After Being Parasitized by a Monster 56

Chapter 56: Not to say a complete defeat, but a fish-dies-net-breaks situation.

At eight in the morning, Cheng Ming arrived at the main hall of the Security Department building on time.

Area 1 was the health monitoring center she had been to before, under the jurisdiction of the Investigation Department, responsible for all kinds of physical examination matters, and open to the public.

Right now, she was going to Area 2, which was under the jurisdiction of the Thermal Weapons Department. It was a non-public area, a special training center that served the combat units of the Security Department.

Just as she stepped through the main door, a recorder in a white work uniform and holding a white tablet ran towards her. Just as she was about to raise her hand to greet her, she saw her pale face and dark circles, and the person was stunned.

“Oh my, has Team Leader Yan been troubled by her sister again?”

Not good, it seems to be an acquaintance.

After a difficult night with her sister, she had to deal with her colleagues from the Security Department during the day.

It was too late to look through her memories at this time, but she was originally an “amnesiac patient,” so Cheng Ming gave her a bitter smile and said nothing.

The latter immediately showed a look of sympathy, “Team Leader Yan, are you in a state to do this? Why don’t you rest for another two days…”

Although her sister was indeed difficult to deal with, this was mainly due to her cramming knowledge at night.

When she was at the research institute, she was all about experiments, experimental subjects, and experimental data… Her understanding of the Defense Center, especially of the second largest department of the Defense Center, the Security Department, was too limited.

Fortunately, the various books and manuals that Yan Li had used for her studies when she first came in were still there, neatly stacked under the bed and locked in a large safe.

She had struggled to drag them out, and had read through them all night, picking out the key points. In addition to Yan Li’s own memories, she had finally gotten a general idea.

The Security Department had four major branches.

First was the Investigation Department where she was now, the most basic department responsible for a series of tasks such as patrols, investigations, and protection. It was the security vanguard of the Defense Center and an important source of the word “security” in the full name of the Logistics Security Department.

Next was the Thermal Weapons Department. As its name implied, this department was mainly responsible for the supply of thermal weapons. It was a sister department that was closely related to the Investigation Department, the logistics warehouse for the combat personnel, and it would also train operators who specialized in large and heavy weapons.

The remaining two were of a higher confidentiality, and were respectively referred to as the third branch and the fourth branch.

The third branch, the biology department, Yan Li’s authority allowed her to have limited understanding and cooperation with. Cheng Ming’s feeling was that this was more like a sister department of the research institute, but it conducted biological experiments other than basic research, the so-called “developmental research.” It would create biological weapons for the front line, and the dangerous creatures captured on the front line would also be sent to this department first.

To be honest, from the weapons that Yan Li had come into contact with, the image of this third branch did not seem so positive.

According to the universal standards of the biological research industry, it was basically operating in a gray area.

As for the fourth branch, the confidentiality authority was even higher. Even Yan Li could only have indirect contact and had no direct authority to understand it. She only knew that the people from the fourth branch were of a very high rank.

If there were no accidents, that should be the department where Qu Ying was.

The research institute was indeed very well protected. It was located in the headquarters of the headquarters, the most core area. The main building was more than three hundred floors high, with a flat ring structure, and covered a very large area. The other auxiliary buildings were just some scattered warehouses, storage rooms, or specially opened up inland experimental sites.

In comparison, the tallest main building of the Security Department was only one or two hundred floors high. Although there were many auxiliary buildings, because the research institute was located in the center and was magnificent enough, all the other buildings were like stars surrounding the moon in its comparison. Their presence was incomparable, and once the research institute blocked the view, no other tall buildings could be seen.

But after leaving the research institute and understanding the overall distribution of the Defense Center, she realized that the main structure here should actually be the Security Department.

The total length of the coastline was more than 30,000 kilometers. The Eastern Defense Center was responsible for 6519km of it, spanning 4 coastal cities, and was the first line of defense that ran from north to south.

