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

Zuo Jian suddenly realized something was wrong.

The skin on her left hand turned into metallic claws, and she slammed them viciously into the wall!

"Why do I feel this way?"

She shook her head, driving all the strange thoughts from her mind.

In any case, he silently counted the time.

At around thirty seconds, Laurentina regained control of her body.

Then Laurentina collapsed onto the ground, hugging her legs and trembling blankly.

[Oh no! Was thirty seconds too long? She hasn't broken, has she?!]

Zuo Jian panicked.

Chapter Three, Test Subject

In her haze, Laurentina seemed to sense a warm presence.

A soft scratching sound came from nearby—the tip of a pen brushing against paper.

The wind swept across her face, carrying a pleasant yet indescribable floral fragrance mingled from countless scents.

Peace and tranquility seemed like two great hands gently stroking her cheeks.

How long had it been since she last felt this? Before the war with the Seaborn, or even longer ago—before she became an Abyssal Hunter?

The torturous experiments she had endured during this time had nearly made her forget there had once been such peaceful days.

[Are you awake?]

Laurentina opened her eyes and found herself lying on a bench.

Zuo Jian's skeletal thigh was beneath her head, serving as a pillow.

To keep her from getting uncomfortable, he'd even thoughtfully placed a down blanket beneath it.

[When I was very young, when my father was still alive, I loved sleeping beside him and listening to the sound of charcoal pencils scratching over paper as I drifted off.]

Laurentina froze for a moment and looked at Zuo Jian. This headless skeleton was holding a pencil, carefully refining a projection on sketch paper.

[I didn't like drawing back then. I just felt safe leaning against my father like that.]

[Although my father had hoped I would follow the path of painting like him, I wasn't interested in it at the time.]

[He was disappointed, but he still chose to support my decision. He believed everyone had the right to choose for themselves. No matter who someone is to you, they shouldn't force their own ideas upon you.]

[Who would've thought that a few years later, to remember those unforgettable days, I'd follow in my father's footsteps and come to this familiar park to begin my own journey into painting?]

[Gradually, what began as a way to feel that old peace again became a genuine appreciation for the joy of painting. Sometimes I can't help wondering—if I'd tried sooner, if I'd taken the initiative a little earlier, would I have had more time with him?]

"...My condolences."

For no particular reason, Laurentina looked at the skeleton beside her. Though he had no face, not even a skull, she could still sense a faint sorrow from him.

It was a complicated kind of sorrow.

It was mixed with regret, disappointment, pain, remorse, and countless other emotions, like a block of solid ice melting beneath the passage of time and flowing into a shallow stream.

No longer hard or cold, it had simply become a gentle, ceaseless current.

It wasn't intense or obvious, but neither would it disappear.

The Seaborn wouldn't feel something like this.

[I've discovered that within your consciousness, I can materialize some things from my memories, though only on a small scale. After all, this place belongs to you.]

[This is the place most completely preserved in my memories, and also where I learned many things.]

[Have you calmed down, Laurentina?]

"..."

Laurentina raised her head and looked beside the bench, where a tall tree stood—a tree whose name she didn't know.

Its leaves were golden, and whenever the breeze passed through them, a golden rain would occasionally fall.

Indeed, simply staying here brought peace to her heart.

"Phew..."

Thinking it over carefully, if he had truly wanted to do anything to her, she would have had no ability to resist at all.

And Aegir had already fallen. There was almost nothing useful he could obtain from her.

As for whether he was a Seaborn—

If the Seaborn had evolved enough to fabricate such delicate emotions to deceive her, then Aegir would have been finished long ago. It couldn't possibly have lasted until now.

Then she thought of what he'd done.

His first reaction after seeing her pain had been to block off her sense of pain.

As if she'd figured something out, she turned and looked at Zuo Jian.

"Still, next time you say something so sentimental, stop putting on airs and pretending to sketch."

"Do you know how terrible your drawings are? Other than getting the lighting somewhat right, they're completely worthless!"

[You think I want to? The last time I drew a sketch was during my art entrance exams, okay? Ever since I graduated and started drawing on a tablet, I haven't touched sketching again!]

[And look!]

[Why am I a skeleton in this space? Look.]

