Azure Heart Horror Short Story

Chapter 2

Inside the mourning hall, after confirming that no one would enter, Li Bing removed the white sheet covering the body, took off the corpse's trousers, and placed a red pill at Zhu Min's anus. About two minutes later, several long, white tapeworms emerged from the anus, tightly wrapping around the pill, clearly enjoying it. Li Bing quickly collected the tapeworms in a bottle and then tidied up Zhu Min's body.

"Luckily, you little guys hid well. I was worried I'd find you during the dissection," Li Bing thought to himself as he grabbed one of them and squeezed its tail. The strange insect sprayed out a small, translucent pellet that looked like eye boogers. It looked like an insect egg.

Upon reaching the outer hall, Li Bing thoughtfully poured Xiaodan, whose eyes were red from crying, a glass of mineral water and gently patted her shoulder.

"Be strong, Xiaomin wouldn't want us to be so sad."

"Li Bing, I have to say, you really are a good person. You can still forgive and forget about Xiao Min's treatment of you."

This was the first time Xiaodan had spoken to Li Bing so gently, so gently that it softened Li Bing's heart. But he remained calm, watching Xiaodan drink the insect eggs in the cup, sip by sip.

"Old man, what are you doing?" Li Bing had just finished a medical consultation in a small county town in Yunnan and was strolling around the area when he saw an old man fiddling with something on a skinny pig. A large crowd had gathered around, waiting to see what would happen.

The old man glanced at him, but didn't seem wary: "I'm fishing for insects."

"What's that?" Li Bing asked, increasingly curious. During their conversation, he learned that there was a parasite there, its scientific name unknown, but probably some kind of tapeworm, that craved fatty meat. It often lived inside pigs. The infected pigs, despite eating feed, wouldn't gain weight and would become emaciated. The old man was an expert in the pathology of various parasites, a descendant of a family specializing in parasite control. He was here, entrusted to treat someone's pigs.

Upon hearing this, Li Bing found it quite amusing. The world's insurmountable weight-loss problem had been solved by this tiny insect. He wondered if making weight-loss capsules from it would be a huge success. Thinking about this, he remembered his wife, who was as fat as a pig at home. So, after much pleading and cajoling, he finally managed to obtain some insect eggs and a few pills from the old man under the guise of scientific research.

Practice has proven that although the old man had not received formal education, his description of the symptoms was accurate.

teeth

My sister is very beautiful.

With her long, flowing hair, delicate features, and fair complexion, she has always been a hot topic of conversation among the boys around her since childhood.

Especially her smile, so innocent that it didn't seem like that of a twenty-six-year-old woman, but like that of an angel.

I also have a younger brother, who is also a handsome young man with delicate features. He's far more attractive than many of today's movie stars.

My younger brother has always been afraid of my older sister, even though she has never hit or bullied him. When he was still an infant, he would cry whenever he saw her. He cried every time he saw her. Perhaps there really is such a thing as fate; although they are only six years apart, my younger brother and older sister have never been close.

What did I just say? Oh, I said you're very beautiful. You really are beautiful. From my perspective as a woman, a woman's appearance is naturally something that can make another woman jealous.

But the eldest sister has a secret.

My father knew this secret, and so did my mother. As for my younger brother, I don't know if he genuinely didn't know or was pretending not to.

Some say the most beautiful smile should show eight teeth. This woman happens to have the most beautiful smile. Her teeth are white and gleaming, stunning. But if you were lucky enough to see her open her mouth, you would be horrified and your nerves would short-circuit. Because—almost all of her molars are broken, cracked, and incomplete.

This is why my older sister needs to have her teeth filled regularly. Fortunately, my parents run a dental clinic together, so getting her teeth filled is quite convenient.

My older sister's teeth were so badly worn down because of a secret her parents had been keeping hidden. From a young age, she loved eating bones (not just gnawing on them), no matter what kind of animal the bone was. She would chew it meticulously, grinding it into powder or paste with her teeth before swallowing it with satisfaction. In the early years, her parents didn't pay much attention to this. Until one day, however, the signs of something sinister began to surface.

