After Being Parasitized by a Monster 30

Chapter 30: Xiao Ming was afraid she would get cold.

The side effect of the inhibitor.

Cheng Ming quickly thought of the reason.

Her body was in a stalemate between the virus and the fungus. The inhibitor had broken this balance, and the battlefield had fallen, which was manifested in the various abnormalities of the derivatives on her body surface.

She heard an abnormal auditory hallucination. When she lowered her head, two drops of blood overflowed from her nasal cavity, staining her clothes red.

How were the algaefungus cells arranged in her body… Cheng Ming frowned and took a tissue to cover her nose. She staggered to the bedside, grabbed a syringe from a pile of miscellaneous items, and gave herself two injections of nutrient supplement.

The cold medicinal liquid was pushed into her vein, and her fingers were a little weak. She paused for a moment and tried to call out, “Xiao Ming?”

She wanted to confirm its condition, but got no response.

She could only vaguely feel that the situation was not very good.

Even she was showing obvious discomfort. It was hard to imagine what the battlefield inside her body was like.

Even with the nutrient supplement, her self-healing ability was still not as immediate as before. She wrapped the slightly loose nail bed with gauze, took off her dirty clothes, and looked down at her skin. The situation was equally bad, with patches of texture like dry scales.

She walked into the bathroom and filled the tub with water. Enduring the pain, she soaked herself in the bathtub, closed her eyes, and submerged her head, her mouth and nose also submerged.

There was no feeling of suffocation. On the contrary, it was a comfort as if she could finally breathe again.

The barrier was broken, and the body that contained the sea monster seemed to be even more inseparable from water.

She even suspected that adding some salt to it would have a better therapeutic effect… but that would make her feel like she was a pot of fish soup being boiled.

Before going out the next day, Cheng Ming stuffed her backpack with various hydrating and moisturizing products.

The plan came down quickly.

As soon as she arrived at the research institute, she was called to Jiang Dexin’s office. The other party introduced her to the basic situation of the new project group.

The teams from the northwest and two buildings had joined forces to temporarily form a fungus-virus project group.

Cheng Ming was one of the main research members.

“Each side will have one main person in charge. I won’t take up a spot. If you encounter any problems, just come to me directly.”

The third stage of pollution, accompanied by more crazy monsters, was a real threat to coastal security. If they could finally obtain a biological weapon that specifically targeted the over-proliferation of organisms in the ocean, one could imagine how great a contribution it would be.

It would definitely be of great help to her subsequent promotion.

Cheng Ming immediately understood the intention of this arrangement.

Teacher Jiang had really gone to great lengths for her.

However, in this way, all the decision-makers except her were from the virus group. After all, she was just a research assistant and would be temporarily assigned to a deputy researcher from that side for the convenience of cooperative research and applying for various instruments and equipment in the West Building.

“Song Manqing, a deputy researcher who was just promoted this year. I heard she’s only twenty-six. You young people should get along well,” Jiang Dexin introduced.

To obtain a deputy senior title at this age, she was definitely a talent among talents.

From the project arrangement to the personnel arrangement, Teacher Jiang explained everything in detail. Cheng Ming listened carefully and patiently took note of various precautions.

The first group meeting in the afternoon would be started by her. She would introduce the basic situation of the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus and bring some virus samples—the contaminated fungal solution had already become a virus culture medium. Worried about cross-infection, it had been moved to the room next to the incubation room for separate cultivation.

The North and West Buildings looked connected from the outside, but the floors were not actually connected. In the middle were the material transport pipes.

Cheng Ming went there after lunch.

She had miscalculated a bit. It would take ten minutes just to reach the destination. If she were to perform some illegal operations, she could take a shortcut, but now she had to honestly take the elevator, walk, and then take the elevator again.

101st floor of the West Building.

Just as Cheng Ming stepped out of the car, she saw a person coming down from the elevator next to her. It was the legendary deputy researcher who she “should get along well with,” Song Manqing.

She was indeed young.

A sandalwood-colored shark clip held her hair at the back of her head. She was wearing silver-rimmed glasses, and under her lab coat was a casual-style half-turtleneck sweater. At first glance, she looked like a college student.

