After Being Parasitized by a Monster 1

Chapter 1: “Why are you only quiet when I’m taking a shower?”

On the sixty-third day of being parasitized, there were no obvious changes to her body, except that her skin had become more delicate and smooth, and she was thirstier.

After finishing work, Cheng Ming returned to her staff apartment, walked into the bathroom, and stripped naked.

The showerhead turned on, and a hot stream of water washed over her skin.

Through the steamy mirror, a layer of translucent scales could be faintly seen on her neck, seeming to quietly pulse open and shut like an illusion under the flowing water.

She touched the slightly slippery mucus that was being secreted, sensing the perfect state of symbiosis they had already achieved. Compared to the past two months, she was much bolder now, even daring to joke with the uninvited guest inside her body.

“Why are you only quiet when I’m taking a shower?” she asked.

“…” It remained silent.

“You can’t be shy, can you?” she teased, talking to herself. “Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you—are you female or male?”

It was a question clearly biased by a human perspective, so, as expected, there was no reply.

Washing away the day’s fatigue, Cheng Ming turned off the faucet, wrapped her body in a bath towel, and stepped out of the shower, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor.

She stopped as her foot touched the edge of the carpet.

It was a little cold.

Whoosh—the window wasn’t shut properly, and a draft blew in. The sheer curtains billowed like ocean waves.

The area below the windowsill was clean, nothing out of place. But in the center of the carpet ahead, there was a slightly darker patch. The tie-dyed khaki had turned to a coffee brown, a subtle change, like finding ginger mixed in with potato shreds—very inconspicuous.

If she weren’t half a fish-monster now, so sensitive to changes in moisture, she would have easily overlooked it.

Clever.

It was an intelligent creature.

A bit of damp air brushed against the back of her neck. It was ticklish, devoid of warmth, and carried the salty, fishy smell of the sea.

In an instant, her piloerector muscles stood at attention, and the fine hairs on her entire back rose.

A horrifying sensation made her scalp tingle and every muscle below tense up.

Cheng Ming knew the thing was right above her head.

But her hands remained clutched to the cloth at her chest, and she continued with her normal routine, slowly and deliberately tucking in the corner of the towel to secure it.

At the same time, her gaze drifted slowly upward as she observed the scene in the room through the reflection in the glass opposite her—

Directly above where she stood, a shadowy mass hung upside-down from the ceiling. Its torso was symmetrical, vaguely humanoid, but its limbs were twisted at the joints as if boneless. At the same time, where its neck should have been, rows of red, fleshy filaments resembled the ctenidia of a mollusk.

Species unknown. Level unknown.

But its ability to fathom human psychology and possess intelligence alone was enough to classify it as MR-rank or higher.

It was hanging its head down, staring at her.

Its gaze was sticky and damp. One could imagine that if she took just two more steps forward, it would descend like a demon-faced spider, entangle her in a prepared web, and devour her completely.

But even not moving forward was futile now.

It had spotted her.

It had realized that she had spotted it.

In that one-millisecond interval, the thing lunged down.

Bang!

Excruciating pain shot through her entire body in an instant. Her spine was crushed by the weight, and a damp, cold sensation clung to her back like a blanket during the rainy season.

Her brain was buzzing, but her ears were silent. There was no sound other than her own pained gasps—not even the sound of breathing.

Perhaps this monster was amphibious after its mutation, possessing an alternative physiological system—like gills, or pores and blood vessels beneath its thin skin.

Driven by a researcher’s instinct, she twisted her head with all her might, trying to observe the monster’s features and figure out its origin.

But the next second, her eyes widened.

She saw a face.

A human face. A familiar human face.

Wang Qi, the other research assistant candidate she had just seen at the institute today. If nothing had gone wrong, the two of them were supposed to participate in the promotion defense tomorrow. Since they had applied for the same research group, only one of them would remain.

The monster behind her opened its mouth, and a heavier stench of the sea washed over her face. It spoke human words right next to her ear, its tone excited, “Cheng Ming, you really are like us. You’re one of us.”

