After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 63
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Chapter 63: “Is It My Imagination? Why Does She Seem Hostile?”
The Investigation Team Assembles
Red Stone Shelter Bay.
At nine in the evening, this usually remote and quiet place was blazing with light. Armed forces had sealed off the roads. Red and blue emergency lights flashed everywhere, and searchlights from the observation tower pierced the darkness. Relevant supervisors and operators were gathered in the two-hundred-meter-high tower to assist in the investigation into the cause of the 78 Sea Defense Incident.
In the main control center at the top of the tower, Dong Wentao, team leader of the Security Department’s Internal Investigations Unit (Unit 7), now temporarily integrated with the Third Division’s Unit 4 as a crisis response team, posed a question.
“Have there been any anomalies in the past six months?”
The staff here had shed their bulky environmental suits. The atmosphere was taut and serious. Only one woman, seated diagonally behind the others, looked completely unconcerned, her legs crossed, a silver collar around her neck, tapping her fingers lightly on her knee. This was Qu Ying.
A staff member at the console checked the records. “There was one incident. It was during the period when the Institute borrowed the site for an experiment, in March—yes, March 21st, the Spring Equinox. The experimental organism rioted, some facilities were damaged, Shuttle 2 crashed, and one researcher was trapped underwater for six hours. We still haven’t determined the exact cause.”
She pulled up the security camera footage. The large central screen lit up, playing frame by frame.
Qu Ying, who had seemed utterly bored, suddenly turned and stared at one of the monitors, her gaze fixed. The researcher who was reportedly trapped for six hours was shown being helped to the surface in a white suit, her hair loose inside the helmet, half-obscuring a pale face.
Very familiar. It was Cheng Ming.
Qu Ying stood up, the metallic chair leg scraping the floor. The members of the Investigation Department parted, watching her walk forward.
Sea surface observation normal… basic isolation net undamaged… underwater survey facility stalling… pipeline transport abnormal… shuttle suspension point aborted… safety station activated…
She narrowed her eyes at the abnormal data logs. “Who was responsible for security that day?”
The staff member continued scrolling the records below the main screen. “**Investigative Department, External Operations First Unit. The team leader was named Yan Li.”
…
Cheng Ming’s Second Assignment
Report to Red Stone Bay to assist in the 78 Sea Defense Incident investigation?
When Cheng Ming first saw the instruction on her wristband, she was baffled. What connection did she—or rather, Yan Li—have with Red Stone Bay?
She quickly found the memory: Yan Li was the security team leader for the Institute’s Fungi-Virus Joint Project field trial there.
And what did Red Stone Bay have to do with the 78 Sea Defense Incident?
Cheng Ming frowned, recalling her own terrifying experience that day: the giant metal arch hidden underwater, the unknown creature inside that could communicate with Little Ming, telling her to escape… She felt her heart race and her breathing falter just thinking about that dead-black, light-swallowing place. She hadn’t suffered physical harm, but those hours of entrapment felt like a kind of PTSD.
Now, she was being ordered back.
It was 9:23 PM. Cheng Ming went to Yan Rong’s room to inform her.
Yan Rong was awake, typing away on a laptop balanced on a small table over her bed. She looked up.
“When?”
“Leaving at 8 AM tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Cheng Ming said, glancing at the laptop. “Are you contacting the pharmaceutical company? Do you need a refill soon?”
In Yan Li’s memory, Shenzhou Pharmaceuticals was always a high-and-mighty entity, magically locating her for missions. She never knew her own sister was behind it. Truly, the hardest person to guard against is the one in your own home.
Yan Rong understood the hint. She shook the bottle on her bedside table; it rattled. “I have two weeks’ worth left.”
Yan Rong’s connection to Shenzhou came through Yan Li. Yan Li had been handed a business card by a market liaison during a Foundation meeting. The liaison offered to bypass the bureaucracy for her medicine. Yan Li dismissed him as a charlatan, threatening to report him. But she kept the card, hiding it in a communal area.
Yan Rong found it. She realized her sister had found a solution but was hiding it, letting her suffer. Yan Rong didn’t accept, didn’t tell her, but contacted them herself. She used her skills—excelling at IT, coding, and modifying electronics—to build a discreet pathway to the drug company. She played the role of the helpless, demanding sister to keep Yan Li tied down.
