This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, Masadeer, and Yeenie.
Side Story: Strange Happenings in the Delivery Room
This was something that happened about 10 years ago, a very strange event.
According to the testimony of the witnesses who were present in the area, this event was really incredible. Had they not witness it with their own eyes, it would have been unbelievable. Even the obstetrician, who had more than ten years of experience said, “This world is really incredible, the things humans have seen can be said to be very minimal.”
In this world, anything can happen.
Everything had happened that evening. That’s right, the incident that shocked everyone; good, evil, and neutral.
“Ahhhh~~~!”
It was 1am at night, when a shrill scream, which sounded as though someone was screaming horribly while being stabbed over ten times in a murder scene, was heard in the middle of a certain community, in a certain house. After the incident, the neighbors were interviewed. The neighbors, with fears in their heart, said the scream was too horrifying. Even a neighbor, who usually had trouble waking up, was awaken by the terrible sound. Later, he tried looking for sound, but it was for naught.
The innocent three year old Chu Ming Yue, who was lying on her bed, suddenly opened her round eyes and immediately realized the scream was coming from inside her house. In order to avoid the neighbors from protesting the very next day, young Ming Yue could only reluctantly sacrificed her sleep. She got down from her bed, left her room, went down the stairs and soon saw a bright light emitting from the kitchen.
The head of the Chu family was a businessman, who works away from home for long periods at a time. He usually comes back every two to three months and will be home for about a week. According to his family and the neighbors, this person is usually easily forgotten by his children. In order to make sure his existence will not be forgotten by his family, it was said that he was currently fighting for an agreement so he could come back home at least once a month.
“Mom, what happened?” asked Ming Yue, staring at the jam and flour on the kitchen floor.
Mother Chu, who was already nine months pregnant, was seen holding onto her big belly, kneeling on the floor with tears in her eyes. She sniffed revealed an extremely sad expression while looking at her cute and innocent daughter, “I dropped my jam and biscuits… the jam I spent a few days to make…” Staring at the red jewel look-alike on the floor, she turned her head, “And also, it seems like your brother is going to be born soon, my amniotic sac broke just a moment ago.”
“Then do I call for 119, 999 or 110?” In fact, a few days ago, she saw an advertisement on television mentioning that one should call 113 if you encounter this horrible sound.
“Just call the taxi,” said her strong willed mother. “And 999 is only available in Hong Kong, dialing it won’t get anyone to come,” She already warned her daughter not to watch too much television. Now, she can’t even differentiate the phone numbers.
“Oh.” Leaving the kitchen, Ming Yue found the taxi’s number in the phonebook, and dialed the number. After a few rings, the phone was connected and a lazy voice, which sounded as though the person had just been woken up, came through the earpiece, “Who’s on the line?”
“I want a taxi.” Ming Yue said, who immediately indicated her purpose for calling.
“It’s off working hours!” the voice snappily roared back.
“Then I’ll report to the police that you refused to give a helping hand when there’s someone having labour difficulties in my house.”
“Labour difficulties?”
“My mom is going to give birth anytime soon, so I need a taxi.”
From the other end of the phone came scrambled banging sounds, “Hey, where is your house?”
After giving her address, Ming Yue hung up the phone. Turning around, she saw her mom holding her tummy, entering the living room.
“The taxi uncle says he will be here anytime soon.”
“Okay, help me get my wallet…”
“Oh.”
* * *
It was half an hour later, when the taxi finally stormed into the hospital driveway.
“Sir, you are not allowed to park your car here…” The guard immediately went up to him.
“F***, the child is coming out, f*** your mom, I can’t park here!” Wearing only a vest, the fat middle-aged taxi driver twisted his gangster like face as he bumped the guard aside, “Oi! Those inside better push a bed out here immediately,” The nurses of the emergency room department could only stare at him with wide eyes, taking quite some time before they snapped out of their trance, and immediately pushed the stretcher out.
“Hey, be more careful.” The driver said nervously as he immediately went and supported Mother Chu from the taxi’s back seat.
“It hurts, it hurts…” Holding her stomach, Mother Chu, who was starting to feel severe pain, had cold sweat all over her forehead.
