Chapter 41: I think a human body can give you a better experience.
The storage room was kept at a constant temperature and humidity. The air was filled with the mixed smell of chemical solutions and a faint salty and damp smell.
The monsters in the transparent containers were either curled up or stretched out. Their deformed structures due to radiation pollution filled this place with a surreal and psychedelic feeling, as if they had come to another planet.
Cheng Ming had come in a hurry and had not brought her notebook, nor was she in the mood to take notes.
She looked down at her hands. The skin, which was originally so dry that it was chapped, was now full of wrinkles from being soaked in water for too long.
Regret, the person involved was now full of regret.
She forcefully stuffed her hands into her sleeves. She didn’t want to deal with it anymore. She found a suitable spot on the shelf and sat down on the floor, leaning against the metal plate and hugging herself. She pushed away a strand of mycelia that had come close and blocked her vision.
“Go find something to eat yourself,” her face said, “don’t bother me.”
“You’re angry, why?” Xiao Ming didn’t understand. “Aren’t you happy? You clearly enjoyed it during the process…”
Cheng Ming was now numb to its occasional, straightforward, and even vulgar choice of words.
Enjoyment was enjoyment, but that was because its skills were indeed good, and it was very eager to explore…Ugh, that’s a different matter!
“Because you didn’t get my consent again!”
“I asked you, and you agreed,” it said, helpless, innocent, and shameless.
The series of performances was absolutely brilliant.
Cheng Ming was so angry that she almost laughed. “You’re changing the concept again!”
Who said it was well-behaved?
What a cunning creature!
“But how long do you have to think about it? You haven’t given a clear answer for so long…”
Xiao Ming was a little sad. The strand of mycelia that had been pushed away did not join the foraging team, but hung dejectedly on the corner of her clothes, swaying in the breeze that blew in from the ventilation opening.
“I don’t know when I’ll have to wait.”
To see but not be able to eat all day was too cruel for a parasite that had just fallen in love and had just tasted the sweetness.
Cheng Ming exhaled slowly.
“When I’ve confirmed your origin,” there was no room for negotiation, she said word by word. “When I’ve confirmed that you are harmless to me.”
It wanted to say something, but Cheng Ming immediately guessed and interrupted, “Your subjective inclination does not mean that your objective existence is harmless to me.”
“…”
Xiao Ming was quiet for a while.
For a moment, there was only the rustling sound of the nutrient mycelia prying open the sealed containers to eat.
“Animals in heat look for mates through chemical information and special behaviors. In my opinion, your various reactions are a sign of accepting my signal,” it said, while at the same time, it was a cold-blooded killer, strangling and decomposing the living things in the jar. It was arguing with her, and as it spoke, it seemed to be getting more and more aggrieved. “Why are you so resistant to clarifying our relationship…”
Fortunately, it had no human form.
Otherwise, it would probably be pitying itself and trying to awaken the host’s conscience at this moment, and Cheng Ming, who had no conscience to speak of for a parasite that loved to occupy her body, would only pour ice water on it.
Cheng Ming pursed her lips, “Xiao Ming, you’re not stupid. Do you have to pretend you don’t understand?”
It was a mutual consent, half-push and half-pull. Indeed, for an animal in heat, perhaps not refusing was accepting.
However, after the first time, she had made her attitude clear. She needed it to respect her, to respect her every decision, even if it was insincere.
But perhaps it was its animal nature. It would never learn to behave, and would only pretend to be well-behaved and clever on the surface, and then scheme various feasible ways to bypass the restrictions she had set.
Perhaps it couldn’t be blamed.
Humans were also always in a tug-of-war between morality and instinct, but humans had been disciplined for a long time… and it was not human.
“Yes, I understand,” Xiao Ming said in a low voice. “I know you have many inexplicable rituals and inefficient inspection standards, but I don’t understand. I just desire you… you do too, but you are always restraining yourself in violation of your animal nature.”
It was tearing at her finely decorated skin again, unreasonably.
Cheng Ming really didn’t want to listen, but she couldn’t deny it.
Because… confirming a relationship meant responsibility, which meant that she needed to change for it. A person with a normal moral education could not enjoy its flattery and intimacy, and enjoy this deformed ambiguity, without giving any guarantee.
