On a day of continuous rain, the streets were unusually quiet, with hardly any pedestrians in sight. However, more women in long skirts began to appear outside the dermatology clinic, and the cars parked along the roadside formed a long line.

  The receptionist was busy handling the never-ending stream of patients, while the doctor had yet to begin his rounds. No one complained about the clinic’s unusual situation.

  Normally a quiet place, it was now crowded with patients, but there was no chatter. Everyone kept their lips tightly sealed, their faces drawn, as though they were keeping some kind of secret.

  Lizi wandered near the dermatology clinic. Seeing the crowded situation, she felt even more reluctant to seek treatment, afraid of running into someone she knew.

  She had already been to the largest hospital in Wissky Town, but despite the treatment, the itching and sores showed no improvement. That was when she remembered about a less-known dermatology clinic in the town. She came with a mindset of giving it a try, but was surprised to see so many other patients with the same intention.

  Although her wound was tightly wrapped in gauze, it seemed to be spreading, and she couldn’t let anyone know about her strange illness.

  The medical resources in Wissky Town were insufficient; she should go to a larger city to find a better doctor!

  Resolute, she quickly went home to pack her bags, but her physical condition kept interfering with her efforts. The wound on her leg itched terribly, and the muscles under the wound felt numb and weak, making it difficult for her to stand. She had to lean on furniture to rest. These disturbances made Lizi even more frustrated; she wished she could find something to vent her anger on.

  Is it cancer? Or some kind of bacterial infection? Lizi felt extremely fatigued. After a brief nap, she woke up to find her left leg had lost all sensation, and the strange itch had spread across her entire body.

  Lizi crawled toward the living room, panic overwhelming her to the extreme. She could no longer keep this secret. She needed to ask her husband for help, although he was often away on business.

  Her phone! Lizi scrambled to get up, but she was so weak that she almost fell, her vision blurred as stars danced before her eyes. She realized that during her packing, she had no idea where she had placed her phone.

  “Dammit! Damn!” she screamed, while unconsciously grabbing at the wound through the gauze with force.

  Since discovering the infection a week ago, her physical strength, which had been typical for most women, had significantly declined. Crawling like this was almost unbearable. The gauze hadn’t been changed for two days, and Lizi was nearly frantic in avoiding seeing those terrible wounds once more.

  It started with itching, then redness and swelling, which led to broken skin. She applied ointment but couldn’t stop scratching. Then it got worse...

  The hole in her thigh was probably rotting down to the bone. Why didn’t it hurt? This question kept fleeting through her mind.

  For the past few days, Lizi had locked herself in the house, repeatedly stabbing and hitting the abscesses on her body. A faint, moldy green liquid seeped through the surface of the gauze, and when it accidentally touched her fingertips, she rushed to the bathroom, nervously washing her hands over and over again.

  Even though the rotten wound the size of a palm was pressed against the floor, her leg still showed no reaction. But the rest of her body, where her clothes rubbed against her skin, itched even more.

  With her eyes bloodshot, Lizi could barely contain her anger. She just wanted to tear the skin off those annoying spots!

  Was this really an illness? Or had someone put a curse on her?

  One of her wealthy friends had once hired a witch to curse her husband’s mistress. She had boasted to Lizi and the other women, making them all stunned. The curse worked so well that the mistress ended up tearing her own face and genitals, then went mad and drowned herself by jumping into the water.

  But Lizi hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t believe anyone would harm her secretly.

  At this moment, she was desperate. Calling out to the God brought no response. Lizi slid around the floor, using the last of her strength in her two hands and one leg. Her posture was absurd, like a turtle with its shell pinned down. She was almost able to reach the phone.

  Just a little more...

  Her right hand reached for the phone on the couch but then slowly dropped and turned back toward her body...

  No, not there! She needs to grab the phone and call for an ambulance!

  Lizi had always taken great care of her hands. She was a fan of French crystal nails and had long, beautiful nails thanks to a local nail art shop in Wissky Town.

  But after just a quick scratch, her skin instantly released a sweet and satisfying stimulation, like a broken faucet leaking water—impossible to stop.

  She was mesmerized as she watched her nails fulfill the primal function of a beast, feeling as though there was something important she still hadn’t done, yet nothing compared to the temptation of self-inflicted harm, each scratch more alluring than the last.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Let me just scratch a little more! Just a moment longer.

  Lizi realized that the more she scratched the bleeding spots, the more pain she uncovered. The sense of accomplishment made her so happy that she didn’t even hear the ringing phone anymore.

  She cried and laughed at her absurd behavior, swearing to an imaginary presence in the air.

  “Let me scratch for five more seconds—no, ten seconds—I’ll call an ambulance...”

  Ah, she was just really itchy, wasn’t she...

  ※※※

  In Shanghai, at the Canaan Hotel, Lizi’s husband, Qiu Shouyi, had just dialed the home phone, but once again, it didn’t go through.

  Although it was only afternoon, it was nearly five o’clock. Lizi should have been at home by now. His lovely wife always said that home was more comfortable than anywhere else. Compared to most women who loved to hustle, Lizi was much more domestic and home-loving.

  He had been on a business trip to Shanghai for nearly a month. Their relationship was good, and they would always talk on the phone every day. However, for the past week, her voice had sounded distracted.

  Although he wasn’t overly concerned rationally, he still felt a little suspicious.

