After Being Parasitized by a Monster 74

Chapter 74: Do you hate them?

After a full month of quarantine and prevention, with daily anxiety and fear, she had lost several pounds.

On March 14th, news finally came that they could leave.

She took off the 24-hour physiological recording ring and had her blood tested one last time. Seeing no abnormalities, Cheng Ming finally let out a sigh of relief and went to pick up her sister to go home together.

Yan Rong was clearly not used to living in the control room either. She was listless, and her face had thinned out. She only perked up a little when she saw her.

The two sisters took a car back to Building 3 of the staff apartment.

Although Cheng Ming had transferred to the biology department a long time ago, she had not moved. Even though Qiu Ju had mentioned it several times, that she could get them a more comfortable apartment on a lower floor to make it easier for Yan Rong to get around… but Yan Rong was unwilling.

Cheng Ming guessed the reason and did not insist.

After going up to the 17th floor, she settled her sister in, threw off her coat, and went to the bathroom with her toiletries.

The first thing she wanted to do when she came out was to take a good shower.

Although the control room would not be so perverted as to monitor her privacy, the physiological bracelet would collect her heart rate and blood pressure. She was worried that her excessive emotional fluctuations would also attract attention, so she didn’t dare to do anything extra.

It was only now that she could take a good look at herself.

Although she felt that she had lost a lot of weight, there was one part that had not decreased but had increased, and it was soft and full.

Cheng Ming stood in front of the mirror in the sink, lifted the hem of her clothes, and endured the faint coolness that seeped from the tiles that were so close. She stared at her lower abdomen, which seemed to have gotten a little fatter during this period.

She wanted to feel for the position of her uterus, but her hand was stuck halfway up. The cold air was enveloping her, like a swamp hindering her movement.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself mentally and slowly reached out her hand—

What she had thought was a bulging mass of fat was actually just a thin layer.

Underneath, there were one after another, soft, hard, and fine particles, which seemed to be writhing slightly under her skin, making the fine hairs on her back stand on end, and her hand trembled unconsciously.

The egg sac had already formed.

The face in the mirror instantly lost its color and turned slightly pale. It was clear that she had still overestimated her own tolerance.

The mycelia slid down, and the dark threads were entangled with her hand, covering the back of her hand, and then fell from the gaps between her five fingers, and intimately clung to the delicate skin under her palm, like a hand from a monster holding her hand, caressing the other small monster that they were gestating together.

Looking at this scene alone, in the glow of the ceiling light, the mirror was covered with a faint, soft color that had spread out. Black and white were intertwined, and different life forms were gathered. Such a wonderful scene was even somewhat magnificent and sacred.

But the skin on her abdomen was sensitive, and every millimeter of friction was clearly visible, making the fine hairs stand on end.

Cheng Ming’s fingertips trembled slightly, and the goosebumps all over her body were as if they had been aroused.

And so she suddenly let go of her hand, and quickly and neatly interrupted it. She let the hem of her clothes fall back to cover her belly, and instead, she twisted the elongated mycelia, wrapped them around a few times, and pulled over a shower cap to fix them on her head, so that they would not cause any more trouble while she was showering.

But she had blocked its tentacles, but she could not block its voice.

“Do you hate them?” Xiao Ming asked.

Using her voice, there was a sense of self-questioning and confusion.

For a moment, Cheng Ming didn’t know what this “them” referred to. Was it the mycelia, or the egg sac in her stomach?

She stepped over the water barrier and walked into the glass cubicle. Her chest heaved a few times, and she closed her eyes and took off her clothes, and turned on the mixing valve.

Cold water sprayed down and drenched her whole body. She lowered her hands and wrapped them around herself, and her lowered eyelashes were hung with fine mist.

“I hate you,” the words that came out of her mouth seemed to have been infected by the water mist, and they were filled with a coolness and a wetness. “You’re always causing me all kinds of trouble.”

Unfortunately, this was not the research institute’s apartment, not the shower room they had modified. There was no mirror, and it couldn’t see how moving she was. But analyzing her true thoughts was already a very ambiguous thing.

“You can hate me, but don’t hate yourself,” it said.

