The faceless doctor sent by the cursed hospital could not fathom the choice made by the ghost fetus at that moment. They had spent more than ten years studying the ghost fetus, and they could be said to understand the ghost fetus like the back of their hand. From his perspective and understanding of the ghost fetus, he should not have done something like this.
“Why?” By now, the faceless doctor had seen Wen Qing, who was hiding on the rooftop. The faces on his face darkened with malice, and then they all broke out in a maddening laughter. “No matter, the more you care for her, the more I need to capture her!”
Numerous thin, black strands wiggled out from the faceless doctor’s body. The human faces on his coat were slowly disappearing one by one. With the disappearance of each face, there would be a person constructed fully from curses that appeared beside him. The figures were about as powerful as the faceless doctor, but they moved much faster than the doctor. At this crucial moment, the faceless doctor had used his own power. He had to obtain Wen Qing no matter what.
“As long as I can capture Wen Qing and then use the curse to control her, perhaps I can use her to threaten the ghost fetus!”
When the faceless doctor was fighting the Past, Zhang Ya stood above the Past’s enormous heart. Her pale and slender hands reached out to press on the Past’s ugly shell. The five fingers easily phased through the hard shell. The blood wave and the black hair slipped into the Past’s heart through the opening. Zhang Ya wanted to destroy the Past’s heart but things were not as simple as she hoped. As soon as she did that, many curse and dead souls appeared from inside the Past’s body. They weaved together to form a sturdy layer over the heart to protect it. The wounds that he had experienced, the pain and despair from the past, became the shield that protected the Past’s heart.
Zhang Ya tried many different ways, but she failed to shatter the layer of crust around the heart. The expression on her face slowly changed. The pale fingers gradually tightened, and the blood sea under her feet bubbled with violent waves. The buildings that were previously hiding inside the blood sea became clearer. They changed from an outline of themselves into actual buildings. The black fog was chased back, and an indescribably scary presence exuded from Zhang Ya.
She looked closely at the Past’s heart and slowly raised her fingers. As the slender fingers rose, following them were the many buildings submerged in the red sea!
Chen Ge, who was climbing up Block A, saw this as well. He was so surprised that his mouth was hanging open. Zhang Ya was currently using the same kind of power that Xiao Bu had used earlier. The difference was, Xiao Bu summoned the shadow of Li Wan City to source her power, but Zhang Ya was stepping on the red city itself!
“Xiao Bu was able to summon the bloody projection of Li Wan City because she is the door pusher at Li Wan City. There is an undeniable connection between her and that place. Zhang Ya is now using the same power as Xiao Bu, but she is summoning the bloody projection of the red city! Does this mean that Zhang Ya has some kind of deep connection with the red city?”
After he reached the rooftop, Chen Ge looked down at the distant Zhang Ya.
“Zhang Ya’s most basic power is to control her black hair. Other than this power, she can use the powers of the other Specters, including the Specters that she has consumed and the Specters that are related to me. Xiao Bu used her power earlier, and Zhang Ya is using the more powerful version of it now. This appears to be her real special power.”
The appearance of the red city had shaken the whole world behind the door. Many Specters and souls were screaming inside the red city, and the black fog was forcibly pushed back. Zhang Ya was borrowing the energy from the red city to steamroll over the Past’s heart!
At the same time, the faceless doctor had also finally arrived at the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. The Past’s giant mouth was just hovering above his head.
“Wen Qing, stay away from him!” Chen Ge shouted at Wen Qing, who was standing at the edge of the rooftop. The roof was barren, and there was no place for her to use as a cover. Then again, Wen Qing did not look like she was trying to hide either. Her eyes were locked on Xiang Nuan, who was deeply entrenched in the Past’s head. Be it a Demon God or the monster that blocked out the sky, they did not stop her from continuing to call Xiang Nuan’s name.
In reality, before a Demon God, it would be pointless for a normal person to try to hide. The faceless doctor approached her at lightning speed. He had multiple shadows trailing behind him. Each of them was carrying a face that had been peeled off from his doctor’s coat.
Bang!
The Past’s head was torn open, and the disformed mouth directly moved down to swallow the faceless doctor. The souls were wailing. Both parties were experts at curses. The black threads were like blades dancing in the air, cutting and shredding the black rain that was falling constantly. Ultimately, the Past still cared about Wen Qing. It was willing to suffer some damage to protect Wen Qing by swallowing the faceless doctor. It would only feel better once the faceless doctor was inside its stomach because it was too easy for a Demon God to kill a normal human being.
The faceless doctor’s curse crawled into the Past’s flesh. Pieces of memory were peeling. Black blood dripped along with the rain, but the Past did not seem to mind it at all. Xiang Nuan, who had long since stopped caring about his life, would not pay attention to these injuries.
His bleeding eyes were following the faceless doctor closely. The black threads that bound his mouth were torn open, and the doctor screamed from pain. The Past was doing the same thing as him. The Past’s giant mouth bit off the man’s chest, and the black blood splashed all over the rooftop. Just like that, the Past swallowed the faceless doctor and the shadows behind him in one gulp. The giant mouth closed. The scene was extremely shocking, but before anyone could recover from this scene, a shrill laugh came from the edge of the building.