It was unrealistic to command such a terrible span with just one base station. Therefore, the overall structure of the Security Department was linear, and it achieved comprehensive control of the coast through a modular form. Starting from the headquarters, it extended to both sides, and a reconnaissance station was established every 25 kilometers, and a thermal weapon arsenal was built every 30 kilometers, forming a new modular building unit. It was connected through two sets of systems, above ground and underground, to ensure the efficient flow of personnel, materials, and information. Each unit had a certain degree of emergency self-management authority, but in the end, all information would be gathered at the command and control center of the headquarters.

Like one piece of scale after another, the uniform modules of the Security Department formed the body of this long dragon, the Defense Center.

The amount of information absorbed was too large and too miscellaneous, and her cranial nerves were a little overused.

But Cheng Ming didn’t want to change what she had decided. She declined the other’s proposal, “It’s fine, let’s do it today.”

Today was not a training, but an assessment of her remaining combat power. After the data was collected, it would be submitted to the assessment committee of the command and control center to determine whether she was still suitable to stay in her original position.

In order to prevent disturbing the public, the weapon training grounds were all set up underground.

Cheng Ming followed her down the elevator, changed into a training suit in the preparation room, and went to the first simulation training ground.

…

Four hours later, Cheng Ming finished this torturous ability assessment.

A total of three modules of combat skills were tested: fighting skills, weapon operation, and tactical awareness.

Not to say a complete defeat, but a fish-dies-net-breaks situation.

If she were to go to the front line like this, the only good move would be to hold a grenade and die with the monster.

The recorder, who seemed to be an acquaintance, flipped through the data and pondered for a long, long time. Her choice of words was quite tactful:

“Team Leader Yan, actually, your combat instincts and initial strength values are fine, and have even increased. I don’t know if it’s a stress reaction, but the stress test was very stable… it’s just that the accuracy of using weapons is a bit off…”

It was too tactful, it was more than a bit.

When testing her proficiency with firearms, not to mention missing the target, the first few shots were at least completely unable to distinguish between the target and the surrounding environment. Yan Li was an excellent soldier with stable values in all aspects, but she had tried all kinds of individual weapons. After the last shot, Cheng Ming began to suspect that she was nearsighted and had astigmatism.

The gap between theory and practice was too great.

Knowing that this would happen, she had carefully studied it with Yan Li’s memory a long time ago and had rehearsed it many times in her mind, so she was not nervous. But until the end, when she took off her equipment, she had a strong sense of unreality, as if she had played a real-life CS game.

Especially when trying different thermal weapons, she had the chaotic feeling of a commoner who had suddenly been given a gun and pushed onto the battlefield. The whole experience was just holding iron lumps of different sizes and shapes for a long time. Her skin and meridians were hardened by the metal, and her internal organs were almost injured by the recoil.

In the end, her tactical awareness was her best performance. After all, it mainly assessed her decision-making and adaptability. Even if she didn’t react, Xiao Ming was there to help her cheat.

Not to be modest, she was now an absolute master of armchair strategy.

Cheng Ming sat on the rest bench, moving her joints slightly, feeling the satisfying soreness of her muscles being stretched, and said helplessly, “Maybe my motor center was damaged.”

She looked down at her fingers, which were as hard as a corpse’s, and a strange sadness welled up in her heart.

Not long ago, these hands had belonged to a researcher who had never… who had touched many corrosive chemicals, but such pure physical labor was a new experience in her life.

Cheng Ming had come with the intention of testing the potential of this half-human, half-monster body, and the result seemed to be not bad. But even if her strength and instincts were enhanced by the abilities of a mutated creature, professional operation could not be mastered overnight.

She could only delay as much as possible.

So she continued to ask, “Can you give me some time? The medical department didn’t find any major problems. It should just be temporary, and it might recover.”

She had already decided to start from the “grassroots” of the Investigation Department.

“This is a bit troublesome…”

The recorder quickly made a note on the evaluation form. “Team Leader Yan, at most, I can apply for a four-month evaluation period for you. If you still can’t recover, you can only listen to the transfer. It’s also for your own safety… During this period, you can take on some newcomers. If there’s a suitable mission, you’ll be allowed to go with the team and see if you can stimulate your recovery.”

