55 Chapter 55 (Two in One)
◎Man-eating ghost traps, rampant vans◎
A few minutes ago, the patient in bed number one, who was in the most critical condition, was declared a failure just as the rescue efforts began.
Multiple organs began to fail and no nutrients were taken in. The medicine was not absorbed at all and immediately appeared in the urine bag after being injected.
Unlike other conditions, her symptoms cannot even be alleviated by organ replacement or assistive devices.
This is "hunger." The body has no symptoms, but is starving itself to death.
Dying patients are quickly transferred to a special metal house with no windows, only one-way glass and a sealable door to ensure that no liquid or debris can leak out.
The medical staff had no time to be sad and kept a close eye on the patient's condition.
She is not the only patient who died on the defense line. Whether rescued or dead, it will become the treatment experience for the future.
Her heart beat weakly, her cheeks trembled slightly in her coma, and she chewed the air, wishing she could chew her tongue completely and swallow it to satisfy her hungry stomach. But everyone knew that even if she bit it and ate it, it would be useless.
The medical bite guard prevented her from actually biting, and her lips opened and closed, and she muttered something silently in between "chewing".
Dr. Qiao knew that he was just "hungry" like everyone else.
"Eat something at the end." Doctor Qiao sighed and arranged for some liquid food to be delivered.
As the old saying goes, it's easier to start your journey when you're full. Although I know eating is useless, it's still a bit of a comfort.
Seeing the mung bean paste, Dr. Qiao forced a smile. "The owner of this place is really good. I haven't had it yet, so I'm giving you something good."
After filtering out the large mung beans and lily bulbs, the mung bean soup flowed down the feeding tube. The unconscious patient seemed to sense the food, pausing briefly to chew, a hint of anticipation rising on his tired face.
But every anticipation would turn into new despair, and the food would always flow out again and disappear from the body.
Dr. Qiao couldn't bear to watch any longer and moved his eyes to the instrument.
Didi——
Ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute.
The final preparations for cardiac pacing and rescue had been made, but the patient's condition never fell to the worst.
"Hungry..." A weak voice came from the hospital bed.
Dr. Qiao looked back in surprise.
Patient 1 wasn't conscious, and her readings remained a mess. However, her throat struggled to swallow, and the external urine bag wasn't draining quickly enough. Her failing organs seemed to spring to life, beginning to function. The surging hormones and secretions in her blood gradually began to flow where they were supposed to go.
For the first time, she showed signs of improvement!
Did the medicine take effect? No, no, the medicine I injected earlier has been excreted...
No matter how bizarre it is, the only answer is the real answer.
Dr. Qiao almost rushed over to pick up the mung bean paste that was about to be thrown away.
The spoon pressed the beans to squeeze out a little bit of soup, which was then poured into the feeding tube.
Doctor Qiao watched the various values closely.
No new fluid was discharged, and the water loss was slightly alleviated... The data began to stabilize.
Dr. Qiao tried injecting medicine and nutrient solution.
This time, the patient's body did not reject it.
As if a body about to starve to death were suddenly reminded to eat, the dying patient suddenly felt a flicker of life. After receiving nutrient solution and medication, the frail patient recovered at a noticeable rate.
It's like a miracle.
Dr. Qiao's eyes were hot, but he didn't let himself cry.
She turned around and roared, "Do you have any more mung bean paste? Or broth!"
The amount of mung bean soup was generous, enough to half-fill you and then add some water for another round. But as a "medicine," the amount was too little.
After trying mung bean soup, crushed bean paste mixed with water, and broth, Dr. Qiao quickly confirmed:
These foods were effective not only for Patient 1, the most dangerous, but also for all survivors affected by the Hungry Ghost. Even the victims in other wards who were mysteriously lured by the Ghost Takeaway had their symptoms alleviated.
But strangely, the sicker the person, the more obvious the effect of the food.
Aside from the patient who was on the verge of death, everyone else felt a vague sense of relief after eating it, a feeling of relief that seemed both effective and psychological. Only a slight change in the data confirmed a true difference. Ordinary soldiers and ghost control experts tried it separately, and both found it to be just ordinary, very delicious food, with no discernible difference in the data.
Dr. Qiao has treated too many strange patients, and any of their abilities, no matter how bizarre, are possible.
After an emergency control group test, Dr. Qiao handed over the rescue work to others and went to find the person in charge of the operation as soon as possible.
Boss Ye is here to sell food. You can choose not to eat. Saving lives is more important!
