Yama Reborn-Chapter 389 - 386: [Confident and Fearless]

[Sorry, it was a bit chaotic, and I only had time to write late at night. This Chapter was updated at five-thirty in the morning.]

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Chapter 386 [Having Something to Rely On]

"The place where my Teacher and I live is quite hidden, and outsiders never know about it. Besides, my Teacher was always very assertive in her actions. The Star Sky Empress had a daunting reputation, and it was always her troubling others, never the other way around.

Moreover, during those days, my Teacher was heartbroken over your death and became very sensitive and fragile due to the pregnancy. I was also quite unsettled.

Looking back, someone must have been secretly investigating our residence from the shadows.

Until that sudden and abnormal change occurred when Teacher gave birth to the child."

At this point, Yu Naitang seemed to recall the past events. She shuddered, and an expression of fear actually appeared on her face.

Chen Nuo frowned. "What kind of abnormal change?"

Yu Naitang said tremulously, "After giving birth to the child... Teacher suddenly lost her mind, and then fell into a coma."

Chen Nuo thought for a moment, then shook his head and looked at Yu Naitang. "No, if it was just Lu Xixi falling into a coma after the delivery, the look of fear on your face wouldn’t have appeared when you first mentioned it."

Yu Naitang’s expression was conflicted. "This..."

Chen Nuo frowned. "What exactly is it that makes you so cautious, to the point of hiding it from me?"

Yu Naitang took a deep breath. The young girl gazed at Chen Nuo for a while. "I’m afraid that after I tell you, you..."

"You what?"

Yu Naitang hesitated, then whispered, "I heard Teacher say that you are a scumbag. She said you deceived her feelings.

I dare not tell you too much, fearing that if you knew, you might despise my Teacher and treat her even worse."

As she spoke, Yu Naitang saw Chen Nuo’s gaze flicker as he stared at her, and she finally sighed. "Alright... after I tell you, you mustn’t despise Teacher, or look at her as a monster in the future."

Chen Nuo nodded. "Of course not. She is the mother of my child, how could she possibly be a monster! Just tell me!"

Yu Naitang spoke softly, "...Actually, the bizarre changes started after Teacher got pregnant, but at first, the symptoms were quite mild. However, as the days of pregnancy went on, the symptoms became more and more severe...

Last year when Teacher returned from outside, I noticed she seemed quite depressed. Then I found out she was pregnant. When she mentioned you, I felt there was something implied in her words. I always felt that you, that bastard man, had let Teacher down. So I, on that occasion, sneaked off to Jinling City to find you. I wanted to severely teach you a lesson, to tell you Teacher was pregnant, and then to urge you to come back with me right away, to see Teacher, to coax and even earnestly beg her.

Teacher might talk tough, but she’s actually very soft-hearted. In this world, aside from me, she never shows any warmth towards anyone else.

But only toward you... and she even consented to carry your child.

I knew then, that actually, deep down, Teacher truly, truly loves you.

So I secretly went to Jinling."

Chen Nuo frowned. "You came to Jinling?"

"Yeah, but Teacher quickly found out and personally went to Jinling City to bring me back...

That was last year..."

Afterward, Yu Naitang recounted the previous year’s event of sneaking off to Jinling and then being captured and brought back by Lu Xixi. Chen Nuo asked about the timing and immediately determined that it coincided with the time in Jinling City when he, the Son of the Sun, the Electric General, and Lu Xixi had a chaotic battle.

"And then?"

"Then Teacher caught me and brought me back. She even locked me up for several days.

During those days, Teacher often sneaked peeks at her phone or computer, always behind my back."

Chen Nuo sighed. Lu Xixi must have seen the emails and messages I sent her before, yet she never responded.

"What happened after that?"

"After that, Teacher’s body slowly began to weaken."

"Weaken?" Chen Nuo frowned. "How did she weaken?"

Yu Naitang shook her head. "At first Teacher just felt very tired. Her physical and spiritual power were not quite sufficient, and she felt a little frail.

But we had never experienced anything like this. We were both clueless about such matters.

So we checked some references and consulted a doctor. He said that it is quite normal for pregnant women to feel tired and weak in the early stages of pregnancy, so we didn’t take it too seriously.

But later on, Teacher suddenly became more and more irritable... She was on her phone and computer every day, but her mood was getting worse and worse.

Then one day, all of a sudden, she just ran out of the house."

Chen Nuo thought for a moment. It was probably after I stopped trying to contact Lu Xixi, stopped calling, emailing, and messaging her often, that Lu Xixi realized something was not right.

"Teacher was gone for a long time that day and came back utterly heartbroken and looking extremely haggard.

It was then upon her return that she told me you had died.

