After Being Parasitized by a Monster 93

Chapter 93: A new era is coming. (Final Countdown)

July 11th, 6:00 PM.

Shenzhou Group Headquarters.

Adjacent to the estuary, located in the most expensive and prosperous area, the lights were already on before the sky had darkened. The conjoined buildings stood in contrast to each other on the waterfront, and the light and shadow were just right, echoing its name, like a docked starship, with a unique artistic beauty.

Not far from here, on the other side of the river, was a high-end residential area, and there was also a high-end nursing center under its banner that served the rich.

Here, Cheng Ming had met a figure from a textbook.

Chu Xiuru.

This resounding name was not unfamiliar to anyone who had received a basic education.

Especially this generation that had experienced the drastic changes of ’43.

Now, the sunset was passing through the large floor-to-ceiling window, and in the dim and quiet atmosphere, Cheng Ming was in front of her.

It was as if the space-time barrier that crossed dimensions had cracked. This great figure, who should only have appeared in books or on electronic screens, had come to life from the digital pages, giving people a sense of weight and unreality, as if they were witnessing history.

Cheng Ming walked closer step by step, her gaze silently tracing the great person whose name had been forever engraved on a monument before her death, and she did not deliberately lighten her footsteps.

This meeting was very hasty, very rushed, and very informal, but she knew that the other would not mind her junior’s offense.

Because she could not see, could not hear, and would not wake up.

Through a layer of high-purity transparent glass, Chu Xiuru was lying in a capsule, her breathing was weak, and her exposed skin was gray and white. It could be said that she was emaciated.

However, when Cheng Ming got closer, bent down, and opened the sterile pod, she could see the old woman who had been trapped in her sickbed for too long more clearly. The protruding bones under the snow-white sheet did not make one think of weakness at first, but of the rugged and undulating rocks when the snow was about to melt, which were both sharp and unapproachable, and also solid and immovable.

A long time had left deep wrinkles on her face, and she looked quite stern.

Cheng Ming looked at her, and was in a slight daze. She thought of the several teachers who had had a great impact on her in her past life.

She was indeed in a daze.

All the past about human society was as distant to her as a previous life.

Even though she was covered in tubes, had no self-awareness, and could not move, she could still sense the unique temperament of this old lady.

She was looking down, but she was looking up at this high mountain with a look of reverence.

The soft and dark mycelia hung down from her shoulder. With gentleness and respect, they went up against the medical soft tubes, climbed, and pierced.

Neural link, invading the brain.

Countless images burst out like glass fragments, and the light spots and colors were shining, and they were sharp enough to scratch an intruder.

Although the purpose was not this, when she had fluttered past those torrents, she had still, at the junction of dream and memory, rashly peeked into the life of this great lady.

The current Shenzhou Group was a conglomerate of physical enterprises and finance. Its huge assets and businesses were spread all over the world, and it was undoubtedly a super consortium. The pharmaceutical company was just one of its core companies that was at the forefront of this era and had the highest degree of discussion.

Such a terrifying system, in the beginning, was built by this lady bit by bit.

From rooting in research, to establishing an enterprise, establishing a foundation, investing in the pharmaceutical industry, and then investing in the academic world, this was a person who had propped up half of the pharmaceutical industry and the scientific theory world.

If the most outstanding woman of the last century were to be selected, she would definitely have a seat.

And the initial inspiration for all these achievements was, surprisingly, or rather, as expected, related to mermaids.

Their research on mermaids had started a long, long time ago. When others were still questioning the authenticity of mermaids, she and Jin Xia had already conducted a large number of experiments on mermaid scales and had confirmed the existence of this new species—a creature that was inextricably linked to humans, but was also completely different.

The beginning of this research was actually not that crazy. It was just a group of biologists with a passion for understanding another side of the world, pure, and admirable. But, when basic research was implemented into application value, and spiritual pursuit was given material expectation, everything had changed.

Legend had merged with reality. After flipping through countless historical documents, they had confirmed an astonishing fact: the lifespan model of this creature was completely beyond human cognition.

A race without the pressure of reproduction, because the individual lifespan was extremely long, the birth of a new life was always linked to the demise of an old individual. The genetic material was completely inherited, and even the memory of the main body could be copied. Was this reproduction, or immortality?