After listening to her quickly explain the cause and effect, the person in charge looked at the comparative data before and after, and then looked at the information sent by Jiang City, and suddenly realized it.
"Jiang City speculated that her food had special effects, but Huaxi and Jiang City's ghost controllers found nothing special after consuming it... I understand. I previously heard that Doctor Feng from the General Administration stated that Captain Hu's condition was very unusual, struggling on the brink of death for a long time but still able to fight. I speculated that it was Captain Hu's willpower or accidental contact with something. Now it seems that it was Ye Ping'an!
"Her food gives the dying a ray of hope. It's like a last resort. When they're healthy and safe, of course they can't be detected!"
While the person in charge was giving orders to buy out all the remaining food and send it to the rescue area, he glanced worriedly at the thick fog not far away.
Previously, she was more worried about Ye Ping'an dying in the ghost cave and the resurrection of the strange creatures. If the special controlled strange creatures and the [hearse] resurrected and lost control, the pressure on the defense line would be even greater. Now, the person in charge was even more heartbroken in his worry.
The fact that food saved the life of C-rank Ghost Bender Hu Tu was just speculation, but the survivors pulled back from the brink of death in the rescue area were a real change.
How many people can be saved by food that can save their lives in the face of death? Even if the food can only save low-level ghost masters or ordinary people, how many strange incidents can be stopped by more experienced ghost masters and new ghost masters? Just looking at this point, it is not too much to cherish Ye Ping'an!
But it was too late when they discovered it.
The Hungry Ghost Cave isn't just reviving; it's been going on for a long time and is currently undergoing a new round of expansion. The strangeness within the cave hasn't stopped, and the cave hasn't been broken. Even if the expansion of the cave is temporarily restricted as before, those caught within it won't be able to escape.
As the instructions were issued one after another, the person in charge thought to himself, "Ye Ping'an is a cook. Maybe a cook can feed the Hungry Ghost Cave and make it crash?"
But if the ghost den could be solved so easily, Captain Hu, who had already figured out some of the rules, would not have revived the monster.
In the team sent into the ghost cave, the ghost masters each performed their duties, and various ghosts were combined to achieve breakthroughs in exploration. Ye Ping'an was alone, and even if multiple ghosts were balanced to reduce the damage of using ghosts, he was still weak.
The person in charge sighed, "...I hope she can make it out alive. Notify the others to hold a meeting. After midnight, enter the ghost den. If you encounter Ye Ping'an, do your best to protect her safety."
A few hundred meters outside the defense line, just as the investigators lined up to buy one, the stall was surrounded by a group of people rushing out of the defense line.
They were confused, "Is there something wrong with Boss Ye's meal?"
"Huh? Huh? Hey, why are you confiscating even what's in my hand?! I haven't eaten yet!"
Direct instructions were given to the investigators, and the team that was foraging for food was polite to Cheng Yi, who was watching the stall. Even the casserole and stainless steel bucket of mung bean soup on the stall were politely asked if they could be sold.
Cheng Yi:?
I always feel that the boss has done something big again.
"This is something from the store. I can't sell it without the boss's consent." Cheng Yi said in a low voice.
then……
Cheng Yi watched in amazement as they picked up the pot and used the laboratory equipment that looked very valuable to suck away all the soup bit by bit, even leaving out the gaps between the edge of the bucket and the bottom of the casserole. They sucked it out cleaner than if it had been washed.
The newly assigned investigators had no idea what was going on, but the mission was so important that no one would complain about being asked to scrape the bottom of a bowl for no apparent reason.
They asked Cheng Yi indirectly, asking Ye Ping'an in a roundabout way whether he had made any preparations before entering the ghost cave.
Cheng Yi didn't know anything about the matter, but from the few words the investigator said, he heard what was ahead.
[Hungry Ghost] The ghost den, which is what the gods' messengers call "the place where the gods are resurrected."
I heard that there are frequent attacks outside the ghost cave, and there are man-eating monsters... If it's the boss, it will be easy to solve, right?
-
Rolling——
The sound of wheels rapidly rolling over the broken concrete road surface drifted into the black and red mist.
Behind the windows of residential buildings shrouded in thick fog, and in the shadows of narrow streets and alleys, pairs of eyes suddenly lit up, like hyenas smelling prey.
Behind a greasy blue-glass window, a sharp-nosed, monkey-faced man leaned against the wall, squinting outside and swallowing saliva. "Another foreign pig has arrived. Wife, foreign pigs are very fierce, the knife needs to be sharpened."
