Vampirzahn

Kapitel 16

Rather than being a doctor that patients can't trust, I'd rather not do it at all!

I need to talk to Mariko more.

That evening, Yoshizumi walked toward Mariko's hospital room.

Mariko lay alone on her bed in the room, staring blankly at the ceiling. An IV tube was attached to her arm, containing medication prescribed by Yoshizumi to treat her rejection reaction. Yoshizumi's sudden visit surprised Mariko. This was understandable; until now, except for special circumstances, Yoshizumi had only come to check on her at fixed times.

"What's wrong? Are you upset that we can't go outside?"

Yoshizumi went up to strike up a conversation.

Mariko turned her head away without saying a word.

Yoshizumi didn't mind and sat down on the chair by the bed.

“The rejection reaction isn’t serious yet,” Yoshizumi continued. “I’ll show you the pictures next time. You’ve never seen a picture of your own kidney before, have you? As long as you keep taking the medication, you’ll definitely recover. Don’t worry!” “…”

"It's alright. Wasn't it the same during the last transplant? The slightest rejection reaction will be fine in no time. I promise to cure you, and soon you'll be able to eat delicious food at home!"

"..."

"in addition……"

Yoshizumi changed the subject. After hesitating for a moment, he finally decided to ask.

"Can you tell me what happened during the last transplant... I know it's not a good question... There must be a reason why you don't want to take your medication, right?"

"..."

"Could you tell me about it?"

Mariko didn't speak. However, it was clear that she was wavering.

Yoshizumi remained silent for a long while, quietly waiting for Mariko's reply. The room was quiet; Yoshizumi felt the silence was like fine snowflakes falling from the ceiling and piling up on Mariko's sheets. "Doctor, I'm sleepy..."

Mariko finally spoke.

"Yeah……"

Yoshizumi stood up. He felt there was some progress; at least compared to the period immediately after the surgery, Mariko was more willing to communicate with people, although it was only a little bit.

"Don't worry about the rejection reaction, I will definitely help you get better."

After saying that, Yoshizumi left the ward.

Section 40

The following night, Yoshizumi reviewed the results of the needle aspiration biopsy again. The results of the examination of the frozen sections using an electron microscope were also available, and Yoshizumi compared them with the results of the optical microscope.

"That's a bit strange," the doctor in charge of organizing the specimens in the laboratory said to Yoshizumi.

The nurse retrieved a photo from the lab with a note from the doctor, and Yoshizumi called to inquire about it.

“The rejection reaction is mild, but there’s a big problem, though I find it a bit strange.” The doctor deliberately lowered his voice, “because I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Yoshizumi already knew what the doctor meant. Upon looking at the photo, Yoshizumi immediately noticed its unusual shape.

"Is the fixed method the same as usual? I've never seen this type before?"

Just to be on the safe side, Yoshizumi asked again. If the organization's fixed rules are incorrect, it often leads to different results.

When he learned that this wasn't a mistake, Yoshizumi was puzzled. How could this be explained? He took out the analysis results of a sample collected a week after the surgery and examined it carefully again. Yoshizumi was stunned. Signs had already appeared then, but he hadn't noticed them—he had been incredibly careless. The mitochondria in the transplanted kidney cells were abnormally large!

Their length is several times that of normal cells, and they fuse together like small cell bodies to form a mesh-like structure that spreads throughout the cell.

Yoshizumi had never seen this form before.

Yoshizumi felt a little nauseous and placed the photo on the table. He downed his coffee in one gulp, but still couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.

Yoshizumi knew that cyclosporine could cause mitochondria to elongate, and he had also heard that oral diuretics—ethic acid—could alter the shape of kidney cell mitochondria. But regardless, even with a large dose of cyclosporine, this situation was abnormal, especially since it had been observed in the cells just a week after the surgery. Even if cyclosporine had some inducing effect, there was no doubt that the mitochondria in the transplanted kidney cells already had some kind of abnormality. So, what did this mean? Yoshizumi was completely baffled. If the kidneys had a problem from the beginning, why had their function remained largely normal until now?

Unconsciously, Yoshizumi recalled the burning sensation he felt during his transplant surgery.

It was the warmth he felt the moment he touched the transplanted kidney. At that moment, Yoshizumi's heart was pounding unusually hard; yes, it felt as if the kidney was controlling his heart.

Is it related to the circumstances at that time?

Yoshizumi felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn't let Mariko know about this. Besides, Yoshizumi couldn't think of a way to deal with the situation. He should just act as if nothing had happened, and stop thinking about it altogether. Perhaps this mitochondrial issue and the rejection reaction had nothing to do with each other at all; apart from this rejection reaction, the transplanted kidney had been functioning normally without any problems.

