A Note on Red Sausage and Preserved Vegetables, Reader Discretion Advised for the Faint of Heart .................. The class meeting concluded, and those students still harboring doubts about Wang Zhuo’s ascension temporarily suppressed their thoughts of usurpation. The department head was clearly favoring him right after enrollment; the position of class monitor seemed out of reach for now. They could reconsider after the homeroom teacher’s assessment next month.

Walking and chatting with a few classmates, they had just exited the teaching building when they spotted Zhou Huaian running towards them from up ahead. Seeing Wang Zhuo, he slowed slightly and called out, "Wang Zhuo, there's a spectacle! Come quick!"

A fight? Wang Zhuo was instantly intrigued. He turned to the classmates beside him and asked, "Are you guys coming?"

The group had just agreed to head to the cafeteria together, but upon hearing there was a commotion, the stout sports representative, Geng Bin, quickly nodded, "Why miss out on excitement? Let’s go!"

Thus, the group of boys immediately started running, leaving the two girls trailing behind.

Passing between two teaching buildings, Wang Zhuo caught up with Zhou Huaian. Before Wang Zhuo could ask, Zhou Huaian announced, "I heard there's trouble at the morgue. I don't know the specifics."

The morgue again? Wang Zhuo felt a wry smile coming on. It wasn't far anyway; they might as well go take a look.

Just as they rounded the building adjacent to the morgue, they saw a large crowd of students already gathered. However, the circle was wide, and everyone kept a significant distance from the morgue entrance. Wang Zhuo and his group were blocked on the outer ring, unable to see what was happening inside.

An indescribable, strange odor hung in the air—a bit fishy, a bit musty, and downright foul, creating a sensation as if something was clogging their windpipes from the lungs, making breathing feel labored.

Geng Bin, sharp-eyed, quietly nudged Wang Zhuo. "Let's go up that building over there."

Just as Wang Zhuo was about to activate his X-ray vision to peer through the crowd, he saw Geng Bin pointing toward the roof of the adjacent building, where several boys were already standing. Wang Zhuo quickly nodded in agreement.

The group quietly slipped out of the crowd. Wang Zhuo called Zhou Huaian over, and they dashed into the building marked "Specimen Hall."

The Specimen Hall was only three stories high. On the top floor, there was a ready ladder. Climbing onto the roof, their view finally opened up. They weren't too high off the ground, and looking down gave them a clear sight of the scene in front of the morgue.

What they saw made Wang Zhuo and the other boys gasp sharply. One of the two girls shrieked, plopped down onto the ground, and burst into tears. The other fared little better; her face went ghostly pale as she turned away, unable to look any longer.

There, on the few dozen square meters of concrete courtyard before the morgue, various corpses were laid out simply on a tarp striped with red and blue. There were tall ones and short ones, fat ones and thin ones, some clothed and some skinned, some missing heads, some cut in half—it looked like an exhibition.

For students Wang Zhuo's age, many had never seen a corpse before. To witness so many at once was an impact beyond measure; anyone with a weak heart might have fainted on the spot.

"You guys are freshmen, right?" A nearby boy with a slight mustache noticed them and said with a smile, "It’s nothing to be scared of, really. Once you take the dissection class, you’ll get used to it."

Wang Zhuo managed a weak smile and asked, "What’s going on here?"

"The rain was too heavy, and the corpse pool flooded," the mustached boy pointed to several staff members moving among the bodies. "See them? Those are our school's teachers, handling the bodies."

"That’s right. See the brushes in their hands? Some of the bodies have started to mildew; they need to be scrubbed clean."

This came from another, slightly heavier boy standing nearby. Wang Zhuo and Zhou Huaian stared at this man in disbelief, as he was casually holding a jianbing guozi (savory crêpe) and chewing on it heartily as if nothing unusual was happening.

"Ugh…"

Finally, one of the boys couldn't hold it in and vomited. The heavier boy frowned, took two steps back—moving slightly closer to the morgue—but completely unconcerned, took another large bite of his jianbing guozi.

