Su Cheng saw this and a bad feeling rose in her heart. " Yan Yu, have you eaten?"
"I ate it, it was quite delicious." Yan Yu quickly took out a takeout box, scooped out a piece of meat, put it inside, and closed the box.
When handing it to Su Cheng, he winked at her, as if to say, "I specially picked out a big one for you."
"..."
Su Cheng wanted to say something, but since there were more than just her and Yan Yu present, she could only swallow her words and wrap the takeout box in a plastic bag.
"Would you like to... come with me?"
Su Cheng didn't finish her sentence, but her expression made it clear.
She wasn't sure Yan Yu's presence was intentional or forced, so she could only ask this question.
Looking into Yan Yu Su Cheng's clear eyes, Yan Yu's hazy consciousness inexplicably cleared up. She opened her mouth, but before she could utter a sound, someone next to her grabbed her hand.
" Yan Yu, stay and work here. Working in the cafeteria is great; you can eat to your heart's content every day, and it's very easy."
The aunt smiled and lifted the lid slightly, releasing a fragrant aroma. Yan Yu swallowed, her expression conflicted.
" Yan Yu, come with me."
She is now certain that the participants' consumption of the nutritional meals caused mental health issues.
Yan Yu would act strangely whenever she smelled meat. She was usually a decisive person, but this hesitant and conflicted look made her seem like a completely different person.
" Yan Yu, don't forget what you're doing," Su Cheng called out again.
Yan Yu reluctantly averted her gaze from the rice bucket, closed the lid again, and pried open her aunt's grip.
Su Cheng reminded her that she wasn't there to eat and drink in the dungeon; she was there to do a quest.
The aunt's eyes darkened slightly, and she asked softly, "Are you really going to leave?"
The tone was exactly like a question about life and death.
Yan Yu's expression tightened slightly, her body tensing as she sensed the danger. Just as she was about to speak, Su Cheng suddenly interrupted, "She's pregnant. Pregnant women should be hospitalized and rest; it's not suitable for her to continue working in the cafeteria."
The aunt's dark eyes darted around, staring intently at Su Cheng, her unpleasant expression mixed with resentment.
Su Cheng's expression remained unchanged. "Am I wrong? If you don't let her leave, I'll file a complaint against you."
Her gaze fell on the woman's name tag. "Oh, your surname is Zhang, right? I'll tell the nurse later."
Auntie Zhang's expression changed drastically, but she didn't refute or question it. She forced a smile, "There's no problem, don't complain to the nurse about me. Yan Yu, hurry up and get ready to leave!"
The cafeteria staff are afraid of nurses.
Hospital staff are divided into classes, much like how lower-ranking Ghost Entity fear higher-ranking ones.
The only person in the entire hospital who is at the lowest level and whom all staff can bully is probably the contestant without any official status.
Seeing that Su Cheng had dismissed Auntie Zhang with a few words, Yan Yu was puzzled, but she quickly packed a nutritious meal into a takeout box before coming out of the kitchen.
Seeing that Yan Yu was packing up a portion before leaving, Su Cheng felt a little reluctant to tell her the "true nature" of the nutritious meal.
Auntie Zhang forced a smile as she watched them leave, and only after they disappeared through the gate did she lift the lid of the pot, reach in, grab a piece of meat, and stuff it into her mouth.
She chewed twice, then swallowed, her sharp teeth slightly parted, her forked tongue swishing away the sauce from the corner of her lips. She mumbled indistinctly, "The fresh stuff got lost..."
Su Cheng and Yan Yu returned to the elevator. "How come you suddenly became a cafeteria worker?"
Yan Yu sighed, "When I arrived at the dungeon last night, I was standing at the cafeteria entrance. As soon as I went in, I was suddenly pulled away to help."
"Since the system doesn't provide any information about the copy and you're completely clueless, it's generally best not to go against the original inhabitants."
Yan Yu covered her head, "And I vaguely think I triggered some kind of quest related to the cafeteria... I can't remember!"
Su Cheng sighed softly, "What does a nutritious meal mean to you?"
Yan Yu was slightly taken aback, suddenly realizing that Su Cheng's words had a hidden meaning. "You mean there's a problem with the nutritional meal? To me, it's just steak, and I didn't experience any discomfort after eating it."
Su Cheng sighed deeply, met Yan Yu's uneasy eyes, and spoke of her view of the nutritious meal:
"To me, it smelled like roast chicken, but it was a piece of purplish-red raw meat."
After a pause, Su Cheng added, "I obtained a class in the last dungeon, and one of its skills is the Yin-Yang Eyes."
Clang
The packaging box in Yan Yu's hand fell to the ground.
Yan Yu's face contorted slightly, and she covered her lips, gagging several times before suppressing her nausea.
Su Cheng: "Didn't you notice anything unusual when you ate it?"
Logically speaking, Yan Yu shouldn't have been so careless.
Yan Yu recalled, her face slightly pale, "I thought about it, but when that aroma came, it was like all I could think about was food."
"Moreover, I felt very satisfied after eating, and the lack of any unusual symptoms relieved my psychological burden. I even subconsciously avoided strange things while eating..."
