Chapter 15
Save 2, overwrite.
Tang Xiao took a deep breath and turned to face the little monster.
There was no point trying to hide it. Somehow, 428 had overheard what was going on, and there was no point lying anymore.
“Dispose of you means exactly what you think it means. At the meeting, they decided to destroy you after the Research Results Conference.”
“But! I won’t let that happen!” Tang Xiao looked into the little monster’s eyes, trying to convey his resolve. “I’ll change the higher-ups’ minds, just like before.”
428 stared at Tang Xiao for a long time. Its monstrous face looked like that of a person without skin or features. Most people would probably scream at the sight of it. Tang Xiao had simply grown used to the sight and could keep quiet.
Suddenly, 428 gave a low laugh. “Xiao Xiao... You really are a liar.”
He’d said he would protect it, but he’d arrived too late.
He’d said he would help it grow, but he couldn’t do it.
What else could he be but a liar?
A cold glint flashed in its orange-yellow slit pupils. Mycelium spread behind it, like a predator closing in on its prey. The hair on Tang Xiao’s arms stood on end, but he forced himself not to flinch.
“This time, are you going to lie to me and stall until after the Research Results Conference?”
Maybe it was just his imagination, but in the span of a single day, 428 had begun speaking more fluently and naturally.
It wasn’t so easy to fool anymore.
Tang Xiao licked his dry lips. “Of course I’m not lying to you...”
His hand, braced against the bed, instinctively felt along the sheets as he tried to reach the gun beneath his pillow. At the same time, his mind raced as he considered what to do next.
But his hand didn’t find the familiar cold barrel. Instead, it touched something rough.
Tang Xiao whipped around, his pupils contracting at the sight before him.
At some point, mycelium had spread into every corner of the room. It even covered the edges of the bed like a layer of red lichen.
It brought back some unpleasant memories.
He instinctively turned to look at 428, only to find a cruel, icy predator’s gleam in the little monster’s many eyes.
It was close to losing control.
To hell with it. He’d take a gamble.
“What about you? Do you trust me?”
The mycelium reaching toward Tang Xiao stopped.
428 tilted its head. “What... do you mean?”
Tang Xiao gritted his teeth. He didn’t back away. Instead, he reached out, grabbed the humanoid monster by the shoulder, and moved closer to the predator. The distance between them rapidly dwindled until only one or two centimeters remained. Just like when they’d first met, a new researcher and an experimental subject, separated by nothing but a thin pane of glass.
Except this time, there wasn’t even any glass.
The prey’s sweet scent reached the little monster’s nostrils. Its composure began to waver, and its throat bobbed.
Tang Xiao stared into the orange-yellow eyes so close to his own, knowing he had only one chance.
“You evolved the ability to escape this laboratory, but you didn’t leave. Why?”
“Because you can’t bear to part with... me.”
Tang Xiao gave a quiet laugh. “If you’re afraid of being destroyed, you could leave tonight. With your ability to escape the laboratory time and again, the Third Eye would never be able to hold on to you. But you haven’t left because you can’t bear to part with me, your prey. Still, you can’t guarantee you’ll be able to take me with you. Prey struggles and cries out, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. And when it comes to a direct fight, you have no confidence at all that you can take on the Third Eye.”
“Let’s lay our cards on the table, 428. You want to devour me and evolve. And I see potential in you—the potential to free humanity from the disaster known as fungi.”
“Our goals are the same. The fundamental difference is that you don’t actually trust humanity. That’s why you’ve gone to such lengths to hide your ability to select genes for evolution, to hide your intelligence and strength, and pretend to be an ignorant, helpless test subject...”
“You don’t believe I’ll help you evolve, and you don’t believe I’ll save you.”
“So let’s make a bet. At the Research Results Conference, I’ll prove your value and potential, and make the higher-ups withdraw their decision. If I fail, you can devour me whenever you want.”
The young man tilted his head, and wisps of hair brushed 428’s cheek, tickling it. A few buttons on his shirt had come undone during his movements, revealing the snow-white skin of his neck. Faint blue veins lay beneath the warm, soft flesh. One light stroke of mycelium would be enough to make delicious blood gush out.
