Chapter 81: Brother

Jiang Hai City First Hospital's atmosphere has been a bit strange lately.

Vice President Li Chengxian and Vice President Wang haven't shown up for work for a week.

The official notice says the two leaders are "off duty on personal leave," but rumors have already spread to every corner—people have vanished, the living are nowhere to be seen, the dead have no bodies, as if they evaporated from the world.

In the break room, a few senior doctors lowered their voices, their faces betraying an uncontainable excitement.

"Did you hear? Vice President Wang's mistress even called the police, saying she hasn't been able to reach him for over a week."

"Vice President Li is even worse; his wife stormed into the director's office and caused a scene, claiming he must be having a good time at his mistress's house."

"Serves them right! Those two old clods have done the worst deeds, and now they're getting their comeuppance!"

Nurse Xiao Wang, who was once forced to drug Chu Che, listened silently without joining the discussion.

She carried a cup, slipped into the empty stairwell, and watched the bright sunlight outside; she felt the weight in her heart, a stone that had pressed down for so long, finally lift.

She pressed her palms together and whispered silently.

Thank you.

No matter who you are, thank you for eliminating harm to the people.

Attending physician's office.

Chu Che nudged his gold‑rimmed glasses on his nose bridge, the lenses reflecting the dim glow of the computer screen.

The hospital's internal forum has already blown up, with endless gloating posts, and P's various emoticon packs flooding the screen.

He scrolled the mouse, expressionless, browsing through it all.

He knows the fate of Li Chengxian and Vice President Wang better than anyone.

The Smiling Dummy's efficiency is higher than he expected.

Now Vice President Li and Vice President Wang have been "assimilated" into cold plastic, forever wearing a Weird smile, becoming members of that silent legion.

Chu Che closed the forum, yet another cold and resolute face flashed in his mind.

Qin Zhixia.

He was a bit surprised that the female detective who once clung to so‑called "procedural justice" would actually choose to join the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau.

That place is far from a haven.

Under Qin Zhixia's direction, the Weird Investigation Bureau has caused some trouble for the Smiling Dummy's spread, slowing its propagation.

But that's fine.

The Smiling Dummy was never his whole plan.

It's merely an insignificant piece on his massive chessboard mountain.

The real storm is still brewing.

In front of Chu Che, a translucent panel that only he can see quietly unfolded.

【Weird Editor】

On the Federation map, besides the already‑grown light spot in Dong Lin City, there are another seven or eight faint flashes.

They are scattered across different Federation cities, like fireflies in the night—dim yet undeniably present.

All of this is thanks to the account "Dr. Chu's Medical Mini‑Science."

The Seed of Re‑creation has already been sown.

Chu Che's gaze passed beyond the screen and landed on the massive world map on the wall.

The Federation is only the first step.

He has already registered an account on overseas platforms as well.

It will take some more time.

The whole world will then plunge into an unprecedented revelry.

Chu Che's mouth twitched slightly upward.

In the evening, Li Xiuli dragged her weary body home.

Just after changing shoes, she smelled the aroma of food drifting from the kitchen.

"Mom, you're back!" Ning Tian, the son watching TV in the living room, immediately ran up with a smile.

"Ah, I'm home." Li Xiuli thought of her outstanding son, and the day's fatigue eased considerably.

Ning Tian is her pride—top ten in his grade, tall and handsome; whenever she mentions him to relatives and friends, she can straighten her back a few inches.

Her greatest wish is for Ning Tian to get into the Federation's best university, land a respectable job after graduation, then buy a big house and designer bags for herself, so she can show off in front of those old sisters.

As for the discarded seed named Liang Chao from a while ago, she had long forgotten it.

A poor, greedy kid with such low mental resilience, who would look for death after a few scoldings—his death was deserved.

Fortunately, it won't affect her current family.

She hummed a tune, walked to the dining table, and prepared to set the bowls and chopsticks.

But when she lowered her head, she was stunned.

On the table, four sets of bowls and chopsticks were neatly arranged.

"Huh?" she blurted, "Why are there four sets of bowls and chopsticks? Do we have guests today?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ning Tian, who was watching TV, and her husband, who had just brought dishes from the kitchen, both stared at her with a monster‑like gaze.

