After Being Parasitized by a Monster 52

Chapter 52: I will take good care of her for you.

On the night of July 8th.

The tsunami had already receded, and the number of missing people was countless.

A very swift disaster had taken countless lives in an instant, and the situation at the Defense Center was about to undergo a earth-shaking change.

And the tide that had caused all this had quietly retreated, leaving only scars all over the place.

Cheng Ming had salvaged a person from the sea, and they had fallen onto the shore together, soaking wet.

The night sky was still clear, and the moon was hanging quietly in the sky. She turned herself over and looked down at the drowned person.

Her long hair fell far behind her, curling and trailing like black algae, most of it submerged in the seawater, and the silver light was sprinkled on her.

If there were a living person nearby at this time, they might mistake her for the daughter of the sea from a fairy tale.

However, she did not look like a mermaid at all.

Her clothes were stained by the seawater, her appearance was terrible, and her back was against the rugged rocks and the debris all over the ground.

She was more like a witch.

The person she had rescued had to pay a price.

With the current concentration of nuclear radiation in the seawater, a few minutes of immersion was enough to reach the standard of severe exposure. A terrifying dose of more than a few sieverts was far beyond the safe limit that the human body could withstand. In a short period of time, the skin would ulcerate, tissue fluid would flow, and pus would drip.

A living individual would become a piece of rotting fresh meat.

There were also blood spots on Cheng Ming’s body, and the damage to her body surface made her look bloody and terrifying.

But she was still alive and well, without any acute radiation symptoms. After leaving the seawater that had caused the damage, she could still move freely.

The most serious injury was just a fracture caused by the impact of the seawater, and it had healed quickly in a few hours.

Radiation could not kill her.

She had not intended to save anyone at first, but was just hungry.

Very, very hungry.

Sinking to the bottom of the sea, her respiratory tract was filled with seawater, and her mouth was filled with something she didn’t know. The texture was muddy, and it was full of a fishy smell. Salty, astringent, bitter, all kinds of disgusting tastes. Normally, she would have vomited, but at that moment, she only felt that she could describe herself as “relishing” it.

Yes, “she” was eating.

She had briefly lost consciousness due to the impact of the tsunami. It was obvious that during this period of self-abandonment, Xiao Ming had taken over the jurisdiction of their shared body, and was completely unaffected by the main body, and was enthusiastically replenishing its nutrients.

The mycelia were very freely and happily taking root in the flesh and blood deposited on the seabed, tearing apart limbs and decomposing nutrients. She didn’t know if she was eating plants, animals, or people.

She didn’t want to care about it either, letting her body sink into the deep sea and her soul float in the darkness.

Until she touched a human body with too distinct features, and the unusual touch and taste finally brought back a little of her will.

Opening her eyes, she saw this familiar person.

The life equipment was still running, and the faint light of the smart protective combat suit illuminated this small, gloomy sea area. She could clearly see the face inside.

Yan Li.

It was incredible. The other still had a faint breath.

Her combat suit was also intact, and she had not been contaminated by radiation.

But her sternum and spine were broken, and there was a large dent in her chest. Her lungs were severely damaged, and the gas exhaled from her mouth and nose under her helmet was all blood foam.

She was dying.

The mycelia were climbing all over the other’s body, trying to find a gap to drill in.

Cheng Ming had snatched back control from the Fish-Fungus and had brought Yan Li ashore. She had not learned to swim, but the water that brushed past her was unusually gentle and let her borrow its strength.

Splash! She landed on the shore. Ignoring her appearance, she approached and observed like a female ghost that sucked yang qi.

The fact that she could hold on until this time was, on the one hand, due to the powerful technology. The combat suit could be completely sealed and support 16 hours of oxygen. On the other hand, with such serious injuries, she had not died on the spot, but had struggled in the sea for so long. It was truly a miracle of life.

She still wanted to live. She really wanted to live.

Cheng Ming felt her desire and despair.

