After Being Parasitized by a Monster 28

Chapter 28: “Is this called being duplicitous?”

Before the nurse had finished her rounds, people from the Security Department came again.

Qu Ying opened the door, and a young man stood outside. He was wearing the standard duty uniform, and his short, ear-length hair was neatly combed. He was full of youthful energy, clearly a fresh face in the Investigation Department.

But just at a glance, her face darkened slightly.

The other person was also clearly a little surprised. He glanced at the situation inside the door, blinked innocently, and smiled at Qu Ying, “Then I’ll come back later.”

After saying that, he turned and wanted to leave.

Qu Ying took a step out of the door and pulled the handle.

Click. The inside and outside of the door were separated into two worlds. No sound could get in or out, and the corridor was silent.

She smiled and narrowed her eyes, staring at the other’s back, and said word by word, “221?”

Hearing this, the latter’s footsteps stopped.

Oops, she was exposed.

She helplessly turned back, “I told you I have a name…”

Qu Ying was actually quite interested in teasing little kids, and she used to call Yangmei affectionately. But when it came to this sister who was already an adult but still acted like a child, she didn’t fall for it. She gave a faint smile, her reaction cold.

She had always been afraid that the department would send other people to deal with matters related to Cheng Ming. The abnormalities she could detect, they might not be able to see… Now, her biggest fear had come true.

“What are you here for?”

Even in their already special department, this one was a special existence. She rarely participated in group activities. If it were just a real photo of her in front of her, Qu Ying might not have recognized her.

However, because the number of internal members was not large, they more or less knew each other. And she happened to be the best at finding loopholes and rooting out spies.

“A mission,” Little Seashell, who was still impersonating someone else, shrugged. “It’s a secret.”

“I don’t believe you,” Qu Ying looked at the name tag with Han Xuhua’s information on her chest and sneered meaningfully. “Interrogating internal personnel is the job of the Internal Security Group. You don’t have the authority. If you’re found out, you’ll get her fired along with you.”

“Huh?” The latter looked down and seemed to have just realized this bug. She clicked her tongue, “The division of labor in the Investigation Department is really troublesome.”

She seemed to have admitted defeat. She waved her hand to say goodbye and walked towards the exit.

However, Qu Ying was also on this path and passed her in two steps.

“Where are you going?”

“Going home to find my mom.”

“Calling your researcher ‘mom,’ you’re really a weirdo,” Qu Ying pressed the elevator button, her words as if they were laced with poison.

“It’s better than not having a mom,” Little Seashell said nonchalantly.

“…”

Thinking that this girl was mocking her, the smile on Qu Ying’s lips did not change, but the curve at the corner of her eyes became a little colder.

She indeed had no researcher and no mother.

…

In the hospital room.

The head nurse exclaimed, “Your immunity is too strong. This is the first time I’ve seen such a strange encephalitis virus. It broke out so fiercely, but it subsided so quickly.”

What she was amazed at was not another new type of virus. After the ocean pollution, there were endless mutated creatures, and it was not surprising to see anything on this coastal defense front line. Moreover, this virus was not transmitted through conventional means such as air droplets, which was already a rare case of being well-behaved.

What she was amazed at was that, based on the critical situation when Cheng Ming was sent to the ICU, she had thought it would take at least a month. A common cold usually took a week to heal, but in just three days, the other’s blood routine had returned to normal.

Her vital signs were basically stable, and there was nothing unusual in the examination report. If there were no accidents, she could be discharged after another two days of observation.

Cheng Ming smiled.

But there was no joy in her eyes.

After everyone had left, the room returned to silence. Dusk fell, and the large glass window was shrouded in a faint sunset glow, oppressive. She was like being imprisoned in this small cubicle, unable to sleep with her eyes closed, and seeing nothing but emptiness with her eyes open.

Xiao Ming was as if it had disappeared.

She hadn’t been able to pay attention to it when she was unconscious. Later, during her lucid intervals, she remembered the questions she hadn’t had time to ask and wanted to drag it out for a confrontation. But perhaps sensing the host’s sharp emotions, it had always played dead and made no sound.

Cheng Ming was a little angry at first, but she had nowhere to vent it. Her punch landed on cotton, and she couldn’t get angry even if she wanted to.

After calming down like this, she gradually felt that something was wrong.

Not replying for a day could be a tantrum, or it could be that it was affected by her weakness and was recuperating. But two days, three days without any movement…

It had clearly responded to her on the night she was admitted to the emergency room. Was it a hallucination from her confused memory?

Cheng Ming didn’t want to admit it, but she was a little panicked.

What was wrong?

She raised her hand and touched her sparse and pitiful “hair.” With a light pull, the dark threads broke like withered grass.

The mycelia also had no reaction.

Looking at the tangled clumps of algae-like substance, it didn’t feel like mycelia falling off, but like blood flowing from her heart. She could finally understand the panic and helplessness of bald people when their hair fell out.

When the nurse congratulated her on her imminent discharge, she wanted to say that there was definitely something wrong with her and that she needed more treatment, because the other half of her body was missing… but if she said that, she would either be immediately sent to a mental hospital, or the Security Department would immediately take her into custody.

So she could only hold in her anger. When she was alone, in the dim dusk, she raised her hand and pressed her forehead, slowly calming down.

Remembering the feeling of neural contact, she tried to replicate it, but she couldn’t find the resonance of two planets intertwining and attracting each other, as if she were in the universe.