"Class Monitor, we’re heading down now." The girl who was handling herself better helped her companion up and guided her toward the stairs.

"I—I'm going too! I'm in stomatology!" Zhou Huaian spun around and bolted, nearly tripping in his haste.

"Rookies are just rookies, haha," the heavier boy chuckled, and the older students next to him chimed in with agreement.

"Which department are you freshmen from?" A tall student wearing glasses asked Wang Zhuo with a very calm expression, completely unfazed by the scene downstairs.

Wang Zhuo offered a strained smile. "Eighth-year Clinical, direct track."

"Then you’ll be handling this stuff every day from now on," the heavier boy laughed. "If you can’t stand to look now, just leave. You’ll have plenty of chances later, and you'll even have to touch them!"

Geng Bin and the others were torn between staying and leaving. Provoked by his words, they decided to stay. After all, they would eventually have to deal with this; they might as well treat it as early entrance training.

Wang Zhuo, however, proved to be the boldest. Partly because he had experienced more than the others and had undergone more rigorous training, and partly because ever since gaining his X-ray vision, he had frequently seen inside people’s bodies, giving him a deeper understanding of human anatomy and making him more accepting of the sight before him.

He watched a tall teacher with a thick beard carry a bucket. Whenever someone called to him, he would approach, and under guidance, pour a scoop of the liquid from the bucket onto a corpse. The person would then use a brush to scrub the body. Wang Zhuo peered closely and confirmed what the heavy student had said: the scrubbed areas of the bodies were indeed beginning to mildew.

"That bearded guy is Ge Da, nicknamed 'Ge the Big Barrel.' He’s specifically in charge of this at our school," the mustached boy said with a hint of malice toward the pale-faced Geng Bin. "You might be dealing with him often in the future."

"Why?" Geng Bin broke out in a cold sweat.

"Because you're built well! When dissection class starts, the professor will assign you to the morgue to collect bodies," the mustached boy burst into laughter, pointing at the pancake-eating fatty next to him. "See him? This guy does this job all the time; you two are similar in build!"

Geng Bin's face grew ashen, finally scared into silence.

After acclimating for a while, one nervous boy finally asked, "Why are there no faces?"

The tall student in glasses explained, "They were removed during the defatting process. Same for the rest of the body."

Everyone suddenly understood. A boy named Song Aijun remarked, "No wonder you can't tell if they're male or female..."

Hearing this, the mustached boy shook his head. "These are all male. Not a single female among them."

"Huh? Why?" Everyone was quite surprised.

"The corpse sources are executed criminals, and female convicts are rare, so they are highly sought after," the bespectacled student explained. "Our school only has three complete female bodies in total, and they’ve all been made into specimens, stored downstairs in the Specimen Hall you’re standing on."

Wang Zhuo frowned. "Highly sought after?"

The heavy student finally finished his jianbing guozi, wiped his mouth, and picked up the conversation. "Yes. There are hundreds of medical schools across the country, and how many women are executed each year? It’s simply not enough to go around."

"But there’s also body donation, isn't there?" Song Aijun voiced his confusion.

"Bodies like these? Would you dare donate yours?" The heavy student sneered and pointed downstairs, where Ge Da and another teacher had just lifted a body and tossed it casually onto a pile of corpses.

Everyone involuntarily shook their heads, imagining what it would be like to have their own remains handled this way after death, sending a shiver down their spines.

"Hey, time's up, let's go!" The heavy student suddenly called out and sprinted downstairs ahead of everyone else.

"What's the rush?" the mustached boy asked.

The heavy student was already far away. "The cafeteria! It’s time for lunch!"

Hearing this, the students on the roof immediately mobilized. In a flash, they were all gone, leaving only Wang Zhuo and a few other 'newbies.'

They exchanged bewildered glances. Geng Bin let out a bitter laugh. "Are we... still going to the cafeteria?"

Wang Zhuo also smiled wryly and shook his head. "Go to hell. I doubt I'll have an appetite for the rest of the day."