DA chapter 52

The panting didn’t receive any response from inside the ward. It stood outside for a moment before leaving. Compared to whether there was anyone in the ward, it was more concerned about the lump of flesh that had been handed over to the nurse.

But the room did not return to calm because of that.

Monsters in Fish Belly often had the habit of leaving and then returning, so Yan Xu did not turn on the light.

The cat had already noticed Lin Jia’s stress response. Lin Jia’s breathing, initially stagnant, gradually became heavy. That heavy breathing quickly caught Yan Xu’s attention.

Yan Xu raised his head and accurately located Lin Jia in the darkness by the sound of Lin Jia’s breathing. “What’s wrong?”

He asked.

There was no response.

Lin Jia had completely fallen into a panic caused by the darkness. The terrible memories of his childhood affected his thinking, making it slow. Pain appeared in many parts of his body—the places where he had been injured in the kidnapping were now projected onto his adult body under stress.

Yan Xu noticed that something was wrong, stood up, and walked toward Lin Jia.

The cat hurriedly fumbled with the flashlight hanging around its neck, but the more anxious it became, the clumsier it became. As it sensed Lin Jia’s emotions worsening, the cat licked Lin Jia’s face to soothe him.

This was something the cat had learned while studying cat behavior—when a cat licks a human’s face, it shows care and comfort.

In a panic, the cat used this technique and hurriedly returned to fiddling with the flashlight.

A cat’s tongue is covered with backward-pointing barbs, so licking feels rough, not comfortable.

Still, it made Lin Jia freeze for a moment, and his scattered thoughts seemed to fall back for an instant.

The next second, light shone beside his cheek, and his scattered consciousness returned slightly.

“What happened to you?”

His vision began to recover. Through the blur, Lin Jia saw Yan Xu, who had come around from behind him and stopped in front of him.

His vision was still not clear, and Yan Xu’s figure was blurry.

He barely suppressed the panic that still lingered in his heart and said, “Nothing.”

Yan Xu looked at Lin Jia suspiciously. Then, he noticed the cat crouched on Lin Jia’s shoulder, and his attention was immediately drawn to it.

He said, “Your cat can even turn on a flashlight.”

Under the light, Lin Jia’s consciousness gradually recovered. He steadied himself and softly responded.

Yan Xu reached out to grab the cat but remembered halfway through that Lin Jia didn’t like him touching his cat and withdrew his hand.

By the time Yan Xu looked at Lin Jia again, he had already completely returned to normal.

A thin layer of sweat had seeped out on his back and perhaps on his forehead as well. To avoid Yan Xu noticing anything unusual, Lin Jia took a step back.

He walked to the bedside, took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket, wiped his forehead, and turned on the small bedside lamp.

He threw the cat off his shoulder and casually turned off the flashlight attached to the cat’s collar.

After cleaning up the aftermath of his stress response, Lin Jia turned around to look at Yan Xu. As expected, Yan Xu was observing him.

Knowing Yan Xu wouldn’t see anything, Lin Jia said, “What was outside?”

Yan Xu had not noticed anything unusual about Lin Jia. He still looked the same, his face covered in the dim yellow light of the bedside lamp.

He looked as if he were covered in a layer of holy light.

After confirming that Lin Jia was fine, Yan Xu described what he had seen through the crack in the door. After he finished, a compressed biscuit was tossed over.

Yan Xu reached out and caught it, unconsciously squeezing the packaging.

Fine, another reward.

Not bad at least—at least it meant Lin Jia was willing to talk to him again.

Lin Jia said, “A shadow?”

He frowned slightly. “An NPC can appear without materializing?”

The things in the third-floor VIP ward had not appeared through Fishman questions, but they had existed before Fishman announced Soup Surface. That black shadow, however, had not existed before. It was neither an NPC that had existed originally nor an NPC that had materialized through Fishman’s questions.

Or had someone gone to ask Fishman a question?

Lin Jia thought about it and decided it was unlikely. Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian wouldn’t ask Fishman questions. Even if they wanted to, they would first ask his opinion. The curly-haired man and the white-haired old man were both cautious about Fishman questions and wouldn’t actively ask. As for the Jin brothers, they had many ideas, but they had been separated in the hospital rooms. In their unease at being separated, it was basically impossible that they had asked questions.

