Thanks for the Invite, I'm in Terra, and I'm a Parasite — Chapter 39

"The lord of Chernobog is dead?"

Kal'tsit rubbed her forehead with a headache.

"You passed by the scene and even found the Doctor's clothes??"

Ace nodded.

"Fortunately, Babel isn't famous enough for everyone in Ursus to know it. Before they began investigating, Scout brought the clothes back."

"..."

For the first time, Kal'tsit felt a profound sense of helplessness.

They had to find the Doctor as soon as possible. Otherwise... she had a bad feeling about this.

Chapter Two, "Kindness"

Late at night.

Laurentina and Anita had long since slipped into the depths of sleep with their consciousnesses.

Whether it was the dilapidated house or the city called Saltwind City, everything had fallen asleep.

Until the next day's sunlight faded, no one would tear through the cover of night.

Except...

When all "people" were asleep.

There were always certain special beings that remained awake, watching everything around them.

Beside Laurentina, Anita let out soft, even snores.

Like a kitten...

A pale blue eye opened beneath Laurentina's left eye, silently observing everything in the room.

A moment later, after realizing that she too was asleep.

He closed his eyes.

Then...

Eyes opened from the head hanging low in the corner, and the nun's body rose once more.

"Is everyone asleep?"

"Then..."

Zuo Jian raised the nun's palm and watched it split open, spreading apart like a mouth.

Several tiny, slender, slick tendrils writhed from her fair palm like countless tongues. At last, they lifted a tiny crimson particle on their tips.

"Is it finished?"

He held the tiny crimson particle before his eyes and saw countless fine blood vessels spread through it, seeming to flow.

This was a seed.

A grain seed. (The Inquisitor was a Liberi, so it made sense for the supplies to include grain-based food, right?)

It had come from the Inquisitor's standard rations. Before the moon had fully risen, most of it had been thrown into the pot, becoming a full meal for Anita, Laurentina, and some of the villagers tomorrow.

Yes, this thing hadn't truly counted as a seed before. First of all, seeds were alive.

But this had actually gone through layers of preservation processes: husking, roasting, and dehydration.

Put simply... it was a corpse.

But now.

Zuo Jian had been holding it just now, hoping to restore its vitality.

To do that, all he could do was continuously assimilate this plant corpse into himself.

In a sense, he was trying to bring the dead back to life.

Without question, even for a single seed, Zuo Jian had underestimated the enormous cost of this act.

Even directly absorbing "dead" matter couldn't produce much nourishment.

Not to mention that assimilation consumed a great deal of nutrients from the body. And this was assimilating an inert dead object, then dragging it back from death.

But fortunately.

He had succeeded.

So the next step was to find a way to make it suppress its instinct to assimilate and devour living animals after he left, repeatedly carrying out the simple process of absorbing nutrients from the earth, flowering, and bearing fruit.

The consequence of doing this was that, although it would only affect a small portion at first, over time, the villagers who ate these plants would eventually undergo mutations.

If that happened, what he was doing would be little different from what those scum had done.

Therefore, the special "seed" in his hand could only serve as a temporary transition.

Before the parts of himself accumulating in their bodies could affect them, he had to solve the problem properly at its root.

Fortunately, Zuo Jian had just found a way.

But before that, he needed to place a "consciousness" capable of carrying out his requirements into this seed, which possessed only instinct.

If possible, he truly hoped he could peel off part of his consciousness from his main body.

But unfortunately, he couldn't.

He had discovered this while searching for food—or rather, hunting—just now.

He could.

Move freely using new flesh-and-blood bodies, but his consciousness was still bound to the assimilated Laurentina.

If he went too far from Laurentina, his consciousness would be pulled directly back into her body.

He wouldn't, and couldn't, restrict Laurentina because of that.

Then where to find a consciousness he could use was already obvious.

Zuo Jian leaned against the wall and sank his consciousness into the two "good neighbors" preserved within this body.

..