The losses everywhere were heavy, and there were vacancies. It was a time of shortage of manpower, so many fresh blood had been quickly replenished, and they were in urgent need of training. Han Xuhua was already a veteran, and she was being sent wherever she was needed, so busy that she was spinning in circles.

Cheng Ming nodded, “No problem.”

The result report had to be submitted for review, and the official notice would only come down tomorrow. There was still half a day of rest.

She changed back into her casual clothes and walked out of the Security Department building, exhausted.

It was only when she got to the surface that she found that it was time for artificial rain again. The rootless water, mixed with special disinfectant, poured down from the clouds, splashing up a gray mist.

The road ahead was a blur.

Cheng Ming squeezed her sore arm. Thinking of the sister who was waiting at “home” with an unfathomable mind, she suddenly felt that the future was even grimmer.

“Where did you learn your fighting skills?” Xiao Ming asked.

What it was asking was obviously not theoretical knowledge, but that Cheng Ming did indeed have some practical skills in this area.

She opened her umbrella and stepped into the rain with her protective boots. She brushed past the other busy Security Department employees. “Probably when I was in my teens. Mom hired a private tutor for a while to teach me.”

It was said that it was to improve her physical fitness. It was a cliché that children were always sick because of a lack of exercise. She didn’t want to worry her mother, so she had studied very seriously.

But after less than two months of practice, the lessons had stopped. Cheng Ran had not explained, only saying that it was not suitable for her.

She hadn’t thought much about it at that time, but now…

Cheng Ming naturally began to rethink this matter. She had always been in poor health as a child. Was she really in poor health?

Cheng Ran needed to control her harmfulness and suppress the appearance of Xiao Ming. Even if the monster’s abilities were greatly reduced, she was, after all, not her daughter who had been born weak and sickly.

So the only answer was that Cheng Ran had done something?

…

Buzz—

An armored off-road vehicle broke through the rain, flew onto the viaduct, and sped into the distance.

Qu Ying had made a short stop at the headquarters and was quickly transferred away again.

“What’s the specific situation?” she sat in the back row, right next to the central control console, took the record board that was handed to her, and opened the form.

There was no gap between receiving the order and getting on the car, and she hadn’t had time to ask about the destination.

In this car, besides Qu Ying, a super soldier and a senior commander, there was also a biology doctor, a technical expert, and a data analyst… it was basically a replica of the equipment they had had when they were on a deep-sea mission.

The person next to her had a very grim expression. “We’ve probably found the real reason for this incident. We need you to verify it.”

Qu Ying narrowed her eyes and looked up. “Has the audio been investigated?”

“Yes. We’ve detected that special sound wave frequency again, and this time we’ve managed to match it.”

“What creature is it from?”

The pattern of monster riots had always been an unsolved mystery. Every accident was often accompanied by a new species coming ashore, which always refreshed their cognition. In the past, they had thought that it might be a problem of ecological niches and living areas, and that the mutation had caused the biological renewal to be too fast, and the dominant species on the coast was always in a dynamic change.

However, later, the Defense Center gradually realized that it might also be organized and premeditated.

It was as if there was another group of scientists behind the scenes who were playing a game with them, creating mutated creatures with different abilities to observe their reactions and test the limits of their response.

Until the riot six years ago, they had discovered the red seashell symbol and had used advanced equipment to record the voice of the suspected “organizer.” But there was too much interference, and they couldn’t match it. And analyzing the sound wave information of the past thirty years was a big project.

After filtering out most of the noise, this time, in the 78th sea defense incident, finally, through targeted matching, they had captured the target.

“You’ll definitely know if I mention two places,” the person who spoke was a data analyst. She was in her forties, but her hair was already gray, and the months of overtime had made her look even more haggard.

Facing Qu Ying’s question, she gave a bitter smile and kept her in suspense, “Redstone Bay, Lanjiang Port.”