Chapter 41: The Truth Draws Near, the Vessel of the Nightmare Matriarch, Has It Arrived?

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Ye Ping’s tone deepened, each word deliberate: “Are you saying—inside a pregnant woman?!”
A battle-hardened veteran, Ye Ping immediately grasped the line of thought.
Xu Ran’s eyes gleamed: “Isn’t that possible?”
“Hiding inside a pregnant woman provides the perfect cover. It also possesses a unique biological ability to mask its spectral presence—this is a second layer of protection. If it disguises itself as a normal fetus, even advanced scanning equipment would find no flaw, right?”
“Moreover, hiding inside a pregnant woman grants a tremendous advantage...”
Uncle Ye’s expression turned surprised: “It can move freely?”
Xu Ran nodded: “Yes, it can move freely. Uncle Ye, you’ve been searching the city repeatedly, even conducting surprise inspections every few days—it’s terrifying, no doubt. But what if, after creating the city-wide nightmare, it soon leaves Jing City?”
“All attention would be fixated on Jing City, everyone searching there, while it quietly slips into another city, happily absorbing sacrificial energy from across the nation, growing bit by bit...”
Xu Ran’s speculation was daring—without any factual basis or strict logic, relying mainly on the concepts of ‘Enveloping Mist’ and ‘Parasitic Pouch.’
The whole idea was wildly speculative.
Whether right or wrong, it was undeniably wild.
Yet even without evidence, Ye Ping’s heart pounded with anxiety: “So we’ve all been deceived?”
Xu Ran shook his head: “I can’t guarantee that, it’s just a random guess—a possibility.”
Hearing this, Ye Ping furrowed his brow deeply, even closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.
“No, your theory has great reference value.”
“Maybe we really were misled. The monster appearing in children's dreams during the citywide nightmare might have been a diversion, making us believe the Nightmare Grudge Mother is a ghostly creature larger than a building!”
“Leading us to think it must have an extraordinary hiding place. But in truth, it’s only the size of a fetus!”
“It hides inside pregnant women, concealed by the women themselves and this special spectral creature, masking its aura. Then it moves about without restraint!”
At this, Ye Ping’s breathing grew heavy.
“Damn it! The intelligence we received from the start was a misdirection?”
His heart raced wildly.
False intelligence had wasted an entire year of effort in the wrong direction.
“Over 330 days have passed since the city nightmare began! The Nightmare Grudge Mother has likely been gathering strength, probably returning to Jing City, preparing for an active attack!”
At this moment, Ye Ping’s expression turned unprecedentedly grave: “To be honest, I’ve been growing increasingly anxious lately. Perhaps it’s my psychic roots warning me—the Nightmare Grudge Mother has likely amassed power, ready to evolve, ready to strike!”
Xu Ran was stunned: “Hmm? Shouldn’t there still be a little time?”
Ye Ping exhaled deeply: “Time is probably running out. At most ten days, at least one or two.”
Xu Ran: “If we catch it a day or two earlier, would that count as stopping its evolution?”
Ye Ping: “Absolutely! But the problem is... we can’t find it!”
Ye Ping rubbed his temples.
“Wait a moment. I’m having the investigation team sift through data—any pregnant women in Jing City with suspicious behavior will be filtered out. Give me half an hour.”
Xu Ran nodded: “Then let’s wait for the results with the investigation team.”
Ye Ping: “Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, two shadowy figures arrived at the General Affairs Office.
After waiting over ten minutes in the investigation team’s office, the screening results were finally ready!
Team Leader He Sifang held the report and reported seriously: “In the past five years, there have been 500,000 pregnancies. Among them, over 10,000 women have been pregnant more than twice and left Jing City during their pregnancy.”
Xu Ran and Ye Ping fell silent.
Searching for the Nightmare Grudge Mother among ten thousand was like finding a needle in a haystack.
“Continue filtering! How many are currently pregnant?”
Three minutes later, He Sifang returned: “Sir, 1,600 are currently pregnant.”
“But there’s something worth noting—233 of these women have had three miscarriages.”
Ye Ping seemed to recall something: “I vaguely remember... these women had previously complained about hospitals. The investigation team concluded that pollution from the Spectral Planet increased miscarriage rates in some sensitive women.”
Xu Ran: “Are they still pregnant now?”
He Sifang: “All are currently pregnant.”
Xu Ran’s gaze sharpened: “Three miscarriages in five years, pregnant four times—there’s definitely something fishy. Also, three miscarriages correspond exactly with the times of the Ghoul incidents.”
Ye Ping suddenly spoke: “Check if the miscarriage dates coincide with the Ghoul events.”
