Chapter 201- The Parasite

Adori looked at the amoeba-like creature and shifted to the now still corpse. "However, thinking about it more… even though it is similar to a bacteria, it seems to function more like a parasite. Something that lives in another organism it regards as "host" and suck off their energy and nutrient for their own life."

"We can look it by the way this female humanoid moved previously." Explained Adori as she pointed her finger at the destroyed corpse.

"When we first saw her, she had immediately run in our direction and attacked us for no reason, signifying that it had no higher thinking process and only behaved following the most basic instincts like animals, or maybe even worse since she didn't seem to care about her own survival at all." Adori explained her deduction calmly.

"You can see easily that she has a humanoid form, meaning that her thinking capability should be quite high, but it was not the case at all. This is the first sign. The second sign was when Liu stabbed her body and she could still move without weakening. And even after Liu destroyed most of her body, she was still able to attack him."

Adori pointed her finger to the "But the moment this little creature came out of her body, she was no longer able to move anymore and immediately dropped to the ground. Both of the signs match with the characteristic of a parasite and what it does."

"To live a parasite would to get their sustenance from other creatures. That's why, they would inhabit the body of other creatures as their host and suck the nutrient from that host. This is exactly what this little creature did to this humanoid body."

She continued. "But most importantly, the only organisms who have the natural ability to mind control other other organism are parasites. Not all of parasites can do it but some of them are able to do it."

Hearing her explanation, Liu Guanyi nodded in understanding. "I see, so this little creature has such an incredible ability? I guess you always learn something new, especially in the tower."

"Xin, keep it. It might be related to our task here. Even if it's not, this creature is quite interesting. I would like to observe it closely later and maybe do some tests on it." Liu Guanyi said to Xin as he handed the slime-like parasite to him as a safekeeping.

The three then continued their journey across the garden. They barely advanced a few meters when Liu Guanyi noticed that a wild squirrel perching on top of a tree branch seemed to stare at him, not a curious gaze but an intense unnerving gaze.

Its fellow squirrels showed up and did the same.

Not only that, some birds on the tress also began to do the same. Their number increased more and more that Adori and Xin noticed them. Seeing their odd behavior, Liu Guanyi pondered. 'Are they also controlled by the parasites?'

When their numbers were already reaching hundreds, some of the squirrels jumped of the trees and rushed toward them aggressively. In response, Liu Guanyi simply sent a casual wave of shinsu that effortlessly swept and wiped them off in a single stroke.

The squirrels on the trees shrieked loudly as they saw it while the birds cried to each other repeatedly. Many of them didn't stare at them any longer and quickly fled the secene while the rest only moved away and still stared at them.

"Hmm, the aren't charging at us again?" Liu Guanyi wondered.

"Although they seem to also be infected by the parasite, they are still conscious enough to preserve their bits of survival instinct." Adori replied casually as she observed the birds' and squirrels' movements.

"Indeed, peaceful creatures like them wouldn't never have become so aggressive even if they were threatened let alone out of the blue. Does this mean that the parasite have different impacts on different creatures or hosts?" Asked Liu Guanyi with curiosity.

Adori shook her head lightly. "Maybe, but I don't really think that's the case. Some parasites only target or affect certain creatures but there are a lot of them that can affect many species. The slimy parasite is very likely included in the latter, looking at their odd behavior."

"If the parasite can impact and fully control both a humanoid's psychology and biological processes, it should be much easier for it to control the birds and squirrels with their way underdeveloped brains and small bodies compared to humans."

"Hence, rather than the parasite affect different species differently, I am certain that's it's more of the level of the corruption by the parasite itself. The female humanoid was infected at much worse level compared to them, which explains why she attacked us without disgerd to her own survival different to these animals." Adori explained her deduction confidently.

"I see, so there are stages of the infection of the parasite? If the level of infection progresses with time, then that means this female humanoid had been long infected first before the animals in this garden." Said Liu Guanyi thoughtfully.

"That's very likely the case." Adori nodded in agreement.

"Hmm, this also means there's a big probability that the female humanoid came here from another place and spread the infection to these animals. We have already seen that the slimy parasite is able to move and jump around, which make it able to change hosts pretty easily." Said Liu Guanyi.

"Alright then, let's go. We should investigate this area quickly." Said Liu Guanyi as the two nodded in agreement.

Without wasting more time in the creepy garden, Liu Guanyi hurried Little White to increase her pace, ignoring the infected birds and squirrels who were still staring at them wieerdly but were afraid to attack them and die like their previous fellow kind.

In just a few minutes, they managed to exit the garden and found themselves on a small rock paved street. They followed the road and saw a small town in the distance.

In the middle of the road, they came across a lot patches of dried blood, dying the road with a dark red color. There were also a lot of stuffs like pieces of clothes, baskets, even wooden carts laying around.

Then, when they were close to the to town gate. They could see a few human bodies simply laying on the ground lifessly with their blood already dried on the rock-paved street.

When they approached closer, the dead bodies seemed to feel their presence and suddenly stood up as if they were completely fine despite their previous look and rushed toward them with fervor as if they had found food after starving for months.