After Being Parasiticized By A Monster - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Didn’t You Say You Hated the Name ‘Xiao Ming’?

The familiar silhouette, the familiar voice.

The person she’d just seen twenty minutes ago was standing on the balcony, arms crossed, a thin cigarette held lightly between their fingers in mid-air. The posture was relaxed, yet Cheng Ming didn’t dare to acknowledge it.

She made her breaths extremely slow and long, her back slightly hunched, staring at the person without blinking, as if she had accidentally entered a large-scale horror game called “Red Light, Green Light,” where she couldn’t speak or move.

She couldn’t see what she looked like, and her attention wasn’t on her body, so she was unaware that hyphae were spreading around her into a thick ocean, black waves surging, opening up a domain.

Just like two ferocious beasts with strong territorial instincts meeting on a narrow road, a fierce aggression naturally erupted.

The spreading silence was like a taut string; once released or broken, one side would surely be left bloody.

She had returned to the apartment via the ventilation shaft. She was grateful for Wang Qi’s ability, which helped her avoid surveillance, but also unlucky, because if it weren’t for Wang Qi, she wouldn’t have been dragged into all this and wouldn’t have to worry about falling under the scrutiny of the Security Department.

Even more unfortunately, Qu Ying had been standing downstairs for an hour before this.

She had hidden things, she had lied.

She had also lied.

She ignored the distress call on the public channel two hours ago, guessing it was an escaped experimental subject from some department, or perhaps even a self-staged event… she was accustomed to such things and couldn’t be bothered to interfere.

But then, when she had already reached her destination, she looked at the next mission released, and then at the apartment that remained unresponsive—

She frowned deeply, finally tapping her finger and accepting the task.

Investigate the area around shoreline coordinates 32.00,9 to 32.05,10 for suspicious fungal bodies.

It was the exact location of the collective apartment building for internal staff of the Defense Center.

Qu Ying’s mood was visibly very bad.

She was like any parent who discovers their seemingly obedient child is actually incredibly rebellious, and while having their own thoughts is one thing, what’s unbearable is that the child refuses to communicate, excluding the overly concerned parent from their little world.

This made her feel not only a sense of crisis but also anger.

The room was still the same room, but Cheng Ming felt invisible waves flowing, surging towards her, intent on dragging her into the abyss.

She couldn’t see it, but her body felt the suppression from a top-tier predator.

Long hair intruded into her vision, filling the bed with a pitch-black mass, spilling over, like asphalt dripping onto the floor, expanding with Cheng Ming as the center, but finally stopping about two meters away.

It seemed to be blocked by something, a clear boundary forming in the middle of the floor.

Qu Ying extinguished the half-smoked cigarette, took a step, and walked towards her.

A deep shadow behind her shifted, like color blocks stacking and错位 when a game interface glitches, and then, following the clues, Cheng Ming finally discovered that the darkness had long been filled with tentacles crawling all over the walls, spreading on the floor, and hanging down from the ceiling.

It was just that this cephalopod-like creature was always best at hiding and disguising.

“Xiao Ming, I told you, if something happens, just find me—”

Cheng Ming heard her voice, low and leisurely. The ending was slightly raised, not inviting, but sharp.

It was like the ravings of an ancient god, capable of directly piercing the skull and jabbing into the cranial nerves.

She slowly opened her mouth, throat dry, unable to speak.

…Can’t escape.

That was her only thought right now.

She understood the meaning of the phrase “she will pose a threat to us,” and further understood where the ever-present sense of oppression she felt when facing Qu Ying came from.

Was Qu Ying a mutant contaminated by radiation, a human-monster symbiont like her, or perhaps a mutated creature in disguise… Cheng Ming didn’t know. After twelve years of acquaintance, she knew nothing about her.

No wonder she often vanished as soon as she went on a mission, no wonder her work was classified. Was this the reason for her special identity?

In the past, Cheng Ming would probably have been shocked, fearful, perhaps even broken down. But she had experienced too much recently, so much that her mind was numb. While it was unexpected, it felt perfectly reasonable.

Moreover, the faint, transparent, bizarre patterns flowing on those tentacles looked very familiar—the holographic projection program for the stress test this morning was based on her as a prototype.

“Don’t come closer.”

Cheng Ming was still caught in the intense emotional shift between realization and bewilderment when she suddenly heard the all-too-familiar voice utter these four words full of threat, and she froze—

The words weren’t hers.

Hyphae occupied the territory, blocking the powerful invading tentacles outside. Two deep-sea behemoths had met, both restless and eager to strangle the other.

However, Cheng Ming was the one suffering.

She wanted to yell “shut up,” but couldn’t.

Qu Ying instantly understood, her face freezing over, capable of shedding ice shards. “You think you can talk to me?”

The parasite, scorned by both its host and its enemy, didn’t care, firmly maintaining control over the body’s authority, and stated a fact to Qu Ying:

“You’re calling me.”

Although the tone was its usual emotionless coldness, the content was indeed as arrogant as a provocation.

The light was dim, and Cheng Ming could only judge the other’s emotions through vague facial features and body language. She watched Qu Ying move from confusion to realization, and then to explosive anger, making Cheng Ming seriously doubt her ears—

Didn’t you say you hated the name ‘Xiao Ming’? Why are you responding so readily now?

The night was deep, and blurred lines twisted and permeated all directions, like the legendary Kraken sea monster, whose full form was unseen and whose horror was difficult to describe.

