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PTGWD Chapter 64: The Egg Membrane

...can't fit into a human's fragile and narrow abdominal cavity

Crunch, crunch.

Gulp, gulp.

Biting, chewing, swallowing… these are the instincts of all beasts.

Due to the lack of teeth, the process of eating is slightly laborious, but it doesn’t hinder the release of its primal nature.

Green blood and minced meat slowly float up in the nutrient fluid. The embryo, not yet adept at chewing, eats while leaking, both greedy and anxious, clutching tightly to the corpse of the parasite. With its two teeth, it fiercely grinds away, ingesting energy into its stomach.

The skin of the parasite is unexpectedly tough, making it quite a challenge to bite through. But once the outer defense is breached, the flesh inside proves to be the perfect baby food—soft, juicy, filled with dense neurons, rich in nutrients, carrying a faint oceanic flavor, sweet but not cloying, fresh without being fishy, refreshing and delicious, greatly nourishing the embryo’s nervous system.

Moreover, without the energy transfer from the mother, such rich nutrients directly reach the embryo, causing it to develop rapidly.

The gestational sac visibly swells, growing so large that Lu Jianchuan can no longer revert to his human form.

After dealing with the disgusting parasite, he now faces a second problem—

The baby has prematurely come into contact with contaminated food.

Whether it was the previous eggs or the blind Eunice itself, they were all digested by Lu Jianchuan, transformed into harmless nutrients before being fed to the fetus in his womb.

But this parasite was not purified and directly entered the embryo’s still-developing digestive system.

As the eating speed increases, Lu Jianchuan can clearly feel the embryo’s emotions fluctuating wildly. The biting becomes fiercer, devouring the entire worm, skin and flesh, then opening its mouth to lick up all the minced meat floating in the nutrient fluid.

After eating, it lets out a burp, curls up, and suffers from indigestion.

All its cells concentrate in the underdeveloped stomach, desperately secreting digestive fluids, making its tiny body scalding hot, and causing Lu Jianchuan’s abdomen to feel like a hot water bottle.

Digestion has begun.

Taking advantage of the embryo’s brief calm, Lu Jianchuan drags his massive gestational sac, crawling uncomfortably across the floor to the bedside, approaching the still-unconscious Fang Xingzhou.

The brain-like mass leans over to sniff, catching the scent of his lover in the air.

After the parasite left, Fang Xingzhou’s brain belatedly developed a rejection reaction, and now he is running a fever, just like the child in Lu Jianchuan’s belly.

Lu Jianchuan affectionately rubs his lover’s face with the sticky brain-like mass, covering his face with mucus, then wraps his body tightly with tentacles, making him exude his scent all over.

Even though he has already chewed up and swallowed the parasite, Lu Jianchuan is still filled with lingering fear. The thought of Fang Xingzhou’s heart being entangled by the parasite makes him wish he could lock his lover away in the depths of the ocean forever, eliminating any possibility of harm.

The brain-like mass feels increasingly uncomfortable. It coils around Fang Xingzhou, wriggling to the room’s entrance, stopping in front of Yan Xin.

Yan Xin and his colleagues from the Special Research Institute are wearing three pairs of goggles, anxious but not daring to get too close. He urgently asks, “Mr. Jellyfish, you look terrible. How are you feeling now? Is the fetus starting to backlash?”

Lu Jianchuan conjures a vocal cord beneath the brain-like mass.

The vocal cord vibrates slightly, and because it’s outside the human throat, the sound it produces is extremely strange.

“It’s still digesting,” Lu Jianchuan says. “During this process, I might have to fight with it.”

Yan Xin is anxious: “Then, what should we do? Mr. Jellyfish, please don’t be angry with the baby. It’s just a small fetus, without a sense of right and wrong, easily influenced by those chaotic monsters outside. You need to be gentle, reason with it more, and avoid using force!”

Lu Jianchuan coils his tentacles to stand up, the brain-like mass lowering to approach Yan Xin.

Just the proximity alone makes Yan Xin feel an overwhelming pressure. His legs go weak, and almost collapses to the ground.

The eyes on the brain-like mass pierce through the goggles, meeting Yan Xin’s fearful yet eager pupils.

“I entrust Xingzhou to you, Dr. Yan,” Lu Jianchuan says, word by word. “He has a fever and might take some time to wake up. I trust in your medical skills to take good care of him.”

Yan Xin: “O-of course! You can count on me!”

Lu Jianchuan gently places Fang Xingzhou on a gurney, the tips of his tentacles lingering, affectionately brushing against his lover’s burning cheeks.

“Take him to another room, as far away from here as possible.” The brain-like mass presses against Fang Xingzhou’s lips, leaving a gentle yet terrifying monster’s kiss.

Yan Xin: “What about you…”

Before he can finish, Lu Jianchuan wraps his tentacles around all the Research Institute colleagues and flings them out of the room, slamming the door shut.

The room is now empty except for him and the baby in his belly.

To call it a room might be an understatement; it’s more like a prison cell, designed to contain top-tier mysterious creatures. The thick, radiation-proof walls are enough to isolate him from the entire Institute.

