Chapter 37: “Shi¹“

A bit prickly. Not as nice to the touch as the leopard. Her defense was clearly stronger than the leopard’s, but her speed and agility were inferior.

Xia Mi quickly calculated Xiao Qiu’s combat power, assuming that if they fought, they would be evenly matched.

She could rely on her agility to blind Xiao Qiu’s eyes, but Xiao Qiu could crush her with a single palm strike. Neither could completely suppress the other.

Xia Mi jumped down and looked at Xiao Qiu’s right arm, which looked as if it had been bitten off by some beast. “Xiao Qiu,” she said with a hint of heartache, “your defense is so strong. What kind of monster managed to bite you?”

Those sunflowers certainly couldn’t have injured Xiao Qiu.

The members of the Second Team actually had many questions for Xia Mi, but she had intimidated everyone the moment she arrived by calling their leader “Xiao Qiu.” Then, taking advantage of their surprise and admiration, she had asked her own question, seizing complete control of the conversation.

It wasn’t that the Second Team didn’t suspect Xia Mi’s origins, but her unexpected actions made it impossible for them to harbor doubts.

What kind of villain starts patting your head like an elder the moment they show up!

Qiu Hailan touched her own arm and sighed. “It’s a type of bacteria.”

Qiu Hailan explained, “You guessed right. Since I underwent Zhuo-transformation, almost no monster has been able to seriously injure me.

“After we were trapped in the nest, I led everyone to find a safe place. There are many strange Zhuo-transformed monsters here. I killed many along the way and sustained several minor injuries, but I didn’t pay them any mind.

“There were many small wounds on my right arm, but I didn’t feel any pain. However, once we found this safe spot, I realized that my right arm had disappeared at some point.”

“How could you not notice? An entire right arm!” Xia Mi said, bewildered.

Mi Xiangyan explained, “Because she was anesthetized. Captain Qiu couldn’t feel pain, or even the existence of her right arm. At first, we just thought one of the monsters had anesthetic in its teeth and didn’t take it seriously. We didn’t expect that Captain Qiu’s wound was constantly corroding. By the time we noticed, more than half the arm was gone, and the wound was still deteriorating.”

“In this situation, shouldn’t you have amputated as soon as possible? Is it because Xiao Qiu’s skin is too thick and you don’t have a weapon capable of the job? It’s fine, I have one.” Xia Mi pulled out her sharp, Zhuo-transformed fish-belly knife.

Everyone: “…”

Wait, something wasn’t right!

Even these professionally trained team members would be torn with hesitation when faced with the decision to amputate Captain Qiu’s limb. Xia Mi was just a reserve, wasn’t she? Three days ago, she was just an ordinary college graduate. How could she suggest amputation with such calm?

Qiu Hailan covered her arm and said, “I’ve already amputated once. At the time, the arm wasn’t completely corroded, and part of the upper arm remained. I personally cut off about five centimeters of the limb. But it was useless. After the cut, the corrosion continued. The bacteria seem to have already invaded very deep.”

Mi Xiangyan added, “If this continues, the bacteria will eventually reach Captain Qiu’s heart. The only saving grace is that Captain Qiu’s current physique is much larger than an average person’s. The distance from her heart to her arm is longer, so she can hold out a bit more.

“Based on the rate of corrosion, I calculate she has about twelve hours left.”

Qiu Hailan said, “So I must take advantage of this time. I’ll use my physical advantage to kill all the monsters in the Domain and clear the obstacles for future exploration work.”

Fang Zihan also explained, “Besides looking for the ‘Eye,’ I have another task: to lure threatening monsters here for Captain Qiu to handle.”

Death was imminent, yet Xiao Qiu wasn’t thinking about how to save her own life. Instead, she was focused on maximizing her current condition to pave a way for her teammates to escape.

Xia Mi was moved by Xiao Qiu’s spirit, a surge of hot blood rushing to her heart.

She said loudly, “Xiao Qiu, I won’t let you die!”

Mi Xiangyan didn’t know why, but ever since she met Xia Mi, some kind of switch seemed to have been flipped, sparking an inexplicable sense of rivalry.

Hearing Xia Mi’s promise, Mi Xiangyan refused to be outdone. “Me neither! Xiao Qiu, don’t give up on yourself. I’m working hard to crack the data. I’ll find information on this monster as soon as possible and create a super antibiotic to kill the bacteria.”

Qiu Hailan: “…”

Group Leader Mi’s words moved her, but why did she have to copy Xia Mi and call her “Xiao Qiu”?

Xia Mi was sharp; she immediately sensed the competitive spirit coming from Group Leader Mi. She tilted her head up and said, “Xiao Qiu, I can eliminate those bacteria right now.”

The group turned as one to look at Xia Mi. Fourteen gazes fell upon her like spotlights, pushing her to the center of the stage.

Group Leader Mi asked, “You have a specialized medicine?”

Xia Mi shook her head. “I don’t have medicine, but I can use the ‘Silkworm’.”