“Teacher Song—”

Cheng Ming identified her by her name tag, took the initiative to extend her hand, and smiled politely, wanting to greet her.

But the other party glanced at her, put her hands in her pockets, and walked straight past, leaving a cold back of her head.

Cheng Ming: “…”

She looked down at her own chest tag, which was in good condition, and ruled out the possibility that she had not recognized her.

The smile on her face did not change, and she calmly withdrew her hand.

Geniuses inevitably have their own quirks. She expressed her understanding.

The two of them walked to conference room 10120, one after the other.

Before entering the door, Cheng Ming took off her hat, pressed the wig on her head, and straightened the slightly messy hair.

She used to be heartbroken about losing her hair, then she was heartbroken about losing her mycelia. Now she was used to it and found that being bald was not so bad. At least she could change her hairstyle every day… As expected, a person’s bottom line is lowered step by step like this.

There were already five or six people in the room. Besides Song Manqing, the other person with a higher rank was a re-employed old professor, sitting in the first row by the door, with the surname Jin and the first name Xia.

She was a leading figure in the academic world. Even Cheng Ran would have to call her teacher here, but she was very kind and smiled and nodded at her.

The main task of the project group was to find the mechanism of the virus against the fungus, verify its feasibility, and evaluate its harm.

At the same time, Cheng Ming’s personal goal was to find a way to immunize herself against the virus and save herself during this period, with the help of the team’s resources.

This was her selfish motive, and it did not conflict with the main goal.

After introducing the basic situation, she said, “For safety reasons, it is not recommended to release live virus strains. If there is a key killing substance, it is more reliable to manufacture it artificially…”

“Don’t you think this is time-consuming and laborious?” Before she could finish, a voice interrupted.

Cheng Ming looked over and, not surprisingly, saw the other’s nonchalant smile.

“Actually, our project group is quite redundant. If the virus is useful, it will naturally proliferate when released into the sea.”

“Teacher Song Manqing,” Cheng Ming also smiled and asked back, “may I ask, under the current radiation situation, how can we ensure that a living organism will not mutate after entering the ocean? If the virus causes a new ecological disaster and once again becomes a weapon to hold humanity hostage, how do you plan to solve it?”

Her tone was very light, and she did not deliberately confront her.

But her eyes were like black glass meteorites, translucent and indifferent from the inside out. Calling out the other’s name, word by word, made her seem particularly merciless.

During working hours, she couldn’t remember to maintain any interpersonal relationships.

“…”

Song Manqing stared at her, as if she hadn’t expected her to be so impolite. She was a little angry for a moment, but she hadn’t thought of a rebuttal.

Cheng Ming looked at her without moving, her gaze steady and sharp.

The conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and the atmosphere was stagnant.

Without waiting for a response, she was about to say something when, at this moment, Professor Jin Xia, who was closest to her, suddenly chuckled.

Cheng Ming paused, thinking that this old professor had some instructions, or a reprimand.

But the other’s gaze was gentle, and she just said with a chuckle, “Please continue.”

So she withdrew her gaze and continued.

After that, Song Manqing did not interrupt again, but just had a gloomy face throughout the whole process.

Cheng Ming didn’t know how she had offended her. Perhaps she simply felt that a research assistant like her was not worthy of such an important research project. In any case, she was in no mood to investigate.

The meeting proceeded smoothly to the end.

After Jin Xia, the only real researcher present, had finished her guidance and made suggestions on the allocation of tasks, everyone dispersed.

Cheng Ming waited for the others to leave first, packed up her things, and was about to walk out the door when she found that Professor Jin Xia had also stayed until the end.

“You are very much like your mother,” she stood up with a smile, supported by a student next to her, just to say this to her.

Cheng Ming had already politely stopped. Hearing this, she looked up in surprise, “You know my mother?”

“We’ve met a few times,” she said with some emotion. “Her achievements are far more than just the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus. None of us old bones can catch up. I heard that if the first experimental project had been successful back then, you would at least be the daughter of an academician. It’s a pity…”

“The first experiment?” Cheng Ming was at a loss at first, and then, her heart began to beat a little faster. “What was that?”