Lu Jianchuan spreads all his tentacles, lying flat on the ground, trying to absorb coolness from the metal floor to lower the temperature of the scorching gestational sac.

The baby’s temperature keeps rising. If it gets any hotter, the amniotic fluid might start boiling.

The brain-like mass sighs repeatedly, slowly crawling to the edge of the room. With a tentacle, it opens the window and drags in several special containment items from the adjacent warehouse, preparing them as emergency food.

While uncomfortably fiddling with the special items, it waits for the embryo to start acting up.

The embryo inside the belly is now swollen and red all over.

Although the parasite was delicious, it seems… it might have eaten a bit too much.

Some negative emotions begin to surge, emotions that don’t belong to it.

Most of the time, it’s a carefree little thing, its biggest wish being to eat as much delicious food as possible. Even when it occasionally throws a tantrum with its parents, it’s soft and not very threatening.

But after devouring the parasite, it experiences for the first time what it means to be frenzied and violent, as if all other creatures on Earth are mere ants that can be crushed with a single tentacle, while it is the supreme ruler of this world.

Its eyes switch between crimson red and pure black. As digestion progresses, the negative emotions grow stronger, and its desires expand into a black hole, making it crave to devour everything within reach—even the ‘mother’ that carries it.

However, there’s a world of difference between Lu Jianchuan and the parasite.

The embryo managed to strangle the parasite with all its might, but that doesn’t mean it has enough strength to confront its mother. In front of its mother, it’s like a kitten that hasn’t even grown all its fur.

Lu Jianchuan, influenced by its desires, starts chewing on the special containment items he prepared earlier, but only digests them himself, not sharing a single bite with the baby.

“Hmm, let’s call this the fourth lesson,” the vocal cord buzzes. “Lesson four: learn to control your desires.”

Lu Jianchuan eats with relish, showing no intention of controlling his desires.

The embryo is frantic, thrashing wildly inside the gestational sac, hitting with its tentacles, banging with its head, biting with its two tiny milk teeth… doing everything it can to get a share from its ‘mother’.

Unfortunately, Lu Jianchuan doesn’t give it a single bite.

Not only does he not share, but he also uses the energy he’s ingested to thicken the gestational sac, lying down comfortably on the ground, letting the embryo kick and punch as much as it wants.

The best way to deal with desire is to let it cool down.

But under the influence of contamination, the cooling process is much slower than expected. The embryo kicks the gestational sac into various shapes, searching inch by inch for a crack, trying to create an opportunity for premature birth, and doubling the intensity of its negative emotions to provoke its Lu Jianchuan.

Finally, the amniotic fluid begins to boil.

The ground beneath the gestational sac heats up. Lu Jianchuan shifts to a cooler spot and drags over another special containment item, roughly shoving it into his mouth.

For a while, the only sound in the room is the crunching of Lu Jianchuan’s chewing. His abdomen is both hot and painful, and the brain-like mass is inevitably affected, its brain matter on the verge of turning into mush.

His power spills out uncontrollably. Despite the thick radiation-proof walls, alarms start blaring throughout the facility. The immense divine power almost freezes the air…

The Special Research Institute has no choice but to evacuate the entire floor, sending all non-essential personnel home, leaving only the core members behind to nervously monitor the jellyfish’s movements.

About two or three hours later, the outermost walls of the  Unconventional Research Institute begin to creak dangerously.

Li Xuan instinctively turns to look at the ocean outside and discovers that, centered around Lu Jianchuan, the seawater within a radius of several miles has frozen solid.

Even the members of the Institute, who are accustomed to dealing with special containment items, can’t help but feel panic. The colleague in charge of monitoring grabs Li Xuan’s arm, frightened: “Brother Xuan, should we arrange a full evacuation? If… if the walls collapse, we’ll all be buried at the bottom of the sea, food for the fish!”

Li Xuan sighs, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and sticking it in his mouth.

Since taking charge of Lu Jianchuan, his stress levels have skyrocketed, and he’s starting to show signs of balding.

The nicotine seeps into his lungs, trying to ease his tension. Li Xuan pats his colleague, staring blankly at the ice outside the glass, comforting his colleague while also comforting himself, muttering: “Don’t worry, Dr. Fang is still in the medical room. Mr. Jellyfish won’t let this place collapse.”

Even so, he’s not entirely confident. Standing by the wall under immense pressure, he smokes three packs of cigarettes, listening to the creaking sound of freezing that continues for two days and two nights.

During these two days and nights, everyone in the Institute holds their breath, tiptoeing around, in a state of high tension, feeling as though their heads are hanging by a thread, ready to fall at any moment.

Only when Fang Xingzhou’s fever breaks in the medical room does the ice outside finally begin to melt, and the boiling power starts to subside.

Li Xuan extinguishes his last cigarette and lets out a long sigh…

Inside the room.

Lu Jianchuan is utterly exhausted, lying motionless on the floor.

He had thought that such a small embryo wouldn’t be much of a threat when it threw a tantrum, but he had completely underestimated its stubbornness.

It had thrashed from day to night, and then from night to day, gnawing the inner walls of the gestational sac to tatters, its tentacles cramping but still refusing to stop. He has no idea where it got such a bullheaded temper.

