After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: “Let Me Kill Her for You?”

First floor of the surface structure, emergency shelter hall.

“Cheng Ming? Cheng Ming?” Han Xuhua tried to contact the missing person. The call connected, but the line was filled with static.

After a few forceful attempts at calling, the connection dropped again with a harsh, crackling sound. She gasped, “Hiss,” ripped off her headset with a pained expression, and crouched down, rubbing her ears.

Ten minutes had passed. The vast majority of people had safely evacuated the experimental zone, except for Cheng Ming.

With the passage closed, it was unrealistic to expect her to ascend. Han Xuhua only wanted to confirm her safety.

The technician clattered on the keyboard. “It’s fine. The display shows the underwater safety station is operational. The trapped personnel should be inside…”

“But it’s strange. The isolation net shouldn’t have failed. How could the internal facilities be damaged, and Shuttle Lift No. 2 crash?” She stared intently at the screen, her voice growing increasingly puzzled. “What kind of creature attacked? Did Team Leader Yan see clearly from above?”

Yan Li did not respond.

“Team Leader Yan?”

The technician turned around strangely, only to see the woman beside her silently staring at the rows of bl00d-red alerts on the large screen, her expression rigid, like a statue.

Yan Li knew exactly what the problem was.

She had only blocked the shuttle lift’s docking permission, making it impossible for Cheng Ming to ascend quickly… It shouldn’t have damaged the equipment.

Therefore, an accident truly happened below.

Cheng Ming was truly trapped, and possibly in danger.

“Team Leader?” Han Xuhua also noticed her odd behavior. “What’s wrong?”

Yan Li finally spoke: “It wasn’t an external monster. It must be that the experimental organisms mutated.”

She couldn’t worry about whether her contradictory statements would arouse suspicion. She asked the technical staff if the other shuttle lifts were still operational.

Receiving an affirmative answer, she looked at the data map still undergoing layered scanning and said gravely to the members of Squad 1:

“Prepare yourselves. Once the situation is confirmed, we will immediately go for the rescue.”

…

The Rescue

Han Xuhua didn’t know why her team leader had suddenly become so agitated.

Ignoring the fact that some facilities were still sparking with electrical arcs, they descended into the sea, racing against time.

Faced with a blocked passage, a member had just suggested using a cutting torch to melt the lock, when Yan Li raised her foot and kicked without blinking. Clang!

The sturdy combat boot smashed the heavy metal. The gate fell with a dull crash, shaking the ground.

Then, under the dumbfounded gaze of the people behind her, she pointed to the hinge. “Pay attention. It was loose.”

Rushing forward but still remembering to coach her team members—a truly dedicated and responsible team leader.

However, even though she offered an explanation, the mouths under the helmets of the group remained agape for a long time.

The decisiveness and efficiency were less like a rescue mission and more like a rush to commit murder…

Of course, being in a hurry was good. Han Xuhua had no complaints about that.

But assessing the situation in the entire zone took two hours. After all, the ten-square-kilometer wide bay was vast. It was a massive computational load even for the computers.

Descending from a location that deviated from the accident site, and with the seabed’s intentionally reduced artificiality to ensure experimental accuracy, the signal was poor, and navigation was sluggish. Once the direction was analyzed, the journey to the trapped location was another treacherous trip.

During this process, they were constantly harassed by large and small aquatic creatures. One fish dropped off a shuttle lift, two fish were stepped on crossing a severed cable, three fish were found while checking for radiation leaks, and the fish kept coming even when they blasted through a collapsed section…

One team member couldn’t help but mutter as they walked, “Do you think the trapped person has already been eaten by fish…?”

Han Xuhua immediately spat. “Bah! Say something nice!”

The tiny cameras on their chests constantly blinked, recording all these anomalies, awaiting analysis by professionals once they got back up.

The cause of the accident could essentially be attributed to the experimental animals, though it was unclear which crevices they had drilled through to get into the gears, or how they had discovered these passages. It was as if some highly intelligent entity was directing them from behind.

In any case, by the time they found Cheng Ming, after a journey with more scares than real danger, the water had turned cold, and the sky had turned dark.

(Of course, one can’t see the sky darken underwater.)

Yan Li was the first to open the airlock door. Whoosh. Warm air gushed out, briefly forming a white mist on her visor.

