Vampirzahn

Kapitel 7

Asakura squeezed through the two chattering people and rushed upstairs.

Section 18

"Parasite Eve"

Chapter Three

After the surgery, Mariko Anzai remained in bed, not fully awake. She was being cared for by medical staff. Currently, she was unsure of her condition; everything appeared as if she were wearing unnecessary glasses. Yesterday, when she awoke from anesthesia, Mariko was already in her hospital room. Fluorescent lights shone from the gray-white ceiling. Realizing that she was in a hospital room rather than an operating room, Mariko breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Just then, a nurse wearing a mask arrived. After carefully examining Mariko's face, she called out, "Doctor!"

The sound resonated in Mariko's ears, causing her to frown. She felt a sharp pain in the front of her head, and her vision distorted, the ceiling becoming blurry. "Don't panic. The surgery is complete."

A familiar male voice. It sounded like I'd heard it somewhere before. But the voice soon transformed into a severe headache.

For the next few hours, Mariko seemed to be in a semi-conscious state. When she woke up again, there were two nurses beside her who appeared to be giving her some kind of treatment.

Mariko tried her best to lift her head, but one of the nurses noticed and said, "Ah, don't move! You just had surgery, just lie still like this."

Indeed, even the slightest movement caused her headache to return. Mariko had no choice but to give up and lean her head back against the pillow. Her body was burning hot, she felt weak all over, and her vision was blurry, just like when she had a cold. It felt like there was something foreign stuck between her inner thighs. Opening her eyes, she saw a nurse fiddling with what looked like a tube on Mariko's thigh. Mariko turned her lower body over—and saw that the tube extended from her thigh into her body. Mariko felt a little embarrassed and turned her face away. In addition, there seemed to be a tube-like puncture on the left side of her abdomen, probably a suction tube used to drain fluid from her body. She had heard the doctor explain this when she had a transplant before. Another nurse grabbed Mariko's wrist and placed a dark, gritty substance on it. After a while, her pulse began to beat loudly. "Let me check your blood pressure."

The nurse's gentle voice reached my ears.

The two nurses continued measuring various physiological indicators. Throughout the examination, Mariko kept her eyes closed, following the nurses' instructions. She felt a slight stiffness below and to the left of her navel. She wanted to touch it, but the nurse was taking her blood pressure, so she couldn't. Perhaps this was the newly implanted kidney. Mariko's mind wandered. Kidney.

Mariko suddenly opened her eyes.

She finally remembered her transplant surgery. The phone call that night, the hospital checkups, the blood transfusion, and listening to the doctors and nurses discuss the transplant...

"How are things with the people I gave them?" Mariko asked impatiently. However, her voice was stuck in her throat, and the words that came out of her mouth were hoarse and indistinct, completely unintelligible.

The nurse put down her work, trying to decipher the puzzling pronunciation.

"Where are my people?"

Mariko asked again, straining out her voice.

"Give it to your people?" The two nurses exchanged glances, somewhat puzzled.

Where is the person who gave me their kidney?

"oh……"

One of the nurses finally understood what she meant, and she smiled knowingly at Mariko.

"Don't worry! The surgery was a success. The person who donated your kidney will be happy in heaven. She'll definitely say she hopes you recover soon!"

"No, that's not it!" Mariko said impatiently. "Tell me, is that person really dead? Did she really want to give me her kidney?"

The two nurses were a little flustered by the questions. They could only force a smile and coax Mariko, saying, "Mariko, don't get too excited! You have a slight fever after the surgery..."

Mariko yanked the nurse's hand away and screamed. But just as she was about to look up, a violent wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her to close her eyes. The sound of her scream had barely passed, and she hadn't even heard what she said.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw my father sitting by the bed, looking at me with a complicated expression.

“It’s alright, the surgery was a success,” the father said, giving Mariko a stiff smile. He was wearing a white coat and a mask, looking somewhat awkward. The mask covered his mouth, only his eyes were barely visible. From his shifty gaze, it was clear he wasn’t calm. His eyes were clearly not on Mariko.

Mariko took a deep breath and closed her eyes again.

"37.6 degrees Celsius. Body temperature usually rises after transplant surgery. Don't worry, I'll prescribe some medicine for her."

A doctor named Yoshizumi entered the ward at the same time as her father. He was the same doctor who had treated Mariko when she received her transplant two years ago. Mariko squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to see the doctor's face.

Nurses took turns caring for Mariko throughout the day. Every hour, her urine output and blood pressure were measured, and her IV fluid levels were adjusted. Mariko, in a daze, underwent various tests as instructed by the nurses. Yoshizumi would occasionally come to check the data and ask Mariko questions. After the surgery the previous night, Mariko had taken a drug labeled with a radioactive isotope to check if her blood had entered her newly implanted kidney. Of course, she couldn't remember any of this.