I hope it will survive. Looking at the slide examination results on the table, Jiju silently prayed.

"Parasite Eve"

Chapter Sixteen

She clearly remembered the feeling of being one with Li Ming for the first time. When Li Ming entered Sheng Mei's body, Sheng Mei endured the pain, her expression one of agony, but she was also looking forward to the pleasure that was about to come, completely in a state of extreme excitement.

Soon, Saint-Mei seemed to feel that excitement as well. This was quite natural; "she" was present in large quantities in the main parts of Saint-Mei's nervous system—tendons, spinal cord, and nerve processes—all essential for information transmission in Saint-Mei's brain. "She" had spent a long time invading all of the host's organs, making it impossible for the host to function normally without "her." "Her" excitement abnormally stimulated the tendons in Saint-Mei's brain cells, releasing large amounts of substances used for information transmission from the spaces between the tendons. As a result, Saint-Mei naturally experienced pleasure, far beyond the usual pleasant stimulation. Saint-Mei quickly forgot the pain and began to revel in it. "She" was also addicted to the recurring pleasure brought by Li-Ming.

"Yes, just like that!" Saint-Mei groaned loudly for the first time. Saint-Mei's muscles spasmed. Finally, Saint-Mei lost consciousness.

Making love with Liming was always very pleasant. She retrieved these memories from Shengmei's mind, savoring them one by one, and deriving much pleasure from them.

Li Ming's skills were imperfect, sometimes even clumsy. Despite this, she felt immense pleasure because she was deeply loved by Li Ming, and for this reason, she manipulated Sheng Mei's body to cooperate with Li Ming's movements. To make Sheng Mei more pleasing to Li Ming, she made various modifications to Sheng Mei's body. She spent a long time designing a face that would satisfy Li Ming, and she adjusted Sheng Mei's neural pathways, making the parts of Sheng Mei's body most vulnerable to Li Ming's "attacks" particularly sensitive. Li Ming was the man she had longed for, and no matter what, she wanted to concentrate Li Ming's love—on Sheng Mei, and on herself. Intense pleasure made her tremble. Just a little more, just a little more to reach climax.

Further differentiation is necessary. Although the host's proliferation can now be controlled at will, maintaining its morphology is still difficult. "She" needs to further mutate the host's genes. Fortunately, all the tools needed for genetic mutation are here. If the "door" is opened, a sterile operating table will be visible; the sterilization lamp there should be emitting a pale blue glow. If one goes to the research lab, several carcinogenic substances will surely be found, and obtaining the inducing agent will be a piece of cake. "She" could no longer restrain herself and activated her proliferation mechanism.

Sachiko Asakura looked away from the monitor and sighed softly.

She looked around the lab. The loud noise of the exhaust fan and the hum of the heater that fine-tuned the room temperature had stopped; only the refrigerator made its occasional low rumble. Asakura stood up from her chair and stretched. It was almost midnight.

About three hours ago, Liming went home. When Liming came home, Asakura could still hear the footsteps of people leaving get off work in the distance, but now, that sound had vanished without a trace. Asakura was probably the only one left in the building now. Asakura took a bottle of barley tea from the refrigerator and poured it into a cup. The sound of the tea pouring into the cup was particularly loud. Asakura put her lips to the rim of the cup and took a small sip. The cool barley tea slid down her throat, and her fatigue seemed to ease somewhat. Now was the time to learn how to prepare PowerPoint presentations. Although she had made PowerPoint presentations when writing her graduation thesis in her senior year, Asakura wasn't very familiar with them, so it would still take her some time. She operated the mouse and watched the monitor; time passed quickly.

Asakura had been sitting in front of the monitor for over two hours, but had only completed one slide. She put her teacup down and stared at the charts on the screen.

The illustration shows the results obtained using the stencil transfer method. However, Asakura spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how to combine it with the image input from the scanner. He wished he had asked Toshiaki before he went home, but looking at the slide he had already created, Asakura felt it was quite good.

Asakura brought the teacup to his lips, thinking: The lab has a different atmosphere at night. During the day, it looks like a normal experimental space, but at night it seems to transform. Perhaps it's the shadows cast by the fluorescent lights. Compared to the daytime, the equipment on the lab benches looks even more bizarre; the old benches and the latest equipment seem so incongruous, giving an unbelievable impression. An outsider who accidentally wanders in would definitely feel very uncomfortable. The air is rather dry. Because there's no wind, sweat clings stickily to my skin.

That's all for today, let's go home.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, a chill suddenly ran up Asakura's spine.

