Midwife

"Doctor! Doctor! I feel like I'm going into labor!"

A blood-soaked woman writhed and struggled, strapped to a heavily rusted birthing chair in a dimly lit clinic, her screams tearing through the air.

"Hurry! Doctor, come look, he's coming out!!"

"Why aren't you coming over! Doctor! Doctor!? Are you even a doctor?? Turn around and look!!!"

The pregnant woman's cries grew sharper, her struggles more frantic, but the doctor standing beside her never once turned to look. He simply nodded and placidly offered a perfunctory reply:

"Yes, yes, coming right up, don't rush. I'm preparing the delivery tools. Madam, you wouldn't want your child to fall on the floor the moment it's born, would you?"

This statement seemed to strike the increasingly frantic pregnant woman with fatal force. Her frenzied momentum faltered, her reddened eyes gradually cleared, and her eyeballs slowly, mechanically rolled around. She turned her gaze to her own belly and responded with a touch of vacantness, "Child… right, child… the child can't fall on the floor. I'm having a child, the child can't fall on the floor…"

She muttered this phrase repeatedly, her emotions gradually stabilizing. Before long, the small clinic fell silent again, save for the clanging sound of metal being struck.

This was the doctor crafting the delivery tools.

Fine sparks flew from in front of the doctor, momentarily illuminating the dim space.

The pregnant woman's attention was drawn by the sparks. She clutched her belly, turned her head to look at the doctor's back, her eyes starting to turn red again, her expression slowly contorting into a grimace.

"Doctor! What are you doing! What are you doing!?"

"Me? Didn't I tell you? I'm preparing the delivery tools. There are too many patients at the clinic lately, and the nurses are all helping out. I have to do these odd jobs myself."

As he spoke, the doctor turned around, showing the rough hacksaw he had just finished hammering together to the pregnant woman, a bright, cheerful smile on his face, tinged with pride.

"See? All ready."

The moment the pregnant woman saw the hacksaw, her entire body convulsed. The leather straps pulled against the rusted chair, emitting a teeth-grinding screech.

Her legs kicked wildly, splattering the bloody stains everywhere.

"What do you want to do! This isn't a delivery tool! What do you want to do!!"

"Madam, please look closely. This is a symphysiotomy saw."

The doctor approached the pregnant woman, holding the hacksaw, his gaze lingering on the irregular teeth as if admiring a work of art, all the while clicking his tongue in admiration.

"This is the cutting-edge delivery technique published in SCIENCE. With this symphysiotomy saw, I only need to cut open your abdomen, and your child can be safely delivered onto the birthing chair, fundamentally preventing the tragedy of the child likely falling on the ground during a natural birth and reducing the risk of infection.

Furthermore, these sharp teeth can widen the incision, ensuring that the child's head won't get stuck due to insufficient space during delivery."

The doctor held the tool and measured it against the pregnant woman's belly, squinting and smiling.

"Most importantly, this method currently has a 0-star rating."

"Child… safe… my child… will be safe…"

"Yes, madam. Please rest assured. I am the most experienced obstetrician in the entire clinic. I will definitely ensure your child's safety."

Having received the promise, the pregnant woman suddenly became agitated. She forcefully patted her belly, which had swelled like a small mountain, and craned her neck, eagerly shouting, "Quick! Deliver my baby quickly! My child is coming out! Hurry, Doctor!! Hurry!"

"It is my honor to serve you."

The doctor, holding the rough hacksaw, his hands perfectly steady, lightly touched the skin and skillfully drew it upwards.

"Ch-"

A thin, winding line of blood snaked upwards, like a ripe watermelon splitting under a flick of a finger.

Immediately after!

"Bang—"

The body, unable to bear the weight, burst open like a punctured balloon, splattering gore everywhere.

She wasn't dead yet.

She screamed in agony, struggling with all four limbs, her eyes filled with malice and terror as she looked at the doctor, roaring frantically, "What are you doing? What are you doing!? You want to kill me! You want to kill my child!!"

The doctor's body was covered in blood, but his face remained perfectly clean. He gently moved the hacksaw away from his face and smiled again, comforting the patient.

"Madam, it truly saddens me to hear you say that. I am saving you and your child. Look, your child… has been safely delivered."

The pregnant woman's frantic movements stopped. With extreme joy, she looked towards her belly, only to see a pair of large, pure black eyes blinking at her from within the cavity filled with mangled flesh.

These eyes were very clear and spirited, quite captivating.

If their owner wasn't a writhing tentacle, they might have been even more endearing.

Looking at the terrifying newborn that resembled an octopus tentacle, the doctor smiled knowingly and praised, "Look, how healthy your child is. Its eyes are bright and spirited. It's clearly a… uh… a child with big eyes."

