After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: “Would You Call Me ‘Mommy’?” “No.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t its fungal rinse water.

Cheng Ming took the hot water the fungal threads had retrieved from the dispenser, drank most of the cup, and injected a nutrient solution to replenish her lost energy. Fatigue surged over her again. She lay down and whispered, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Little Ming meticulously wrapped her body with a corner of the blanket.

The view shifted from dark to bright. Splendid fireworks entered her dream, blurring the line between reality and void.

Bouquets of flowing gold tore through the sky, ripping the night open, carving up the dark curtain, segmenting continents. From the crevices surged luminous microalgae, seawater flooded in, cities fell, and the world shattered, until finally, all things returned to dead silence—

Cheng Ming suddenly woke up.

The endless, suffocating silence lingered in her ears. Quiet, it turned out, could be a sound—a colossal, oppressive, thundering sound that stripped her of her hearing.

Before her vision fully returned, she urgently turned and groped, trying to confirm the presence of her “hair.”

“Little Ming?”

The residual fear sank to the bottom of her heart. She was afraid that everything she remembered upon waking was just a dream.

“Cheng Ming—”

It seemed to be just waking up too, responding groggily in her mind.

“Don’t communicate with me like that,” she suddenly interrupted, her voice slightly sharp at the end.

But she quickly caught herself, took a deep breath, and lowered her voice. “Can you speak? I want to hear your voice.”

The world was too quiet.

After being quiet for so long, she had finally gotten used to the noise. She couldn’t bear to return to that empty, lonely space.

After a one-second pause, it spoke in time. “What’s wrong?”

The cool, smooth fungal threads actively nestled into her hand, wrapping around her index and middle fingers.

Cheng Ming softly gasped for breath. She looked up. The sky outside was already bright.

However, the lounge was in the interior of the building, with only a small high window, so the brightness inside wasn’t obvious.

On the other side of the lounge chair was her usual resting and working spot, where a small patch of silver reflected light.

She threw off the blanket and moved to the desk.

The desktop vanity mirror stood quietly in the corner.

Flipping the mirror over, she saw her cascading “long hair,” her pale face, and deep in her pupils, a faint icy blue luminescence—the algae-fungus’s fluorescence.

Cheng Ming couldn’t help but reach up and touch the corner of her eye.

The thin flesh adhered to the bone. It was clearly her features, her appearance, but in the blink of an eye, she would suddenly feel that the reflection was a little strange.

Perhaps her parasitic partner was also following her gaze, subtly and secretly observing her.

She met the eyes of the person in the mirror, observing herself this closely almost for the first time. Her eye shape was slightly round, making her look approachable. There was a tiny red mole on one side of the bridge of her nose, which looked unexpectedly charming up close.

She blinked again. The fungal threads, masquerading as hair, clung tightly to her forehead and temples, with one strand sliding to her lips, rubbing against them faintly twice.

I’m here… it seemed to be its silent reply.

Cheng Ming stared blankly, opening her mouth. The strand of “hair” guiltily dropped back down as if nothing had happened.

Her fingertip touched the illusory image through the mirror. She didn’t know why, but an indescribable, strange impulse surged within her… She really wanted to kiss “her.”

Before she could process it, she had already acted, slightly propping up her upper body and gently pressing her lips to the cold mirror surface.

The exhaled warmth outlined the full shape of her lips, liquefying into a misty white fog that remained on the glass surface, clearly revealing the naughty thing she had done.

She backed away, staring at the mirror in a daze.

Perhaps a long time, perhaps less than half a second, she suddenly snapped back to reality. Her cheeks instantly burned.

She flipped her wrist. “Slam!” She quickly turned the vanity mirror face down on the table.

Bending over and resting her head on her arms, Cheng Ming’s entire face was tightly covered by her sleeve. She didn’t speak for a long time.

And what made the whole thing even more bizarre was that Little Ming was also silent.

Both remained quiet for a long while.

After a long pause, it suddenly spoke. “Your heart is beating very fast.”

Cheng Ming: “Shut up!”

…

A Familiar Face

The physique, modified by the parasite, was indeed incomparable to before. Previously, a small cold could easily lay her low for over a week. Now, after running on fumes for over a month with a virus, she felt completely refreshed after one sleep.

Her personal crisis was resolved. She needed to make up for the work she had fallen behind on.

After checking the status of the Cultivation Room and completing a round of checks in several key laboratories—replenishing reagents where necessary, and exporting data—she finished her daily tasks there and immediately went to the West Building.

All her previous analysis of the virus was focused on how to eliminate it to obtain the immunoglobulin. Now, she needed to reorganize that complex data, pick out useful information, and focus on the interaction between the virus and the algae-fungus.

After a full day of work, since the institute was mostly empty and access times were strictly enforced, Cheng Ming rarely finished work on time and walked out of the building.

The west side was still faintly bright. A dim orange-red hue enveloped the street lanterns.

The Defense Center had lifted the Level 3 state of alert shortly after her discharge. Fortunately, most of the mutated creatures that came ashore this time were short-lived, so they didn’t spoil everyone’s New Year celebration.

“The New Year should be spent with family.”

Just as she was feeling a bit nostalgic, she heard Little Ming say this out of the blue.

It sounded like its refined summary of the knowledge it had learned about human society that day.

The parasite’s perception of the outside world depended on her senses, but that didn’t prevent it from slacking off while she worked.

