It was early dawn. Sanjae returned to his workplace, a hospital in the suburbs of Varanasi, somewhere near the Ganges river.

The hospital was the Blackwatch Global Health Center's Varanasi Branch located in India. It was a private hospital operated by none other than the world-famous company, Blackwatch.

The staff in this building were either highly-practiced medical experts with international certification or the locals. The local government had strict requirements that medical inst.i.tutions in the region had to maintain an at least six-to-four ratio of local staff to foreign staff members.

As a result, positions such as nurses, janitors, warehouse workers, and whatnot were mostly taken up by the local “Vaishya” and “Sudra” castes while the “Dalits”[1] were tasked with responsibilities such as transporting corpses.

Sanjae was what was known as a Dalit and he did not have a surname. He was categorized as an “untouchable” in the caste system.

Sanjae lived in a slum in the eastern suburbs of Varanasi. His family consisted of five members which included himself, both of his parents, and two older brothers.

The children in the slums had to start fending for themselves from an early age. At just eighteen years old, Sanjae had already been working at the hospital for three years. He had to wake up at seven each morning and hurried to the hospital to report to his supervisor by eight. He usually clocked out and got home sometime around ten at night.

The supervisor was a local man of the Vaishya caste and he was the head of the sanitation department in the hospital.

There was something different about today. When Sanjae arrived at the hospital at seven forty, he immediately sensed the heaviness in the atmosphere at the hospital.

When Sanjae entered the sanitation department office from the back door, the first thing he saw was his fat, greasy-faced supervisor standing in front of a superior of a higher caste descent. The supervisor acted like a child being reprimanded for causing trouble. He bobbed his head up and down at regular intervals and seemed to whisper something from time to time.

At last, the high-caste superior swiped a glance at Sanjae before leaving without another word.

“Mr. Gandhi…”

Sanjae carefully approached the supervisor.

“Sanjae, Mr. Pandit told me a lot of things just now.”

For once, the supervisor was not in a p.i.s.sy mood. Instead, he quickly stated in a serious tone. “Varo's crew who were working the night s.h.i.+ft last night had something to do and asked for leave, but I rejected their request.”

“Ah, you mean Varo's entire crew requested for a leave?”

Sanjae was slightly amused by this. He was well acquainted with Varo's crew. All four members of his crew lived in the slums just like he did. Their families relied on their measly salary to survive.

To be able to work in Blackwatch was a great privilege for the people in the slums as the company offered the highest salary in the market for even the lowest position in the hospital. Furthermore, the company had a strict policy to discourage discrimination against lower-caste employees. Therefore, many Dalits sought opportunities to work here.

With this context provided, why would Varo's crew request for leave? Sanjae remembered this one time when Varo refused to take a leave even when he caught a fever and toughed it out during his s.h.i.+ft. After all, taking too many leaves may give the company reason to fire you and this was the worst possible fate for every Dalits in the country.

“Don't interrupt me!”

The supervisor barked with a frown on his face and went on. “I hope that you can hold out for what's coming next because what you're about to see might test your mental fort.i.tude. With that said, I have high hopes for you and hope that you can stay with us and do your job properly, understand?”

“Yes, got it, Mr. Gandhi!”

Sanjae nodded profusely. He was slightly taken aback, even flattered that the supervisor was not chewing him out as usual.

“If you can preserve and keep up your work efficiency during this period, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you in front of Mr. Pandit after all of this comes to an end. if Mr. Pandit is pleased, he just might let you sign an agreement and officially become a faculty member of the hospital…”

Sanjae's jaws dropped when he heard the supervisor's tremendous offer. He answered without a second thought, “Don't worry Mr. Gandhi, I won't falter no matter what I see next!”

“Good…”

Sanjae nodded his head firmly and left skipping up and down.

After hastily making his way to the warehouse lobby, he went for the old janitor at the counter. “Mister, I'm from the sanitation department and I'm here to get a set of protective suits.”

