shoulder. "Now, I have to criticize you for this. Waving a bag of money in front of me this late at night-don't you know I'm already off the clock?"
As he spoke, he took a stocking out of his bag. Pulling it over his head, he said helplessly, "But I like you, so let's call this a favor for a new friend. I'll work overtime for this job! Remember to put in a good word for me once you get out."
Jiang Chen's actions left both the doctor and the nurse utterly dumbfounded.
What overtime?
What do you do for a living?
Ghost Qi +20. Ghost Qi +25.
Ding!
The elevator reached the first floor.
Jiang Chen had almost finished pulling on the stocking. He smiled at the doctor. "If you get another chance, remember to come work with me again!"
With that, he suddenly snatched the black plastic bag and dashed out of the elevator.
The doctor and nurse stared in astonishment.
It took the nurse over a second to react before she ventured uncertainly, "Is there any chance that his actual profession is... robber?"
"Fuck!" The doctor wrenched open the elevator doors, which had already shut. "Why didn't you say so sooner? After him!"
The two rushed out. By now, Jiang Chen had reached the far end of the corridor and darted into the fire stairs, but the doctor and nurse were frighteningly fast. They caught up in the blink of an eye.
The nurse was more agile and charged into the stairwell first.
The lights here had broken at some point. In the darkness, a sharp knife wreathed in cold resentment thrust out at a treacherous angle. Like a lethally venomous pit viper, it struck precisely at its prey's vital spot.
The blade pierced the nurse's heart, yet a cold smile appeared on her deathly pale face.
"My heart died long ago. Do you want to dig it out and take a look?"
Her hoarse voice sent chills down the spine.
The next instant, Jiang Chen's expression changed drastically. He discovered that the knife had only penetrated half an inch before becoming firmly stuck.
Worse still, the nurse suddenly swung a hand at him, reaching for his chest.
A terrifying sense of danger made Jiang Chen's hair stand on end. Just then, he felt something heat up in his pocket. It was the Evil-Repelling Talisman Lin Youwei had given him, and a faint layer of golden light shone from it.
Upon touching the golden light, the nurse jerked her hand back as though bitten by a venomous snake. The flesh of her palm had been burned black and rotten.
Jiang Chen frowned and seized the chance to retreat, but unfortunately, the vicious ghost was astonishingly fast. Ferocity blazed in the nurse's eyes, and her large, festering hand slammed into his chest.
Bam!!!
Jiang Chen went flying and smashed heavily into the wall at the turn of the stairs. He spat out a mouthful of blood and felt as though several of his ribs had broken.
Looking down, he saw a black handprint on his chest, radiating an aura that made his blood run cold.
Jiang Chen could feel an eerie power emanating from the handprint. It was as though a large, invisible hand had gripped his heart tightly, making it beat slower and slower.
At this rate, he wouldn't survive the night. When the time came, his death certificate would very likely list some sudden heart condition as the cause.
This was what made ghosts truly terrifying. Once their curse took hold, death was inevitable!
"Hehehe, it seems you've come down with the same illness as me?" The nurse approached step by step, her face full of mockery and chilling malice.
Behind her, the doctor picked up the plastic bag from the floor and drew a scalpel with his other hand. His gaze kept sweeping over Jiang Chen's chest and abdomen, as though he wanted to slit open his belly and pull out all his organs.
"Sure enough, even the weakest vicious ghost is still a vicious ghost. My current base strength is nowhere near enough to deal with one." Jiang Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and shook his head helplessly.
The nurse and doctor were in no hurry. They closed in step by step, slowly revealing the horrific forms of their deaths as they gleefully terrorized the living man before them.
What they couldn't hear were the words Jiang Chen silently recited in his heart.
Demon transformation-
Chaos-Dwelling Demon King!
Before you continue