After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Not-Completely-Unexpected Accident.

The elevator was sealed shut.

The voice, which had been silent for a long time, quietly surfaced. “The person just now, is she an acquaintance of yours?”

Cheng Ming noticed its weakness and raised a slight eyebrow. “Why?”

They had eventually reached an agreement.

To be safe, before the Reconnaissance Department’s inspection, it initiated a programmed cell death, retracting all the “tentacles” that had spread to her body’s surface. The core entity was forced to lie dormant deep inside, evading system scans and avoiding identification by technical means like bl00d sampling and lab tests.

A scorched-earth strategy, sacrificing part of itself for self-preservation.

“Keep your distance from her,” it commanded.

“I’ve known Qu Ying for over a decade. Regardless of anything else, I certainly know her better than you do.” A small smile tugged at Cheng Ming’s lips, a hint of surprise, a hint of mockery. But her tone was calm and her voice low and soft. “What’s wrong? Can she threaten you?”

“She can threaten us.”

“Why?”

“Instinct.”

“…”

The conversation had reached a dead end. Cheng Ming narrowed her eyes and said no more.

Qu Ying’s work was somewhat confidential; she never discussed it with Cheng Ming.

All she knew was that Qu Ying had joined the Logistics and Security Department early on, and that her mother, Professor Cheng Ran, had been the one to introduce her to the job.

Later, after Professors Cheng Ran and Cheng Jin went missing, aside from their old colleague Professor Jiang Dexin, it was her “Sister Ying” (Qu Ying)—who owed her mother a debt of gratitude—who looked after her the most.

Mainly, she provided support in daily life.

For example, she would bring meat, eggs, and vegetables every ten to fifteen days, cook her dinner, check on her studies, and listen to her troubles… Qu Ying was the one who accompanied Cheng Ming through the initial, most difficult period after she lost contact with her parents.

But their relationship wasn’t deep.

Knowing that Qu Ying was acting out of gratitude to Cheng Ran and that they had no biological or familial obligation, Cheng Ming consciously maintained a professional distance.

Later, when she finished her studies and entered the institute, Qu Ying was visibly busier, and their interactions became even rarer. It was normal not to see each other for months or even half a year.

The Logistics and Security Department has multiple sub-departments; only the Reconnaissance Department is commonly seen by the public. The names and functions of the others are unknown.

The fact that she ran into her during a Reconnaissance Department operation… What exactly does Qu Ying do?

But ultimately, the threat posed by the parasite was real and had been brutally apparent to her, far outweighing any potential threat from Qu Ying.

Even though they were currently in symbiosis, and it had shown a certain degree of sincerity, she still didn’t dare to fully trust it.

Being parasitized was an accident that wasn’t completely unexpected.

That day, she was assisting with the transport of experimental materials as usual and supervising the subsequent disposal of consumables. Due to a minor equipment malfunction, she put on protective gear to check and report the repair.

She didn’t notice anything obviously amiss at the time, but when she returned to her apartment, she found a tiny bl00d puncture on her finger.

She wanted to call the Defense Center’s emergency line immediately, but her immune system reacted violently. Her body went into a high fever, and she lost consciousness and fell into shock within a mere 10 seconds.

When she woke up, she had this “roommate” inside her.

Moreover, it can evade detection.

Although she couldn’t make the call instantly, on the second day of her unexcused absence, the LSD sent a medical team. They inspected her body with professional equipment and diagnosed a bacterial intracranial infection.

After hospitalization and surgical treatment, she was granted an additional four weeks of leave—and it was during those four weeks that Cheng Ming painstakingly achieved cooperation with it.

The LSD never discovered its presence.

Perhaps it was cleverly hidden and lucky enough, or perhaps it was too weak then, with only a few abnormal cells insufficient to trigger an alarm. If she had proactively reported it, the consequences would have been unpredictable.

So, in the end, she concealed its existence.

However, the inability to control one’s own body is, unequivocally, an unspeakable horror and despair.

