parasitism eve - Chapter 26
The thing was about to rise outside the manhole cover. Anqi covered his head and ran away.
"Boom!"
A loud bang followed as it sped past beneath my feet.
He was surrounded by sound. Anqi closed his eyes.
His knees trembled slightly. The entire ground shook. Only when the sound faded away did Anqi dare to open his eyes. His internal organs churned, unable to calm down for a long time.
What is it?
What exactly went through it?
It was a living thing. A living thing had passed through underground. It was unbelievable that such a colossal creature could exist in the city's sewers. Moreover, it was charging this way with an indomitable will; its speed showed no hesitation. But why this way?
Anqi turned around and looked up at the hospital wall. The sound entered the hospital; it was definitely coming from there.
The sound has ceased. There's been no movement. Could it have emerged from underground? Could it have entered the hospital's sewer system?
...Mariko.
The name suddenly popped into my mind.
Mariko is in danger.
For some reason, Anzai couldn't stop thinking this. The owner of that voice was coming for Mariko.
Anqi immediately turned around and rushed into the temporary passage.
"Parasite Eve"
Section 64
Chapter Twelve
Upon receiving a call from the nurse informing him that Mariko's condition was acting strangely, Yoshizumi Takashi rushed to the ward.
It is said that when the nurses found her, Mariko was already in a state of extreme distress.
The sedatives had no effect whatsoever, and Mariko was now jumping and bouncing on the bed. Before even hearing the nurse's report, Yoshizumi impatiently hung up the phone and ran out.
Since the transplant surgery, Mariko had indeed been plagued by nightmares every night. Each time an attack occurred, the nurses had to rush to her room to wake her and help her calm down, sometimes using sedatives. But today's attack seemed unusual. What was wrong with Mariko? Yoshizumi was frantic. The rejection-like reaction in Mariko's body remained unresolved. Coupled with this attack, these strange symptoms were something Yoshizumi, a surgeon with over a decade of experience in transplant surgery, had never encountered before. Breathless, Yoshizumi rushed to Mariko's room and heard a series of thumping sounds coming from the other side of the door, like something heavy suddenly falling. He was startled. The nurses inside were groaning in distress. Yoshizumi hesitated slightly as he reached for the doorknob.
"What's the matter……"
Yoshizumi went inside and couldn't help but gasp.
Mariko's body jolted violently from the bed. Two young nurses tried desperately to hold her down, but she broke free. The blanket was kicked away, and the IV stand fell to the floor.
Mariko's lower abdomen was swollen high, and that part of her pajamas was abnormally bulging round, which made Yoshizumi stare wide-eyed.
What is this?
What exactly is this?
Mariko's lower abdomen was bulging high, a phenomenon that couldn't be explained by normal skeletal movement. It was also constantly stretching and contracting like rubber, as if something was about to fly out of Mariko's body. The movement was so intense that Mariko's entire body was thrown around. Mariko's eyes rolled back, and she almost fainted.
"doctor!"
The nurses are seeking help.
Yoshizumi snapped out of his daze and ran to Mariko's side, intending to hold down her feet. However, Mariko's body was thrown up by an incredible force, and he couldn't catch her no matter how hard he tried.
Right before Yoshizumi's eyes, Mariko's lower abdomen began to deform violently, and Yoshizumi couldn't believe his eyes. He grabbed Mariko's pajamas and pulled them aside around her lower abdomen. The transplant scars on both sides immediately came into view, with the left scar bulging up as Yoshizumi looked at it. Could this be...?
Yoshizumi's eyes widened.
Is it a transplanted kidney?
Is it the kidneys that are moving?
Yoshizumi pressed his body against Mariko's, using his full weight to hold down Mariko's feet.
"Quickly tie Mariko's hands together! Be careful not to let her bite off her own tongue!"
Two nurses desperately held Mariko's hands down. Mariko's waist bounced violently back and forth, a desperate struggle. Her lower abdomen throbbed violently beneath Yoshizumi's chest—a throbbing that most people couldn't manage. Mariko's lower abdomen slammed powerfully against Yoshizumi's body; the fourteen-year-old girl was trying to bounce him back. What was going on?
Yoshizumi groaned in pain. It wasn't Mariko exerting any effort; though he didn't know exactly what was happening, the transplanted kidney was moving under a powerful force, writhing and thrashing inside Mariko's body. Yoshizumi could hear its sounds, "thump," "thump," the kidney was beating like a heartbeat.
