Chapter 77: Afterbirth 3; Emotional Disease
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The security guard in the security booth was a middle-aged man who chattered incessantly, saying, “It really wasn’t human, I saw it. That girl affectionately ran up and called it ‘Daddy,’ but what I saw was just a monster. Otherwise, who would look like that? It was terrifying. Think about it, being in an elevator with a monster, it’s lucky if you’re not scared to death.”
Chen Yang asked, “Can you describe what the monster looked like?”
“How could I not?” The security guard gestured, “It should be tall, hunched over, about two meters high. Wearing a red dress, dark green skin, teeth sticking out, hundreds of teeth, particularly eerie. Oh, and…” The security guard recalled locking eyes with the monster when it rushed to the elevator door, “Its eyes were like those of lizards, flies, and such. Just one glance and you couldn’t help but feel fear.”
Chen Yang said, “Did Su Nini have any other reactions? Did you notice her sneaking out of the community at night?”
“No, really, I didn’t. Speaking of which, I was quite surprised. I was in the security booth the whole time… Unless she sneaked out while I was in the restroom. It’s normal to use the restroom, not neglecting duty. But when she came back, I knew something was off. She looked dazed and uneasy, kept looking back as if something was wrong. I wanted to go out and ask her, but as soon as she saw me, she ran off as if she’d seen a monster.” The security guard initially didn’t want to bother with Su Nini anymore, but when he couldn’t help but look back, he saw Su Nini rushing into the arms of that monster, which scared him to the core.
“Ah, I see. Thank you.” Chen Yang turned and left the community, asking Mao Xiaoli who came with him, “Did you take note of everything?”
Mao Xiaoli replied, “I did. I sent the description of that monster to Uncle Ma to see what it could be.”
The case of Su Nini going crazy was soon clarified with a scientific explanation because she suffered from an emotional disorder, a form of fear syndrome that was magnified invisibly. So, Su Nini, due to her fear syndrome, deluded herself into thinking that everyone was out to harm her, hiding in an empty elevator but hallucinating that a living monster was scaring her crazy. This was a severe fear syndrome, but unfortunately, Su Nini’s parents didn’t take this emotional illness seriously, leading to the tragedy.
This explanation nicely explained the reason behind Su Nini going crazy. As for what the security guard said, no one believed it. Because they found from the surveillance footage that there was only Su Nini from start to finish. She was talking to thin air, entered the elevator, and got scared in the empty elevator. Clearly, it was a sign of abnormal mental behavior.
However, because Su Nini suffered from an emotional disorder and encountered so-called supernatural events, Chen Yang and Mao Xiaoli came to investigate. Mao Xiaoli asked, “Brother Chen, should we look for other people with emotional disorders?”
Chen Yang pondered for a moment, “Let’s go see Su Nini first.”
“Okay.” The two went to the hospital where Su Nini was and met her parents there. Su Nini’s parents blamed each other for not taking care of their daughter, being too busy with work, and not paying attention to their daughter’s fear syndrome.
Su Nini’s father retorted loudly, “Who knew what she was afraid of? How could she get such a strange illness as fear syndrome out of nowhere?! She used to be lively and confident, daring to go to amusement parks alone, going through haunted houses, playing roller coasters, bungee jumping. She was always brave.” It was precisely because their daughter had always shown great courage that they couldn’t believe she suddenly developed fear syndrome.
Chen Yang said gently, “Before Su Nini developed her fear syndrome and after, did she have any contact with any special people or go to any special places?”
Su Nini’s parents recalled events before and after their daughter fell ill and shook their heads, “No. Nini relies more on family members. If she met special people or went to special places, she would have told us.”
“What if she didn’t dare to tell you because of fear?”
Su Nini’s parents were taken aback by the possibility. According to Su Nini’s extreme fear, it was very likely that she didn’t dare to tell them. Chen Yang understood this and then asked, “What triggered Su Nini’s illness?”
Su Nini’s mother said, “I know this. About two months ago, Nini went on an outing and suddenly encountered a rainstorm. She ran into a dilapidated house to take shelter but accidentally fell into a pit under the house, full of insects. She was terrified, and afterward, she always dreamed of insects crawling all over her body, biting her. She couldn’t sleep well at night, gradually developing a fear of anything green she saw. Later, we took her to see a doctor, who said she had developed a phobia and prescribed medicine, but it didn’t improve.”
“Oh, and,” Su Nini’s father added, “Nini always said there was a monster following her, wanting to parasitize her.”
Chen Yang asked, “Can we go see Su Nini?”
“Well…” Su Nini’s father hesitated for a moment before saying, “Alright, but don’t agitate her.”