To prove she wasn’t lying, Xia Mi walked over to Dai Jing and said, “Little Dai, do you like your current Zhuo-transformed state?”

Dai Jing replied, “How could I like it! Fang Zihan’s transformation at least increases his strength. What do I have? A snake tail. I can only crawl around in the shadows. Especially since my arm is fractured; out of my four limbs, only my right hand is usable. I’m basically useless. But I also don’t like you calling me Little Dai, you…”

Xia Mi didn’t give Dai Jing a chance to finish his complaint. She raised her hand slightly, cutting him off. “Then I’ll help you strip away that snake tail right now.”

“Really? Sister Xia!” Dai Jing immediately changed his tune.

A team member named Duan Feng, whose hands had turned into mantis blades, said, “It’s no use. The ‘Silkworm’ can only absorb Zhuo-transformed parts that have been cut off, right? Ordinary Zhuo-transformation is just on the surface level, like plasticine stuck to the outside of the body. But our transformation is at the cellular level. I once cut open the scales on his tail and found that it wasn’t legs under the snake skin, it was a tail.”

Group Leader Mi pulled out a stack of printed documents. “This is an upgraded version of ‘Zhuo’ developed by the organization behind the Pharmaceutical Factory, modeled after the original. They named it ‘Shi’.”

This was the data Mi Xiangyan had just decrypted from the computer. She had printed it out using the printer in the archives room, intending to pass it around to the team. Just then, Xia Mi had joined them, and Mi Xiangyan hadn’t had the chance to distribute it yet.

Xia Mi naturally took a copy of the documents. Mi Xiangyan had originally printed them based on the initial head count, so there wasn’t a copy for Xia Mi, who had arrived later. Since Xia Mi took one, Fang Zihan was left without, forcing him to lean in close to Xia Mi to read along.

Xia Mi scanned the documents, seeing a clutter of incomprehensible technical jargon. She tossed the papers to Fang Zihan and asked, “What is the difference between ‘Rong’ and ‘Shi’?”

Dr. Mi explained, “Rong is more advanced than Shi. Their appearance is indistinguishable from humans, and they retain their original consciousness. They are stable and controllable. This is the type of experimental subject the organization known as Etornit wants to mass-produce reliably.

“Shi are accidental byproducts created during the research into Rong. Shi are corrupted by Zhuo Energy at the cellular level. They possess high combat strength but unstable personalities and short lifespans.

“Etornit believes Shi are very practical biochemical weapons that can be mass-produced. They are easier to control than Rong, who tend to have too much self-awareness. However, they are still trying to find a safe and stable way to create Rong.”

“Short lifespans?” Xia Mi frowned.

Dr. Mi nodded. “A Shi is essentially a human who has undergone excessive corruption. They fight by burning their life force. Once that life force is exhausted, the Shi’s life comes to an end.

“According to these records, if a Shi does not use drugs to suppress the corruption factors in their body and goes all out in combat, they can only live for 72 hours. Beyond 72 hours, they will run out of fuel and die.”

After hearing this, Xia Mi understood why the game had given her a 72-hour rescue window. It turned out this time limit was the remaining lifespan of the Second Team members.

Fang Zihan, who had actually quite liked his corrupted state, felt as if he had just been handed a death sentence. He began flipping frantically through the documents he couldn’t even understand.

“Don’t lose hope, everyone,” Xia Mi and Dr. Mi said in unison.

Dr. Mi was well aware of Xia Mi’s ability to take the initiative. If she let Xia Mi keep talking, she feared she would never get the chance to say what she needed to say.

She hurriedly spoke first: “Everyone, look at the last three pages of the documents. That is the formula for the Shi suppression serum. The equipment and medicine in this Underground Laboratory are very complete. I am confident I can produce the serum within ten hours.”

Xia Mi had great respect for Dr. Mi’s expertise; she wouldn’t interrupt a professional.

While Dr. Mi was speaking, Xia Mi walked over to Dai Jing’s side. She stepped on his tail and whispered, “Little Dai, this might hurt a bit in a moment, and it might look a little scary. Just bear with it and don’t struggle.”

“What are you doing?!” Dai Jing asked in surprise.

Xia Mi didn’t give him a chance to resist. Countless white silk threads erupted from her arms, firmly locking down Dai Jing’s serpent tail.

Silkworm!

Xia Mi believed that no matter how complex the corruption process of a Shi was, its essence remained corruption.

As long as there was corruption, there was Zhuo Energy, and it could be consumed.

The Silkworms of other Rong could only absorb severed corrupted parts, but Xia Mi was different. She could extract energy directly from a corrupted person.

The process of the Silkworm might be more difficult, and extracting energy from cells would be painful, but it would definitely succeed.

With this firm conviction, more and more white threads surged from Xia Mi’s body, some of them piercing deep into Dai Jing.

Dai Jing could actually feel his life force draining away.

He cried out in a panic, “Xia Mi! You didn’t come here to save us at all, did you? You’ve been parasitized by the ‘Zhuo’ from Building 6! You devoured the residents of Building 6, and now you’ve come back to your birthplace to devour your own kind and increase your power, haven’t you?”