He Sifang’s subordinates sifted through the data at the computer: “Sir, these women’s pregnancies of three to four months correspond precisely with the timing of the Ghoul outbreak.”
Hearing this, a spark lit Ye Ping’s eyes.
“That must be it. The Nightmare Grudge Mother’s true form must be hiding inside these pregnant women!”
Ye Ping took a deep breath, stood up, and stretched—his bones crackling.
After 330 suffocating days, could they finally slay the Nightmare Grudge Mother?
Heh heh!
“Pull up their addresses. I’ll check them one by one. Also, prepare enough pinhole cameras.”
Though just a hypothesis, Ye Ping decided to try—233 women was a manageable number to investigate individually.
If nothing suspicious appeared at first, they’d monitor them with cameras for a day or two.
He Sifang: “Understood, sir. Five of these women returned to Jing City just yesterday afternoon after being away.”
Xu Ran and Ye Ping both froze: “Hmm? Just returned?”
He Sifang: “Yes, they came back yesterday afternoon.”

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Xu Ran: “Uncle Ye, these five newly returned pregnant women are the most suspicious.”
Ye Ping agreed: “Yes, the Nightmare Grudge Mother’s core is most likely inside their bellies! Extract their information separately; we’ll investigate these five first!”
He Sifang nodded repeatedly: “Understood, sir.”
Soon, the data and addresses of the five suspects were compiled into a document; the remaining 228 women were documented separately.
Ye Ping skimmed the document for a dozen seconds: “Good. I’ll start checking them now.”
Xu Ran: “Uncle Ye, I’ll come with you.”
Ye Ping: “Shall we leave now?”
Xu Ran: “Let’s go!”
At 3:20 a.m., Xu Ran and Ye Ping stood on a rooftop.
Ye Ping’s psychic power penetrated the tall buildings, scanning the auras of the pregnant women: “We already checked the five most suspicious women once. Nothing abnormal? Xu Ran, do you sense anything off?”
Xu Ran: “I didn’t detect anything either. Let’s install pinhole cameras and hand them over to the investigation team for monitoring.”
As they spoke, Xu Ran recalled his “Ant One” drone.
Ye Ping: “Once installed, let’s check the other 228 suspects.”
He didn’t find the task tedious—in fact, his motivation grew, as if the case was about to be solved.
Time flew by swiftly.
Out of 233 suspects, over 120 were ruled out—but dawn was approaching.
Uncle Ye looked at Xu Ran with concern: “Xu Ran, are you tired? If so, you can rest.”
As a paragon of self-discipline, how could he be tired?
Xu Ran shook his head: “Not tired. Let’s keep going.”
Two hours later.
At 6 a.m., after a night of exhaustive searching, Ye Ping and Xu Ran had found nothing and could only stand awkwardly on the street, staring at each other.
Ye Ping: “...Awkward. 233 checks, all failed?”
In truth, failed searches had happened hundreds of times before, and Ye Ping had always borne the burden alone.
But with Xu Ran watching, the embarrassment was overwhelming.
He felt somewhat ashamed...
Xu Ran, ever tactful: “It’s okay, Uncle Ye. It’s not over yet. Let’s review the surveillance footage; we might find clues there.”
Ye Ping: “Hopefully! By the way, Xu Ran, are you planning to train elsewhere?”
Xu Ran shook his head: “I’ve finished my training.”
On this trip, he had captured fifty “soul spirits,” greatly enhancing the paper-folding main force’s abilities.
His training was complete.
As for the Nightmare Grudge Mother, he had done all he could.
Ye Ping patted Xu Ran’s shoulder: “Training truly finished?”
Xu Ran: “Truly finished.”
Ye Ping: “How about staying with me a while longer to hunt the Nightmare Grudge Mother? Your unconventional thinking might just find it.”
Xu Ran smiled faintly: “Sure. It’s not a good time to leave now, and I can’t explain to the director.”
Ye Ping: “...Sigh, I’m exhausted... I’ll call He Sifang to send a car to pick us up.”
Xu Ran: “Isn’t there a bus right here?”
Ye Ping: “Take the bus? Fine!”
So they boarded the bus.
Having not slept all night, Uncle Ye was utterly fatigued and immediately fell asleep upon sitting.
Xu Ran closed his eyes to rest.
The bus drove steadily, stopping after a few minutes at a roadside stop.
A small girl with a backpack ran onto the bus, swiping a bus card.
“Please insert coins.”
The mechanical voice was cold; the girl looked flustered, glanced at the coin box, then at her card, and turned to leave.
Xu Ran opened his eyes: “What’s wrong, little sister? Aren’t you going to school? Why get off?”
The girl shyly glanced at Xu Ran: “I... I have no money on my card.”
Xu Ran stood: “I’ll pay for you; find a seat and settle down.”
