Chapter Seventy-Four: The Abandoned Infant
Shengyao did not return to that temporary home.
He wandered aimlessly until the clouds above released rain once more, forcing him to pause at a bus stop. Only one bus stopped at this station, and aside from Shengyao, there was no one nearby.
The sudden, dense curtain of rain and its thunderous roar enveloped him, blurring the surroundings and muffling all sound. In this cocoon of rain, Shengyao’s phone rang again.
He didn’t answer right away, instead feeling a strange sense of absurdity. For the first time, he realized he was actually quite busy, that he had… quite a few friends. Yet it was now, at this precise moment, that so many calls came to him.
He exhaled softly and took out his phone. Seeing the caller’s name, his mind wavered for an instant. He steadied himself before pressing the answer button.
“Shengsheng…” As soon as he uttered these two syllables, he felt something block his throat.
“How is it? Is the child alright?” Bai Xiao’s voice was calm, tinged with concern.
Leaning against the icy railing of the bus stop, Shengyao replied, “Ah, just got to the hospital, in emergency care. But… it should be fine. After all…”
After all, the child was a patient at the Monster Clinic.
“…Good. That’s a relief.” Bai Xiao sighed, then changed her tone, “Where are you? It’s started raining again. I’m already home. Should I come get you?”
“No need. I’m just sheltering from the rain. I’ll call a cab later and head straight home. It’s nothing.” Shengyao laughed.
“Alright, I’ll wait for you. By the way, what should we have for dinner? Rainy day, I’ll order delivery. It’ll probably take a while to arrive… Anything you feel like eating? I’ll order now.”
“Ah, anything’s fine. That fried rice from the other day was pretty good.”
“I thought so too… Shall I get fried rice from that place again?”
“Mm.”
After agreeing on these little matters, Shengyao hung up. For a moment, he felt his earlier anxious thoughts were truly pointless. This life was already good. Why was he still overthinking?
That baby…
Just a fellow patient.
Why did he keep meddling? Without his interference, everything… probably… would be fine…
He thought to himself.
The torrential rain overhead did not let up.
“Should I call a cab now…” Shengyao stretched out his hand, feeling the weight of the raindrops in his palm. “Just go home…”
…
On the small television, Bai Xiao’s figure was like a character from an oil painting—her back straight, head slightly bowed, her profile indistinct in the dim room.
Her jaw was tense. As the camera zoomed in, focusing on her skin, bluish-black markings emerged, intricate as tattoos, yet oddly diseased, climbing eerily up her cheek.
Beneath the markings, her skin and muscles contracted as if stimulated.
Bai Xiao seemed to be in pain, letting out a muffled moan.
Suddenly, the shot pulled back.
She curled her back, the phone landing heavily on the floor. One hand gripped the sofa armrest, the other clutched her belly.
Her head, buried in the crook of her arm, trembled slightly.
Thunder rumbled…
Raindrops pattered…
The rain tapped on the awning and the drying rack outside, each sound blending into a heavy symphony.
“That… child…”
A broken voice slipped into the symphony, a long inhale, followed by an equally long exhale.
Bai Xiao’s body calmed.
Her hands, exposed to the camera, were tinged with bluish-black, veins bulging, not quite human in appearance.
The doctor’s ten fingernails whispered in an inhuman language.
Her fingers twitched spasmodically—those markings vanished.
Everything returned to normal.
Bai Xiao lifted her head, picked up the phone as if nothing had happened, stood and turned on the lights, ordering takeout as she did so.
Tap.
The doctor gently tapped a finger.
The reflection in his deep blue eyes shifted to Shengyao’s face.
---
Shengyao left the bus stop, opened the door of a taxi, and ducked inside.
The car pulled away, the camera rising, looking down as the taxi turned at the intersection and disappeared from view.
…
Shengyao returned to the emergency rescue room of Longcheng University Affiliated Hospital.
He found the nurse’s station. Before he could speak, the nurse recognized him.
“Oh, you’re back again? The child’s just been sent to pediatrics,” she said proactively.
“He’s alright?” Shengyao wasn’t surprised.
“Yes. Vital signs are stable, no need for ICU. But…” she hesitated, “he has some congenital issues…”
Shengyao raised his eyebrows—he’d expected as much. Longcheng First Hospital had already notified him: the baby had abnormal chromosomes.
He couldn’t help thinking back to his previous doubts.
“Can I go see him?”
“Just head to the top floor of Building Eight, Pediatrics. Let them know when you get there—they know you found the child.” The nurse gave him directions.
Thanking her, Shengyao followed the route and found Building Eight.
The entire building was for pediatrics, decorated very differently from the emergency room. Cute cartoon stickers adorned the walls; the nurse’s station, chairs, and windows were painted in bright colors.
Not only was the décor different, but the atmosphere was too. Children’s laughter and cries filled the space.
Shengyao’s senses were now keener than ordinary people’s, making the buzzing in his ears feel more intense, yet he also experienced something rare for a hospital—a palpable sense of vitality.
He didn’t linger in the first-floor clinic, taking the elevator to the top floor.
As he ascended, the environment grew quieter.
Arriving at the top, the silence became a kind of deathly stillness.
The vitality he’d sensed before seemed to have sunk to the lower floors.
His breath caught—then returned to normal.
Stepping out, his footsteps broke the silence of this floor.
Turning a corner, he finally heard some sounds.
Given the short distance and unobstructed hallway, he should have heard them earlier…
“You are…” The nurse at this station looked up, puzzled.
“Hello, I’d like to see the abandoned baby brought in today. I’m the one who found him,” Shengyao said.
“Oh—” Her expression relaxed. “He’s doing well. Three lead pediatricians have checked him, and the head nurse is taking care of him. You needn’t worry. Ah, Nurse Fang!” She stood and waved to a nearby nurse. “This is the one who found the baby…”
“My surname is Sheng,” he added, turning to face Nurse Fang.
