When Xin Hexue returned home from the kindergarten, he ran through the living room and quickly twisted open the bedroom door. When he got up in the morning, he didn’t draw the curtains open, so even though it was a sunny day outside, the room was still shrouded in a gloomy hue.
Hazy sunlight imprinted on the curtains. The old blue-checkered curtain cloth was like a horizon, separating two spaces: the sky outside, the sea inside.
Xin Hexue’s senses were overwhelmed by a dizzying, oxygen-deprived sensation as if submerged by the sea. His steps were somewhat flustered as he stood in front of the bedside table and pulled out the drawer.
For a moment, he used too much force, and the entire drawer slid out, its contents scattering messily onto the floor.
Xin Hexue pushed aside the piled-up clutter and found the group photo he had brought back from the kindergarten health room. He indeed hadn’t remembered wrong.
In the Small Class Six group photo, Teacher Annie was pregnant at the time.
And on the bedroom wall hung that painting. The child’s brushstrokes were immature, the colors bright. A large and a small figure: Xin Hexue holding little Mingzhu’s hand.
Mingzhu, existing as a strange being after death, might be able to perceive things ordinary humans couldn’t. So, she had already hinted to Xin Hexue.
Xin Hexue’s fingers curled, crumpling the satin fabric in front of his abdomen.
Baby cries, calls for Mother, and inexplicable nausea…
He had previously dismissed them as discomfort symptoms caused by paranoia.
A tide-like roaring tinnitus came on suddenly. Xin Hexue pulled over a nearby trash bin and frantically searched through it.
Fortunately, because he had been running around outside these past two days, the bedroom trash bin wasn’t full. Xin Hexue found the foreign-branded product.
He grabbed it and ran to the bathroom.
Although this conjecture was absurd…
The water from the faucet roared like a waterfall. Xin Hexue stood in front of the sink, repeatedly washing his hands while waiting for the color reaction.
The cold water and scrubbing made his knuckles begin to turn red.
He glanced at the pregnancy test stick on the counter…
A colored line had appeared above the control line.
“It must be expired…”
Even as he voiced reasons for potential error, Xin Hexue roughly understood the result.
He could indeed excuse it with other possibilities, like testing too early, medication interference, improper operation…
When used correctly, the accuracy could reach over 95%, leaving a remaining 5% chance of exception.
K had indeed assured him that he wouldn’t be assigned any scripts about ‘running away with the ball’, since his resume didn’t mention an ability to give birth when he joined.
But this wasn’t one of those small worlds where K assigned scripts.
If this result wasn’t part of that 5% possibility…
He had to get rid of the thing inside him.
Gu Mifeng’s face flashed through Xin Hexue’s mind. His clinic wasn’t far from Ju’an Building.
Turning off the faucet, he tucked the used test kit into his vest pocket. After a quick clean up, Xin Hexue ran downstairs.
As he went out, he bumped into his neighbor next door.
He Qinghong saw Xin Hexue’s pale complexion and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Xin Hexue pushed away his helping hand. “I have something urgent.”
It could be said it was a matter of life and death.
Seeing his state was completely unlike usual, He Qinghong’s eyes were filled with concern. “Do you need help?”
Xin Hexue shook his head. “No, I can manage myself.” He didn’t even have time to lock the door, only asking He Qinghong for help.
“Okay.”
In the time it took for He Qinghong to nod in agreement, Xin Hexue had already turned into the stairwell.
The sound of running water came from inside the apartment.
He left in such a hurry; did he not turn off the water?
He Qinghong entered the apartment’s bathroom and turned off the sink faucet. “Hmm?”
He Qinghong tilted his head, bent down slightly, and saw the packaging box of the pregnancy test kit in the bathroom trash bin, clearly opened and its product used.
His sword-shaped brows tightened into a deep frown.
As he lowered his head, several eyes opened simultaneously in the mirror above the sink, opening and closing in perfect unison.
……..
“Abortion?”
The expression on Gu Mifeng’s face changed repeatedly.
Who knows what he thought in those few short moments, but he began anxiously searching through cabinets and drawers.
That night in the kindergarten, when they temporarily teamed up, they had already made their player identities clear to each other.
Xin Hexue had even emphasized his real gender to Gu Mifeng.
