After Being Parasitized by a Monster 17

Chapter 17: I can’t leave you.

What was going on?

The person wasn’t actually dead? Had someone else been here? Or was the fungal monster not completely dead?

Looking at the ground, apart from a few scratches and fragments of gray dust of unknown origin, one thought after another rose and burst like bubbles in boiling water. As Cheng Ming was in a state of shock and confusion, she heard Xiao Ming speak again:

“I tested a new ability. I can still perceive and control the conidia after they leave my body, but the distance is limited. I can only take him two kilometers away at most… and whether it’s as effective on a living body remains to be seen.”

Cheng Ming paused.

Had it cleaned up the mess during the night?

She couldn’t describe the feeling, but the heavy burden on her heart had indeed eased a lot.

She let out a silent sigh of relief, walked around, and carefully checked the damage to her home. Finally, she found her phone under the displaced sofa—the things in her pocket had also been thrown out when she fell last night. Fortunately, it wasn’t damaged.

She didn’t know how Qu Ying was doing now, or if she would be assigned to find the whereabouts of the fungal monster. After careful consideration, Cheng Ming cautiously sent a message to report that she was safe.

Then she started to clean up the battlefield, clearing away all the debris she could. She wrapped the sharp objects like glass shards in black plastic bags and attached a warning note, preparing to stuff them into the trash can later.

What remained were the bullets embedded in the solid interior, which was a bit troublesome.

The only good news was that the building materials of the Defense Center were not shoddy, and there were no extra cracks besides the bullet holes.

Cheng Ming touched the battle-damaged white wall and was contemplating whether to just paint over it when her arm suddenly felt a ticklish sensation.

Looking down, she saw a strand of hair crawling from her shoulder to her fingertips, wrapping around her hand and climbing up the wall. It went into the hole, twisted a few times, and a moment later, pushed the object out.

She raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise, but still said nothing, silently watching this parasite volunteer to help.

Clang, clang. One by one, complete or fragmented shrapnel were squeezed out and fell to the ground. She then pulled over a bag and picked them up one by one, putting them together with the empty packaging and needles of the nutrient supplement.

By the time she was done with this, the gray morning light had already shone in, outlining all the contours in the room in a cold white color.

“Why didn’t you go with it?”

Cheng Ming’s mood had finally settled down. She sat tiredly on the sofa, looking down at the mycelia that were either rubbing against things or clinging to her, not knowing if it was because of excessive nutrient absorption or if it was trying to please her, and asked in a low voice.

“I can’t leave you,” Xiao Ming said.

Cheng Ming: “…”

If emotions could be symbolized, a huge question mark would have slowly appeared on her face.

“You, rephrase that,” she said, her expression blank with a brief twist.

Listen to yourself, is that the right line?

“I am one with you,” her parasite added in explanation. “I can’t abandon you. Losing you would do me no good. I’ve said this a long time ago, but it seems you’ve never believed me.”

It was indeed a matter of wording. Cheng Ming took a deep breath, tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and leaned against the sofa.

“After all, compared to you, I’m too passive. You can decide whether to stay or go, while I, apart from mutual destruction, lack any means to truly harm you.”

She stated the reality helplessly.

The inhibitor only blocked some of its abilities, and even had a negative impact on her. Any premise of her wanting to hurt it was based on hurting herself first.

Symbiosis, an unsolvable symbiosis.

“I’m glad you didn’t.” With a good start, it spoke more and more smoothly. “Cheng Ming, you are the dominant one between us. You are the host, and I exist by depending on you. You can live without me, but I can’t live without you. Can you give me a little more trust?”

“…” Cheng Ming was silent for a while. “Huh? So what you’re saying is, I can find a way to get rid of you?”

“…” Xiao Ming was also silent. After a full ten seconds, it spoke its mind, “Don’t even think about it. I will firmly occupy your body and never let go, even in death.”

“Pfft.” Cheng Ming laughed out loud.

If it were before, she would have been scared, but at this moment, it was a strange sense of security. But then she felt that she shouldn’t be laughing, so she bent over to cover her forehead in a futile attempt to hide it.

During that half-moment of silence, her mind was actually in turmoil. Its words, both explicitly and implicitly, placed itself in a very low position, sincere and earnest, with no discernible flaws. If it was trying to lower her guard, then it had certainly succeeded… it understood the human mind too well.

So much so that after she relaxed a little, she paradoxically became vigilant again. But she also knew that there was no reason to continue to be suspicious.

“Alright.” Now that it had come to this, Cheng Ming lowered her hands, considered her doubts, and asked, “Then shouldn’t you explain your origin?”

“I really don’t know,” Xiao Ming said, surprisingly. “From the moment I gained consciousness, I was firmly bound to you. I don’t know any more than you do. In fact, all my knowledge comes from you. Perhaps—” it paused, finding the right description, “you can think of me as another you.”