She reached for the lock, and click, she took off the heavy helmet, wiped the dirt from her cheek, and straightened her hair, which was wet with blood. Every action was full of love.

Without a solid armor, without a powerful self-healing ability, without a sufficient lifespan. The human body was too fragile.

“You don’t have long to live,” she said softly.

Such cruel words, but when spoken by her, they didn’t sound like a death notice, but like a beautiful angel in a feathered robe, extending her hand to lead the deceased to heaven.

But who could tell the difference between an angel and a demon.

Yan Li was already conscious.

The increase in adrenaline and the release of a large amount of direct energy substances had helped her maintain her sanity at the point of death. She could still think, and could even move her fingers, but she could no longer effectively change the situation. Her throat was also blocked with blood, and she couldn’t speak.

The so-called final radiance of a setting sun.

The situation was reversed. Cheng Ming had once been forcibly detained and isolated by her, and she had been helpless. Now, it was her turn to be at her mercy.

The waves crashed on the reef. Cheng Ming knelt by her side, her wet and messy appearance as pitiful as the person on the ground. But when her eyes lowered, she was as cold, ruthless, and pitiful as a god.

Removing the transparent cover, she looked down at her, her forehead almost touching hers, and asked, “I want your body, do you agree?”

She saw her painful and mournful eyes, but she did not move. Her eyes were calm, as if she were prepared to wait like this until she agreed, or until she died, and she would have to agree even if she didn’t.

Her tone was gentle, a calm to the extreme, emotionless, and lofty gentleness.

But the cruelty under that gentleness, it was not difficult to analyze the hidden other meaning—

If you don’t agree, I’ll have to take it by force.

A threat? No, it was just pity for a weak, pained, and powerless dying person.

“Your wish, I can fulfill it for you. Is there anyone at home waiting for you?”

Seeing her so unwilling, Cheng Ming made a reasonable guess.

As expected, she instantly saw a sorrowful look on the person under her.

Her pupils were trembling, but she had lost the ability to speak. With all her might, she could only raise her fingers half an inch, and pinch the bones and flesh of her wrist. She opened her mouth and choked on more blood. Her every breath was like a broken plastic bag in the wind, the frequency getting higher and higher, but the amplitude getting smaller and smaller.

“I will take good care of her for you.”

Cheng Ming seemed not to feel the pain from her left hand and gently stroked the hair on her forehead.

She did not die alone in the deep sea, and there was a human-like creature who was considerately giving her end-of-life care. This was a kind of luck.

—So, do you agree?

I will inherit your body, I will take on your destiny, I will fulfill your last wish.

…

She bent down in the moonlight and the embrace of the night. This time, it was a complete touch, a fusion, a union.

The mycelia peeled off the flesh and blood, and took root and sprouted from inside the skin, like a passage for ferrying souls in myths and legends, and the fungal cells were the bridge between the two species.

The closest distance between them was the transition between life and death.

Her blood had drenched her, like a baptism, accompanied by death and rebirth.

Her feigned death and rebirth.

…

The hands of the clock turned.

Returning to ten o’clock in the morning on September 17th.

Qu Ying did not know that the person who should have been lying in the grave was now standing by her side.

Until now, Cheng Ming looked at her, at these familiar friends, and even at her own tombstone, and only then did she truly feel that she was alive again.

What was the value of her existence?

I don’t know.

If there is no value, then I will have to find it, to create value.

For example, now.

Seeing that Qu Ying didn’t want to talk to her anymore, Cheng Ming reached out, took the cigarette from her mouth, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it.

The whole set of actions was smooth and natural, and was completed before the other could react.

Then, meeting the latter’s sudden, deathly gaze, she explained calmly, “I don’t like it either.”

To be honest, Qu Ying had originally been standing on the side, in the downwind. It was she who had inexplicably taken the initiative to approach her. They had not talked for long, and she had suddenly, without asking, extinguished the other’s cigarette… and in theory, they were not familiar with each other.