“Gu Mifeng?” Xin Hexue didn’t understand the other party’s frantic searching. “Listen, I know a man getting pregnant is very hard to believe and violates common knowledge of the human body. You might think it’s a tall tale for a moment, but the pregnancy test did show a positive reaction…”
“No, no, no.” Gu Mifeng looked up. “I believe you.”
He finally found what he needed in the third drawer. Grabbing it, he took his everyday coat from the coat rack and said to Xin Hexue, “Alright, let’s go.”
Xin Hexue didn’t move, asking in confusion, “Go where?”
Gu Mifeng pulled on his coat. “The civil affairs bureau.”
“I found my household register and ID card,” he strode forward, grasped Xin Hexue’s cold hand with his warm palm, and said in a resounding tone, “Since that man is unwilling to take responsibility, I am willing to give you and the child a home.”
“Let the child have a father. I will treat both of you well for my entire life.”
Gu Mifeng said seriously and with a solemn face, the scene almost lacking only three raised fingers for an oath.
Xin Hexue’s eyelid twitched and he took a deep breath. “Are you sick? I don’t have time for your jokes right now.”
Gu Mifeng: “When was I joking?”
Seeing Xin Hexue’s expression grow colder, Gu Mifeng intentionally smiled to lighten the mood, withdrawing his hands and putting them in his pockets. “Alright, weren’t you moved just now? The barrages all say I have a sense of responsibility and that I am the Cao Cao of our time. I indeed possess the bearing of a hero.”
**Cao Cao was a warlord in the Three Kingdoms era and the Han dynasty. He liked taking in wives and concubines of defeated opponents as his own, so now the pun of his name, “Cao Thief”, means someone who covets other men’s wives.
[We call you a Cao Thief and you become a modern-day warlord hero?!]
[We are giving you face, stop patting yourself on the back!]
[Little Snow Cat has a baby… I ultimately failed to maintain my only child status /crying.emoji]
“After the fertilized egg implants in the uterus, the embryo begins to secrete a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG for short. This hormone usually increases rapidly in early pregnancy, appearing in blood and urine 6-12 days after fertilization.”
“Pregnancy test sticks determine pregnancy by detecting the presence of HCG in urine.”
After explaining, Gu Mifeng lightly clenched his fist against his lips, assuming a thoughtful posture.
“But you don’t have a uterus. In theory, this phenomenon shouldn’t occur.”
Gu Mifeng’s steps were flustered, like his thoughts.
Xin Hexue frowned; he naturally knew this logic too.
Suddenly, Xin Hexue lifted his eyelashes. “Do you know about the ‘Resurgence of the Strange’ setting in this game?”
When the three of them introduced themselves that night, Gu Mifeng’s words didn’t reveal his real-world identity. He was probably an amateur invited by the program group and, like Xin Hexue, was logging into this game for the first time.
“Yu Xingzhou told me last night that…” Xin Hexue recalled the previous night. Yu Xingzhou had accompanied him to lay Mingzhu to rest and explained some knowledge related to the dungeon. “In dungeons of Resurgence of the Strange, unspecified beings can become strange creatures, like dead people.”
“Accompanying the birth of a strange creature, a strange domain will form within a certain space around it that is different from the normal world.”
Within a strange domain, any bizarre and absurd event could happen.
Mingzhu became a strange creature after her death, and the strange domain was her home and the kindergarten where she was primarily active during her life.
So the children in the kindergarten turned into animal forms, even evolving their own set of urban legend rules. Even the teachers and staff were wandering ghosts within the strange domain, with every connection revealing an indescribable distortion.
As for Mingzhu’s home, it would continuously repeat the scene of the murder when living people entered.
Strange domains could have different manifestations.
“You think what’s inside you…” Gu Mifeng narrowed his eyes.
“Mm.” Xin Hexue nodded. “So, I need to abort it.”
Perhaps because the matter was very tricky, Gu Mifeng looked troubled. “The medical conditions within the Walled City can’t perform such a surgery. We’d have to go to a hospital in North Island City.”
Xin Hexue’s heart sank.
“But on the bright side, the thing in your stomach now might not necessarily harm you; it might even provide protection.” Gu Mifeng said. “After all, you are its ‘mother’. Any creature has an instinctive closeness towards its gestator.” Just like babies. Parents, for various reasons, might not necessarily love their children, but from the beginning of their lives, children instinctively love their parents.
