After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: “Can You Give Me Some Nutrition?”

Hoo—

In the isolation room, Cheng Ming pressed her forehead against the transparent glass, forcibly exhaling a breath of dry heat. She allowed the blurry white mist to obscure her vision and her expression.

The time of torment was simply too long.

She wasn’t sure if she could hold on. If she couldn’t…

Gently biting her sore lower lip, her body remained still, but her eyes quietly lifted to the tightly locked door.

Her brows furrowed.

If it came down to it, perhaps she really would have to consider budding off spores…

…

The Unexpected Announcement

A wall separated her from the outside.

The observation room was surrounded on three sides by various electronic devices, metal components, and data cables, with one wall for monitoring and one for data.

Yan Li stood in the center, staring at the jumping green screen on the black monitor. Hidden by her short hair, a device on her right ear blinked intermittently with a faint light.

Although this area was completely enclosed and unmonitored, she instinctively lowered her voice:

“I’ve transmitted the data to you with encryption. But honestly, there are no obvious problems. Once the isolation is over, I have no reason to detain her forcibly…”

“Data can be manipulated, and problems can be artificially created, Team Leader Yan. Aren’t you being too rigid?”

The flat, unremarkable voice on the other end carried a natural, scornful laugh.

It seemed that the ability to irritate a conversational partner at any time was a talent of these people.

Yan Li’s face grew cold. “I still don’t want to lose my job.”

No, more than that.

Given her position, the charges of fabrication, graft, abuse of power, and deliberately breaking the law… any one of them would result in a fate far worse than losing her job.

No sooner had she spoken than her wrist communicator vibrated. Doo-doo.

She didn’t have time to register what the person on the other end said. She looked down and instantly, no other sound registered in her ears.

Staring only at the information displayed on the panel, her eyes widened, her gaze fixed, as if she were witnessing something incredibly unbelievable.

…

Cheng Ming didn’t know whether to call it lucky or unlucky—

She had lost an opportunity to test budding spores on a living person.

“Isolation is over. You may leave.”

The double-layered metal isolation door suddenly opened. Cheng Ming, who had just changed into dry clothes, looked up in surprise at the figure standing guard at the door.

Yan Li’s expression was as calm as usual. She offered no explanation, simply saying: “I will escort you back to Red Rock Bay tomorrow. Tonight, you can stay here…”

“I’m going back to my apartment,” Cheng Ming immediately interrupted.

After four days of sheer torment, her voice was rough and hoarse. No matter how gentle and polite her tone, she couldn’t mask the faint sarcasm within.

I dare not spend the night here with you.

“That’s acceptable.”

Yan Li understood her resentment and showed no displeasure.

However, that wasn’t the main reason.

Cheng Ming had no mind to quibble with her now.

Her urgent priorities were to immediately replenish her own hydration and—

To supplement the parasite’s nutrition.

…

The Night Visitor

North Apartment Unit 2, 10th Floor of the Institute.

Returning to her long-abandoned bedroom, ignoring the dust covers, Cheng Ming leaned against the corner of the cabinet and crouched by the bed. Suppressing her fatigue, she rummaged through the clutter for a nutrient solution and painstakingly injected one into her vein.

After three days of dehydration, the bl00d vessels in her wrist had shriveled and become brittle to a degree. She didn’t dare use too much force for fear of causing an accident.

The food provided during isolation was only for human sustenance. After four days without water and nutrients, the parasite was certainly critically weakened by the emergency, “cutting-flesh-to-patch-the-sore” methods.

Although she desperately wanted to collapse and sleep, remembering the burning thirst in her throat, she walked into the bathroom, filled the tub, and immersed herself.

Her entire body submerged. Gurgle, gurgle. Air bubbles rose to the surface.

Twenty minutes later, Cheng Ming sat up with a splash, choked on some water, and after a few coughs, felt much better in her throat.

“How are you?” she called out to Little Ming. “Are you okay?”

Her head, neck, and shoulders broke the water surface. The wet “hair strands” naturally clung to her cheeks.

The inactive fungal threads, which looked like withered grass, were suddenly bathed in rain. After a brief adjustment, they grew explosively, quickly dispersing and spreading out like water weeds, filling the entire water area until her body was completely covered.

If one looked now, the bathtub only contained a black tide that was about to overflow, with only one of her rounded knees barely exposed, occasionally submerged by the ripples, appearing and disappearing within the swaying “fungal fluid.”

An extreme contrast of intense black and pure white.

She still preferred to converse with it directly.

On one hand, this maintained the principle of one “person” speaking at a time, making her mind less noisy and the room less silent.

On the other hand, it made her feel more human.

She had to maintain her humanity, and at the same time, force this fish-fungus to abide by human rules.

“I’m fine,” Little Ming responded promptly, not letting her worry. “I’m just a little hungry.”

“Do you want me to go find food for you?”

Cheng Ming also felt her strength had recovered significantly.

She leaned her upper body out and reached for her phone nearby—these smart devices had been delivered to her on the second day of isolation. Without them, the past few days would have been much worse, and she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the experiments.

She turned on the screen: 1:00 AM.

Perfect. The ideal time for some clandestine activity.

“It’s a bit far…” Little Ming said euphemistically. “I’m hungry right now.”

Cheng Ming paused, then considered. “Then should I inject another nutrient solution?”

In reality, the fish-fungus was pouting for attention.

But clearly, she didn’t realize it and thought it was being difficult.

However, she was patient for once.

After all, it had been remarkably cooperative for the past four days.