Damn it, damn it. Yoshizumi screamed inwardly as he desperately held down Mariko's writhing legs. "Tie her up!"
Mariko's body suddenly sprang up thirty centimeters.
Yoshizumi and the two nurses were thrown out together. Mariko bounced violently on the bed, the springs creaking. Yoshizumi's head slammed against the wall. It was an astonishingly strong force.
Suddenly, Mariko stopped dancing.
The bouncing gradually slowed down. The bulge in her lower abdomen disappeared, like a ball dropped on the ground gradually losing its bounce and no longer able to bounce. Mariko lay quietly on the bed.
"..."
Only after Mariko had completely calmed down did the nurses dare to carefully lift her up. Yoshizumi, rubbing his head, walked towards Mariko. The ward was completely silent, as if it had become another world. The commotion just now felt like an unbelievable nightmare. Mariko's eyes were closed, motionless, and one could even hear her soft snoring. The attack had been so terrifying, yet now her breathing was normal, completely undisturbed, and she wasn't sweating at all. Her lower abdomen showed no movement; all that could be seen was Mariko's peaceful sleeping face. Yoshizumi quietly touched Mariko's lower abdomen with his fingertip. It didn't seem to be swelling, and the pulsating sound was gone. Just to be on the safe side, Yoshizumi lifted her clothes slightly to check the surgical scars. He touched it with his hand; there was nothing abnormal. What had happened during that attack?
Yoshizumi glanced at the nurses. Both nurses were hunched over, their faces blank, seemingly still wary of Mariko. Yoshizumi then turned his gaze to Mariko.
After tidying Mariko's clothes, Yoshizumi gazed at Mariko's face once more. There was no trace of pain on her face. Could the sedative have suddenly taken effect? But that was difficult to understand, because logically, a sedative shouldn't have such a powerful effect.
When did the seizures begin?
Yoshizumi stared at Mariko's face and asked the nurse.
“It was discovered at 7:20,” someone answered. “The patient next door pressed the emergency call button, that’s how we found out. When she first arrived, she wasn’t having this severe episode; she seemed to be under some kind of spell. I thought she was acting normally, so I didn’t pay much attention and just stood beside her watching. But gradually, she started to become violent. I couldn’t control her alone, so I quickly called another nurse for help. From around 7:30 onwards, we couldn’t handle her anymore…”
"……you do not say."
"He was jumping up and down and talking in his sleep, saying things like 'Don't come any closer.'"
Another nurse added.
"'Don't come any closer.' What does that mean?"
"I don't know. Mariko often says this when she's possessed by a demon."
"Who was she telling not to come over? Was it the person who appeared in my dream?"
"We asked Mariko about this, but she didn't answer, so..."
"..."
Mariko, her eyes closed, was a completely different person from before. A faint blush lingered on her cheeks, giving her a youthful appearance; her eyelashes fluttered wildly, and her lips were slightly parted, revealing a tiny glimpse of her pearly white teeth. Yoshizumi leaned down and touched Mariko's cheek. Mariko's eyes snapped open.
At the same time, a strong vibration reached Yoshizumi's fingertips. Yoshizumi yelled and pulled his hand away. The nurses screamed nearby.
Section 65
Mariko's eyes were wide open, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets; her dark pupils were like perfectly round discs. Looking at these eyes, so unlike human eyes, Yoshizumi felt a chill run down his spine. They looked like glass eyes embedded in a doll's eye socket. Mariko raised her upper body. Yoshizumi involuntarily took a step back.
Mariko stared unblinkingly at Yoshizumi, her pupils contracted, her expression blank.
"after all……"
Yoshizumi's voice was hoarse. The nurses huddled together in a corner of the room, shivering.
Mariko sat up and remained motionless. Her head was turned towards them, her eyes open, her face directly facing Yoshizumi, frozen in place.
However, Mariko's gaze did not fall on Yoshizumi's face.
Yoshizumi noticed this and followed Mariko's gaze in surprise.
Mariko was staring at the area around Yoshizumi's abdomen, but her gaze wasn't focused there; she was looking further away, further behind Yoshizumi.
Yoshizumi turned around and looked.
