Chapter 21: The Farewell Room and the Crematorium

The lights went out and I was surrounded by darkness.

In the darkness and silence, I heard my own breathing getting heavier and heavier, and the pounding of my heart.

I have to get out of here! Get out now!

So, I turned on my flashlight and tried to find a way out.

I couldn't go back to that tomb, so I went in the opposite direction.

My feet were on the bloodstains, and several times, I was about to slip and fall.

Eventually, though, I found an exit.

It was a small door, and it wasn't shut.

I pushed the door open and walked out of the showroom.

When I walked through the door, I realized that it was a much more empty hall than the exhibition hall.

There were no lights, but there were high windows on either side, and the outside light shone in through the windows, giving it an eerie chill.

Suddenly, the music rang out.

I was startled and subconsciously pressed the gun in my pocket.

The music sounded, but the tune sounded a little sad.

That's mourning!

In the middle of the hall, two lights, one on the left and one on the right, lit up intersectingly, and in the middle of it, a bed covered with a white cloth.

Suddenly, there was a cry in the room. At first, it was just the soft sobbing of one or two people, and then it became the cry of many people. These cries intertwined, breaking the silence that had existed.

I felt a little creepy, but walked over to the bed.

What's underneath the white cloth? Could it be a corpse?

I suddenly understood, this should be the farewell room of the funeral home, right? The one on the bed should be the deceased. Here, his family will say a final goodbye to him, after which the body will be pushed into the crematorium to be incinerated and turned into ashes.

But strangely, I heard the mourning and the crying, but I did not see the people who wept goodbye, that is, the relatives and friends of the deceased?

I'm the only one in this hall, and the corpse under the white cloth?

I didn't dare to go any further, so I stopped five meters away from the bed and stared at the white cloth in a daze.

Who is the man lying there, lying under the white cloth? Could it be Mary, or Wu Qiang?

I hesitated, although I dared to pry open the two coffins before, not afraid that I would see the corpses inside. This time, however, I did not dare to lift the white cloth and look at the dead underneath.

Could it be that the person down there is myself?

As soon as this thought came to me, I immediately felt a chill in the back of my neck.

If I'm dead, of course I can't see anyone else. But can I hear the cries of others?

I remembered that the last time I was in the hospital, I used to hear other people's voices, but I couldn't see anyone at all.

Am I really dead? Now I'm just a ghost? A ghost who can hear someone else's voice but can't see someone else's ghost?

At this moment, the crying around me became louder and louder, and even burst my eardrums!

"Don't cry! Don't cry! I finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed.

Yet, in the empty hall, no one answered me, except for my echo.

Those cries did not stop. On the contrary, I even heard a sound that seemed to be mixed with some kind of wolf howl, as if the lonely, hungry wolf was barking at the sky on a moonlit night.

I covered my ears, but the cries went through my hands and into my eardrums.

This place, couldn't stay any longer! I'd better run!

I was about to flee when suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I was startled, and when I turned around, I saw a skeleton standing right in front of me, one of its arms, bone and no flesh to be exact, still resting on my shoulder.

I screamed in fright and tried to break free of the skeleton.

However, the man's arm bones were clamping my shoulders tightly, and it was shaking its head and opening its jawbone, revealing its bare upper and lower rows of teeth, as if it wanted to eat me.

I felt for the gun, pulled it out, and fired two shots at the skeleton.

The skeleton fell to the ground, moved a few times, and finally, stopped moving.

But something strange happened.

The skeleton disintegrated into bone fragments and fell to the ground. As soon as those bone fragments hit the ground, it was like falling into a swamp, and they actually sank under the floor and disappeared!

I couldn't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming, yes, dreaming!

Wake up, wake up!

Suddenly, behind me, something sounded again.

I immediately turned around and raised my gun.

This time, there were no skeletons or zombies behind me.

But the bed, the one covered with a white cloth, moved on its own!

I finally saw that it wasn't a bed, it was a cart, a cart for the corpses.

The car moved, slowly moving towards a room next to the farewell room. Like, someone is pushing it.

The sound of mourning and crying suddenly stopped. In the farewell room, it was eerily quiet.

The cart entered a room, and the door was about to close.

I immediately ran forward and slipped in just as the door was about to close.

I slipped into the room, and the door behind me slammed shut.

I was stunned and turned around, trying to open the door again.

But no matter how hard I pushed, the door wouldn't open.

Damn, is there someone outside the door, and when he saw me entering, he locked the door?

Since there is no turning back, I have no choice but to move forward.

I turned around again, only to see that it was not a room, but a passageway. The cart, covered with a white cloth, was still moving along the passage.