So the black shadow was definitely not an NPC materialized through Fishman questions, but rather an NPC that appeared alongside the development of Fish Belly.

Lin Jia had not entered many Fish Belly instances. Since there was an experienced person right in front of him, he naturally asked him.

Yan Xu was not surprised by the shadow’s appearance and explained, “The higher the level of Fish Belly, the more NPCs will appear with its development. These kinds of NPCs are similar to the original NPCs. Well, not exactly the same. Strictly speaking, these NPCs are even more dangerous than the originally existing ones. The original NPCs are key clues to the whole Fish Belly. As long as you don’t court death by provoking them, you have a chance of surviving. However, the NPCs that appear during progression are different; they actively kill people.”

At this point, Yan Xu laughed and said, “It looks like Fishman thinks we’ve lived too long.”

Lin Jia said nothing more. He looked at Yan Xu a little longer.

Based on what Yan Xu said, preventing him from going to the VIP ward was indeed the right decision. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to say whether Yan Xu would survive tonight.

However, afterward, Yan Xu showed no fear, as if life or death did not matter much to him.

“What kind of look is that?” Yan Xu could not understand Lin Jia’s gaze.

Lin Jia averted his gaze and lay back on the bed.

He had persuaded Yan Xu this time, but what about afterward? Lin Jia wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could stop Yan Xu from courting death every single time. If Yan Xu died on one of his reckless adventures, all of Lin Jia’s previous persuasion would be for naught.

And Lin Jia disliked meaningless things the most.

He began seriously thinking about how to quickly turn this gun called Yan Xu into his own possession, making this gun obey only his orders—so that even Yan Xu himself could not decide his own life or death, only Lin Jia could.

The night grew deeper, and the noise outside the hospital room slowly subsided.

But the calmer it became, the stranger the night felt.

Lin Jia knew that tonight was definitely not truly quiet on the surface. Something had happened in the VIP ward, and a shadow had appeared. For now, though, there was no danger to him or Yan Xu, so Lin Jia chose to wait and observe.

—-

At dawn, just after Lin Jia had finished washing up, someone knocked on the door of Room 302. A nurse pushed the door open and said in a tone used to coax children, “Get ready. We’re going outside to sunbathe.”

They were given only five minutes to prepare. Five minutes later, nurses from Yile Maternal and Child Health Hospital led people from the inpatient building outside.

There was a flower bed outside the inpatient building. Although dawn had just broken, the sunlight was already strong, so the nurses arranged them in front of the flower bed.

Although two nurses were standing guard at the entrance of the inpatient building, they only prevented people from going back inside.

Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian saw Lin Jia and quickly walked over.

Xiao Yao talked about the movements during the night and stuffed some food to Lin Jia.

Xiao Yao said: “Damn it, they only let us take medicine here, no food is prepared.”

At the Yile Welfare Institute, at least there had been a cafeteria to supply food to the trapped people. But at the Yile Maternal and Child Health Hospital, there was none.

The amount of food that people could bring into Fish Belly was limited, not to mention there were four of them this time.

However, this was only the first day in Fish Belly; it was not yet time to worry about food reserves. What worried Xiao Yao was the pill he had swallowed.

Speaking of medicine, Xiao Yao said, “I have no idea what that pill actually is. The moment the nurse left, I stuck my fingers down my throat. I even vomited up the food I had eaten the day before, but I still couldn’t throw up that pill.”

The sun was scorching. Lin Jia raised his eyes and looked at the sun in the sky.

The sunlight stung his eyes, and colorful light spots appeared in his vision.

He looked around, as if searching for something. Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian didn’t understand and asked him about it.

Lin Jia said lightly: “Doesn’t it look like photosynthesis?”

Xiao Yao was poorly educated and did not understand what photosynthesis was, but Xiao Tian’s face changed at Lin Jia’s words.

Xiao Yao was confused.

Xiao Tian explained, “Photosynthesis is the basic process of plant growth. Simply put, plants get what they need to grow from sunlight.”

Xiao Yao froze: “Fuck.”