Dehydration was far more damaging to it, yet it had suppressed its nature. It neither revealed itself in the second stage nor tried to draw sustenance by exploiting its host, preventing her physiological data from showing severe fluctuations.

Its good behavior made her feel a little guilty.

“No need. Can you give me some nutrition?” Perhaps because of its weakness, it sounded pitifully, which was extremely rare.

Cheng Ming finally understood.

It wanted to directly absorb the nutrition from her body?

They were already one entity. She didn’t know why it suddenly felt the need for such “ceremony.”

“Alright,” she chuckled slightly. “What do you want? Sugar? Protein? Fat? Or can you even absorb inorganic salts?”

“Mucins,” Little Ming replied.

Hmm?

Cheng Ming hesitated, confirming she hadn’t misheard the word.

Mucins are glycoproteins found on the surface of various “channels” in the human body, such as the respiratory and digestive tracts. Their main functions include acting as a protective barrier against pathogen infection, maintaining a moist environment, and lubricating to prevent abrasion from foreign objects.

Amidst her confusion, she couldn’t help but curve her lips. It was a rare opportunity, and she wanted to ask if this knowledge-showing fish-fungus had learned too much and mixed up its facts.

But in the next second, the skin embraced by the warm water felt a little numb and itchy.

Realizing that the fungal threads, which were previously just drifting, began to move purposefully toward her body, the curve on Cheng Ming’s lips vanished—

Parasitic fungi often branch off from their hyphae to form specialized structures for invading host cells and obtaining nutrients.

This special structure is technically called a haustorium.

And now, those fungal threads with swollen tips were being put to full use by it, like tendrils, slowly winding, spreading, enveloping, penetrating… seeking and drawing the nutrients they desired.

She was naked, bypassing the step of undressing. The undulating water was the perfect medium. The fungal threads climbed onto her body. She was instantly startled, folding and curling her legs together, but this didn’t stop the filaments, which were as thin as hair.

She tried to open her mouth, but the other half of the fungal threads paused above her upper body, found a gap, and stretched from her chest to block her mouth, reducing her intended words of reprimand and stop into muffled “Ooh-ooh” sounds.

“Your body fluids are also good nutrition.”

After the fact, Little Ming finally took a moment to explain, its voice filled with a lingering tone of joy and satiety.

What was it saying?

…

What was it saying?!

This vulgar remark was like a sudden lightning strike. Cheng Ming’s mind was buzzing as if filled with a swarm of bees, and the water around her seemed to be boiling and evaporating.

She grabbed the edge of the tub, struggling to stand up, but the water environment was the marine creature’s domain. Her feet couldn’t find purchase, and her elbows slipped. She had just managed to push up when she started to fall back down.

Yet, it wouldn’t even let her hit the tub. As she fell back, fungal threads like a woven mat of green algae cushioned her.

Water splashed everywhere, the resulting waves making everything even more chaotic.

Cheng Ming sank into the ink-like water mixed with fungal hair. Her vision was submerged. The overturned waves lifted its tendrils and draped them over her face like a veil, from her forehead to her lips, a soft, wet, lingering kiss.

Above, below, and all around were its budded filaments, a net from heaven and earth, inside and out, with nowhere to escape.

Moreover, she somehow felt that the shape of each one formed was different.

Filamentous ones entwining and linking, spherical ones rolling and shifting, palmate ones separating and joining, changing and adhering…

“Hmph… Ugh!”

A sound like a cry or a sob. Her oral cavity was blocked. She couldn’t utter complete words, only disjointed, meaningless syllables, seeming to express anger, collapse, or perhaps, an indescribable pleasure.

At first, there were soft, delicate sounds, but later only faint gasps remained, the muffled sobs sealed by the viscous water quality.

In the end, even the rapid breathing was extinguished. She was pulled under the water by it. Her fingers slipped from the edge of the tub. Whoosh. The ceaseless sound of water drowned out everything.

…

The Foot on the Stone

3:00 AM.

Just past the Spring Equinox, the midnight wind still carried a chilling coolness. The institute building seemed to tremble slightly in the night wind.

B2, Underground Storage Room.

Clang. A slit quietly opened in the high ventilation shaft. A slender figure hung down from above, cautiously testing the surrounding environment before lightly jumping down. Tap. She landed like a soft, nocturnal animal.

She pressed herself against the corner in the dark, waited quietly for a minute, and only opened her flashlight after confirming safety.

Swoosh. The ignited white light dispelled the gloom, scattering back from the walls, illuminating Cheng Ming’s somewhat indifferent face.

Her cheeks were pale from the cool air she encountered along the way, but a slight blush still lingered on her cheekbones, giving her a strangely alluring beauty.

She wasn’t resting when she should be. She had sacrificed her sleep time to sneak in after all.

What do you call shooting yourself in the foot?

This was it.

The entire ordeal had left her utterly exhausted. Not only had it completely consumed her, but she also had to endure the cold wind in the early morning to find food for it.

Cheng Ming moved through the racks of bottles and jars toward the interior, selecting suitable targets in the “warehouse.” Her footsteps were slightly heavier than usual, each step carrying resentment.

“Cheng Ming, if you’re tired, you can actually hand over your body to me. I’ll come myself…”

Even the slightest fluctuation of her emotions could not be hidden from the parasite inside her.

Little Ming offered a solution, both considerate and cautious.

“You think I’ll fall for that!” Cheng Ming snapped back, predictably gritting her teeth.

Now even taking a bath had become a dangerous activity. If it gained control of her body, what else would it do? She simply couldn’t imagine.