After a few days of despondency, she suddenly pulled herself together and made an effort every day to eat, to nourish and take care of her body. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But I always felt something was off about her mood.

It was then that her weakness began to worsen.

At that time, both she and I felt something was very wrong—her powers had regressed to about seventy percent of her usual strength.

And she needed to sleep every day, her spirit becoming increasingly lethargic—I just knew that wasn’t normal!

Teacher was a top-tier Ability User, a Controller! Even if she wasn’t a Spiritual Ability User, her spiritual power far exceeded that of ordinary Ability Users, and she wouldn’t normally have such a strong need for sleep.

But... as I’ve said before, neither of us had ever experienced pregnancy.

At that time, I sought advice from some experts. They all said that it’s common for women to experience phenomena like tiredness, fatigue, and weakness during pregnancy...

I thought, maybe because Teacher is an Ability User, and a top-tier one at that, the side effects of pregnancy were just significantly stronger for her.

Comforting myself with that thought, I remained unaware until the week before she was due to give birth."

At this point, Chen Nuo couldn’t help but sigh.

Yu Naitang is indeed extremely intelligent, but after all, she’s only nine years old. How could she understand or have experience with women giving birth?

"...Until suddenly one day, Teacher’s body underwent a massive change!"

"What change?"

Yu Naitang narrowed her eyes and looked down. "It was about a week before Teacher was to give birth.

She seemed fine before going to bed the night before, just a smaller appetite and a little sluggish. She went to sleep early.

But when I woke up in the morning and saw her, I was suddenly shocked!

Teacher... she had aged a lot overnight!

It was as if she had aged by ten years!"

Chen Nuo’s expression changed slightly. "Keep going!"

"That day, both Teacher and I were scared. In our panic, I arranged for a doctor to come and have a look at her the next day.

We comforted ourselves at the time, thinking that maybe Teacher just hadn’t slept well, which was why she appeared a bit haggard.

But this delusional self-deception was completely shattered after one more day.

Because, after another night, Teacher looked even older!

At that point, even if we were uninformed or slow to comprehend, we both understood that something was terribly wrong. It couldn’t possibly be a normal pregnancy reaction."

"Then what?" Chen Nuo asked with a frown. "Didn’t you try to get help?"

"I didn’t dare!

After the initial panic, I immediately realized the trouble was serious.

Not only had Teacher’s appearance and features aged, but her strength was also rapidly declining!

If during the nine months of pregnancy, Teacher’s power had only declined by thirty percent,

then in that last week, the rate at which her power was declining was akin to an avalanche!

You know, in just one day, Teacher fell below the level of a Controller!

In two days, she could no longer maintain the strength of a Destroyer!

After my initial anxiety, I dared not rashly seek help—what kind of identity did Teacher have, and what if leaking it out attracted the ill will of evildoers?

So I could only use a concealed identity to inquire about information in the Underground World, such as whether human Ability Users experienced any abnormal conditions during pregnancy or childbirth.

Or, I sought experts from Britain’s Royal Medical Academy... of course, secretly.

Only later, I ended up with nothing. No one could give even a single valuable answer.

No matter how Teacher’s body was examined, no problems were found; they could only find that her vitality and various life signs were rapidly declining.

You know, by the fifth day, Teacher’s strength had regressed to barely comparable to that of the lowest-level Ability User.

By the sixth day, her strength had declined to be even worse than that of an ordinary person.

And for the most part, she spent her days in a deep sleep, visibly aging rapidly in her slumber. You could see her aging quickly even as each hour passed.

Chen Nuo, before I met Teacher, I grew up in an orphanage.

The orphanage was founded by a church, and the director was an elderly nun. I remember her being in her seventies.

At that time, Teacher looked even older than the aged director of the orphanage I remembered."

Chen Nuo was stunned.

This is something I’ve never thought about, nor have I ever heard of it.

It seems like there were similar news stories in my previous life, where ordinary people contracted a strange illness, causing women to look like old ladies after giving birth.

But Lu Xixi is an Ability User, a top-tier Controller capable of controlling her own body. She’s basically immune to ordinary human diseases.

To age to the appearance of a seventy- or eighty-year-old in just a few days during the latter stages of pregnancy?!

"...Then what happened?" Chen Nuo immediately turned to look at the "young girl" version of Lu Xixi on the bed. "How did she become what she is now?"

"Just two days before the due date, Teacher continued to age, but I had already noticed something wrong around us. I discovered that someone was covertly surveilling our manor!

At that time, with Teacher’s condition and her Transcendent abilities nearly gone, and her spending most of the day in deep sleep, occasionally waking only to faint again,

if there were outsiders spying on the manor, in case of... well, I would have been utterly defenseless!

So, while at home, I kept up the pretense that there were lights in the house and people were present.

