After Being Parasitized by a Monster 23

Chapter 23: Your body seems to have changed a bit… Is your estrogen level a little high?

The sound of water trickled from the bathroom.

Cheng Ming was tidying up the guest bedroom next door.

Because it was usually idle, she had put a lot of miscellaneous things in this room. She moved and rearranged them, cleared out some space, unfolded the folding bed, and laid out the pillows and quilt.

During this process, the sound of flowing water on the other side stopped.

A moment later, Cheng Ming heard footsteps. The guest had finished showering, wrapped in a crooked bath towel, and walked into the living room. She sat down on the sofa and picked up the lukewarm water glass on the table, drinking it slowly.

She looked down quietly, lost in thought.

“Huang Chengcheng.”

Hearing Cheng Ming call her, she turned her head.

At that moment, a beam of light shone directly on her face, as bright as day, making her squint her eyes. But she held the glass in her hand, and the water inside didn’t even ripple.

She raised her hand a few seconds later, half-shielding her eyes, and looked at her with confusion.

The shadow projected on the opposite wall was clearly defined, with nothing unusual.

“Sorry, I accidentally touched it.” Cheng Ming stood at the door of the guest bedroom, turned off the flashlight, and smiled at her. “The room is ready. The clothes I got for you are on the bedside.”

“Okay, thank you.” Xiao Huang smiled politely.

Cheng Ming’s fingers were still on the metal doorknob, holding the door open until the other person approached.

As they passed each other, she suddenly let out a low cry, “Ah,” and covered her forehead.

Huang Chengcheng stopped and looked down. It turned out that a strand of hair was caught on the clip that was holding her bath towel.

Cheng Ming was pulled and her head tilted, almost bumping into her.

The latter subconsciously raised her arm, as if to support her, but Cheng Ming’s reaction was a bit exaggerated. She stood up straight as if she couldn’t avoid it.

She smiled awkwardly and helplessly reached out to untangle the mischievous strand of hair.

Being so close, a faint, watery fragrance wafted from Huang Chengcheng’s body, not quite like her shower gel. It was somewhat familiar, but Cheng Ming couldn’t remember it at the moment.

Before closing the door, the girl with the round head and round eyes looked at her and said, “Good night.”

Cheng Ming smiled and watched her.

She clutched the particularly thick strand of hair until she returned to her own bedroom. Click. The door closed, and her face darkened. “What are you doing?”

The thick, black mycelia coiled and writhed between her fingers. The end had been twisting and turning, struggling unwillingly. Hearing her voice, it was like a scolded pet dog, drooping down and becoming motionless.

“You clearly suspect her,” Xiao Ming said, its tone very light. “It’s simple. I’ll parasitize her with spores. It’s a good opportunity to test the effect of conidia on a living person.”

“What if she’s not?”

“It might be fine, she might become a host for the spores, or she might have her nutrients drained. We have nothing to lose.”

Cheng Ming laughed in anger, “Who’s ‘we’ with you?”

This inhuman monster!

A sudden visit, strange clothes, and abnormal behavior… Huang Chengcheng was indeed not right, and it was hard not to suspect that there was something wrong with her.

But, it was also possible that the other person was stimulated by something outside, perhaps a conflict at home, or the recent monster incident. She was scared and had come to her… If she was reluctant to say more for the time being, it might be because she was still in a state of stress.

So, all she could do was to take good care of her, not to stimulate her further.

Xiao Ming: “This quality of yours… is it called kindness? Do you need me to search for some words to praise you?”

Its tone was flat, but the meaning beneath the surface was particularly sarcastic.

“No need,” Cheng Ming turned her back. “It’s just my upbringing.”

She remembered when she was in junior high, an award she had won was reported as fraudulent. She was interrogated by her teachers and school leaders in turn. Although it was dropped due to lack of evidence, as a sensitive teenager, her mind had collapsed and she was traumatized. After school, when she was supposed to be in the dormitory, she had walked six kilometers home in a rage.