Light scattered into the water and was returned by the ripples. In the subtle, floating shadows, Cheng Ming was curled up in a corner of the safety room, encased in her black protective suit like a round ball.

No movement.

Yan Li stood at the doorway, her foot pausing, almost afraid to step inside.

It wasn’t until Han Xuhua rushed forward and helped Cheng Ming up—who was asleep from prolonged nervous exhaustion and blinked confusedly, like a pill-bug being uncurled—that she reacted, realizing the rescue had arrived.

She spread her arms and smiled at Han Xuhua. “No broken hands or feet.”

She looked fine, not injured, and her protective suit was intact.

Thanks to the safety room living up to its name, she was completely unharmed after six hours of being trapped.

Only her psyche had taken a bit of a hit.

To be safe, they took a special passage when ascending, keeping away from the crowds gathered in the shelter hall.

Yan Li assigned tasks and dismissed the others, asking Cheng Ming to wait a moment while she reported the situation to her superiors.

After the communication ended, she spoke in her usual professional tone. “Comrade Cheng Ming, you have been underwater for more than five hours. You need to be quarantined and examined.”

Cheng Ming had no objection.

It was standard procedure. Nothing to criticize.

She cooperated, following Yan Li out of the complex and boarding a fully armored nuclear-proof vehicle parked by the road.

The metal structure, built with biomimicry, looked like a mechanical beast crouching in the night.

Red Rock Bay did not have professional examination equipment. They had to rush back to the Security Department overnight.

That was Yan Li’s explanation.

For a second, Cheng Ming felt something was odd. But trusting the security personnel, she didn’t think much of it.

The vehicle, unburdened by cargo, moved quickly, returning to the main Defense Center base in less than three hours.

Inside the Security Department Building, aside from the inspection team who were called in to work overtime, the entire floor was empty and deserted.

“You’re Cheng Ming, right? Go inside and lie down,” a heavily-protected “Big White” peeked out from the doorway.

With other staff guiding her, Yan Li did not follow further.

After an hour of back and forth, several routine checks were completed. Cheng Ming glanced down at her wristband. There was one task remaining. She followed the instructions into the last room.

Pushing open the door, it was unlike all the previous inspection rooms. There were no instruments here.

The walls were smooth. The space was neither large nor small, distinctly a single unit, furnished only with one table and one chair. The omnipresent light cast no shadows in the room.

Cheng Ming sat down on the metal chair in the center, but no holographic projection of a test or a psychologist appeared as she’d expected.

She was about to leave, confused, when a clatter of footsteps sounded. The woman with the chestnut-colored, side-parted bob walked in.

She had shed the heavy, nuclear-proof armor and was wearing a simple, dark blue combat uniform. Her figure was upright, instantly reminding Cheng Ming of the aura she had first seen—both reassuring and highly intimidating.

Yan Li closed the door behind her. Click. The room was locked.

“Apologies, you can’t leave yet.”

She said this, though her face showed no genuine remorse.

The hair on her right side was longer, just covering her ear. A faint light flickered beneath it, clearly indicating she was wearing some kind of device, likely for communication or recording.

Cheng Ming raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

“Team Leader Yan,” she said, sitting in the small room of less than twenty square meters, “This is illegal detainment, isn’t it?”

The space was kept very clean, but it wasn’t hard to tell from the details that this was an interrogation room.

The narrow gap between the desktop and the legs, the chair armrests, the floor—every corner and crevice had indelible brown stains.

Yan Li approached, leaned over, and placed a thick stack of reports on the table, pressing them down with her five fingers and pushing them toward Cheng Ming—

“I’ve reviewed all your medical examination results. Your current physiological state has significant discrepancies compared to before.”

She looked at Cheng Ming, her expression severe.

Her inner turmoil had been intense before making the decision, but now that she had reached this point, it seemed less difficult.

Mainly, Cheng Ming’s data contained many points that couldn’t withstand scrutiny.

By the end, Yan Li couldn’t help but wonder if she was being overly critical due to her intention to find fault, or if there really was a problem with this cutting-edge researcher.

Cheng Ming sat up straight and looked up. The light was dazzling. She clearly saw the other person’s approaching eyes.

Unlike Qu Ying, her eyes had no softness. They held a purely cold, stern intensity. Perhaps because her job involved constant life-and-death encounters and eliminating violent criminals, Cheng Ming felt an aura around her that suggested she might draw her weapon and shoot at any second.

