8 p.m., and the night had swallowed the city whole. The ICU was all lit up, and after a whole afternoon of wrangling with treatments, Jasper Xiao was absolutely beat. At least the pregnant woman's condition had finally stabilized.
"Huff... huff..." Jasper Xiao slumped in a chair, wiped his sweaty brow, and muttered to himself, "I used to think I was hot stuff, but now I see I've got a long way to go. Can't even handle one patient—my Holy Light still needs work." After a bit of self-roasting, Jasper closed his eyes and started using a special secret technique to recharge his energy.
Just then, the pregnant woman's body shuddered and she suddenly woke up. She stared blankly for a second, and once her memory and senses kicked in, she started screaming in pain. She was covered in injuries. The Purified Liquid boosted her vitality, sure, but it didn't mean she wasn't hurting.
Jasper Xiao rushed over, pressed his hands to her temples, and—out of her line of sight—channeled his Holy Light. He reassured her in his most rock-solid, calming voice: "It's okay, it's okay, you're safe now."
With Jasper's reassurance, the woman finally calmed down. He asked, "What hurt you? Was it a person, or some kind of animal?"
The question made her whole body tremble, fear pouring off her in waves. Her teeth chattered, and her one remaining eye shrank to a pinprick. She struggled to get the words out: "It was... monsters... monsters! Like scorpions, like snakes—so many, so many monsters!"
Just as I thought! Not some human crime, but some unknown creature! Yang Qi's theory was spot on—looks like we've got some kind of otherworldly beast preying on people. But scorpion-like and snake-like? What the hell is that? Could it be... Jasper shivered at the thought—no way, no way could something like that be allowed to exist on Earth!
That's the kind of thing that could wipe out a whole civilization!
Right then, the woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, followed by a splash. "Her water broke!" she cried, grabbing Jasper with her one good arm. "It hurts—I'm about to give birth!"
About to give birth? Jasper, who'd just been all murdery and intense, suddenly panicked, flailing like a clueless kid. But he was quick on the uptake—he hit the alarm. Nurses rushed in, got the woman onto a gurney, and wheeled her out. Jasper got swept up in the chaos, helping push the bed all the way to the delivery room.