This was a maternal and child health hospital. All of the patients were pregnant women and men waiting to give birth. However, they could only give birth if they had something inside their stomachs—if their stomachs were empty, nothing could be born.

Originally their stomachs had been empty, but yesterday they had eaten that pill!

And now the nurses had brought them out to sunbathe!

Under the blazing sun, Xiao Yao broke out in cold sweat. He also understood what Lin Jia was looking for—Lin Jia was looking for shade.

The only shady place was by the flower bed. There, the shadows cast by the plants provided just enough cover from the sun.

Lin Jia did not forget Yan Xu and invited him, too. “Captain Yan?”

Yan Xu didn’t put on airs and followed the Sharp Knife group toward the shade.

When the others saw Yan Xu go behind the flower bed, those who had already found sunbathing suspicious hurriedly followed, too.

Now, with more people gathered together, everyone exchanged the clues they had obtained.

The curly-haired man said, “When I came down just now, I heard the nurses talking about a due date.”

This was a key point. Everyone immediately looked at the curly-haired man. Yan Xu asked, “Whose due date?”

The curly-haired man replied, “It seems like the one in the third-floor VIP ward.”

Lin Jia frowned slightly. The cat at his feet raised its head, looking surprised. It was normal for the curly-haired man not to know the situation on the third floor, as his room was on the second floor. However, Lin Jia, Yan Xu, and the cat all knew clearly that the VIP ward had already given birth last night.

Assuming nothing goes wrong, the lump of flesh is what was born in the VIP ward.

If the information given by the curly-haired man is correct, then it seems that at the Yile Maternal and Child Health Hospital, the due date is not decided by the pregnant person, but by the nurses.

Including what is born is also most likely decided by the nurses.

And what supports the nurses in deciding the birth date and content is most likely the pill they were made to swallow.

Everyone was discussing how to refuse taking the pills. The pills were clearly no good, but with the doctor’s orders in place, they had no choice but to swallow them. Hiding the pill under the tongue did not work either because the nurses would pry open their mouths to check if the pill had been swallowed. Trying to vomit it out after swallowing it did not work either—Xiao Yao had already tested that. The pill dissolved as soon as it entered the stomach.

Just when everyone was racking their brains for a solution, Yan Xu spoke up. “Where is the other person?”

After Yan Xu’s question, they realized that only seven people were present, though eight people were involved in this Fish Belly.

They barely knew each other, and they quickly discovered who was missing:

The white-haired elder.

The curly-haired man was on the same team as the white-haired elder, but he had been focused on the information he had overheard. Originally, he and the white-haired elder were just teammates, so he hadn’t noticed the elder’s absence at first.

The one staying with the white-haired elder was Jin Jie, in Ward 202 on the second floor of the inpatient building. Since the white-haired elder was absent from this temporary gathering, everyone’s gaze naturally fell on Jin Jie.

Why the white-haired elder did not appear, most likely only Jin Jie understood better.

Under everyone’s gaze, Jin Jie’s expression turned ugly. He knew the reason for the white-haired elder’s absence and explained, “His stomach grew bigger last night. The nurse said he’s about to give birth and that it’s inconvenient for him to come out, so they didn’t let him come out to get sunlight.”

“His stomach got bigger?” Xiao Yao repeated in shock. “Damn! Something this serious, and you didn’t say anything? You didn’t mention his absence or his condition — what the hell is wrong with you?”

Jin Jian was displeased with Xiao Yao’s tone and said, “Watch your mouth.”

Seeing that Jin Jian was about to quarrel with Xiao Yao, Xiao Tian pulled him away. Now was not the time to argue. Since the white-haired elder’s stomach had grown, they would have swollen bellies at some point, too.

Talking about a due date sounded like discussing the slaughter date of fattened piglets.

As the white-haired elder’s teammate, the curly-haired man had only just begun to care about his teammate’s condition. In truth, he was also worried about when his own stomach would become bigger.

“What exactly happened?” the curly-haired man asked.

Jin Jie could not withstand so many eyes on him and said, “The nurse said it’s best if too many people do not know the due date.”

Since Jin Jie was the white-haired elder’s roommate, he knew the elder was about to give birth. The nurse told him to keep it a secret.