She remembered that when she went home last month to look for traces of her parents’ past, she had found that one of her mother’s research projects seemed to be related to her… related to the origin of Xiao Ming.

“I don’t know about that,” the other said in surprise. “Didn’t Jiang Dexin mention it to you? They were alumni from the same university. It was she who introduced your mother to this place.”

Cheng Ming was stunned.

This was not what she had thought.

Looking at their qualifications, shouldn’t Cheng Ran have come first, and Teacher Jiang later?

“At that time, the research institute was not the research institute it is now. I heard that it was a big project that had received a lot of help from the upper class, so the first level four biosafety laboratory was built here, and they even poached people from various research institutes. But Jiang Dexin was tied up with her own experiments and didn’t come, so she introduced your mother instead…”

Cheng Ming calculated the time.

Indeed, at that time, Cheng Ran was still a university professor and did not work at a research institute.

No wonder she was a veteran of the research institute. When she first came in, this place was not even owned by the state.

“Manqing is not a bad person, she just has a bad temper. You should bear with her,” Jin Xia said with a smile, changing the subject. “But you and your mother are carved from the same mold. Your mother used to argue with us in her defense back then.”

Who would have thought that the mother who was always gentle and emotionally stable in her memory had also had a time when she had a war of words with a group of scholars on stage… Cheng Ming was a little embarrassed and said, “You’re joking.”

She stood at the elevator door and watched Professor Jin Xia leave. She did not press the down button for a long time.

Her figure was reflected in the hall door. The metal swallowed the color, and the dim silhouette was like a wisp of faded smoke.

She suddenly realized that she had missed something.

Jiang Dexin—

This person who had been in close contact with Professor Shuang Cheng.

This person who had taken over the research achievement of the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus after her mother’s disappearance.

This teacher who had been a great help to her.

…

As expected, she was excluded by Song Manqing’s team.

However, Cheng Ming couldn’t ask for more. It was convenient for her to focus on her own research, and it also saved her the trouble of finding excuses to cover up—developing antiviral immunoglobulin.

If she was short of manpower, she could delegate the work to the intern assistants on the lower floors. They were there to share the experimental tasks and did not need to know the specific content.

There were several ways to deal with the virus: directly using drugs to inhibit replication and proliferation, or indirectly assisting in strengthening the body’s immune system. Her current state was indirect supportive treatment, prolonging the battle and giving her body enough time to clear the virus.

But she was too deeply involved with the parasite inside her. Even with Xiao Ming as the first line of defense, the virus was still destroying her physiological functions. She couldn’t rely on herself alone. She had to use the resources of the research institute to solve it as soon as possible. The longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be.

Drug development was too troublesome, and time was tight. Immunoglobulin was the best choice. It was easier to obtain and safer than other options.

As long as the key gene sequence was inserted into the host cells, it could be harvested through large-scale cell culture.

The theory was established, but the practical results had yet to be tested.

This was the benefit of participating in the project group. She had enough authority to apply for what she needed without being suspected.

She had no time to worry about other things for the time being. Cheng Ming began her days of running between the North and West Buildings from morning to night.

Her physical condition was getting worse day by day. She repeatedly experienced spots, damage, and shedding of her nails and skin. After injecting the nutrient supplement, it would get better, and they would regrow within a few hours. It was both painful and itchy, and it repeated itself, causing her to not sleep well all night.

These symptoms were not obvious or intense, but a dull knife cutting flesh was particularly unbearable.

It was only better when she was soaked in water.

And so, when she was not sleeping well, she would lose consciousness in a daze while soaking, and she wouldn’t even feel the water turning cold.

“Cheng Ming,” a faint call came in her daze, and she couldn’t hear it clearly.

It was only when she woke up the next morning that she found herself lying neatly in bed, wearing pajamas, and covered with a quilt.

The only possibility was that Xiao Ming had briefly woken up.

It was afraid she would get cold, so it had worked hard to clean up after her.

The most direct evidence was that she opened her phone and found a new alarm, with the note: “Soaking water warning.”

What a messy combination of words… Cheng Ming’s mood changed from nervous to helpless.