After the pressure had stabilized, the water temperature gradually became hot. Cheng Ming stopped her slight trembling and listened to its clear and distinct words, and couldn’t help but purse her lips.

The most annoying part was that it knew her too well and could always easily tear open the thin film that wrapped her from the inside, making her lose her sense of security.

Ever since she had known that they were the two sides of the same body, every conversation she had with it was like the opposite.

“I hate you”—I like you, but I despise myself.

“I hate you”—I love you, but I don’t love myself that much.

I don’t accept you, it’s just that I can’t accept my non-human identity.

Only in death will I gladly go with you.

“You can also push all the responsibility to me. Anyway, I exist because of you,” Xiao Ming continued.

Cheng Ming’s lips trembled a little. She took a short breath and then slowly exhaled. She closed her eyes and let the dense water droplets hit her forehead, cheeks, and chin.

She murmured to herself, “I should really take a picture of myself now and see what I look like… a crazy person talking to herself.”

She would occasionally feel that, compared to herself, it was like a flower full of love that had been raised in a lonely and damp soil. She was timid, sensitive, and suspicious, while it was always directly facing the world and her. When it was hungry, it would go to find food. When it was alive, it would do everything to destroy its enemies. When it loved her, wanted to be her partner, and wanted to be satisfied, it would frankly inform her and take action, and would never avoid it.

The desire to live, the desire for food, the desire for love… all the naked, primitive desires were frankly presented on it.

Putting aside the “hypocrisy” that was common to humans, it was like a mirror that reflected and dismantled her.

She didn’t know if the emotions that had suddenly arisen in her should be attributed to being moved, but it was true that at this second, she wanted to cry.

It was constantly, repeatedly telling her, you are not alone.

I will wait for the day you completely accept me.

I will accompany you, and wait for the day you completely accept yourself.

…

In the room opposite.

Yan Rong was holding a laptop, and her fingertips were like afterimages, and she was typing quickly on the keyboard.

Cheng Ming had thought that she was going to rest. She had not turned on the desk lamp before she left, and the switch was a bit far, so she had not pressed it. And so in the dim room, only the red error message that lit up the screen illuminated her eyes.

This was already the third attempt.

The pharmaceutical company’s information security department had closed all the permissions and was strictly guarding against her access.

Yan Rong looked down at her wrist. A pain that she had not felt for a long time was faintly surging up from between her bones, familiar yet strange. Her life had been calm for too long. It used to be a daily occurrence for her, but now it was almost unbearable.

A part of the communication channel from Shenzhou Pharmaceutical to the Defense Center was encrypted by her.

She adjusted the keyboard, thought for a moment, changed the target and re-decrypted it, and remotely controlled the construction of a new path.

After controlling all the electronic devices at the corresponding address, the screen in front of her became a honeycomb of smaller screens. At countless ports, she delivered the message she had sent to the target.

This time, the other side could not ignore it.

Soon, the message was transmitted back through the secret network, and rows of repeated words were displayed in the honeycomb of small cells.

She clicked on one of the cells, and the font was enlarged, filling the entire screen—

“I thought this was a tacit understanding between us. Since you’ve already found a new home, the cooperation is terminated.”

The digital signal drove the pixels to change, as if a virtual electronic wind had blown past, and this row of words was flickering. Behind the hypocritical and gentle words was a mockery full of malice.

Then, the other side directly cut off the power, and the connection was interrupted, and even her window’s light source was dimmed.

Her silhouette appeared on the dark screen, and her pale face was as terrifying as a ghost in this dark environment.

Yan Rong threw down the computer and let it make a deep dent in the soft mattress.

The used medicine bottles were piled up in the drawer. She wanted to get up and see if there was any left, but as soon as her foot touched the cold floor, her knees suddenly went weak, and she fell straight down.

In her haste, she wanted to grab the armrest of the wheelchair, but unfortunately, the direction was not right, and the tire slipped, and the wheelchair was also pulled down, making a loud thump.

Outside the door, Cheng Ming, who had just walked out of the bathroom, heard this sound.

“Rongrong?” Her hair was still stuffy in the wet shower cap. She buttoned up her shirt and quickly pushed the door open.

Bang. The light was turned on, dispelling the darkness.