Ning Tian looked bewildered: "Mom, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Her husband frowned: "What guests? Isn't our family always four people? Me, you, Ning Tian, and Ning Chao."

Ning Chao?

Li Xiuli's mind went instantly blank.

Who is Ning Chao?

Just as she was about to ask, the bathroom door swung open with a "click."

A boy, half a head taller than Ning Tian, bearing a somewhat similar appearance but looking tougher, brushed his damp hair and walked out.

He saw Li Xiuli and smiled naturally, "Mom, I'm back."

Li Xiuli was completely stunned; she felt her mind like a clump of churned mush.

When did she… have another son?

She stared fixedly at the Family Photo on the wall.

In that photo, taken only during last year's New Year, between her husband and Ning Tian, there was indeed an extra boy who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

The boy in the picture had his arm around Ning Tian's shoulder, smiling brightly.

She looked at the "son" named Ning Chao in the photo and felt an unprecedented mix of strangeness and familiarity. The two contradictory feelings intertwined, making her dizzy and causing her body to sway.

"Hey, be careful," her husband hurriedly set down his plate, steadied her, his tone carrying a hint of scolding, "Look at you, you've been so tired at work lately that you're starting to get muddled."

The atmosphere at the dining table was somewhat oppressive.

Her husband and Ning Tian both interacted naturally with the boy named Ning Chao.

"Bro, you were awesome in the last basketball game! When will you teach me some moves again?"

"Sure, let's wait until the weekend."

Li Xiuli remained silent, poking the rice in her bowl with chopsticks, forcing herself to accept this "fact".

Perhaps she was just too exhausted, and her memory was faulty?

Yet deep inside, an inexplicable sharp voice was screaming and blaring wildly.

No!

Absolutely not!

She quietly lifted her eyes to look at the boy named Ning Chao.

He was picking up a piece of braised pork and putting it into his mouth.

At that very moment, Li Xiuli's pupils snapped shut!

She clearly saw Ning Chao's mouth open at an extremely exaggerated angle, the corners nearly stretching to his ears! That was a range no human could achieve!

Yet paradoxically, his chewing motion was exceedingly graceful and refined, making no sound at all.

The other two people at the table were completely oblivious.

Li Xiuli shook her head vigorously, and when she looked again, Ning Chao had returned to normal.

Hallucination… hallucination?

After dinner, Ning Tian, like a little shadow, clung to Ning Chao asking about homework problems.

"Bro, how do you solve this function problem? I've been thinking about it for ages."

"Let me see… this problem requires an auxiliary line. Look, draw a line from here…"

Ning Chao explained it to him with great patience.

Brotherly friendship, filial piety; a kind father and dutiful son.

This warm scene made Li Xiuli's doubts appear so out of place, so neurotic.

She began to truly doubt whether there was something wrong with her mind.

At night, her husband gently held her while they slept.

"Xiuli, you've been under too much pressure lately. Take a day off tomorrow and rest at home."

Under his soothing, Li Xiuli temporarily suppressed that strange feeling in her heart and fell into a deep sleep.

But at midnight.

She jolted awake from a nightmare, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

She quietly took out her phone, slipped into the bathroom, and began frantically scrolling through old photos.

But the more she flipped, the colder her heart became.

In the album, every photo of her family members and Ning Chao alone either became blurry and speckled with noise, or was taken from a deliberately awkward angle that captured only half of Ning Chao's face or his back.

Each photo seemed to deliberately conceal something, or perhaps to make room for a certain "extra" existence.

The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Li Xiuli put down her phone, weighed down by thoughts, left the bathroom, and, as if compelled by a ghost, walked out onto the balcony.

The cold night wind brushed her face, giving her a full set of goosebumps.

She instinctively looked toward the side window of the "big son" Ning Chao's room.

The curtains were unpulled.

In the dark room, a silhouette stood motionless by the window.

It was Ning Chao.

Pale moonlight poured in from outside, illuminating his profile.

Li Xiuli's breath halted completely at that moment.

On that face…

There were no eyes, no nose, no mouth.

Nothing at all.

Only a smooth, mannequin‑like contour.

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream tore through the silent night!

Li Xiuli's legs gave way in terror, and she collapsed to the ground.

When she, terrified, looked up again.

the space by the window was already empty.