Yoshizumi told Mariko in a gentle tone that there were no signs of acute tubular necrosis or infection yet, but the various tubes in her body would need to be retained for a little longer. At this moment, Mariko closed her eyes tightly, pretending not to hear.

Mariko's hospital room was a small single room, with the entrance located in a corner against the wall. Right inside the door was a sink for washing up. Before anyone entered, the sound of running water could always be heard.

Mariko had a straw in her mouth; the doctor wanted her to eat a paste-like liquid through the straw. The food didn't taste exactly like anything, but it wasn't too bad.

"Just a little longer and we'll be able to eat all sorts of delicious food!"

Mariko nodded slightly after the nurse's encouragement. For some reason, she suddenly remembered her transplant surgery two years ago.

"Excuse me, may I eat an orange?"

Section 19

Mariko was so excited that she almost forgot herself. She listed a whole bunch of food names to Yoshizumi.

"What about apples? What about potato chips? Can I drink the miso soup to my heart's content? And ice cream, chocolate, all of that is fine, right?"

Sometimes, Mariko could feel urine flowing from her body. Because the catheter hadn't been removed, her bladder felt full, and urination was still painful. However, even so, she could feel her urethra warming. Mariko realized she was urinating. Even if it was just a tiny bit of urine, as soon as she felt she was about to urinate, Mariko would immediately concentrate all her attention. This was a strange feeling. For a whole year and a half, Mariko hadn't urinated once; instead, she had dialysis three times a week. How did she urinate in the toilet? What did it feel like before when she wanted to urinate? Mariko couldn't answer these questions for a while. Intermittently, Mariko drifted into a dream. In her dream, she was still lying in a hospital ward, the room pitch black, unable to see anything. The ward door was tightly closed, and she couldn't see the outside world, only a faint blue-white light shining through the crack in the lower part of the door. It was the light from the corridor lights. Mariko kept asking herself, why am I here? Oh, I remember now, I'm having my transplant surgery tomorrow! Although she can't turn over, she can still move her hands. Mariko gently moved her hands to her lower abdomen. Suddenly, Mariko felt something pounding inside her! This was definitely not her own heartbeat, but another independent life force beating repeatedly! Mariko placed her hands a distance away, concentrating to figure out what it was. It was restless inside her, desperately trying to break free! At that moment, a faint, indistinct sound came from somewhere, "thud."

Riko opened her eyes and looked around, but found nothing different. Just as she was wondering if she was hallucinating, "click," the strange sound rang out again.

The sound was coming from the hallway. It was the faint echo of someone walking in plastic slippers. Mariko breathed a sigh of relief; someone was indeed walking outside. But then, a thought struck her, and something felt off, sending a chill down her spine. If it were a person walking, the pace was far too slow!

"Snap," it rang again.

Mariko pressed her pounding stomach against her chest while staring at the door. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she felt the foreign object inside her beating even faster.

"Thud." The sound grew closer, and Mariko gasped. The wind, the noise of motorcycles and cars all vanished, leaving only the sound of footsteps and the pounding of Mariko's body. The footsteps were almost there. "Thud!"

At that moment, Mariko woke up.

The nurse quickly asked her what was wrong with concern and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Returning to reality from her dream, Mariko felt a lingering fear and burst into tears.

In the middle of the night, Mariko's temperature exceeded 38 degrees Celsius. That night, while running a high fever, Mariko dreamed of the same scene multiple times.

The next day, Mariko was able to sit up slightly. There seemed to be an adjuster installed under the bed to change the tilt of the bed frame. The bed frame consisted of two sections, front and back, joined at the waist. The section under Mariko's upper body was adjusted to thirty degrees. —Early in the morning, the nurses and Yoshizumi came in to collect urine and blood samples.

My father came too.

"What happened last night? Had a nightmare?" Yoshizumi asked with a smile as he checked his pulse. His smile seemed glued to his skin, making one feel quite uncomfortable.

Mariko thought to herself, "This doctor hasn't forgiven me yet!" She turned her face away.

"Alright, alright, little sister, can't you say something? I'm begging you!" Yoshizumi kept stepping forward to talk to her.

Hearing him call her "little sister" made Mariko feel even more disgusted. He had called her that two years ago too. Back then, she was still in elementary school, so it didn't matter, but now she was a second-year middle school student, and this doctor hadn't even noticed!

"You still have a slight fever." Yoshizumi seemed to have given up hope of Mariko's answer and began talking to himself. "There's blood in your urine. Also, 2.7 grams of protein were detected in your urine yesterday. This is certainly not good if it continues. However, it will be fine soon. It's common for blood and protein to dissolve in urine shortly after a transplant. I estimate your temperature will come down tomorrow. You can urinate now, which means the surgery went quite well. There's no infection so far, so don't worry."

Yoshizumi's voice buzzed in Mariko's head.

