Seeing this horrifying scene, I wanted to turn around and run away, but I had no strength left in my body. I could only slump on the stretcher bed, my body stiff as I watched what was happening inside the incinerator.
The incinerator was filled with raging flames, which soon completely engulfed the female corpse.
Under the burning of the flames, the female corpse slowly fell down, and even her outstretched hands drooped.
The shrill whistling sound also gradually faded away as the female corpse fell, and finally disappeared.
It was not until then that my heart finally stopped pounding.
Huang Po beside me also spoke up at this time, "It's okay, it's okay. Corpses sitting up and whistling through their noses, we've seen this kind of thing a lot. It's nothing."
If Huang Po had said this on a normal day, it would have been absolutely right. But at this moment, it was obviously self - deception.
During cremation, it was quite normal for a corpse to sit up, stretch its arms forward, and make some strange sounds.
That was caused by the contraction of muscles due to the flames, and the strange sounds were the whistling sounds made when the accumulated water in the abdominal cavity was boiled and sprayed out from the mouth and nose.
Don't underestimate the energy when the water is boiled. When a corpse is being cremated, it often "explodes".
During cremation, if you heard a dull thud from the incinerator, you could be sure without even looking that the brain in the corpse's skull had been boiled and had blown the skull apart.
This was also the reason why after some fires, relatives would mistake the burned - to - death loved ones as victims of a shooting because their bodies seemed to be destroyed.
Because when the skull exploded like this, it was very much like the top of the head had been blown off by a bullet.
According to this logic, the situation just now could also be explained scientifically.
But I knew in my heart that things were definitely not that simple.
Not to mention, how did the crushed chest cavity recover?
Did the female corpse stick out her tongue and lick the drop of blood on her chin?
Also, just now when my blood dripped onto the female corpse's body, it was immediately absorbed. This was definitely not something that could be explained by science.
However, I didn't say these words out loud. Too many strange things had happened today. Lying to myself could bring a bit of comfort, and I didn't want to shatter my mental defenses.
Huang Po and I stared at the incinerator where the female corpse was for a long time. It was not until the flesh and blood of the female corpse had been burned to coke that we got up, opened the last unused incinerator, and put the torn red wedding dress into it, preparing to burn it.
Before we could even light the fire after putting the red wedding dress in, someone pushed a stretcher bed in. Another corpse had been brought for cremation.
Both Huang Po and I were a bit puzzled. The number and list of corpses to be cremated at night were usually set during the day. There were rarely any corpses brought in for cremation temporarily.
After all, this was a matter related to life and death. There had been a case before where a cremator had killed someone and secretly cremated the body.
Since then, the country had been extremely strict in managing this area.
All corpses had to go through identity verification before cremation to prevent similar things from happening.
The ones who came in were two other corpse carriers. There was a sealed body bag on their stretcher bed, tied up tightly.
"What's going on? What kind of corpse is this? Have all the procedures been completed?" Huang Po asked.
"Yes, the office called the leader. By the way, do you know who this is?" Xiao Sun winked and said.
"Who?" Huang Po and I asked in unison.
The meaning of Xiao Sun's words was quite obvious. The corpse in the body bag should be an acquaintance we all know well.
"Remember Old Lin? The one who used to come around when he had nothing to do. We don't know how long he's been dead, and his body has already turned into a pile of putrid flesh."
"The corpse fluid seeped through the floor and dripped downstairs. The neighbors downstairs reported it to the police. When the two of us went in, we almost threw up. It took us a long time to clean up..."
Xiao Sun kept yapping about how tough and gross it was to clean up Old Lin's body, but I and Huang Po were stunned. Our heads were buzzing like a swarm of bees.
Was this corpse Old Lin? Lin Jianguo?
Just an hour ago, he came to the cremation room and told us about the taboos of the red wedding dress. Did we run into evil spirits tonight?
After Xiao Sun and Xiao Wang finished telling us the general situation, seeing that we were standing there in a daze, Xiao Sun urged us:
"What are you two standing there for? Hurry up and open the incinerator. Let's cremate him."
"Let me tell you two, we wore gas masks when we cleaned up just now. If this thing bursts, it can stink a person to death."
Huang Po and I came to our senses and quickly opened the incinerator where the red wedding dress was placed and pulled out the stretcher bed.
Xiao Sun couldn't help but wonder, "Why is there still a red wedding dress? Forget it, forget it. Whatever. Let's put it in and burn it together."
The body bag containing Old Lin was directly placed on the stretcher bed and sent into the incinerator to be ignited.
Xiao Sun and the others weren't exaggerating. Old Lin had really turned into a pile of putrid flesh.
When the body bag was burned through, the corpse fluid and putrid flesh flowed out directly and mixed with the red wedding dress that hadn't been completely burned yet.
After Xiao Sun and Xiao Wang placed Old Lin's body on the stretcher bed, they went to the staff lounge to take a shower. Only Huang Po and I were left in the cremation room.
Looking at the five incinerators in operation, Huang Po and I smoked in silence. Too many things had happened tonight, and we still couldn't quite understand or digest them.
After a long time, Huang Po suddenly said, "Why do you think Old Lin came here?"
"I don't know."
As corpse carriers, we had specifically learned about folk legends.
Generally, when a person's soul returns after death, it usually comes to tell something to their family members, not to just chat with random people.
Even if Old Lin didn't have any family members, he should have gone to his childhood playmates or old friends from the same village to catch up.
Coming to the cremation room of the funeral parlor and telling us about the taboos of the red wedding dress, what was that all about?
Was he so dedicated to his job all his life that he still didn't forget about work even after death? A corpse carrier in life and a corpse - carrying ghost in death?
This is just bullshit.
After another moment of silence, Huang Po said, "I'll keep an eye on things here. You go and take a little nap. You hit your head pretty hard just now. It's better to get some sleep."
"Forget it. I won't be able to fall asleep in the lounge. I won't be able to rest easy until I see the female corpse completely burned."
Every time I closed my eyes now, I could see the strange smile of the female corpse and the image of her sitting up in the incinerator and reaching forward. How could I fall asleep?
Huang Po didn't say anything more. He took out the last two cigarettes from the cigarette case and gave one to me.
We just smoked like this, looking at the five blazing incinerators in silence.
The flames in the incinerator were flickering. I stared at the flames all the time, feeling my eyelids getting heavier and heavier until they closed involuntarily.
When I came to my senses again, I found myself standing on a small path. It was pitch - black everywhere around me, and I couldn't see the situation clearly at all.
Panicked, I instinctively ran towards the dim yellow street lamp ahead.
As I got closer to the dim yellow street lamp, I noticed that there were actually two forks in the road under it, and there were two women standing there with their backs to me.
One was wearing a red wedding dress with a red veil covering her face; the other was wearing a dress with long hair fluttering in the wind.
A red wedding dress?
I instinctively felt that something was wrong with this red wedding dress. After reaching the fork in the road, I hesitated a little and then ran towards the woman in the dress.
Hearing my footsteps, the woman in the dress turned around, revealing a pretty face.
Wasn't that Jiang Lixin?
There was a strange smile on her face, and there was also a drop of blood on the corner of her mouth, slowly trickling down.
I got a shock and stopped in my tracks.
A helpless sigh came from my side. I turned my head to look.
At the other fork in the road, the person in the red wedding dress lifted the red veil, revealing an ugly and old face.
It was Old Lin, Lin Jianguo.