After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: “Does It Feel Like Coming Home?”

Red Rock Breakwater Bay.

Pale sunlight flattened the sea surface. Waves overlapped, crashing against various metals, creating a deep, resonant drumming sound that echoed long across the sea, land, and sky.

Cheng Ming and her colleagues exited the vehicle one by one, all naturally drawn to the rare scenery, gazing into the distance.

This was a sea area deliberately sectioned off by the Defense Center. Natural peninsulas enclosed a bay. The area was highly mechanized. Vertical seawalls stood like towering city walls, equipped with isolation nets to block mutated monsters, maximizing safety and convenience for researchers conducting field studies.

The observation tower stood like a giant reaching for the sky above the strait. The clash of human creation and nature’s might was awe-inspiring.

“Does it feel like coming home?”

Cheng Ming stood at the edge of the cliff, asking the fish-fungus in her mind.

It seemed deeply absorbed by the ocean. For a moment, besides the hum of the engine, there was only the sound of the rising and falling tide.

After a long time, it finally replied: “If I say I want to jump down—”

“You don’t.”

Cheng Ming decisively stepped back, cutting off its words without ceremony, and turned back toward the vehicles.

The preliminary simulation experiments had passed. The effect of Virus Extract No. 1 was significant. They spent another month further modifying and enriching the concentration, obtaining Algae-Fungus Toxin Nos. 2 and 3.

Now, they were about to conduct a localized trial in this closed sea area—

Red Rock Bay, covering nearly a thousand hectares, was a site borrowed from the animal research team.

The journey took four hours. A team from the Security Department escorted them to their destination and would be responsible for their safety during the subsequent off-site research period.

The team leader was named Yan Li.

Cheng Ming found the person’s figure a bit familiar and glanced at her a few more times.

The latter was organizing her team members. Noticing Cheng Ming’s gaze, she turned her face slightly.

Cheng Ming curved her lips, giving a polite nod.

However, the moderately built yet imposing woman avoided her gaze and offered no response.

Cheng Ming didn’t pay it much mind. Her attention was quickly drawn elsewhere—she saw her old classmate.

A lithe figure, like a leopard cat, leaped out of a vehicle. The moment she spotted Cheng Ming, her eyes lit up with a hiss. She was about to turn and greet her.

But then, she received a side-eye from her team leader, Yan Li.

Han Xuhua froze, withdrew her half-extended foot, and sheepishly returned to her team.

After the initial experiments confirmed feasibility, and with high hopes for success, the institute sent new researchers to join the project. There were four personnel vehicles alone.

Following those were about ten more transport vehicles loaded with supplies, including daily necessities and experimental equipment.

Unloading took five or six hours. By the time they settled down, it was already dark.

The ground floor was the living area. Below that was the experimental area. Deeper still were the observation deck, sampling points, and manual operation stations, accessible via a shuttle lift.

Here, protective suits could only be removed upon entering the living area.

The complex was semi-embedded in the cliff face, forming a semicircle around the bay. Most of the walls were made of a special glass-like material—high-strength and transparent—ensuring safety while allowing personnel to observe the sea conditions at any time and from any location.

The corridor lighting outside the rooms was motion-sensitive, only activating when someone passed by, and the light was dim, not as bright as the observation tower high above.

Given the proximity to the contamination source, the range of activity was strictly limited. All arrangements had to comply with regulations.

The team from the Security Department was there for both protection and supervision.

Just after reviewing the schedule with Song Manqing and others, Yan Li walked out, preparing to return to her post, when she was suddenly called out—

“Are you Team Leader Yan Li?”

She paused, turning sideways to see a young woman emerge from a room, smiling and extending her hand.

Just as the scattered white light from the tower’s top swept past, in the alternating light and shadow, she clearly saw the person’s face.

It was Cheng Ming.

“Yes. Yan Li is fine,” she shook Cheng Ming’s hand. The shifting light swept from the back of Cheng Ming’s hand to hers.

“Is there something I can help you with?” The tone was professional.

“Did you go to the North Building of the Institute on the night of December 12th last year?” Cheng Ming looked at her seriously and asked.

“Yes,” after a moment of confusion, Yan Li realized why Cheng Ming was speaking to her.

“I knew it,” Cheng Ming smiled. “You saved my life. I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly.”

“No need. It was just my job,” Yan Li immediately said. “Just part of my duty.”

After their “friendly” conversation, each with their own thoughts, Cheng Ming remained standing until Yan Li’s figure was completely swallowed by the darkness.

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s a little strange.”

“How so?”

“I can’t put my finger on it…”

Even with her symbiotic partner digging for answers, she continued to gaze in the direction where Yan Li had vanished, lost in thought.

Perhaps it was the extra, subtle attention the team leader paid to her.

She was clearly sensitive to Cheng Ming’s occasional, unintentional glances, yet when Cheng Ming truly looked at her, she acted extremely normal… abnormally normal.

It was the same when they were discussing the schedule earlier.

Because after the effectiveness test of the Algae-Fungus Toxin began, they needed to collect data underwater every 12 hours. The deep-sea ecological survey module wasn’t suitable for long stays, but to maintain data continuity as much as possible, they decided on a three-day rotation cycle, drawing lots to determine the order.

