In just a few seconds, Ji Jue sucked in so much cold air he felt as if the temperature in the operating room had risen.
It was, truly, an eye-opener.
In stark contrast to the dying mother, within her abdomen two frenzied surges of spiritus churned and tangled constantly, resembling nothing so much as a pair of stray dogs in the late stages of rabies.
They endlessly encroached and savaged each other, steeped in aberration and madness.
Treating the maternal body as a battlefield, they wreaked havoc at will while mercilessly draining the mother's life and soul.
Merely watching those two erratic spiritus fluctuations expand was terrifying enough. Colliding again and again, collapsing and reforming, it was like the scene right before a crucible exploded—hanging on a hair trigger.
The superficial peace right now was nothing more than a fragile symbiotic equilibrium between the pair and the maternal body. Yet that balance was fleeting and impossible to sustain.
If handled poorly, a single cut of the blade would likely blow her clean in half at the waist right on the spot.
Two corpses and three lives.
There was no time to delay; he had to move fast...
Without a second thought, Ji Jue snatched up the bone saw and pulled the cord. The madly spinning blade came down, and blood gushed out like a tidal wave. The mother, who had lapsed into unconsciousness, snapped awake in an instant with an ear-piercing shriek.
Yet in the midst of his frantic rush, Ji Jue cast an impatient backward glance at her.
She instantly shut her eyes, pretending to fall back into a deep sleep, not daring to twitch again.
*Fine, let's just pretend you're anesthetized!*
Ji Jue showed no mercy, cutting her torso wide open right down the center. The massive gash made Tong Hua's eyelid twitch wildly; she half wondered if she had walked into a forensic autopsy.
Between his outspread hands, the intricate patterns of Non-Offensive surfaced beneath his gloves. Like a welding torch, he "welded" and stitched shut every single bleed, astonishingly fast.
Thanks to the vigorous vitality and anomalous physiology of aberrants, an ordinary human would have been carted off to the ICU long ago.
Only after the internal organs were laid bare did the truly thorny part of the situation become clear.
Amid constant squirming and biting, grotesque contours repeatedly bulged against the thin flesh and vanished, as if a meat grinder were churning madly inside the body, draining blood and life in an attempt to complete itself while inflicting even greater devastation.
In an internecine slaughter far cruder and crueler than dogs tearing into each other, the two embryos had been prevented from fully developing even now.
Just like crabs in a basket pulling each other down by the legs.
The moment one embryo finished developing, it would undoubtedly open its maw to devour the other whole. Thus they could only bite each other in a mutually destructive stalemate, their hostility growing ever more vicious.
Delivering babies under these conditions was no different from thrusting one's hand into a jar full of venomous vipers.
If the ferocity of the two demonic fetuses was provoked, they might eat the mother hollow from the inside out in an instant.
Right now, four glowing green eyes seemed to peer through the membrane and amniotic fluid at the uninvited guest. Ferocious and sharp, they surpassed even the mother!
*What are you looking at?*
*In a bit, I'm fishing you out and stomping on you like pig bladders!*
"Oh dear, the situation is looking a bit dire."
Ji Jue wiped his brow and looked up, feigning panic as he raised his voice. "What should we do, Director Qian?!"
In the shadows beyond the reach of the surgical lamp, an exaggerated smile appeared, still stained with blood and brimming with anticipation. "Hmm? Made an error?"
Tong Hua's scalp prickled; cold sweat soaked her back.
She could feel pairs of ravenous eyes lighting up suddenly in the surrounding darkness.
Like mad dogs, eager and impatient to swarm forward!
"No, everything has been normal so far," Ji Jue replied. "It's just that the labor has dragged on for too long and the patient has lost too much blood. In my professional judgment, a blood transfusion is essential."
"Alas, our hospital's blood bank has no stock left."
Director Qian sighed with regret. "Hard times, you see. As doctors, we can only sacrifice ourselves for the patient..."
"No, as the lead surgeon, I must maintain peak condition to assist the patient in delivering safely. Otherwise, her safety cannot be guaranteed.
"Besides..."
Ji Jue paused meaningfully, glanced around the room, and offered a smile. "Don't we have all these family members right here?"
In that split second, all the excited, agitated eyes froze. The figures eagerly pressing closer in the darkness stiffened where they stood.
Visibly, they took a step back.
And another.
Attempting to shield themselves behind other relatives.
In the dead silence, only Ji Jue's proposal rang out: "Since everyone is so enthusiastically supportive, why not make a donation on the spot? Look, Director, everyone simply can't wait."
"..."
Director Qian looked taken aback for a beat, but then his smile grew even more exaggerated, filled with delight. "Leave it to the newcomer to have good ideas! Indeed, they are all family. Since you're all here, might as well donate.
"After all, everything is for the patient!"
He hungrily licked his teeth and asked expectantly, "Does anyone object?"
In the prolonged dead silence, even the sound of breathing was practically inaudible. Amid shivers and terror, someone seemed to want to voice an objection, but under the sewn-together physician's manic gaze, none dared open their mouth.
Then, amidst hoarse laughter, bloodcurdling shrieks erupted.
In the darkness, the bizarre figures abruptly stiffened and began convulsing violently. As if invisible maws were chewing on their souls, they writhed and screamed, collapsing to the floor one after another.
Viscous blood seeped from every pore, dripping onto the floor and spreading like puddles before coalescing into winding rivers that crawled toward the center.