Yan Yu belatedly realized, little by little, that "the nutritional meals were misleading me; my thinking was becoming increasingly sluggish..."
Seeing that she could still think, Su Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. Since she could regain her senses, it meant that the poisoning was not severe and there was still a chance to remedy the situation.
"Tick-tock"
A clear, sticky substance fell to the ground.
Su Cheng looked at the bloodshot eyes shining through the air conditioner vent above her head.
The female ghost was crouching by the air conditioner vent, her eyes fixed hungrily on the nutritional meal that had fallen to the floor, drool dripping from the gap in the partition...
Su Cheng put everything she was holding down over, "You want some? You can have it all."
"For... for me?"
"Um."
Yan Yu looked left and right, then asked nervously, "Who are you talking to?"
Su Cheng pointed to the ceiling, "A ghost."
Yan Yu quickly looked up, but she couldn't see anything in the dark air conditioner vent...
The female ghost seemed eager to leap out, but hesitated upon seeing Su Cheng.
She was not only worried that Su Cheng might take the opportunity to capture her, but also feared another terrifying aura.
The only way she could escape that aura was by hiding in the elevator.
Su Cheng was surprised to see the female ghost drooling but still too afraid to come out.
After the elevator reached the second floor, she pulled Yan Yu, whose gaze kept lingering on the takeout box, away.
After Su Cheng and the other person left, the elevator doors closed again and descended, stopping halfway down and getting stuck between two floors.
The female ghost darted out, squatted on the ground, and tore at chunks of flesh.
Delicious, delicious!
The female ghost swallowed the last bite, and the familiar scent within made her numbly reach for her mouth.
Why do we feel so familiar and close...?
She racked her brains, but her mind was blank, and she still couldn't find the answer.
A tear fell onto the back of my hand.
She touched her blood- and tear-stained eyes in a daze, then suddenly felt a sharp pang of panic.
Instinctively, she retreated into the narrow pipe, the familiar taste in her mouth dissipating. She curled up, resolving never to eat it again...
Only after watching the elevator disappear from sight did Yan Yu completely suppress her craving. She looked around the corridor with a sense of loss. "Why did we come to the second floor?"
Su Cheng took out the examination report from her pocket and fastened the hospital sash on Yan Yu's wrist.
The answer was firm, "I'll give you an ultrasound."
Yan Yu frowned and touched her lower abdomen. Her stomach bulged slightly, like she had just eaten too much. She had never noticed it before.
"You think... I have something in my stomach?"
Su Cheng knocked on the ultrasound room door. "Yes, a nutritional diet might actually make you pregnant, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're carrying a 'fetus'."
Yan Yu tightened her grip on her stomach, slowing her breathing to calm her mind.
After leaving the cafeteria, her mind cleared considerably, but along with the increased clarity came a strange sense of unease.
The door to the ultrasound room opened, and a female doctor in a white coat asked coldly and expressionlessly, "Who needs a test? Did you bring the forms?"
Yan Yu, wearing a red wristband, held up the examination form.
She steadied herself, "I..."
A note from the author:
none
Chapter 59
The doctor took the examination form, checked Yan Yu's red wristband, and nodded. "Come in."
"Don't worry, I'll go with you." Su Cheng whispered in Yan Yu's ear and followed her into the ultrasound room.
The doctor put on her gloves and sat down in the chair. She glanced at Su Cheng, who seemed out of place, her eyes expressionless, then turned away, ignoring Su Cheng completely, and urged, "Lie down on the bed."
The entire ultrasound room, with its equipment and layout, was exactly the same as the one Su Cheng had seen when she accompanied her cousin to her medical appointment.
She secretly gave Yan Yu a reassuring look before Yan Yu lay down on the soft mattress on the bed covered with tissues.
"Show your belly."
"... Um."
Yan Yu slowly pulled open her clothes; it was really strange to have an ultrasound examination in a special instance.
The doctor picked up the bottle, squeezed the colloid onto Yan Yu's stomach, spread it evenly, and then placed the instrument on Yan Yu's stomach.
The icy sensation made Yan Yu tense up, and Su Cheng also watched the process intently.
The doctor frowned impatiently, "Relax!"
Yan Yu glanced awkwardly at Su Cheng and tried her best to relax her abdomen.
"Click click click..."
The image slowly appears on the screen.
Three pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to the screen; in the center of the gray shadow, the fetus was positioned in a small, round object.
Yan Yu's face paled slightly; she could assure herself that she was not pregnant before coming to the instance.
That thing couldn't be a human fetus, so what was it?
Su Cheng looked at the extra thing with suspicion. She already knew from the elevator ghost that eating nutritional meals could lead to pregnancy.
But she couldn't understand the principle. Food that goes into your mouth ends up in your stomach and intestines, so how could a fertilized egg suddenly appear in your uterus?
Unlike Su Cheng and the other person's doubts, a faint smile appeared in the doctor's cold eyes.
She said with satisfaction, "Congratulations, the baby is doing well. Remember to eat plenty of nutritious meals to help the baby grow, and you can give birth sooner."
After the doctor put away the ultrasound machine, Yan Yu immediately sat up, casually wiped the liquid off her belly, and got off the small bed.