Chapter 42: Re-entering the Funeral Parlor

The sudden turn of events left the three of us completely stunned.

My first reaction was to turn around, open the door, and run away. But my hands and feet were so weak from fear that I couldn't move. After a series of scares, I could hardly hold on anymore.

Fortunately, after Huang Po raised his hands and grabbed the wrists of the criminal policeman and the forensic doctor, he didn't move again.

After a moment of shock, the two men pried Huang Po's hands open. The forensic doctor then fetched some cable ties and fastened Huang Po's hands to the autopsy table. Then he said, "Let's go. Let's all go upstairs."

The two of them walked out together, but their steps were a bit stiff. Clearly, they were also quite frightened. When they reached the door and saw that my legs were too weak to stand, they shook their heads helplessly and had to support me out of the autopsy room.

When we got back to the first floor and saw the other criminal policemen still busy, we felt a bit calmer with the presence of other people.

The three of us stood in front of the flowerbed and started smoking. We were all silent, lost in our own thoughts.

The criminal policeman had a bit of a heavy smoking habit. He quickly finished one cigarette. After taking a puff of his second one, he let out a long breath and then said, "I shouldn't have taken on your case, kid. This is just freaking weird."

"I don't want this either," I could only force a smile and then couldn't help but ask curiously, "By the way, why do I always run into you?"

"Ask me? Who should I ask? I've had a headache every time I see you these days. I've swapped shifts with my colleagues several times, but I just can't avoid you." The criminal policeman looked utterly desperate and helpless.

I was at a loss for words and just smoked in silence.

The forensic doctor, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up, "What should we do with that corpse downstairs? The autopsy room is my territory. You can't just leave that corpse down there. How can I carry out my work then?"

"Aren't you going to do the autopsy?" the criminal policeman retorted.

"What the hell am I supposed to do an autopsy on it? It's so decomposed, and its hands can still move and grab people. Do you think a little forensic doctor like me can handle this?"

"So what should we do? We still need an autopsy report, right?"

"I'll write that it was a cardiac arrest later. You should quickly arrange for its cremation. If that corpse gets loose, no one can handle the mess it'll make," the forensic doctor said softly.

"Okay, I'll go upstairs to get the leader's signature. This kid works at the funeral parlor. Later, let him go with the vehicle and send it directly for cremation," the criminal policeman said.

The criminal policeman went upstairs and soon came back with the signed approval from the duty officer. Then, the three of us went to the basement autopsy room again.

Before going, I was really worried that when we got there, Huang Po's corpse would have disappeared and escaped.

The criminal policeman and the forensic doctor clearly weren't feeling at ease either. When they went downstairs, they brought along a high - voltage electric baton, and the criminal policeman also took a loaded pistol.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened. When the door of the autopsy room was pushed open, Huang Po's corpse was still lying on the autopsy table, tightly bound with cable ties.

It was good that nothing went wrong. I felt a bit more relaxed, but the stench in the room still made me feel sick.

The forensic doctor looked quite calm. Clearly, he was used to such scenes. He fetched the autopsy record book, neatly wrote down the autopsy result of cardiac arrest, tore off the carbon copy, and handed it to the criminal policeman.

Seeing this scene, I couldn't help complaining, "In this situation, why still write 'cardiac arrest'? Isn't this just asking for trouble?"

The forensic doctor glanced at me, shook his head, and said nothing.

The criminal policeman said, "You don't understand. I'll tell you on the way to the funeral parlor."

Since he knew I worked at the funeral parlor as a corpse carrier, the criminal policeman entrusted me with the task of collecting Huang Po's corpse.

Obviously, he also thought the corpse smelled too bad and didn't want to touch it.

When I put the body bag over Huang Po, I couldn't describe the feeling in my heart.

It was Huang Po who first took me into the profession of a corpse carrier. I still clearly remembered how he demonstrated step by step and told me what to do when I collected my first corpse.

For the next two years, I worked with him to collect corpses. I never thought that now I would have to collect his corpse, and I didn't even know how long he had been dead.

Maybe he died on the day he encountered the female corpse.

After Huang Po's corpse was put into the body bag and tied up, the criminal policeman helped me carry the corpse onto a Golden Cup van. He drove and asked me to sit in the front passenger seat. We headed towards the funeral parlor together.

This Golden Cup van was specially used by the criminal police team to transport corpses. Except that it wasn't painted black, it was no different from the corpse-transporting vehicle of the funeral parlor.

The atmosphere was a bit dull. I was even more confused and my mind was in a complete mess. I felt a bit numb.

"Do you know why we must write 'cardiac arrest'?" The criminal policeman probably wanted to cheer me up and deliberately struck up a conversation.

"Why?" I also wanted to know why because it was so strange.

"Some cases are quite strange. The cause of the victim's death can't be explained by modern medicine. For example, a person doesn't have any cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases, but dies from extreme shock. In this case, what should the forensic doctor write?"

"This is really troublesome." I've also heard of people being scared to death. It's not a baseless claim.

"For some cases, like the one we encountered tonight, how should the forensic doctor write the cause of death? The victim has been dead for a long time, at least several days. It's okay to write like this."

The criminal policeman sighed and continued, "But according to the surveillance video, the victim clearly died tonight. If the family members come to cause trouble later, this record of the forensic doctor will become a big problem."

"Will the family members make a fuss?"

"Definitely. So, for some autopsies, it's impossible to write the real situation. 'Cardiac arrest' is also a kind of jargon in the forensic industry. For those corpses whose cause of death is hard to explain and can't be ascertained, they will be concluded with these four words."

"Ah? Can it be like this?"

The criminal policeman laughed, "It's not wrong. If there's cardiac arrest, the person must be dead. No matter what the cause of death is, the heart must have stopped beating."

Chatting all the way, the car arrived at the funeral parlor.

The criminal policeman had already informed the funeral parlor in advance. When the car entered the yard, there were employees of the funeral parlor pushing a stretcher bed, standing in front of the building waiting.

The body bag was placed on the stretcher bed, and two employees pushed the stretcher bed towards the cremation room.

I followed them in. "Anyway, Huang Po has always taken good care of me. I have to see him off one last time," I said.

The middle - aged criminal policeman also came in. "I won't feel at ease until I see this corpse turned to ashes," he said.

Huang Po's corpse was soon placed on the stretcher bed of the incinerator. At my insistent request, I pushed it into the incinerator, closed the furnace door, and lit the fire myself.

Watching the raging flames in the incinerator, I silently said to myself, "Brother, have a good journey. This is the last thing I can do for you."

The others in the cremation room also had a bad mood. Even though they weren't particularly close to Huang Po, they were still colleagues. Moreover, the criminal police team ruled his death as sudden.

The suddenness of the accident and the fragility of life left everyone with some reflections.

Xiao Sun pulled me aside. "Chen Feng, what happened to Huang Po? Why was it so sudden?"

Just as I was thinking about how to make up a lie to cover it up, a strange noise suddenly came from the incinerator.

I turned my head and saw that amidst the raging flames, Huang Po's corpse was struggling and writhing as if it wanted to crawl out.