“Damn it!” Even though Chen Ge also wanted to kill the ghost fetus, he did not want Wen Qing to get injured, so he ran to help her at the first notice, but he was still too late. There was a shredded face stuck to the wall near Wen Qing’s feet. The face had been forcibly yanked off by the faceless doctor. It was still dyed with fresh blood on its back. The faceless doctor had split up numerous shadows, and every one of them was incredibly powerful. Just as everyone thought that was the end of his tricks, he had reserved one more hand. He had silently torn off one of the faces from his coat without anyone noticing.
No one knew when he did that, and no one saw how that face managed to crawl to the Wen Qing’s feet. Before anyone could react, the face had already crawled onto Wen Qing’s body. It branded itself like a tattoo on Wen Qing’s leg. An eerie and scary smile came from the face on Wen Qing’s skin. Immediately, black lines that grew like briars expanded from Wen Qing’s flesh!
Wen Qing’s face paled instantly. It felt like her whole body was being punctured by sharp needles.
“Release my body immediately, or I will kill her in the most painful way before your eyes,” the face that grew on Wen Qing’s flesh warned. A normal human being was powerless before a Demon God. The faceless doctor literally had his hand over Wen Qing’s life. The painful wails echoed on the rooftop. It showed that Wen Qing was in a pain that a normal person would never have the ability to imagine. Before the bloody tears at the corner of his eyes had dried, Xiang Nuan’s face fully contorted.
The cage had been prepared, but his only family was trapped inside the cage as well. The black rain continued to fall in greater intensity. Xiang Nuan looked at Wen Qing. The memory pieces kept dropping from the Past’s body. He appeared to wish to open the mouth that he had closed.
“Do not mind me!” Wen Qing collapsed to the ground while suffering the pain from the curse. She suddenly raised her head to shout at the Past, “I do not need you to take care of me, and I do not want anything from you! I only wish that you will be able to grow up healthily and live on happily!”
Green veins popped on her neck. The black threads swam under her skin like many little snakes. Wen Qing’s nails that gripped the ground were peeling off. She stared at Xiang Nuan, who was looking like a monster. Xiang Nuan, sunk deep inside the ghost fetus’ head, was shaking all over. The wounds on the boy’s body were increasing. The pain that Wen Qing was in continued to increase, but somehow, she had stopped screaming. The black blood capillaries pulsed under her skin. Different types of curses were applied to her body. Her face started to lose its features, and her body shape started to change, but she resisted the urge to scream. She kept her mouth clamped shut.
Xiang Nuan saw all this clearly. The bleeding eyeballs stared at the woman on the rooftop. In the end, he still slowly opened his mouth. The Past’s giant mouth was slowly opened again. The faceless doctor was only swallowed for about ten seconds, but his body had already become quite translucent. The Past appeared to have the ability to kill a Demon God.
“A brilliant choice if I do say so myself.” The ghost face on Wen Qing’s body laughed wickedly. “Now, I need you to…”
Before it finished, it realized something was wrong. Wen Qing, who was carrying multiple curses on her, had already crawled to the edge of the building.
“What are you doing!”
The blood capillaries surfaced on all parts of her body. Wen Qing, who had been tortured until she had lost a basic human shape, did something that no one expected. With a final glow of determination in her eyes, Wen Qing jumped over the edge of the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A!
“I do not know what you have done in the past, I also do not understand why you have become the way that you are now, but I am always ready to trust you, to accompany you, and to protect you.” Wen Qing voluntarily jumped into the Past’s open mouth. Along with the faceless doctor’s last remaining face, she fell into the monster’s maw. When she fell, she kept her eyes on Xiang Nuan, who was bound at the monster’s head.
“Because… you are my son.”
Wen Qing, having been cursed by the Demon God, had her life in the faceless doctor’s control. She did not want to be the chip that was used to control Xiang Nuan. Even if Xiang Nuan had turned into a monster, even if a normal human was nothing more than a piece of dust in the presence of a Demon God, she had found a way to protect Xiang Nuan. All forms of love in this world pointed toward the need to stay together. Only a parent’s love could bear the pain of separation.
When the Past’s mouth closed, the faceless doctor and Wen Qing fell into the Past’s body. Other than the ghost fetus, no one knew what was inside the Past’s body. The people present only saw that the faceless doctor had been swallowed earlier. A mere ten seconds had passed, and his body had become much weaker than before. He appeared to have suffered greatly from that attack. The Past’s stomach appeared to be the guillotine that the ghost fetus had prepared specifically for Demon Gods. It was a place where even a ‘God’ could be digested. So, what would happen to a normal human?
The pouncing of the heart inside the world that was shrouded in the black fog travelled far and long. The Past’s stomach bloated and expanded. The faceless doctor appeared to be resisting as much as he could, but ultimately, the resistance slowed. The sound of that heartbeat became louder and louder. All the Specters and monsters inside the door were affected. It felt like their hearts were about to explode.
