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PTGWD Chapter 62: Parasite

"Darling, I'll crush it into pulp."

Fang Xingzhou was an important family member, and the Institute had long stored his medical information, including his blood type.

Yan Xin pulled out the blood bags he had brought from the medical kit, first hanging one for Fang Xingzhou, then spotting the oxygen machine in the room—a necessary device for treating hemorrhagic shock.

However, the hospital had lost power.

Yan Xin cautiously turned his head, meeting dozens of crimson eyes and a pair of eerily human ones.

Lu Jianchuan’s head, perched atop a mass of tentacles, stared intently at Yan Xin. Seeing him pause, his vocal cords vibrated as he asked, “Why did you stop?”

Even through the protective goggles, Yan Xin’s pupils began to ache. He swallowed hard and whispered to the monster before him, “…I need to administer oxygen to Dr. Fang, but the hospital has no power. The oxygen machine won’t work.”

Lu Jianchuan finally remembered that, in his haste to heal Fang Xingzhou’s wounds, he had dragged the entire hospital into a rift in space-time.

His eyes rapidly scanned the room—the unconscious medical staff, the shattered windows, Li Xuan struggling to his feet, and the unknown passersby with ruptured pupils…

No!

If his beloved woke up and saw the hospital in this state, he would undoubtedly be sliced into pieces and boiled into soup.

The tentacles squirmed in unison as Lu Jianchuan leaned down again, pressing his nose to Fang Xingzhou’s cheek. After a moment of careful sniffing, he confirmed that Fang Xingzhou’s vital signs had stabilized.

Then, he extended two tentacles, lifting both Li Xuan and Yan Xin.

Yan Xin, thinking he had failed and was about to be eaten, let out a scream. Lu Jianchuan immediately covered his mouth and said, “I need to return the hospital to its original space-time. But since you two came in afterward, if you don’t come with me, you might be torn apart in the spatial distortion.”

Li Xuan coughed up blood, speaking haltingly, “Quick, before Dr. Fang wakes up…”

The remaining tentacles gently cradled the still-unconscious Fang Xingzhou, carefully protecting him as Lu Jianchuan’s form rapidly expanded.

In the rift that belonged to him, both time and space were like malleable clay.

Li Xuan’s injuries healed automatically, the shattered glass returned to the windows, the cracks in the walls vanished, and the roof, which had flown off somewhere, reappeared atop the building.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the sky began to clear. The people who had been weeping uncontrollably stood in confusion for a few seconds, unable to remember what they had just been doing, and could only shake their heavy heads in bewilderment.

Those trapped in nightmares also gradually woke up, starting their day with a sense of exhaustion.

The hospital’s lights flickered back on, floor by floor. Everything that had happened in the spatial rift was erased by an invisible hand, and time, which had been paused, resumed its flow.

The unconscious medical staff stood where they were, opening their eyes as if they had briefly zoned out or had a very short dream while standing, though they couldn’t recall the dream’s content.

They were puzzled for a few seconds before resuming their usual tasks.

Only the sixth-floor operating room remained in chaos, primarily because—Fang Xingzhou’s wound had completely disappeared.

Qin Hongbo was still crying as he wrapped a tourniquet around his teacher’s arm, only to realize halfway through that there was no bleeding—not even a wound to be found.

Tearfully, he stared in shock for a few seconds, wondering if his overwhelming grief had caused him to hallucinate. He called out to his colleague in disbelief, “Director Lin, it seems he has recovered!”

After shouting, he wiped his tears and turned around, only to see a tall man in thick protective gear standing behind him, holding a military ID. “Hello, everyone. Dr. Fang is the family member of an important military personnel. I am the accompanying military doctor. From now on, we will take over his treatment. Thank you.”

The medical staff eyed him suspiciously.

Fang Xingzhou had an excellent reputation among his colleagues, and after such an incident, no one was willing to leave easily.

Yan Xin, fearing that Lu Jianchuan might lose control again and harm the medical staff, repeated the request. As everyone hesitated, reinforcements from the Special Research Institute arrived and semi-forcibly cleared the entire sixth floor.

Only Qin Hongbo clung to the bed leg, refusing to leave, insisting he would wait there until his teacher woke up. Yan Xin had no choice but to sigh and say, “Let Dr. Qin stay. He can assist me.”

Treatment continued.

Once the bleeding was under control, everything became much simpler. Qin Hongbo stood nearby, distrustfully supervising as Yan Xin expertly intubated his teacher. His gaze drifted again to Fang Xingzhou’s neck, which was so smooth it bore no trace of a scar. The image of the torn artery seemed like a hallucination.

He grew increasingly dazed.

“The wound… disappeared,” Qin Hongbo murmured, still in tears. “Just now, there was so much blood… it wouldn’t stop…”

Yan Xin calmly replied, “This is our military’s latest secret weapon. It can instantly form a synthetic membrane over the bleeding site. The wound is still there, just covered.”

