Thank You, I'm in Terra, and I'm a Parasite

A man shrouded in a dark green hood carried a dim candle lantern as he walked through the cramped space, which would make anyone vomit, as though he saw nothing at all.

"Only lasted ten minutes... The quality of this batch of materials is exceptionally poor."

He looked over the various records in his hand, his expression turning displeased.

"It's like this every time. That worthless Quintus abuses the Church's resources just because he sits in the Archbishop's seat, while his so-called experiments are nothing more than cavemen smashing walnuts with brute force!"

"They don't understand the meaning of research at all!"

"When it comes down to it, letting a lunatic who spends all day soaking in unrealistic fantasies become an Archbishop was a mistake in itself!"

He growled, as if he wanted to vent every emotion buried in his heart.

"Archbishop Quintus may indeed have some problems, but his loyalty to the Church and the faith is genuine."

"Bishop Lai Ke, if your faith is pure enough, you'll surely surpass Archbishop Quintus one day."

The attendant beside him replied calmly.

"...Heh, pure faith?"

Lai Ke glanced at the believer beside him and said no more.

Everyone in the Church of the Deep was insane.

He wasn't like them. He had only joined because he needed to study the special creatures known as Seaborn.

In fact, the very fact that someone like him, who had never displayed any so-called faith, could become the bishop of a district was enough to prove that his research had been successful.

But clearly, someone didn't want him to keep succeeding.

The Church regarded Seaborn as gods, yet he was trying to use Seaborn to forge humans into—gods.

"Tch."

Bishop Lai Ke turned around and glanced at the bottomless tunnel behind him.

"How many new test subjects were added recently?"

"Thirty in total. Twenty of them were transferred to the cathedral where Archbishop Quintus, Mister, and the others are located."

"Heh, only ten left? Their demands are really high. Out of this group, how many don't have Oripathy?"

"None."

"Unfortunately, almost all ten remaining subjects are Infected."

"Columbian profanity, huff—forget it. Send them to the laboratory. We'll resume our experiments a little later."

"Oh, Bishop Lai Ke, a letter from an Archbishop has arrived for you. A box arrived along with it."

"An Archbishop?"

"Which Archbishop?"

"The messenger didn't say. However, the emblem he displayed was indeed of an Archbishop's design."

Lai Ke froze. There were four Archbishops in the Church. Mister might have been roughly on his level in terms of ability, but he was also a Seaborn fanatic and had never thought highly of Lai Ke.

There was even less need to mention Quintus. The two of them could barely stand to look at each other.

As for Cicero, that old man had vanished without a trace for quite some time. Even if he intended to show himself, he wouldn't contact Lai Ke first.

...Amaya?

He suddenly recalled the Liberi woman he had seen among the crowd when the believers had gathered together.

Like obsidian that occasionally glimmered with faint light, she appeared so serene and steady within a Church filled with madmen.

However, he had never had any real dealings with her.

And since she had risen to become one of the four Archbishops, she had to be the same kind of person as those Seaborn fanatics.

Theoretically, she shouldn't have had any interest in him either.

Lost in thought, Bishop Lai Ke left the cellar and looked over the unattended chapel, where dust had settled everywhere.

He raised his head, and the blinding sunlight nearly made him lose his vision and fall to the ground.

Damn it, had he been conducting experiments underground for too long?

After straightening his clothes, he walked into the storage room and immediately spotted the items the other party had sent him.

A letter and a box.

After opening the envelope, the elegant handwriting dancing across the paper further confirmed Bishop Lai Ke's guess.

This really was a letter from Archbishop Amaya.

He continued reading, looking over its contents.

"Abyssal Hunter... Oh, one of those modified Aegir people? Tch. If she were in my hands, I would've gotten proper experimental results long ago instead of pouring Originium fluid into her body all day like some sadist."

Suppressing his dissatisfaction, Lai Ke continued reading.

'In truth, that Abyssal Hunter is not pure. Though that statement itself isn't quite valid, since they are enhanced products created through the fusion of humans and Seaborn.'

'However, I found a third presence within this Hunter's body.'

'Considering the immense hostility the other two bishops hold toward Abyssal Hunters, if they discovered that another organism was mixed within this Hunter's body, they would probably treat her as scrap. Sometimes, faith that is too firm is not a good thing.'

'For that reason, I forged her blood report and removed those abnormal biological behaviors.'

'At the same time, I collected part of her blood samples. I hope that, as a biologist, you can conduct some objective analyses and experiments.'

'However, what is unusual is that the samples differ enormously before and after.'

'The earliest sample remained active for some time after being separated from the original body. Yet the blood obtained recently rapidly dissipates within seconds after leaving the body, turning into something like withered red dust.'

'You needn't worry about Archbishop Quintus and the others. They won't trouble you for the time being, nor will they need you to provide test subjects. Therefore, I hope someone can determine as soon as possible what kind of existence this Third Organism truly is.'

