[Jianpanxia: I've been watching — these monsters aren’t just sensitive to sound. They've been evolving for days now. The first time we saw them, they moved like crawling infants, unable to even speak, slower than a toddler. Now they mimic human speech, and the change is alarming! Worse, they seem to have no weaknesses. If you see one, all you can do is run!]
[Xiao Qingwa: Thanks for the crash course, boss.]
[Xiao He Cai Lu: How are you so sure about all this?]
[Jianpanxia: My in-game identity is an experiment researcher! Of course I know.]
[Jianpanxia: We call them 'jishengti'—Parasites. They advance and regenerate. We still haven't found any antidote or cure. Avoid direct contact if you can — it's possible even blood may carry the infection...]
A video of the jishengti was attached after the message.
In the video, a grotesque half-human, half-beast staggered across the ground, emitting guttural growls of 'hoh hoh.' Terrified, the player in the clip could barely move, their legs shaking violently. The creature's segmented maw split apart, its barb-tipped tongue piercing straight through human flesh...
[Jianpanxia: These are classified as low-level jishengti—highly sensitive to sound, but slow-moving. Mid-level ones are much faster, and high-level parasites can call others to them... Unfortunately, I'm just a low-ranked staffer, so I don't know much more.]
[Lu Ren Jia Yi Bing Ding: Thanks for the info!]
[…Countless others added their +1.]
Ye Shu furrowed her brows.
So, parasites can evolve?
She wasn't convinced.
Wait. From the beginning, the landlord they ran into wasn't just a beginner-level parasite at all! It could mimic human language, trick Pang Pangzi into opening the door for rent—there was a stark difference in intelligence!
Ye Shu clicked into Jianpanxia's gaming profile.
A simple black-and-white avatar, seemingly a young girl, but there was a gloomy air to it—the real photo was predictably hidden away.
The friend request was quickly accepted.
[Wo Shi Ni Die: Hello! I just saw your messages on the world channel. What else do you know about the jishengti?]
[Jianpanxia: Well… They’re not afraid of water or fire. Even after they’re chopped up, if the pieces meet water, they kind of heal themselves. I don’t know much beyond that.]
The reply matched nearly every fact Ye Shu already knew.
Few players are willing to share inside information; Ye Shu felt this player was almost too forthcoming.
As long as players are alive, their avatars won’t go dark.
Ye Shu stared at that monochrome profile pic for a long time, searching for something amiss.
Must be overthinking.
If this player had a unique identity, maybe she could glean more secrets from their words!
……
Day twenty-one of the game.
Nearby jishengti had more than doubled.
Ye Shu’s sense of unease finally eased—just as Jianpanxia described, the jishengti were much faster now, their voices eerily close to sounding human.
Now, with the choking white mist and endless rain gone, Ye Shu left the house repeatedly in search of parasites, to the misery of her teammates trailing behind.
Su Bai plunged her blade through a parasite’s heart and collapsed, gasping like a dog. "Huff, huff… What are these things? Are they even human? If we all started as people, why are we so different now?"
Su Bai shot a glance at the others in battle.
Fu Jingchuan, of course, was a legend—ranked among the top ten in combat even in her previous life—but since when had Fu Shiyi become such a fighter, too? She poured out venom like it was free, swearing it was rare, and all the while just putting on an act!
But the biggest shock for her was Lin Qing.
The youngest among them, and even more fearsome in a fight than Ye Shu, her golden ticket.
Solo, she’d slaughtered hundreds of parasites.
Su Bai used to think she was decent, but compared to these people, she was nothing.
[Ding! Player Ye Shu has slain 8 low-level parasites, earning 8 points!]
Ye Shu kept score—this dungeon dropped points at a rate of one in ten, hardly worth comparing to earlier runs.
"Stingy! Cheapskate!"
Still, even a mosquito is meat.
She needed all the points she could get for items in the store.
Ye Shu fought with boundless energy—after hours, she wasn’t tired at all, in fact, she only felt more exhilarated.
She picked the densest hotspots for hunting.
The points only counted if she used the peach-wood sword, rapidly sapping her stamina.
"Shushu, behind you!"
Distracted, she missed a few jishengti creeping up from behind—Su Bai spotted them too late.
"Ye Xiaoshu, careful!"
"Be careful, Ye-jie!"
"Hoh hoh…"
She swung her wooden sword, severing the questing tentacles.
A cluster of parasites charged all at once, and she skewered them, pinning their writhing bodies to the wall, their sickle-mouths churned to pulp.
"Pitiful little parasites, don't fret!"
"Let’s finish sweeping this area and get back. I, Pang Pangzi, am making a beef brisket stew tonight."
At the mention of food, Ye Shu came back to life, swinging her blade with renewed gusto.
Lin Qing’s lips twitched, the worry in his eyes evaporating.
He had wasted that anxiety.
The shield was enough—not to mention her resurrection ability. She would be fine.
Fu Jingchuan: "……"
He realized he’d badly underestimated Ye Xiaoshu’s strength.
Fu Shiyi: "……"
Was the takeaway really about dinner?
Weren’t these parasites supposed to be deadly?
Yet for Ye-jie, exterminating them was like playing whack-a-mole.
Then again, he was hungry too… Tomato beef, maybe he’d throw in a whole goose stew as well.
There were still monsters left; after hours of fighting, they hadn’t cleared them all.
So her theory had been wrong—clearly, the sparse encounters near the villa were only an illusion.
In the apartment block, plenty hid in the shadows, watching Ye Shu and her group.
Zhao Yao was among them.
When she looked at Ye Shu, a complicated glint flashed across her face.
This player wasn’t like anyone else she’d encountered—risking everything to come out and wipe out the neighborhood parasites.
Zhao Yao stared into the mirror, her eyes stained a bloody red, forcing out a crooked smile.
That would spell trouble.
Without these lowly insects as cover, she’d soon be exposed to all.
"Who’s there?"
Ye Shu’s eyes darted to a heavily curtained window on the floor above.
"Shushu? What’s up?"
"Thought I saw someone watching us..."
In that moment, she’d sensed a dangerous presence.
With so many parasites crowding this area, could there be a high-level one lurking nearby?
"Probably just some survivors… Most people are hiding in their flats, too scared to come out," said Su Bai indifferently. The NPCs in the game’s dungeons were always timid.
"I’m heading up—I didn’t finish cleaning up there yet."
"Go and come back quick."
Su Bai knew the peach-wood sword could reap points; she just assumed Ye Shu was obsessed with scoring.
Ye Shu didn’t clarify; instead, relying on her merfolk sense of smell, she climbed floor by floor.
"Xiao Bai, can you still pick up that scent?"
Ye Shu’s footsteps halted at a door—Zhao Yao was just on the other side.