And that day, Cheng Ran happened to be on her day off.

It had rained a little on the way. She stood at the door of her house, soaking wet, like a stray dog, and had given Cheng Ran, who had opened the door, a big scare.

But in the end, she didn’t ask much. She just drew her a bath, heated up a late-night snack, and told her to rest well.

After turning off the lights, she went to the master bedroom in the dark and quietly snuggled into her mother’s arms.

Cheng Ran hugged her and said to her, “Good night, baby. Mom will take you to school tomorrow.”

She didn’t remember the long journey, the tiring trip, the displacement, the wind and rain, but she would always remember her mother’s embrace. Fragrant, and warm.

Cheng Ming pressed her eyelids with her cold fingertips, pushing back the sudden surge of warmth.

Perhaps sensing her emotions, Xiao Ming fell silent and did not retort.

She didn’t want to argue with it either. She picked up her clothes and walked into the bathroom.

Huang Chengcheng had just showered. There were residual water stains on the tiles, and the glass was so clean that it was reflective.

A familiar fragrance entered her nose. Cheng Ming touched the bottles and jars on the shelf, paused, and remembered what the smell was. Her eyes widened in surprise.

Did this girl mistake the facial cleanser for shower gel?

But she had other things on her mind and didn’t think too much about it.

Until she had washed and dressed warmly and returned to her bedroom, and was already lying in bed, Cheng Ming belatedly remembered the biggest thing that was wrong.

The walls she had seen when she went in were too clean.

There was no steam on the glass, and no hot air in the bathroom.

…Did she take a cold shower?

A faint cold air seemed to be seeping from the cracks in the bathroom tiles to the side of the bed. She pulled her feet into the covers, frowned, and picked up the laptop on the bedside table.

She opened it and connected it to her phone. A real-time broadcast screen popped up, showing the scene in the guest bedroom—when she was tidying up the room, she had turned on her phone’s camera and secretly placed it in a corner.

Everything in the room was normal. A hazy human figure was lying on the folding bed, and the covers were raised.

Had she encountered an accident, or was she the accident… If it was really a monster in a shell with ill intentions, why hadn’t it shown any threat so far?

Cheng Ming was unwilling to think in this direction, but she really couldn’t figure it out.

She looked at the electronic bracelet on her wrist. For a moment, she wanted to call the security department. Her knuckles were slightly raised, but then she clenched them into a fist, her nails digging into her flesh.

Calming down, she sighed secretly.

At times like this, she always deeply hated that she was not a “good citizen.”

The Defense Center was already in a state of panic. Regardless of whether Huang Chengcheng had a problem or not, it would not be good to get herself involved.

When she looked at the screen again, she sat up straight.

In the picture, the covers that had just been raised had collapsed, and the person on the bed was gone!

“What are you looking at?”

Like a winter wind blowing into her ear, the fine hairs on her body stood on end wherever this voice passed.

Cheng Ming turned her head. The door to her room had been opened at some point, and without any warning, Huang Chengcheng was standing by her bed.

…

11:26 PM.

On the tenth floor of North Apartment, Building 2, it was dead silent outside.

And inside—

At the head of the bed, a knitted cotton pillow was propped up as a backrest. Cheng Ming had Huang Chengcheng on her left, and her right hand was pressing down on the restless spore silk. She was staring at the changing light and shadow on the screen, but her eyes were empty and she couldn’t see anything.

She didn’t know how things had developed to this point.

This girl had suddenly appeared and asked her what she was watching. Cheng Ming had urgently closed the surveillance and fumbled to open a movie software, saying that she was watching a movie.

Such a clumsy excuse, but the other person had believed her.

Then Huang Chengcheng said that she couldn’t sleep and asked if she could watch.

Cheng Ming met those big, dark eyes. No one could say no at a time like this.

And then, the two of them were leaning against the head of the bed, side by side, with the laptop between them, watching a movie with a strange atmosphere in a strange atmosphere.

Yes, it was even a horror movie.