The nurse’s behavior further confirmed that the due date was not a good thing.

“Stop asking. I don’t know why his stomach suddenly got bigger either. There was no abnormality prior to that. We stayed in the ward the whole time.” Jin Jie was on the verge of breaking down from all the questioning. The pressure was huge. The doctor’s orders clearly stated that they must obey the medical staff’s arrangements. The staff had arranged for him to keep the white-haired elder’s condition secret. Yet, he had violated the order.

And he was in the same ward as the white-haired elder. The elder’s stomach had grown bigger. What about him? Would it soon be his turn?

“Enough, stop asking.” Yan Xu said.

Because of Jin Jie’s reaction, the nurses had already taken notice. All of the nurses supervising their sunlight time looked over toward the people involved at the same time.

Yan Xu gave the order, and the others did not dare continue recklessly. They still had many questions, but because of Yan Xu, they did not dare ask any more.

But Lin Jia wanted to ask. He had pieced together something from the information Jin Jie had shared, and now he wanted confirmation.

He raised his head and looked at Jin Jie with a heavy gaze. “Last night, someone knocked on Ward 202’s door. You answered—no, more accurately, your roommate answered, and you did not.”

Jin Jie raised his head.

Lin Jia: “Yes or no.”

People always thought of Fishman when asked a yes-or-no question, and together with Lin Jia’s hard-to-withstand gaze, Jin Jie could only nod. “Yes.”

Everyone looked at Lin Jia. They did not know why Lin Jia was so certain, but they still felt a trace of hope. Lin Jia must have discovered something to ask such a certain question and receive such a definitive answer.

Lin Jia’s logic for asking was simple. Yan Xu said the shadow would actively kill people. Yet, last night, when the shadow came to their ward door, it only asked if anyone was inside. Then, it left after receiving no response.

Since it was an NPC capable of killing, there was no reason it would simply spare the people inside the ward unless they had not triggered its killing condition.

The white-haired elder’s stomach enlarged last night, precisely on the night the shadow appeared. Lin Jia connected these events.

The shadow actively killed people, meaning it delivered killing conditions to those involved. Since D3155’s Fish Belly revolves around the theme of “pregnancy,” the death method must also relate to “pregnancy and production.” After triggering the shadow’s killing condition, the white-haired elder’s stomach grew.

What awaited him next was most likely a due date with no return path.

Lin Jia had another theory: The nurses were planting a production gu in their stomachs by making them swallow pills, and the shadow was the labor-inducing talisman. Once the shadow’s killing condition was triggered, the people awaiting childbirth would have their death dates set.

The curly-haired man glared hatefully at Jin Jie and asked, “Why didn’t you stop him from answering when someone knocked at midnight?”

Jin Jie said: “I did stop him!”

At first, Jin Jie was also worried. He was worried that the white-haired elder’s response would allow whoever was outside to come in. Just thinking about it, he realized that something knocking at midnight could not be normal.

However, the white-haired elder did not listen to Jin Jie. Jin Jie said, “It was like he lost his mind. He said the voice outside was his mother. I stopped him from opening the door, but his mouth was on his own body — how could I stop him from speaking?”

Jin Jie’s face had already become extremely ugly. The others had never experienced last night’s terror. He thought he would die, and he watched the white-haired elder’s stomach grow bigger and bigger. Such a bizarre scene—a white-haired man with a huge belly—was something Jin Jie could never forget, and yet this person was his roommate, living in the same ward.

Jin Jie almost did not sleep at all that night. He listened to the white-haired elder groan beside him the whole time. The sound was exactly like the groaning from the third-floor VIP ward. It almost drove him mad!

But he could not leave the ward, not even a step. Leaving meant violating the doctor’s orders, and the nurse would kill him.

Jin Jie experienced this despair of both forward and backward paths being blocked the entire night. No one knew how he made it through the night. He shrank into the corner of the room, too afraid to blink in case danger would swallow him the moment he did.

He stayed awake until dawn. Fortunately, the nurse revealed that the white-haired elder’s due date was approaching.

Jin Jie knew the due date meant the white-haired elder’s death date. But at that moment, he instead hoped the elder would die sooner rather than continue to be tortured by his groaning.

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