Chapter 155: The Eyes of the Dead

As luck would have it, when Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang arrived at the hospital, the morgue security guard, Miao Jiancheng, who reported the incident, had just woken up.

He was in bad shape. After being scared out of the morgue and getting hit by a car, he ended up with a broken thigh bone, four fractured ribs, a mild concussion, and various scrapes and bruises. Lying on the hospital bed, he looked pale and distressed, as if he had seen a ghost.

Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang exchanged glances. 

As experienced criminal investigators, they could tell Miao Jiancheng’s condition was genuine and not an act.

“Hello, you’re the morgue security guard Miao Jiancheng, right?” Xiao Yu smiled warmly. “I’m from the Criminal Investigation Team, and I’m in charge of the missing corpse case at the morgue.”

“Ah!” Miao Jiancheng shivered, looking at the two officers with lingering fear. “Police?”

“Yes, we’re the police.” Xiao Yu kept his sunny smile, but a hint of something different flickered in his eyes. He planned to use his Psychologist Expert ability to gently guide Miao Jiancheng’s mind, making it easier to question him. 

“Don’t be nervous, and don’t worry. You’re safe now. Even if there were ghosts in this world, do you think they’d dare to come where there are many people…”

For a full ten minutes, Xiao Yu spoke calmly and reassuringly.

Remarkably, his words seemed to carry a special power. His tone, his smile, and his gestures gradually calmed Miao Jiancheng. His terrified expression softened, and he started to look more composed.

This wasn’t to say that Psychologist Expert had magical powers, but rather that it provided psychological comfort. Through language, facial expressions, and body language, Xiao Yu was able to soothe Miao Jiancheng’s mind and guide him back to a normal psychological state.

“Our colleagues spoke to you earlier this morning, but it wasn’t very detailed.” Xiao Yu maintained his sunny smile as he asked, “Could you tell me in detail what happened last night?”

“Last night…” Miao Jiancheng’s expression briefly showed fear, but it gradually dissipated as he tilted his head, recalling the events. 

“At 1 AM, I went out on patrol. This is something all night shift security guards have to do. We need to check each checkpoint.”

“Checkpoints?” Xiao Yu picked up on the detail.

“The company has set up electronic checkpoints in various locations,” Miao Jiancheng explained. “We carry a scanner and swipe it at each checkpoint. If we don’t scan, there’s no record, and the company will know we were slacking off.”

Got it. This wasn’t a new system. It had been around for fifteen or twenty years and was mostly obsolete now. Who knew morgues still used it?

“Continue,” Xiao Yu nodded.

“I first patrolled outside the morgue and didn’t notice anything unusual,” Miao Jiancheng continued. “Then I went inside the morgue, starting with cold storage room no. 1, and checked in at the checkpoint. Everything was fine in room No. 1, but when I got to room No. 2, I noticed something strange.”

“What was strange?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly strange,” Miao Jiancheng thought for a moment. “The door wasn’t closed properly, it was left slightly ajar. I thought maybe a night shift worker had been careless, so I pushed the door open to check. And then… I saw one of the freezer cabinets was open.”

‘A door left ajar, likely by the body thief,’ Xiao Yu squinted. 

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t particularly unusual. But if you were stealing a body, would you be that careless?

Xiao Yu remembered solving some theft cases in the past.

The common psychology of a thief was that, aside from money, most stolen items would be returned to their original places. For example, cabinets, decorations, doors, and windows. If a house was left in a complete mess, it typically indicated that the thief was a novice.

From the scene, Xiao Yu could tell this person was a ‘pro’ with excellent psychological resilience. 

To stage a supernatural event in a morgue required more than just ordinary thievery skills. It reminded him of… grave robbers.

Grave robbers?

Xiao Yu’s eyes lit up. How had he not considered them before? Only such individuals would dare to deal with the dead, possessing the skill to handle corpses and burial items. Creating a ghostly illusion would be their specialty.

Could it be them?

If so, why target a body from the morgue rather than a tomb? The body must be more valuable than items found in a grave.

Xiao Yu squinted his eyes, considering the deceased woman’s assets, which amounted to over twenty million yuan. That indeed made her more valuable than some tomb treasures.

“At first, I was confused and puzzled,” Miao Jiancheng said, frowning. “I didn’t immediately think the body was missing. I thought maybe a staff member had forgotten something. But when I saw the body bag was torn, I knew something was wrong and wanted to call for help. As I walked out of Room No. 2… I saw a female corpse sitting at the end of the corridor, leaning against the door.”

“How did you immediately recognize her as a female corpse?” Xiao Yu asked, staring directly at Miao Jiancheng.

“Of course I recognized her. I’ve seen plenty of corpses in my time,” Miao Jiancheng said, his voice a mix of agitation and fear. “The skin tone of a corpse is very different from that of a living person. Corpses generally have a pale complexion with a hint of blue-gray. If they’ve been frozen, they appear blue-gray with a faint hint of black. When I saw her, I was truly terrified. She was staring at me with her eyes wide open!”

‘Indeed, the skin of a corpse does look like that.’ Xiao 

Yu’s expression darkened. He had asked to confirm whether the female corpse was really a corpse. Miao Jiancheng’s answer indicated it was.

Xiao Yu’s heart began to race uncontrollably, and his face gradually turned pale. If it was indeed a female corpse, then no one was impersonating it.

How could she be sitting on the ground? How did she move in the darkness to confront the security guard?

His body broke out in goosebumps and a cold sweat. Could it really be…

“Wait a minute,” Xiao Yu suddenly exclaimed. “What did you say about her eyes? She was staring at you? What color were her eyes?”

“Black,” Miao Jiancheng said confidently. “They were black, just like a normal person’s.”

“Ha!” Xiao Yu laughed.

A dead person, especially one who has been dead for a while, could not have eyes that look normal. They couldn’t still be black.

After death, the cornea’s transparency gradually decreases, becoming cloudy and gray-white. Eventually, it completely obscures the pupil, resulting in a cloudy cornea. 

Therefore, the eyes of the dead are gray-white, not black.