Against an “old monster” like Qu Ying, who had served in the Security Department for over a decade, the newborn fish-fungus was indeed as immature as an infant.

Hyphae retreated section by section, breaking, disintegrating, and being devoured, as tentacles closed in, like layers of seawater pressing down.

Cheng Ming was struggling to breathe.

To make matters worse, the parasite was currently acting erratic, controlling her limbs, making it impossible for her to yield or retreat.

You two fight, just let me go… Cheng Ming felt a mouthful of bl00d rising in her throat, scales were forced out beneath her skin to resist the pressure, which was nothing short of torture for her already weak body.

A tentacle tangled in her hair, Qu Ying walked to the bed, her gaze like an actual ice pick, leaning forward.

The bitter scent, mixed with a hint of cool mint, grew stronger.

Cheng Ming was suddenly a little grateful it was night and she hadn’t had a chance to turn on the light—those thick tentacles extending from the back of the other’s neck, resembling a transparent army of insects, were truly terrifying.

The pair of eyes that opened in the chaos were on par with the CG images of any monster BOSS in disaster movies. Tragically, she was seeing a live one.

Thump, thump, Cheng Ming seemed to hear the sound of bl00d pounding through her heart chambers… her eardrums vibrated, cerebrospinal fluid pressure spiked, and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. In that instant, she felt her limbs recover and realized she could move.

—The parasite had deserted and retreated.

The decision wasn’t hers, yet she was the one who had to bear the consequences.

As if suddenly breaking through the surface of a thick liquid pool, Cheng Ming clenched her teeth, snapping back from near-fatal dizziness, and urgently cried out:

“Sister Ying Ying!”

…

That damned fish-fungus monster!

She was almost dragged into the crossfire. Cheng Ming escaped death, collapsing back onto the bed, gasping for air, silently cursing the shameless parasite countless times in her heart.

Qu Ying, who had been thoroughly disgusted, finally calmed down. Although she was furious, there was truly nothing she could do; she couldn’t exactly cut Cheng Ming open right now.

She retracted her horrifying form before the light came on, reverting to a human appearance, and sat on the edge of the bed, her four fingers having tapped the edge many times.

The hyphae were broken into strands, scattered messily on the white duvet between them, like the unique bl00d left behind by a wounded monster.

Qu Ying suppressed her revulsion, observed the samples carefully, and finally, frowned, decisively declaring:

“Fine, come with me. We’ll go back to the department and see if we can dig it out.”

She acted on her words, standing up, her voice extraordinarily cold and resolute.

She could choose not to report it, but she couldn’t tolerate Cheng Ming keeping such a great danger.

Cheng Ming leaned against the headboard, breathing heavily to alleviate her discomfort, closing her eyes to clear her thoughts.

“Sister Ying Ying, can you guarantee that I will still have freedom and can continue to work normally at the institute?” she asked.

She wasn’t clear about the specifics of the “department” she spoke of, and it was understandable that such information couldn’t be disclosed to an outsider like her.

But as a frontier researcher, even though her authority wasn’t vast, she had a relatively accurate assessment of current technological standards and a more precise judgment of her own physical condition than anyone else.

Unless the parasite was willing to abandon her and seek a new host, human means couldn’t separate them painlessly.

Just looking at the Wang Qi incident made it clear—she had roughly understood the cause from Qu Ying; Wang Qi had been killed, and her living brain was being manipulated by an intelligent monster with shapeshifting abilities, essentially a form of parasitism. The Security Department had discovered this, but unsure of the monster’s motive and lacking the confidence to save the hostage, they had only placed a special mark and were tracking and observing secretly.

“Sister Ying Ying, you know I can’t leave. I have to stay here.” Cheng Ming opened her eyes and looked at Qu Ying, speaking clearly, word by word, “I must stay at the institute.”

She raised her right hand, tugging at the silver chain around her neck, pulling a red seashell out from her chest and gently cradling it in her palm.

The light in the deep night was pale and chilling.

She looked as if she was holding a slightly faded small heart, a nonchalant smile still hanging on her lips, but her head was tilted high, looking up at her, and her clear pupils were moist again, refracting the light into shimmering, fragmented stars.

“…”

Qu Ying stared at the smooth-edged ornament for a long time, and finally relented.

She took a deep breath, “Can you suppress it?”

“I’m exploring how,” Cheng Ming nodded.

Listening to the two of them discussing how to deal with it, the fish-fungus inside her was remarkably submissive, staying silent and quiet as if it didn’t exist.

Qu Ying rubbed her forehead, paced back and forth a couple of steps, feeling annoyed, obviously not satisfied with this outcome but helpless.

“Sister Ying Ying, you have to accept that little ones grow up,” Cheng Ming “considerately” comforted her.

She stopped, scoffed a “Heh,” and agreed: “Grown up, gotten tough.”

Qu Ying watched her slowly tuck the seashell back into her chest, her eyes narrowing, suddenly realizing something—

“How exactly were you infected?”

Cheng Ming’s hand paused, and she looked up, “Sister Ying Ying…”

Qu Ying sensed her evasion, speaking one word after another: “Tell. Me. The. Truth.”

Her brows pressed down, the curve of her naturally slender willow eyes tightened further, and her oppressive presence instantly became undeniable.

…Alright.

Cheng Ming helplessly met her sharp gaze, her expression calm: “Did a little experiment.”