Chapter 69: So unfortunate.
Biology Department, Experimental Area Building B.
A large annelid, nearly three meters long, was contained in a narrow, specially made glass tube to prevent corrosion by acidic liquids and to restrict its movement.
Around it, a lot of equipment was piled up in a disorderly manner.
Because it was the first time they had encountered this type of monster, most of the instruments were temporarily assembled and repurposed. A group of researchers excitedly gathered on both sides, some measuring data, some taking notes, and all of them were discussing.
“Nerve ganglia, nerve cords… there’s no unified brain, it doesn’t look like it has high intelligence.”
“That shouldn’t be right. It had been hiding in a human body for so long without being discovered. At the very least, it should be able to consciously control the host’s behavior…”
“That’s the problem. Did Team Leader Dong have any consciousness when she was parasitized? Could it be that it was just latent before, and only broke out on the night of the 22nd?”
Under the tense gazes of many pairs of eyes, one after another, needle-like devices connected to wires were inserted into the worm’s head. By emitting a weak electric current to stimulate and collect data, a three-dimensional, visible model of the nervous system was gradually built on the display screen.
“The autopsy showed that Dong Wentao’s brain had been corroded, which should have been deliberately destroyed by the monster to prevent the host from noticing and resisting… This means that her self-awareness was killed a long time ago.”
A second-level researcher carefully went through the known data and pointed this out.
What a terrifying experience that would be.
The body, which should have been the agent of the consciousness, had turned into an iron cage for the monster to imprison itself. It had to watch as its body control was taken away, and its own consciousness was completely devoured. It couldn’t ask for help from the outside world and could only die a little bit in endless despair.
For a moment, besides the beeping of the instruments, everyone looked at each other, and the laboratory fell into a brief silence.
The worm had no brain, and the human brain was no longer working. So, what was it that was controlling its various behaviors?
…
17th floor, Building 3, Security Department apartment.
After taking a shower and eating, Cheng Ming went back to her room to catch up on sleep.
This time, she woke up again at ten o’clock at night, and her biological clock was completely messed up.
Some of the conidia in the sea cockroaches had not been recovered in time. She wanted to see how the biology department would deal with these mutated creatures, so she and Xiao Ming took turns and tracked the follow-up process in bits and pieces.
The biological samples had been sent to various areas at around one in the afternoon, and the researchers had been working overtime until now.
This group of mutated sea cockroaches generally had low intelligence and only followed the commands of the mother. But, that mother sea cockroach monster had been killed by Cheng Ming.
Therefore, for the Security Department, there was not much remaining value.
A part of them was sent directly to the research institute and went down to the familiar second basement level storage room through the freight elevator. A small amount was soaked and preserved, and more of the living ones were frozen in the ice storage. As soon as the storage door was closed, the field of vision was extinguished with a click, as if the camera had lost its signal.
The other part was harmlessly treated and sent to an incinerator. At a high temperature of over a thousand degrees, the biological samples instantly lost their activity, and the twitching appendages turned into charcoal.
Although she was just an observer, the moment the burner’s flame shot out, Cheng Ming seemed to have personally experienced that burning pain. Lying on her back on the pillow, she couldn’t help but cover her forehead and frown. After she came back to her senses, she relaxed a little in surprise.
This was a very incredible and magical experience.
It was as if she had opened a God’s perspective, or she herself had become a large-scale signal emitting device, constantly expanding her field of vision through wireless relay, and expanding her own perception coverage.
The mutated sea cockroaches had been successfully handed over to the research institute for follow-up research, but there was still a worm that was a real monster, and its danger was even higher.
Cheng Ming turned her perception over and roughly judged that it was still in the Security Department. It was just that she was limited by the rough senses of the annelid itself. She only knew that there were light sources and fluctuations, and she didn’t know what the people around were specifically doing.
Until a sudden point of pain came, and even her nerves seemed to go numb with it. Then there was no movement again, and only the whisker-like sensors vibrated slightly, transmitting some strangeness.