That night, Father remembered he needed to send a case to his colleagues overnight, so he returned to the clinic to retrieve it. Unexpectedly, the clinic lights were on. When he went in, he found the operating room locker open, and his older sister was fiddling with something in the office with her back to him. Upon closer inspection, he realized she was holding a jar of patients' teeth. With her slender, delicate fingers, she was picking up the black, yellow, and white teeth from the jar and stuffing them one by one into his already saliva-filled mouth. Then she forcefully clenched her jaw muscles, the force so great that a sharp grinding sound could be heard between the bones. Clack, clack… each sound accompanied a tremor in Father's muscles, and at the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his gums.

"you……"

Hearing her father's voice, the eldest sister didn't turn around immediately, but instead chewed faster. Only after successfully swallowing the mouthful of broken teeth did she turn back and give her father an awkward smile. What a smile it was! Crimson blood seeped from her white front and incisors, and her tongue was already stained a slippery, bright red by the blood gushing from her injured gums. Her molars were shattered, like the jagged cross-section of a broken shinbone.

Those who study medicine are naturally bolder. The father wasn't paralyzed with fear. It was the mother, a nurse by training, who staggered upon hearing the news.

The couple finally understood why their eldest sister's teeth had been wearing down so badly lately.

From then on, he embarked on a journey of more than ten years of regularly filling his older sister's teeth.

Anyone who has had dental work done knows that dentures aren't cheap. Although my father only paid the cost price, it was still a burden considering my older sister had over a dozen teeth that required regular maintenance. Therefore, the intervals between fillings were extended. And my older sister tried her best to control her urge to chew on her teeth.

But for her, it was like a drug addiction.

I can't quit.

Yes, my sister suffers from pica. But my parents have never considered taking her for treatment. Whenever either of them even entertains the slightest thought of it, the other will forcefully suppress it. This isn't about protecting my sister's reputation. If that were the reason, they could easily have sought treatment elsewhere. The real reason is: everyone has their own secrets.

My parents wouldn't say they favored boys over girls, but they definitely loved my younger brother more than my older sister.

When my older sister was four, my parents became pregnant with their second child—me. This was during the height of the one-child policy. Employees of state-owned enterprises were especially targeted. If caught, they would be forced to have an abortion. But my parents managed to save me.

Until one month before birth.

My father wanted a boy. So did my mother. To ensure the second child would be a boy, they secretly used their positions to have an ultrasound done. Unfortunately, I was a girl. Even more unfortunately, my parents discussed it and decided that if the second child was born, the risks of conceiving a third would be even greater, so they decided to abort me.

That's right. My mother was an obstetrics and gynecology nurse, and under her guidance, my father took me out of her body.

When my parents saw that I didn't have that string-like thing between my legs to carry on the family line, they forgot the hardship and pain of the surgery and breathed a sigh of relief: they hoped that the next pregnancy would result in a boy.

My body became their source of headaches. After all, they weren't professional killers, and they had no idea how to dispose of it.

"How about we just give it to that big wolfhound in the yard? It eats cleanly anyway, so no one's going back to check on it..."

The father thought for a moment and said, "Then we have to clean the blood out completely. I'll cook it and throw it into the doghouse in the middle of the night. I'll watch it eat it!"

"Yes! Cook it until it's very soft. I'm afraid the bone bits the dog spits out will ruin things."

And so, I went from being a stillborn fetus to a fully-fed fetus, and was served on a plate and placed on the dining table.

My mother had just had an abortion and couldn't move around freely, so my father was busy dealing with things that should be eliminated, such as the pot that had been used to cook me.

By the time they realized something was wrong, I had been eaten by my four-and-a-half-year-old sister until only my two little feet remained.

Then, to my parents' astonishment, my sister stuffed my two little feet into her mouth.

Clapping, clapping...

From then on, my sister developed a deep love for eating bones. And she still does.

Besides, I have my own secrets. Actually, I don't hate my sister. At least she made us feel like one, and through her eyes, I can see the world and experience life. So I often sit on my sister's shoulders.

Even when my older sister went to visit my baby brother, I was sitting on her shoulders.

He gazed at his younger brother.

Infant spirits

"Mmm...uh...mmm..."

It's almost out... Keep it up!

At that moment, I felt my soul was about to leave me along with the sweat on my forehead and the blood from my groin.

It's a son!

Thankfully, I made it through. I finally gave birth... or maybe I just managed to squeeze it out.

I never imagined that I would experience the pain of childbirth at the age of 19.