The drug company trusted Yan Rong more—Yan Li could quit; Yan Rong needed a long-term supply to survive. The sisters worked in tandem: Yan Li handled the physical flow from the Foundation to the Defense Center, and Yan Rong handled the virtual, perfectly coordinated, all without Yan Li’s knowledge.
Cheng Ming couldn’t decide if Yan Rong was a blessing or a curse to Yan Li, but she was certainly a benefit to herself.
A moment after returning to her room, her phone vibrated. A text message labeled “Signal Anomaly” arrived:
2174-10-22T22:00:00, Shuttle 1 Entrance, Item Handover.
The word “Handover” was noteworthy. Previously, it was always pickup or drop-off; this required a direct exchange, meaning the item was critical. As she moved to confirm the time, the entire line of text dissolved into gibberish.
This is truly a signal anomaly. Cheng Ming was stunned. Yan Li’s memory only showed her glancing at the message before closing it. She hadn’t realized the effective viewing time was so brief.
…
A Hostile Reception
October 22nd, 9:00 AM. The three-month-long rainy season was over. The sky was clear, the autumn air crisp.
In the underground experiment area, a handler with the ID M-0368 was giving a briefing to the investigation team.
“We reinforced the facility after March 21st. It’s strictly contained with no extra movement space, so it’s doing well.”
The woman wore a white suit and goggles, only half her face visible. Her skin was unnaturally pale. On the monitor, the handler adjusted the settings. In the bottom left corner, a vague, distorted trace of a creature appeared.
“You call that ‘doing well’?” Qu Ying raised an eyebrow, a meaningful smile playing on her lips as she looked at the 3D reconstruction.
“Uh…” The handler didn’t grasp the implication and nervously glanced at her, not daring to answer.
Dong Wentao (Unit 7) and Qiu Ju (Unit 4) were present and exchanged glances.
Qu Ying ignored them. “When is the next feeding?”
“Tonight at ten o’clock,” the handler replied cautiously. “Would you like to go down and see?”
“Is anyone down there now?”
“Some experimenters.”
“When does Yan Li arrive?” Qu Ying asked Dong Wentao.
He checked his comms. “Around 12:00 PM.”
“Fine, I’ll go down now,” Qu Ying stood up, looking at the two team leaders with a challenging half-smile. “Would you two like to join me?”
Dong Wentao replied calmly: “I don’t have the necessary clearance.”
Qiu Ju smiled ruefully, knowing Qu Ying was expressing her displeasure. She steeled herself. “I’ll go with you.” They had exhausted all other leads; the Merfolk specimen was dead. Red Stone Bay was the last, best hope.
…
The Interrogation Room
Noon, 12:03 PM. Cheng Ming stepped out of the car. The sea wind swept past her mask. The towering observation tower and the heavy roar of the waves created a sense of surreal déjà vu. Last time, she was here as a researcher, fighting for humanity’s future. This time, she was on an illicit mission for Shenzhou Pharmaceuticals, marching toward an uncertain purpose.
Maintaining Yan Li’s professional demeanor, she followed the escort, back straight, to a long corridor—a place she hadn’t seen before, likely built for the Security Department.
After several minutes, the environment became secretive, ending in a conference room. To her surprise, she was given a formal reception.
“Group Leader Yan Li, please sit.”
Three people sat on the lower side of the table; two wore gold and green badges, marking them as team leaders. The oval table made the room feel less like a meeting space and more like an interrogation chamber, with the main chair acting as the “hot seat.”
And the most striking part: Qu Ying was the one who spoke.
Despite the environmental suits making everyone look alike, Qu Ying’s posture was sharp and aggressive. Her eyes, fixed on Cheng Ming, were cold and penetrating, like a loaded gun.
Cheng Ming, accustomed to smiling upon seeing Qu Ying, suppressed the reflex, settling first for a formal smile, then realizing that didn’t fit Yan Li’s usual guarded personality, she slowly lowered the corners of her mouth.
Because she knew Qu Ying so well, she noticed the subtle hostility in her expression.
Is it my imagination? Why does she seem hostile?
Even Little Ming noticed. It finally broke its silence, frustrated: “Be rational! She’s treating you like a suspect!”