Us? What did this “us” refer to? A group of intelligent monsters? Or could it be that the research institute had already been infiltrated by other mutated creatures?

Despite speaking words that sounded like a long-overdue meeting, the pressure from the soft-bodied monster grew increasingly terrifying. Cheng Ming felt her skeleton cracking under the strain, her organs rupturing. It was as if her entire body had been thrown into a meat grinder.

The taste of blood filled her chest and nasal passages. She struggled to discern an expression on that completely mutated, derailed mass of flesh and vaguely guessed its intentions.

It was likely because Dr. Jiang Dexin, the head of the research group, favored her, which had given it a sense of crisis. If you can’t win the competition, then directly eliminating the competitor was certainly a permanent solution.

Her oxygen supply was cut off, and Cheng Ming’s consciousness began to fade.

The physical body is facing a lethal threat. Conditions of the third protocol are met.

Cerebral nerve authority released. In an instant, another dormant consciousness surfaced like a rising glacier, seamlessly taking over the nervous system. Hormones surged throughout the body, cells rapidly divided and differentiated, fractured bones healed, muscles regenerated, teeth sharpened, and hard scales grew.

Fish, the most primitive vertebrates, the undisputed rulers of all waters.

“She” had endured for too long. The moment she got a chance to show her strength, she flaunted her existence with abandon.

An immense power erupted. “Cheng Ming” flipped over, throwing the thick, muddy mountain off her back. With a single bite, she severed the other’s throat with terrifying jaw strength.

No blood flowed out; the enemy was as slippery as a giant squid. So she took a second bite. Like reaching into a bag to grab something, like prying open a clam to scrape out the meat, her sharp teeth easily pierced its practically nonexistent skull, and bits of flesh went flying.

A perfect detonation.

A cold liquid splattered onto her face, like a firework exploding.

At the same time, the hair on “her” head grew longer and longer, seeming to detach from the main body and writhe like some unknown, monstrous creature. It swarmed forward, wrapping around the blurry humanoid form below.

The latter twisted and struggled, trying to make a sound, but was submerged layer by layer in an ocean of black. Strands of hair cut into its flesh, severing the connective tissues that transported nutrients, and pierced its blood vessels, using them as fertile soil to steadily siphon its life force.

In the blink of an eye, the mutated creature that had orchestrated tonight’s assassination silently deflated into a shriveled, dried-out husk, and fell still.

One billion years ago, fungi formed multicellular structures, and mycelia began to spread across the primordial Earth, fighting for living space and seizing nutrients. Four hundred million years ago, jawed fish dominated the ancient oceans, ushering in an era of slaughter with iron teeth and bronze fangs.

Every layer of earth, every fossil, recorded their magnificent epic.

—Breaking down existing nutrients, returning organic matter to its inorganic state, was precisely the trick fungi were best at.

Soon, the skin and skeleton had also vanished completely, leaving only wrinkled clothing and a large, viscous puddle on the mottled carpet.

And the “hair,” finally sated, retracted back into the main body, dragging a wet trail behind it.

After a few extremely long, chaotic seconds, Cheng Ming once again heard her own ragged breathing. She was prone on the floor, her vision unfocused. Her body was taut like a fully drawn bow, but her fingers were trembling slightly.

She had always known that this mutated parasite inside her, a chimera of fish and fungus—which she tentatively called “Fish-Fungus”—was an extremely vicious predator. But she had to admit, she still found it difficult to accept the non-human part of herself.

Even though she was by now experienced with such scenes, the thought that she had spoken to Wang Qi just that day—even if only for a few sentences—and the vivid memory of her still imprinted on her cerebral cortex, only for her to become a pile of rotten earth in the blink of an eye… she still felt the urge to vomit.

The salty, fishy taste lingered in her mouth. Cheng Ming scrambled up and rushed into the bathroom, leaning over the sink and dry-heaving uncontrollably.

After repeatedly scrubbing and rinsing her mouth, Cheng Ming lifted her face to the mirror. “Why can’t you just give up your primitive method of attack?”