Qin Hongbo opened his mouth, likely doubting his own medical expertise.

Suddenly, a cold hand gently rested on his shoulder.

Qin Hongbo turned to see a familiar, handsome face.

The man with the large belly had appeared in the room at some point, standing behind him, his eyes red and his voice hoarse as he slowly said, “Thank you, Dr. Qin…”

At the sight of him, Qin Hongbo’s tear ducts immediately went into overdrive. The tears he had just stopped began to flow again as he tightly grasped the man’s hand. “I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault for not staying in the room. Professor almost… almost…”

As he cried, Lu Jianchuan also couldn’t hold back, his eyes quickly filling with tears, on the verge of breaking down.

Then, a faint groan came from the hospital bed.

The two tearful men froze, then rushed to the bedside.

After receiving oxygen, Fang Xingzhou gradually regained some consciousness. His brow was furrowed, his eyelids fluttering—he was about to wake up.

Qin Hongbo let out a huge sigh of relief, the aftermath of extreme tension causing his legs to give out, and he collapsed onto the floor.

Lu Jianchuan stared unblinkingly at his beloved, leaning down to kiss Fang Xingzhou’s forehead and softly calling his name, “Zhouzhou, can you hear me?”

Under the tense gazes of everyone, Fang Xingzhou slowly opened his eyes.

—They were pure black, with no whites.

Everyone froze. Li Xuan reacted the fastest, grabbing Yan Xin with one hand and Lu Jianchuan with the other, shouting, “Be careful!”

But he was still a step too late. Fang Xingzhou suddenly sat up and bit down on Lu Jianchuan’s arm.

However, human teeth were no match for the monster’s skin, as harmless as a child’s toy.

Lu Jianchuan remained unharmed. His first instinct was to hold Fang Xingzhou’s right hand, which had an IV, to prevent backflow. Then, with his other hand, he wrapped it around Fang Xingzhou’s waist, letting him bite while gently patting his back. He kissed Fang Xingzhou’s cheek and, in the softest voice, said the most terrifying thing:

“Darling, do you want to eat me? Or the baby in my belly?”

The room fell into complete silence.

Yan Xin felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding. He grabbed Qin Hongbo from the floor, covering his eyes to protect him from contamination, and asked through gritted teeth, “How exactly was Dr. Fang’s artery bitten?”

Qin Hongbo: “Last night, the emergency room brought in a…”

Li Xuan urgently interrupted, “We know that part! Skip to after the surgery!”

Qin Hongbo: “…After the surgery, the patient suddenly went berserk and tried to bite our nurse. The teacher happened to be passing by the room on his way home. He rushed in to protect the colleague, but the mentally unstable patient bit his artery.”

“Where’s the patient now?”

“On the fourth floor, undergoing emergency treatment,” Qin Hongbo said. “After biting Dr. Fang, his vital signs rapidly deteriorated. He’s had several cardiac arrests. Another director from internal medicine is handling the surgery. I don’t know his current condition.”

Li Xuan and Yan Xin exchanged a glance.

Li Xuan frowned deeply, picked up the walkie-talkie, and instructed his colleagues to immediately go to the fourth floor to check on the patient. As long as he was stable, they were to bring him back to the institute for specialized testing.

Then, he contacted the colleague on duty at the coast, his heart pounding.

The colleague answered the phone, his voice faint, as if muffled by thick water. “Brother Xuan, I was just about to call you. I’ve found something very strange.”

Li Xuan asked gravely, “How’s the shell?”

The colleague: “…The shell is dead!!”

Li Xuan’s pupils contracted sharply. He opened his mouth in disbelief, stunned for several seconds.

“You’re saying… the shell is dead?”

The colleague: “Yes. I’m sharing the footage with you now. The shell has already died at the bottom of the sea! Its shell is open, and the flesh inside is almost completely eaten by nearby sharks. No wonder there’s been no magnetic field fluctuation for the past two days!”

Li Xuan: “…”

A grim realization dawned on him.

Was the creature that had clashed with Lu Jianchuan and was eager to come ashore really the “shell”? The institute’s base was near the coast. If the “shell” had truly been so restless, it wouldn’t have remained undetected for decades.

And then there was the manipulated patient last night, the undetectable magnetic field fluctuations, and the obvious infectious properties…

Li Xuan took a sharp breath.

He spoke rapidly, “Retrieve the shell and determine exactly when it died. I suspect it was parasitized long ago. The parasite likely has high intelligence, a small size, and minimal magnetic field fluctuations. It’s been using the shell as a cover and took the opportunity last night to come ashore using a human host!”

The colleague, realizing the implications, also gasped.