“…”

Her heart sank.

So, the Security Department was suspicious of her?

“Last year on August 11th?” She spoke slowly, her mind racing to organize her thoughts while controlling herself not to show hesitation. “Then you should have seen that I suffered an intracranial fungal infection and was hospitalized for a month.”

She remained very calm.

She already understood that the visitor meant her harm.

“Not that time,” Yan Li scrutinized every expression. “The most suspicious time was on December 12th, the night my team rescued you from the 113th floor of the Institute’s North Building.”

“The newly discovered mutant fish eggs can root in the brain, change shape, mimic humans, and it even infiltrated the institute using your appearance. And your testimony at the time, let me be frank, was full of holes.”

Her face was grave. Every word she uttered was clear and deadly—

“So, do you believe you were replaced, or, shall we say, parasitized?”

When the last two words came out, Cheng Ming’s heart thumped suddenly, then slowly subsided into silence.

The conclusion was correct.

But the process of deduction was wrong.

She didn’t know whether she should feel relieved or not.

People have many sides.

This officer was a kind, protective team leader to her subordinates like Han Xuhua, a dedicated protector to the researchers in the experimental zone, but now, facing a suspicious person like herself, she was an unyielding, iron-faced interrogator.

But to condemn someone, one need not lack a pretext. (欲加之罪, 何患無辭)

“…Fine.”

Cheng Ming leaned back, meeting her gaze, and cutting straight to the point, she threw the question back—

“Then what kind of examination do you hope I will accept to prove my innocence?”

“I have only one request: can it be quick? My work is not yet finished.”

Her articulation was clear, her eyes distinct. She confronted Yan Li without evasion.

Yan Li was momentarily surprised by her reaction.

Her initial impression of Cheng Ming had a slight hallucination of her sister, Yan Rong. A similar age, a similar personality—quiet and reserved at first glance, gentle as water upon contact.

But now, her feelings were completely different.

This young woman… was not weak.

Stable in demeanor, strong in spirit, or perhaps, recklessly bold.

Yet, beneath the calm exterior, Cheng Ming’s mind was anything but tranquil.

“Forget about your work. Can we worry about our lives first?”

The fish-fungus complained and chattered incessantly.

Cheng Ming was used to it and ignored it.

“Why don’t you let me kill her for you?”

Failing to protest, the parasite softened its tone, trying to lead her astray. “Cheng Ming, look, there are no surveillance cameras here…”

“What the hell are you thinking?” She couldn’t play deaf now, suppressing the urge to frown.

“How about a spore parasite instead?”

Little Ming was very patient, offering a compromise. “I have a feeling controlling her won’t be difficult… Just try it, Cheng Ming? I won’t hurt you.”

It sounded like a demon, or a Siren from Greek mythology with an angelic voice, tirelessly tempting passing sailors, trying to drag navigators off the deck and bury their souls in the deep sea.

While talking to Yan Li, Cheng Ming felt a slight anomaly on her scalp.

The fungal threads were restless. If given the command, they could dart out in less than a second, pierce the skin, and bury spores in the other person’s cerebrospinal fluid to take root and grow.

They were very close, and the other person was focused on finding her flaws, so she wasn’t adequately guarded against her.

She could almost visualize the scene.

If she controlled Yan Li, no one would bother her again.

Moreover, if the control was effective, she might gain an informed, powerfully armed puppet.

The most simple, brutal, and the quickest, most effective method.

So exquisite.

So tempting.

Hidden beneath her clothes, Cheng Ming’s chest suddenly heaved. If she were still connected to a visual life support device, her heart rate would be a sharply rising curve.

Her fear lay in the fact that, for a second, she was tempted by the suggestion.

The monster truly lacked human morality.

If it felt threatened, simply kill it. If it needed a benefit, just steal it.

They could only be restrained by external force.

Her body was its cage.

And her cage was the shell, soaked in her body temperature, hanging over her heart.

A naive, beautiful picture book story, a well-worn tenet of faith—this was probably the first lesson many mothers taught their children, teaching them kindness. Do not harm others. A human’s bottom line, a creature’s shackles.

Even now, the closer she got to the truth, the less sure she was whether her own mother had adhered to this principle.

“Shut up,” Cheng Ming said in her mind, one word at a time. “This is the Security Department. I don’t want to be buried with you.”