Delivering an Order

My name is Chen Yu. I work as a food deliveryman in this city. I'm out and about in all kinds of weather every day, just hoping to earn more money and live a better life. I ride my old and shabby electric bike, weaving through the streets and alleys from dawn till dusk, all for the sake of taking more orders and seeing a more satisfactory figure in my bank account.

Late one night, the city had already fallen asleep, and the neon lights had dimmed. Just as I was about to end my tiring day, my phone "dinged", breaking the silence. I looked down and saw a delivery order. The address showed it was at the abandoned psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of the city.

When I saw this address, my heart sank. That place had always exuded an ominous feeling, and all sorts of terrifying rumors had been circulating in the city, like an inescapable shadow. It was said that many unknown and horrifying experiments had been carried out in the hospital in the past. Countless patients had died in great pain, and their grievances had accumulated deeper and deeper on this land. Even though the hospital had been abandoned later, the rumors of it being haunted had never stopped.

But when I thought of the meager balance in my bank card and that the rent for next month was still not covered, I gritted my teeth and started my electric bike.

All the way there, the cold wind cut into my face like a knife, and the darkness all around pressed down heavily, making it hard to breathe. As I moved further away from the urban area, the streetlights became fewer and fewer, and finally, they disappeared completely. Only the faint light of my electric bike struggled to carve out a narrow path in the endless darkness.

Finally, I arrived outside the abandoned psychiatric hospital. The sight before me made me shiver involuntarily. The gate stood crookedly, and the rusty iron bars were twisted like the limbs of a monster. The buildings inside were dimly visible in the night, like huge beasts lying in wait, ready to pounce at any moment.

When I walked into the hospital, a pungent, rotten smell hit me. It was a mixture of dampness, decay, and some unknown stench that made my stomach churn. The corridor was filled with thick dust, and every step I took raised a cloud of gray mist. Large patches of the wall plaster had peeled off, revealing the mottled cement underneath, which looked like hideous faces.

By the faint light of my phone, I made my way through the clutter with difficulty. The old wheelchairs, broken hospital beds, and medical records scattered on the ground all seemed to take on strange and eerie shapes in the interplay of light and shadow.

According to the order information, the destination was in the basement. When I found the entrance to the basement, a cold and damp breath rushed towards me, as if I had opened the gates of hell. The stairs were steep and dark. When I shone my phone's light down, I could only see a few steps, and beyond that was bottomless darkness.

I walked down the stairs carefully. With each step, the stairs creaked, as if the whole building was moaning in pain. The basement was filled with a thick layer of fog, and the light scattered in the fog, creating strange halos. It was deathly quiet all around, and only the sound of my breathing and footsteps echoed in the empty space.

"Hello, your food delivery is here," I summoned up the courage to shout, but my voice was instantly swallowed up by the darkness, and there was no response.

I continued to move forward, groping my way through the fog. Suddenly, a faint light appeared ahead, as if it was coming from one of the wards. I walked towards the light. The ground under my feet was uneven, and I almost tripped several times.

When I reached the door of the ward, it was half-open, and a dim yellow light came out from inside. I gently pushed the door open, and the door hinge let out a harsh "squeak", which was especially terrifying in the silent basement.

In the ward, a person was sitting on a chair with their back to me, motionless.

"Hello, your food delivery," I said again, and my voice trembled involuntarily.

The person slowly turned their head. I felt a chill run down my spine, and it seemed as if all the blood in my body had instantly frozen. Their face was so swollen that it was unrecognizable. The skin was a bluish-purple color, as if it had been soaked and swollen. Their eyes were bulging so much that they almost popped out of their sockets, and the eyeballs were covered with bloodshot veins, exuding a sense of madness and eeriness. Their lips were turned outwards, revealing a row of uneven yellow teeth, and there was a trace of dark red liquid at the corner of their mouth, I didn't know whether it was blood or something else.

"Just put it there," their voice was low and hoarse, as if it had been squeezed out from the depths of their throat, carrying a decaying smell.

I quickly put the food on the table next to me and turned around, eager to leave this terrifying place.

"Wait..." they called out to me.

My body froze, and my feet seemed to be nailed to the ground. I slowly turned around and said, "What... what else is there?"

"Stay and chat with me..." they said, and their voice carried a tone that brooked no refusal.

I didn't want to at all, but in this situation, I didn't dare to disobey them, so I had to stay reluctantly.

"Do you know what happened here in the past?" they suddenly asked, and their voice echoed in the silent ward, with an eerie resonance.

