Xu Xiye was shocked. His mind raced in that instant.
Like, who was the other half that made this child? The father or the mother? Live birth or egg birth?
Who had Wang Xiaodian been spending time with lately?
Company maternity leave wasn’t easy to approve. Wait, they hadn’t even passed their probation period yet. If the boss found out, they’d definitely fail. No, he didn’t care if Wang Xiaodian wanted to keep working or not, but this also concerned his 200-buck bonus. This matter had to be kept quiet for now.
“Shifu, quickly, help me!”
“Help me, help my child!”
The two on the floor were still crawling and shouting. They were already near the entrance and soon reached Xu Xiye’s feet.
“Shifu, help me, I don’t want to give birth, no, no, my child is dying, help my child, no, not that…” Wang Xiaodian himself didn’t know what he was shouting, practically on the verge of tears.
Xu Xiye realized this was no time for such thoughts. The top priority was to calm the adults and check the condition of the adults and the child.
He crouched down, lifting one with each arm, while not forgetting to say, “Alright, alright, let me help you up. Now that you’re with child, you shouldn’t be crawling in this position, it might harm the baby. If you really must crawl…” He offered a tentative suggestion, “How about upside down? Back facing the ground?”
His tone was serious, his expression deep in thought. Seeing that Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng seemed not to understand, he temporarily let go of them, then planted his arms behind him, arched his back, and went down on all fours, demonstrating by walking back and forth two steps.
Xu Xiye: “Like this. Will this work?”
Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng were dumbfounded, their mouths hanging open. Even the cries of “Help me, help me” stopped.
Seeing their incomprehension, Xu Xiye sighed. “Forget it. If that’s not possible, just don’t crawl during pregnancy. Don’t be discouraged; everyone’s physique is different. Once the baby is born, you can crawl however you like.”
Crawling directly on the ground in human form actually felt a bit awkward for Xu Xiye. Nighttime dark crawling was for decompressing and relaxing. Maintaining human form while doing it felt like missing the point. That was why, ever since he was little, he’d never crawled in human form.
Oh, except probably when he was a baby.
Many people… especially Outsiders… their true forms were largely humanoid. Xu Xiye had no choice but to demonstrate using his human form.
He looked at his dust-covered hands, frowning slightly. Using his true form to crawl never got them dirty. Carefully stepping over the bodies on the floor, he went to wash his hands first.
Wang Xiaodian: “…”
Lu Neng: “…”
This was your idea of caring for pregnant men?
Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng were perhaps genuinely stunned stupid by Xu Xiye’s entire performance. The two lay side-by-side in the corridor, silent since they’d stopped shouting.
Opposite them, at the restroom entrance, the woman was still lying there. Facing them, her ghastly pale face grew more and more malevolent.
But Xu Xiye couldn’t see her. Without borrowing the sight or other senses of Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng, the woman simply didn’t exist in his world.
Thus, when Xu Xiye had walked in, when he’d demonstrated how to crawl with one’s back to the ground, he had stepped on the woman several times.
Perception was mutual. Just as Xu Xiye couldn’t perceive her, she certainly couldn’t feel him stepping on her. But in the eyes of Wang Xiaodian and Lu Neng, the scene was bizarre and ludicrous.
Wang Xiaodian thought, mental contamination must definitely have varying strengths. When a stronger contaminant overrode a weaker one, the weaker contamination was simply covered up.
Right now, his mind was full of the image of his Shifu flipping over, stepping on that woman. The sense of horror subsided, replaced by an amplified feeling of absurdity.
Thank goodness his Shifu wasn’t an anomalous phenomenon that the pollution source used to spread contamination; otherwise, he probably wouldn’t just find it bizarre.
“Help me! Help me!” The woman was still in front of him, her face ferocious. Though her voice was weak, it carried a menacing edge.
Wang Xiaodian couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “I’m pregnant and fell down too, can’t you find someone else?”
Yes, he still believed he was pregnant. But not to the point of lying on the floor screaming nonstop.
The child in his belly… should be alright?
Lu Neng’s situation was similar to Wang Xiaodian’s. He slowly calmed down, some clarity returning to his mind.