Where is this car going to be pushed?

Curiosity drove me to follow the car all the way and walk forward.

Soon, the car was at the end of the passage, in front of another door.

The door opened automatically, and the car slowly walked in.

I followed.

Once inside, my first instinct was – hot.

It's really hot here, a heat wave, it's coming from the opposite side. Even though there was a big fan hanging from the wall, it still couldn't stop the heat from spreading through the room.

What is this place?

I looked up, but I saw three big words written on the wall directly opposite - cremation room!

Oh my God, how did I get to all this place? This is the place where the body is cremated? What do I follow up on?

My first instinct was to get out of here, but another thought came to me.

By the way, I haven't seen who the body is on that cart? What if, she's Mary?

So, I rushed forward and lifted the white cloth just as the cart was about to be wheeled into the crematorium.

However, to my surprise, there was nothing underneath the white cloth, and it was empty.

But why did I see that the white cloth was still bulging underneath? There should be someone down there? But why don't I see anything at the moment?

Just as I was puzzled, suddenly, something hit me on the back of my head.

I fainted, and then, I didn't know anything.

It's hot, it's hot, where am I?

I woke up, only to find myself locked in another "coffin"!

It was not a coffin, but a closed cylindrical device surrounded by iron sheets. At this time, I was lying here on my back, with cold iron sheets on my head and feet.

I stretched out my hand, but as soon as I touched the iron sheet, it was so hot that it retracted my hand.

Suddenly, I understood.

I was thrown into the crematorium? No wonder, it's so hot here?

Ah, am I going to be burned alive here?

Compared to being suffocated to death in that black coffin and burned alive in the crematorium, it is even more desperate and terrifying!

I cried out, and I didn't care about being burned, so I struck the iron sheet with my hands and feet.

However, no matter how much I screamed and kicked, there was no sound outside.

In the stove, it was getting hotter and hotter, and I could only struggle hopelessly like a rat in the oven. However, it was useless, and slowly, I fainted from the heat.

In the last moments before I fell unconscious, a terrifying voice sounded in my ears.

That's the sound of the crematorium being activated, the sound that makes me completely desperate!

Am I really going to die here?

In my daze, I seemed to hear the mournful music again, and the deafening cry.

I finally got it.

The one under the white cloth is probably me, right?

Those voices seem to be mourning my departure?

I didn't expect that I would leave this world like this?

I finally couldn't stand it anymore, and the moment the switch of the crematorium was activated, I had passed out.

I don't know how long it took before I woke up.

When I opened my eyes, I found that I was not dead, let alone burned into a pile of ashes.

I was lying on the floor, in a room.

Where is this? Am I still alive?

I struggled to get up, but found that my body, hands and feet were intact, and there were no signs of burning.

Could it be that someone saved me and got me out of the crematorium?

I looked around, but I was stunned.

I saw that in this room, there were dense shelves everywhere. On top of the shelves, there are layers of urns!

Where I am, it is, it's a columbarium?

This columbarium is like a labyrinth, and the urn on the shelf is quietly watching me. Almost, I became one of them.

I saw the pictures on the urns, the portraits of the dead who had been turned back into ashes.

The pictures, the faces, seemed to be staring at me. It was as if they would jump out of the urn at any moment and choke me by the neck.

I subconsciously touched my neck and took a deep breath.

The air seemed to be filled with the choking smell of ashes.

I looked up, but I couldn't see a way out of here. The shelves with the ashes were next to each other, and I couldn't see anything else in my field of vision.

No, I have to get out of here!

So, I began to search this "labyrinth", and I wanted to find a way out.

However, there seems to be no end to this columbarium, and no matter which direction I go, I just can't get out.

By the end, I was in despair.

What the hell is going on? Why am I stuck here? How is this possible, why can't I leave this hellish place?

Yes, this is indeed a ghost place, am I already a ghost now?

I sat on the ground tired and desperate, surrounded by silence, a deathly silence.

Suddenly, I heard a sound, what seemed to be something tapping.

What is that?

I pricked up my ears and listened carefully.

Finally, I heard it clearly.

That's the sound of a wooden fish! That's right, it's the sound of the wooden fish struck by the monks in the temple!

Although the voice was so faint, I don't know why, but my heart calmed down.

Suddenly, the sound of wooden fish stopped.

I looked up, but I was surprised to find that the labyrinthine shelves, and the layers of urns, were gone, all gone?

The surrounding area has turned into a cemetery again, and there are cemeteries full of tombstones everywhere!

Cemetery? Oh my God, how did I come back again?

That's right, this is the cemetery I once visited!

I, unexpectedly, went back to the cemetery······