Chapter 11: Shifu! Help My Child!

Wang Xiaodian sat back down. He glanced at Little Li, vaguely hearing him muttering “I’m Little Li, I’m Little Li” on repeat, which made Wang Xiaodian abandon the idea of asking Little Li to join him.

A teammate’s unstable mental state was a horror event in itself.

Wang Xiaodian turned his head to look at his Shifu. His Shifu was staring out at the rain with a deeply conflicted expression.

Was he thinking about how to get home in this weather?

He tested the waters, “Shifu, want to hit the restroom before heading home?”

Xu Xiye replied calmly, “Only elementary schoolers go pee in groups.”

Wang Xiaodian: “…”

After dawdling for a moment, Wang Xiaodian still got up and went. The dormitory didn’t have private bathrooms, it wasn’t any better than using the company’s facilities, and the later it got, the more dangerous it became.

~

Lu Neng’s office was at the very end of the hallway, while the restroom on this floor was at the opposite end. Going to the restroom meant passing by several eerie offices and a long, long corridor.

After Manager Hao left, most of the overtime-working Anomalies had also cleared out, but Lu Neng and the others wouldn’t leave right away. Usually, they waited until all Anomalies were gone, then searched the office for every possible clue.

Anomalous phenomena were crucial, but things in the normal world couldn’t be ignored either. Liu Lingling, Sharp Head, the pregnant woman, even Xu Xiye and Brother Zhang were all key persons of interest.

The reason they hadn’t identified the pregnant woman wasn’t that she didn’t exist, but because no one knew who was pregnant.

Jiang Wuning’s Special Ability was an affinity for Anomalies. When her Sanity Value dropped low enough, it could even blur identities, making Anomalies see her as one of their own.

In that state, Anomalies almost never lied to her.

The woman’s pregnancy was supposed to be a secret, but Liu Lingling knew that secret.

Was there another connection between them? Was the pregnant woman’s death tied to Liu Lingling? Could she be the pollution source who had a mental breakdown because of Liu Lingling’s death?

No, that still didn’t fit.

If the woman were the pollution source, her dying in the restroom and becoming an Anomaly would be the story’s end. But Sharp Head knew about this, so the story continued.

Was Sharp Head the pollution source?

Lu Neng didn’t think so. A man like Sharp Head wouldn’t break down over a colleague’s death.

Lu Neng’s mind was a tangled mess. It was too strange. Whether it was Liu Lingling, the pregnant woman, or Sharp Head, their stories weren’t complex or unique. Logically, the pollution source should be someone intimately tied to these events, but they just couldn’t find them.

The third day was almost over, and everything that should have appeared had done so, but they hadn’t even glimpsed the shadow of the pollution source.

Was this what an A-Class Contaminated Zone was like?

This was actually Lu Neng’s first time inside an A-Class zone. Li Qing was in the same boat.

When the Investigations Division locked onto the spatial rift’s coordinates, the Contamination Level data read B. Once inside, they realized something was wrong—the concentration was constantly spiking, and breaching A-Class was inevitable.

Errors between the inner and outer worlds weren’t uncommon, but he couldn’t help feeling nervous.

A-Class. As an ordinary person with 350 Sanity Value, it would be weirder not to be nervous.

Silence, vigilance, taut nerves and muscles—all evidence of his tension.

His Sanity Value was now down to 150.

As Lu Neng thought about all this on his way to the restroom, the corridor was silent. Some office lights were off behind their doors, others still on.

The rain outside was loud, thunder rumbling from time to time. Lu Neng wasn’t scared enough to skip the restroom, but he noticeably quickened his pace.

This men’s room had no urinals, only four stalls. The light inside was a pale, ashen gray, carrying a chill. The doors to all four stalls were open. Empty.

Lu Neng entered the second stall and closed the door.

Aside from the dripping of water, there were no other sounds in the restroom. Lu Neng finished his business without incident. He let out a breath of relief and was about to open the door to leave when a crash of thunder boomed outside, causing the lights to buzz and flicker.

Lu Neng froze, his heart clenching involuntarily.

Rule one for surviving the Inner World: Don’t let your imagination run wild before anything happens; sometimes, the one who scares you to death is yourself.

The flickering lights stabilized. Lu Neng relaxed. In an old office building, this kind of thing happening during a thunderstorm was perfectly normal.

He reached for the door again. But then—

Knock knock knock knock!

Knock knock knock knock!

The door to his stall was being knocked on, growing more frantic because no one was answering.

Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock!

Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock!

Lu Neng held his breath. He hadn’t heard any footsteps. Who was knocking outside? The rain was loud, yes, but it wouldn’t mask sounds in the restroom. He could hear the dripping water clearly; there was no way he’d miss footsteps approaching.

Drip. Drip.

Water? He’d checked the sink when he came in. Both faucets were tightly shut, no drops were falling. Where was this sound coming from?

Blood?

“You… who are you?”

The moment he spoke, the person outside also made a sound. “Is someone there? Help me, help me, help me!”

Click. Lu Neng opened the door.

~

Wang Xiaodian walked hesitantly, looking around nervously, mentally steadying himself.

Being pulled into the Inner World was his misfortune, but compared to Little Li, he was practically a chosen one of the Inner World. He couldn’t see the female corpse hanging from the ceiling fan, and he hadn’t mistaken himself for Liu Lingling. He firmly remembered he was Wang Xiaodian, from A-City. If it weren’t for Little Li’s neurotic rambling, he probably wouldn’t have seen any anomalous phenomena at all.

This time should be the same.

Just going to the restroom.

Fear aside, Wang Xiaodian felt his mindset was okay. And even if he did encounter something, as long as he thought about it using his Shifu’s logic, everything became perfectly ordinary.