Chen Yang nodded and followed Su Nini’s parents to visit Su Nini. Through the glass, they could see Su Nini curled up in a corner of the ward, looking dazed, murmuring something. Su Nini’s father said sorrowfully, “Nini has been shouting ‘It’s in front of me, it’s getting closer, it’s in front of me, it’s inside me,’ but I can’t understand.”
Chen Yang looked at Mao Xiaoli, who gestured that she had noted it down. Catching a glimpse of Su Nini’s abnormal demeanor, Chen Yang observed her carefully, “Something’s not right.”
“What’s wrong?” Su Nini’s parents looked puzzled.
Su Nini was twitching, albeit subtly. Her eyes rolled back, and her limbs were experiencing slight convulsions, gradually increasing in frequency. Suddenly, she stopped moving, no longer convulsing, quietly curled up in the corner. Su Nini’s parents didn’t see any change and still didn’t understand what was wrong. Suddenly, Su Nini tilted her head back and let out a high-pitched, agonizing scream, scratching her own stomach, crawling around the room.
Su Nini’s parents were extremely nervous, wanting to rush in, but the door wouldn’t open no matter what they did. Hearing the commotion, a doctor hurried over, “Move aside, move aside! Don’t block the way! Someone go in to prevent the patient from biting her tongue, quickly!”
After a hurried but orderly operation, the door opened. The nurse who opened the door was stunned. Why couldn’t she open it just now, but now it opened by itself? But she didn’t have time to think about it as doctors rushed in with medical kits. Chen Yang sensed something was wrong and shouted, “Don’t go in!”
Unfortunately, it was too late. The door slammed shut.
Except for the doctor who went in first, everyone else was locked outside. The doctor turned around abruptly, patting the door with a bewildered expression. Though he didn’t know what had happened, he already had a sense of foreboding. Colleagues outside pounded on the door, suddenly showing terrified expressions, pointing behind him.
The doctor heard rustling noises behind him, turning his stiff neck to look back, seeing Su Nini lying on the floor. Her belly suddenly swelled, like a woman nine months pregnant. Suddenly, it deflated, then he saw a monster slowly crawling out from under Su Nini’s hospital gown. Its dark green skin, terrifying teeth, and constantly moving insect compound eyes.
The monster’s hatchling opened its mouthparts, emitting a faint rustling sound. Its eyes were still covered with a membrane, seemingly unable to see people yet. Its grotesque head swiveled in the air, sniffing, then suddenly turned to stare at the doctor. It crawled forward, the umbilical cord still attached to Su Nini’s body, and as it crawled, the placenta fell off.
As the monster crawled out, people outside also saw it. They gasped in shock, uttering cries of astonishment. Su Nini’s mother couldn’t imagine that this thing came out of her daughter’s belly, screamed once, then fainted. Su Nini’s father held Su Nini’s mother, worried on both ends, shouting, “What are you waiting for? Open the door!”
The nurse with the key card trembled, unable to stop herself from crying out of fear, “The door… won’t open.” Her hands trembled almost to the point of collapse, holding back tears. At this moment, the monstrous creature opened its terrifying mouthparts and lunged at the doctor, biting at his throat. The doctor reflexively reached out to block, but was bitten off a chunk of flesh.
The doctor endured the pain, tore off the monster, and flung it away. The monster crashed to the ground, quickly got up, chewed the flesh a few times, and swallowed it. Although it couldn’t see, it could sense the doctor’s position by smell. Its head moved with the doctor’s movements. It lunged suddenly, narrowly missing the crouching doctor. The monster slammed into the transparent glass window, right in front of the young nurse’s face.
The nurse fainted directly, and the door still wouldn’t open. “Mao Xiaoli, kick the door open,” she said, delivering a whirlwind kick directly. The door shook violently but remained shut.
Chen Yang peeked behind the glass window and met a pair of insect-like compound eyes. Behind the door, there was a large monster crouching. It noticed Chen Yang’s gaze and turned to face him, its terrifying mouth spreading into a grin. Chen Yang frowned, pulled Mao Xiaoli aside, and said, “Let me handle this.”
He took off a bronze coin and pressed it against the center of the door. With the coin in his left hand, he swiftly drew symbols with his right hand and chanted, “Evil dissipates, Dao endures, swiftly as the law commands!” The coin instantly passed through the door and embedded into the massive monster inside, burning it with yang energy.
It left the door, revealing its true form. Despite its hunched body, it stood over two meters tall, terrifying everyone present. Father Su finally believed his daughter’s words at this moment. The monster had indeed been following her, getting closer to her, and finally residing in her abdomen.