The still innocent Ming Yue was holding on to a backpack, and was following closely beside them, never more than an inch away.
“It’s coming out, quickly inform the obstetrician,” Several nurses were in a mess as they helped Mother Chu on to the stretcher, quickly and smoothly, then they got the patient into the delivery room.
“What the, giving birth so quickly.” Looking at the group going inside, the middle age driver tensed up, using one hand to hold on to Ming Yue, and was in the midst of rushing in with them.
“Hold on, Sir, you can’t park your car here…” The guard who was totally ignored, immediately protested.
“Damn you! Can’t you see the baby is coming out? Help me park it!” While saying that, a bunch of keys were thrown at the guard, and the edgy driver quickly rushed in with the group.
Staring at the bunch of keys, the guard could only feel black lines covering his whole face.
* * *
As the driver quickly rushed in, following the group, he was stopped in front of a door.
“I’m sorry, Sir, you are prohibited from entering.” A nurse amiably said as she pointed above at the sign which says ‘Delivery Room. Do not enter.’ “Family members please wait out here.”
“Oh, oh.” The driver nodded; letting go of Ming Yue, he started walking to and fro in front of the door.
“Uncle, do you want to have some drinks to cool down?” Innocent Ming Yue lifted her little head and sensibly asked as she stared at the vending machine nearby.
“Oh, okay.”
In just a moment, Ming Yue brought back two cans of warm milk. She saw a nurse, who was holding onto a clipboard, heading towards them and stopped right in front of the driver, “Excuse me, please fill in the information here.”
“Information? Where?” The driver took the clipboard and quickly filled in the details at the designated spaces.
“That’s all for now, please come over to do some formalities for hospital admission after this. A lounge is also available for the family members to rest because the time taken for the child birth varies for every pregnant lady. If you are tired, you can take a break there.” The nurse gently said as she retrieved the clipboard and said a few things that should be brought to their attention before leaving.
The driver continued walking to and fro.
“Uncle, here is your drink.” After she passed the drink over, Ming Yue climbed onto the chair by herself, opened her can with a ‘pop’ sound and drank two mouthful of milk tea. ‘Oh right, I need to give father a call. Haven’t seen father for a long time, I almost forgot to contact him.’
“Thanks a lot.” Holding on to the can, the driver sat down, opened his can, drank half of its content and suddenly started to tense up again, “Will it go smoothly, will it be a baby girl or a baby boy…?”
“Mom said that it will be a little brother.” Remembering her mom had showed her the ultrasound report before, so little brother should be correct.
“A boy is not bad, but a girl would be better…” the driver lamented, “I’ve always wanted a daughter.”
“Ah.” Ming Yue politely nodded and continued sipping her milk tea.
* * *
At the same time, while the two of them were immersed in their own thoughts, separated by the thick wall, came a shrill scream. Due to the good sound proof room the delivery room provides, the two of them were not aware of the scream.
“It hurts! I don’t want to give birth anymore!” Due to the severe pain, shrill screams kept coming out frequently from the stage.
“Don’t panic, come, follow me and take a deep breath so that it will not hurt so much…”
Before the doctor can finish his sentence, he was immediately interrupted, “Deep, your head!” Due to the pain the pregnant woman went crazy and roared.
‘With so much energy, then she should be fine…’ The doctor at the side rubbed his nose. The doctor indicated the nurse to help with acupuncture, to help relieve the pain, and for a successful delivery.
“Damn brat!! If you do not show me good results… I, I will teach you the true pain of labor!”
The assistants gave each other a look. If they were not mistaken, the baby should be a male…
“Doctor, the opening is at the correct size,” said a nurse who was monitoring the situation.
“Okay.” The doctor turned around and tried to comfort the pregnant lady, “Your baby is coming out, follow us and do some breathing exercise…”
This time the pregnant lady was very cooperative, she imitated the doctor and started doing Lamaze.
“Very good, just like this. Continue to follow our action.” The doctor indicated towards another assistant to take over, he started with the delivery procedures.
Time slowly trickled by, just as everyone was holding their breath, a small head was seen to be slowly coming out. It was mixed with blood as it appeared in front of everyone.
