As the due date drew closer.
The last thirty days.
Almost every day, a doctor examined the fetus to check for any problems.
But everything remained perfectly normal.
The fetus stayed quietly and healthily inside her womb.
Waiting for the moment it would enter the world.
It seemed.
The events surrounding her previous pregnancy, though difficult to explain, had merely been an accident.
The day of delivery arrived as scheduled.
The agonizing, tearing pain made the woman's muscles spasm, but she felt relieved inside.
The obstetrics professor who had monitored the entire pregnancy and the fetus's development was somewhat regretful that he had failed to solve the mystery, but he was still delighted at the birth of a new life.
He planned to deliver the baby himself.
Everyone was ready to welcome the arrival of the new life.
Ten months of pregnancy.
The woman had come to the hospital every few days, and during the final forty-plus days, she had moved directly into the maternity ward.
Her physical condition had remained under the doctors' control throughout.
Every step of her pregnancy had been completed under the guidance of the most experienced doctors.
Not only was she in excellent health.
The fetus was perfectly normal as well.
The woman's husband, her in-laws, and her own family gathered outside the delivery room, enthusiastically discussing what to name the child and how to raise it in the future.
They were not particularly worried about the mother's condition.
However.
That optimistic and joyful atmosphere suddenly came to an end three hours later.
Inside the delivery room.
The woman had smoothly passed through the first stage of labor.
But.
When she entered the second stage, amid the pain caused by the intense dilation, the doctor was shocked to discover... there was no fetus!
There was