“Oh, the sanitation department…”

The old man squinted and sized Sanjae up with scrutinizing eyes. There was a curious look in his eyes that Sanjae could not make out.

After several glances, the old man got up and went into the warehouse. He took a plastic packet out of a stack of containers and set it on top of a table. “Here it is, sign your name here and you can go.”

Sanjae proceeded to sign his name and left the warehouse with the plastic packet in hand. Then, he went to the hospital morgue.

The hospital's morgue was located in a building a distance away from the hospital building. The building was moderately sized, around the length of a basketball court. Inside were rows of refrigerated lockers that numbered up to the hundreds. Even during the hospital's peak period, the morgue had never reached maximum capacity.

When Sanjae arrived at the morgue, he saw several soldiers clad in military outfits with live weapons posted by the gate.

In addition, the entire morgue was surrounded by large sheets of plastic film, leaving only a small pa.s.sage erected at the entrance and exit of the morgue. A makes.h.i.+ft sanitation zone was set up and connected to the entrance of the morgue.

This meant that to enter the morgue, one would have to pa.s.s through the sanitation zone to be thoroughly disinfected before pa.s.sing through the pa.s.sage into the morgue.

Sanjae was shocked by this display.

“Who's that?”

One of the soldiers immediately stepped forward when he saw Sanjae and eyed him up and down. “Where're your doc.u.ments?”

“Oh, over here, sir!”

Sanjae gulped when he saw the gun in the soldier's grip and hastily produced his doc.u.ments. “May I enter now, sir?”

“Go ahead.”

After verifying the doc.u.ments, the soldier waved Sanjae in and the other soldiers made way for him as well. With that, the slightly traumatized Sanjae paddled into the sanitization zone.

What he saw inside the sanitization zone would shock him for the third time today.

Inside the dimly lit sanitization zone was a man that he had never seen before who greeted him with a strange smile.

“Dear Mr. Sanjae, I'm Joey, a series of Androids developed by Blackwatch. Now, please follow my instructions and put on your positive pressure protective clothing.”

The man's voice was completely mechanical. It took Sanjae a moment to realize that this person was not a real human.

“An Android?”

After the Android introduced itself, Sanjae started to inspect the robot's body out of sheer curiosity. There were several Androids in the hospital as well, but they were usually posted at the reception as consultants so Sanjae had rarely, if not ever seen them.

“Mr. Sanjae, please follow my instructions and put on your positive pressure protective clothing, thank you for your cooperation.”

When Sanjae tried to step forward and touch the Android, it took a step back on reflex and reminded again.

“Oh, oh, sorry…”

Sanjae nodded embarra.s.singly. After that, he put on the positive pressure protective clothing by following a set of complicated instructions provided by the Android.

To this point, Sanjae still was not informed of what was happening in the hospital. However, Sanjae knew better than to ask questions since as far as he was concerned, all he needed to do was complete whatever task the hospital appointed to him. Could anything else be more important than the punctually paid, fixed salary he received every month?

Therefore, he obediently put on the protective clothing as he was instructed. Then he clicked a b.u.t.ton as he was told and was showered with disinfectant solution.

After completing a set of lengthy procedures, the Android finally announced, “Dear Mr. Sanjae, you've completed the disinfection process. Please step into the door in front to enter the morgue.”

“Alright…”

Sanjae found himself slightly embarra.s.sed when the Android was being so courteous with him. In all his life, n.o.body had ever addressed him with something as dignified as “Dear Mister.”

After lifting off a sheet of curtains, Sanjae walked past the pa.s.sage and made his way toward the morgue. Before he opened the door, he heard a m.u.f.fled conversation coming from inside.

“Why isn't the next s.h.i.+ft here yet…”

“D*mn it, that b*stard Sanjae must be late…”

“I don't want to be stuck with these gross corpses anymore, they must've been cursed by s.h.i.+va… I can't stand it anymore…”

It was the voice of Varo and the others.

