Chapter 290: Chapter 251: Monster
"The couple is very nice, both are warm-hearted, and some new tenants secretly say that Miss Zuo Qiu is reclusive, but that’s just rumors. Only we, the long-time tenants, know how kind she is. Her medical skills are superb, her medical ethics are impeccable, and she has helped many of us."
"Unfortunately, heaven is blind, good people don’t get rewarded, the couple has a child, and the child fell ill."
"What illness?" Yang Xiao, sensing the significance of the sick child, thought of the enormous Shadow Ghost.
The old man shook his head, "I don’t know, none of us have seen the child, the couple kept him at home and cared for him, never letting him out. I only know the illness is very peculiar, and Miss Zuo Qiu and her husband are at their wit’s end. Miss Zuo Qiu’s teacher is a renowned doctor nationwide, yet even with her teacher’s skills and connections, she couldn’t get help."
"By the way." The old man seemed to suddenly remember something, raising his hand and pointing to his head, "That child’s illness... seems to be right here."
"Old man, do you know which apartment Miss Zuo Qiu and Mr. An live in?" Yang Xiao asked the most critical question.
The old man hesitated for a moment, furrowing his brows as if trying hard to remember, "Hmm... I’m a bit fuzzy on that, they always come to us."
In the midst of recalling, the old man’s body began to change, his face turning a ghastly pale blue, limbs growing increasingly stiff, and clumps of his white hair falling out. An unpleasant stench of decay emanated from his thick cotton clothes; he was transforming into a corpse.
Yang Xiao, not wanting to miss this rare opportunity, grasped the old man’s hand, offering him warmth and strength, his expression more sincere than ever, "Please, this is very important to me, you can come to me if your phone ever breaks."
Upon hearing the word "phone," the old man’s transformation began to subside, his clouded eyes growing clear again. Moments later, he slapped his forehead, "I remember now, Miss Zuo Qiu once mentioned to me. They live in room number 85 on the third floor."
"But there is no room number 85 on the third floor." Yang Xiao had been to the third floor and not even the largest room’s number exceeded 60.
Yet the old man insisted with confidence, "No, Miss Zuo Qiu wouldn’t lie to me, it’s your problem if you couldn’t find it."
The script box contained a photo of the number 85 doorplate, and the old man also mentioned room number 85—both verified each other. Yang Xiao believed that room number 85 must exist, but where could it possibly be?
Seeming to realize he had been too harsh, the old man gave Yang Xiao an apologetic smile, "Sorry young man, I wasn’t able to help you. How about this, I’ll let you use the phone once."
Yang Xiao suddenly became interested and asked, "Old man, who can I call with your phone?"
"Whoever you want to call, my phone works very well." The old man said, displaying a proud demeanor.
Yang Xiao’s eyebrows raised, as he suddenly remembered that not long ago, the old man had used this very telephone to speak with his deceased wife; this device could even reach the dead.
"Old man, can I call Miss Zuo Qiu?" Yang Xiao made a split-second decision, resolved to get to the root of the matter.
The old man nodded naturally, "Of course you can, but it’s so late now, Miss Zuo Qiu and her family must be asleep. If you disturb the child by calling now, Miss Zuo Qiu might come looking for you in a bad mood, and then don’t blame this old man for not taking care of you."
Yang Xiao instantly felt anxious and hastily waved his hand, "Then let’s not do that, how about... you call someone familiar with Miss Zuo Qiu for me instead? I want to ask about some family matters, especially about the ill child."
After a moment of thought, the old man replied, "How about this, I’ll call Miss Zuo Qiu’s teacher for you. Miss Zuo Qiu once left me her teacher’s phone number, saying that if my wife’s condition worsened and they couldn’t be reached in an emergency, I could call her teacher for help."
"This teacher doesn’t live nearby, right?" Yang Xiao was vigilant, wary of being tracked down.
"Of course not, he’s in another city, far away from here."
"Then please, I’d appreciate it." Yang Xiao finally relaxed.
The old man tremblingly stood up, walked to the bookcase in the corner, opened it, crouched down, and rummaged out a yellowed, wrinkled notebook from the deepest drawer, then took out an amber-colored old-fashioned eyeglasses case and extracted a pair of reading glasses from it.
Yang Xiao had thoroughly inspected this room after moving in, and there were no such items in the bookcase or the drawer at that time.
Putting on the reading glasses and moistening his fingertip, he carefully opened the notebook. The old man leaned in close, his finger moving slowly across the pages, until he finally found the number.
The elderly man pushed the phone toward Yang Xiao with all seriousness, and repeatedly urged him to be careful with it, not to break it, and to keep the call short since the phone charges were quite expensive.