Yan Rong was curled up on the ground, in some pain and spasm. Seeing someone come in, she hurriedly curled up her knees and pulled on her sleeves and pant legs, and gestured for Cheng Ming to help her with the wheelchair first.

A living person was in front of her. How could she care about a dead thing. Cheng Ming carried her to the edge of the bed and saw that under the fabric that had slid up, her pale skin and terrifying blue color were exposed. The blood vessels were so shallow that they were all visible, and where she had bumped, a bruise was quickly spreading under her skin.

She gently pressed it, and the touch was slightly sticky. The bleeding even had a tendency to spread to the surface.

And the feeling of holding her just now, she was as light as a piece of paper.

Fatigue, weight loss, fever, and healing disorders… were all signs of a weakened immune system.

She knew that Yan Rong’s body was not good, but now it was clearly beyond the normal range.

She had been fine before, and her movements were still relatively free. She had no problem with self-care, and she had not shown any discomfort when she had followed them on a mission to another place. Perhaps she had been exposed to some radiation in the hospital, but how could it be so serious.

She suddenly thought of something and asked, “Where’s your medicine?”

During this period, she had only been anxious about her own physical condition and had actually ignored her sister’s various abnormalities.

“I’m fine, sister. I’m just anemic…” Yan Rong’s hand was on her shoulder, and she wanted to push her away.

“Anemia means that there’s a problem with your hematopoietic stem cells too!” Cheng Ming’s volume rose. Looking at the girl’s stunned expression, she adjusted her breathing, composed her somewhat out-of-control emotions, and stood up straight, and tried to keep her tone as flat as possible. “I’ll go and contact—”

The words were on the tip of her tongue, and they suddenly disappeared.

Who to contact? Shenzhou Pharmaceutical? Or the foundation?

Yan Rong sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at her, and added softly, “Sister, they won’t supply the medicine anymore.”

It was self-evident that their defection to the Security Department had been exposed. They had caused the foundation such a great loss, and the fact that they were still alive was because they were under the protection of the Defense Center, and the other’s hand could not reach in for the time being.

The special medicine for radiation genetic diseases was expensive and rare, and the dosage and course of treatment were strictly controlled. The channels were limited, and the purchase was limited. Every single one was a confidential, real-name system. Not to mention that Shenzhou Pharmaceutical was the dominant one, but the other pharmaceutical companies were also members of the ENS Foundation, and it was likely that the capital would protect each other.

What’s more, even if they could contact them and get the qualification to buy the medicine, it would be a long wait in line. How could Yan Rong afford to wait?

Cheng Ming asked, “Have you contacted them?”

“I have,” Yan Rong nodded. “They are not afraid of threats.”

There would always be traces of what had been done, not to mention that they were dealing with such a high-risk enterprise with a wide reach. It was not that she had not thought of this accident. The other side controlled their source of medicine, and they also had a lot of leverage on the other side, especially since Yan Rong had done a lot of cover-ups for the pharmaceutical company, involving more secret and dirty things. If both sides were to be hurt, would they dare?

However, even if she had proposed to make their evil deeds public, the other side didn’t care—you can try, how can you prove that we did it? They were not afraid of threats. At worst, they would throw out a small company to take the blame, and it would not be difficult to get over it lightly. After all, the Defense Center still needed the foundation.

This behemoth of this size, its power and connections were intertwined, and its common interests were deeply rooted. How could it be easily shaken. Even the direct high-level of the Defense Center, were there their people?

The more Cheng Ming thought about it, the more she was shocked, and the more she was indescribably angry.

But at this stage, she could only suppress those not-so-calm, interfering emotions and ask again, “How long has it been since you stopped taking the medicine?”

Her medicine was applied for once every one or two months. Before entering the control room, they had brought various necessities from the apartment, including medicine. Therefore, they had not contacted the pharmaceutical company for a whole month of isolation, and she had not expected it to come to this.

Yan Rong blinked her eyes and said, “Two weeks.”

The night in March was still cold. Cheng Ming grabbed a thick coat and put it on her, pulled over the wheelchair and righted it, and carried her onto it. Then she picked up a scarf and carefully wrapped it around her, and said, “Let’s go, let’s go to the biology department.”