Her lost hair, shedding nails, diminished sense of taste, and residual scars… are all proof of their past struggle.

Her thoughts raced. Cheng Ming stared at the flashing numbers on the elevator screen, her gaze gradually deepening.

The monster residing in her body, or the friend with an uncertain stance—which side is more dangerous?

…

Wang Qi’s disappearance meant the promotion defense was postponed.

While the raise and promotion were temporarily out of sight, the hard work still had to be done diligently.

After running data in the lab all day, Jiang Dexin pushed the door open just before dinner time and waved his hand. “Alright, everyone, stop working for now. I’m treating you all to dinner.”

Instantly, the room erupted in cheers—

“Boss is generous!”

“Dr. Jiang, I’ll be your dog!”

“Cheeky!” Jiang Dexin playfully tapped their foreheads one by one.

The mutation of marine organisms accelerated, and experimental subjects were difficult to control. Although various facilities and equipment had improved significantly over the past decade or so, it had to be admitted that the Defense Center was the most dangerous frontier in the world today. Researchers, to some extent, had become consumables, and the average age of the staff was noticeably decreasing.

The interns who just joined this year are only 17 years old, essentially a joint training program between universities and the institute. They will be directly employed upon graduation.

When he got to Cheng Ming, Jiang Dexin patted her shoulder. “Xiao Cheng, how are you feeling? If you’re unwell, you must say so. I’ll approve your leave.”

“No major issues, just a cold,” Cheng Ming smiled.

Tidying up and heading downstairs, Cheng Ming noticed that the adjacent labs were also empty. She reasonably suspected that the Reconnaissance Department was still active and had notified the research group leaders to clear the area.

It was a half-hour drive to the mall where they would eat. Seven people crammed into an SUV.

The bustling, lively city was thirty kilometers outside the Defense Center.

To prevent panic and casualties from mutated marine organisms making landfall, the area between five and ten kilometers from the coast is a locked-down warning zone, essentially a small pass. Complete documentation is required for entry and exit, and both people and vehicles are subject to inspection.

Of course, the procedures were less cumbersome for institute personnel than for outsiders.

The ten-to-twenty-kilometer zone was a transitional area. All civilian residences were evacuated after the first marine nuclear radiation outbreak in 2143.

As the car drove, wild grass grew haphazardly along the roadside. The landscape was truly vast and desolate. Occasionally, a gust of wind would sweep through, flattening the wild reeds and revealing the remaining architectural debris, accompanied by the whistling wind, like the labored breathing of a dying, wounded beast.

Then, from twenty to thirty kilometers, sparse human settlements began to appear, with the lights in the twilight wilderness ranging from scattered to large clusters.

The short tens of kilometers of road seemed to recount the evolution of nature to human society, traversing from wilderness to modernity. The human transformation of the land was incredibly tangible.

The two intern girls from the inland universities were quite excited, chattering and asking questions about the unusual scenery.

Dr. Jiang, who was nearing retirement age, still blended well with the young people. He drove and introduced the area with a laugh:

“It wasn’t like this before. This used to be one of the five most famous coastal tourist cities. Everyone loved coming here to play, but the environmental damage was also severe… I was at the research institute then, inspecting with the two Cheng professors. You’d catch a dead fish just by tossing a net—all because of plastic bags…”

Hearing the titles of her parents, Cheng Ming didn’t interject, quietly gazing out the window.

The sunset etched deep and shallow tire tracks onto the road, seemingly allowing one to trace back time and see the footsteps left by her young parents as they rushed about for scientific research.

With fewer people along the coast, there was naturally less business. Even the most bustling mall nearby didn’t offer a wide variety of choices, perhaps even less than the institute’s cafeteria. Jiang Dexin chose a barbecue restaurant. The place was small but crowded with customers, offering much more of a sense of human life than the perpetually orderly Defense Center.

Seven people sat around a table.

