I’m really dead, aren’t I? So this warm sea is the afterlife? I floated inside an enormous crimson water sphere—such a strange sensation. Days passed. After closely examining my tiny hands and the umbilical cord still attached, I finally confirmed: I was an unborn infant. But why was I submerged in this vast ocean of blood? Some new humanoid cloning tech?

Bored... I’d mastered freestyle and breaststroke these past days. Wait—how did butterfly stroke go again? Back when I couldn’t swim, I’d barely stayed afloat with clumsy kicks. Now I could circle a pool three and a half times. At this rate, would I become the first baby born fluent in every swimming style?

Bored... Butterfly, backstroke—I’ve got them all down. Why did I ever fear water? I’m so skilled now I’m tweaking the doggy paddle. Someone drag me out of this tank already.

Bored... Lately I’ve been studying the "friend" in the adjacent tank. After swimming every inch of my tank’s edge, I spotted another identical tank beside mine. Inside floated a hulking figure. What sci-fi setup is this? Has China’s medical tech really advanced this far?

Bored—no. CRISIS! Attacked by that big brother next door! I’d always found him suspicious, but today he tore through the membrane between us barehanded. He lunged with cannibalistic fury, sinking his teeth into my neck.

*Yikes!* I’m gonna die! Just as that thought flashed, searing pain ripped through me. Then a mechanical voice echoed in my skull:

"Authority imprinting: Infected by the blessing of a White Spider larva."

"Infection complete. Logic: White Spider larva infection established."

"Curse suppressed. Due to logical interference, Madness: Black Goat Calf Curse failed to load."

"Error correction: Failed."

"Error correction: Failed."

*(Repeated nine times)*

When I snapped back to awareness, that robotic chant of "Error correction: Failed" had echoed countless times. Half my body had been devoured. The savage brute released me, satisfied, retreating to his own tank. Yet I still lived. Thanks to that strange voice, beyond the initial agony, I felt no pain from the gnawing.

"Error correction: Failed."

*(Repeated four times)*

Ugh, will this ever end? As the eerie voice droned on, my mangled body regenerated in the bloody water. I’d grown too—now roughly the size of a three-year-old. Had time accelerated? Or was this some rapid-growth experiment tank?

Whatever. The important thing was that voice finally gave up on error correction. Proof came next:

"Aborting error correction. Attempting to load Madness: Black Goat Calf Curse."

"Load complete. Curse partially effective."

"Seventy-first Offering Ritual of Shub-Niggurath concluded. Due to unknown error, ritual exceeded duration by 1 solar hour."

Silence reclaimed my world.

Then—I was born. I hadn’t been in a tank at all. I’d been inside a monster’s womb.

On birthing day, I slid out like a bead dumped from a sack, landing unceremoniously on the ground. Ugly, lumbering figures surrounded me—straight out of *Warcraft*’s Undead faction. No, these were Corpse Eaters. My mother dwarfed them all, staring at me with the same grotesque curiosity.

Right after me, the "brother" from the adjacent tank emerged. He looked much older—likely growing nonstop while my body regenerated.

Two men in strange attire stood flanking us, ignoring the Corpse Eaters entirely. One wore a magician’s white robe; the other, practical armor. Both watched us with impatient anticipation. The robed man grabbed me and my "brother" (turns out he really *was* my sibling) by the scruffs.

"Male hybrid infant and female hybrid infant. Twins? That explains the prolonged gestation."

"Status check. This female seems... different from typical newborns," the armored man noted.

"The male’s blessed by a spider. Jackpot. The female? Standard Black Goat curse. Wrap this up, let’s go."

"Hold on. Females usually go mad immediately after birth. This one’s eerily calm. Like the curse never triggered."

"But she *is* cursed by the Black Goat. I’m not lying. Just dispose of her and leave."

"Summon the Blood Witch."

"Eh? No way! She’ll make my library shifts hell if I bother her now."

"Fine. I’ll kill you. The Sevenfold Phantoms will replace you. After seven deaths, she’ll have to answer." The knight drew his sword.

"Alright, alright! I’ll call her!"

The robed man dropped us and sank into his own shadow like a diver.

*What are they saying?* I caught every word yet couldn’t grasp their meaning. Hunger gnawed at me—starvation blurring my thoughts. Are newborns this ravenous? Where *was* I? Their words felt like that mechanical voice, yet incomprehensible.

As if answering my plea, the mechanical voice returned:

"Logic infection protocol active. Integrating residual loading data and remaining error-correction mechanisms. Skill: Self Appraisal integrated."

"Logic infection protocol active. Integrating residual loading data and error-correction mechanisms. Skill: Greater Ghostkind Tongue integrated."

"Logic infection protocol suspended due to interference from Madness Curse."

"Madness Curse functionality: Missing."

Ah... While the knight waited silently, that helpful mechanical voice had granted me understanding. Finally, sentences made sense.

Time blurred. From the shadow where the robed man vanished, a burly priest emerged.

"I speak for the Blood Witch: Our pact binds only the Fourth and Fifth Aspects. I owe you no aid."

"How cold," the knight sighed. "What say you, Mr. Corpse Eater?" He pointed at me.

"Shub-Niggurath’s curse is irreversible. None of my kin have ever returned from the Corpse Eater’s madness. Not once." The priest gazed sorrowfully at the monstrous crowd.

"Ah, my apologies. We’ll proceed as planned: release the female, raise the male. Let’s go." The knight scooped up my brother. Ignoring the creatures’ stares, he walked away.

"Oh—almost forgot. You Corpse Eaters may move now." Beyond the circle of monsters, he casually tossed the words over his shoulder. He strapped the child to a saddle, mounted a distant horse with the priest, and galloped off.

Ah, I finally understood them. But wait—*release the female*? As his words sank in, hunger slammed into me, dizzying and primal. Forget my stomach—*he took the other newborn and left me*. That meant... I was a *girl*? WHAT THE HELL?!!

Just as I reached to check, the ugliest Corpse Eater lunged, swallowing half my body whole. *I’m starving too!*

The pain was searing—as if my brain burned. It shredded my infant consciousness like torn cloth, ripping reason from my flesh. My vision drowned in an endless crimson sea, deeper than the womb that birthed me.

Killing instinct erupted from every pore like lava. Furious, I ripped out the tongue devouring me from *inside* its mouth. I burst through the monster’s eye socket, feasting greedily on its brain matter.

So hungry. The pain raged on. This unbearable agony and starvation shattered my mind. *Meat. Warm blood. Devour everything.*