"Okay, so now we can go back to the Ecological Bureau after Captain Xiao comes up, right?"
Ji Chenghong nodded, "By the way, what did Xiao Yao do?"
"He said he wanted to help Li Fei pack his things."
Ji Chenghong said curiously, "He said that? But I just put it away and came up, so he should have seen it."
As he spoke, he took out a small metal plate engraved with a number.
Xie Xuan suddenly remembered that Xiao Yao, who had just said he would go to the cab to help Li Fei pack his things, was still standing in carriage No. 1.
"I'm back." Xiao Yao's voice interrupted Xie Xuan's thoughts.
Xie Xuan turned around and saw that Xiao Yao was also holding a small metal plate in his hand.
"Zhang Xiaoqian's." Xiao Yao handed the metal plate to Ji Chenghong. "I accidentally found it in the corner of the carriage. She might have taken it off before she completely lost her self-awareness."
The numbered plate had been treated with supernatural powers and had a certain degree of resistance to infection, but there was nothing in this world that was completely immune to infection. If the numbered plate had been left on Zhang Xiaoqian, it would have become a mass of mycelium by now.
Ji Chenghong was stunned. His eyes were a little moist when he took the number plate. "She just started working at the Ecological Bureau not long ago."
Xiao Yao patted Ji Chenghong on the shoulder and said, "Let's go."
He was the first to walk towards the shuttle bus. After taking a few steps, he didn't hear Xie Xuan's footsteps, so he turned around and looked at Xie Xuan, "What's wrong?"
Xie Xuan shook her head. It seemed that she had misunderstood Xiao Yao just now.
After returning to the Ecological Bureau, Xie Xuan, who looked the most miserable, was sent directly to the Ecological Bureau's internal hospital. The task of submitting the mission report fell on the shoulders of the two team leaders, Xiao Yao and Ji Chenghong.
Xie Xuan was pressed onto the medical bed and examined thoroughly. The doctor said strangely, "This shouldn't be the case. You were almost injured by Bai Ze, but now your health data looks better than mine."
The doctor stroked his chin and muttered, "Is the treatment we developed in-house really that effective?"
Xie Xuan didn't dare to respond.
The doctor studied it over and over again but couldn't figure out the reason. When a new batch of patients were waiting to be admitted to the hospital for treatment, the doctor had to send Xie Xuan home.
To leave the Ecological Bureau from the internal hospital, one has to go through the main gate. Xie Xuan didn't see Ding Qiaoyun when she came, but when she left, she saw Ding Qiaoyun standing behind the front desk.
Xie Xuan went up to greet him, and Ding Qiaoyun looked up at her perfunctorily, "He's still alive."
Xie Xuan: …
"Thank you for your concern. I'm still alive."
Xie Xuan lay on the front desk and thought for a moment before asking, "I saw something in the field that looked like the memory of a parasite."
Ding Qiaoyun nodded perfunctorily. "If you're infected by the field to a certain extent, this kind of situation is likely to occur. After all, if Xiao Yao hadn't removed your communicator in time, you might have turned into a ball of mycelium by now."
Xie Xuan felt like she couldn't continue the conversation that day, but Ding Qiaoyun brought up the matter again, and Xie Xuan couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Why did Bai Ze decide to intervene in my situation? Xiao Yao was clearly there."
Ding Qiaoyun smiled with a vague smile, "Bai Ze's computing power is much stronger than you think. His judgment is correct 99.9% of the time."
In fact, if it weren't for the symbiotic spores that Xie Xuan inexplicably infected in Taikang Hospital that helped her in the end, she might really have died in the field.
But Xie Xuan always felt that something was wrong, but she was more curious about another question.
"I clearly saw Zhang Xiaoqian being engulfed by the mycelium, yet Bai Ze failed to detect her infection. Can a parasite control itself from infecting others within its area?"
Ding Qiaoyun: "Article 40 of the Harvesting Guide states that the higher the level of the domain, the more human thoughts the parasite retains, and the greater its control over the domain. Theoretically, the situation you describe is possible."
Xie Xuan thought of the man in the incomplete realm last time. "Does the higher the level, the more human appearance will be retained?"
Ding Qiaoyun: "Not necessarily. Just like this time, the parasite and the train merged into one. The higher the level of the domain, the more diverse the parasite's form will be. But mostly, it's like you said: the higher the level, the less obvious the signs of infection will be."
Xie Xuan couldn't help but have a terrifying guess, "Then theoretically, wouldn't it be possible that parasites exist who look exactly like ordinary people?"
Ding Qiaoyun smiled meaningfully and said, "Are psychics essentially also parasites? It's just that the infection process is suppressed midway. That's why psychics can still be infected by other parasites. Strictly speaking, it's just that the psychic is out of control, and the infection process continues to progress."
Xie Xuan felt that if she delved any deeper, she would no longer be able to lie down happily on this earth that could turn into a culture dish for fungi at any moment.
Xie Xuan chatted with Ding Qiaoyun for a few more words, then waved her hand and said, "I'm going home."
Ding Qiaoyun nodded perfunctorily, but after Xie Xuan took two steps, she called Xie Xuan again.
"Taikang Hospital has changed hands."
Xie Xuan turned around and asked, "It changed hands? Did the ecological organization sell it?"
"Yes, it was sold to Noah Technology," Ding Qiaoyun said. "The business will be closed for rectification starting today. I heard that all the original employees will be leaving within today and tomorrow."
"So sudden?" Xie Xuan said in surprise.
Ding Qiaoyun spread her hands. "The chairman died unexpectedly, and the Ecological Organization's activities in District 6 are now strictly restricted. A transfer of ownership is inevitable."
It is a bit surprising that Noah Technology would accept this mess.
Ding Qiaoyun thought of the trivial things that happened more than ten years ago, and she was not in a good mood when she spoke again.
"If you go there now, you might still make it in time," Ding Qiaoyun warned kindly. "I heard you managed to escape this time thanks to some unknown ability? Maybe it's related to Taikang Hospital's symbiotic spore research project."
Xie Xuan also speculated, "Now that Taikang Hospital has changed hands, the project has come to nothing. Can you share some of the investigation team's report with me?"
Ding Qiaoyun: "You've already guessed most of the report's content. The original concept for these spores was to transform the parasitic method of spores devouring the host's vitality into a symbiotic method that devours external vitality. However, the experiment has not progressed due to several factors."
Xie Xuan concentrated and waited for Ding Qiaoyun to say the next word.
"First, the spores and the symbiont's own immune system cannot achieve an ideal symbiotic environment. Second, researchers have yet to figure out what form of external vitality the symbiotic spores require, or how they are devoured."
In other words, Xie Xuan may have used the system bug-like ability to provide external vitality to the symbiotic spores by chance, and the symbiotic spores fed back this vitality to her, the dying symbiont.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com