Sanjae hesitated for a moment but still ended up cautiously pus.h.i.+ng the door open anyway.

“Sanjae, you're finally here!”

When he pushed open the door, he saw Varo and another colleague wearing the same protective clothing as he did. Even their heads were completely covered as well. There was a stretcher with sheets of white cloth laid over it beside them.

When they heard movement at the door, they turned around like frightened birds. They were extremely relieved to see Sanjae arriving.

“B*stard, you're late!”

Varo gritted his teeth. “Would you look at what time it is? You made us wait for half an hour!”

“I'm sorry, Mr. Varo…”

Sanjae tried to explain, “I arrived before eight, but I had to get the protective suit at the warehouse, then there were all these disinfection processes which made me…”

“Alright, that's enough explaining!”

Varo rudely cut Sanjae off. “It's the morning s.h.i.+ft's turn to take care of these corpses now. That brat Garava took the day off as well so it's just you now.”

“Alright, no problem.”

Sanjae was growing ever more confused. He did not know why these two suddenly came to hate their jobs so much. After all, they entered this profession a year or two before he did.

“Keep up the good work, you poor sob Sanjae!”

The colleague next to Varo stepped forward and patted Sanjae on the shoulder. He slapped Sanjae's shoulders so hard that he felt a tinge of pain running through his shoulders.

With that, the two took off immediately as if it would kill them to linger just a second longer.

After the two left, Sanjae surveyed around the morgue and noticed that most of the bodies covered underneath the white cloth bulged up like a mountain. It seemed like it was not just a single corpse covered underneath but several stacked together.

“Huh…”

It only just occurred to Sanjae that he should have asked Varo what was happening and why the corpses were not deposited in the lockers.

Unfortunately, Varo had left.

“These corpses weren't here when I left last night. Does this mean the hospital received all these corpses overnight?”

Sanjae found it strange. He scanned through the morgue and counted nearly fifteen stretchers, which meant fifteen bodies.

Seeing as there was not much else he could do, he pulled an empty locker open and approached the nearest stretcher to check the tag strapped to the deceased's legs. This was his job description – to move these corpses into cold storage so they would not rot until the police or relatives came to claim the bodies.

The moment he flipped the cloth over, he was stunned by what he saw.

He saw three pairs of pale legs underneath the cover…

Three pairs of legs meant three bodies since the common person only had a pair of legs.

“What the h.e.l.l?”

Sanjae complained. He did not understand why three bodies would be piled up together in the same stretcher. This should not be acceptable for many reasons, whether it was for preserving the reputation of the hospital or to avoid complaints from the relatives of the deceased.

With that in mind, he threw the entire cloth out of the way.

As soon as he did that, he was presented with the sight of a horrifying, deformed, and twisted corpse…

This corpse. No, all three corpses were mashed together like the way conjoined babies did. The heads of two of the corpses were joined together like a gourd while the head of the third corpse drooped over to the side.

Furthermore, their bodies were mixed together and became so bloated it looked like a gigantic drum. They were joined together almost seamlessly; it seemed like they were born like this.

It was chaotic, distorted, utter madness…

These were the first thoughts that came to Sanjae's mind when he saw this. Although there was not a single drop of blood on the three corpses and their expressions seemed completely at peace, he still felt an immediate throbbing pain in his mind.

Sanjae immediately felt like throwing up…

“No, I can't vomit here… I just had breakfast…”

Just as he was about to throw up, he remembered that the breakfast he had this morning had to last him until the evening. If he vomited now, chances were he was not going to get to eat any food until the next morning. He would also have a terrible stomachache and would have to deal with it for the entire working day.

With that in mind, he suppressed the immense urge to throw up.

After suppressing this terrible urge, Sanjae quickly understood why these corpses were not put in the freezer. It was because they were simply too large. The lockers were not designed for corpses of these sizes.

What happened to these corpses? What happened to them?

Sanjae wondered, his heart drummed against his chest.

[1] Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, and Dalits categories of India's social structure caste system.