Zuo Jian somewhat broke down as he held his hand out before Laurentina, showing her his fingers.

[There's no flesh on them! None at all! Do you know how much that affects my control over the pen?]

"Pfft."

There it was again.

Though he had no head, she could vaguely sense his utterly defeated expression.

It was kind of amusing.

"But, Mr. Zuo Jian, while you've proven you bear no hostility, don't forget that you've taken over my body."

"No matter how you look at it, that's an extremely unpleasant and... instinctively repulsive feeling."

[You might as well say it plainly. It disgusts you, right?]

"Yes. Having something else mixed into your own body is extremely disgusting."

Laurentina smiled at Zuo Jian, and he vaguely felt there was something chilling about that smile.

[I understand. No matter how you look at it, it's unacceptable. Honestly, I couldn't accept it either at the time.]

[But then, I simply couldn't suppress my instincts...]

Zuo Jian lowered his head and looked sadly at his hands.

Though he couldn't see his own body.

"But now that things have come to this, there's no use saying any of that, is there?"

Having thought it through, Laurentina seemed remarkably open-minded.

[Really? I didn't expect you to be so calm about it... Laurentina.]

"Calm? Not at all."

She blinked her large eyes, pointed at Zuo Jian, and smiled.

"I just think having someone who can draw inside me means we'd probably have plenty to talk about. Since you don't mean me any harm, I might as well treat you as an extra person to chat with."

[Is that so? But, Laurentina, there's one more thing I need to tell you.]

Zuo Jian stood up and suddenly looked at her seriously.

"What is it?"

Sensing that the atmosphere had suddenly turned grave, Laurentina looked at him.

[Just now, when I took over your body, I felt something indescribable.]

[I don't know what that feeling was. It might have been the pleasure produced by instinct, or perhaps some dark desire hidden within me. Either way, I don't want it to happen.]

[Because it would undoubtedly cause you some... unacceptable consequences.]

[Fortunately, I've just found a solution.]

"Go on."

[Laurentina, there are structures inside your body that don't belong to you.]

"Those are Seaborn cells, if I'm not mistaken."

Though Laurentina didn't know the truth about the Abyssal Hunters, she could vaguely guess some of it.

[They can assimilate me too, provided I don't resist at all. Conversely, when we first came into contact, I assimilated them with ease.]

"You mean..."

[Yes. Because that part is still mixed within you, it can still assimilate a small portion of the parts I occupy.]

[For example, two-thirds of the neurons controlling movement, vision, and hearing.]

[I'll suppress my own cells and let your side reclaim two-thirds of those neurons.]

[That way, if something unexpected happens, your control over your body will exceed mine.]

[And once that's done, if you forcibly suppress my control, my consciousness will gradually become dormant.]

[If you keep suppressing me for around five days, I'll enter a long sleep.]

"A long sleep means...?"

[Decades, or centuries if you live that long. Or until you die, I won't awaken.]

[This is a safeguard, Laurentina.]

[I'm not a robber, nor am I some parasitic beast driven by instinct.]

[This was an accident. If you allow me to coexist with you, I'll be deeply grateful. If you don't, I can understand that too.]

[Whether you plan to ignore me after reclaiming control, or suppress me outright and pretend your body has never experienced anything unusual, that's fine.]

[This body was yours to begin with, Laurentina. You have the freedom to decide.]

[But, Laurentina, I have only one request.]

Zuo Jian looked at Laurentina and placed both hands on her shoulders.

He spoke to her with utmost solemnity.

[Though this is your freedom, consider it my request.]

[Don't hurt yourself. Even after everything you've gone through, this is still your body. Don't give up your life because it disgusts you. I know it doesn't make much sense for me to say that, so this is only a request...]

"I get it, I get it. You're so long-winded."

Laurentina waved her hand and gave Zuo Jian a somewhat disdainful look.

"Worrying about this and that—what are you, my father?"

"I'm not as fragile as you think. Kill myself so casually?"

Laurentina paused.

"Don't forget, I still have plenty of things left to do."

Zuo Jian saw the red light flickering in her eyes and roughly understood what those "things left to do" meant.

Right.

Those people who had subjected an ordinary young girl to such utterly inhuman experiments...