I shook my head, and it felt as if something was stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say a word.

"This used to be a hell..." they began to tell, and their eyes became blurred and empty, as if they were lost in the abyss of memories.

It turned out that many years ago, this psychiatric hospital had been controlled by a crazy scientist. Under the guise of treating mental illnesses, he carried out all sorts of inhumane human experiments here. They treated the patients like lab rats, conducting drug tests and genetic modifications. Countless patients had endured great pain during the experiments and eventually died a tragic death. After they died, their bodies were casually discarded in various corners of the basement, left to rot and stink. The souls of those who had died unjustly could not rest in peace. They wandered in this hospital, and every night, they would let out ear-piercing screams and moans of pain.

"Every night, I can hear their voices... echoing in my ears, tormenting me..." they said, and their body began to tremble slightly. Their hands tightly grasped the armrests of the chair, and their knuckles turned white from the exertion.

I was so scared that my hair stood on end, and my legs went weak. I just wanted to get out of this terrifying place as soon as possible.

"I don't think you can leave either..." they suddenly stood up and walked towards me step by step. Their movements were slow and stiff, like a puppet being manipulated.

I stepped back in fear, and my back hit the wall. "What... what do you want to do?"

They didn't answer but just kept approaching, making a strange "giggle" sound. The sound seemed to be squeezed out from between their teeth, full of malice and madness.

I turned around and started running desperately, blindly fleeing through the complex passages of the basement. The fog around me was getting thicker and thicker, and the light was getting dimmer and dimmer. I felt as if I had fallen into a labyrinth from which I could never escape.

Every now and then as I ran, I would bump into something, sometimes old medical equipment, sometimes piles of clutter. When I fell, I quickly got up and continued running. The sound of the strange person's footsteps and laughter always echoed in my ears.

Suddenly, I saw a figure ahead. When I got closer, it turned out to be a little girl. She was wearing a tattered hospital gown, with her hair messily draped over her shoulders, and her face was as pale as white paper.

"Big brother, why are you running?" She looked up at me with a pair of empty and soulless eyes, and her voice was childish but carried an indescribable eeriness.

I didn't have time to answer her. I bypassed her and continued running. But after running for a while, I found myself back at the door of that ward again. The strange person was still standing there. When they saw me, they laughed even more maniacally. "I told you, you can't escape..."

I desperately searched for an exit, but all the passages looked exactly the same. And somehow, all the exits had been blocked by some strange things, including old mattresses, broken iron doors, and some things I couldn't even identify.

"Why... why are you doing this to me..." I shouted in despair, and my voice echoed in the basement, filled with endless despair.

The strange person didn't answer but slowly raised the scalpel in their hand. In the faint light, the blade glinted coldly, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

"They owed me this... Now, you will pay for it..." They walked towards me step by step, their steps heavy and slow, and each step seemed to be stepping on my heart.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the arrival of death. The faces of my family flashed through my mind, and regret and fear mingled together. I regretted why I had taken this order and why I had come to this terrifying place.

Just when I thought my life was about to end, I suddenly heard a strange sound, as if someone was crying softly, or as if someone was chanting some incantations that I couldn't understand. The sound grew louder and louder, echoing in the basement, as if the whole space was shaking.

I opened my eyes and saw the fog around me starting to roll and churn. Some vague figures appeared at the blocked passageways. Some of them were wearing hospital gowns, some were naked. Their bodies were twisted and deformed, and their faces were filled with pain and resentment.

"It's you... You brought them here..." When the strange person saw these figures, they suddenly let out a terrified scream, and the scalpel in their hand fell to the ground with a clear sound.

Those figures slowly approached the strange person, shouting ear-piercingly, "Give us back our lives..."

The strange person turned around and tried to run, but one of the figures grabbed their arm. They struggled desperately, but those figures clung to them tightly. Soon, the strange person's screams were drowned out in the chaos.

I stood there dumbfounded, looking at this terrifying scene, my mind completely blank. When everything finally calmed down, those figures disappeared, and only a deathly silence remained in the basement.

I summoned up the courage and groped for the exit in the dark. I don't know how long it took, but I finally found the stairs and stumbled out of the abandoned psychiatric hospital.

The air outside was cold and fresh. I took big gulps of air, feeling as if I had been reborn. Looking back, the abandoned psychiatric hospital looked even more sinister and terrifying in the night, like a sleeping devil's castle.

From then on, I never took any orders to remote or suspicious places again.