In his moment of mortal peril, the logic Dai Jing came up with was surprisingly plausible.

The others watched Xia Mi’s increasingly inhuman form and heard Dai Jing’s accusations. One by one, they instinctively raised their guns.

Xia Mi remained calm. “Stop! Use your heads and think. Judge my identity carefully. Never point your guns at your own teammate. Don’t let your actions freeze a comrade’s heart!”

She spoke as if the person being held at gunpoint was someone else entirely.

Qiu Hailan stepped forward, standing in front of the muzzles. In a deep, resonant voice, she said, “I am willing to believe in Xia Mi. Don’t ask me why. Trust is an intuition; I can’t explain the reason.”

“I can give you a reason,” Dr. Mi added. “Xia Mi’s logic is clear and her consciousness is normal. She is a highly intelligent person. If she had malicious intent, she would never attack Dai Jing in front of us. She would have found an excuse to be alone with him and strike in secret.”

With Qiu Hailan and Dr. Mi vouching for her, the team members gradually lowered their weapons.

By this time, Xia Mi had finally mastered the method of consuming the Shi.

Compared to a standard Shi, the energy of a Zhou was like meat from a pig, cow, or sheep, thick meat with few bones. As long as your teeth were sharp, you could eat it. But the energy of a Shi was like fish meat filled with tiny bones. If she wasn’t careful, she would hit a “bone”, which was Dai Jing’s own life force. The drain Dai Jing felt earlier was because Xia Mi wasn’t familiar with the Shi yet and had accidentally “consumed” some of his life force.

Xia Mi had already been anxious, and when the team pointed their guns at her, her stress increased, causing her to accidentally drain a bit more of Dai Jing’s energy.

She wasn’t particularly afraid of them shooting her; she was afraid that if this continued, she really would end up devouring Dai Jing.

Fortunately, with Qiu Hailan and Dr. Mi’s guarantee, Xia Mi calmed down. She patiently picked out the “bones,” becoming skilled at distinguishing between the Zhuo Energy and the life force within the cells. Finally, she stripped the Zhuo Energy out of Dai Jing’s body.

Xia Mi slowly retracted the threads. Countless strands formed a shape behind her like bee wings before gradually receding back into her body.

As the silk dispersed, Dai Jing appeared before everyone with his legs restored to normal.

Dai Jing felt somewhat weak, as Xia Mi really had accidentally drained a significant amount of his energy.

But he felt even more ashamed.

Xia Mi was saving him, yet he had doubted her.

Despite his weakness, Dai Jing scrambled to his feet and gave himself a sharp slap across the face. “Sister Xia, I was impulsive. I didn’t trust you. Scold me, hit me, do whatever you want!”

Xia Mi wasn’t angry. In fact, she felt a bit of regret.

She checked the energy within her body and discovered that she had actually absorbed a full 180 Zhuo Coins from Dai Jing’s body!

Of that total, only one hundred Zhuo Coins’ worth was actual Zhuo Energy; the rest was Dai Jing’s own life force.

Xia Mi regretted her arrogance. She had severely underestimated the extent of the Shi’s erosion.

She should have opened the game first and used it to practice. Once she was proficient, she could have helped Dai Jing return to normal.

Now, things had taken a turn for the worse. Although Dai Jing was free from the Zhuo state, he had very little life force remaining.

Even if they managed to escape the Pharmaceutical Factory in the end, Dai Jing likely only had a year or two left to live.

The more Dai Jing apologized, the more guilty Xia Mi felt.

Fortunately, there was still Xiao Liao. Xiao Liao could help everyone replenish their energy.

Wait! Xiao Liao was still suffering in the Grey Domain!

Xiao Liao, you can’t die!

Xia Mi didn’t dare act leisurely anymore. She hurriedly pulled out her phone and opened Project Queen Bee. She needed to play the game properly to rescue the Second Team members, Sister Shield, and Xiao Liao.

Why were there more and more people needing rescue? Xia Mi felt a heavy pressure. Perhaps this was what they meant by “heavy is the head that wears the crown².” Being a leader came with such weighty responsibilities.

Seeing Xia Mi ignore him to look down at her game, Dai Jing, a man standing over six feet tall, looked like he was about to burst into tears.

He could only look toward his captain and Mi Xiangyan for help.

Qiu Hailan said to Xia Mi, “Sister Xia, Dai Jing knows he was wrong. Can you forgive him? Also, look… this bacterial erosion on my arm, can you help me deal with it too?”

Mi Xiangyan added, “She’s right. Help Xiao Qiu. Your absorption speed is much faster than the speed at which I can develop medicine.”

Qiu Hailan thrust her terrifying, fifty-centimeter-wide head in front of Xia Mi and smiled. “Yes, help out your Xiao Qiu.”

Xia Mi said, “Xiao Qiu, I know you’re anxious, but don’t rush. Sharpening the axe won’t delay the woodcutting. Just wait for me to play one round of the game. It’ll be quick.”

Translator’s Notes