A Human Centipede?!

"I... I think I read one character wrong. The Chinese herbs Yu Yu wrote down were in that box—He Feng." Wang Rui spoke so quietly only he could hear himself, like a 200-pound man who'd done something wrong.

Only then did Yang Qin realize she'd eaten the wrong thing. No wonder her stomach felt like it was turning inside out.

She spat out a mouthful of undigested plastic. The label on it clearly read "He Shi."

Searching through her memories, she realized she'd eaten He Shi, a poisonous herbal medicine used to repel parasites!

And she'd eaten a whole box of it!!!

He Shi wasn't just He Shi anymore. It was He Ding Hong...

And she'd chugged the whole box!

Yang Qin's golden face was turning green with rage.

They'd been together for two and a half years. She'd known Wang Rui was a bit of a weirdo, but she'd never imagined he was completely brain-dead!

How could he make such a mistake with something this important??

And he'd even brewed it into soup for the whole school. Once everyone drank it, the place would be covered in diarrhea, with nowhere left to step??

"Bring that box over here!" Yang Qin slowly raised her golden, willow-branch-like mycelial arm, holding it above Wang Rui's head.

Her insides were already churning. Even though she could control her entire body, which was made up of golden insect tissue, she was in agony, as if she were about to burst!

"Pffffffffffft!"

A shrill trumpet blast came from Yang Qin's sphincter.

Wang Rui was taking the correct box of Chinese herbs down from the shelf. Hearing that long, melodious fart, he reflexively pinched his nose with one hand.

How uncivilized!

But the box of herbs was heavy. There was no way he could hold it with one hand.

And so the box of He Feng and licorice tumbled down, crashing heavily onto the floor.

"Did you do that on purpose, or was it an accident?" Yang Qin's gaze turned vicious.

If it had been anyone else, she might have thought he was up to something.

But with Wang Rui, whose eyes sparkled with great wisdom, it was hard to imagine him doing something like that...

"Sis, it really stinks. The whole box is right here. Should I start a fire and burn it all?" Wang Rui was innocent, too.

"No. A fire would attract the attention of the people outside. Back off over there," Yang Qin said.

Wang Rui had no choice but to retreat, muttering, "I bet you're afraid the fire will set off your methane."

Yang Qin: "????"

Her golden willow-like arm suddenly opened like a pair of pincers and clamped tightly around Wang Rui's neck. The densely packed teeth sank into his flesh.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Yang Qin snarled coldly and viciously, as if she might devour Wang Rui at any moment.

Wang Rui obediently crouched in the corner with both hands over his head.

The golden half-human Yang Qin took a deep breath and looked at the He Feng herbs scattered all over the floor.

She'd just chugged a whole box of He Ding Hong without even managing to burp. Now she had to swallow another box of herbs that could kill insect-eyed creatures. It was more than a little hard to stomach.

But for the sake of the whole fungal colony, Yang Qin had to eat every last one.

So Yang Qin slowly lowered herself to the ground, like a golden sow, opened her mouth, and began swallowing the herbs one mouthful at a time.

Once she'd eaten all the herbs, the entire school would become their playground, and she would be the supreme leader of thousands of insect-eyed half-humans!

"I thought being human was hard enough for us. Turns out you guys have it rough, too," Wang Rui said, watching the noble Golden Pupil leader sacrifice herself so selflessly. He couldn't help but sigh.

Golden Pupil Yang Qin felt terrible. She was even retching, but she still gulped down the herbs, mouthful after mouthful...

She looked just like a saleswoman desperately chugging liquor to close a deal. There was no such thing as an easy life for a grown-up member of the Parasite Race!

At last, Yang Qin finished all the herbs. Not a single scrap remained on the floor.

As the two kinds of herbs digested, they triggered a reaction. Yang Qin felt as if someone had poured a huge bottle of pesticide inside her, and the pain was unbearable.

But when she thought of how the parasitic takeover was complete, she couldn't help grinning arrogantly. The many emotions twisting across her golden face left her smile horribly contorted!

"Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!"

A hollow applause rang out. From another shadowy corner of the warehouse, a handsome man with a tall, straight bearing emerged, wearing an alluring smile.

As he walked, he applauded the golden half-human Yang Qin from the bottom of his heart, as if to show her a measure of respect.

"Impressive, impressive. Your spirit deserves recognition from the whole school. If only everyone could become insect-eyed half-humans..." Wu Hen said with a smile.

"You!!" When Yang Qin saw Wu Hen, her golden face turned pale.

Hadn't he gone to save those students??

How could he be hiding here?

Wu Hen raised a finger to his temple and called up the Virtual Pupil Membrane's communication interface.

"Miss Ming Yi, I found the golden insect-eyed half-human. It's my old friend, Yang Qin."

"So it's just as I suspected. The Insect Mother Wood is the Soul-Resting Tree Yang Qin and I found at the beginning, in Flower Valley!"

"Okay, I can handle things here. Leave the Insect Mother Wood to you."

Wu Hen lightly tapped his temple again and ended the call on the Pupil Membrane Communicator.