The monster caught a newborn monster and ate it in one gulp. Even through the glass, people outside could hear the sound of bones being chewed, sending shivers down their spines. The doctor inside kept retreating, shrinking into the corner. The monster stared at the doctor. At this moment, Chen Yang used a card to open the door to the ward.
The monster had no choice but to give up on the doctor, glanced at Su Nini, and instead of killing her, jumped out of the window. The ward was on the tenth floor. After entering the room, Chen Yang looped the red rope around the monster’s neck and wedged it against the window. It had immense strength, cracking the walls on both sides of the window instantly. Chen Yang shouted, “Mao Xiaoli!”
“Here!” Mao Xiaoli brandished a peach wood sword and thunder talismans, leaping onto the bed and table, aiming a fierce stab at the monster’s shoulder. The monster howled in pain, grabbed Mao Xiaoli’s peach wood sword, and snapped it in half.
Mao Xiaoli exclaimed, “Damn it!” She quickly rolled away to avoid the monster’s ensuing attack, leaving a large handprint on the wall. Chen Yang wrapped the red rope around both hands, wound it several times around his palms, but the monster still dragged him forward several steps. He yelled, “Xiaoli, toss me the thunder talismans!”
Mao Xiaoli quickly grabbed a bunch of thunder talismans from her backpack and handed them to him. As Chen Yang took the talismans, the monster gave a strong tug, pulling him out of the window. Mao Xiaoli exclaimed, “Brother Chen!”
Chen Yang, being pulled out of the window, loosened his body completely, lunged towards the monster, shoved all the thunder talismans into its mouth, then let go of the red rope. He grabbed the broken peach wood sword lodged in the monster’s shoulder to stabilize himself. Using the momentum, he flipped in mid-air, stepped on the monster’s shoulder, and looped the red rope around a beam of the hospital building, landing steadily on the lower beam. He made a hand gesture, detonating the thunder talismans.
The monster suddenly disappeared in mid-air, its injuries unknown. Many people under the hospital witnessed this scene, gathering below and discussing fervently. It would probably spread across the internet soon, about the supernatural events at a certain hospital.
Chen Yang sat on the beam, sighing. Trouble. He needed to go back and report this to Master Mashan Feng of the Taoist Association, embellishing the story to let them handle this supernatural event. As he thought, he wound the red rope back around his wrist and suddenly realized the bronze coin embedded in the back of the monster was not retrieved.
Descending from the beam, Chen Yang returned to the ward, garnering numerous curious and amazed glances along the way. The events on the tenth floor ward spread to the upper floors within a short span of ten minutes, especially among the doctors and nurses.
After mother Su woke up, she hugged her unconscious daughter and wept silently, blaming herself incessantly. Father Su paced anxiously at the door, with Mao Xiaoli standing beside him. Spotting Chen Yang from afar, father Su hurried over, “Master, please, take a look at my daughter, can you save her?”
Mao Xiaoli also approached and asked, “Brother Chen, are you injured?”
“I’m fine,” Chen Yang shook his head, pushing open the ward door and entering. As he walked, he asked Mao Xiaoli, “Have you examined Su Nini’s condition?”
“Not good. Qi is nearly depleted, similar to those previous emotionally disturbed patients. Once Qi is almost depleted, they become like old women, craving flesh and blood. If Qi cannot be restored in time, I’m afraid…” The unfinished words foretold dire consequences. Father Su listened, his legs almost giving out, regretting deeply why he hadn’t paid attention to his daughter’s situation earlier. He always thought his child, at such a young age, was carefree, and all those odd behaviors were just attention-seeking. He had once blamed her for being childish and willful.
There were still doctors in the ward, helping Su Nini with a glucose drip. Chen Yang asked the doctor, “How is she?”
The doctor was the one who had almost become a snack for the monster in the ward just now. After bandaging his arm, he returned to check on Su Nini’s condition out of his professional duty. However, all he could do was to hook her up to a glucose drip. Upon hearing Chen Yang’s inquiry, he replied, “Really bad. Weak qi, declining bodily functions, like a seventy or eighty-year-old. She’s on the verge of… death.”
The doctor’s expression was grave, his mood heavy. He had witnessed this bizarre incident firsthand, the feeling of fear still lingering, but his kind nature made him sympathize more with Su Nini. This girl was only fourteen, and her life was being ruined. Honestly, at first, he thought Su Nini’s condition was just a manifestation of her fear and anxiety, her mental state so poor that she hallucinated.