I never imagined I would have a child without a man by my side.

I never imagined that I would give birth to my child on the floor of the school bathroom, cut the umbilical cord with a utility knife, and wash away the blood with toilet water.

But life is made up of one unexpected thing after another.

Whatever.

Next, I looked at this little thing covered in slime, ugly like a walnut, and my heart started pounding.

What should I do? Carry you to Zheng Jun's classroom and throw you on his desk? Or put you in a velvet basket covered with flower petals and surprise his wife? Maybe I can get some living expenses in return...

I won't do that. Kid, if you knew me—the woman who squeezed you out of the toilet with her legs—you'd know I'm not some naive little girl. Taking you out might ruin that irresponsible, lecherous teacher, but I still care about my reputation!

I'm sorry, baby. Next time, be more careful when you reincarnate.

I felt a pang of sadness as I covered the baby's face with sheets of soaked tissue. Luckily, I had stuffed paper into his mouth beforehand, otherwise his innocent cries would probably have made me abandon this somewhat cruel act.

When the tenth tissue was placed on his face, I saw his body turn completely purple, and his little arms and legs stopped struggling.

The first step has been solved. Very good.

I put him in plastic bags, one layer, two layers... five layers. Hopefully, it won't break.

I dragged my frail pregnant body to my feet, aimed my flat leather shoes at the bag, and stomped on it with all my might.

The small cubicle echoed with the soft, fragile sound of bones cracking, gradually becoming simple and deep. It sounded like pounding the meat filling of wontons with a wooden mallet.

Plop, splat...

Every time I step on it, it hurts terribly. It's a tearing pain in my genitals.

Hopefully, Yingga has been crushed into minced meat. It's probably unrecognizable as a person anymore.

I suddenly remembered a post I'd seen about cat abuse. Was that nurse who stomped the kitten to death in her high heels reveling in the pleasure of trampling on life? I have no way of knowing. I'm not that perverted; I'm just an ordinary female college student trying to resolve a problem quickly while enduring excruciating pain.

Ugh, I really wish that nurse would stomp on my feet a few times.

Oh no, I'm bleeding again. I quickly pulled out a handful of cotton balls, stuffed them in haphazardly, squeezed my legs together, and plopped down on the toilet seat.

I looked at the clump of stuff in the bag. It was rotten enough, but I doubted it would flush down the toilet.

This is infuriating!

In that instant, I suddenly missed the food blender at home.

There was no other way, so I had to put the child in my backpack.

After cleaning up the bloodstains, I reapplied my lip gloss and mascara before leaving. Seriously, this stuff is supposed to be colorfast and waterproof, but it smudged as soon as I sweated.

I didn't want to go to class today. I walked out of the school gate, hailed a taxi, and went back to my rented apartment.

When I got off the bus, I noticed that some blood had seeped out again, leaving little plum blossom-like marks on the white seat cushion.

I took the change from the driver and hurried home. Otherwise, the driver would scold me.

Just as I was about to enter the residential area, I suddenly remembered the stray dogs in the nearby grove. I usually find their barking annoying, but maybe they could be of help today.

So I changed direction and went deeper into the woods. It was during working hours, so there shouldn't be many people around.

From afar, I saw those few thin and dirty stray dogs.

My darlings, your grandma has brought you some food. I found it amusing.

Strangely, when the dogs saw me, they all lowered their front paws and made low whimpering noises.

Damn it, what if they're a pack of mad dogs? Getting bitten would be a huge problem.

I quickly dropped the pieces of meat and ran.

As I walked into the building, I realized how dark this dilapidated apartment building was, even in broad daylight. It also seemed a bit cold.

Do you know how painful it is for a woman whose lower body has just been torn apart to climb to the third floor? I practically had to hold onto the railing and back up to avoid spreading my thighs too wide.

"It's all that jerk's fault for not wearing a condom!" I cursed silently. "I'll come after you tonight for compensation for emotional distress! Otherwise, you'll be sorry."

When I opened the door, I felt something was wrong. The hallway was so dark. It was bright and sunny outside the ventilation window, but the light seemed to bend away and refuse to come in. Just then, I felt something tugging at my trouser leg.

I looked down and saw a child covered in blood, grinning at me.

Ahhhhh, I almost screamed as I covered my mouth with my hand.