He borrowed Uncle Ye’s officer card, beeped it, and the driver nodded silently. Uncle Ye smiled faintly, put away the card, and resumed sleeping.
The bus continued smoothly.
Xu Ran frowned, deep in thought.
Twelve or thirteen minutes passed unknowingly.
Suddenly, the girl stood, walked to Xu Ran, earnest and childlike: “Brother, when I help others in kindergarten, the teacher rewards us with a little red flower. You helped me, so I want to give you a red flower, okay?”
She held up a watercolor pen, wanting to award Xu Ran.
Xu Ran was surprised: “Okay, but where will you draw it?”
Girl: “On your forehead?”
Xu Ran: “That’ll wash off when I wash my face. How about on my paper?”
He took out a small white origami paper he always carried.
Girl: “Okay.”
She took the stack, knelt on a nearby seat, and concentrated on drawing red flowers. Though simple kindergarten sketches, her small face was full of seriousness, each stroke filled with feeling.
“I want to give you a hundred red flowers~”
She smiled sweetly, drawing over thirty flowers in total.
The bus announced: “Xiyangyang Kindergarten stop.”
The girl handed the paper to Xu Ran: “I’m at kindergarten now. Thank you, brother. Goodbye.”
She saluted Xu Ran and hopped off the bus.
Xu Ran: “Goodbye, little sister.”
Ye Ping opened his eyes: “Kids taking the bus to school come from ordinary families. You did well.”
“A truly innocent and kind little girl.”
“I hope I’ll have such a lovely daughter someday.”
Hearing this, Xu Ran smiled knowingly, staring at the simply drawn but heartfelt red flowers. After a moment, satisfied, he pocketed the origami. One yuan for each red flower—quite a bargain.
Twenty minutes later, Ye Ping and Xu Ran returned to the investigation team.
Uncle Ye was worried: “Xu Ran, do you think I’ll find a flaw in the next two days? Sigh... the sense of crisis grows more urgent!”
Xu Ran’s eyes brightened: “Uncle Ye, I just thought of another possibility.”
Ye Ping curious: “What possibility?”
Xu Ran paused: “What if the pregnant women aren’t local to Jing City?”
“What if they only stayed in Jing City during the citywide nightmare event and then left?”
“That’s even more covert than miscarrying three times and being pregnant four times!”
Ye Ping’s eyes lit up: “You have a point. If I were the Nightmare Grudge Mother, I’d do the same.”
“Hm, I’ll have He Sifang filter the data now. Maybe we’ll catch the Nightmare Grudge Mother!”
Just then, the director called.
“Ye Ping, is Xu Ran safe? Nothing happened, right?”
Ye Ping felt embarrassed: “No, no, he’s healthy and lively!”
Director: “Good.”
“By the way—have you found any trace of the Nightmare Grudge Mother?”
Ye Ping: “A few leads, but no solid trace yet. I’ll keep trying; maybe we’ll find it.”
Director raised an eyebrow: “Oh? Some progress?”
Ye Ping recounted Xu Ran’s bold theory.
Director pondered: “The Nightmare Grudge Mother’s true form is only baby-sized? That’s a bit illogical. That monster’s body connects to tens of thousands of baby zombies—can it really hide in a pregnant woman’s belly?”
Ye Ping sighed helplessly: “Even if it’s unlikely, I have to try this approach.”
Director: “Alright. We’ve already failed dozens of approaches, won’t hurt to try another.”
“Take good care of Xu Ran. Don’t be careless!”
Ye Ping: “Got it.”
Hanging up, Ye Ping smiled awkwardly.
Soon, He Sifang approached with filtered data.
“Inspector Ye, the screening results are in.”
“Within a month before and after the city nightmare, fifty pregnant women traveled to Jing City!”
“We have all their information. They all miscarried later. But... none returned to Jing City.”
They never came back?
Another lead cut off? Sigh...
Ye Ping’s expression turned serious as he ordered He Sifang: “Keep an eye on their movements these days.”
Damn it! Where exactly is the Nightmare Grudge Mother hiding?!
“Shall we check the surveillance?”
Xu Ran: “Good idea.”
They entered the surveillance room.
Over two hundred cameras, over two hundred screens.
More than thirty investigators watched for eight hours...
No results!
Ye Ping’s heart sank: “Xu Ran, it seems your theory might be wrong too...”
Xu Ran frowned: “Let’s keep watching...”
After another hour.
At 6 p.m., He Sifang suddenly ran over.
“Inspector Ye! There’s new activity!”
“A pregnant woman from another city just drove into Jing City! Three months pregnant. She entered our city one minute ago.”
Ye Ping was stunned, standing up.
“Could it be her?!”

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