Chu Lanying had lived in the fairy tales that her mother had told her since she was a child. She had a transcendent closeness and yearning for this magnificent and strange species. And so, at the end of 2138, Chu Xiuru’s body could no longer support her to continue to run around, and Chu Lanying had taken the initiative to take on the burden of going to sea again for her mother.

In 2139, a ship that was visiting mermaids had quietly left the port and, in a corner that no one knew, had opened a new era for the future. The organizers and sponsors, the authoritative scholars, and the potential newcomers, the people who had returned alive from that ship, had later left one after another names that had resounded throughout the scientific community.

The specific process was unknown, and it was only known that the goal was achieved, but the number of people who had returned alive was less than one-third of when they had set out.

An experience that was enough to flow into a terrifying and bizarre legend.

Chu Lanying had brought back a complete mermaid sample.

But there was only one.

This was too little, not enough. They still had to conduct more research, to save people, to study the principles, and to produce medicine… was this Chu Xiuru’s original intention? It was no longer important. Her body was getting worse day by day, and she had passed the most crucial management rights to her son, and Chu Lanying was excluded.

Why? Chu Lanying should have been a hero.

Cheng Ming, who was just skimming through, had returned to that memory, and had let the torrent wet her.

She had carefully looked at the cause and effect and had fallen into a subtle thought.

The mother and daughter had a disagreement on their attitude towards mermaids.

Like the countless loyal followers who had sought the elixir of life for their leaders in history, the only difference was that Chu Lanying did not know that she was shouldering the responsibility of extending the life of her own family’s patriarch.

Chu Xiuru had studied genetic diseases all her life, and her research had saved countless people, but she had to die of this incurable disease herself? Fate was too cruel, too absurd, to play with people like this, and to laugh at them wantonly.

Perhaps the more outstanding a person was, the harder it was for them to accept a sudden death.

Life was too short, and there were too many things to be done.

Although it was said that all lives were equal, the value created by a life of the same length was clearly very different. Some people lived day by day, while others, for every extra day they lived in the world, would push the world one step forward.

The mermaid she wanted to live, even if it was no longer for research, was to live on her own. But Chu Lanying had always lived in the fairy tale that her mother had built for her. She still had the most sincere reverence and love, and she loved the race that was different from her. She could not accept her mother’s change. Therefore, the mother and daughter had broken off.

And the ones who had taken advantage of the situation were the ones who had used her mother’s mentality and had promised to continue to catch mermaids, and had stolen the results. After the name was signed and the handover was completed, when she was clear-headed again, even if she had realized what a wrong choice she had made, there was no turning back.

Had they done it? Apparently, yes.

In 2140, the ENS Foundation had organized the construction of laboratory 40, which had the highest specifications, the most advanced facilities, and the strictest confidentiality.

In a secret and semi-public corner, the foundation had quietly and grandly searched for mermaids, and had raised the most grandiose banner, which was to save their great person.

Fortunately, this was an era of highly developed technology. If it had been a hundred years ago, the enterprise would probably have sold mermaid meat directly, claiming that it could prolong life. And seeing the profit, there would have been more black-hearted merchants who would have joined this gluttonous feast, selling fake mermaid meat, and claiming that it could cure all diseases.

Unfortunately, this was an era of advanced technology. The oppression was the same as in ancient times, but the means were more diverse, and the methods of monopoly, from information to physical objects, were also more colorful.

Modern society was a primitive jungle where everyone tacitly and civilly drank blood.

But had they done a good job? It was clearly a despicable substitution of concepts.

Chu Xiuru had been tormented by the pain for too many years. Even if the unrealistic dream of eternal life was shattered, she was a mother, and it was her “nature” to be selfless. For a grown-up baby who was used to taking, how could she easily let her go. She had to suck out the last bit of value, even if it meant sucking out the marrow.

She was like a signboard that had been inlaid with gold and had cracks. To be alive was to prove how incredible the Chu family’s research on radiation was. To be alive was to be the backbone of everyone.

She had saved thousands of lives, but her own life was not up to her.

In an era of great union, information leakage was a very common thing. The more members the foundation had, the wider the news spread, and it even spread abroad. Catching this new species had become a new scientific research activity. Rich merchants had united, and the scientific community had organized, and they had established secret bases to raise them in violation of the rules.

And so, a disaster had unfolded unprecedentedly. In a corner that ordinary people did not know, the war alarm of the two races had sounded. The mermaids were angry, and they had released the contained and purified nuclear waste, and had let the pollution spread, to let humans also taste the bitter fruit.

