Chapter 66: Parasitism
“What happened?”
Lin Feng heard hurried footsteps upstairs. Many nurses and patients had run downstairs in a panic. Judging from their expressions, they must have encountered something dreadful.
“Quick, call the security office. There are… there are monsters.” One of the doctors said while panting heavily.
“Monsters? What monsters?”
The people downstairs were at a loss and did not know what was going on. The personnel from the security office had already arrived. From Lin Feng’s perspective, they were all high-level professional martial artists.
After all, the hospital was not an ordinary location. The security was rather tight. Since many casualties from Dragon Mountain Base were transferred here, it was even tighter than usual.
The security office began to evacuate the people, then sent personnel upstairs.
Bang. Bang.
An intense battle broke out upstairs, but the battle soon subsided. Numerous martial artists retreated downstairs, covered in blood and with looks of terror on their faces.
“M-monsters!”
The hospital had long begun evacuation. As the martial artists from the security office retreated, the “monsters” that caused chaos on the second floor finally appeared.
There was a patient in a white hospital gown whose gender was no longer distinguishable. His entire body was covered in blood as he staggered down from the second floor. His expression was extremely sinister, and his gaze was already unfocused. However, his hand was still outstretched, as if he was
trying to grasp something.
Thump.
suddenly, the patient’s head exploded, splattering blood everywhere. A huge fleshworm slowly crawled out of his head. Moreover, as soon as the fleshworm appeared, it immediately opened its mouth and swallowed the patient’s corpse. Its body also rapidly expanded.
“A fleshworm dire beast?”
Lin Feng witnessed all of this with his own eyes. His jaw also dropped, and his eyes were filled with disbelief.
He could not be more familiar with the fleshworm dire beasts. He had killed countless fleshworm dire beasts with his own hands. Even the dire beast king of the fleshworms had died at Lin Feng’s hands.
Lin Feng would never forget the appearance of fleshworm dire beasts in this life, but what was happening before him? Was this how the fleshworm dire beasts were born—by coming out of a person’s head?
This was just too inconceivable and horrifying.
Splat. Splat. Splat.
At this moment, a few more fleshworms crawled down the stairs. They were all far smaller than the fleshworm dire beasts that Lin Feng had encountered on the frontline. However, every time they devoured a corpse, their bodies would expand incrementally.
“Damn it!”
Killing intent burst forth from Lin Feng’s body. No matter how these dire beasts made it out of human heads, Lin Feng’s killing intent soared when facing these savage dire beasts. He immediately charged towards the fleshworm dire beasts.
Dragonlith City, a temporary research facility of the research institute.
There was always insufficient manpower in the research institute. Practically a majority of the personnel were here for Professor Wei Yuan. Almost all of these people were his students, including graduate students and PhD students.
‘Wei Yuan was of high academic standing, and was also very strict with conducting experiments. When he arrived in Dragonlith City three days ago, he immediately found a place to build a temporary research facility, moved the equipment in, and got to work.
For three days and three nights, Wei Yuan rested for less than ten hours in total. He was not a martial artist, not even an amateur one. His energy was limited, and after three days of continuous work, he was almost on the brink of collapse.
However, Wei Yuan insisted on staying in the laboratory, because the results would be out soon. In truth, he had always had the premonition that the new type of dire beast might be more terrifying than any of the Predators he had ever known.
“Professor, the results are out. Oh god, this can’t be. I’ve never seen a dire beast like this…”
APhD from the research institute looked at the test report and turned pale.
‘Wei Yuan took the test report from him. When he saw the long string of data on it, his face went white as a sheet as well. Even his body was trembling.
“Are you sure the data is accurate?”
“professor, there’s absolutely no mistake. If it’s true, then…”
Some people could no longer continue.
“If this is true, then it will be a calamity for mankind!”
‘Wei Yuan took a deep breath. He knew very well what this data report meant.
“ll go find the Chief Commander immediately. All of you, stay in the laboratory and continue your research. Ensure there’s no mistake. We must try… try our best to find their weakness.”
Though, Wei Yuan knew just how difficult it was to find the weakness of these dire beasts.
Wei Yuan quickly left the laboratory. He went to Chief Commander Long Duo of the Dragon Mountain Base in person as fast as he could.
At this moment, Long Duo was actually discussing the follow-up matters with the government officials in Dragonlith City. After all, Dragon Mountain Base would be operating in Dragonlith City for at least some time. It was very necessary to be on good terms with the local officials of Dragonlith City.
“Chief Commander, I need to report a matter of vital importance!”
Ignoring the formal occasion, Wei Yuan rushed into the meeting venue anxiously.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. However, they knew Professor Wei Yuan, so none of them said anything. Instead, they looked at Long Duo.
Long Duo smiled and said, “Professor Wei, what’s wrong?”
“Chief Commander, it’s the test report regarding the new type of dire beasts. We’ve thoroughly learned the nature of those dire beasts, but the results…”
‘Wei Yuan paused for a moment but did not continue. However, his anxious expression explained everything.
Long Duo’s heart sank. He knew that this might not be good news, so he bade farewell to everyone and personally led Professor Wei Yuan to a quiet room.
“Professor Wei, just tell me. What did your research institute discover?”
Wei Yuan calmed his emotions and said in a low voice, “Chief Commander, we have been researching those new dire beasts lately. We speculate that they are very likely Predators. Now, we have confirmed it!”
“So they really are Predators.”
Hearing this, Long Duo could not help but feel his heart sink.
“If they’re just Predators, that’s terrible, but we already have experience dealing with Predators. However, the Predators this time are nothing to be trifled with. Their cells divide very quickly and have astonishing levels of cellular activity. According to our research, after separation from the parent body,
their cells can continue surviving for about 10 days. Moreover, once there’s energy to feed on, they can even continue to divide and become new parent bodies.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that these dire beasts are parasitic!”
“Parasitic?”
Long Duo’s heart jolted. Parasitic. What a horrifying term. It was a kind of dreadful dire beasts that were once fantasized in science fiction movies.
“Professor Wei, this isn’t a joke. Are you sure those dire beasts are parasitic?”
“Tcan confirm that they are parasitic! According to our analysis, once they parasitize the host, there will be a period of incubation of about 7 to 10 days, or perhaps even longer. This all requires specific experiments. However, there is one thing that can be confirmed. Their parasitic abilities are extremely
strong, and we currently have no way of knowing their means of parasitism.”
“Seven to ten days… How can it be so fast?”
Long Duo was ultimately an inhuman expert. He quickly calmed down to think about the matter carefully.
Soon, a shocking thought appeared in Long Duo’s mind.
“IE… if this is a scheme conceived by the parasitic dire beasts, they retreated of their own accord a few days ago not because Lin Feng killed their dire beast king, but because they had already completed the parasitic process and achieved their goal. They were just waiting for our people to retreat into the
city next. If this is really the case… Damn it. Dragonlith City must be locked down at once. None of the martial artists from Dragon Mountain Base can leave Dragonlith City!”
Long Duo immediately thought of the worst outcome.
Buzz.
Long Duo’s communicator vibrated violently.
“Chief Commander, there was an incident of a dire beast attack in the hospital. Those fleshworm dire beasts somehow crawled out of the bodies of patients… The situation is urgent, and chaos has already spread. Fleshworm dire beasts have been spotted in hospitals, schools, shopping malls, and bases.”
Seeing the content on the communicator, Long Duo’s face turned pale. Even an inhuman expert like him almost fainted.
“We’re done for.
Only one thought passed through Long Duo’s mind now: they were done for, completely so..