Swish.
The sound of knife sharpening in the kitchen quickened, and the thin woman tied under the sink was suddenly awakened. She looked at the cold light flashing in the hands of the woman in the apron in front of her in despair.
The woman sharpening the knife had thin limbs, which made her bulging belly look particularly obvious, as if she was pregnant.
Her pale cheeks still had some flesh on them, making her look gentle, but as she sharpened the knife, her face was filled with gloom and resentment. "I haven't caught any pigs in a few days, and my stomach is empty. I heard that pigs from other places injured several families on the next street and were caught only after running into the city. The guys living there always take advantage of them. I'm going with you today. Will we be able to catch them this time?"
The man looked under the sink hesitantly, "But she..."
"I finally managed to trick a pig home, but it's not growing after a few days. Maybe two pigs will make it easier for them to grow meat." The wife blew on the knife and put it on her waist.
"Wang..." She thought blankly for a while before she could barely remember the name. "Wang Xiaomei, we're going out now. Don't run around at home. Otherwise, we'll fire you and you won't get paid."
As she lowered her head, her resentful expression faded, and she returned to the gentle and delicate image of a pregnant woman. It was as if the strange conversation had never taken place, but rather a friendly exchange between an employer and a hired domestic worker.
Wang Xiaomei shrank back, unable to answer with her mouth blocked, but she quickly nodded obediently.
The wife walked out of the kitchen, holding her waist with satisfaction, and leaned over to the window to take a deep breath, her saliva almost flowing out of the corner of her mouth.
“So fierce!”
She stared at the mist swaying in the distance, and her tone of surprise was like that of a housewife who came across freshly slaughtered and still moving meat in the vegetable market early in the morning.
"Smells good, really smells good. Pigs from other places are easier to sell than local ones. I can buy a few more ounces of oil, right?"
There was a slight noise outside the door. The intoxicated couple's expressions were grim. "That lame guy upstairs is coming to steal the goods again... Humph, with his character, we can't let the pig follow him. Wait, wait until he bleeds it to lure out those ogres. When the foreign pig is chased by the ogres, we can go out. After the lame guy bleeds it, we can sell his local pig."
Outside the apartment building, streams of blood spurted out, and it was obvious that many residents had the same idea.
The smell of blood filled the air, and with the sound of rattling sounds, several figures suddenly crawled out of the alley.
To be precise, it was several limbs.
Hands and feet covered in gnawed marks crawled out of the shadows, gathering in greater and greater numbers until they almost covered the entire road surface.
Each fragment had more than one mouth, and they licked the blood on the ground and gnawed at the ground with a crunching sound, refusing to stop.
The couple chuckled as they pushed open the door, tiptoed out of the corridor, and waited behind the narrow entrance. From behind the nearby buildings, eyes were peering down the street, waiting silently and excitedly.
As soon as they left, Wang Xiaomei took the opportunity to sharpen the rope that tied her.
The kitchen was filled with a strangely rich aroma of oil. Wang Xiaomei's stomach rumbled, and the unbearable hunger made her want to lick the oil bottle not far away.
But a greater fear held her back. She knew she couldn't.
Wang Xiaomei bought this oil last month.
After eating the oil, her husband became increasingly erratic, as did the neighbors who had bought the oil. Wang Xiaomei didn't dare go home, so she took advantage of her company's work as a domestic helper and hid away for a few days. But she never expected that when she returned, her husband and child would be gone.
The neighbor who introduced her to the oil, the colleague who asked her to buy the oil, her husband and children... everyone who had eaten the oil began to disappear.
After searching for a few days, Wang Xiaomei opened her eyes again and found herself inexplicably in an old street.
The alley was littered with body parts, and the stench of decay nearly drove her mad. The thought of finding her child propelled her out, and she was surprised to find herself still in Zhoukou City.
But the old town in Zhoukou has been abandoned for many years.
The sky was inexplicably shrouded in a dark red, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night. The old town, which should have been deserted, was dilapidated, but many residents still lived there.
They were all thin, looked at each other warily and fiercely, and walked close to the wall when they went out, as if hiding in the shadows, searching for something everywhere.
At first, Wang Xiaomei guessed that they were homeless vagrants and gangsters who could only hide in the empty houses in the old city.