Lowering his gaze, he glanced at her badge—Fang Simin, Head Nurse, Neonatal Intensive Care.
“Mr. Sheng, thank you. If not for you, the child…” Fang Simin’s tone was full of gratitude and sympathy.
“He… is there an issue?” Shengyao asked nervously.
“Congenital disability,” Fang Simin shook her head. “Both vision and hearing are impaired.”
Shengyao was stunned.
“Retinal dysplasia, neural deafness—likely due to medication used during the mother’s pregnancy.” Fang Simin explained simply, “Maybe she knew about the issue… The eyes are obviously abnormal…” She shook her head again, sighing.
Shengyao pressed his lips together. “Can I see him now?”
“Of course.” Fang Simin led the way.
Few family members were present in Neonatal Intensive Care. As Shengyao walked through, he saw only two people pressed against the glass, watching the babies inside. Here, patients weren’t on ordinary beds, but in incubators. Most had tubes attached, their bodies covered in wires, exposed skin reddened and wrinkled—hard to imagine these were human infants. They looked more like lumps of unconscious flesh. No rising chests, no human responses—only the lines and numbers on the machines proved they were alive.
Shengyao’s gaze passed over the glass.
The faces of the two family members reflected there—one man, expression numb and exhausted, eyes lifeless. But when he saw Fang Simin, a spark returned.
“Nurse Fang!” He turned, voice urgent.
“Papa Zhang.” Fang Simin stopped.
“Our baby…” He started but choked up.
“It’s fine, don’t worry. We said just now, the baby is much better today. You must have faith and patience.”
“Yes, yes…” The man nodded vigorously.
The woman beside him patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry so much. The doctors and nurses are taking care of the baby. Staying here doesn’t help. Go look after your wife—she needs you more. The grandmas are old, you can’t leave it all to them.”
“I know, I know. I just wanted to check in. I’ll tell her the baby’s doing well today.” He nodded, thanked Fang Simin, and was pulled away by the woman.
Shengyao watched them leave, hearing Fang Simin’s sigh.
“Here, families do everything they can to save their children, borrowing money from relatives. The baby you found is actually quite healthy. Our lead doctors checked him; he can see, though how poor his vision is needs more tests. If necessary, surgery can be done later. His ears are being treated—should retain some hearing, and when he’s older, he can use a hearing aid. Nowadays, hearing aids are effective, some even covered by insurance, affordable. He’ll be able to live, learn, and work normally—a bit affected, but nothing major,” Fang Simin said wistfully.
---
Fang Simin stopped at another glass window, pointing out an incubator inside.
Shengyao’s gaze was already fixed on one baby.
Wrinkled red skin, features scrunched together, sparse hair, tiny limbs…
There were no tubes attached to this baby, so his face was fully exposed. His eyes were open, showing ordinary dark irises. He seemed to sense something, turning his head clumsily, looking toward the window.
Shengyao had seen his eyes before, noticing nothing wrong.
Now, he stared at those newborn clear eyes, seeing the cloudy gray spots and streaks of blood within the glassy lens. The clarity was only in the black pupils—one glance at the whites showed something was off.
Why hadn’t he noticed before? Was it because he only saw the baby blink, or had his mind been too agitated at the time to notice such details?
A thought stirred in Shengyao. He turned to Fang Simin, “Has he had a genetic test? Chromosome analysis…”
“You mean amniocentesis, Down’s screening?” Fang Simin replied, “Those are done during pregnancy. For fetuses, they can detect some congenital diseases, but retinal defects and nerve hearing loss aren’t so easily found…”
“After he arrived here, was any chromosome testing done?” Shengyao asked.
“Of course, we ran a full panel. The results will take a few days…” Fang Simin answered automatically, then paused, looking at Shengyao, “You suspect, this child, and his mother…”
“I’m just curious.” Shengyao turned back to the baby.
The baby had closed his eyes again, as if drifting into sleep.
“DNA testing—could it identify the parents?” Shengyao asked.
“It depends… If the parents are in the police database, yes. But…” Fang Simin was doubtful. “Abandoned babies are hard to trace. You found him on North First Road, right? That’s near the suburbs, at the urban-rural fringe, under demolition, hardly any surveillance or residents left. That hotel was operating illegally. Authorities have been notified. That’s all that can be done… Finding the parents is nearly impossible… We’ve already contacted the welfare agency.”
“I see…” Shengyao felt heavy-hearted.
Strangely, he wasn’t worried about this fragile new life, but something else, a shadow pressing on his chest.
…
Inside the TV room, the television played, but the sofa opposite was empty.
In the dark room, another beam of light fell.
Follow the light, and you saw the doctor’s illuminated face.
His deep blue eyes glowed in a way unlike the screen.
He manipulated the mouse, editing the video frame by frame.
The image on the software became warped.
As the mouse dragged, static pictures turned into moving images.
The woman in the frame wavered, the picture wavered with her.
The rain seemed enchanted, piercing through different spaces, appearing and vanishing at will.
Tap!
A close-up.
Raindrops reflected the woman’s slender form, falling into the filthy drain cover and disappearing into darkness.
Splash—
The screen returned to pouring rain, covering all backgrounds.
Whoosh—
The image froze, the rain vanished, and so did the woman.
The next moment, the camera lowered, rain resumed, falling to the ground, flooding into the drain.
Splash… splash… splash…
The fingernails emitted a sinister laughter.
The doctor’s deep blue eyes grew unfathomably dark.
Splash… splash… splash…
The progress bar reached its end.
The frame stopped at the dark drain.
(The chapter numbers got mixed up in the last two chapters…)
Good night.