Early in the morning, Sanjae arrived at his workplace. It was a hospital located on the outskirts of Varanasi near the Ganges River.
The full name of this hospital was Blackwatch Global Sanatorium India Varanasi Branch. It was none other than a private hospital operated by a subsidiary of the world-renowned Blackwatch Corporation in India.
Apart from high-level medical personnel with international certification, a large portion of the staff working here were local personnel. The local government had set a quota that a medical institution in Varanasi must employ at least sixty percent of the local population.
As a result, some of the positions such as nurses, cleaners, warehouse porters, and so on were taken up by the local "Veesha" and "Sudra" castes. At the same time, there was also a group of "Dalits" who did chores such as moving corpses.
Sanjae did not have a surname. He was a Dalit, a member of the so-called "untouchables".
Sanjae lived in a slum in the eastern suburbs of Varanasi. His family consisted of a father, a mother, and two older brothers.
The children of the poor matured at an early age. Sanjae, who was only eighteen years old, had already worked here for three years. Every day, he would wake up at seven in the morning and rush to the hospital to report to his supervisor at eight. He would not return until ten past midnight.
The supervisor was a local member of the Veesha caste and was the supervisor of the hospital's sanitation department.
However, today was a special day. When Sanjae arrived at the hospital at seven forty in the morning, he could feel the heavy atmosphere in the air.
When he arrived at the sanitation department through the back door, Sanjae saw his fat, greasy-faced supervisor standing in front of a superior of a higher caste. The supervisor listened to the instructions of the superior like a child who had done something wrong. From time to time, he would lower his head and murmur something in agreement.
Finally, the superior of a higher caste glanced at Sanjae who had just arrived and left without saying a word.
"Mr. Gandhi..."
Sanjae approached him cautiously.
"Sanjae, Mr. Pandit told me a lot of things just now."
The supervisor did not lose his temper for once today. Instead, he spoke in a serious tone, "Varo and the others who were on the night shift last night encountered some problems. They wanted to apply for leave but I refused."
"Ah, you mean Varro and the others want to apply for leave?"
Sanjae was taken aback. He was familiar with Varro's group. There were three or four of them who lived in the slums just like him. Their entire families lived on their meager salaries.
It was a great opportunity to be recruited by Blackwatch. Even the handyman's salary was the highest in the industry. Moreover, the company had a system that prohibited discrimination against lower-caste employees. With these favorable conditions, many Dalits would fight to get a job here.
But now, Varro and his group wanted to take a leave of absence. What could be the reason? After all, Sanjae remembered how Varo had refused to take a day off even when he had a fever. If he took too many days off, he might be fired from the hospital. This was something that no Dalit wanted to see happen.
"Don't interrupt me!"
The supervisor frowned and continued, "I hope you can persevere because I'm afraid you'll see some things that will test your mental endurance. I hope you can persevere and do what you're supposed to do, understand?"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Gandhi!"
Sanjae nodded quickly. He was flattered that the supervisor did not reprimand him.
"If you can persevere during this period and continue to perform well, I'll put in a good word for you in front of Mr. Pandit when this is over. Maybe if Mr. Pandit is happy, he'll give you a formal contract so that you'll truly become a part of the hospital..."
Sanjae was flabbergasted by the supervisor's offer. He said without hesitation, "Don't worry, Mr. Gandhi. No matter what I see, I'll persevere!"
"Very good..."
Gandhi was satisfied with Sanjae's response. Then, his expression turned serious. "In that case, go to the warehouse and collect a protective suit. Tell them that I'm the one who asked you to collect it. After that, go to the morgue and await further orders."
Sanjae nodded solemnly and left in excitement.
He rushed to the door of the warehouse management and said to the old gatekeeper, "Sir, I'm from the sanitation department. I'd like to collect a protective suit."
"Oh, you're from the sanitation department..."
The old man narrowed his eyes and stared at Sanjae for a while. There seemed to be an inexplicable glint in his eyes and Sanjae was baffled.
However, he did not have to wait too long. The old man only glanced at him for a while before he got up and entered the warehouse. He then picked out a white plastic box that was stacked in front of the warehouse entrance and placed it on the table in front of him. "This is it. Sign here and collect it."
Sanjae immediately signed his name and left the warehouse with the plastic box in his arms. He then went to the hospital morgue.
The hospital morgue was located in a bungalow building far away from the main hospital building. It did not take up much space, only about the size of a basketball court. It was filled with rows of refrigerated drawers and there were about a hundred of them. Even when the hospital was at its peak, it had never been filled to the brim with corpses.
But at this time, when he arrived in front of the morgue, he saw several soldiers in military uniforms with loaded guns standing in front of the door.
Not only that but the entire morgue was also quarantined. The outer layer of the building was wrapped in what looked like a plastic film and a medical passage was set up at the entrance. At the end of the passage was a temporary disinfection room.
In other words, in order to enter the morgue, one must first enter the disinfection room and disinfect their entire body before entering the morgue through the passage.
Sanjae was stunned by what he saw.
"Who are you?"
When Sanjae appeared, one of the soldiers approached him and looked him up and down. "Where's your identification?"
"It's, it's here, sir!"
Sanjae looked at the gun in the soldier's hand and gulped. He then quickly took out his work pass from his bag. "Sir, can I go in now?"
"Yes."
After checking his ID, the soldier waved his hand and allowed his comrade to let him in. Sanjae then walked into the disinfection room in bewilderment.
However, as soon as he stepped through the door of the disinfection room, he was startled.
This was because as soon as he entered, he saw a strange man standing in the dark disinfection room, staring at him with a strange smile on his face.