The youngest intern, named Huang Chengcheng (meaning ‘bright yellow’), was also the smallest in stature, but she piled the largest plate of freshwater seafood, stacking the plates into a small mountain. She flipped the sizzling, oily fish and shrimp and sighed regretfully, “Sigh, I heard seafood is super, super fresh. Too bad we can’t eat ocean fare even living by the sea now. We can only grill freshwater stuff to satisfy the craving…”

After grilling, she enthusiastically distributed it. “Hehe, Dr. Jiang, please try the first one.”

Jiang Dexin joked, “Are you asking me to test for poison?”

Huang Chengcheng immediately protested, “How could I? I just want you to see if it’s cooked—”

The table was filled with laughter and excitement.

Cheng Ming was preoccupied and only realized what she was doing after placing a clam in her mouth.

The instant the earthy taste surged up, she felt nauseated. Dropping her chopsticks, she clamped her hand over her mouth and sprinted towards the restroom, ignoring the astonished looks of the group.

When she returned, facing a table full of worried and concerned eyes, Cheng Ming felt that the eyes of the yellow catfish on the grill were all flickering with a strange light.

As sisters who shared a lab, everyone was very concerned—

“Allergic to freshwater seafood?”

“Tasted so bad you threw up?”

“Are you pregnant?”

Cheng Ming: “…” Thank you, but no, I’m not pregnant. Although, in a way, it was similar—being parasitized by another life form, having her hormone levels, physical state, and appetite altered by another life form.

Slap!

Unsurprisingly, the girl who delivered the startling last question was rewarded with a crisp slap on the back of the head by Dr. Jiang. “What are you saying!”

Then, Jiang Dexin looked over with a solemn, earnest, and serious expression: “It wasn’t cooked properly, was it?”

Cheng Ming: “…”

Torn between tears and laughter, she waved her hand helplessly. “I’m fine. It’s just that my sense of taste seems to have been affected since the surgery, and I’ve also had a cold these past couple of days… Well, you all eat. I’ll just have something bland.”

Dinner finished around nine o’clock.

The car arrived near the pass, still five or six kilometers from the institute, but less than two kilometers from the staff apartments.

Cheng Ming asked Jiang Dexin to drop her off before the isolation line, saying she wanted to walk around to digest her food since she rarely got out.

“Keep your ID with you. You can’t get back in if you lose it. Don’t wander too far, and don’t stay out too late…” Jiang Dexin couldn’t help but offer a few extra, nagging instructions.

He wasn’t worried about danger. Outside the isolation line was considered a safe zone. While one might worry about a girl walking alone at night encountering bad people in residential areas, this vicinity was a true vacuum zone—marine monsters couldn’t make it this far, and human criminals wouldn’t dare approach.

It was just that there would be no shuttle service late at night, and after dark, walking without protection inside the isolation line carried a certain degree of hidden risk.

Moving away from the brightly lit road, grass leaves of indistinguishable features brushed against her trousers. Cheng Ming stepped on pebbles, following the signs and walking toward a more remote area.

“Are you sure there’s a mutated species nearby?” she asked.

Back at the barbecue restaurant, her famished roommate had suddenly spoken up while she was in the restroom, alerting her that it sensed the presence of food. (Despite Cheng Ming’s resentment at being deprived of meat because of it, the monster and host almost argued in front of the mirror.)

Mutated organisms can detect each other through chemical signals dispersed in the air; their sensitivity is unmatched by any modern high-precision instrument.

“It’s not moving. It should be a plant,” it replied faintly.

The Logistics and Security Department regularly patrols a certain range along the coast. Wild plants, lacking mobility and aggression, could be missed and not cleared. This wasn’t entirely impossible.

Seawater backflow contaminated the land, creating a high probability of mutation. According to past data statistics, a tsunami could penetrate up to five kilometers inland at its maximum, which was factored into the placement of the isolation line.

It sounded foolproof… but Cheng Ming still felt something was off, though she couldn’t articulate it.

She paused, frowning. “I thought you were only interested in marine organisms?”