When the first shrill scream came from the speaker, Cheng Ming was jolted back to her senses. Seeing the gloomy and dark picture and hearing the strange and depressing soundtrack, she realized what she had clicked on in her haste.

She gritted her teeth against the goosebumps that were rising on her arms. She glanced at the person next to her, who was watching intently, seemingly very interested, and in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to suggest changing to another movie.

On one side was a strange movie, and on the other was a strange movie companion.

At a time like this, the only comfort was the mycelia wrapped around her fingertips.

At least Xiao Ming had not given any warning.

Her hair flowed around her like a waterfall, and her heart calmed down a little.

But her nerves were still inevitably tense.

After all, the thing that she didn’t know if it was a “living person” or a “living thing” was right next to her. Any slight movement could make her nervous, and with the startling sound effects of the movie, it was really a mental torture.

An hour that felt like a year. The most frightening part of the plot was over, and the girl next to her finally stood up and said, “I’m going to sleep.”

She walked out of the room.

Cheng Ming’s shoulders relaxed slightly. She glanced at the other’s back, feeling a mixture of relief and confusion, and fell into deep thought.

However, of the three creatures in this apartment, it seemed that only she was restless.

Xiao Ming was engrossed in the movie.

“Cheng Ming, what is she doing?” it suddenly spoke, interrupting her thoughts.

Her attention was pulled back. Cheng Ming frowned and turned her gaze, and heard a wet, soft moan from the movie.

The plot had developed to a scene where the heroine was alone. Her clothes were half-undone, and she was pleasing herself in front of the mirror. Her hand slid down from her shoulder, passed over her lower abdomen, and the picture froze, leaving her hand movements to the imagination.

The close-up shot continued downwards, showing a pair of fair, long legs, her toes curled, and the lines of her leg muscles slightly undulating.

The ambiguity was self-evident.

The actress was very charming, and her acting was also very seductive. Although no extra parts were shown, and the background was still eerie, the whole scene was full of life and color.

Cheng Ming only felt a wave of heat rush from her neck to the top of her head. Her mind buzzed, and she sat up straight, snapping the laptop shut—

“Don’t look!”

It would have been fine if she were alone, but there was another being inside her… and it was fine if it watched, but it had to ask for an explanation.

That innocent curiosity, that pure, childish question… what was the difference between this and a child asking an adult what a couple was doing when they were hugging?

Shame and embarrassment instantly filled her hot cheeks.

Ignoring the former’s dissatisfied cries, she threw the laptop onto the low cabinet by the bed, pulled open the corner of the quilt and drilled in, turning a deaf ear and rolling herself up.

“What’s wrong with you?”

The Fish-Fungus baby, with a social cognitive level of only a few months, obviously couldn’t understand its host’s sudden reaction.

It probed with great curiosity, “Your body seems to have changed a bit… Is your estrogen level a little high?”

Cheng Ming gritted her teeth, “Go. To. Sleep!”

The inexplicable interruption had made her lose the mood to continue paying attention to the guest’s strangeness. She feigned sleepiness and lay down, but because she hadn’t slept well the night before and was exhausted tonight, she really fell asleep after a short while.

Little did she know that as her breathing gradually became steady and she fell into a deep sleep, another consciousness was still active.

As she groggily turned towards the bedside table, a certain parasite quietly opened its eyes.

“She” lay flat, meticulously abiding by the agreement not to control her body without permission.

The room was dark and quiet, but a faint light was reflected on her face—

A strand of mycelia stretched out, opened the laptop, pressed the mute button, and played.

…

The next morning, Cheng Ming stood at the door of the guest room.

In front of her was an empty room. Her feet were as if they were glued to the floor by ice. A draft blew in, and her back felt a little cold, like the silent breathing of some unknown creature.

The quilt had been put back in the closet, the folding bed was folded up and placed against the wall, and even the miscellaneous items she had moved had been returned to their original places. Everything was in order.

The only living person was gone.

And it was only just past six o’clock.

“She left really early.”