"Dear Mr. Sanjae, I'm Joey, a product of the Android series under the Blackwatch Corporation. Please follow my instructions and put on the positive pressure protective suit."
The man's voice sounded a little stiff. Sanjae finally realized that the person in front of him was not a real person.
"You're an Android?"
After Sanjae heard the man's self-introduction, he began to observe him curiously. There were indeed several Androids in the hospital, but they were mostly employed as consultants at the front desk. It was rare for him to encounter them.
"Mr. Sanjae, please follow my instructions and put on the positive pressure protective suit. Thank you for your cooperation."
Just as Sanjae was about to step forward to touch it, the Android instinctively took a step back and urged him again.
"Oh, oh, I'm sorry..."
Sanjae nodded sheepishly and began to put on the complicated costume under the guidance of the other party.
Even now, he still had no idea what was going on at the hospital. However, Sanjae was not interested in finding out. To him, he would do whatever the hospital wanted him to do. Nothing else mattered more than the fact that he was paid on time every month and had never been docked from his salary.
Therefore, he obediently put on the protective suit and pressed the button next to him at the Android's instructions to spray a stream of disinfectant on his body.
After a series of cumbersome procedures, the Android finally spoke. "Dear Mr. Sanjae, you've completed the disinfection procedure. Please proceed to the door in front and enter the morgue."
"Okay..."
Sanjae scratched his head sheepishly when he heard the Android's politeness. Ever since he was born, he had never been addressed as "Dear Mr.".
Sanjae opened a curtain in front of him and walked into the passage. He then walked to the door of the morgue. However, before he could push the door open, he heard two people talking.
"Why isn't the replacement here yet..."
"D * mn it, that bastard Sanjae is already late..."
"I really don't want to stay with these creepy corpses. They must've been cursed by Shiva... I can't take it anymore..."
These were the voices of Varro and his colleagues.
Sanjae hesitated for a moment before cautiously pushing the door of the morgue open.
"Sanjae, you're finally here!"
As soon as he pushed the door open, he saw Varro and another colleague wearing the same protective suit as him. Even their heads were completely sealed up. Next to them was a row of stretchers covered in white cloth.
The two men turned around like startled birds when they heard the commotion at the door. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that it was Sanjae.
"B * stard, you're late!"
Varro gritted his teeth. "Look at the time, you made us wait an extra half an hour!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Varro..."
Sanjae quickly explained, "I actually arrived before eight o 'clock. I just had to go to the warehouse to collect my protective suit. There's a disinfection procedure at the door, that's why I..."
"That's enough!"
Varro rudely cut Sanjae off. "It's the day shift now, so it's your turn to look after these corpses. That Garava kid has also taken the day off, so you'll be here alone during the day."
"Uh, no problem."
Sanjae was still a little confused. He could not understand why the two of them suddenly hated this job so much. After all, Varro and his colleagues were introduced to this job a year or two earlier than him.
"Keep up the good work, poor Sanjae!"
The colleague next to Varro stepped forward and patted Sanjae's shoulder sympathetically. His rudeness caused Sanjae to feel a twinge of pain.
With that, the two men quickly left the morgue as if they did not want to stay a second longer.
After the two men left, Sanjae looked into the morgue and noticed that the rows of corpses covered in white cloth were bulging. It was as if it was not a single corpse under the white cloth but several people piled on top of each other.
"Huh..."
Only then did he remember to ask Varro why these corpses were not placed in the freezer.
However, Varro had already left by then.
"These corpses weren't here when I got off work yesterday. Does that mean that this many people died in the hospital overnight?"
Sanjae was puzzled. He did a quick count and noticed that there were fifteen stretchers, which meant fifteen corpses.
Left with no choice, he pulled out an empty drawer and walked to the stretcher closest to him. He wanted to see the tags tied to the deceased's feet. This was his job — to store these corpses in the freezer to prevent them from rotting until the police or family members came to claim them.
However, when he removed the white cloth in front of him, he was taken aback.
Under the white cloth, there were actually three pairs of greenish-white feet ….
The three pairs of feet represented three corpses because an ordinary person would only have one pair of feet.
"What the hell?"
Sanjae muttered. He did not understand why three corpses were stacked on top of each other and placed on a stretcher. Regardless of whether it was for the sake of the hospital's reputation or to prevent family complaints, this was not the way to do it.
With that in mind, he peeled off the entire white cloth.
In an instant, a twisted corpse appeared in front of Sanjae's eyes...
This corpse, no, these three corpses were jumbled together like conjoined twins. Two of the corpses' heads were connected like gourds while the third corpse's head was dangling off to one side.
Other than that, the three corpses' bodies were bloated like buckets and completely fused together. There were no visible gaps at the joints as if they were born this way...
Chaotic, twisted, insane...
These were the three words that flashed across Sanjae's mind the moment he saw the corpses. Although there was no trace of blood on the corpses and the three corpses did not look menacing at all, for some reason, Sanjae felt a dull pain in his head.
The urge to vomit filled his consciousness ….
"No, I can't vomit... It took me a long time to eat breakfast..."
Just as Sanjae was about to vomit, he remembered that he had to eat his breakfast until the evening. If he were to throw up now, he would not be able to eat for the rest of the day. If that happened, his stomach problem would act up and he would be in excruciating pain for the rest of the day.
With this in mind, he forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit.
After suppressing the urge, Sanjae finally understood why these corpses were not stored in the freezer. It was because these corpses were too large for the freezer that was designed to store corpses.
'What happened to these corpses? What happened to them?'
Sanjae's heart was pounding.
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