—Since you are pressing us again and again, and not giving us any living space, then let’s all be finished together.

This kind of thing was actually not uncommon in ancient and modern times. When people were in a peaceful era and looked back at those famous battles, the cause, when traced back to the end, would often make people feel extremely absurd, “just because of this? Just because of this person?”

And it was also like many famous wars in human history. The ones who had started it might have just been one or two individuals, but because these people had an identity, a status, and a decision-making power that were enough to affect the world, and so, like a spark that had fallen on a pile of firewood, it had burned into a raging fire.

This world was not as orderly as imagined. The ones who were bound by the rules were always the people outside the class line.

For the thousands of millions of ordinary people, they were ignorant and unaware, and they were squeezed into a vortex and lost their lives.

In 2143, the ocean pollution had broken out, the Defense Center was established, and laboratory 40 was incorporated, and it was out of the Chu family’s control. Chu Lanying had then joined the Defense Center and had started from basic research.

In the same year, Cheng Ran had led a team to synthesize the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus.

The young Cheng Ran was also on the ship in ’39, as a newcomer who was highly regarded by many industry big shots. At that time, large-scale pollution had not yet occurred, which did not mean that the seawater was clean and had no radiation. Perhaps it was because of this that she had later become pregnant and had given birth to a daughter, but her daughter had been critically ill shortly after birth.

And as the person who had started all this, although the subsequent series of chain reactions were not under her control, the guilt had accumulated in Chu Lanying’s heart over the years. She was also affected by the radiation and knew that her days were numbered. It was unclear when she had reached the final consensus with the mermaid, but before that, she had met Chu Xiuru once. That was the last time the mother and daughter had met.

After that, she had contributed her body to help the current mermaid leader to be reborn as a new “Chu Lanying,” and had left her body and Jiao egg for Cheng Ran to study.

From then on, the fusion project had made a breakthrough success, and MM1 was born—her specialty was that the fused egg was not a conidium that the mermaid could infinitely replicate to create tools, but its true offspring. The algaefungus was also a live fungus, not the inactivated algaefungus that was later used to control the harm.

Later, perhaps the evolution department had tried to recreate the creation process of MM1, but it had never succeeded again. She was a complete accident, a coincidence, or rather, a miracle.

…………

An outstanding person was not without mistakes, and often because they stood high enough, the negative impact would take a longer time to be eliminated.

One could not completely deny their achievements because of their mistakes, nor could one accept their mistakes because of their achievements.

Cheng Ming’s thoughts were as if they were suspended in the high sky, and she was quietly looking down at the winding river. She didn’t know how to accurately evaluate this lady’s life, a life that had once been magnificent, but had eventually returned to a dead silence, and was heading towards a withered end.

Now, even her “biological daughter” Chu Lanying could only give her a general location. To find this place accurately, she had still relied on the sense between her and the conidia.

But, regardless of whether this huge organization’s impact on today’s situation was good or bad, at least back then, at the beginning of the new century, when countries were fiercely competing for resources, and countless turmoil and changes were taking place, she could seize the opportunity to rise up, and with a heart of helping the world, she had put her research career into practice, had avoided the theory from being shelved, and had also created an incomparably vast future for the industry. Her vision, foresight, and ability were outstanding, and her breadth of mind, character, and ideals were red, which were all admirable and impressive.

A river would indeed sometimes break its banks and destroy good fields and take away lives, but in the end, it was undeniable that it had irrigated and nurtured too many people.

Cheng Ming withdrew from the neural link and retracted her mycelia.

The outside was in a mess now.

Before coming here, she had first gone to the top floor of the headquarters building on the other side of the river, had dealt with the one with the highest authority, had parasitized and then had used its identity. So, even when she had come here and had done so many illegal operations, the surveillance system had not alarmed for the time being.

But it wouldn’t last long.

There were only a few minutes left, and she had to go.

This high-end nursing room was furnished like a study. On one side were many exquisite books and decorations, and it looked very suitable for interviews and filming. On the other side was a cubicle that was covered by a curtain and a special wall, and many instrument soft tubes were connected to both sides, transporting the liquid that sustained life.

Now she wanted to go to the latter side.

She knew what was behind it—MM221, who had suddenly disappeared from the Defense Center, her own kind, the unfortunate substitute who had taken her fate, the sin she should have borne.