Perhaps those people were talking.
She had no clue.
Cheng Ming rubbed her head.
These feelings were too wonderful, and could even be described as intoxicating. To be still and motionless, she could experience an unusual taste from an unprecedented perspective. No wonder virtual games could make people addicted.
While she was immersed in it, the scientific psychology of exploring the principle was at work, and she couldn’t help but wonder, what was the principle of the spores being able to transmit signals after leaving the body?
Nerve impulses?
The essence of brain nerve activity was bioelectrical signals, and electrical signals could generate an electromagnetic field, which was then manifested as brainwave radiation. It was just that the radiation fluctuations of normal humans were too weak, and she… she was a monster, and there was no reference value.
Thinking about it this way, it was reasonable.
No wonder there was a distance limit to the perception of conidia, and it could even be blocked by materials. For example, that Jiao egg, perhaps it was covered by a metal cover, and she had not been able to feel it until now—that’s right, she had also had Xiao Ming hide a conidium in the egg sac she had handed over to Qu Ying. Handing it over was one thing, but it was impossible to be honest and not do anything. The Defense Center’s attitude towards mermaids was too thought-provoking.
And to come back to the topic, if enough spores were released, would it be possible to build a large-scale neural network, like a satellite internet?
To a certain extent, could it even be possible to spread the senses all over the world? To make this planet like a super animal integrated by nerve tendrils?
She couldn’t think any further.
This idea had even scared her.
In that case, what would she be? She definitely couldn’t be called a human, and a monster was too beyond imagination… this was simply creating a god.
In an instant, fear surged up, and Cheng Ming broke out in a cold sweat all over her back.
However, she obviously couldn’t afford such a high-end operation at the moment. Losing too many spores and her own neurons at once had clearly affected her body, and her head hurt even more.
And, Cheng Ming felt very hungry.
Very, very, very hungry…
This feeling was not only hers, but also Xiao Ming’s.
But at this time, she could only lie down uncomfortably and force herself to close her eyes.
And so she woke up again, and it was already two in the morning on the 24th.
Cheng Ming found that the worm’s vision had disappeared.
The corresponding conidium could still be felt, but it had already grown into a mycelium, and it was rubbing and moving in an unknown place, like an animal’s teeth chewing. It seemed to be eating something, and then it spat something out.
“What did you do?” She was in a daze when she first woke up, and then she understood where the problem was and asked the Fish-Fungus in her body.
“Hungry…” Xiao Ming had long since lost the vitality it had when it had tormented her last night, and said listlessly.
“Did you digest the worm?” Cheng Ming’s tone was anxious.
Of course, conidia could also absorb nutrients and grow into mycelia, but the nutrients could not be transmitted through the air. Even if it killed and decomposed other monsters, it could not be transported over!
Xiao Ming was aggrieved, “But I’m really hungry…”
Cheng Ming couldn’t sleep anymore. She sat up, her heart pounding.
Not good. The worm that was being studied by the biology department was dead, and their spore mycelia were left at the scene. They would be discovered!
“There’s no one nearby,” Xiao Ming carefully felt it and said. “Let’s go and get it back. We’ll have nutrients when we get it back.”
It was a little impatient.
Cheng Ming was torn. It sounded like a win-win solution, but she was not familiar with the biology department at all. The Security Department was not to be trifled with.
“Cheng Ming, I’m really hungry… where can I find other monsters now?” it began to stretch its mycelia and rub against her again. “Or…”
Seeing that it still wanted to exploit her, Cheng Ming grabbed these restless fine threads, picked up her clothes, and stood up.
…
At the same time, in a place that Cheng Ming could not see, the worm monster was no longer in the B-zone laboratory.
Because the relevant facilities were really not professional, the small holes in the glass wall where the electrodes were inserted were made of latex. And so, it had sprayed out acidic liquid and had corroded these organic materials bit by bit, and had drilled a hole.