"Pant... pant... Damn it... where is this?"

"I-I'm alive??"

Lai Ke stared at his arms and legs in shock.

Realizing that he seemed completely unharmed.

Even his clothes looked as fresh as if they had just left the factory.

There wasn't a single crease on them.

"No... this isn't reality??"

Lai Ke's memories were crystal clear. He remembered being torn to pieces by monsters transformed from a pack of mad dogs. Even now, that intense pain was unforgettable.

"Bishop Lai Ke? Why are you here?"

A hoarse voice rang out beside him. Lai Ke froze, then saw a familiar yet detestable figure suddenly appear at his side.

"Quintus?? How are you here..."

"I don't know. I seem to... my memories are a little blurry... I only remember that Aegir bastard running out... and then."

"And then..."

Quintus froze. Then long, heavy footsteps sounded in the distance, echoing throughout the entire space.

"Wait... what... what kind of monster is that..."

"Monster... you said..."

Quintus froze, then saw a headless skeleton slowly descending from a staircase of nothingness in the corner, like a god looking down upon all things.

"Good evening, gentlemen."

Zuo Jian walked before them and looked at the stunned pair.

"Unfortunately, law isn't my field of expertise. I can't deliver any reasonable judgment for the countless atrocities you two committed, which is why scum like you have somehow managed to retain intact consciousnesses even now."

"But don't worry. After a period of careful consideration, I've already figured out how to make you pay for your unforgivable crimes."

"And it will be... a more suitable judgment than an eternal prison."

"Judgment?! What nonsense are you talking about? The only one who can judge me is that great being from the deep sea!"

"Hey, Quintus, stop talking. He..."

Lai Ke froze. He seemed to understand his situation and vaguely realized what kind of being stood before them.

He wanted Quintus to shut up, but the latter seemed not to care at all.

"Other than Him, even if you're some kind of evil god, you aren't qualified to judge what I've done for my lord—"

Quintus froze. An incomparably intense pain shot through his limbs. He saw his torso suddenly split open, spilling all his organs out.

"Gentlemen, you don't seem to understand your situation."

Zuo Jian had no eyeballs in his current appearance, yet Lai Ke felt an incomparably cold gaze upon him.

"Your bodies disappeared long ago. What remains here is merely the consciousness preserved within your brains."

"And here, I possess absolute control. For example—raising your pain sensitivity a hundredfold."

He snapped his fingers, and Quintus, whose body continued splitting apart, let out an even more horrifying scream.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

"So."

Zuo Jian stepped forward. As though annoyed by the noise, he placed a hand beneath Quintus's jaw.

"The only reason I'm still maintaining basic courtesy is purely because of my personal upbringing."

"It's not because scum like you deserve it. Know your place."

"What exactly... do you want."

Lai Ke stared in terror at Quintus, whose body was covered in savage cracks and whose entire jaw looked as if it had been crushed.

"Bishop Lai Ke, I've thought of an incredibly fitting ending for you."

"From this moment on, I need you to become a... seed."

"What did you say..."

"I'm going to place your consciousness into a seed. All you need to do is absorb nutrients, flower, bear fruit, and then turn everything you absorb into the nutrients they need to fill the stomachs of those people who have suffered so much."

"Don't worry. Once their food problem has been solved, I'll allow you to free yourself from consciousness."

"What are you talking about? How could I possibly accept something like that..."

Lai Ke froze, feeling an unprecedented absurdity.

"Or do you think you can make me submit through such means?"

"Indeed, it seems you're more resilient than Quintus."

Zuo Jian clapped his hands, and Lai Ke suddenly felt the world spin.

He stared blankly as his limbs, at some unknown point, had been severed, leaving only a head attached to his torso.

"What... do you want to do..."

The skeleton lifted Lai Ke's body.

Then threw him beyond a door.

"Although I regret that you can't weep and repent for your crimes, then obediently carry out my sentence... no, even if you did, I wouldn't believe you."

"What exactly..."