Wang Xiaodian walked into the restroom. The doors to all four stalls were open. The second stall’s door was half-closed, he couldn’t see inside or hear anything. Not daring to push it open to check, he bolted into the nearest first stall.

He rushed, finishing his business as fast as possible. He’d already decided not to even wash his hands—open the door and bolt right out. But someone was a step ahead of him.

Knock knock knock knock!

Knock knock knock knock!

Wang Xiaodian: “!!”

Wait, don’t panic. Even though he didn’t hear footsteps, his Shifu had said some people liked walking on tiptoe. And since it was already night, it was normal for Anomalies not to have footsteps.

He was now an employee of Delicious Food Company. The person outside was most likely a colleague; he just had to treat it as normal.

He yanked the door open. The moment he came face-to-face with the person knocking, his brain froze.

It was a woman, her face pale as a corpse. She was lying on the floor, wearing a white dress, the lower half of which was stained a large patch of red.

That was blood.

Wang Xiaodian’s breath hitched. Meeting the woman’s eyes, his Sanity Value plummeted rapidly.

Suppressing his horror, he shifted his gaze and saw the trail of blood dragged across the floor, from the hallway outside all the way in.

Did… did she really crawl over from the women’s restroom?

What now? She’s not blocking him, just leave.

The moment he moved, a cold hand grabbed his ankle. “Help me…”

In that instant, a chill shot from his ankle up his spine, straight to his brain nerves. Wang Xiaodian couldn’t suppress it anymore; a terrified scream burst from his throat.

“AAAAHHH!!” He screamed while kicking frantically with his leg, but the harder he kicked, the tighter the grip became.

“Help me…”

“Let me go! Let me go!!”

“What are you running for? Help me…”

A man’s voice.

Wang Xiaodian’s movements halted. Slowly, stiffly, he turned to look at the person on the ground. “Lu… Brother Lu! Why is it you? Wha… what’s wrong with you?”

The person he’d seen as a woman was now Lu Neng. Lu Neng was sprawled on the floor, but without the bloodstains beneath him.

“I…” Lu Neng had one hand clutching his stomach, the other gripping Wang Xiaodian’s foot. His face was pale, cold sweat beading his forehead, looking as if he were in excruciating pain. He barely managed a single word before trailing off.

“Brother Lu! Brother Lu, what’s wrong? What happened?” Wang Xiaodian was no longer afraid, just deeply worried. He bent down to help Lu Neng up, but in the next moment, the blood in his veins froze.

His other foot had been seized. That hand was even colder than Lu Neng’s. He turned his head to look.

It was that woman from before. Her hair disheveled, her face deathly pale, she stared fixedly at him. “Help me… help me… help me… help my child…”

~

Xu Xiye was in the office. Everyone besides him and Little Li had already left.

It was getting late. Some people had even climbed directly out the window to leave. Xu Xiye was tempted to do the same.

Never mind, he’d wait a bit longer. Now that everyone was gone, it was a good chance to try communicating with that human-head mop.

If colleagues were still around, they’d see him battling wits with thin air—that would be a joke. Xu Xiye frowned. He still had some pride.

Little Li was sitting there muttering to himself. Xu Xiye ignored him; his mere presence was enough for now.

He walked under the woman, reached out and touched her. She had a physical form now. Xu Xiye wrapped his arms around her legs, unhooked her from the belt, and laid her on the floor.

Her black hair still covered her face. Xu Xiye had to pick her up again, bouncing her up and down like a mop. The hair fell away, finally revealing her face.

Gaunt, with sunken cheeks, she stared with large, dark eyes, pupils dilated. Her face was so pale there was no sign of blood.

Very familiar. This woman had Little Li’s face.

Xu Xiye frowned. It took him a moment to realize this was Little Li’s perception, that in his view, the hanging woman wore his own face.

Once he understood, he didn’t dwell on it. He crouched in front of the woman, looking directly into those eyes.

“Hello.”

Silence. No reaction.

“Who created you, your source?”

No change.

Xu Xiye didn’t ask further, simply staring at her as if trying to see right through her.

The woman was a creation of the madman, essentially a part of the madman. Xu Xiye wanted to memorize her aura; if he met the original, he should be able to recognize her.

It sounded simple, but with so many people in the company, making such a subtle comparison would be troublesome.

“It would be great if you could just tell me directly,” he couldn’t help complaining. “I’ve still got so much work to do every day. At night, when no one’s around, do you return to the madman’s side?”

If she did, he could perhaps secretly follow.

“AAAHH!!”

A piercing scream came from the direction of the restroom. It was Wang Xiaodian’s voice.

Startled by the sound, Xu Xiye instinctively looked over, then stood up and strode toward it, annoyed.

What was Little Wang up to now? Why could he never kick this habit?

He didn’t see that the instant he stood up, the eyes of the female corpse on the floor shifted, turning toward Little Li, who had at some point turned sideways and was silently staring at her.

Xu Xiye left. Only Little Li and the female corpse remained in the office.

Restroom.

As soon as Xu Xiye entered, he saw Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng slowly crawling on the floor.

He paused. So even Outsiders felt the urge to crawl at night?

Xu Xiye felt a bit gratified, but crawling on the restroom floor was a bit too much… Still, this was a matter of personal habit. Xu Xiye wouldn’t say much. Understanding and respect.

He was just about to greet them when Wang Xiaodian spoke first.

His little disciple looked up at him beseechingly, his face a mix of pain, fear, and the relief of finding a pillar of support. He said, “Help me… Shifu, help me… I’m pregnant… help my child!”

The other one also said, “I… I… help me too… help my child!”

Xu Xiye: “?”

His expression turned grave. Three days. Only three days in the company, and they’d already gotten someone knocked up!