The orphanage's eerie silence was broken only by the faint creaking of wooden floors under cautious footsteps. The pale light from a hallway bulb flickered erratically, casting strange, shifting shadows on the walls.
The woman in charge, the headmistress, watched Lucas with guarded eyes. Her gaze never left him, filled with unease and unspoken fear. Every movement he made was scrutinized with hawk-like focus.
"I'm going to find Charlie..." Lucas said suddenly, a casual smile playing on his lips.
He turned, facing the corridor with calm confidence. "He said he had a surprise for me, and I almost forgot about it..." The tone was light, but his expression didn't quite match the cheeriness of his words.
The headmistress chuckled softly, her smile forced. Deep down, she didn't believe him at all.
It was past three o'clock in the morning. Who suddenly decides to go searching for a child in the dead of night over a forgotten 'surprise'? No sane person would believe such a story.
"You get along really well with the children here," she said, feigning warmth. Then, after a slight pause, she added, "But do you know which room Charlie sleeps in? I can take you there."
Her grin widened, the corners of her lips curling a little too much. She was clearly baiting Lucas—waiting for him to bite.
This orphanage had taken years of her life to build. But it wasn't what it seemed on the surface. There were layers beneath the paint, darkness beneath the smiles.
Lucas seemed genuinely pleased. "That's really helpful, Dean. Thank you."
She offered him a meaningful glance, then turned and gestured for him to follow. "Come along, then."
The corridor ahead was dimly lit. As they walked, the headmistress's expression shifted. Unseen by Lucas, her pleasant smile twisted into something colder—something far more sinister.
---
In the livestream chat:
> : It's over. There's something wrong with this dean!
: I knew it! No one in this orphanage is normal!
: Who even is this headmistress? No one has gotten this deep into the dungeon before.
: Lucas has walked into a trap! Someone wake him up!
: He's still following her! Does he not know?!?
---
The headmistress glanced back every few steps, checking to see if Lucas was still behind her.
Just as they approached the staircase, she turned again—only to discover something that made her freeze.
Lucas was no longer at a safe distance. He was now right behind her, only an arm's length away.
She hadn't even heard him close the gap.
Caught off guard, she barely had time to register what was happening when—
Lucas whipped out a kitchen knife.
Without a word or warning, he slashed downward.
A sickening squelch echoed through the hallway. Blood sprayed across the wall as the blade cut cleanly from the top of her head down to her waist.
The dean's body split in two—cleanly, horribly, unmistakably.
Her eyes widened in utter disbelief, but not a sound left her mouth.
Thud.
She collapsed to the ground. Blood soaked into the old wooden floor.
Lucas stood over the body, unfazed. "After all that time working in the kitchen, my knife skills really have improved."
He casually wiped the blood from his face, letting the droplets soak into his collar.
"Luckily, this dean was only mid-tier danger," he muttered to himself. "But it's clear the threat level of these NPCs is rising fast. This dungeon is going to be a nightmare."
---
Back in the livestream:
> : WHOA WHOA WHOA.
: That was… a lot.
: Did Lucas know the dean was dangerous this whole time??
: That knife came out of nowhere!
: When she split in half, I thought I was going to puke. Thank you, almighty Mosaic.
: Okay, but is he really looking for Charlie? That was clearly just bait.
: Now that the dean's dead, shouldn't the dungeon end?
: Wait… the dean… she's connected to Chloe's pregnancy, right??
: GET OUT OF THERE, LUCAS!!
---
Lucas looked back down the stairs, then spoke calmly, "She's coming soon…"
---
Inside the medical room, things had taken a turn for the worse.
Sister Natalie had just used all her game points to buy healing items from the system mall. She quickly crushed the blood-replenishing pills and fed them into Chloe's mouth.
Gradually, the pale color drained from Chloe's skin, replaced by a faint flush. Her breathing stabilized. The tension in the room eased.
"The blood's coming back…" Natalie whispered, wiping the cold sweat from her brow.
The team captain laughed softly. "Don't forget to bill Chloe for those points once she wakes up."
Everyone chuckled nervously. Chloe's condition seemed to be improving, and for a brief moment, the team allowed themselves to breathe again.
But then...
Chloe's body convulsed violently.
She sat bolt upright with a gasp, sweat pouring from her face. Then, just as suddenly, she collapsed back down—vomiting thick, black blood.
The room fell silent.
"What the hell is going on?!" Natalie screamed, her face pale with horror.
Then they saw it.
Chloe's belly— grotesquely bloated, twice its size from just moments ago.
Her limbs looked skeletal now, the rest of her body drained and shriveled—but her stomach bulged outward unnaturally.
Something inside was moving.
The skin stretched so tightly that they could see what was happening underneath. Shapes bulged, squirmed, repositioned.
Fetal movement. Visible. Real.
"She's giving birth!" Natalie gasped, her voice breaking.
A teammate pointed, hand trembling. "L-Look… over there..."
Chloe's abdomen visibly pulsed. The contents writhed under the surface like something monstrous. Her skin bulged unnaturally with every contraction.
And then—
POP!
A horrid tearing noise.
---
Meanwhile, back in the corridor, the corpse of the dean twitched.
Then… it moved.
Blood still dripped from the torn skin as the two halves began to twist and mold back together.
With unnatural grace, the woman stood up—smiling as if nothing had happened.
Still naked, she casually pulled on a discarded outfit from a nearby room, humming softly.
Her face matured rapidly, features sharpening into something both beautiful and deeply unsettling.
She walked to the corridor, hips swaying, her expression smug.
The door behind her slowly closed on its own, without a breeze.
---
Back in the room…
Chloe lay unconscious again, her bloated stomach still squirming. But she wasn't alone in her suffering.
The others—Sister Natalie, the captain, and two others—suddenly dropped to the ground, groaning in pain.
Each of their bellies had started to swell.
Dark veins spread across their skin like roots.
In the blood Chloe had vomited, something alive slithered—tiny, squirming, parasitic.
One by one, they cried out and clutched their midsections.
"It's spreading…" someone whispered hoarsely. "The infection… it's not just Chloe anymore…"
They had no strength left to stand.
Every one of them began to show signs of unnatural pregnancy.
Their bellies pulsed… and something inside began to grow.
---
To be continued...
--
-------------------------
Visit our Patreon for more:
Get membership in patreon to read more chapters
Extra chapters available in patreon
patreon.com/Dragonscribe31
-----------------------------------------------------