Dialing that blurred number, it connected quickly. On the other end was an aged voice, clear in enunciation. Pretending to be a friend of Miss Zuo Qiu, Yang Xiao easily gained the other party’s trust.
Yang Xiao didn’t believe that such a distinguished and esteemed physician lacked vigilance. He was more inclined to think that it was the work of the ghostly phone before him.
"Alas, Shude is good in every way, just a bit stubborn, always belaboring the point. She has also had a hard life, her child has had issues since infancy, and then... then that sort of thing happened," said the elderly doctor on the other end, unable to suppress a sigh. It was evident that he was very fond of his student, Zuo Qiu Shude.
"Issues since infancy?" Yang Xiao was taken aback; this was different from his initial assumptions. Moreover, from the way the senior doctor spoke, it seemed that the child had encountered some trouble later on.
"Yes, the child has suffered from a strange disease from a very young age, experiencing unpredictable episodes of fear, palpitations, and convulsions, which in severe cases, can even lead to fainting."
"A panic disorder?" Yang Xiao guessed.
"At first, we suspected it was a panic disorder or something similar, but it wasn’t. His fear episodes came without warning, without any specific triggers. However, as his condition worsened, we started integrating case studies and discovered something horrifying."
The elder doctor paused, lowering his voice, "Shortly after each of his fear episodes, something would happen in the vicinity of his location."
"What sort of things?" Yang Xiao pressed on.
"Car accidents, fires, explosions, falling objects from a height, and even... even homicides. In short, all incidents that could lead to fatalities," the doctor inhaled deeply, his tone becoming much heavier, "Although I am a doctor who believes in science, I cannot explain the things related to this child. It’s as if he was born with a gift, a premonition of danger that common folk cannot comprehend, but it’s a gift that is also a shackle tormenting him."
"His symptoms grew worse, each episode leaving him unconscious for longer periods, from just hours initially, to weeks, and even two or three months. If this trend continued, the child would eventually fall into a coma forever, until death."
"We tried every possible method and invited many experts to consult, but to no avail. All the medical exams showed nothing abnormal."
"Modern medicine could no longer help the child, and Shude understood this, so she took the comatose child and went back home."
"But no one expected that shortly after their car left the hospital, on a small bridge, they met with an accident, where a drunk driver going the wrong way crashed their car into the lake below. It was nighttime, and neither Shude nor her husband could swim. Fortunately, passersby noticed and dived into the water to rescue them."
"After regaining consciousness, Shude and her husband screamed for help to save their child in the car, but by the time the good Samaritans dived down and found the car, the child was missing, likely swept away by the current."
"But who would have thought, a miracle occurred. The next day the child returned, waking up from his coma. He walked back on his own, led by an elderly couple with kind faces," the elder doctor emphasized.
Yang Xiao was startled upon hearing this and subconsciously glanced at the old man sitting on the sofa, who still wore that kind face, smiling at him.
"What’s wrong?" The old doctor on the other end seemed to notice Yang Xiao’s reaction and immediately asked.
"Please, continue," Yang Xiao said composedly.
"After the child returned, Shude and her husband were incredibly grateful. The elderly couple told them they found the child by the lake. During the conversation, to the surprise and joy of Shude and her husband, they found out the elderly couple had a way to treat the child’s illness. They implied gently that the child had caught the attention of a demon and that only by driving away the evil spirit following the child could his disease be cured."
"Normally, Shude wouldn’t have believed such a thing, but in desperation, she went along with it, especially since her child had indeed awakened, which according to previous estimates should have taken at least two months."
"Mr. and Mrs. Shude did as the elderly couple asked, joining the church they were a part of, and it naturally followed that the elderly couple moved into the apartment owned by Mr. Shude."
"I’m not clear about what happened in the intervening period. Since Shude and the elderly couple got in touch, she rarely contacted me, and often did not answer my calls," the elder doctor said with a hint of melancholy, "But in the meantime, Shude reached out to me twice."
"The first time she sent me a few photographs, family portraits of the three of them together. In the photos, the child looked much better and was standing in line with his parents. Shude excitedly told me that there indeed were divine beings in this world, that the exorcism performed by the church of the elderly couple had been very effective. Now, the child’s comatose episodes were decreasing; he could study and live normally during the day and was able to sleep at night. She believed that it wouldn’t be long before the child could live like a normal person. It was just that..." the elder doctor suddenly paused.
"Just what?" Yang Xiao pushed for an answer.
"Just that the child doesn’t sleep very well at night, often having the same strange dream, where he turns into a huge, pitch-black monster, standing in front of a mirror."