The whole exchange made the furious Yang Qin, standing there with a vicious look on her face, even angrier. Her golden insect eyes were fixed on Wu Hen!

"You even suspected me!" Yang Qin felt humiliated.

She'd been with Wu Hen the whole time, and she'd even accurately given him the list of the three maggots in the cafeteria. Yang Qin couldn't think of any reason he'd suspect her.

Wasn't she Wu Hen's loyal teammate??

Why would he suspect her?

She couldn't understand!

"I couldn't help it. I never liked you much from the start. It was that constant wariness that made me think of another possibility... that the Soul-Resting Tree we found at the beginning wasn't a real Soul-Resting Tree either," Wu Hen said.

Clearly, Yang Qin hadn't been a Golden Pupil half-human from the start.

She'd been parasitized.

When Wu Hen and Yang Qin first entered Flower Valley, the place where they could return to their home, the seemingly breathtaking Soul Flowers had actually been insect-eyed Soul-Resting Trees all along.

Everything about the Soul-Resting Trees in Flower Valley—their dreamlike beauty and vivid colors—was just like the bright colors of a pitcher plant, meant to earn human trust.

In other words, Wu Hen and Yang Qin had been among the first to carry the virus back home.

The only reason Wu Hen was fine was that there was an even more powerful presence dwelling inside him. Even golden-level insect eyes couldn't survive in his body.

Yang Qin was different.

She was only human. She'd survived this long only because she'd stuck with Wu Hen.

Forget golden insect eyes—white ones could possess her in no time...

"So from the moment the Order Maintenance Personnel discovered a girl who woke up with her mind clear and spread the news that the Soul-Resting Tree could lead back home, you, Yang Qin, had already been parasitized by a powerful golden insect eye. To learn how humans would respond, you deliberately stayed by my side, waiting for the perfect opportunity."

"The frog's scheming, always feeling up your belly..."

Wu Hen nudged his sister Yu Yu, signaling for her to play the BGM she'd saved on her phone.

Yu Yu let out a long sigh. She couldn't stand her chuuni brother, but she still tapped the play button and let the familiar music ring out.

"You, Yang Qin, are the leader of these insect-eyed half-humans!"

Nearby, Wang Rui looked up from where he was crouching and saw a righteous light radiating from Wu Hen's whole body. For a moment, Wu Hen looked like the chosen one.

But when he looked more closely, he realized Yu Yu had turned on the flash along with the BGM.

Waaah, where could he get a sister as thoughtful as that? Wang Rui wanted to look cool like this, too!

"Wu Hen... You've been humiliating me and trampling on my dignity all this time. Do you think knowing my true identity means you can do whatever you want? In the wasteland, you're nothing but the least noticeable sparrow!"

"If you know what's good for you, even if you know everything, don't play the hero. I might have spared you for old times' sake. But now you insist on making an enemy of me!"

"The Soul-Resting Tree is nothing but a root. I've already flowered and borne fruit. I don't need it anymore."

"I'd planned to bring you into my kind without pain or struggle. But there's no need to make things complicated now. I'll kill you all and use your flesh and blood to nourish my eggs. That'll work just as well! Hssssss!"

Yang Qin opened her mouth and smiled like a golden serpent.

But as she smiled, she suddenly let out a foul belch. The two herbs had mixed together and triggered a chemical reaction.

The image of the once-noble, untouchable leader collapsed in an instant, leaving her looking like an ugly old witch!

"Forgot to mention, the herb name I had Yu Yu write down was wrong. I didn't expect you to eat two whole boxes, though. Mixed together, these two herbs probably have about the same effect as paraquat," Wu Hen added.

Hearing Wu Hen's merciless mockery and humiliation, Golden Pupil Yang Qin grew even more violent. Her eyes seemed to spit fire as she glared fiercely at Wang Rui!

Honestly, a whole box each of He Ding Hong and paraquat would take half the life out of even the strongest parasitic fungus. The fact that Yang Qin hadn't died on the spot showed just how noble a golden insect-eyed half-human she was!

Wu Hen couldn't help glancing at Wang Rui, who was trembling with fear.

He'd known his brother's great wisdom would come in handy!

"Brother Hen, help!" Wang Rui cried again.

Wu Hen knew Yang Qin hated Wang Rui almost as much, so he immediately shielded him.

Sure enough, golden willow fungal tentacles sprouted from Golden Pupil Yang Qin's body, each fitted with a backward-facing blade. As she twisted her deformed body, the razor-sharp Golden Blade Willow ripped straight through the warehouse walls!

"Move!" Wu Hen decisively grabbed a box of Chinese herbs, then led Wang Rui and Yu Yu out of the warehouse.

Golden Pupil Yang Qin realized that the box Wu Hen had taken was the real insect-killing medicine. More fungal tendrils split off from her legs, spreading densely along both sides of her body...

"Holy crap, a human centipede!!" Wang Rui turned his head and saw legs sprouting all over Yang Qin's body. She could even crawl quickly along the walls!

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