Especially the mother who gave birth to them.
Xin Hexue’s lips were pressed so hard they turned white, his hands hanging at his sides curling slightly. “But I don’t even know what it actually is.”
Gu Mifeng changed out of his everyday clothes and put on his work uniform. “Did you have sex with your husband? When was the last time?”
Xin Hexue’s eyelashes trembled. “The night the typhoon passed through.”
Gu Mingfeng paused for a moment. “…. Interesting.”
The timing seems to be right.
Gu Mifeng remembered Xin Hexue came to the clinic not long after that. Back then, it was for a cold and fever accompanied by vomiting symptoms. Looking back now, it was really the first signs of pregnancy.
“Madam, it seems you need to prepare yourself. Your husband is likely not human.” Gu Mifeng performed disinfection, put on gloves, and turned back to ask for consent. “Shall we do an ultrasound first?”
……..
The clinic Gu Mifeng moved into indeed had the only ultrasound examination room within the Walled City.
He applied coupling gel to the probe of the transducer.
The principle of the examination was to transmit ultrasound waves through the probe and receive the reflected signals, which could generate an image on the computer.
Xin Hexue changed into the clinic’s examination gown and walked into the room, the wide hem of the gown falling to his knees.
“This probe needs to be inserted into the body.” Gu Mifeng thought for a moment but decided to be honest with the patient. “Since my profession outside the game has nothing to do with medicine, and I only acquired medical knowledge from the character identity after loading into the dungeon, I have no practical experience. There might be discomfort due to clumsy operation.”
“Anyway, I will be as careful as possible. If it causes you pain, that is not my intention.”
Xin Hexue silently sat down on the bed next to the machine.
Gu Mifeng tore open a package labeled [Ultra-Thin Condom], put it on the transducer probe, and applied a small amount of coupling gel on the outside. Lubrication could reduce the discomfort caused by the examination.
Just in case, before the examination, Gu Mifeng repeatedly confirmed, “You and that alleged lover you said you had an affair with, you haven’t had any penetrative sexual activity within the last three days, right?”
“This could affect the examination results.”
He explained in a serious and proper tone, as if completely without ulterior motives.
Xin Hexue’s brows and eyes were faintly cold. Whether due to nervousness or not, his voice was hoarse. “…No.”
Gu Mifeng might also have been nervous, as his words increased. “It’s like this, I must tell you, since I have been a virgin for my current twenty-six years, my real identity has nothing to do with medicine, and I haven’t seen any other naked human body.”
He rambled on and on, “After all, the customs in my hometown are very strict. Once a man lacks in male virtue, he might become an unwanted piece of trash.”
Gu Mifeng asked seriously, “So, will you take responsibility for me after this examination?”
“…Shut up.”
Xin Hexue interrupted him and lay down on the bed.
The environment in the examination room was somewhat dim, to make it easier for the doctor to see the computer screen.
The air was cold and Xin Hexue’s lips trembled. He took a deep breath, used both hands to pry his legs open to the extreme, his flushed pink knees pressed tightly against his chest, and urged impatiently, “Hurry up.”
…..
Lying on his back looking at the ceiling light, even if the wattage wasn’t high, it still made Xin Hexue feel dizzy for a moment.
The hair on his forehead was damp with hot sweat, sticking wetly to his temples. His chest rose and fell, and the deep breaths made his perception feel a bit better.
Because he maintained the same position for a long time, his hands forcefully pulling his thighs apart, the soft flesh on his inner thighs was indented with the outline of his slender fingers.
“Done.”
The probe was removed with the condom, and Gu Mifeng threw it into the medical waste bin.
The excess coupling gel between his legs was wiped away with tissue. Only after everything was cleaned and disinfected did Xin Hexue, his thighs trembling slightly, close them and sit on the edge of the bed, pulling down the hem of the gown.
He looked at the image generated on the computer.
“What is this?”
Xin Hexue’s finger trembled slightly as he pointed at the new organ that didn’t belong in his pelvic cavity.
Gu Mifeng adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “It seems… this little monster has built a womb inside you.”
Inside the womb, a small, dark mass was curled up, sleeping deeply.
Looking at this image, Xin Hexue felt as if he could hear the faint heartbeat of this creature.
What exactly did Zhou Liao ejaculate into him?!