Wang Xiaomei's thin figure made it easy for her to blend in with the crowd. She imitated their appearance, endured the inexplicable hunger, and searched everywhere for the child.
Wang Xiaomei carefully hid for a day, and from what she occasionally heard, she was surprised to find that many people here were still living in the past decade. People in the old city called the outside world "outside the city", and in their eyes, this was Zhoukou City.
She had heard that the oil mill in the old town was still operating, and that it would kindly distribute food at night. As long as they caught a pig, they could fill their stomachs.
It was said that the closer you were to the inner city of the oil refinery, the safer you were from monster attacks. Only by eating enough would you avoid starving to death and becoming a new monster, or becoming too weak and being killed.
Although it was unclear why there were pigs, it was strange to suddenly be in the old town where there were monsters. Wang Xiaomei didn't want to ask more questions, she just wanted to find the missing child as soon as possible.
However, everything changed when she struck up a conversation with the gentle-looking pregnant woman and asked if she had ever seen a child.
The pregnant woman said she had seen the child and invited her to "rest at her home." As soon as she entered the house, Wang Xiaomei was knocked unconscious and tied up. Only then did she realize she had been deceived.
...These people are no longer human. In their eyes, everyone is a "pig."
The old town has gone mad, and the source of the terror must be the oil.
The couple was reluctant to feed her oil, and instead fed her murky, rusty water in an attempt to fatten her up. Wang Xiaomei herself was afraid to eat oil, let alone other foods she didn't know what they were made of.
Just as she was about to despair, she heard her husband's name from the couple's mouths. They were jealous that he could more easily cheat the "pigs" with a child, that he had more oil, and that he could live closer to the oil factory.
Wang Xiaomei didn't dare to think about what the children had experienced. Knowing that being alive was good enough, she could only try to find a chance to escape.
Various monsters often appear on the outskirts of the old city. The couple always complain about the environment here, but they also hope to catch another outsider.
Hunting in the periphery has been carried out many times and has become a routine.
The ogre gnawed away all the blood on the ground, and the person who had bled would be the next target. But if the person who had just entered stepped into the trap, the ogre would just chase them and gnaw on them.
Those mouths looked small and inconspicuous, but Wang Xiaomei had heard the sounds of metal being crunched, guns and vehicles being stopped by the gnawing. When they were surrounded by ogres or injured in other accidents, the residents of the old town would pretend to help them.
She silently prayed for the newcomers, hoping they would have better luck, or be stronger and more cautious, and not get caught here.
The fog at the edge of the ghost cave seemed to be only a few meters away, but it was like waves constantly pushing the vehicle, repelling it from approaching.
The sound of rolling wheels echoed outside for dozens of seconds. The bloodstains on the ground were almost eaten away, and the eyes of those watching around became anxious.
Gulu.
The fog shifted, and the van plunged into the foggy street. Its wheels rolled over gravel, its bright headlights dazzling in the dim mist. The shadows that had been stirring between the buildings suddenly became still, and a gaze of ecstasy and greed, as if tangible, swept through the front window at the young woman in the driver's seat.
"Slurp... She looks so good, so fresh."
"It's delicate and tender, and you can change a lot of oil at a glance."
"I want her eyes. If I boil them in oil, they'll be brighter and more delicious, right?"
Click, click, click.
The huge mouths of the ogres scattered all over the road kept opening and closing, densely surrounding the car that had just appeared, and the saliva between their wide-open sharp teeth was still stained with scarlet.
Boom!
The roar of the engine resounded through the quiet street, and the wheels of the van slammed into the group of ogres that were rushing towards them.
Before the corpse-like ogres could react, sharp teeth and pieces of flesh flew everywhere in an instant. The ogres caught in the speeding wheels were directly transformed into a pool of mottled black and red blood, with wisps of mist rising.
"The road conditions in the old city are really bad. We slipped on the slope for a long time, and the road is bumpy." Ye Ping'an shook his head and sighed.
The shrill wailing was drowned out by the roar of the engine. Nearly invisible black hands darted out from the edge of the wheel, tugging at the mist from the splattering liquid and quietly pulling it back into the shadows beneath the car. From deep within the car, the sound of gulping food could be heard.
The van drove away without stopping for a second.
Two long black and red blood streaks were dragged out under the wheels, and the entrance to the street was a pile of crushed mucus fragments that were impossible to put back together.
All the figures waiting in the shadows of the building were stunned.
A van crushed a bunch of ogres to death?!
