Incubation Form

"I know a bit about his family situation; it's all been passed around by the students in class." Yin Qi moved her stool closer to Yan Yanran and leaned in.

"According to rumors, Tang Shizhe's parents died in an accident during his senior year of high school. He didn't have any other relatives, so he started living on his own back then."

"He used to only care about playing, but after his parents' accident, he suddenly changed like a different person, studying like crazy until he finally got into our university."

"But as soon as he reached university, he changed again and started acting decadent."

"My guess is that getting into university was his parents' wish before they passed away. Once he fulfilled that, he lost his purpose in life. Honestly, he's a pitiful person," Yin Qi whispered into Yan Yanran's ear.

"Ah, so it's true that his parents are both gone?" Yan Yanran covered her mouth in surprise; she had thought Tang Shizhe was lying to her.

"Wait, that's not right. If his parents are gone, where did he get the money to buy a car?" Yan Yanran suddenly realized something and asked, puzzled.

"Buy a car? What car?" Yin Qi was stunned.

"You didn't know? He just picked up a black Porsche not long ago, paid for the whole thing in one go!" Yan Yanran lowered her voice and replied.

"Don't tell me he went and sold his body!" Yin Qi gasped, her jaw dropping. As a writer, her imagination tended to run wild.

"No way!" Yan Yanran froze after saying that. If Tang Shizhe hadn't sold his body, could he be like her—a genius who made money from the stock market and futures?

"How about we follow him after we finish eating to see what he's actually up to? What do you think?" Yin Qi slammed her fist into her palm, sounding quite excited.

Stalking! This was the kind of plot only found in novels, and she was going to experience it firsthand tomorrow!

"Fine, let's secretly follow him when he leaves later!" Yan Yanran nodded, equally excited. She was just as full of curiosity about Tang Shizhe.

"Why isn't he here yet?" Half an hour later, the two women, already feeling stuffed, sat at the table staring at each other in boredom.

They had called him several times, but Tang Shizhe hadn't answered. They had no idea what he was doing.

Little did they know, Tang Shizhe was currently studying the Brood Mother's body. Of course, this was a very "scientific" study.

According to his observations, the Brood Mother only maintained a human appearance on the outside; her internal structure was entirely different from a human's.

He touched the Brood Mother's stomach—it was solid, and she had no heartbeat!

Down in the Splitter Chamber in the basement, Tang Shizhe and Tang Yi stood surrounding the Brood Mother.

"Begin the incubation state. We need to record the process of your transformation," Tang Shizhe said to the Brood Mother, pointing to the open space in the chamber.

The Brood Mother nodded and walked to the center of the room. As her body gave a slight shudder, thousands of thin, red tentacles extended from her and burrowed into the floor of the chamber.

Immediately after, her entire body began to slowly tear open, and red chitinous plates flipped out from within.

In less than two minutes, the beautiful woman had transformed into a red cocoon resembling a mummy's sarcophagus, firmly anchored to the floor by thousands of engorged, pulsing tentacles.

"Damn, that's creepy," Tang Shizhe clicked his tongue. He hadn't expected the transformation to be so terrifying. He figured he'd have nightmares tonight; those writhing red tentacles were enough to leave anyone with psychological trauma.

"Begin splitting the Splitter!" Tang Shizhe commanded the Brood Mother.

The Brood Mother, whose biological cells were 99.9% identical to Tang Shizhe's, immediately began growing a basic human shape inside.

This basic form slowly filled out, and veins began to appear across its body.

Tang Yi and the others used their phones to record the more unsettling parts of the process. These phones were completely offline—no SIM cards, no Wi-Fi—specifically to prevent any data leaks.

"At this rate, it will take about eleven more hours to fully generate a human."

"It only takes me eight hours to split on my own. It seems my own efficiency is higher. If we do both at the same time, the rate at which the number of Splitters increases will accelerate significantly," Tang Shizhe muttered to himself while circling the Brood Mother.

"Boss, the Brood Mother's utility lies in her ability to split in remote locations. When we expand our influence overseas, we should consider sending her out."

"That way, we can produce new Splitters in two different places simultaneously," Tang Yi reminded him from the side.

"Right, that works. Let's keep the Brood Mother in the Splitter Chamber for now and split twenty people first," Tang Shizhe nodded.

As for why only twenty, it was because the factory floor could only house thirty people at most; they needed space for their daily lives.

If there were too many people, the demand for food would skyrocket. Buying that much food and generating that much trash while keeping the factory doors locked would naturally arouse suspicion from outsiders.

Once Tang Shizhe received his second round of funding, it would be time to expand the base.

Or perhaps he should acquire a larger factory complex?

Tang Shizhe turned and left the Splitter Chamber to head to the first floor. Only then did he notice that the phone he had left downstairs to avoid being bugged had over a dozen missed calls!

"Crap! I forgot about the dinner!" Tang Shizhe's expression changed. He finally remembered that he had gone out to keep an appointment.

Not only had he invited two rivals to dinner, but he had also stood them up.

He didn't need to think twice to know he had definitely offended both of them deeply!

As Tang Shizhe sat in his car, he hurriedly dialed Yin Qi and Yan Yanran, but as expected, neither of their phones would connect.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead." Tang Shizhe's eyes went dull. He was probably the only person who could manage to stand up two beautiful women at once, one of whom was the campus goddess of the engineering department.

If he went out, he'd likely be dragged away and beaten to death by the students who worshipped the goddess.

"Beautiful Yin, I really didn't mean to. I saw a car accident on the road just now and had to help the driver treat his wounds."

"Beautiful Yan, I am so sorry, just now..." Tang Shizhe hurriedly sent messages to both of them.

While he was sending the messages, Tang Yi and the others, wearing masks and hats, rushed out of the factory in the two black vans they had purchased.

If Tang Shizhe remembered correctly, that girl's bag should still be in the car, and her identification documents and such would certainly be there too.

Tang Yi and his team were rushing over to retrieve those materials; after all, many things were better off not being recorded on the internet.