Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1240 - 602:

Ma Donghe's eyes gleamed, fixed on Fang Cheng with an undeniable eagerness to boast. His gaze practically urged, "Quick, ask me! Go on, ask me!"

Sensing his enthusiasm, Fang Cheng played along, settling beside him and obligingly inquiring, "What did you run into?"

With the perfect prompt, Ma Donghe slapped his thigh and launched into his tale. "You see, back then I was assigned as a security guard, around forty years old, right?"

"I was just chilling in the guard room when the captain, wouldn't you know it, insisted I patrol the morgue on the second basement level late at night."

"The corridor was freezing, and a single light bulb buzzed overhead, flickering erratically. The morgue was at the very end."

"I hadn't even reached the door when I suddenly heard 'thump, thump, thump' from inside. So, I leaned in to get a better listen. Any guesses what it sounded like?"

"It seemed to be coming from one of the refrigerated body cabinets!"

Ma Donghe's narration was incredibly vivid, creating a genuinely spooky atmosphere, much like a seasoned radio storyteller. Fang Cheng, maintaining a composed visage, casually asked, "Did you go inside?"

"Go in? Of course, I went in! Why wouldn't I?" Ma Donghe slapped his thigh again, a bit of spittle flying as he exclaimed, "I figured, this is just an illusion realm, what's there to be afraid of?"

"So, I just pushed the door open and followed the sound, pulling out one of those cold storage drawers."

"And there it was – a male corpse! Suddenly, its eyes snapped open, completely white, and it sat bolt upright, lunging to bite me!"

Ma Donghe’s excitement built, his hands miming the action of slapping, a whistling sound accompanying the gesture. "Seeing that, without missing a beat, I swung my arm and gave it a solid smack!"

"With a 'whack,' I sent it flying, crashing against the wall like it was facing a disciplinary wall. Seriously, even dead, you should just stay put. Don't go around scaring people like that!"

"Then that ghoul got mad..." Ma Donghe shook his right hand, as if recalling the sensation from that moment. "A forty-year-old security guard's body is just too weak; my hand went numb after that slap."

"But that zombie was incredibly strong and vicious, charging at me and spewing a mouthful of foul, black liquid right towards my face!"

Hearing the words "black liquid," Fang Cheng's heart gave a jolt. The horrifying scenes at the abandoned water plant flashed through his mind – Wang Lan, Zhou Ming, and the others, when they were possessed and lost control, also spat out similar black, putrid fluid.

Fang Cheng's eyes flickered, and he quickly reached a conclusion. The entity Ma Donghe encountered was undeniably of the same kind as the spectral figures at the water plant. The key difference was that the water plant apparitions possessed the living, while this one seemed to have animated a corpse.

Unaware of Fang Cheng's internal shift, Ma Donghe remained lost in his dramatic retelling, spitting animatedly. "That black liquid burned like crazy where it hit, causing a rash – incredibly poisonous! It almost ruined my face!"

"At the time, I didn't care, just wiped it with my uniform while backing away, and yelled into the intercom for backup from the other guards."

"That zombie was relentless; it barely reacted to my slap, crawling on the floor like a monstrous spider, and 'whoosh,' it was right at my feet. Then it grabbed my leg with its pincer-like hands, its mouth filled with black liquid, trying to bite down!"

"I kicked it wildly, and it managed to rip off a piece of my boot sole!"

"No other choice, I grabbed a dry powder fire extinguisher from the wall, pulled the pin, sprayed it right at its face, and then smashed the metal canister onto its head!"

"Damn, its skull was as hard as iron, it wouldn't die no matter how many times I hit it – oh wait, it was already dead, just reanimated tonight."

"Finally, the other security guards arrived. They swarmed it like Arhats, pinning it down, and then called the police to haul this damn thing away."

"But yeah, I got some of that black liquid on me, got infected, my vision went dark, and I passed out." Ma Donghe shifted his position, scratching his head with a puzzled expression. "Logically, passing out should mean you're out, right? But when I woke up, I was still in the illusion, lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip."

"Then it got even weirder – a woman with a child rushed into the ward, crying, calling me 'husband' while holding my hand." He gave an embarrassed smirk. "I've been single my whole life, never even held a girl's hand, and suddenly I have a wife and kid? It gave me serious goosebumps."" "Fortunately, the nurse who changed my IV was quite attractive, making the illusionary realm bearable." Fang Cheng listened intently without interjecting. "I had initially assumed that after dealing with the zombie, a few days of recovery in the hospital would suffice." Ma Donghe’s voice dropped suddenly, his broad shoulders slumping, clearly recalling an intensely unsettling experience. "However, as night fell, the ward grew unnaturally cold and profoundly dark." "I lay awake, unable to sleep. Turning my head, I observed several shadowy figures emerging from the corners and ceiling, "Their eyes gleamed with a red luminescence, fixed upon me, emitting faint chuckling noises." "Those entities were terrifying; undoubtedly phantoms!" Ma Donghe gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing: