Parasite

Sun Hang himself didn't realize how much his demeanor had changed, as if he had become an entirely different person.

"But you can rest assured, I'll be very gentle..."

Under the girl's terrified gaze, Sun Hang leaned down, took her slender hand, and carefully put her index finger, with its distinct knuckles, into his mouth, gently sucking on it.

The next second, his jaws clamped down hard, directly biting off the girl's finger!

The girl immediately let out a piercing scream and fell backward onto the ground.

"Ptooey." Sun Hang spat out the severed finger, his expression instantly shifting from gentle to disgusted. "It smells... like rotten flesh."

Whether from pain or fear, tears welled up in the girl's eyes. She struggled to crawl backward, but Sun Hang grabbed her ankle and dragged her back to where she was.

Just then, a flicker of confusion crossed Sun Hang's eyes.

What am I doing?

Did I just bite off her index finger?

Was I planning to eat her?

No, that's not right... she's still useful, she can't die yet...

Sun Hang grabbed the girl's wrist again, focusing his gaze on the severed finger.

The wound had stopped bleeding. Countless tiny flesh buds were emerging from the cross-section of the tissue, beginning to form a new finger...

Sun Hang looked closely—what was emerging wasn't flesh buds at all, but clusters of white mycelia!

The girl's severed finger quickly healed, and apart from a slightly pale skin tone, everything from the texture of the nails to the skin and feel, even the shape of the bones at the joints, was identical to the severed finger on the ground.

"Severed limbs can actually regenerate?" Sun Hang marveled, examining the finger. For some reason, compared to the severed finger just moments ago, he felt this newly grown one was much prettier, much more attractive.

Is it because this finger was reshaped by the power of an Anomaly? Sun Hang wasn't sure, but he decided to conduct a small experiment.

He picked up a dagger and used its sharp tip to make an incision on the fingertip of the girl's newly regenerated index finger.

The wound didn't bleed, and the girl showed no sign of pain.

"I understand..." Sun Hang nodded slightly.

"Wh-what?" The girl's eyes widened. To her, the stranger before her was no different from a demon.

"I understand what the 'price' is," Sun Hang said. "Tai Sui meat didn't give you infinite regeneration, nor are you truly infected... The relationship between the Tai Sui and you is more like a parasite and its host. Its 'cells' reside within you, growing by absorbing your nutrients. To ensure the host's survival, it mimics the host's organs, replicating 'faulty' ones and replacing them..."

"What are you talking about?!" The girl's expression was dazed. "I don't understand..."

"These organs replicated by the 'Tai Sui' connect to all the body's systems, including the nerves, so you won't feel anything unusual... All organs in the host can be replaced, except for the brain."

Sun Hang paused, then continued, "When a person's entire body has had all its organs replaced, they will be completely taken over by the 'Tai Sui'... Even if you could guarantee you'd never get sick or injured in your life, the body's metabolism wouldn't stop, and eventually, you would become part of the 'Tai Sui'..."

As Sun Hang spoke eloquently, a ruthless glint flashed in the girl's eyes as she sat on the ground. Her newly grown index finger instantly transformed into a sharp claw. Her body sprang up with an incredibly strange posture, pouncing on Sun Hang and embracing him with an intimate hug.

Her small body buried itself entirely into Sun Hang's chest, while the sharp claw accurately pierced his throat.

However, to her surprise, the claw that had pierced Sun Hang's throat melted away rapidly, like an icicle plunged into boiling water... The hole in Sun Hang's neck healed completely within seconds, disappearing without a trace.

"How can this be?!" The girl's eyes widened. Before she could disengage from Sun Hang, immense force came from her shoulders and back—Sun Hang slammed her violently to the ground. Her spine struck the raised edge of a stair step with a crisp snapping sound.

The pain hadn't reached her brain yet; her damaged central nervous system was being rebuilt by the "Tai Sui." The girl rolled over, and just as she got up, she took a heavy punch to the abdomen!

"Bang!!"

Her body slammed into the wall, leaving a shallow human-shaped indentation. Lime dust rained down, covering her body... Vaguely, she could feel something about to break free from her body. After a brief moment of terror, it was followed by ecstasy.

"It's Sublimation! It's the Sublimation the Saints always talk about!! I... I've finally waited for this day!"

Her fear of the man before her had vanished. The girl curled up against the wall, muttering incomprehensible prayers in a broken voice, silently awaiting the "miracle."

What "replacement" and "Anomalization"... those were blasphemies by the ignorant against the "Tai Sui." The Tai Sui was different from those Anomalies; it would grant her new life, making her...

The girl's consciousness ended here. The skin on her body rapidly erupted with red, swollen blisters, as if doused in boiling hot oil... Then, these blisters burst, releasing foul-smelling gray pus.

The lifeless husk slowly slid down the wall... soon dissolving into a pool of blood, mixing with the scattered lime debris.

Sun Hang frowned.

The part of the "Tai Sui" parasitic within the girl clearly possessed "self-awareness"—it would rather burn out the host's life force and "commit suicide" than be devoured by Sun Hang.

He had initially thought that even if he couldn't get that "big meal," he could at least "satisfy his hunger" with the "Tai Sui" residing within the girl... But in the end, after he had only swallowed a small portion of the "Tai Sui," the remaining part unhesitatingly chose self-destruction.

It was like buying an ice cream cone and taking just one lick before the scoop of ice cream on the wafer fell to the ground with a splat.

"What a waste."