Falling In Love Inside An Urban Legend — Chapter 1.1

original novel: 在都市怪谈里谈恋爱[快穿]

author: 小生不知

mtl’d and edited by dogpotato. please leave a comment if there are any questions or errors!

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Chapter 1.1, Arc 1: Strange Sounds in the Morgue

Since ancient times, people have been unable to grasp those indescribable things called the “supernatural”.

Time goes on, and in the age of the end of Dharma[1], the calendar year 2018, the supernatural was resurrected. The era of evil spirits running rampant in the world had come again. Without our knowledge, the eerie things described in ancient legend quietly infiltrated among us.

At the very beginning, when they first appeared, all the governments on this blue star chose to conceal the truth to prevent panic.

But over time, the supernatural slowly appeared in the lives of ordinary people.

The first urban legend was the morgue fire.

Legend had it that in a hospital in Gui City, there was a full-time security guard in the morgue who had a very ugly face and a lame leg. He was taciturn and gloomy, and was excluded by the other employees of the hospital.

Because of his physical disability and appearance, everyone looked down on the security guard and avoided him like the plague. However, the security guard secretly fell in love with a female nurse in the hospital.

One day, the security guard brought her a bouquet of flowers to confess his love, but the nurse rejected him with contempt. After that, a fire broke out in the hospital morgue and the security guard, who was trapped, suffocated alive.

The fire spread from the morgue and burned down the entire hospital.

Everyone said that it happened because the hatred born from the security guard’s failed love possessed him to set the fire, but his sin trapped him inside the morgue and he died in the process. The police had no intention of conducting an in-depth investigation and thus the case was closed.

But afterwards, the surviving employees of the hospital discovered something horrifying.

Frequently, a man’s shadow would appear in their homes, erratic in shape and exuding the stench of burnt, rotting flesh. In the dead of night, they often heard the sound of uneven footsteps with a dragging leg outside their doors.

They were terrified, believing that the arsonist security guard was coming to take his revenge. They could not sleep well for days on end and their spirits were on the verge of collapse.

Even if everyone persuaded them that the security guard was dead and it was impossible for him to show up, they could not calm down. Their emotions became more and more out of control.

As a result, two weeks after the hospital fire, all the surviving employees went insane to varying degrees and were sent to the sanatorium. Some directly disappeared without leaving any indication of whether they were alive or dead, their bodies never found. Even the police could not trace their whereabouts.

As for the nurse who rejected the security guard?

Naturally, there was no news.

Since then, an eerie urban legend has been circulating around Gui City.

If you are walking alone in the middle of the night, don’t stop when you see the abandoned hospital that suddenly emerges from around the corner. Otherwise, you will encounter the vivid shadows of people that were once alive, bewitching you into entering this hospital with no exit.

If you see this hospital, don’t look back while you’re running away, even if you hear the sound of someone following you step by step…

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Gui City Renai Hospital.

Late at night, half past eleven.

Clatter—

The ballpoint pen on his hand fell to the ground. Yao Ye sighed weakly, then bent over and lowered his head to pick up the pen. The clean white coat he was wearing wrinkled with his movements.

Since starting his residency, he hadn’t had an idle moment. He worked around the clock moving from department to department, still only assigned to some unimportant tasks as usual. Overtime was even more commonplace. He often had to wait until one or two in the night to get off work and go home, then wake up before dawn and catch the bus to clock in to work the next day.

He was a recent college graduate in his early twenties, but even the abundant energy at his age was so exhausted that he could barely catch his breath at the end of each day. 

Putting the picked up pen back into its holder, Yao Ye sorted out the last few case files and then relaxed, sighing in relief.

It was easy today. There weren’t many patients in the hospital, and the director had nothing to tell him to do. This time, he could finally get off work before 12 o’clock.

Thinking about this, Yao Ye stretched out on his office chair. He got up and picked up his empty cup, intending to go get some water from the water dispenser in the doctor’s office. He had been busy for a long time and was already thirsty.

Plonk—a dull thud came out of the tank of the water dispenser.

Yao Ye silently watched the last drop of water dripping out of the tap. He could only shake his head at his bad luck and walk out of the doctor’s office with the cup.

In addition to the water dispenser in the doctor’s office, there was also a public water dispenser next to the service counter in the lobby where he could get water. Yao Ye licked his chapped lips, speeding up as he walked through the narrow corridor, and went straight to the service counter.

A few days ago, he happened to notice sores forming on the inside of his mouth. He didn’t feel it while he was busy with work, but now that he was free, his mouth felt increasingly dry and ached where the ulcers were.

“Hey, have you heard? Recently, many people in our city started burning paper offerings[2] on the street, saying that it was a way to change their fortunes! But it does seem a bit cruel. It’s said that it’ll take away the good luck of anyone who steps on the paper ash.” 

“Yes, yes! I heard that too! But it’s obviously just superstition.”

“So dangerous! It’s better to believe the rumor’s real than think it’s not worth trusting. You don’t know how many strange things have been happening in our city these days! So many teenagers are jumping off buildings and committing suicide for no reason. Everyone’s in a panic now!”

Several nurses on duty near the service desk were gossiping in full swing, and did not notice Yao Ye walking to the service desk to get water.

Yao Ye glanced at them, but was too tired after a long day of work to shoot the nurses a bright friendly smile like usual. Silently, he reached for the tap of the water dispenser.

“Yeah, Sister Li, that reminds me. There’s been a lot of rumors of hauntings in the neighborhood around our house. I don’t even dare to ask around about it. I’m so afraid for my baby boy, I barely let him leave the house…”

Suddenly, the sound of hot water trickling into the cup interrupted the nurses’ conversation, awkwardly echoing in the empty service corridor.

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[1] third age of Buddhism, known as the age of conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Ages_of_Buddhism

[2] Joss paper, also known as ghost or spirit money, are sheets of paper that are burned in traditional Chinese deity or ancestor worship ceremonies to ensure that the spirit of the deceased can pay for goods in the afterlife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_paper

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thoughts of dogpotato: hi hello welcome to my first novel translation!!! i’ll be translating as I read so feel free to update the tags on NU as you see fit. each chapter of FILIUL will be in two parts and i’ll be (hopefully) updating every three days (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

thank you for reading!

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