Based on sensation and perception, there was a child in his belly. But logic and experience told him he wasn’t really pregnant; he was just suffering from mental contamination.
Stay calm. Don’t think about it. Otherwise, a child might actually crawl out of his belly. That was the horror of a pollution source; it used your own thoughts and imagination to deepen the contamination further.
Lu Neng used to be a grassroots cop, warm-hearted and good-natured, patient even with trivial matters. Now that he’d snapped back to reality himself, he didn’t forget to immediately tell Wang Xiaodian, “Stop thinking about the child. You’re not pregnant.”
Wang Xiaodian looked a bit dazed. He thought, but I am pregnant, the child’s in my belly, I’d know better than Brother Lu whether I’m pregnant or not. Before he could voice his rebuttal, Xu Xiye returned after drying his hands.
He helped the two of them up. “How is it, all right now? I heard you stopped yelling, so I wasn’t in a hurry to send you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine, thanks, Shifu. I feel much better.” Wang Xiaodian cradled his stomach.
Lu Neng also said, “I’m fine, thank you.”
At this point, he figured they could just leave the restroom. But Xu Xiye suddenly turned stern, crossing his arms as he looked at them. “Okay, since you’re fine, spill. Who’s the father?”
“It’s…” Wang Xiaodian blanked. Whose child was it?
Lu Neng: “No, we’re not pregnant, we are—”
Lu Neng stopped mid-sentence. Something in his belly was moving, too distinctly. It shook his rationality.
Xu Xiye didn’t care about Lu Neng, he only cared about his disciple. Seeing Wang Xiaodian couldn’t even recall who the father was, he felt a massive headache coming on.
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside. Lu Neng perked up his ears, tensing, until he saw the newcomers were Jiang Wuning and Li Qing.
Jiang Wuning and Li Qing hadn’t come because they’d heard the commotion. The rain was too loud, and they were too far away to hear. They’d come looking purely because Lu Neng had been gone far too long.
What they hadn’t expected upon reaching the restroom was the scene of Lu Neng and Wang Xiaodian each holding their bellies with one hand, facing Xu Xiye in mute speechlessness.
Li Qing had an impatient streak. The moment she entered, her gaze darted around the restroom. “What’s going on with you guys? What happened?”
“Don’t look around randomly,” Lu Neng warned her. He knew Li Qing couldn’t see anything yet, but if she kept looking, that might not be the case. They already had two pregnant men; adding a pregnant woman to the mix would make things truly difficult.
“Got it.” Li Qing heeded the advice.
Seeing their expressions were relatively composed, Jiang Wuning focused her attention on Xu Xiye. By way of greeting, she said, “Not home yet? Something come up?”
He had a good impression of her. Seeing her smiling, gentle older sister demeanor, he felt like he’d found someone to take this mess off his hands. And she’d reminded him—it was getting late, and he still wanted to go for an exhilarating crawl in the heavy rain.
“The thing is,” he said to Jiang Wuning with a pained look, “these two are pregnant, and we don’t even know who the father is. Putting that aside for now, taking them to a hospital could at least determine if it’s a live birth or egg birth. But you’re all still in your probation period. If you want to keep working at the company, this has to be kept secret.”
“… What?” Even someone like Jiang Wuning took a moment to process this news. Li Qing’s eyes widened even further, looking like she had a million things to say but couldn’t figure out how, eventually just shutting her mouth.
Xu Xiye was still staring at Jiang Wuning, expecting her to say something. She recovered quickly, voicing her stance: “I understand. I’ll look after them. Sorry to trouble you. Oh, that’s right, I remember you’re quite interested in these candies. Want some?”
She pulled a few from her pocket and showed them to Xu Xiye.
Xu Xiye carefully took one. “Thanks. Just this one is enough.”
He had all the other colors. This golden-yellow one was the one he’d given to Brother Zhang; now he could complete the set. Taking too many would be embarrassing.
“I’ll take my leave then. I leave them to you?”
“Of course. Bye-bye.”