The surprise on the pregnant woman's face froze at this nonsensical compliment, but it didn't stop her from displaying her overflowing love for her child.

Black blood overflowed from her emaciated eye sockets in sheer joy.

"Child! My child!!"

"Yes, it's your child."

"Bring my child over! I want to see him! Is it a boy or a girl?"

The doctor's smile faltered upon hearing this, a hint of awkwardness appearing on his face.

Logically speaking, if one absolutely had to assign a gender to an octopus's tentacles...

"Congratulations, madam, it's a... boy with a bit of 'stuff'..."

It indeed had 'stuff', in fact, it was 'stuff'.

"A boy... a boy!?"

The pregnant woman's voice rose again. Even with her severe injuries, she couldn't stop writhing and struggling. A frenzied look once more appeared on her blood-smeared, terrifyingly thin face.

"Why is it a boy! Why is it a boy?! She was supposed to be a girl! It's you! It must be your delivery technique that's faulty! It's you!! You quack!"

Perhaps sensing its mother's rage, the newborn lying in the pool of blood innocently blinked its eyes.

You know, if you only looked at its eyes and not its body, it was quite cute.

The doctor watched this absurd scene and sighed, shaking his head:

"Madam, you should know that a child's gender is determined by its parents, not the doctor. Perhaps you should ask the child's father."

"The child's father..." The pregnant woman's eyes went distant for a moment, then she suddenly let out a vicious laugh.

"He's gone... I ate him... Hahaha, he's dead! That man, he actually wanted to be the mother of the child... He doesn't deserve it, only I can be the mother..."

"...Um... Um?"

"He's gone... can't find him... Hahaha, he's disappeared... I am the child's mother!"

The doctor's CPU overloaded for a moment.

But his excellent professional skills quickly allowed him to spot a business opportunity. He raised an eyebrow, speaking with a touch of excitement:

"If it was just a simple death, our clinic can offer you a special service to consult the deceased. You still have a chance to ask him why your child turned out to be a boy.

However, this service... might be a bit pricey.

But I think, for the child, everything is worth it..."

He promoted it enthusiastically, as if he would get a lot of money if this deal went through.

Perhaps moved by the doctor's sincerity, the pregnant woman's gaze flickered between malice and confusion several times. Finally, she nodded like a zombie.

"My child deserves an explanation. What do I need to do! Quickly, Doctor, I need to go ask him!"

"Very good, madam. First, please close your eyes."

Watching the pregnant woman hesitantly close her eyes, the doctor's lips curved into a sinister smile.

He picked up the steel saw, moving its rough teeth to her neck once more.

"Then take a deep breath... Yes, yes, very good. Tilt your head back, yes. Raise your neck a bit more, good. Don't rush, almost..."

"Ch-k..."

The doctor's hand trembled.

Thump... Something fell.

Blood splattered out, creating a beautiful cinnabar painting on the white wall.

"Uh... although there was a slight accident, the surgery was successful. Madam, you can go find the child's father now."

The doctor tutted, casually wiping his blood-stained hands on his white coat, then glanced at the tentacle on the patient's corpse.

"Yikes, that's a bit scary."

He quickly kicked it away, then picked up the steel saw and turned to face the tentacle on the patient's body.

Its large eyes were still blinking, seemingly unaware of the current situation, or perhaps it lacked any cognitive ability.

"I said earlier, this service is a bit pricey, and your mother hasn't paid yet, but she might not be back for a while.

How about... you pay for her?"

Despite lacking cognitive ability, the newborn instinctively struggled violently when it sensed death approaching.

However, in the doctor's eyes, this struggle was more like an invitation.

The more a fish thrashed on the chopping board, the more enthusiastic the fisherman became.

"Ch-k—"

The doctor pierced its body without hesitation. The new tentacle twitched in agony, and within moments, those cute big eyes completely lost their luster, becoming still.

On the day of its birth, it embraced death as well.

"Money and goods exchanged, thank you for your patronage!"

The doctor bowed elegantly, dropped the steel saw, and walked out of the dim room without looking back.

[Solo Trial (Leavings [Procreation]) Challenge Successful]

[Rating and settling rewards...]

[Player: Cheng Shi, Performance Rating: S]

[Obtained Food: Finger Bread (C) x5]

[Obtained Food: Canned Slime Drink (C) x5]

[Obtained Food: Fake Eyeball Cake (B) x1]

[Path to Godhood +0, Ladder of Audience +0] (Solo Trial does not increase score)

[Current Path to Godhood Score: 2104, Global Ranking:]

[Current Ladder of Audience Score: 156, Life Path Ranking: 74]

[Trial Cleared, Exiting Soon]