If it weren’t for the parasite inside her expressing its lament, she would have almost thought that last night was just a dream.

“When did she leave?” Cheng Ming asked with concentration.

“I don’t know.” Surprisingly, the parasite, which should have been the most sensitive, said so.

Its voice was lazy, as if it were dreaming, and it sounded a little sleepy.

Fortunately, the phone was still there.

She found the device from the corner of the shelf and replayed the recording.

The video showed that the door had opened at 12:57.

Because the living room lights were off, the view was completely dark. The night mode could only capture a blurry figure walking in, picking up the clothes on the bedside and changing, and then busying herself for a while.

She was very considerate and, in complete silence, tidied up the temporary bed that Cheng Ming had set up for her.

At 1:49, this figure opened the door again, walked out of the room, and disappeared into the thick darkness.

So, the other person hadn’t rested here at all last night.

And, before leaving, she had put everything back in its place. It looked as if, if she weren’t unfamiliar with the placement of the items, she would have done a thorough cleaning.

This scene… was simply incredible.

Cheng Ming held her phone, looking at the screen showing the small figure diligently working, and was confused.

What on earth was she here for?

Just to take a set of her clothes?

…

22nd floor of the research institute.

Cheng Ming didn’t find Huang Chengcheng in the laboratory, so she continued to go up and found Jiang Dexin.

She asked, “Teacher Jiang, hasn’t Chengcheng come to work yet?”

“Huh? You’re looking for her?” Jiang Dexin looked up from a pile of books. “Xiao Huang was attacked by a mutated creature yesterday and has been transferred for treatment. She’s still in the hospital.”

“What?” Cheng Ming was stunned, as if she had lost the ability to understand, as if she had heard a foreign language.

“It was dealt with in time, so it shouldn’t be a big problem. I’ll call again to ask,” Jiang Dexin said, thinking she was worried.

There was an emergency medical center in the Defense Center, but the designated hospital was still built outside the quarantine line. Otherwise, the transfer of these patients during every emergency would be a big problem.

As she spoke, she lit up her phone and dialed a number.

The busy tone rang two or three times, and was quickly connected.

A weak, pitiful, but slightly temperamental voice came from the receiver—

“Teacher Jiang, why did you notify my mom! I was scolded to death by her. She slapped me as soon as she came up. I’m going to die, my back is all bruised…”

Cheng Ming’s eyes widened.

“Chengcheng?” she leaned over in disbelief. “Are you okay?”

“Ah! Senior Sister!” Xiao Huang suddenly became energetic. “I’m not okay, wuwuwu!” Having escaped death, she still had the leisure to worry about her career and wailed in despair, “It’s over now, I’m even less likely to convince my mom to let me stay… Senior Sister, do you have any ideas?”

I think the fact that you’re still alive is more important…

Cheng Ming took the phone, unable to tell if she was cold or hot. Her palm was sweating. She asked, “Chengcheng, can we have a video call so I can see you?”

Her tone was a little hurried.

“Senior Sister, you’re worried about me~” The person on the other end immediately became energetic. There was a rustling sound from the microphone, and even the end of her voice rose by two tones. “Wait a minute, I look so ugly now, don’t be scared.”

A minute later, a video call came.

The camera shook, and the little girl was lying on a white hospital bed, wearing a fluffy hat to cover her bald, round head, and was on an IV drip. It was clear that she had indeed suffered a lot. In just one day, her round cheeks had become thin, and she had dark circles under her eyes, but her spirits were still good. She grinned and gave her a peace sign with the hand that was on the IV drip.

The transparent window of the hospital room flashed by, and a figure in armor could be seen outside, probably a member of the Security Department.

Cheng Ming had mixed feelings. She was both amused and heartbroken, and also wanted to scold her. After hanging up the phone with a complicated expression, she returned the phone to Jiang Dexin.

After leaving the office, her thoughts gradually settled. Her expression was not good.

She was no longer worried about this girl.

She was now more worried about herself.

So, what on earth had she been in the same room with last night?