There was a wall-mounted washbasin, an old-fashioned one, smaller than those in a typical family bathroom, looking rather shabby. The faucet was a small kind, and the handle was also old-fashioned. Yoshizumi looked at Mariko, then at the washbasin. Mariko was clearly staring at it. What was going on?
At that moment, something on the washbasin started to glow.
Yoshizumi's gaze was drawn to it.
It was a water droplet. A droplet was forming at the bottom of the faucet; the faucet wasn't turned off tightly, and the droplet was gradually increasing in size. Slowly, slowly, it bulged, becoming rounder and rounder. Yoshizumi's gaze couldn't leave that droplet. That was it; that was what Mariko was looking at. The droplet rapidly grew larger and larger, showing no sign of stopping its expansion. Soon, due to its own weight, the droplet began to take the shape of a teardrop, hanging down from the edge of the faucet.
Finally, the water droplet left the faucet.
Then it fell vertically and landed on the washbasin.
"Clatter".
"Parasite Eve"
Chapter Thirteen
Li Ming drove into the Municipal Central Hospital. The lights in front of the main entrance were all off. He parked his car at the gate and peered inside, but didn't see a single person. The gate was locked, without a doubt. A sign on the gate read: "Today's outpatient services are over. Emergency patients, please use the temporary passage."
A temporary passage? Li Ming frowned. Where exactly was it?
Liming got out of the car and ran to the gate, knocking loudly. There was no response. Liming looked around, trying to see if there was a map drawn to the temporary passage, but he didn't find anything like a map. No progress. Liming decided to run along the right side of the building. He figured he'd find it if he ran around the whole area.
As soon as Li Ming turned around, everything went black. He was completely swallowed by darkness, and he felt he would trip and fall if he wasn't careful. Because the hospital was so large, the lights from the nearby roads and residences couldn't reach it. Li Ming had been to the university hospital at night several times before when he had business to attend to. The darkness of the pharmacy department campus at night couldn't compare to this place; the entire area was shrouded in darkness. Of course, there was some lighting; the fluorescent lights in the corridors were dim, but they still illuminated the corridors. Even so, the path to the inpatient building was filled with a unique kind of darkness. This kind of darkness would never exist in the pharmacy department, where at most rats and dogs would visit. It was a darkness permeated with the aura of death, a darkness filled with the groans of pain, and the heaviness of this darkness was different. Li Ming thought to himself. After walking around about halfway, Li Ming suddenly heard the sound of an argument coming from inside. The sound was coming from behind the warehouse, but he couldn't see who was making the noise. The voice was deep, like a man's. Li Ming quickened his pace and ran towards the direction the voice came from. The asphalt road gleamed faintly. Li Ming turned the corner and, sure enough, saw a passageway, lit by a yellow light.
In the passageway, a middle-aged man in a suit was arguing with an obese, elderly security guard.
Going through that passage would lead directly to the ward. Li Ming tried to sneak in unnoticed, but the two men's argument didn't seem set to stop anytime soon. The middle-aged man was desperately trying to explain something, while the security guard didn't seem to care about listening. Li Ming decided to run past them, so he dashed into the passage. "Wait, you..."
The security guard noticed Li Ming and stopped him in a questioning tone. Li Ming ignored him and continued rushing forward. Perhaps sensing something was amiss, the guard left the man and ran to block Li Ming's path. Li Ming tried to ram him, attempting to push him aside. But the guard was unexpectedly strong. He stood there motionless, showing no signs of his advanced age. Li Ming struggled desperately, but his wrist was gripped, and he couldn't escape.
What are you doing here? Are you an emergency patient?
"Something terrible is happening!" Li Ming pleaded, struggling desperately. "Let me in quickly and move the patients to a safe place. I'll be right back, please, I beg you!" "What are you saying?"
The security guard stared at Li Ming, looking him up and down.
Li Ming looked so bad that he could easily be mistaken for a homeless man. His suit sleeves and hem were scorched, his shirt was open, and there were dried-out pieces of meat stuck to his pants. The security guard gripped Li Ming's wrist even tighter.
"Anyway, please come with me. There are so many strange guys tonight."
“There should be a fourteen-year-old transplant patient here,” Li Ming shouted. “It’s a girl who received a kidney transplant in July. The child is in danger; she’s about to be attacked. Quick, think of something, or it will be too late!”
Just then, a voice rang out: "You know Mariko!"
Upon hearing this voice, Li Ming turned around.