Meanwhile, I secretly took Teacher and escaped through an emergency tunnel from the manor.

At that time, I was completely at a loss, knowing only that staying at home was definitely dangerous.

But after running out, I was so panicked that I was in tears the whole way. With Teacher in a coma, I could only first take refuge in a hidden spot in the mountains.

At that time, my heart was filled with fear. I was anxious both about someone coming to harm us and about Teacher’s due date fast approaching while she was still in a coma. How could she give birth?

After much thought, I decided that, even at the risk of danger, I had to take her to a hospital to have the baby.

Fortunately, just as I had made that decision, Teacher suddenly woke up."

"She woke up? Then what happened?"

"The day Teacher awoke from her comatose state, she became very strange. It seemed as if she knew something but didn’t explain it to me in detail. She only told me that she was about to give birth soon and that I should leave immediately, the further the better.

Of course, I refused! How could I possibly leave Teacher alone in the mountains to give birth?

I was determined to stay by her side.

But at that moment, Teacher’s expression was very serious, even terrifying. She urged me to leave immediately and said that if I didn’t, something very dangerous would happen.

She told me to leave alone first and return to find her a few hours later."

Chen Nuo frowned. "You did as she asked? How could you agree to such an absurd request?"

Yu Naitang thought for a moment, her tone serious for a small girl. "Though it was absurd, I felt that in her life, Teacher had never spoken to me with such a serious tone before.

She said she knew what would happen, and if I insisted on staying, I wouldn’t be helping her but harming her.

That tone... I had never heard Teacher use it with me before.

Then, confused, I agreed."

"You did as she said?"

"Yes, I left the mountain, the forest, and waited outside for the entire night.

When it was still dark, I rushed back into the forest to find Teacher, and then... I saw a frightening scene!"

Yu Naitang lowered her voice as she reached this point, her tone becoming complicated. "When I left, I put Teacher in the car.

But when I returned, that car had been enveloped by a huge cocoon.

It was as if many, many leaves had fallen and, as though drawn by some force, formed a cocoon that wrapped up Teacher along with the car.

When I rushed in... I also discovered..."

"What did you discover?"

"In the forest..." Yu Naitang further lowered her already quiet voice, slowly articulating, "In the forest... there wasn’t a single living creature left!"

Not a single living creature in the forest?

What did that mean?

Seeing the puzzled look on Chen Nuo’s face, Yu Naitang took a deep breath. "When I walked into the forest over the thick layer of leaves, I found that everything there had withered.

The trees and vegetation had withered, and overnight, there were leaves all over the ground.

That forest was once teeming with wildlife, with rabbits, rodents, and various wild animals. There were also flocks of birds in the woods.

But when I entered, everything was deathly still. After a few steps, I saw, amid the layer of dead leaves, some birds that had fallen and died!

The way those birds were dead, it was as if they had been dried out by high temperatures, with all the blood and moisture in their bodies sucked away, turning them into mummies!

I was terrified at that moment. I even dug into a burrow to check, discovering that a whole nest of rabbits, big and small, had also turned into mummies!

It was as if overnight, all the Life Force had been completely sucked away from every living being in that forest!"

Chen Nuo’s heart was pounding. "Then, what about your Teacher?"

"Teacher’s car was wrapped up by a large leaf cocoon.

I struggled to tear apart the cocoon, and then, I saw Teacher and the little junior sister... ah, no, the little junior sister, mother and daughter lying in the car!

The little junior sister had already been born.

But... it seemed like Teacher had no strength left after giving birth. The scene was not cleaned up; it was a mess, and both of them, mother and child, were unconscious.

I was terrified and anxious at that moment, so I quickly dressed Teacher and the little junior sister and then drove away from that place."

Chen Nuo, upon hearing this, suddenly looked intently at Yu Naitang. "That night you waited outside the forest, did you feel anything unusual in the woods?

Overnight, all the plants and animals in the forest died out, and it looked like their Life Force had been drained away.

Such a massive event, and there was no noise at all?"

"No!" Yu Naitang was adamant. "I was very worried and afraid that night, not closing my eyes for a minute, always observing the forest cautiously.

But... there was just no noise.

However, the only anomaly was...

Those dead and withered animals or birds were not present at the edge of the forest.

The closer to the car where Teacher gave birth, the more animal and bird mummies there were!

It was as though they had all actively gathered around the car where Teacher was giving birth, and then they were all drained and died!"

"Lu Xixi, after giving birth to the child... became like this?"

"Yes, before she gave birth, she woke up from her coma. At that time, she still looked like an old woman in her seventies or eighties, extremely aged!

But I waited outside the woods all night, and when I came back in the morning, Teacher had turned into what she is now.