The chill stopped at Asakura's neck, sending a shiver down her spine. Her neck began to ache. Asakura quickly pulled her neck back and screamed.

What happened?

Section 41

Asakura looked around. She turned and scanned the research room. The air was heavy; there was no way any wind could get in. The pain she had felt earlier must have been caused by something else. Nothing in the research room had changed. The objects inside cast their shadows silently on the floor, motionless. Everything was cold and lifeless.

The pain intensified, with sharp, stabbing pains shooting through the hair around his neck. Asakura placed the teacup on the table and pressed his hand against the back of his head, but the pain did not lessen; instead, it spread.

Asakura began to tremble all over, and her legs curled up.

That name surfaced in Asakura's mind.

"Eve1".

The pain is all caused by "Eve1".

It must be it!

"Hiss..."

There was a sound, like something was moving. Asakura let out a scream, but all that could be heard was the sound of air leaking from between his teeth.

Asakura tried to run out, but her feet seemed nailed to the ground, unable to move; only her eyeballs could barely move. Asakura pricked up her ears and stared intently at the opposite wall. The incubation room was right next door. "Hiss..."

There was indeed a sound coming from the incubation room. That's right! Something was moving inside the incubation room.

The name "Eve1" echoed in Asakura's mind, glowing a bright red. But why could "Eve1" speak?

"Eve1" should now be in a culture flask in an incubator. In any case, it shouldn't be making any noise, let alone moving freely.

Suddenly, a loud "bang" rang out.

"ah……"

Asakura cried out. Her legs trembled so badly she could no longer stand. With a thud, Asakura's knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground. At that moment, her index finger touched the teacup. With a sharp crack, the teacup shattered on the floor, shards of barley tea and the cup flying onto Asakura's face, causing her a sharp pain.

Upon hearing the sound, "she" stopped moving.

Who else is here?

I thought the lab was empty, but it seems that's not the case. However, it definitely isn't Li Ming; he's already gone home.

She searched her memory, and the figure of a tall woman emerged; perhaps that woman was still around.

It would be disastrous if that woman found out. Before she was fully formed, "she" didn't want anyone but Li Ming to see her; however, it was too late now. She could hear nothing more. Had the tall woman left, or was she too frightened to move?

What should we do with that woman?

She felt she had nothing to worry about, as long as the woman hadn't seen her clearly, and besides, the woman was alone here. Li Ming would definitely side with her; he would explain everything that happened tonight as the woman's hallucination. And if the woman wouldn't give up, she had other solutions.

She shook her body vigorously and slowly moved towards the door.

"Hiss..."

Asakura held his breath.

The sound rang out again.

Asakura plopped down on the floor, hiding under the table and cautiously observing her surroundings. Nearly two minutes passed, and she hadn't heard the sound from before. Her heartbeat gradually returned to normal, and she calmed down slightly. It must be a hallucination. Just as Asakura was about to convince herself of this, she suddenly heard a sound similar to a wet wiping cabinet sliding on the floor again.

"No..." Asakura shook his head repeatedly, a sharp pain shooting through his neck again, his sweat-soaked shirt clinging to his back. Large beads of sweat slid down his chin, dripping onto his chest. His mind felt like boiling water, while his sweat-soaked skin felt as cold as frost. The sound was clearly approaching, mixed with the sound of splattering droplets and the crackling of popping bubbles. These sounds reminded Asakura of some slippery, wet, shapeless garbage, its surface covered in a slimy, dark green rotten substance. The thought made Asakura feel nauseous. The sound changed, becoming a series of creaking, grinding noises.

A moment later, several more dull knocking sounds came from something wet.

Asakura finally understood what that sound meant.

The door. It's trying to open the door to the culture room.

After Liming left, Asakura locked the door to the culture room. Unable to get in, it anxiously banged on the door.

Then, the nauseating sound of the viscous substance being squeezed out of the small hole echoed in the room, interspersed with gurgling sounds like a clogged drain. Asakura felt very uncomfortable; she frowned, and the contents of her stomach rushed to her throat. Asakura thought, it must be unable to open the door, so it squeezed in through the gap under the door. Asakura swallowed, absorbing the sour, foul taste that filled her mouth. Suddenly, a chill swept over her, and Asakura's teeth began to chatter. "Sizzle..."

"Hiss..."

This time it was clearly the sound of something being dragged. It darted out and had already passed through the door of the incubation room into the corridor.

She couldn't make a sound. She absolutely couldn't let it know she was here. That's what Asakura was thinking, but her teeth were still chattering. Asakura covered her mouth with her palm, trying her best to stop the trembling, but she failed. The "clattering" sound of her teeth echoed dully in Asakura's skull.

"Bang."

"Huh?"