She could provide the parasite inside her with energy, but it was a drop in the bucket. A monster born from the ocean needed to feed on ocean monsters. To avoid being drained dry herself, she had no choice but to maintain a weekly frequency, sneaking into the institute’s underground storage to find food for it.

And its feeding process was quite brutal. In the past, she couldn’t stand it. Every time it finished off various kinds of “seafood” and licked the bloody scraps with relish, she would frantically wash her mouth out afterward, vomiting until the world spun from the foul, fishy stimulus.

After a few times, it finally had to concede, changing from swallowing raw to absorbing with its mycelia. Thanks to its considerate mercy, her nausea had eased somewhat.

But not by much.

“…” It was silent for a long time before finally speaking again through her vocal cords. And what was particularly strange was that she could actually detect a hint of emotion in that cold, AI-assistant-like voice. “I’ll be more careful next time. And—put on some clothes.”

…

The towel had come undone during the violent struggle earlier.

No wonder it had returned control of the body so quickly this time.

“Really shy?” Cheng Ming put on her pajamas and cleaned the floor. Her emotions had calmed down considerably. She sat back on her bed, and while applying moisturizing lotion, she was even in the mood to tease her “roommate.”

In this day and age, one really couldn’t be a marine biology researcher without a strong heart.

“It’s that you humans’ uncovered skin is too ugly. It disgusts me,” it replied swiftly.

So fast that Cheng Ming felt it was a little flustered and exasperated.

“Have you ever sensed others of your kind inside the institute?” she asked, unconcerned, getting to the main point.

Although they hadn’t interacted much, the fact that she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the other woman even face-to-face was very telling. Had Wang Qi been accidentally parasitized by a monster like her? Or had she already been killed, and this type of monster just happened to have the ability to change its shape? Or perhaps, had it been a monster disguised as a human all along?

And Wang Qi had said the word “really”… As fellow monsters, could they detect her abnormality?

Any of these conjectures was enough to make her blood run cold.

This was the Binhai Defense Center. The forefront, the most impregnable, the most trusted line of defense—the place where she had always worked.

But now she was being told that perhaps, there were quite a few monsters mixed in here, maybe even right beside her, casually interacting with the researchers every day, working and living like normal people?

“If I said yes, would you risk exposure and report it to the Security Department?” the parasitic Fish-Fungus inside her answered.

Its tone was level, with an inexplicable mockery.

It was as if it were mocking Cheng Ming for being a “monster” herself, yet worrying about the safety of others and the future of the institute.

Cheng Ming’s hand, slick with lotion, paused.

Just as a sliver of horror crept up the back of her neck, she heard its tone shift—

“Unfortunately, no,” it added faintly. “What I mean is, even if there were, I wouldn’t be able to sense them, because of the restrictions you’ve placed on me.”

Cheng Ming: “…”

She lowered her hand and tried another line of thought.

She murmured in a low voice, “Actually, Wang Qi is very capable. Even if she couldn’t follow Jiang Dexin, plenty of other research groups would have wanted her… Why would she risk everything to kill me just to snatch this spot?”

“What’s so special about Jiang Dexin’s research group?”

Cheng Ming paused again.

As a research intern, she didn’t have the clearance to know about the core experiments. But as the daughter of one of the institute’s founders, “Professor Shuang Cheng,” and now the successor Dr. Jiang was grooming, she knew that Jiang Dexin had taken over an important project.

“…A type of fungus. The main culprit inducing the third stage of oceanic pollution.”

After some thought, she decided to be honest.

Mainly because they now shared one body in symbiosis; it would be impossible to hide it from the parasite in the end.

The room fell into a brief silence.

“What did you name it?” After a moment, it asked this question.

“‘Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus.’ What do you think? Poetic, isn’t it?” she joked.

“That’s your style.”

Its tone… she couldn’t tell if it held a faint trace of mockery or something else… Cheng Ming’s brow twitched, and she said no more.

She was lost in thought.

So, this algaefungus… it’s very important to you mutated monsters, isn’t it?