Chapter 141 A New Evolution
Chapter 141 A New Evolution
Shen Xing took off his simple white T-shirt, revealing his lean and muscular physique with little fat.
Because his body fat percentage hasn't recovered yet, his skin is so soft that if you pull on it, a large piece will be torn off like soft clay.
Just like someone who weighs several hundred pounds losing weight to one hundred pounds in a short period of time, his skin elasticity has not yet recovered. It's just that his muscles are supporting it, preventing it from sagging like an old person's skin.
Shen Xing held a scalpel in his right hand and made an incision on his left arm.
This time, he chose the inner side of the biceps brachii, which avoids the major arteries, and the muscle layer is thick enough that any abnormalities in the flesh can be dealt with in time.
The blood that had just gushed out of the wound was immediately "sucked" back by the abnormal flesh that had sprouted from the side.
Shen Xing could directly use his abnormal flesh to tear open his own muscles and skin. Although this was convenient, it was equivalent to tearing his own muscles and skin apart, which would cause even greater pain.
If possible, Shen Xing would still use a scalpel directly, at least it wouldn't be as painful.
At this moment, the swarm of split organisms crawled out from the mouth of the thermos bottle on the seat in front of Shen Xing.
Its movement is very slow and peculiar.
First, it extends its tentacles-like hyphae, and after touching the ground, countless hyphae split and spread out to form a black fungal carpet. After confirming that there is no danger, it then wriggles its body onto the fungal carpet that was just laid out.
It looks very similar to how slime molds move.
Shen Xing put down the scalpel, picked up the tweezers, and directly clamped the black fungus that was now about half the size of his palm.
The moment it was picked up by Shen Xing, the mycelium that had been extended by the other party contracted wildly, and soon coiled into a small black ball at the tip of the tweezers.
Its surface still has tentacles constantly probing outwards, waving in the air. Soon, it detects the presence of the tweezers and begins to lay the fungal carpet along the metallic tweezers.
On Shen Xing's left arm, from the cut on the inner side of his biceps, several tentacles made of abnormal flesh and blood protruded, like expanders, tearing open the wound and exposing the flesh and blood vessels inside.
Shen Xing slowly placed the small ball from the tweezers into his wound.
"Thump—!"
A loud bang was heard, and Shen Xing's bread cart shook slightly.
But Shen Xing didn't have time to think about what was happening outside the car door; all the muscles in his body began to spasm.
It was an uncontrollable impulse... As if it had smelled prey, all the flesh and blood in his body began to rush wildly toward the wound on Shen Xing's left arm.
Almost instantly, Shen Xing's skin dried up again, and even his brain experienced a brief dizziness due to lack of blood. He felt like he had low blood sugar, and blurry noises began to appear in front of his eyes.
return...
Shen Xing clenched his fists so tightly that the tweezers he was holding in his right hand were twisted and deformed into a lump of scrap metal, just like two straws.
But his control also worked.
The swelling in his left arm, which had swelled to the point of tearing the skin, began to gradually subside, and the small black ball that Shen Xing had placed inside had shrunk to less than half its original size.
Abnormal flesh and blood, which has a devouring desire for it.
However, unlike [01 - Wall], Shen Xing was able to restrain this desire to devour, allowing the abnormal flesh and blood to calm down.
The split entity, which had been devoured by more than half, seemed to be greatly frightened. It spread wildly, trying to crawl out through Shen Xing's wound, but Shen Xing directly pressed his right palm on the wound, blocking its escape route.
The flesh and blood of the derivative of [01-Wall] is a great tonic for [02-Doll]... The flesh and blood of [02-Doll] also seems to be a rare and perfect sacrifice for [01-Wall].
They appear to have a predatory relationship, except that [02—the doll] is clearly larger than [01—the wall].
They are considerably weaker and, at least for now, cannot confront each other head-on.
However, Shen Xing soon sensed something was amiss.
The split entity has yet to fuse with Shen Xing's body...
Previously, when Shen Xing took out the derivative flesh and blood from the painting of [01-Wall], the abnormal flesh and blood burrowed into his own flesh and blood the moment he put the flesh and blood into his fingertip, and automatically fused together.
But now, Shen Xing could feel a faint outward force in his palm, but he did not sense any intention from the split body to merge with his body.
Is it because the "original state" within one's body has been taken over by abnormal flesh and blood?
Shen Xing slowly loosened his grip.
In Shen Xing's vision, the small ball-like mass of black mycelium sprayed some mycelium onto the edge of Shen Xing's wound, and then the mycelium continued to spread outward, forming a fungal carpet.
The black fungal carpet continued to spread along Shen Xing's shoulders, but Shen Xing did not stop it.
Because he sensed the other party's intentions.
It was gushing out from the open wound on its left arm. It could have made more attempts before taking action, but after crawling out, it went straight for Shen Xing's head.
