148. Rebirth

As the elevator doors closed, Lu Ban felt the noise outside lessen.

He looked at the girl in the mirror and asked.

"Are you the only child born in this hospital?"

Nanhua Private Renji Hospital does not have an obstetrics and gynecology department, which Lu Ban had never understood before.

This has no direct relation to the monster incident. Whether or not there is an obstetrics and gynecology department, it shouldn't affect Zhao Gongping's ability to use the monster's power to "revive" those people.

But that's not actually the case.

If it was only the power of monsters at work, then how could those corrupted and mutated people have left messages for Lu Ban, and how could they have driven away the streamer who came to the fifth floor?

Therefore, there must be some kind of force at play here, fighting against the monster.

And this power comes from this little girl.

In Lu Ban's arms, on the Oldest One few tattered pages of the red-covered notebook, stained with blood and dirt, words emerged.

It was clearly a woman's handwriting, gentle, dignified, and filled with boundless affection.

"I can feel the movement inside my belly, it's our baby, she's kicking me, telling me how she feels."

"Although the doctor told me that I was very weak and that even a normal delivery could be dangerous, I still wanted to keep this child. This is the last legacy he left me."

"There was always a strange feeling in the hospital, as if someone was watching me. I was the only patient in the department. Maybe it was because the fees here were too expensive, so everyone went to public hospitals to give birth. But only the doctors here could take care of my condition. They told me that my child would be the first child born in this hospital. I was very happy. The child brought hope, new life, and the continuation of my memories with him."

"However, my health is getting worse and worse. I was already frail and sickly, and now this child seems to be draining all my energy. Many times, I don't even have the strength to get out of bed. I know I look very haggard, and the nurses won't let me look in the mirror. Right now, I can only try my best to persevere, so that at least this child can find happiness."

"Dean Zhao cares about me a lot. He said that it is not easy for a girl like me to bring a child into the world, and he will definitely use the best treatment methods to ensure the safety of me and the child. He looked at the child in my belly with a very kind look in his eyes. I thought that if he were still here, he might look at our child with the same look."

"My belly is getting bigger and bigger, but the rest of my body is getting thinner and thinner. I lose hair every day, clump by clump. My hands are so thin that they are just skin and bones. I haven't felt the sensation of walking in a long time. Sometimes, I wonder if giving birth to her was a mistake, but I quickly dismiss the thought. My child is the person I love most in the world. No matter what, I have to bring her into this world, even if it costs me my life."

"Dean Zhao came to see me. He said my condition was not optimistic and I might need to be transferred to the intensive care unit. I went to the fifth floor. It was very quiet here. The dean said I was one of the first patients to be admitted to the fifth floor, but I didn't have the strength to feel anything. Just staying alive was already a huge effort."

"I met a strange person today. He seemed to have gone to the wrong room and came to my ward. He took out a harmonica from somewhere and played a tune for me. Incredibly, I felt much better, and the baby in my belly wasn't so fussy. The melody was very nice, and I memorized it. But the person left quickly, and then a nurse came over. She seemed very worried. She said that someone might be wandering around the hospital and doing bad things, but I think he was a good person."

"With a sudden abdominal pain, I knew she was about to be born. I was taken into the operating room, which was brightly lit and contained a lot of equipment I had never seen before. I was in a lot of pain, as if my internal organs were being gnawed at by something. My vision blurred, and the inhuman pain almost made me faint."

"Dean Zhao personally delivered my baby. My hazy consciousness could only feel the pain, the endless pain, the pain that made me question the meaning of life. But even in such pain, I did not regret giving birth to her."

"After a long, seemingly endless period of pain, I suddenly felt a sense of loss, as if something important had disappeared. I saw Dean Zhao's face brighten up immediately, and I knew that my child had finally been born."

"I smiled with relief, wanting to speak, wanting to see my child. Then, I heard my child's first cry since birth into this world. It was an indescribable, low, and sharp strange sound, like the fear spreading from the throat of some dying creature. I looked down and saw it, I saw my child."

"Inside a huge, transparent glass container, there was a mushy, mud-like mass, and a mouth with countless eyes and sharp teeth—something more bizarre than a monster."

"Your child is very healthy," Dean Zhao said to me with a fervent expression.

"My child. My child, is this my child?"

"I felt like all the strength in my body had been drained, and I couldn't breathe in my lungs. It was only then that I saw what I looked like for the first time through the light fixture on the ceiling."

"A huge wound in his abdomen, all his internal organs had been devoured, and he was like a dried corpse. His hair had long since fallen out, and his eyes were sunken, just like a dying man. No, I was already the Dead."

"My child. My hopes, all my hopes—I refuse to accept them, I refuse to accept them, I refuse to accept them!!!"

The notebook ends here, and through these words, Lu Ban can sense a kind of intense love transformed into profound despair.

At times like these, he really hopes that ghosts really exist in this world.

"You are a real baby. Zhao Gongping's ritual replaced you with that monster, but you still survived. Inside that monster's body, it's like a miracle. I don't know whose power or what force allowed you to survive, but you did, through the monster's body, eke out a living."

Lu Ban said to the little girl.

The little girl didn't answer, but instead hummed a lullaby.

Amidst the overflowing cement, within the monster's gaping maw, and under the gaze of millions of eyes, a gentle, kind, and loving chant flowed into Lu Ban's ears.

He knew that this was the true melody left behind by Du Danping.

Unable to completely kill the monster, Du Danping left behind a melody that gave hope to those who came after.

Amidst the melody, Lu Ban heard a different sound.

Good Luck, Good Luck good luck bring you joy and love.

It's his cell phone.

The caller ID showed Li Zijian, Song Yunyan's secretary.

Lu Ban answered the phone and heard the secretary's flustered voice. At this point, Lu Ban felt that this was simply heavenly music.

"You finally answered the phone. Listen, there's been an earthquake here. It seems to have come from the hospital. Are you really okay? Hello?"

Lu Ban chuckled self-deprecatingly, not answering Li Zijian's question, but speaking directly.

"Activate the explosives! Quickly, as soon as possible, blow this hospital to smithereens!"

Thank you to "Cold Water with Sugar Cubes" for the 100-coin reward!