Even if the process was indeed pleasant.
She rested her chin on her knees and was quiet for a moment. “Xiao Ming, do you want to be human?”
This question was a little strange.
It asked cautiously, “If I’m not human, can I…”
“Don’t even think about it!” Cheng Ming was so angry that she laughed. “No joking, answer properly.”
“Alright,” it said. “I do.”
“Why?”
“I can be closer to you.”
All its thoughts and motivations revolved around her.
So much so that Cheng Ming, who had wanted to teach it to be like a human, was momentarily speechless.
Words that would be greasy and hypocritical if spoken by a human, but when spoken by a monster, they seemed to be the most sincere.
She looked at the opposite side. A huge culture tank, with a thick mass of rotten flesh, the remains of an experimental animal with an unrecognizable appearance, was pale and swollen, and her distorted reflection was also faded and deformed in it.
The glass reflected the mycelia that were spreading out behind her, like overlapping double images. The other shadow that could not be seen clearly had been enveloping and entangling her from beginning to end, from life to death, from fresh to rotten, from the beginning of all things to the end of the world.
“You’re like this…” Cheng Ming controlled her facial features and slowly opened her mouth. “It only makes me suspect that your ultimate goal is still to kill and replace me.”
It was not impossible.
Perhaps at that moment, that time, its mood of wanting to draw happiness from her and also bring her happiness was real.
But what about the future?
It was sometimes frighteningly similar to her, and sometimes completely opposite to her.
People were afraid of aliens, and even more afraid of aliens who were similar to themselves. When she faced it, the fear in her heart had never subsided.
“…” Xiao Ming asked, “Then how should I answer?”
There was no solution.
Cheng Ming opened her arms and stretched her body. She propped up her elbow and supported her forehead, her fingers gently running through her thick and soft fungal hair.
As long as she didn’t find out its origin, she would not be at ease for a single day.
The filamentous substance was hooked on her fingers. The flesh wrapped the bones, and the mycelia wrapped the skin, as if they wanted to squeeze into her depths.
It was also uneasy.
“If I were human, would you still be so wary of me?” Xiao Ming asked again.
Cheng Ming did not speak.
Because she suddenly realized that her answer did not conform to normal logic.
She would be even more wary.
She thought.
…
March 26th, morning.
Cheng Ming arrived at the designated pick-up point on time.
Next to the armored vehicle, a line of people was already neatly arranged, ready to go, like a row of upright poplars in the wind. It had to be said that it was very pleasing to the eye, especially the team leader at the head.
The strict protective gear could not cover the sense of power that came from the muscles underneath.
“This body is good, this one is not bad either…” Xiao Ming muttered to itself in her mind, with a tone like it was picking out cabbages in a supermarket.
Finally, its gaze followed hers and fell on that Team Leader Yan, and it couldn’t help but mutter with regret, “Sigh, actually, Yan Li is still the best.”
“What are you up to?” The more Cheng Ming listened, the more she felt that something was wrong, and she became vigilant. “You’re not allowed to parasitize others!”
“I think a human body might be able to give you a better experience…” Xiao Ming said.
Did it come to this conclusion after thinking for a whole night?
What kind of insane understanding was this!
Cheng Ming’s mind went blank, “No need!”
Before she could argue with it any more, Yan Li was already in front of her.
“This one,” she gestured, her posture as straight as a soldier on a parade ground, and she extended her hand to shake hers.
“Sorry for delaying you for a few days. Thank you for your cooperation.”
After leaving the confined space, the other acted very polite and courteous, as if she were not the one who had almost driven her to her death for the past four days.
She didn’t know why she had suddenly been so kind and had let her go. Cheng Ming had been a little worried from last night until today, afraid that there was a big hole waiting for her in front.
But when she asked her colleagues, it wasn’t that there was a problem with the experiment and she had been called back to help.
So, what was the reason?
“It’s fine.”
Cheng Ming was also very polite.
“I heard that there’s an unwritten rule in the Investigation Department that in the face of contributions, insignificant doubts can be ignored,” she said in a very low voice as she passed her. “Team Leader Yan, did your actions violate any rules? Or did someone give you an order?”