In the past, the world that Xiao Ming had perceived and her were not completely overlapping. Now, she could also sense these. And both the conidia and the egg spores could broaden her vision.

You can’t put all your eggs in one basket. While she was visiting Ms. Chu Xiuru here, she was also copying electronic files in the building on the other side.

It was just that, just as she had straightened up, Cheng Ming heard a voice—

“Who are you?”

She was slightly stunned.

This voice was like a wind that had swept across the boundless wilderness, and it could not be stopped. It was majestic, but not overbearing, and it was low, but it would not be ignored.

She lowered her head, and she understood that this voice was right next to her.

Chu Xiuru had woken up.

“Me?” After thinking seriously, she remembered Chu Lanying’s joke about her, and so she couldn’t help but also make a small joke, “I think I should be considered your granddaughter.”

It was just that this scene of recognizing a relative was not at all warm, and it was full of strangeness and oddity.

“Do you want to rest?” she turned her feet back, and her hand was on the edge of the glass pod. She bowed respectfully and looked at her, and said in a low voice, “You should rest.”

She had already gotten what she wanted. Now, it was time for a gentle end-of-life care.

“It’s fine, leave it to your daughters. They will do a good job,” she said.

Chu Xiuru looked at her, at this stranger who should not have been here. The wrinkles at the corner of her eyes formed a turbulent stream, and her emotions were drowned.

For a second, Cheng Ming saw her shadow on Chu Lanying. If it weren’t for the pain, she would have aged gracefully, and even her wrinkles would have been a curve of charm.

A person and a monster who had met for the first time in their lives were looking at each other, and Cheng Ming’s mycelia were still swaying on her shoulder.

In such a strange scene, Cheng Ming predicted the other’s actions with a bit of curiosity and playfulness. She guessed that she might ask a lot, and she might also press the alarm button first.

But, perhaps, this great person had thought that she was dreaming.

So, in the end, she said nothing. She slowly nodded at her, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. The stern look was gone, and she closed her eyes.

Cheng Ming stood there for a while and, after confirming that the other had nothing to ask, she said softly, “Good night.”

As she was about to leave, she thought of something else and turned her head—

“You and the mermaids, do you have any other connection?”

Otherwise, how had she thought of using mermaids to prolong her life, and how had Chu Lanying—the real, un-parasitized Chu Lanying, communicated with the mermaids and reached a cooperation? Thinking of the fact that mermaids were parthenogenesis, and it was undoubtedly a maternal inheritance, Cheng Ming vaguely had an extraordinary guess.

It was just a pity that when she turned her head again, the old woman in the capsule pod had her eyes closed peacefully, and the values on the life monitor had become extremely slow and weak, and she could not answer.

She saw all this, as if she were watching a snow mountain melt.

Perhaps, the fusion had also started a long, long time ago…

Before leaving here, Cheng Ming took one last look back at the corner and saw the window that still had a faint, dim yellow light, like the last glimmer of a setting sun, which had flashed and had disappeared.

Her vision was completely dark, and the night was about to fall.

She knew that the other’s flame of life would also be extinguished.

The era when they had burned pine branches and had illuminated the long night had already passed.

A new era was coming.

…

At midnight, in a certain underground place of the Defense Center.

“Is it comfortable to live here?”

Qu Ying, who was dozing off against the wall, opened her eyes and saw a figure in a supervisor’s uniform in front of her. The four walls were metal, and the other was holding a light and shining it on her. The whole space was as bright as a torture instrument.

She was not afraid of the dark, but she really hated the strong light.

“It’s pretty good,” Qu Ying narrowed her eyes slightly. The clothes on her were also a rare snow-white. She tilted her head back, but with a nonchalant smile. “I’m finally free from the annoying missions.”

If it were before, her words and actions would most likely have shown more sharpness and danger, but now, her eyelids were half-raised, and her movements were not hurried. She was like a fierce beast that had had its claws and fangs pulled out, and had finally learned to be obedient.

Regardless of whether this obedience was real or fake.

The light flickered slightly.

The person opposite her did not respond for a moment.

And in this very short one or two seconds, she sensed that something was wrong.

Her expression suddenly turned cold. She put away her smile, and her foot that was casually on the edge of the bed was put on the ground. She sat up straight, and a familiar aura spread out.

She raised her eyes to look at her, and her gaze was so sharp that it was chilling—

“Cheng Ming.”