"Interesting. A Third Organism? Has Archbishop Amaya finally gone mad? How could any organism coexist with Seaborn inside the same host?"

With a hint of disdain, Bishop Lai Ke opened the box and took out two bottles.

Sure enough, one contained vivid red blood that looked entirely normal, while the other held dried red powder.

He paused and stared at the bottle of blood.

It was too bright. It looked as though it had just left a human body.

The messenger had taken at least a full day to arrive here. The blood should theoretically have turned dark and thick.

Why...

And besides...

He looked at the label.

It had been about a month.

This was what it looked like after a month??

Would Amaya be the kind of person who had nothing better to do than toy with him?

Obviously not.

After thinking for a moment, Lai Ke realized that the thing before him might truly be some kind of special lifeform.

He grabbed both bottles and rushed back to his laboratory.

Half an hour later—

"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!!!!"

"What the hell's blood is this????"

Sitting before rows upon rows of precision instruments, Lai Ke had removed his Church robes and changed back into the white lab coat he knew so well.

The blood before him could no longer simply be described as abnormal. It shouldn't even be called blood!!!!

Damn it, was the parent organism of this thing in the hands of Quintus and those people?

And Amaya had found a way to hide such an anomaly?

She had actually managed to cover up something this insane??

How exactly did those idiots conduct experiments? Or did they only know how to eat Seaborn raw and force-feed Originium fluid into Hunters?

The further Lai Ke looked, the more stunned he became. The existence of Seaborn had already shattered his worldview when he first encountered those creatures.

That time, he had abandoned his position and status at the Columbia laboratory without hesitation and thrown himself into the Church of the Deep.

And now, the entirely new concepts he had built through researching Seaborn were directly crushed by the pool of blood before him.

"Ha... ha... Ahahahahaha!! This... this is the new world!"

"Seaborn... My god, they can't even compare. This is the true ultimate lifeform!!!"

"Perfect! This is practically a creation of God!!!"

Madness reflected in Lai Ke's pupils as he realized that he had come into contact with a supreme path beyond the comprehension of ordinary people!

(PS: Laurentina's blood remained active because it was from when she had just been assimilated and hadn't fully matured yet, so her blood could still become an independent entity after leaving her body.)

(Basically, it was drawn early, before Zuo Jian had time to manage it, so it naturally carried away some of the nutrients needed to sustain himself.)

(PS: There's no need to worry that the protagonist and Sharkie will get beaten down because of this blood. Your bro isn't very good at writing that sort of thing. I only write satisfying kill-kill-kill stories.)

(As for why there's this character and plotline... Come on! A deranged scientist who recklessly researches mutations is a tradition in works like The Thing and Alien!!)

(But there'll be another update today... Please wait a moment! It'll be quick... probably.)

Set Off! Let's Find a White-Haired Beauty!

Tap.

The final piece of firewood was tossed into the pile of corpses before them by a tentacle.

The dark underground cavern was now filled with tattered Deep Sea Cultists and those pitiful test subjects whose bodies bore Seaborn limbs.

Laurentina stood at the entrance, looking at the corpses piled below while holding an unlit torch in her hand.

[...Sorry.]

Zuo Jian's pupil opened from the fabric at Laurentina's collar, looking regretfully at the mountain of corpses within.

"There's no need to apologize. Everyone has things beyond their power. Besides, even if you had awakened a month earlier, you couldn't have changed anything."

[I'm just not used to suddenly facing something like this.]

"Is that so?"

Laurentina lowered her head and looked at Zuo Jian's somewhat dejected pupil.

"...When I first became an Abyssal Hunter, after a mission ended, I looked upon the mess covering the ground. Sculpture studios and art rooms once filled with artistic beauty had become broken ruins."

"Plaster fragments had been stained into sickening red and blue by the blood of Seaborn and humans. The corpses of fallen companions and ordinary people we failed to save had been casually discarded by the roadside like trash."

"However, when I doubted myself, Swordfish... uh, she was one of my captains, told me that although we couldn't save others at that moment, at least this hunt could reduce the number of tragedies in the future."

After Laurentina finished speaking, the tips of her left middle and index fingers transformed into a structure resembling steel.

She snapped her fingers, producing sparks like flint and steel, then lit the torch in her hand.

Whoosh.

The burning torch was thrown into the cavern piled with firewood, setting all the corpses ablaze.

After finishing this, Laurentina patted the tentacle beside her.

"At least, you saved one person, didn't you~?"

She pointed at herself and replied with a smile.

Seeing the girl's comforting smile, Zuo Jian paused. Then he realized that the girl before him might have experienced even more cruel things than he had.

[Laurentina... you...]

Zuo Jian looked at her, complicated emotions flickering in his pupil.

After a moment, he slowly replied.

[You actually don't know how to comfort people at all, do you? Your captain must have had a hard time...]