Her peripheral vision swept across her face, but unfortunately, she was not a psychologist and could not judge the other’s thoughts through micro-expressions.
However, although Yan Li’s expression did not show anything, her purpose was not to find out.
Cheng Ming gave her an unfathomable smile, got into the car, and left the person’s gaze silently fixed on her back.
“Are you scaring her?” Xiao Ming understood. “You’re so bad…”
A monster that had just wanted to use someone else’s body as a toy was calling her bad?
Cheng Ming pulled up her protective suit and sat down in the car with a blank expression. “You have no self-awareness.”
…
Redstone Bay.
The accident that had happened at the end of March had ended with a normal experimental error.
That is to say, the newly added algaefungus toxin had caused a stress reaction in the seabed creatures due to the change in the water environment. And before they had arrived, there had been a round of experiments by the animal group that had left some hidden dangers… In short, a series of coincidences had led to it.
And now that the various facilities and equipment had been inspected and adjusted, the experiment could continue to advance steadily.
Although Cheng Ming felt that this reason was really bizarre and intuitively felt that it was not that simple… she had no time to investigate it in detail, and there was no need to.
Perhaps it was to make up for her mistake, or perhaps it was simply looking forward to the benefits it could get after she completed this project. During this period, Xiao Ming began to actively help her with her experimental tasks.
Its learning ability often surprised her, and even horrified her.
It rarely disturbed her when she was focused, but just quietly observed. And just like that, it had figured out most of the professional stuff. It was not like it was learning it now, but as if it were innate, and it had just picked it up again in its interaction with her.
“Have you really not been through my brain?” Cheng Ming was very suspicious.
“Can I?” Xiao Ming said. “I also want to—”
“You don’t,” she immediately interrupted.
One was worth two was not an exaggeration, but a realistic description. And so Cheng Ming’s progress was always much faster than others.
So much so that every time they had a meeting to summarize the progress, Song Manqing’s eyes would always switch between the astonishment of “do you not need to sleep” and the suspicion of “are you secretly working hard behind our backs.”
But it had to be admitted that this “involution” was very effective.
In the later stages, batches of achievement reports were sent back to the research institute, and the reviewers on both sides couldn’t help but communicate with them, telling them not to tamper with the data in order to rush the progress.
For the last data collection, the project group was finally not in the dark underwater experimental area, but had gathered in the atrium on the first floor, a site specially opened up for large-scale experiments.
Everyone stood together, wearing strict protective suits, in front of a fully enclosed glass cage.
The azure light was reflected by the sparkling water, and the shadows of aquatic creatures occasionally passed by, and the light and shadow changed on them.
Behind the glass was a miniature ocean. It was an artificially constructed system, but the water samples were taken directly from different depths of the sea and brought back by bionic detectors.
The report was already very complete, but those things were too professional. They wanted to do one last visual experiment as a direct “product” to be submitted to the upper-level leaders for review.
The water was clear, and the gene-knockout model organisms that had been put in were swimming lively in the sun, a scene of prosperity.
The oxygen-sensitive mutant was used. As long as the oxygen content of the water was more than 3% lower than the normal value, this fish could not live for more than 2 hours.
And now, they had lived for more than 24 hours.
Although the result was predictable, at this moment, seeing this immediate effect with their own eyes, they gathered in front of the large screen and looked at the rows of jumping values, and everyone’s eyes couldn’t help but burst with excitement.
“It’s effective, it’s effective…” The person in front punched the air.
“Yay!” A girl jumped up and hugged the person next to her.
A breakthrough project, a breakthrough progress. All the nights they had stayed up for so long were worth it.
Although Ms. Song did not jump, she was also happy and hugged the person next to her.
Cheng Ming, who was being hugged: “…”
She was stunned for a moment, not very used to this sudden intimacy, but out of politeness, she patted the other’s elbow as an encouragement.
Song Manqing, who was being patted: “…”
She let go as if nothing had happened, and with a noble and cold expression, she went to push her glasses, but she had obviously forgotten that she was wearing a protective suit, and she crumpled the PVC material with a rustle.
And so the whole place was filled with joy, and only their side had a strange atmosphere.