If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Jianchuan had been replenishing his energy by consuming special containment items, he might have already gone into premature labor, chasing after a mutated monster embryo through the streets.

He misses his wife… He rolls over uncomfortably, feeling the embryo finally digest the parasite completely, expelling most of the contamination through its outburst, and slowly calming down, curling itself into a ball.

Gradually, a faint, transparent membrane begins to form around the embryo’s body…

Lu Jianchuan is too exhausted to get up. He brings the brain-like mass close to the gestational sac, dozens of eyes blinking in unison as they curiously observe the membrane for a moment.

—It’s an egg membrane.

Lu Jianchuan’s heart finally settles, confirming that the embryo is in a healthy state. He then wraps his eighteen tentacles around himself and falls unconscious alongside the child.

When he wakes up again, the seawater has completely melted, and the alarms have stopped. The Unconventional Research Institute is unusually quiet.

The room’s door is open. Yan Xin cautiously peeks his head in from outside, carefully observing the “jellyfish.” After a moment, he softly asks, “Mr. Lu, are you okay?”

The gestational sac has finally cooled down.

But it’s still much larger than before, like a yoga ball filled with water. Lu Jianchuan struggles to drag his belly upright and looks at the embryo again. It’s still asleep, the only change being that the membrane around it has thickened, wrapping it securely.

Thank goodness.

He slowly crawls to the door, leaning wearily against the doorframe: “I’m fine… After devouring the worm, it seems to have entered its second developmental stage. A cause for celebration.”

Yan Xin’s eyes light up, his gaze falling on the rhythmically contracting gestational sac, where he can vaguely make out the shape of a semi-transparent egg.

His pupils dilate, lips part slightly, and he takes several quick breaths, so excited he seems on the verge of hyperventilating.

Yan Xin presses a hand to his rapidly beating chest, sincerely congratulating him: “Congratulations! The latter half of the pregnancy might be easier. Once it’s inside the eggshell, it should become much quieter.”

“Really?” Lu Jianchuan chuckles, his tentacles dragging over another special containment item. He bites into it, and the juices splatter onto Yan Xin’s shoes. “This membrane is already sucking me dry. I’m so hungry I could die.”

Yan Xin speaks rapidly: “Mr. Lu, this is normal. Our research suggests that the latter half of the pregnancy is when it truly begins to develop its divine nature, so its energy requirements will naturally multiply. Moreover, during its battle with the parasite, we detected its divine energy fluctuations—pure, intense, and sacred…” At this point, Yan Xin takes a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions. “This indicates that its early development has been excellent, and it already possesses the nascent form of a divine being. I can’t wait to see its final form—it will undoubtedly be an unimaginable miracle…”

Lu Jianchuan shoves the special containment item into his mouth, then pats Yan Xin with a blood-dripping tentacle, reminding him: “I just finished the last special containment item you prepared. Are you saying these were supposed to last me the entire pregnancy?”

Yan Xin blinks.

He freezes for a few seconds, his fervor gradually cooling as he opens his eyes wide and looks toward the warehouse connected to the room.

They had prepared four Class C, ten Class D, and twenty Class E special containment items, stacked layer upon layer, filling the entire warehouse. Now, it’s completely empty, not even a shelf remains.

“All… eaten?”

How?

How could the energy consumption be this high?

Yan Xin gasps, immediately turning to head for the research lab, muttering as he walks: “I need to update the data again, see how many harmless special containment items we still have in the warehouse…”

A tentacle swiftly wraps around his arm, pulling him back to the room’s entrance.

The brain-like mass still carries a strong scent of blood as it approaches Yan Xin, startling him. He quickly regains his composure, his Adam’s apple bobbing: “Please don’t misunderstand, I was just going to prepare more food. Please don’t eat me!”

Lu Jianchuan pats his shoulder with his vocal cord and asks: “I never eat humans, Dr. Yan. How is my wife doing?”

Yan Xin nervously replies: “Dr. Fang’s fever is gone, and all his check-ups are normal. I think he should wake up soon. Do you want to see him? He’s on the floor above. I can take you there.”

Lu Jianchuan stares at him without speaking.

After a moment, the brain-like mass droops at an unnatural angle, looking down at its own gestational sac.

After devouring the parasite, the gestational sac has swollen to the size of a yoga ball. A sac this large… clearly can’t fit into a human’s fragile and narrow abdominal cavity, unless he transforms into a ten-meter-tall, hideous giant.

At least until the egg stabilizes, there’s no way he can return to his normal human form.

Realizing this fact feels like being struck by a bolt of lightning on a clear day. Lu Jianchuan stands frozen for a long time, then the entire brain-like mass sags, the vocal cord vibrating weakly as he says to Yan Xin: “Take good care of my wife…”

With that, he uses a tentacle to slam the door shut, sealing himself inside in frustration.

Comment

  1. Tyler says:

    Mr Yan is hilarious. Also there´s a typo where you use she instead of he

    1. Raaaeyy says:

      Thank u for pointing it out for me! I just fixed it. lovelove

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