“Besides, I’m weak. I can barely fight back. But if you devour me now, there’s a good chance you’ll alert the Third Eye and come under attack. That risk will be the same every day from now on. But at the Research Results Conference, with all the scholars gathered for the event, I’d say the Third Eye’s first priority would be protecting its researchers if anything happened. If I fail, you can still snatch me away there.”
428 listened to Tang Xiao in silence, giving nothing away.
So the young man played his final card.
The last bit of distance between human and monster disappeared.
Tang Xiao bit through the tip of his tongue, then leaned toward the monster’s mouth and kissed it hard.
The final card was himself.
It wasn’t as if the odds of the monster devouring him, escaping, and surviving the Third Eye’s pursuit would be any better tomorrow—or the day after.
But what if Tang Xiao kept supplying 428 with ‘blood’ over the next few days? In just the past few days, 428 had already evolved several abilities. That meant it would grow stronger with each passing day, and its chances of surviving the organization’s pursuit would grow too.
The monster’s face had no human skin; it was made entirely of mycelial fibers. Tang Xiao’s lips weren’t met with anything soft or smooth. It was like kissing tree bark, with the scent of a forest after rain.
But the hard, rough surface softened beneath the warmth of a human tongue.
A sweet fragrance... with the scent of blood that only 428 could smell.
The computer screen went dark, and not a trace of light remained in the room. In the dark, silent surroundings, every little detail seemed magnified. Tang Xiao felt the mycelium slowly creeping past his leg. Fabric rustled softly, and the humanoid body pressed against him had no warmth, yet its chest rose and fell unsteadily, like a human’s.
At last, 428 couldn’t hold back any longer. It took the initiative, greedily stealing the young man’s sweet breath.
This monster had no idea how to kiss, either. Its kiss was less an intimate expression of affection than a savage invasion and act of feeding.
Its inhuman ‘tongue’ boldly asserted its presence. Like a general conquering new territory, it swept over every inch, stealing every breath along the way, and licked the blood seeping from the tip of the young man’s tongue.
Wet, sticky sounds filled the room. The mycelium brushed against something, and the computer screen lit up again, casting its flickering glow over the human and monster locked in a kiss.
...
The crisis had been averted, for now. Only for now.
That favorability... had only crawled back by a pitiful 3 points. It meant 428 had only been temporarily persuaded. Perhaps it had considered that devouring Tang Xiao at the Research Results Conference would give it a better chance of escaping, but it still didn’t truly trust him.
After 428 left, Tang Xiao looked in the mirror at his swollen lips and fumed.
That had been his first kiss, and he’d taken the initiative! Was it really worth only 3 favorability points?
It was obvious what he had to do next: find a way to delay the organization’s decision to destroy 428.
But there was no doubt that would be difficult. Rocky’s words and Bard’s earlier remarks had both confirmed as much.
Unless... he could find a way to get Bard to restart the old experiment.
Tang Xiao sat back down on the bed and fell into thought. He didn’t think it was impossible. 428 had clearly evolved new abilities. He’d read the earlier project files, and the reason the project had failed was that while 428 could incorporate the genes of other plants and animals, it couldn’t actively select them. For example, it had once randomly evolved gills that let fish breathe underwater, nearly suffocating itself on land.
The Third Eye had gone to great lengths and expense to save it.
That was why everyone had hated Bard so much for falsifying the data. The project had cost far too much. The organization had limited funds, and funding a Level 5 project meant cutting research budgets in other labs. Of course people would hate 428—and Bard.
But now, it had evolved an acidic substance that let it escape, and vocal cords that let it speak. Clearly, it could now actively select genes for evolution!
It even had a human form, something the previous files had never mentioned.
There was no doubt that a miraculous evolution was taking place within 428, yet no one had noticed. If the Third Eye could see that, restarting the project might not be impossible.
The upcoming Research Results Conference was the perfect opportunity. With so many researchers there, someone was bound to take an interest in 428.
And to make those scholars interested in 428, first...
He had to write a paper.