Zhong Ke

TW: gore

Rainwater quickly‍​‍‌‍​‍‌​⁠‌​​⁠‍‌‌‍‌‍‌⁠‍‌ seeped into the room through the door crack. The air humidity skyrocketed and the suffocating, damp heat seemed to seize people by their throat.

A familiar fishy stench spread into the antique shop along with the rain. An Yu’s nose twitched. The odor reminded him of the giant mantis on the shuttle bus. He looked at the rainwater snaking across the floor and there seemed to be countless transparent specks of light be erratically flickering inside it.

Flame’s expression turned grim. “They’re insect eggs.”

In the lulls between the claps of thunder, a buzzing hum approached from the distance, its sharp, high-frequency sound wave torturing their nerves. An’s face turned pale, and a dozen or so great blue morpho butterflies immediately circled him. Ning held his hand and soothed, “I’m here.”

Lumen said coldly, “Let’s see what they are.”

He shoved the door open, and the torrential rain was instantly sprayed into the room by the wind. A dozen fist-sized water ants shot in like cannonballs, shrieking sharply as they hovered in the air. In an instant, the small space was filled with a ripple of blue-purple light. Swarms of great blue morpho butterflies peacefully beat their wings in the downpour, dodging the water ants and circling the group in protective layers.

Ning held An with one arm as his other hand resting on his chest. With his eyes lowered and his breath held in concentration, he established a mental barrier for everyone.

The aberrant water ants had slender, transparent wings on their backs and thin, segmented bodies. Four bulging eyeballs were grotesquely embedded on the narrow sides of their bodies and their pupils swiveled constantly in all directions like mechanical pieces.

Flame crushed two water ants with one hand and the remaining ants immediately flew higher, forming a dark, oppressive vortex in the air before diving in unison toward An Yu.

An looked weakly at An Yu and was about to raise his hand, but An Yu said, “Wait.”

The buzzing was right beside his ear. He met the pairs of blood-red eyes as the water ants opened their fangs and bit fiercely into his skin.

In an instant, the water ants exploded, splattering pus and blood all over the floor.

The survival value on his terminal fluctuated slightly, dropping by only a few points.

Under the shocked gazes of the others, An Yu let out a sigh of relief. “They already possess a gene-fusion consciousness. We can save a few butterflies.” He turned to An and said, “Just give me a buff to reduce damage. No need to rush the healing.”

Flame spoke hesitantly, “Just now, was that…?”

An Yu explained, “Anything that tries to acquire my genes will self-destruct. Brain didn’t write it on my profile card. It’s one of my passive abilities.”

The room, filled with sharp, discordant noise, seemed to fall silent for an instant.

Flame was silent for a good while. “What types of aberrants is it effective against?”

“All of them,” An Yu said calmly.

He stepped over the threshold and into the curtain of rain, which was filled with water ants and eggs. “Coincidentally,” he said softly, “all aberrants become gluttons the moment they see me.”

The rainwater’s temperature was very high and slightly corrosive, and it stung a little when it splashed on the skin. An Yu walked quickly and was grateful he was wearing the high-polymer material clothes from the Commander, though he felt a pang of pain watching the rain pour down on his new clothes.

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Qin Zhilu said in the channel, “The hospital has lost contact with the Main City. Head over there immediately.”

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Although no one had turned, the hospital was already a scene of human tragedy.

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Among the bodies littering the floor, An Yu could vaguely make out a few in medical isolation suits. The medical staff had been wiped out. The plague had entered a hyper-infection stage.

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An Yu’s steps faltered. He said blankly, “No. I was afraid the rain would ruin it.”

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“And the pocket watch?”

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An Yu nodded slightly. His gaze swept over the corridor, which was crowded with the dead and the dying. A little girl, her features already indistinguishable, desperately curled into her mother’s embrace and protection. A gurgling sound rattled in her throat as pustules burst from her eye sockets. As a result, she didn’t see that her mother was already dead.

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Before Flame could even raise a hand to block him, the man toppled stiffly to the ground like a piece of rotten wood, vanishing instantly into the bloody water on the floor.

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He was wrapped in several layers of protective gear and completely ignored An Yu and the others. He charged directly into the nurse’s station, swept everything off an examination bed, and placed the little girl on it.

“C4720, D792A8…” he mumbled from behind his face shield. His withered hand moved rapidly over the injectables in the medicine cabinet. In an instant, he had selected four or five ampoules, snapped them open, drawn the liquid, and quickly injected the contents into the little girl’s arm.

The little girl was still relatively clean, with only a single red bump on her left index finger, which was swelling rapidly. After the medicine was administered, the swelling suddenly stopped.

Doctor Lao let out a long sigh of relief. He cupped the little girl’s face and said, “We can’t save this finger. I have to save your life, do you understand?”

The little girl looked at him blankly. Before she could react, a sharp sound of bones breaking, followed by a piercing scream, echoed through the room.

Lumen had closed his eyes the instant Doctor Lao swung the knife, but he still couldn’t escape the spray of blood.

The little girl thrashed, but the finger had already been severed at the base. Blood instantly spread across the bed.

Doctor Lao quickly moved to disinfect and staunch the bleeding, muttering, “Must amputate to stop the infection… I can’t be wrong again…” Tears welled in his eyes as he said to the little girl in a trembling voice, “I’m sorry, there’s no operating room on the fourth floor. I can only…”

He stopped mid-sentence.

His frantic movements ceased abruptly. The little girl’s wailing also quieted. A moment later, she flexed her finger in disbelief.

Her left index finger was still there, as if the amputation had been an illusion.

The pustule swelled rapidly, and with a soft pop, it burst. Pus flowed down her finger and onto the back of her hand.

Doctor Lao stared blankly as the infection spread rapidly up her hand. After several seconds, he looked down at his own hand.

At some point, his protective glove had torn. A drop of pus had splashed in through the hole, and the skin it touched was already turning red.

In the silence, the knife slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.

He stumbled backward as if off-balance, not stopping until he hit a supply shelf and collapsed to the ground.

The protective suit had been gashed open in several more places and his lips trembled as he grabbed the holes and tore the suit to shreds.

“Zhong Ke…” he murmured. “Zhong Ke…”

“What about Zhong Ke?” An Yu immediately stepped forward. Lumen grabbed him from behind. “Don’t! You have a normal human constitution. What if you’re infected…”

But An Yu struggled free. He rushed in front of Doctor Lao and crouched down, grabbing his shoulders. “Tell me, where is Zhong Ke?”

“Zhong…” The pustules were already spreading from the skin at his collar up his neck. Doctor Lao’s illness seemed to be progressing faster than the others; pustules swelled rapidly beneath the skin of his face, surging toward his eyes. He could no longer speak, but his aged hand gripped An Yu’s in return, tapping rhythmically on the back of it.

One tap per second.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…