It seems like she had rejuvenated overnight, from the appearance of an old woman in her seventies or eighties to a young girl who looks only a few years older than me.

However... she then fell into a coma, never to regain consciousness again!

Only, every day, at a fixed time each night, she would wake up and then...

She would need to feed!"

"Feed? If she can wake up to feed, how can you say she hasn’t regained consciousness?"

"Because even when she wakes up to eat, she never utters a single word to me. It’s like she doesn’t recognize me at all, and she can’t hear my voice. She’s like a wooden doll, an automaton!

When she wakes up, she eats. As soon as she’s finished eating, she falls right back into deep sleep."

"What do you mean by ’she eats’?" Chen Nuo sighed.

"...Chen Nuo, you’ve guessed it, haven’t you!" Yu Naitang shuddered, crying out. "...It’s just like what you’re thinking!!"

"Chen Nuo, do you think... has Teacher turned into a vampire?!"

Chen Nuo’s face was ashen, but he shook his head and said, "She hasn’t fed today, has she? When is she expected to wake up?"

Yu Naitang glanced at the time. "...Soon, not long now."

Chen Nuo took a deep breath and slowly sat down on a chair by Lu Xixi’s bed, his eyelids drooping. "Alright, then I’ll wait here for a while! When she wakes up to feed, I’ll have a good look at what you’re describing."

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Chen Nuo sat there for an entire two hours. It was not until the sun began to set that Yu Naitang’s obviously self-modified electronic wristwatch sounded off with a BEEP BEEP BEEP, like an alarm clock being activated.

Yu Naitang immediately sprang up!

She suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no! The food that Teacher needs isn’t prepared! She will..."

"Don’t worry. I’m here; I’ll take care of it." Chen Nuo stood up from his chair and waved at Yu Naitang.

Yu Naitang anxiously said, "You don’t understand! Teacher doesn’t recognize me when she feeds! She can’t recognize anyone! She just needs to feed!

If there’s no food, she will..."

At that moment, rustling sounds came from the bed.

Lu Xixi suddenly sat up rigidly inside the blanket!

With a SWISH, the blanket wrapped around her was torn apart. Lu Xixi sat on the bed, slowly opening her eyes.

But it was clear that there was not the slightest focus in her pupils.

Chen Nuo felt a chill in his heart as that hollow gaze passed over him, and he involuntarily called out, "Xixi..."

Seeing that Lu Xixi didn’t respond, he gently called out again, "Lu Xixi? Lu Yiyi?"

However, Lu Xixi still acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing. Her vacant gaze swept the room once before revealing a hint of restlessness.

She parted her lips slightly and began uttering indistinct whispers.

As Lu Xixi stood up from the bed, her gaze became increasingly anxious. After her eyes settled on Chen Nuo and Yu Naitang, they grew colder and more terrifying. She even reached out with her hand as if to grasp something.

Yu Naitang softly cried out, "Teacher... please don’t, it’s us!"

However, Lu Xixi still seemed utterly unaware. Her murmurs turned into growls akin to those of a wild beast, and apart from coldness and restlessness, her eyes now also contained an intense yearning!

Chen Nuo watched Lu Xixi, his face growing increasingly troubled, until he finally let out a sigh.

With a wave of his hand, the room’s window automatically opened. Instantly, a pigeon outside was enveloped by Telekinesis and forcibly pulled inside, landing in front of Lu Xixi.

Lu Xixi’s eyes narrowed as she scrutinized it, and then...

As Lu Xixi gently raised her hand, the pigeon floated up. In the blink of an eye, its feathers withered, as if its blood and moisture were drained. In just a few breaths, it turned into a desiccated corpse, like a specimen.

Lu Xixi exhaled softly. The eagerness faded from her eyes, though she still seemed unsatisfied, baring her teeth and growling lowly at Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo sighed as he watched her, summoning another pigeon with Telekinesis...

After two pigeon carcasses lay on the room’s floor, the anxiety and eagerness in Lu Xixi’s eyes finally disappeared. She seemed to breathe out lightly, then slowly sat down. Her body fell sideways onto the bed, curling up, and she soon closed her eyes, slipping into a deep sleep.

Chen Nuo looked at Yu Naitang with a complex expression. "...Has she been ’feeding’ like this every day?"

"...Yes." Yu Naitang nodded, her eyes red.

Chen Nuo clenched his teeth but shook his head. "That’s not right!

The people chasing you could pinpoint the day Lu Xixi was due to give birth...

And their confident demeanor, daring to send only a few people to capture you...

They seemed to have calculated that Lu Xixi would become helpless!

Even if the ones sent didn’t know, the person who sent them must know something!"

Yes! The Electric General... he most likely knows something!