Just like that, it crept up the delivery bed and sank into the dying mother, restoring stability to her near-shattered soul.
A full fifth of the blood and soul was extracted directly from every family member present, turned into a generous supply at Ji Jue's disposal.
"This should be enough, right?"
Director Qian rubbed his hands eagerly. "Time waits for no one. Start quickly, move faster. Just remember, if you botch this, the family members probably won't let it slide."
In the silent darkness, crimson eyes burning with venom glared fixedly at Ji Jue, not daring to utter a sound. They merely waited restlessly for the moment he failed.
When that time came, they would drag him down to hell without mercy!
"Fuck it, let's roll, tune 'em out!"
A spirited battle cry rang out before the delivery table. Paying no heed to the surrounding glares, Ji Jue tossed aside his tools, peeled off his gloves, flattened his hands into blades, and plunged them straight through the final membrane of flesh.
Simple, brutal—he tore it open!
A booming, enthusiastic roar:
"—Rise and shine, babies!"
Blood sprayed like a tidal surge, foul and rotting amniotic fluid spilling forth. Amid the mangled flesh, the two unformed demonic fetuses opened their eyes, glaring at the intruder like partially gestated monstrosities inside a sac.
Their eerie emerald eyes were enormous, staring at Ji Jue with ravenous hunger.
A malicious curve hooked across the two underdeveloped heads.
They smiled.
Then, Ji Jue smiled too.
Unable to restrain his delight and joy, he practically danced with excitement!
Hadn't he come to the right place?
He had totally come to the right place!
Otherwise, where in the entire mundane world could he find such pure spiritus monstrosities?
"Truly... prime material!"
He marveled with a smile, leaning in for a closer look, gazing down at those two pairs of cold, dilating, dumbfounded eyes.
Reflected in the pupils that shrank with terror, a horrifying figure—as if burning for all eternity—loomed closer, grinning and spitting sparks laden with agony and despair.
Exhaling destruction and death.
Merely meeting his gaze made the two monstrosities in the womb shiver uncontrollably.
And then, they screamed.
Piercingly shrill.
In that instant, as Ji Jue spread his hands and pressed down, the Dissociation Art manifested!
Frenzied spiritus fluctuations surged like invisible blades, sweeping forth from his moving hands and annihilating all physical matter in a heartbeat like dry rot before a storm.
Yet immediately after, as his ten fingers drew together again, alchemical forging commenced!
Non-Offensive showed its power, turning the maternal body into a crucible, steadily siphoning the surrounding supply of blood and spiritus to inaugurate a brand-new creation.
The peculiar sensation of the Invisible Hand seemed to reappear within his perception.
With ease, the spirits of the two demonic fetuses had all resistance suppressed. Then, the blazing glow of burning spiritus soared in an instant. A violent smelting surpassing any ordinary fire thus began.
At first, there were oversights and deficiencies; using a living organism as a crucible was vastly different from steel, making it awkward to handle. But once he adjusted, he seemed to discover advantages that an ordinary crucible never possessed.
This outrageously abundant supply of life was like having a Vortex-line Celestial Chosen on standby supporting him with healing at any moment, allowing Ji Jue to go all out without worrying about consequences in the slightest.
Back when he practiced on pocket watches or bells, he had never experienced such an exhilarating thrill.
It was like marching into a shopping mall with an unlimited credit card on a reckless spending spree—and every expense today was on the tab of the family members present!
*Like this, like this, and like this... let's try this...*
Under the control of Masterwork Nature, the structures of the two spiritus demonic fetuses were arbitrarily altered, dismantled, patched up, and reconstituted. And their stubborn, vicious wills were countless times tougher than the dying sentient spark in a pocket watch—he didn't have to worry about crushing them to pieces with a little extra force.
In that case, let's use a bit more force!
Under such rough dismantling and smelting, the mother playing dead on the delivery bed could bear it no longer, shrieking and roaring in agony.
Except Ji Jue couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her now; before long, she didn't even have the breath left to scream anyway.
Right now her abdomen was like a maelstrom, ceaselessly draining her life and soul, furiously absorbing without a second's pause.
Were it not for the transfusion of so much blood, she would have been burnt to ashes in the spiritus fire already.
Yet this was still not enough...
As the demonic fetuses were remolded and reconstituted, the once-plentiful supply of life and spiritus had dwindled to a critical level.
But that was fine. There were still so many good Samaritans present...
"Something's wrong, Director!"
Ji Jue shouted in "shock," throwing his head back to ask for help: "The infants are underdeveloped! We need an emergency transfusion!"
Across Director Qian's stitched face, the cruel smile hadn't shifted in the slightest: "Then give them more blood—"
And then, shrill howls and wails like ghosts and wolves rose one after another in the dark. More winding rivers of crimson converged, replenishing life and supplying spiritus.
Yet not long after, Ji Jue looked up again. "Something's wrong, Director!"
"More blood!" Director Qian waved his hand without hesitation.
Screams rang out again, but this time they took on a limp, exhausted cadence.
In the darkness, the monster relatives who had once been salivating were now collapsed on the floor, barely able to crawl, breaths shallow and faint, only their crimson eyes burning with increasingly venomous malice.
And then, they heard that death-knell call once more: "Something's wrong..."
Director Qian waved his arm. "Transfusion!"
Chapter 157