Mariko's mind was filled with the scene from two years ago. The suspicious look on Yoshizumi's face. And her father's gaze.

Mariko closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously. However, the images of the two people on her face wouldn't leave her. Unable to bear it any longer, Mariko finally cried out, "Doctor, you'd be happy if this transplant failed again!"

Yoshizumi was startled and immediately pulled back. His father and the nurse behind him stared wide-eyed, momentarily stunned.

"What...what did you say..."

"That's what you think!" Mariko shouted loudly, her voice so loud that it drowned out Yoshizumi's, clearly losing control of her emotions. "You think the last failure was all my fault, you think I'm a bad girl, so you hope we fail this time too!"

"Mariko, stop talking!"

Feeling embarrassed, the father quickly interjected. However, Mariko had already lost control of herself. She started talking non-stop. Yoshizumi tried to steady Mariko with his hand, but Mariko immediately burst into tears and screams, refusing to let him near. A nurse rushed over to help, trying to get Mariko to lie down properly, but Mariko struggled to break free. At that moment, the tube inserted into Mariko's abdomen was twisted and deformed by the pressure. In a flash, a sharp pain shot through Mariko's body. Mariko screamed and slammed her face onto the pillow. She then realized she was doing something foolish and finally calmed down. After lying down for only a short while, Mariko's back and waist began to ache. The nurse immediately adjusted Mariko's position, but the pain did not subside. The high fever and pain made Mariko delirious; she couldn't even open her eyes.

That night, Mariko had another dream. She was lying in a dark hospital room when she heard a series of "pattering" footsteps. The slow footsteps approached Mariko's room step by step. Mariko stared motionless at the light filtering through the crack under the door. For some reason, the sound terrified her.

"It must be the nurses coming to check on you," Mariko reassured herself. However, the unease deep inside her wouldn't go away. Her mind was filled with thoughts of who would come to this ward.

It wasn't a doctor, nor a nurse, but something terrible! It was coming this way.

Mariko felt two things throbbing rapidly inside her body at an unbearable speed.

One was her heart pounding, "thump, thump," the sound drawing nearer, her heart racing with extreme fear; the other was the foreign object burrowing into Mariko's lower abdomen. Each "thump" resonated with its own ecstatic throbbing. These two throbbing sounds echoed in her head and ears, making Mariko feel a burning heat throughout her body. The frantic throbbing continued in her chest and lower abdomen. Mariko's body felt like it was about to split in two.

"Clatter".

A figure suddenly emerged from the crack under the door. Mariko held her breath in fright. The figure didn't move; it simply stood in front of Mariko's door.

The shadow changed direction, turning towards Mariko's hospital room, making a soft "thud" as it turned.

Mariko's heart was pounding in her chest. Conversely, the thing residing in her lower abdomen was overjoyed, swirling around inside her. Her waist trembled, the bed shook, and Mariko's back was soaked with sweat. Mariko, staring intently at the door, was stunned.

The doorknob was turning, little by little. Silently, slowly, almost imperceptibly. But it was definitely turning. Something outside wanted to get in. "Bang!" "Bang!"

Mariko's lower abdomen suddenly swelled up. In an instant, the rebound force of the hospital bed slightly propelled Mariko's body into the air.

It's a kidney!

Mariko felt the kidney implanted in her body wanting to come out. She was about to suffocate, but Mariko still stared intently at the doorknob.

Gradually, she finally figured out who wanted to come in.

Mariko was in despair when her violently beating heart suddenly stopped.

Quietly, the door opened. Light streamed into the room.

Mariko let out a scream and woke up.

"Parasite Eve"

Section 20

Chapter Four

After handling Shengmei's funeral, Liming went to work at the university the next day. As usual, he parked his car in the pharmacy department's parking lot at 8:20 and arrived at his research lab at 8:30. No one else had arrived yet. Liming turned on the light and sat down at his desk.

A week has passed since Shengmei's car accident, and Liming's desk is piled high with promotional materials for various new products sent by distributors. Normally, Liming would briefly browse the English descriptions of new cloning vectors or cytokines. However, he's not in the mood now and casually puts them all on the shelf next to him. Just then, the lab door creaks open. Liming looks up and glances back.

“…”

Sachiko Asakura stood motionless at the doorway, her right hand covering her mouth, staring at Toshiaki with a look of astonishment.

The two remained silent for a while. For a moment, both felt a little awkward.

Asakura's lips moved, but he didn't know what to say, so he looked around and looked away from Riming.

Li Ming hurriedly smiled and raised his hand. "...Good morning!"

Asakura finally caught her breath and calmed down.

"Good morning!" Asakura smiled and nodded slightly.

The atmosphere in the room immediately lightened. First, Liming apologized for the trouble he had caused everyone by not coming to work for so long, and then he thanked Asakura for his kind help at the funeral.