“Understood,” he said. “I’ll call for a retrieval team now.”

Li Xuan hung up, his hands and feet icy cold, and turned his gaze to Fang Xingzhou in the room.

If Fang Xingzhou had been parasitized by a dangerous entity…

The situation was far more serious than a medical dispute.

He frowned, instructing Yan Xin to take Qin Hongbo out and completely seal off the sixth floor. He stared nervously at Fang Xingzhou.

Fang Xingzhou’s eyes were completely black. He was still biting Lu Jianchuan, exerting tremendous force, as if piercing even the slightest bit of skin would allow him to enter the paradise he so desperately desired.

Li Xuan said urgently, “Mr. Lu, the parasite is likely targeting you. It’s best if you evacuate. We’ll take Dr. Fang back to the institute…”

Lu Jianchuan acted as if he hadn’t heard, even extending his palm toward Fang Xingzhou.

“Darling, bite here. It’s softer,” he said. “My arm is boney. Be careful with your teeth.”

Li Xuan: “…”

Fang Xingzhou’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat, his body trembling violently. For a brief moment, his eyes returned to their normal black-and-white state, but they were quickly overtaken by black again.

The human consciousness was struggling desperately to regain control of the body. But no matter how strong his will—he was, after all, only a human.

His teeth clenched harder. He seemed vaguely aware of what his body was doing but couldn’t stop himself, trapped in this torment. A single tear, tinged with blood, slid slowly from the corner of his eye.

Seeing his tears, Lu Jianchuan’s heart contracted violently. His chest heaved as he fell silent for a few seconds.

The temperature in the room began to drop.

A palpable, intense killing intent filled the space. Lu Jianchuan’s pupils turned crimson as he scanned Fang Xingzhou’s body, finally settling on his head.

Through the human skull, he “saw” a wriggling parasite covered in fine hairs and tumors.

Saliva filled his mouth as he imagined how nutrient-rich this disgusting creature must be.

Even if there were a hundred of its kind here, he could easily crush them, toss them into a blender with some fruit, and drink the resulting smoothie, digesting them into pure energy.

But now, it had a hostage.

…The most valuable hostage in the world.

Lu Jianchuan narrowed his eyes slightly. The fetus in his belly, influenced by the mother’s emotions, seethed with anger, even extending tiny, underdeveloped tentacles from the gestational sac, eager to crush the creature threatening its father.

Lu Jianchuan pushed the fetus’s tentacles back in and whispered, “Be patient.”

His pupils darkened, and half of his face melted away, revealing a massive brain.

The eyes on the brain turned toward Fang Xingzhou’s forehead. The air in the operating room twisted slightly as an overwhelming force, like a divine command, surged into Fang Xingzhou’s skull.

The struggling human consciousness immediately gained the upper hand. The pure black eyes gradually returned to their normal black-and-white state, and the bite on Lu Jianchuan’s arm loosened. Lu Jianchuan felt a warm tongue gently licking his skin, confirming it was unharmed.

The brain disappeared, and Lu Jianchuan returned to his human form. He pressed his forehead against Fang Xingzhou’s, his heart aching so much his nose tingled, and he pulled Fang Xingzhou into a tight embrace.

Fang Xingzhou spoke hoarsely, “Give me… some water.”

Li Xuan quickly poured a glass of warm water from the dispenser, and Lu Jianchuan helped Fang Xingzhou drink most of it.

“How do you feel?” Lu Jianchuan asked anxiously. “Zhouzhou, there’s something in your head…”

Fang Xingzhou: “I know.”

Taking advantage of his current clarity, he looked up at Li Xuan.

“I’m not sure how long I can suppress it. Officer Li, take me and Lu Jianchuan back to the institute. We’ll figure out how to remove it there. It’s too dangerous to stay in the hospital,” he said with clear logic. “I can sense its target is Lu Jianchuan and the baby. The closer Lu Jianchuan gets, the stronger my desire to eat becomes. But it must never enter Lu Jianchuan’s body.”

Li Xuan: “We understand.”

Fang Xingzhou looked at Lu Jianchuan, whose eyes were red and bloodshot.

“Crying like this,” Fang Xingzhou smiled. “Is it really necessary?”

At his words, Lu Jianchuan could no longer hold back. His eyelashes quickly grew damp.

“…I shouldn’t have left your side,” Lu Jianchuan said, his voice hoarse.

Fang Xingzhou cupped his face and gently stroked it.

“It’s just a parasite,” he said. “I’ve performed many parasite removal surgeries. It’s simple. Don’t be afraid.”

Lu Jianchuan’s heart ached. He kissed Fang Xingzhou’s lips and lifted him from the bed, his voice soft but icy:

“Darling, I’ll crush it into pulp.”

Comment

  1. Tyler says:

    So it wasn´t the clam but a parasite.

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