diff --git a/src/wp-includes/load.php b/src/wp-includes/load.php
index fb5f98d261..fcd5cf256d 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/load.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/load.php
@@ -162,10 +162,12 @@ function wp_check_php_mysql_versions() {
 		exit( 1 );
 	}
 
-	if ( ! function_exists( 'mysqli_connect' ) && ! function_exists( 'mysql_connect' )
-		// This runs before default constants are defined, so we can't assume WP_CONTENT_DIR is set yet.
-		&& ( defined( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR' ) && ! file_exists( WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/db.php' )
-			|| ! file_exists( ABSPATH . 'wp-content/db.php' ) )
+	// This runs before default constants are defined, so we can't assume WP_CONTENT_DIR is set yet.
+	$wp_content_dir = defined( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR' ) ? WP_CONTENT_DIR : ABSPATH . 'wp-content';
+
+	if ( ! function_exists( 'mysqli_connect' )
+		&& ! function_exists( 'mysql_connect' )
+		&& ! file_exists( $wp_content_dir . '/db.php' )
 	) {
 		require_once ABSPATH . WPINC . '/functions.php';
 		wp_load_translations_early();