Chapter 40: The Living Corpse

Hearing that Huang Po was in trouble, my heart leaped into my throat in an instant. Huang Po had helped me so much. It wasn't just about taking me as a corpse carrier and introducing jobs to me.

Since I encountered the female corpse, he was the only one who accompanied me. He helped me with everything. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was my backbone.

Now, upon hearing that Huang Po was in trouble, I was truly panicked, feeling both the fear of imminent loss of a friend and worry. If the female corpse came after Huang Po and killed him, then I wouldn't be far from death either.

Upon hearing the news, the criminal policeman got up and ran outside. I followed closely behind him, and we came to the interrogation room next door together.

When we entered the interrogation room, I saw Huang Po lying on the ground. A criminal policeman was desperately performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him, but he showed no reaction at all.

"Did you call 120?" the criminal policeman asked.

"Yes, 120 is on the way."

"Urge them again. If necessary, drive to clear the way and get the doctors here quickly."

As he was speaking, the siren of the ambulance could faintly be heard outside.

A moment later, when the emergency doctors from 120 arrived and examined Huang Po's condition, they shook their heads: "There's no hope. He's already brain dead."

"How can you give up the rescue so soon? He's only been unconscious for less than ten minutes. There's still a chance to save him. Why don't you try?" I couldn't help but yell.

"Ten minutes?!" The emergency doctor looked at me in surprise: "Are you joking? The corpse is already cold. He's been dead for at least two hours. You're telling me he just collapsed less than ten minutes ago?"

"He really just fainted not long ago. We're from the criminal police team. We don't lie about such things." The criminal policeman said seriously.

"This is really freaky. Even if he was frozen to death, he wouldn't have gotten cold so fast. What on earth is going on?" The emergency doctor also got interested.

The criminal policeman and I glanced at each other, and we both had a bad feeling in our hearts.

"Please double - check. Don't make a mistake." The criminal policeman said again.

"You're from the criminal police team. You must have a forensic doctor. Forensic doctors are more professional than our emergency doctors in determining the time of death. Let the forensic doctor take a look and you'll know."

The forensic doctor from the criminal police team soon arrived, and the conclusion he reached was even more unbelievable than that of the emergency doctor.

Huang Po had been dead for a long time, at least more than six hours.

"This is impossible! I was at the bar with him only an hour ago. How could he have been dead for more than six hours?"

The forensic doctor shook his head: "According to the liver temperature test, his time of death definitely exceeds six hours. If you want a more precise determination, an autopsy is needed."

The criminal policeman who had performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Huang Po said, "Are you sure you're not mistaken? Less than twenty minutes ago, I was still taking his statement. He was constantly wiping the sweat off his face. How could he have been dead for more than six hours?"

Another criminal policeman chimed in, "Yes, we conducted the interrogation together. By the way, we also recorded the video. The video timestamp can prove it."

Hearing what they said, the forensic doctor was also stunned.

Soon, he shook his head again. "The situation you guys described, I can't explain it. But just from the appearance of the corpse, he's indeed been dead for over six hours. And..."

As he said this, his face showed some hesitation, as if there was something hard to say.

"And what? We're all on the same team. Don't stop halfway and keep us in suspense," the criminal policeman couldn't help urging.

"There's an obvious putrid smell on his corpse. If it weren't for the lack of livor mortis and rigor mortis, I'd even infer that he's been dead for over twenty - four hours," the forensic doctor explained.

"Putrid smell?!" Everyone in the room was shocked, but they quickly realized. "It was masked by the perfume smell, but it's definitely the putrid smell."

I also understood. No wonder I always thought there was a disgusting putrid smell on Huang Po, and it made me want to vomit. That was clearly the putrid smell.

Previously, I thought it was because he often carried corpses and accidentally got the stench on him. Now it seems that the smell was clearly coming from Huang Po himself.

The criminal policeman's expression became solemn. He said to the two criminal policemen, "You two, tell me what happened just now again."

"Boss, just watch the video. Our minds are in a mess right now."

The video showed that after Huang Po sat on the chair, he kept sweating. Facing the questions, he seemed very slow to respond and would think for a long time before answering each time.

Just as the two criminal policemen asked questions again, an eerie smile appeared on his face. Then he suddenly collapsed to the ground. One criminal policeman went up to perform CPR on him, and the other ran to call for help.

It was that same eerie smile again. When I saw the eerie smile on Huang Po's face, I immediately remembered the same eerie smile on the female corpse's face.

Although they didn't look alike, the eerie smiles were exactly the same, sending shivers down one's spine.

The criminal policeman turned to look at me. "Huang Po is your friend. Can you contact his family? We need to conduct an autopsy on his body, and we need the family's consent."

I immediately shook my head and said, "He's an orphan and has no immediate family left."

"Then I'll go to apply to dissect his body," the criminal policeman said firmly.

"Can I watch the autopsy?" I made a request.

"The autopsy is very gruesome. You haven't had professional training, so I don't recommend you watch it," the criminal policeman said.

"I've worked as a corpse carrier in the funeral parlor for two years. I've witnessed all sorts of terrifying scenes, and I have a strong psychological tolerance. I just want to take a look to confirm a guess in my mind. I don't need to watch the whole process," I still want to give it a shot.

"All right then."

A moment later, I followed the criminal policeman and the forensic doctor to the autopsy room.

Before the autopsy, the forensic doctor deliberately pried open Huang Po's mouth and fanned the air towards his nose to smell.

"This is clearly the putrid smell. He's been dead for at least over twenty - four hours."

Then, he picked up the scalpel and made a cut along Huang Po's abdominal cavity.

As soon as the knife went down, the stinking, black - colored blood oozed out, and the putrid smell became even stronger.

The forensic doctor stopped, looked up at the two of us, and said, "My judgment is correct, right?" 

"The blood has already decayed. The time of death must have exceeded 24 hours!"

"How could this be?! I even talked to him. If he had been dead for so long, it can't be that the corpse was alive and talking to us, right?" the criminal policeman murmured.

Human blood is bright red. Even venous blood, which is slightly darker, isn't as dark as to turn black.

If it turns black, it means the person has been dead for a long time, and the blood has decayed under the action of bacteria and microorganisms.

The criminal policeman often dealt with homicides, so he naturally knew this.

A corpse that had been dead for a long time talked to people, drank with me, and took me to a bar to pick up women.

In an instant, a terrifying term jumped into my mind.

The Living Corpse.