It was just that this hole was still too small, so then, it had broken off and had discarded the head with the hardened mouthparts, and had drilled out of the small hole with the remaining soft body segments. The exposed wound was corroded by the acidic liquid it had secreted, leaving a trail of sticky tissue fluid.
How could a normal creature escape in such a suicidal way? However, this worm was too abnormal.
At 1:43 in the morning, when no one knew, the mutated worm had escaped from prison.
It had diligently wriggled its headless body, had crawled into a dark pipe, and under the control of the young fish sub-parasite that was parasitizing its abdomen, it was going from the B-zone to the A-zone, unswervingly carrying out the mission of taking away the Jiao egg.
What a disabled but determined worm, how moving.
Unfortunately, it was too unfortunate.
The A-zone was already in sight, but at this very moment, in the apartment a few kilometers away, the dizzy and hungry Xiao Ming had pulled the trigger, and after a silent boom, the conidium that was buried in its body had exploded.
At 2:16 in the morning, again, under the circumstances that no one knew, this escaped mutated worm had quietly died in a corner.
In the lightless darkness, the mycelia were like a more profound flower of hell, swaying and growing. With the worm’s corpse as a fertile soil, they had absorbed nutrients and had expanded to cover the pipe wall.
Then, with a gurgle, following a certain instinct of not eating its own kind, the spore fungal mass that was connected to the Fish-Fungus’s consciousness had disgustedly “spat” out the young fish.
…
The experimental area of the biology department was divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D.
Among the biological samples obtained from Redstone Bay, the sea cockroaches were sent to the D-zone, and ordinary researchers could sort them. The worms were sent to the B-zone because they would parasitize the human body and had already caused two deaths. They were highly dangerous and required senior researchers to conduct detailed research.
And the A-zone, the highest confidential laboratory, could only be entered by first-level researchers and above.
But tonight, in the area that should have been the most deserted, and at this time of the dead of night, it was rarely lively.
There was already a field team leader from the biology department, a first-level researcher, a special soldier from the evolution department, and a special first-level researcher.
The A-zone was only responsible for matters related to mermaids.
The mermaid corpse from under Redstone Bay had also been sent back and was contained in the liquid pod next to it, but it had not received much attention.
The focus of the dispute was on the active egg. They had spent more than ten hours here and could not reach a unified conclusion.
Mainly, the fish egg this time was very different from before.
The ones who appeared here were either important parties or talents among research talents. The first-level researcher of the biology department was named He Guanwei, and she was keenly focused on some details. Qu Ying, who was responsible for the first-hand escort, was already tired of being asked:
“I didn’t see the situation at that time. I don’t know the order of laying eggs and death… why don’t we call Yan Li over.”
Qiu Ju was also in a difficult position, “She doesn’t have the authority yet.”
The remaining woman in a lab coat and with her long hair in a bun was standing in front of the metal pod, her face covered by a white mask. She was quietly looking at the colorful mermaid corpse in the specimen soaking solution and had not participated in the discussion from beginning to end, it was unknown what she was thinking.
There was no solution here, and on the other side, the news of the Jiao egg’s arrival had attracted a new uninvited guest.
Buzz. The silver-gray alloy pneumatic door opened in the center.
The first to come in was an elegant lady with a great charm, intellectual, calm, and reserved—it was easy to associate these words with her. The fine lines at the corner of her eyes when she smiled did not affect her temperament, like a period of time worth savoring that was gently unfolding.
Qiu Ju looked at this visitor in surprise, “Ms. Chu…”
With a first-level researcher from the animal research team, she walked towards the sealed central experimental table where the egg sac was placed. Chu Lanying said with a smile, “Leave it to our research institute.”
This situation gave even the honest Qiu Ju a headache. “Ms. Chu, according to the regulations, the Security Department has to make a danger assessment of it first…”
“If you assess it again, it will die,” Chu Lanying said meaningfully. “You’re not short of specimens, are you?”
As she spoke, she looked at the former head of the animal research team and the current first-level researcher of the fourth branch of the Security Department, and her gentle smile became even more intriguing:
“Do you have any objections, Professor Cheng?”