Even if it disappeared, it had to give her an explanation.

Coming and going as it pleased, did it think she was a hotel?

Opening her eyes, Cheng Ming’s expression slowly returned to a calm state.

She turned her head and saw the fruit knife on the small table next to her. She struggled to reach over, her fingertips touching the handle, and gripped it.

Then she looked at the indwelling needle that was hindering her movement. She expressionlessly pulled out the soft tube, threw off the covers, and got out of bed.

Her feet were a little unsteady when they touched the ground, and her knees were weak. She re-adapted to controlling her limbs and walked step by step into the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror.

Perhaps for the sake of the patient’s psychology, the ceiling light was very soft.

The light and shadow were hazy and intertwined, like mist and silk. She examined “herself” inch by inch, and the tip of the knife was raised. The sharp metal weapon drew a cold light in the quiet light.

At this second, it was as if she had returned to the initial stage of parasitism.

It was just that at that time, her greatest wish was to drive it out of her body, but now, it was to confirm whether it was still in her body.

The heart, or the brain?

She calmly held the fruit knife, thinking about where to land it.

Cheng Ming knew that she might be crazy.

If a medical staff member pushed the door open and saw her at this time, they would definitely let out a sharp scream that would pierce through the entire building.

She had to try and see if her self-healing ability still existed.

And, she had to make the potential parasite feel a fatal threat.

The tip of the knife was pressed against her chest. A layer of pure cotton cloth, then flesh, blood vessels, bones… a few centimeters below, thump, thump, the gradually accelerating heartbeat, as if a living creature that could only feel danger was residing there, the heart sounds overlapping and echoing.

The hospital gown was in the way, and it was not very convenient.

She remembered that Xiao Ming was reluctant to see her naked body, although it later said that it respected her rights… she was not an exhibitionist.

Cheng Ming finally gave up the option of unbuttoning it. She didn’t want to get her clothes dirty either.

She moved the knife to her forehead. The metal shone with a silver-white light. She stared straight at the mirror, as serious as if she were conducting a solemn experiment, not like a patient self-harming.

No, to her, it was an experiment.

Although it looked a little crazy.

With a little force, the tip of the knife made a shallow dent on the surface of her skin.

“Cheng Ming.”

The effect came without any warning. She paused, and the blade hovered, not even having had time to cause any substantial damage.

The blood flow was temporarily blocked by the pressure, and that small area turned pale. As she moved the sharp weapon away, the epidermis bounced back, and the blood vessels relaxed again.

A red mark was left on the spot, and perhaps a little blood had seeped out. It was right in the center of her forehead, like a beauty mark.

In the mirror, the light was naturally covered with a layer of light gauze, which, combined with her calm and indifferent expression, was like a white jade statue worshiped by countless people in some religious places.

But the calmness was an illusion, and the surging thoughts were real.

In the short second she had brought the knife down, she had inappropriately thought that if it really didn’t appear, the mycelia would become inactive, her self-healing ability would fail, and the location was a hospital… it was a perfect model for a schizophrenic patient having hallucinations.

It asked, “What are you doing?”

Cheng Ming put down the knife, and it clinked on the sink. She frowned slightly, “What’s wrong with you?”

Its tone was unprecedentedly weak, so much so that she once again forgot to question it.

It was strange. They were talking in her head, but she could clearly feel its weakness.

It no longer had the extra strength to control her body.

“The fish egg carries a virus that will invade the fungus. They are destroying your cells—” it said, paused, and corrected itself, “no, our cells.”

“A virus? Hasn’t it been cleared?” Cheng Ming was stunned.

“No. They replicate too fast. I’ve isolated them to a small area,” it did not hide it.

If it hadn’t done so, Cheng Ming probably wouldn’t have survived that night. After all, how could the doctors have thought that the lesion was not in the human cells, but in the fungal part of her body.

Xiao Ming explained, “Cheng Ming, I have to do my best to suppress the spread of the virus, otherwise they will continue to harm you.”

The implication was that it would be unable to appear for a long time and would not be able to respond to her calls.

As Cheng Ming listened, her breathing became slightly heavier. Her heart was pounding under her chest, like a rapid drumbeat, a hollow and dull echo.

She did not doubt that it was telling a lie.

She had personally seen the withering of the mycelia. So this was the price of a quick recovery.

“Can you solve it?” she asked.

“I’m trying,” it said softly. “During this time, I hope you can maintain a good nutritional supply.”

The essence of many drug treatments was to strengthen the body’s immunity, commonly known as “toughing it out.”

“It sounds like you’re going through fire and water for my safety,” she deliberately emphasized the words “you” and “me,” and stared at her and it in the mirror without blinking.

“Of course, it’s for us,” Xiao Ming was always frank. “If something happens to you, I can’t live.”

But at this moment, this second, this frankness still seemed to have some other meaning.

And so after it finished speaking, they both fell silent, inexplicably, for a short while.

The light outlined the double image of the flower in the water in and out of the mirror. Their gazes could not truly meet, but their souls were always connected.

“You seem… a little sad.” This was the specialty of living in the same body. She couldn’t hide anything from it.

Its choice of words was a little new, a little awkward. The monster, which was used to being blunt, actually revealed a subtle feeling of “I don’t know if I should say this or not”:

“This emotion, is it called reluctance?”

“No,” Cheng Ming said quickly without blinking. “I’m worried about my body.”

“Is this called being duplicitous?”

“Shut up.”