Backlund Bridge District, Rastville Street, inside a dark house.
Lian Thomas was covered in sweat as he put down the stethoscope.
"The child's development is completely normal, except I can't hear his heartbeat."
Having been an obstetrician for over a decade, he'd seen pregnant women in all kinds of situations, but this was his first time encountering something like what was before him.
A man was actually carrying a child! Aside from gender, all his indicators conformed to the normal state of a pregnant woman!
What appeared before him was violently impacting his understanding as a doctor.
"It's correct that you can't hear it. That's because my child is very intelligent and actively controls his own heart."
Across from him, Lanevus stroked his belly, speaking with loving yet twisted words.
"Because He is the offspring of a god, even a slight heartbeat could cause an ordinary person's spirit to collapse... You're still useful to us, can't have you going mad like that."
Lanevus's eyes were bloodshot red, his face wearing a crazed smile.
As if responding to his words, his highly protruding belly bulged out in one spot, making contact with his palm.
Goddess... save me!
Lian felt everything had gone mad. His stomach churned violently, nearly vomiting on the spot.
It was now evening.
Besides them, many indifferent women also stood in the room.
Their abdomens all bore hideous, terrifying wounds, as if they had once nurtured something that had then burst out of their bodies.
Heavy blood stench and the stink of rotting corpses permeated the air.
Yet even so, they all still moved like living people, as if they were controlled flesh puppets.
Lian had seen these women dress up and cover their wounds, then go out on the street to lure drunks here, making them become Lanevus's food.
Thinking of the scene of Lanevus devouring living people to feed the child in his belly, Lian finally couldn't hold back. He ran to a corner and vomited.
"How filthy."
Lanevus said softly.
He casually waved his hand, and several women walked over, lifting Lian up and forcibly dragging him back in front of him.
"When can the cesarean surgery be performed?"
He asked Lian.
"In a few more days..."
Lian said fearfully.
Actually, the other party's condition was good, and surgery could be performed now.
But he still wanted to delay. Because clearly, once he was no longer useful, he would become nutrients for the other party, just like those drunks.
Lanevus looked at him with a smile, then tilted his ear as if listening to something.
"My child says you're lying."
He said indifferently.
"Rip."
"Ahhhhh!"
The blood-flesh servant's fingernails pierced the skin on Lian's neck. Blood flowed down his neck. He screamed in terror, "Right away! It can be done right away!"
"That's more like it."
Lanevus smiled.
Soon, those women pushed over a surgical cart with various gleaming surgical instruments displayed on it.
He himself directly lay down on the bed, seemingly not wanting to delay a moment longer.
"Child, are you happy? You're about to descend into this world."
Lanevus stroked his belly, murmuring in a low voice.
"Our interests align. You don't want to become a consumable tool for your father's descent, and I don't want to die from it either.
We've already escaped from your father's subordinates' control. Now, we must escape our predetermined fate and have you be born early.
You must work hard to control yourself. At least before the doctor takes you out, don't kill him, okay?"
His face showed loving care as his mouth communicated with the divine offspring in his abdomen.
"Um, anesthesia..."
Lian gripped the surgical knife, his entire body trembling with tension.
"Stop wasting words and start immediately."
Lanevus said.
Lian was stunned. He bit his teeth hard, drew a line on Lanevus's towering belly, then raised the surgical knife.
However, before his knife could cut horizontally, the bloated man seemed to hear something.
He suddenly got up, jumped down from the bed, and nimbly darted to the window.
Lanevus peered outside through the window, his expression gradually becoming crazed and twisted.
"It's them... They've come. They want to kill my child!"
This shout was piercing and shrill, booming into Lian's brain. His vision immediately went white, then he directly lost consciousness, knowing nothing more.
***
Rastville Street.
In the dead of night, the bars on this street were very lively.
Workers who had been busy all day carelessly exchanged their hard-earned money for cheap, inferior alcohol to numb their spirits and bodies.
An airship silently approached from the sky, hovering above. Its black paint allowed it to blend well into the night.
Even if someone looked up, unless they looked carefully, it would be difficult to spot.
On a distant clock tower, Silas and Klein observed in secret.
From this location, they could look down at what was happening on the street without being caught up in it.
"The Nighthawks have finally arrived."
Silas said, looking at the airship above with great interest.
For some reason, Roselle hadn't developed the petroleum industry and internal combustion engines in this world.
The current air forces were all slow-moving airships with massive exteriors.
But from its alloy-supported shell and the machine guns and cannon ports extending from inside, one could see its firepower and defense were still quite formidable.
Four or five figures wearing black coats appeared from the dim end of the street.
They were silent and solemn, each holding some peculiar items in their hands.
A splash of vivid blood red was especially conspicuous in the night. That was the color of their gloves.
"Red Gloves"!
The elite force among the Nighthawks!
Inside the bars, the liveliness continued. Customers were still drinking and bragging loudly, as if they hadn't noticed these people at all.
Among the four or five Red Gloves, the leader was a tall woman. She wore a black robe, her eyes steady and calm. Her skin was slightly dark, with slightly curly long hair spilling out from her hood and falling across her chest.
Notably, one of her sleeves appeared especially large, and that arm didn't swing as she walked.
On either side of her, several Red Gloves walked forward cautiously.
Among them was a handsome man with black hair and green eyes, carrying an unrestrained, poetic temperament.
Another woman wore a mysterious black robe with strange blue eye makeup on her face, looking mysterious and eye-catching.
"Those two look like Leonard and Ms. Daly?"
Klein said in surprise from a distance. "They've joined the Red Gloves?"
Silas remained silent, his brows slightly furrowed.
While he was also surprised by their appearance here, at this moment, he suddenly had a strange feeling, as if some danger was approaching.
"Your Excellency Wings of the Goddess, this is the place."
Leonard, present at the scene, didn't know he'd been recognized by his old colleague and was still reporting to the tall woman leading them.
He had just finished Red Gloves training and returned to Backlund when he heard about this case related to his previous work, so he applied to join... Daly was in the same situation.