The maximum static range of human vision can reach 180∘, but what is ultimately seen is determined by the cranial nerves. Only after the visual center processes the information can a person truly perceive the so-called image.

Therefore, even with shared vision, they could “see” different things at the same time.

Her phone was placed within its field of vision, being swiped back and forth by the fungal threads. For as long as she meticulously organized data, it happily browsed on her phone.

“Why don’t you learn something proper?” Cheng Ming couldn’t help but tease. “You could replace me at work someday.”

“…” Little Ming fell silent.

How could someone even want to exploit a mutated creature?

Back at the apartment, Cheng Ming first checked her body.

Her skin was pliable, her nails intact, her “hair” was firm… After confirming that no part was showing signs of abnormality, she finally had time to focus on its condition.

“How are you feeling?” After changing clothes, she sat in a position facing the mirror. She observed the reaction of the fungal threads and asked casually, “Has the virus been completely cleared?”

“Mmm, there shouldn’t be any problem now,” Little Ming paused. “And…”

“What?” she asked.

“Cheng Ming.” It often called her by her full name, but in this specific moment, there was an unusual, solemn tone in its softened voice.

It asked her: “Do you want to see your mother?”

Every word was clear and common, but put together, they formed an almost incomprehensible sentence.

Cheng Ming froze. The hand that had been casually fiddling with the bed sheet suddenly tightened, creasing the fabric.

“…What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what your mother looked like?” It guided her eerily, like the witch in a fairy tale tempting girls with the promise of fulfilling a beautiful wish. “Imagine her face. Close your eyes.”

She should have asked more questions, but at that moment, she felt a sudden premonition. Her heartbeat abruptly faltered, and she obediently closed her eyes.

The brightness faded. Accompanied by the clamor of the night outside the window, bizarre patches of images overlapped before her eyes. She pieced together and outlined her mother’s face from memory, from blurred to clear.

Until she heard a soft voice say, “Ready.”

She opened her eyes, momentarily lost in a daze.

She stared motionless at the mirror, seeing the face that was most familiar and yet most strange, most longed-for yet inducing a homesick fear. She stared fixedly, afraid to blink, afraid to breathe, feeling on the verge of tears.

“Why…?” she murmured.

Little Ming gently explained: “You have her genes. There is no one closer to her in this world than you.”

Cheng Ming understood. Was this the ability of that mermaid monster? But she had only killed it, not devoured it… Wait, this clearly confirmed that Little Ming was a fish-monster too…

It seemed every crisis could unleash a new ability in it.

“I guess she would say to you…”

The “she” in the mirror’s eyes shifted, gazing deeply at the Cheng Ming outside the glass, as if traversing time and space, only to smile and say—

“My darling, Happy New Year.”

Cheng Ming blinked, and tears slipped down. As they streaked past her temples, they were gently wiped away by the fungal threads.

“What were you watching?” After a long while, she laughed through her tears. “Sometimes it really makes me feel like you’re an AI. Whatever I feed you, you can become.”

“That’s called learning, not copying. You clearly started perceiving this world by learning from Cheng Ran too,” Little Ming retorted. “It just shows I have strong learning ability.”

“Oh…” Cheng Ming drawled, teasing it. “In that case, would you be willing to call me ‘Mommy’?”

“…”

Little Ming was concise. “No.”

“Just one time.”

“No.”

Her tears hadn’t fully dried. Her eyes sparkled with suppressed laughter, a look of disappointment on her face.

Ah, this truly wasn’t like an AI. It had its own temper.

…

Hot Pot with an Old Classmate

“Cheng Ming! Here, here!”

In a narrow alleyway, Cheng Ming turned her head and saw the person waving at her from beneath the half-opened roll-up metal door. Tall and thin, wearing a bright red scarf, teeth bared in a wide grin, she exuded joy from head to toe.

It was the fourth day of the New Year. The two had finally found free time, and the old classmates, who hadn’t seen each other in years, arranged a dinner.

Work hadn’t resumed after the holiday. The coastal region was naturally sparsely populated, and most shops were closed.

Following the location provided by the other party, she arrived at a desolate alleyway and a quiet residential house. Cheng Ming thought the navigation app had once again lived up to her expectations by betraying her trust.

Han Xuhua pushed hard, rolling the metal door completely up, revealing a glass door with a “Welcome” sign pasted on it.

The inside was surprisingly unique. The shop wasn’t small. Wooden tables, chairs, and benches were neatly arranged. The front counter, back area, and seasoning station were all complete. The rich aroma of hot pot spices rolled out.

“This is my second aunt’s shop,” she introduced.

The news was revealed without warning.

Following Han Xuhua inside, it was too late to back out. Seeing the smiling woman greeting her from the inner room, Cheng Ming’s expression stiffened. She immediately felt a little awkward. “Hello, Auntie.”

“Sit, sit!” the woman greeted warmly.

Taking advantage of the aunt turning away, she couldn’t help but shoot a dagger-like glance at Han Xuhua, silently blaming her for not being clear about her surprise attack.

Who goes to a relative’s place for dinner empty-handed just a few days before the New Year?

The aunt took the menu and handed it over, seemingly catching the “silent confrontation” between them. She smiled and said, “Don’t treat it like a relative’s house, okay? Just like outside. You have to pay after you eat.”

Taking the menu, Han Xuhua, who was already rolling up her sleeves and preparing to dig in, snapped her head up. “Auntie, did you say that backward?”

Pfft, this…

The effect was excellent. Cheng Ming also started to laugh. “Alright.”