Chen Ge went to hide at the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, but he was still unable to avoid the influence brought upon by the heartbeat. He looked down the building. The red sea had enveloped the dual-colored heart. The buildings inside the red city had punctured the blood vessels that were hidden underground. Zhang Ya had already shattered the crust that had formed over the surface of the heart earlier, and now she was using the whole city to clash against the Past’s heart. She was forced to do that, or else the ghost fetus, who had consumed the faceless doctor, would kill everyone there!
The cold, hard shell of the heart was broken, and the black and red heart was being smashed into pieces by the red city!
Blood rain fell from the sky, and the ground split open. The blood vessels snapped one after another. The location where Xiang Nuan’s heart was started to leak blood as well. The more he moved his hands to slow the bleeding, the more the blood continued to flow. The blood riddled with curses turned his shirt into a dark red color. His body was slowly peeling away from the Past’s giant body. His eyes were no longer soulless. Instead, there was a cocktail of complicated emotions. It was not sadness, nor was it despair. Perhaps the boy himself did not know how to identify this feeling he was experiencing.
With his hand over his heart, Xiang Nuan made a very difficult decision after a long time. He did not heal his wound or chose to attack anyone. He used the last ounce of his energy to start to suck in all the black blood and the curses from inside the Past’s body!
Many strange wounds and curses appeared on his body. He had taken on all the sin again. Xiang Nuan’s body was slowly sinking. All the tragedy, all the pain, and all the despair from the past had sedimented inside the boy’s body. The Past’s gigantic body was changing at the same time. The core of this giant monster was the ghost fetus’ past, the past that Xiang Nuan had decided to carry from now on. So, once the core had shifted, the Past no longer looked as scary as it originally did.
The clamped mouth broke open again. The Past’s stomach was filled with past versions of himself. Children that were made from curses and negative emotions tried their best to stop the faceless doctor from escaping. Some of the children, meanwhile, were protecting a woman who was dying. The Past was a creature that the ghost fetus created to kill a Demon God. It had never wondered what would happen to a normal human after they had been swallowed.
Curses were still travelling and growing on the woman’s body. Her life was entering its final countdown. The children helped to move the woman to the head of the Past, the location where Xiang Nuan was bound to earlier. After all of this had been done, Xiang Nuan, who now carried all of the sin, walked to the Past’s heart that had been shattered.
The Past’s upper body was like a cicada while the lower body was like a heavy shell that dragged it down. The heart was right in the middle. One half of it was red, the other half black. Currently, Xiang Nuan was standing at the part that was black. He lifted his head to look at the dying Wen Qing.
“It is time to bid farewell to the past now.”
Raising both of his hands, Xiang Nuan grabbed the Past’s upper body while his feet were standing on top of the Past’s heavy shell. Once again, he had started to consume the sin that was originally inside the Past’s body. This time, he did not hold back at all. He had transferred all of the bad things that had happened to him to his own body. His legs grew into the heavy shell because the amount of sin consumed continued to increase. The Past’s lower body became scarier and scarier looking. It was covered with spikes and needles, and many screaming faces started to fill up the surface of the shell.
However, in contrast, since all the sin and bad things had been taken by Xiang Nuan, the Past’s upper body became softer and fuller. The broken wings started to repair themselves and became firmer in existence. Wen Qing, who was dying, slowly regained consciousness. The pain that was brought on by the curse was lessening.
“I am unable to save your life. This is the only way I can help you. Everyone fears me because I am a Demon God, but I am actually no more than a lonely ghost.”
The voice of ghost fetus came out of Xiang Nuan’s mouth. They were one and the same from the very beginning. The sin was amplifying. Xiang Nuan’s body and legs were sinking and joining with the shell underneath him. His skin was also gradually turning into the appearance of the Past’s shell.
“My heart is dirty and muddled, filled with pain and dirtiness. I have been searching in the raining night, envious of the sun in other people’s eyes. I have reached out in hell, but no one came to save me until the day you appeared in my life. But at the same time, I was worried of dragging you into the abyss with me.
“I know what you have been anticipating of me, but I would rather be a patient isolated from the world than have you step into my world. You were not supposed to be in this world behind the door.”
By taking on all the sin, Xiang Nuan’s consciousness started to flag. Over the past ten years, the Past had consumed too many things in the black fog, and now Xiang Nuan was going to shoulder all the sin on his own. His consciousness was weakening. His body joined together with the thick, heavy shell, and he would not be able to tear himself away from it anymore.
When Xiang Nuan sucked away the last shred of the Past’s sin, his consciousness reached its limit. His body was completely joined to the dark shell. He would never leave this world surrounded by black fog anymore.
At the same time, the Past’s upper body opened its wings. Its winged body was soft and gentle, like a miracle in this black and hopeless world. When Xiang Nuan released his hands, it started to float into the black fog. But it never intended to leave. It fluttered about the boy like a whale protecting a deserted island.