“Good, just like that, continue to follow the doctor’s action.”
Strong bloody smell started to fill the big room.
As soon as the baby’s head touched the doctor’s palm, a nurse immediately cried out, “Neck is strangled.”
The doctor immediately glared at her.
“Wh… what?” the pregnant lady immediately stopped the breathing exercise as soon as she heard the commotion.
“It’s nothing; the baby’s head is already out. Do your best for just a little bit more.” The doctor indicated to the nurses to shut up while comforting the pregnant lady. The pregnant lady continued breathing, imitating the assistant at the side.
The others could not be as relaxed, after the head came out, everyone clearly saw the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck. This is very bad, a very serious situation.
Grabbing the tools from the nurse, the doctor immediately started to think of a way to rid the baby from this dangerous situation. As the time passed by quickly, the baby’s body also came out soon after. After that, everyone in the room was dumbfounded.
The crisis where the strangulation of the baby’s neck was not relieved… Even the baby’s body was wrapped with a few layers of the umbilical cord, kind of similar to someone tying their luggage.
This time, even the doctor did not know what to do next. Never did he see such a situation in his 10 years of experience.
Just as the pregnant lady screamed, the baby’s body came out and fell on the doctor’s palm. The small body was wrapped with layers and layers of the umbilical cord, as though the baby had been holding on the umbilical cord and doing some turning exercise inside, causing this horrible situation.
“The mother has fainted.” The nurse’s voice sounded, “What do we do?”
“Help remove the placenta first.” Staring at the baby in his arms which was slowly turning necrotic, the doctor shook his head, “Being unconscious was for the better…” If she saw the baby like this, it will not be as simple as just fainting.
“Her family members are waiting outside, should we inform them of the current situation?” The nurse softly asked while looking at the baby’s condition.
“Ok, go ahead and inform them.” After cleaning the baby, the doctor gently put the baby on the bed which was originally prepared for him after the delivery. He glanced at the carcass, released a helpless sigh, and carefully loosened the umbilical cord. However, due to some unknown reason, the umbilical cord was so tightly wrapped that the knot could not be undone no matter what.
Just as the doctor was planning to use the scissors to cut the cord, a loud shouting voice was heard outside the room.
“F! The precious child was given to you in a good condition but you dare to give me back a stillborn body! F your mom, if you don’t have a good explanation, I will f***ng burn your hospital and I will gather my underlings to massacre your whole family.” Just listening to this, one can conclude the guy had connections with the underworld.
“We are done for… This mother is a gang leader’s woman?” The assistant started worrying.
“Sir, I’m very sorry, we already tried our best…” The voice of the nurse explaining was heard.
“Tried, your ***! When you tried your best, the child was lost. So if you guys did not try your best, I will need to start a burial for the mother? You better give me an explanation today, I haven’t shed blood in a long time, believe it or not, I will “invite” my brothers to this hospital.” The shouting voice was getting louder and louder that even the echo could be heard.
The nurse was in the verge of bursting into tears. Where did this vicious man come from?
The innocent Ming Yue stared at the teary eyed nurse and driver, and then blinked her eyes. The half-filled can of milk tea was smashed on the ground, a dent appeared on the metal can, and the milk tea formed a puddle on floor, slowly enlarging.
‘According to what the big sis said, does it mean I don’t have a little brother any more?’
“Sir, please listen to my explanation…” The nurse on the verge of crying, was frightened into this deploring state.
“Explanation, explanation your !” The driver took out his phone, dialed a number. The other end immediately picked up the phone, “Hello! Lin, gather a group of young ones for me… Right! To beat someone up. A healthy little kid died because of the hospital. I’m not in a fing good mood, I want to protest! At the same time, find Wu Ai to carry a coffin here to crash the door!”
The nurse’s eyes widened and she took two steps backwards. He is from the underworld; this guy is really from the underworld!
Right, she should hurry up and call the police, or everyone in the hospital will be in grave danger.
“Big sis.” A soft voice sounded from aside, the nurse jumped with fright, only to find a little girl looking up at her, “Wha… what is it?”