  Subconsciously, he had dialed more times, but every time the conversation ended, Lizi’s tone was always so urgent, asking him to return home quickly, which made Qiu Shouyi believe that she could not possibly be hiding anything from him.

  Maybe she’s really just out somewhere?

  Qiu Shouyi gave up on waiting for the empty ringing sound and decided to focus on his work. Although he knew nothing about what was happening at home, the smooth and uneventful past made him more energetic when facing challenges at work.

  He decided to continue working.

  After all, if he could resolve the issues here quickly, he could return to Taiwan sooner and spend time with his wife.

  ※※※

  Three days later, in Wissky Town.

  The house was dead silent.

  Lizi hadn’t turned on the lights in a long time, and darkness, like tenacious mold, consumed everything.

  The curtains were tightly drawn, turning what was once a neat and aesthetically pleasing home into a damp, dark lair for beasts, reeking with foul odor.

  In the pitch-black darkness, a figure slowly approached the window. Trembling, it pulled apart the curtains just enough for a faint ray of light to enter. A sudden burst of golden light poured through the gap, revealing that it was only the late afternoon.

  The creature, hidden in the shadows, quickly recoiled, and the light reflected briefly off the mirror beside the living room before being swallowed up by the return of the darkness.

  It took a long while for Lizi to open her eyes, still shaken by the remnants of light. She whimpered indistinctly, stumbling towards the mirror.

  The reflection in the mirror showed a large lizard standing on two feet, its head crowned with dry, yellowish, unkempt hair.

  The creature extended its arm, which resembled the scaled limb of a reptile. Its hand was covered in dark scabs, with some cracks still leaking pus. The creature’s upper body bent forward slowly, like that of a woman dissatisfied with her makeup, searching for imperfections. When its face was almost touching the mirror, it suddenly struck it forcefully, and with two or three blows, the mirror shattered.

  “Ugh... Ahh...” The creature cried hoarsely, as if fearful of attracting attention, but the sound was only a quiet, broken sob.

  Lizi, staring at the terrifying reflection that now resembled a monster more than a human, realized that after waking, the scratches on her body had transformed into the same symptoms as the strange disease on her leg.

  Green pus oozed from deep within her body, seeping intermittently from her wounds no matter how hard she wiped, as if her muscles had liquefied into pus with only a thin layer of skin holding it all in.

  Lizi watched helplessly as her once-beautiful curves quickly shriveled away.

  The itching had stopped, and her body had turned numb, like stone. She was still fully conscious; this was not a dream!

  How... How could this happen?

  “I’m not a monster, I’m human! I’m human!” She rushed into the room, digging through her suitcase to find her wallet. Despite the darkness, she could clearly make out the shapes and positions of everything. She immediately grabbed what she was looking for.

  Lizi trembled violently as she held her ID card, with a clear photo of her youthful face.

  For the past three days, she had wanted to open the door and seek help, but whenever she thought of her terrifying appearance, fear gripped her heart.

  Why had her body rotted, yet she hadn’t died from hunger or thirst? Why did she feel even more energetic, even stronger, than she had three days ago when she fainted?

  It felt like a horror movie. She even banged her head against the wall, hoping this was all just a nightmare.

  If she were mistaken for a monster and killed, or sent to be dissected for research, who would believe her?

  And why, in these few days of staying indoors, had no one come to check on her? Could something have happened to her friends?

  Lizi kept looking at her ID card, slowly regaining some sense of reason. No matter what monstrous form she had become, as long as she still had breath in her body, she had to try to do something.

  Her movements were stiff from the hard, necrotic sores. The numbness seemed to spread every time she moved. Lizi picked up the phone, hoping to dial any number she could remember, but her now incredibly sensitive ears didn’t hear the dial tone, as if the phone in her hand were just a toy.

  Her cracked, pale lips trembled. The tangled black hair covered her face, and she suddenly let out a sharp, piercing cry: “Shouyi, where are you? I’m so scared, please come save me, I beg you...”

  Curled up with her hands on her head, Lizi was both lost and in pain. Over and over, she called out, but each time, there was no answer. The darkness, like a thick callus, mercilessly bound her, with no compassion.

  ※※※

  The full moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie, ghostly glow.

  In the chaotic living room, a shadowy figure hunching its back stumbled between the furniture, moving like a trapped wild beast.

  Due to her horrifying transformation and her vanity as a woman, Lizi found the psychological impact even harder to bear than the physical changes. The mere thought of anyone seeing her in this state filled her with dread.

  Admitting that this creature was her meant that her life was essentially ruined. She might as well end it all rather than live like this.

  The time spent waiting only made Lizi realize the painful truth—no matter the cause, she had truly become a monster.

  No, she couldn’t kill herself. Even though the situation was dire, she had an absolute reason not to die—there was a baby growing inside her. The thought of possibly being cut open for research sparked a surge of anger in Lizi.

  This bizarre disease that caused her body to rot but failed to kill her was terrifying, maddening! It was beyond the scope of any medical treatment currently available.

  Lizi had read about similar diseases in novels and movies, and if this disease was contagious, even an innocent victim like her would likely be sacrificed.

  What she really needed to know was whether the disease had only affected her, or if it had spread to others. In the week she had been holed up at home, how had the town changed?

  It was only now that she remembered to turn on the TV, but the screen remained black. In her weakened state from the disease, her eyes had become sensitive to light, and she hadn’t even realized that the power had been cut off days ago.

  It couldn’t possibly get any worse. Instead of just waiting for death, she might as well take a chance and try something.