It observed the world through her eyes, learned to interact with the outside world by imitating her every move. Their souls shared the same body, their minds were on the same frequency… Even in the most suspicious and guarded moments, it was undeniable that they were the most intimate and knew each other best.

“You sound like a wise philosopher,” Cheng Ming was amused and asked, “How old are you?”

“…” Xiao Ming was quiet for a moment, then said, “I don’t think age represents anything.”

“Your age—” she looked up in surprise and said hesitantly, “is it counted from the moment you parasitized me?”

“…”

No response.

If there were no surprises, she had guessed correctly.

That was only a few months… this was a bit strange.

This was not the same as the cold and ruthless parasitic killer she had originally imagined. What she thought was inherently evil might just be a blank slate?

Staring at the white ceiling, she was quiet with it for a while, then suddenly sat up. “What do you look like?”

She had always been unwilling to accept her non-human side, and had never thought of revealing her complete monster form before. And because of this, she had never truly seen it.

Her impression of it, like a blind man touching an elephant, was just a collection of scattered fragments of fungal hair, scaly skin, and sharp teeth.

“Want to see?”

“Yeah.” But she wasn’t sure if what a monster called its appearance was the same as what a human understood. “You’re not going to say that my appearance is your appearance, are you?”

Her words were stolen, and Xiao Ming choked for a moment, then said, “It’s a little different.”

No sooner said than done.

Cheng Ming got up and walked into the bedroom, standing in front of the full-length mirror.

She released control of her body, leaving it room to play. She watched as the figure reflected in the mirror changed little by little.

The morning light was faint, breaking through the sheer curtains, and just happened to be lightly sifting into this corner, being reflected by the mirror into more fragmented spots, a mixture of darkness and illusion, like the undulating sea under the thin winter sun, and a mysterious and magnificent creature gradually emerged from the water.

“To you, it’s very ugly, isn’t it?” Xiao Ming asked after a long silence.

She lightly touched the mirror with her left hand, her fingertips slowly moving, tracing the outline.

“No… it’s beautiful.”

Cheng Ming felt that she was probably done for.

She thought, the parasitism must have affected her nervous system, and therefore, also changed her aesthetic sense.

In the hazy light and shadow, the skin that faintly glowed with a blue fluorescence, the fine and translucent fish scales that clung tightly like broken porcelain, the inky black hair that floated like seaweed… everything was unexpectedly beautiful and alluring.

When she spoke, the eyes in the reflection were deep and dark, as if a siren were admiring itself through her iris.

Although it was a bit comical because she was wrapped in a wrinkled pajama.

“Thank you. You too.”

Its voice was very light, as ethereal as if it had come from another dimension.

The scales meandered, and more parts were hidden deep inside.

Cheng Ming opened her mouth, looking at the curves that were hidden by a simple layer of cotton cloth, and couldn’t bring herself to say that she wanted it to take it off and see… even though this was clearly supposed to be her body.

Her attention was diverted, so much so that it was a moment later that she realized that it had not used her vocal system to vibrate the air to produce sound.

It was neural communication.

“You—” Just as Cheng Ming was about to frown and utter a word, Xiao Ming immediately interrupted, “It’s not me.”

It sounded a little aggrieved when it said, “It was your nerve axons that wrapped around me first.”

The rich, sapphire-blue pupils in the mirror stared at her without blinking. Her breathing was slightly constricted, and her heart inexplicably skipped half a beat. Her fingers on the edge of the mirror were a little stiff.

Suspecting that this siren might really have the ability to bewitch people as in literature, she looked away, lowered her head, and carefully felt it. She didn’t feel like she was sharing a brain with another consciousness.

“So now, you can directly perceive my emotions?” Cheng Ming was more concerned about this.

“I could before too,” Xiao Ming said honestly.

After all, they lived in the same body. Emotions, besides the electrochemical signals in the brain, could also be reflected by the heart rate, blood flow, and hormone level changes.

The unexpected answer, spoken by it, had a particularly provocative taste. Cheng Ming’s eyes widened slightly, and she was almost angered.

Fortunately, Xiao Ming quickly added, “But if you don’t have the subjective intention to transmit information to me, I won’t know what you’re thinking.”

In other words, this thought communication was one-way.

Cheng Ming lowered her eyelids and unconsciously rubbed her knuckles a few times.

Because they were covered in fine scales, the touch was cool and smooth, like a jade submerged at the bottom of a lake.

Then she lowered her hand. “I’ve seen enough. You can put it away.”

She turned to change her clothes.

Their sense of touch was shared. Xiao Ming vaguely felt that something was not quite right, but couldn’t describe it, so it obediently did as it was told.

It was only later that it learned a new phrase—

To love and leave, which means to start by colluding and seducing, then playing with, and finally abandoning.