“Then, can I take a look at my little brother?” Ming Yue asked with big shining black eyes while grabbing hold of the nurse’s hem. At that instant, the nurse seemed to have seen an illusion of a little angel.
“That is… wait, hold on a sec, I’ll be right back, really,” Looking back in fear at the driver, who was still yelling at the phone, the nurse hurried back into the delivery room and did not forget to shut the thick soundproof door.
As soon as she entered the room, everyone stared at her.
“The father was very angry?” The doctor inquired.
Tears immediately flowed down the nurse’s cheeks, “He said he wants to bring a coffin, protest, and slaughter our whole family.” She wanted to quickly call her mom and ask her to live at her aunt’s until the coast is clear.
“First thing first, call the police.” The doctor indicated to the assistant at the side while wrapping the baby with a towel.
“Oh right, the family members want to take a look at the baby.” Rubbing her tears, the nurse remembered her purpose for coming into the room.
“Oh, try your best to appease them again.” The doctor passed the baby to the nurse and sighed. The nurse nodded, held on to the baby and headed towards the exit.
However, either she was very unlucky today, or she was too harshly yelled at. After taking two steps, she suddenly tripped and fell on the floor with a bang. The baby was also dropped and even rolled a few rounds on the floor.
At this very moment, a horrible thing happened— A sound came from the baby and everyone in the room immediately quiet down.
Just like watching a horror movie, the towel started twitching, a small purplish hand slowly stretched out from the towel… Slightly glowing with a black light, it was as though one could see the unnaturally coloured blood vessel through the thin skin.
This kind of feeling is as though one was watching a horror movie, where something is coming out of the coffin in the graveyard.
“Ahhhhhhh——— Zombie!” In less than half a second, the timid nurse screamed when she saw the thing which was inside the towel. A shrill scream came from her, as if she was being grabbed by the hair and dragged against the wall.
As soon as the scream was heard, the whole room immediately broke out in chaos. Everyone turned around and stared at the towel which was still moving, a hand was seen stretched out from the towel, as though it had died with a life that was full of regrets and wanted revenge. The type of deep hatred that only the victim can understand…
Staring at the supernatural event that suddenly occurred, everyone, with suffering, tiring, disturbing, and many different types of expressions could only stare at the strange spectacle. Goose bumps erupted all over their bodies.
The room was deathly quiet for three seconds, and then chaos started to break out.
“The baby zombified!” Someone broke down.
“How can the baby be zombifed! The undead detective said that to become a zombie, one must come in contact with natural energy, before it can zombify.” Another one seemed to have a more serious break down, completely ignoring the fact the baby was dropped onto the ground.
“Hurry up and use the forceps to put it into the plastic bag to isolate it!” A realist seemed to have found an environmental issue.
“Add more layers of bags, else if he breaks through the bag and starts a massacre, it will be the end for us.” Added a video-game and movie addict. “Before putting him in, dig out the heart and cut off the head so that it will not come back to life again.”
“So who will be the one to do it?” Everyone started eyeing one another; no one had any experience in digging out hearts and cutting off heads of a baby zombie.
While the room was full of noises, where everyone was not sure of how to deal with the baby zombie, a wise thunderous voice rang out in the entire room — “Quiet down all of you!”
The doctor roared and everyone in the room immediately became silent, “What zombie! Stop blabbering such unscientific nonsense! All of you calm down!” He took two steps, picked up the towel and uncovered the baby from the towel without any hesitation.
At the same time, everyone took one step backwards, as they were afraid the corpse would suddenly rush towards them.
Carefully looking at the fetus in the towel, the doctor frowned slightly. The baby’s face which had previously been necrotic was slowly starting to regain a healthier colour, and he slightly wrinkled his face and issued a small sound.
Then he started to breathe.
“The baby is still alive, immediately start emergency resuscitation!” The whole room began to stir up again, the previous talk about digging out the heart and cutting off the head was immediately dropped.
Holding on to the little body which was slowly getting warmer, the doctor let out a breath. Thank God this little life did not end while he was in charge of him. Even more fortunate, he and his family won’t be targeted by the guy from the underworld.