Smoking in public was not good.

Such an insane act was obviously not much better.

Qu Ying stared at her coldly. The CPU of her brain, which was known as a human PC, was probably about to burn out.

Han Xuhua turned her head and saw this scene, “…”

She immediately rushed over, “No, no, I’m sorry! My team leader’s brain was damaged in this tsunami!”

…

She had never known that her classmate Xiao Hua had such an eloquent side.

Perhaps she had finally figured out that she couldn’t argue with a brain-damaged person. Qu Ying looked at them with a very indescribable gaze for a few moments, and in the end, said nothing.

Before leaving, she silently picked up the cigarette butt.

Perhaps she felt that she couldn’t dirty her grave.

Yan Li was undoubtedly completely dead. She had just devoured the other, obtained her genes to simulate her appearance, and in a strange fusion, had let Xiao Ming temporarily preserve her cranial neurons. Analysis would take time, and the human brain was too complex. She had not yet read all of its memories.

When she saw Qu Ying, she couldn’t help but think… she didn’t know if nine brains would be easier.

Cheng Ming was actually a little worried about her mental state.

After a few words of conversation, the calmer Qu Ying appeared, the more uneasy she felt.

But in the end, she just stood there, watching the other’s retreating back.

She could not expose herself.

To put it cruelly, it was fortunate that all the old members of the 1st squad were gone. Without anyone too familiar or close, her disguise was less likely to be exposed.

She couldn’t go back to the research institute, so she chose to be reborn.

The moment she found Yan Li, this idea had come to her very naturally, as if it were an instinct. It could only be said that she was a natural monster.

This was her nature.

The nature of a parasite, the nature of being alive.

If she had just been parasitized, someone might have been able to protect her. The Security Department might have tried to help her clear the parasite like they would with a bacterial infection. Even in the worst case, she would have been treated as a rare research subject and tortured. But she still had her connections, and it wouldn’t have come to that.

However, she herself was an experimental subject.

The situation was far more difficult than she had originally thought.

Teacher Jiang couldn’t protect her, and Qu Ying might not be able to either.

Even, if this identity were to be truly exposed, it was uncertain if Qu Ying would still be on her side.

She was the experimental subject that had been stolen by Cheng Ran, a renegade.

Even Cheng Ran herself had wanted to kill her later.

But in the end, she had still returned to human society, although with too much unworthy pessimism.

It was just because there were still too many mysteries that had not been solved.

It was just because of those faint feelings of unwillingness.

A dying person was still trying their best to live. Why should she abandon herself.

Leaving the cemetery.

Han Xuhua checked the things they had brought and shook the umbrella, complaining, “When will this damn rain stop?”

After “Yan Li” was rescued and sent to the hospital, she had been following her. Now, after she was discharged, the two of them had paid their respects to their comrades and were going back together.

It was said that she was taking care of her, but the medical facilities were complete, and Han Xuhua couldn’t help much. It was more of a spiritual comfort. She was worried that she would suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after directly facing the death of her comrades. They were the orphans of this disaster.

Cheng Ming turned her head and, across the vast grassland of the wilderness, she looked into the distance. In the dim yellow halo that covered the 30,000-kilometer-long coastline, the clouds in the sky were very thick, and they were silver-gray with white edges.

The coastal city, which had been through many storms, was in the middle of a downpour.

This loss was too great. Many things had not yet been dealt with, the mutated creatures were still being cleaned up, and the artificial rain was still continuing. The Defense Center was in a sealed state, and you could only enter, not leave.

Lowering her head, Cheng Ming gently patted her clothes.

She knew that after returning to the Defense Center from here, she would have to face a new round of tests.

Perhaps from the Security Department, from the research institute, from the hiding monsters, from the hidden enemies, from those former friends…

But first, from the person closest to Yan Li—

Her sister, Yan Rong.