Xu Xiye said bye-bye too and departed. He saw Wang Xiaodian looking longingly at him but deliberately kept a stern face and ignored him. He had zero experience caring for pregnant men.
The sound of Xu Xiye’s footsteps faded quickly. The lights were dimming, soon to go out entirely. Noticing that Lu Neng’s and Wang Xiaodian’s gazes occasionally dropped to the floor near their feet only to dart away quickly, Jiang Wuning realized they couldn’t stay here long. “Let’s leave first. We’ll talk back at the dorm.”
They rounded up Little Li from the office and quickly returned to the dormitory. Jiang Wuning asked, “How’s your state of mind? Clear-headed?”
Lu Neng spoke first: “I’m very clear-headed. My name is Lu Neng. I’m an investigator from the A-City Investigations Division. I saw what must be the woman Sharp Head mentioned dying in the restroom. I’m pregnant… no, I’ve been mentally contaminated. I know this very clearly, but there really is a child in my belly.”
Jiang Wuning gave him a small smile, wanting to first hear Wang Xiaodian’s account.
Wang Xiaodian stated firmly: “I’m also very clear-headed. I am Wang Xiaodian, from A-City. Graduated three months ago. I’m very certain I’m pregnant.”
Jiang Wuning was silent for a moment, then began the standard self-introduction protocol: “I am Jiang Wuning, an investigator from A-City. Regardless of what you’re feeling right now, I urge you not to focus your attention on your stomachs. Do you remember the woman’s face?”
Lu Neng: “Yes.”
Jiang Wuning: “Good. Then tonight wasn’t a complete loss.”
Next, Li Qing introduced herself in the same manner. She said she’d also seen the corpse hanging from the ceiling fan in the office. It hadn’t lasted long, not long enough to reach a state of cognitive confusion.
Little Li: “I am Li Weiyan, from A-City.”
His voice was very small, and he seemed withdrawn. Compared to last night’s cognitive confusion, at least tonight he remembered who he was and where he came from. But whether it was Jiang Wuning’s imagination or not, she felt that Little Li’s facial features had become noticeably flatter.
“What were you looking at in the office?” she asked.
Not quite daring to look at her, Little Li replied in the same small voice, “The corpse. Xu Xiye took that woman down. There’s no corpse on the ceiling fan anymore.”
“Did you notice anything?”
“No.”
~
The rain fell heavily that night. The sky was dark and oppressive, seeming as though it had merged with the entire city.
Xu Xiye stood at the company entrance. His human form gradually vanished, replaced by a covering blackness. At first, it was like a slowly unfurling curtain of dark mist. The mist stretched upward, growing countless slender tendrils that stepped on raindrops as they climbed outward.
That’s right, Xu Xiye wanted to step on water.
In human form, stepping in water just meant using two feet on the ground. He was different. He could step on raindrops in mid-air, twisting into any bizarre shape he pleased.
One could imagine how fast rain fell; this was definitely vigorous exercise. But it was very decompressing, and very fun. Xu Xiye liked it a lot, so much that even the still-unclaimed Blue Eyes had to be put on the back burner.
Of course, this didn’t mean he wasn’t going looking for that person tonight, just that he’d crawl to his heart’s content first.
He Sui was having terrible luck today. Daytime was fine, nothing much happened. But once night fell, the Anomalies attacking him never stopped.
Nights were, of course, dangerous. Two Anomalies might fight just from exchanging a glance. But some things required night-time investigation to get to the bottom of.
He had an identity, so moving outside at night usually only required avoiding others, and most Anomalies wouldn’t bother him. Tonight was different. No reason, no greeting. A glance, and they’d lunge from the shadows.
He was starting to suspect he’d robbed them of some treasure and was now being hunted city-wide.
It finally quieted down when he reached the hotel. He was completely soaked, his clothes covered in various toxic slime and bloodstains.
He Sui was on edge. Frowning, he unbuttoned his shirt as he headed for the bathroom. Occasional flashes of electricity sparked in his silver-blue eyes.
He spent half an hour in the bathroom. The gentle steam dampened that irritability. But the moment he came out, he sensed something was off. Something had gotten in.