However, the fetus had obviously gone necrotic, how did it come back to life? The doctor felt a chill on his back and decided not to think about it anymore.
* * *
That night, the whole hospital was in chaos.
Not only was there a group of gangsters riding their motorcycles outside, even the police appeared and started to repel the gangsters. In the end even the reporters were running around excitedly, interviewing the gangsters about their midnight stroll, causing the night to become lively. It was not until the next morning that everything settled down.
And after the emergency resuscitation by the doctor, the instigator, who almost caused the whole hospital to go into a crisis, was comfortably sleeping inside an incubator.
Ming Yue was standing outside, staring at the little baby through a glass window. Bruises could still be seen on the little body, but the doctor said the bruises will disappear soon enough, and not to worry about it. As for the driver, after he was informed the baby came back to life, for some unknown reason, he left the hospital in a very good mood.
Yawning cutely, Ming Yue ran back into her mother’s maternity room.
Just when she stepped inside the room, her mother started to awaken, “Little Yue… who does your little brother look like?” The first question that came out of her mouth was concerning the baby’s looks.
“Looks like the monkeys in the zoo.”
“Never mind, he will become more beautiful.” Slightly smiling, Mother Chu felt a sense of sleepiness, “Did you contact your father?”
Ming Yue nodded firmly.
“Good, little Yue, mother is feeling tired, let me sleep for a while.” Then she closed her eyes and continued sleeping.
Seeing mother was fast asleep, the well-behaved Ming Yue took out a children’s book, sat on a chair and started reading the book.
* * *
— At the same time —
Early in the morning, a man dressed up in a suit and tie, hurriedly rushed to the hospital. He looked panicky but he also seemed to be very happy. Also he was holding on to many big packages.
“Miss, I would like to know the room number for a Mdm. Bai Ling, who just delivered yesterday night.” The man excitedly asked the front desk.
The staff at the front desk quickly checked the list of names, “There is no record of any pregnant lady with surname Bai Ling”
“No records? How is it possible, my daughter clearly told me it’s this hospital. Please help me to double check, she delivered her baby here just last night, it should be easy to find.” After a moment of being dumbfounded, the man continued to enquire, “I’m her husband, surname Chu.”
“We really did not have any records of a Mdm. Bai Ling. There was a pregnant lady who was admitted yesterday, but her surname is not Bai. Her husband’s surname is not Chu either.” The staff replied, “The pregnant lady’s husband’s surname is Zhou, and his occupation is a taxi driver.”
“Eh?” Question marks were starting to appear on top of the man’s head.
At this time, the phone by his waist started ringing, as soon as he answered it, he realized it was his daughter calling, “Little Yue, which hospital are you currently at?”
“We are at Ling Hospital, father can’t find it?” a soft questioning voice came from the other side.
“Father is at Ling Hospital. Which room are you at?”
The sound of walking was heard over the phone, “Room 713.”
“Alright, father will be there soon.” After he hung up the phone, the man inquired the staff again, “My daughter said that she is in room 713.”
“Mrs. Zhou is currently in Room 713 and it’s a single room. Did your daughter make any mistake?”
Eh? The man immediately that felt his was head full of fog. Room 713 is Mrs. Zhou’s? Then, where are his wife and daughter?
A burst of cold wind blew past, blowing away a small piece of confetti. Disappeared?
Thereafter, Mr. Chu spent the whole morning running around the hospital before he found his wife and daughter in Mrs. Zhou’s room.
And the baby was named Chu Ming Yang, but that was something that happened afterwards.
“Why does my son look like a monkey?” holding on to the baby, Father Chu grumbled discontentedly.
“Because he looks like you,” Mother Chu, who was recuperating on the bed, snorted while gently hugging her daughter.
He did not reply as he does not want to provoke his wife who had just given birth.
Just as the whole family was happily gathered together, the door to Room 713 was slowly opened.
A fat middle-aged man came in, his face has the look of someone from the underworld and in his arms was a pot of chicken ginseng, “People always say that after giving birth, one should replenish…”
His sentence was cut off; both the men immediately stared at each other.
“Who are you?”