But what he just witnessed couldn’t be dismissed as mere hallucinations. Even as a grown man, he was terrified by the situation, let alone a young girl! What was even more frightening was that she was facing this fear alone. She spent her days in fear, watching the monster slowly approaching, with no one noticing. Only she was left, isolated and helpless.
Mother Su collapsed to the ground, begging Chen Yang, “Please save my daughter, I beg you, I beg you. Master, save my daughter. She’s only fourteen, not even an adult yet. She’s so lively and intelligent, she’s still kind-hearted. Please, if she’s going to die, let me die instead.”
Chen Yang reluctantly helped mother Su up, but as he did, father Su knelt in front of him, pleading. Chen Yang sighed, “I will do my best, but I can’t guarantee.”
Though Su’s parents were desperate, the current situation was already much better than before. At least there was hope, and they got up, bowing repeatedly in thanks. Chen Yang said, “Let her stay in the hospital. If symptoms appear, they can be treated promptly.” After a pause, he added, “I will go back and figure something out.”
Su’s parents finally reluctantly put their hearts at ease, and Chen Yang bid them farewell and left with Mao Xiaoli. As they reached the elevator, the doctor chased after them, “Excuse me, do you really have a way to save Su Nini?”
Chen Yang shook his head, “I’m not sure.”
“But there is a way, right?” The doctor asked hopefully, then said, “If you can save Su Nini, then they can be saved too.”
“They?”
“Yes. I guess you must have heard of the recent incidents where patients with emotional disorders attacked people. They actually had been treated at this hospital before. I’ve dealt with a few girls, mostly between fifteen and eighteen. Some were fearful, some jealous, some anxious… basically all kinds of emotional disorders. They spent some time normally, but then aged rapidly afterward. Some… have already passed away, and the remaining ones are on my list. I’ve been trying to find a way to save them, but unfortunately, I’m just a psychiatrist specializing in mental and psychological aspects.”
The doctor’s words were somewhat chaotic, but Chen Yang understood. “Do they experience the same situation as Su Nini?”
The doctor shook his head, “I don’t know. But there was a fear patient whose symptoms were similar to Su Nini’s. As for whether there were monsters crawling out of their bellies, I don’t know. But I guess it’s close.”
Chen Yang pondered for a moment and said, “Alright. Can you give me that list?”
“I have it at home. I can send it to you.”
“Okay, give me your contact information.” Chen Yang added the doctor’s WeChat and bid farewell, then pressed the elevator button and left with Mao Xiaoli. “Xiaoli, did you jot down everything?”
Mao Xiaoli took out her notebook, “I’ve noted down the key points.” She happened to notice that the copper coin on Chen Yang’s wrist was missing and asked in surprise, “Brother Chen, where’s your copper coin? Didn’t you embed it into the monster’s back just now?”
Chen Yang replied, “No.”
“What do we do then?”
“It escaped. We’ll retrieve it once we find it.” The elevator door opened, and the two stepped out. Chen Yang said, “You send the key points you’ve written down to the group. Let others follow along… Did anyone take a photo of the monster?”
Mao Xiaoli replied, “Yes.”
“Good.” Chen Yang nodded, “By the way, has Lu Xiuzhi joined the group?”
“He joined earlier. Once you agreed to let him into the branch, Kou Xuanling couldn’t wait to add him to the group. Tut, the thirst of an old straight guy.”
Chen Yang glanced at Mao Xiaoli, who shrugged. He shook his head helplessly and said with a smile, “You’re starting school soon, right?”
“Almost.” Mao Xiaoli said, “After finishing this task, I won’t be able to take on big tasks for several months.”
“Studies are important.” Suddenly, his phone rang, receiving a call. Chen Yang answered the call, “Hello?”
“Is this the parent of Chen Kuixuan?”
“Yes.”
“It’s like this, Chen Kuixuan encountered two, two men at the school gate. According to the video footage, the two men are suspected of abducting Chen Kuixuan. The video shows them taking Chen Kuixuan into an alley, and shortly after, he ran out with bruises all over his face. Now they’re shamelessly insisting that it was Chen Kuixuan who beat them up. It’s outrageous,” the teacher described the situation while unable to contain their disdain, feeling that they were nothing but scum in society.
How could a nine-year-old girl beat up two grown men? Lying without regard to reality, their intelligence was defeated by shamelessness.
Chen Yang’s eyelid twitched. “I’m going over there now.”
“Mao Xiaoli, Kuixuan’s teacher?”
“Mm. Xiaoli, you go back to the branch first. If you see Lu Xiuzhi, ask him if there’s a way to restore someone who has lost their vitality. I’ll leave first.” Chen Yang hastily instructed and rushed to Kuixuan’s school.
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