And the ogre didn't even emerge from the smaller pieces to continue gnawing. Were they...really crushed to death???
No matter what kind of outsiders they are, they have all suffered under the siege of the unstoppable ogres.
But today, an ordinary small van, like a violent steamroller, easily crushed the monsters with sharp teeth on the ground, and like a rampant bully, demonstrated what it means to break the law with force.
The residents of the old town were in disbelief and felt great fear.
They exploited monsters, but they also knew how terrifying these creatures, which outsiders called "weird," were. A van could crush them, so killing them was as easy as crushing an ant!
After confirming that the van did not stop to cause them trouble, everyone ran and quickly retreated back into the depths of the building.
"Ah!" Suppressed screams broke out in every building.
Accustomed to a distorted life, the residents dared not pursue the powerful outsiders, and spared their blood-weakened neighbors, who became the best prey. The moment they retreated, a new hunt began again.
Wang Xiaomei finally broke free from the rope. Hearing the sound of fighting downstairs, she leaned over the corridor window in surprise and looked out.
Two bloody tire tracks clearly showed who the winner of the trap was.
Wang Xiaomei was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but smile, "You guys are afraid too..."
Wang Xiaomei didn't dare stay, let alone get involved in the fight at the first-floor stairwell. She carefully slid down the outer wall to the ground, then ducked into the alley. While everyone's attention was drawn to the car that suddenly drove in, she quickly followed the car tracks and ran deeper into the city.
"I hope the newcomer stays further away. I hope it's not too late to remind her not to trust all residents and to avoid the grease road at night."
-
The roads in the old city were narrow and dilapidated, and the air pollution was so severe that headlights couldn't reach more than ten meters. Illegal structures were piled up between the buildings, and the navigation system had clearly not been updated in ages, making the routes a mess.
The signal towers in the area that was to be demolished had probably been demolished, so the signal was quite slow and there was no response when I refreshed the navigation.
Ye Ping'an read the map and twitched his lips as he looked at the wall blocking the road ahead. "It's this direction... Why is there no road again?"
Although it wasn't completely out of the way, as everyone knows, the traffic in urban villages is more complicated. I walked for a long time and didn't see anyone to ask for directions.
Ye Ping'an didn't want to go further and further and waste time, so he switched to the takeaway backend and prepared to call the customer to ask for directions.
"The God of Wealth is here, the God of Wealth is here—"
The phone rang and the screen displayed "Unknown Number".
"I'm busy, let's talk later." Ye Ping'an just clicked to hang up.
The phone froze for a moment, and just as I hung up, the ringtone rang again, "The God of Wealth is here—"
"Isn't it over yet?" Ye Pingan pressed the answer button impatiently, "Hello? Who is this?"
The only hang-up button on the phone's answering interface instantly turned unusually red, just like the thick fog outside the window.
The blood red color began to spread from the buttons to other parts of the phone screen little by little, until it engulfed the person listening to the call.
Immersion...
The wriggling blood-red color seemed to be stuck in a small area of the phone screen and couldn't get out at all.
"Zila... Zila... Found..." A shrill, intermittent sound came out of the receiver. Ye Pingan listened for a long time without understanding what was said. He clicked the button to hang up and said perfunctorily, "The signal is too bad. If you really need something, call back later."
The moment he hung up, the sound became sharper, like a desperate wail, and struggling was futile.
The shrill voice stopped abruptly.
On the phone screen, the color of the phone symbol darkened slightly, becoming a deep, rich scarlet.
"Huh? The signal is good again now." Ye Ping'an opened the backend of the takeaway and was speechless to find that the takeaway did not leave a phone number.
Ye Pingan sent a message: [I'm in the old town now, in Unit 6, Building 7. I'll be there soon. But the road is too difficult to walk on. Where is the shortest way to get to the crematorium?]
After waiting for a long time, the customer with the black and white profile picture did not respond.
The profile picture was changed frequently, and it was replaced by a mess of lines that were so faint that they were about to disappear.
Ye Pingan: [Are you there? Are you there? Are you there? ]
"The God of Wealth has arrived, the God of Wealth has arrived, good deeds will be rewarded..."
The phone vibrated again, and Ye Pingan thought it was a customer calling. But when he looked closely, he saw it was someone he knew: Captain Yan from Huaxi City.
【Author’s words】
Small Theater:
【Ghost Call】：?
[Ogre]:?
【Ghost Takeaway】：……
【Hearse】: ^V^[Food][Food][Food]
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