Yan Li subconsciously asked for the cycle Cheng Ming had drawn first.

This level of attention was slightly outside normal social distance. And someone with strong personal boundaries like Cheng Ming was bound to be sensitive to it.

Little Ming didn’t reply again, seeming to fall into contemplation.

Cheng Ming asked what it thought.

“Humans are truly elusive,” it commented.

It might not have meant anything by it, but it sounded strangely passive-aggressive.

Asking it was clearly asking the wrong creature.

Cheng Ming: “…”

…

The Deep Sea

Because the test site was borrowed, they had to familiarize themselves with the location while quickly learning new instruments and procedures, all while repeatedly confirming progress and following up on experiments…

They spent 16 out of 24 hours working every day.

Another small monster raid had occurred in the two months after the New Year. Resolving the third phase of contamination was imminent, and everyone involved attached extreme importance to this project.

The greater the investment, the greater the pressure.

Everyone was working at full throttle, daring not to slack off even slightly.

The daily routine was monotonous. The excitement only lasted for the first two weeks. After that, even the parasitic monster became subdued.

Cheng Ming stepped into the shuttle lift, facing the close proximity of the seawater. The lack of its usual nagging sound in her ear made her feel a little unaccustomed.

“Don’t you want to go home this time?” she teased Little Ming.

She had drawn the last shift for the rotation. It was finally her turn to go down to the deep-sea survey module.

The shuttle lift was a narrow tunnel constructed from special materials—corrosion-resistant and high-pressure-resistant. The corners of the cabin were rounded to minimize drag.

As they smoothly descended, the last trace of weak light was extinguished by the water ripples. Dead silence and deep darkness became the main theme.

“Didn’t you tell me not to think about it?” Little Ming replied simply.

Great, that sounds passive-aggressive again.

“Parasites really have no sense of humor,” Cheng Ming said, mimicking its tone.

The seabed, two to three hundred meters deep, was entirely cut off from the world.

Before descending, they had to undergo psychological testing to determine if their current state was suitable for underwater operation.

Claustrophobia and loneliness could sometimes be deadly.

Despite this, safety regulations still stipulated that each exploration could last a maximum of two hours. Just like all marine mammals, they had to ascend every so often to “take a breath.”

However, having a fish-fungus she could argue with constantly made the ordeal less grueling for her.

Thud. A slight tremor underfoot. A dull collision sound echoed.

The safety clamp locked. The shuttle lift had reached the bottom.

She stepped out of the cabin and followed the indicator signs toward the survey module.

It was a sphere, estimated to be two to three meters in diameter, capable of gliding along tracks laid across the seabed.

The operating instructions they had received during training seemed ridiculously simple at the time, comparable to teaching a child how to use a claw machine.

Seeing the real thing now, she realized it was even simpler.

Since the focus was on data collection and logging, not skillful movement, all control systems were in minimalist mode. She could issue voice commands or activate automatic cruising. Essentially, she didn’t need to do much.

Cheng Ming climbed the floating ladder inside, exported the charts, activated the automatic mode, and let the spherical cabin wander freely.

The metal shell sealed. The ecological survey module detached from the strong magnetic dock and slid toward the depths of the bay.

Sampling and analysis were fully automated. Her only job was to organize the records and use her own research experience to judge whether there was anything unusual or if the trajectory needed modification.

Facing the ocean for the first time, besides Little Ming’s uncontrollable excitement, she actually felt that same impulse.

She couldn’t tell if it came from it or from her own modified body.

The inherent instinct of marine life to yearn for the sea.

She focused on the refreshing data values, occasionally glancing outside the glass cabin.

The vast darkness was like the huge mouth of a monster. The faint blue light from the cabin was swallowed by the surrounding gloom.

Thwack!

The spherical cabin shook. Something hit the front glass, bursting into a cloud of unclear, muddy fluid.

Cheng Ming was startled. She quickly pressed pause and shone her flashlight toward the nearby silt floor.

A sea fish.

It was rotten and completely dead.

It was unclear if it died from the recent “accident” or if it had already suffocated and rotted long ago.

Although the organisms within the bay were filtered and screened, the area was still semi-open for data accuracy. The water was connected to the outer sea. The conditions on the seabed were unpredictable. This was why the higher-ups required manual monitoring by the Security Department, and why the institute needed manual exploration below.

Unable to go down to check, she remotely operated the joystick to scoop it into the collection bin, deciding to take it back for study.

It really was like playing a claw machine.

Restarting the program, she gazed into the endless, deep darkness. The light in her pupils gradually became profound… She had a feeling that the fish had come from a specific direction.

Hesitating, Cheng Ming pressed the run button and changed the original direction of movement.

There was no light in the deep sea. The overgrown algae and fungi completely blocked the sky. Nothing could be seen beyond half a meter of void.

It suddenly gave her the feeling of being immersed in nuclear wastewater without any protection. It didn’t feel like an underwater survey; it felt like she inherently belonged here.

Blinking, she couldn’t

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