Chelated Being

Hesta fought the urge to vomit, leaning her body back, but the hand holding the dead rat was still pushed right into her face.

Director Elma's two bandaged forearms were unusually thick. Through the thick gauze, Hesta could almost see the pulse throbbing beneath the skin of her arms.

"Director Elma...?" Hesta's face was pale. "What... what exactly are you...?"

Elma looked at Hesta, her smile gradually freezing. She first let out a surprised sigh, then slowly lowered her head, casting half her face into shadow.

"Didn't you say you wanted to eat it..."

In an instant, Hesta suddenly caught a faint premonition of death in the interplay of light and shadow. Before Elma, lost in her own muttering, could act, the girl quickly got up, attempting to rush towards the door.

"He—"

She only managed to utter one syllable of a cry for help before Hesta felt a piece of foul-smelling flesh shoved into her mouth. Two thick arms wrapped around her from behind, clamping down on her neck and face.

Hesta's feet slowly struggled off the ground. She was completely restrained in Elma's embrace—the old woman's body was unusually hot and incredibly strong.

"Eat, eat... my Jane, my good child..."

The rotten meat juice seeped into Hesta's mouth. She felt everything before her turning green. The dizziness from lack of oxygen made her limbs gradually weaken. The faint premonition of death she'd felt earlier suddenly descended like a heavy curtain, impenetrable and crushing. As her consciousness began to blur, Hesta's actions abruptly changed from trying to dodge and escape; her jaws clamped down tightly on the dead rat and Elma's arm.

Four sharp canine teeth instantly bit through the bandages on the old woman's arm. Elma quickly raised the bitten hand, swinging Hesta in a half-circle, and flung her towards the wardrobe against the wall.

With a loud crash, Hesta fell heavily to the ground. Behind her, the loosened wardrobe door suddenly swung open—before Hesta could even get to her feet, a naked Flosang tumbled out of the wardrobe. Hesta instinctively reached out, catching her former companion.

Flosang's body was ice-cold, clearly dead for a long time. Hesta saw two densely punctured marks—a pair of black crow wings, finely stitched onto Flosang's back.

"She's a little devil," Elma said with a giggle, pointing at Flosang's corpse. "Look... she even has devil's black feathers."

Hesta looked up, trembling. The aged Elma was walking towards her step by step. However, more terrifying than the old woman's ghastly smile were Elma's arms—the one whose bandages were torn, revealing its true skin, was a vivid lobster-red.

Chelation Disease...

Hesta finally realized what all this meant. The person standing before her was no longer the gentle and loving director of the past, but a demon completely lost to her senses, infected with the Chelation Disease.

But it was too late.

Elma grabbed Hesta again. This time, she didn't try to stuff anything into the girl's mouth but directly clamped her neck with both arms.

"Naughty child," the old woman said indifferently. "You've learned to lie too?"

Tears streamed from Hesta's eyes. The terrifying suffocation returned. Her fingers dug desperately into Elma's arms, but other than tearing off more bandages, this struggle was useless—until the dull thud of a heavy object striking something was heard.

The hands that had been constricting her neck finally loosened again.

Hesta fell heavily to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. When she looked up again, she saw Sister Gurdin, who had somehow barged in. The nun held a wooden stool, its corner stained with blood from the back of Elma's head.

Sister Gurdin stared at the scene before her, her face deathly pale, her arms trembling uncontrollably from unspeakable terror.

"Miss Gurdin—" Hesta tried to explain what was happening, but Sister Gurdin's eyebrows shot up, and she swiftly interrupted her with a loud shout.

"Run! Jane!"

The smell of rot, scattered squirrel corpses, the dead Flosang, Elma trying to strangle Hesta, and those pair of crimson, thick arms...

—Everything before her, without any explanation, was enough for Sister Gurdin to understand it all.

The nun wildly swung the stool, trying to attract Elma's attention in the narrow corridor.

"Run! Run! Jane! Go call the police!!"

In extreme fear, Hesta felt her limbs becoming somewhat uncontrollable. She got to her feet, using both hands and feet, but the path towards the main entrance was blocked by Elma and Miss Gurdin, making it too difficult to break through...

But the south window was still open!

Hesta leaped onto the director's desk. As only half her body protruded from the window, she felt a sharp pain in her right ankle.

Elma had smashed the wooden stool with her bare hands and produced a dagger from somewhere—she gripped the handle tightly with her four fused fingers and accurately stabbed Hesta's ankle.

Hesta let out a pained hiss.

Sister Gurdin, pushed to the ground, roared and lunged at Elma, but her strength was too weak. Even hugging Elma's waist, she couldn't pull the Chelated Being away from the desk.

Seeing Elma raise her knife high again, Hesta felt everything around her seem to slow down—the air between her and Elma seemed to suddenly fill with some kind of transparent gel. This invisible, intangible gelatinous substance greatly slowed Elma's movements.

But in her extreme terror, she could barely move, only able to watch as Sister Gurdin's right hand was severed halfway—the separation of bone and flesh was so clear in her eyes. She even saw the gushing hot blood and the cross-section of flesh. The Chelated Being's dagger was then knocked by Sister Gurdin to the ground not far away.

The Chelated Being let out an annoyed shriek and casually grabbed a pen from a nearby pen holder, stabbing it fiercely into Sister Gurdin's right shoulder.

"Miss Gurdin!"

The nun let out a scream of pain and fell onto the desk. She coughed up blood, her eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on her forehead.

"Go..."

Sister Gurdin got up again, using her last strength to push Hesta, who was slumped by the window, out.

The next moment, the window was tightly shut. The softly glowing glass window was instantly splattered with terrifying hot blood.

Current Known Information:

"Chelating Fungus," "Chelation Disease," "Chelated Being"

Chelation Disease is a disease caused by the Chelating Fungus. After infection, there is a latent period of 1-2 months.

In the early stages of infection, patients experience persistent low mood, loss of appetite, insomnia or excessive sleepiness, lethargy, and weakness. During this stage, if patients undergo active testing and seek prompt medical attention, they can be completely cleared of the pathogenic spores within the body through a series of complex biological treatments, restoring their health.

Once the onset period begins, it is untreatable, and the patient will become a complete "criminal." Their speed and strength will be greatly enhanced in the short term, and their criminal methods will be directly influenced by factors such as the patient's former profession, personality, hobbies, and significant life experiences.

After the onset, patients can typically remain active for one to two weeks before rapidly dying from hemorrhagic fever.

It is worth noting that although patients maintain their original appearance after onset, they have essentially become puppets.

These extremely dangerous beings are universally referred to as "Chelated Beings."

This is probably the fastest I've ever gotten my lunchbox, ∠(」∠)＿