It seems that when it eats people, it also leaves behind their heads.
When attacking a doll, it also occupies the head position.
【02—Doll】, 【03—Honeycomb】, and that unknown anomaly that affected Wu Xiaoting, do they all like heads that much?
Soon, the black mycelium had spread to Shen Xing's face. He looked up at the rearview mirror and saw that his face was covered with a black fungal carpet.
From a distance, it looked as if Shen Xing's face was covered with tiny, protruding black blood vessels, making him look like a zombie infected with some kind of virus, which was extremely terrifying.
Slowly, a warm feeling came from Shen Xing's cheeks, and the black mycelium on his face in the rearview mirror was completely gone.
The mycelium had already penetrated under Shen Xing's skin, lying dormant beneath his face and on his skull.
Shen Xing could feel his heart pumping faster, and his cheeks felt numb and itchy, as if countless nerves and blood vessels were reconnecting under his skin.
This feeling of connection made him feel that almost every cell in his body was excited and joyful.
In the rearview mirror, there was a "human" named "Shen Xing".
His face had a rough, fabric-like texture, and in his bare upper body, his muscles and skin were torn apart, with countless scarlet tentacles dancing and stretching out freely.
"Rip—"
A tearing sound like linen being ripped rang out, and Shen Xing's mouth was torn open like a rag. The mycelium that had been attached to Shen Xing's body and absorbed a lot of nutrients and flesh tore open Shen Xing's mouth, unfolding like a blooming flower bud at the crack in his mouth.
Dizziness, hunger.
A feeling of extreme malnutrition washed over Shen Xing's mind.
He ate a ton of high-calorie, high-carb, high-fat drinks and biscuits that he had prepared, but it seemed that these preparations were completely insufficient...
As for backup food... yes, we do have some...
The lack of oxygen to his brain began to sluggish Shen Xing's thinking. He glanced at the suitcase placed to the side and then focused his gaze on the door.
"Splash—"
He used almost all his last bit of strength to open the car door, staggered out, and looked towards the front of the car.
That's the direction from which the sound came from.
In the darkness, a black creature lying on the ground staggered toward Shen Xingyi. It was a wild boar that had been knocked unconscious.
Nighttime is when wild boars are active, and they are not uncommon creatures in this undeveloped mountain forest.
The wild boar seemed to have spotted Shen Xing as well.
It let out a mournful cry and, with its hooves scrambling, practically tumbled and crawled down the cliff.
But a figure was faster than it.
"Whoosh"
With just a single step, the small mound where Shen Xing was standing kicked up a cloud of dust, and Shen Xing's body shot towards the wild boar like a cannonball. He stretched out his right palm and stabbed directly into the wild boar's heart.
"laugh-
'
Shen Xing's hand pierced through the wild boar's tough skin and muscles, shattered its bones, and punctured its heart.
This adult wild boar, which was almost as heavy as Shen Xing, was skewered on Shen Xing's arm and slowly lifted up by him.
The mycelium gushing from his mouth almost instantly covered the wild boar, while at the same time, the scarlet flesh and blood, resembling whiskers, gushing from the cracks on his hands and back, impatiently pierced into the wild boar's body.
Warm, foul-smelling blood, coarse and tough chunks of meat, soft and moist internal organs... Almost all the nutritious substances in the wild boar's body were completely devoured by the black mycelium and abnormal flesh and blood surging from Shen Xing's body and sent into his body.
All of his digestive organs were working frantically, squeezing every last ounce of nutrients from the wild boar's flesh and blood.
It only took a few minutes.
Shen Xing slowly lowered his right hand and flicked it to the side.
Only the remains of the skin, stomach, and intestines were left, which Shen Xing threw aside.
At this moment, Shen Xing seemed to be bathed in blood. His frenzied eating caused the wild boar's flesh and blood to splatter, almost staining Shen Xing's upper body and cheeks. Meanwhile, black mycelium continued to spread on his body, cleaning every bit of flesh and blood without leaving a trace.
The rapid replenishment of nutrients helped Shen Xing recover from that brief period of irrationality and extreme craving for food.
He raised his hand and looked at his palm.
The feeding ability of black mycelium is... extremely powerful.
and.
A crack appeared in Shen Xing's palm, and a bundle of abnormal flesh emerged from it.
The abnormal flesh that emerged this time was not the pure, scarlet flesh with obvious muscle texture that had appeared before.
It is covered with a layer of black vessels that resemble the coronary arteries of slime mold protoplasm. It is separate from blood vessels and flesh, but closely connected to abnormal flesh, serving as a nutrient delivery channel.
From a distance, it looks like a scarlet tentacle with prominent black veins... even more terrifying than its previous pure red form.
The split offspring of [02—Doll] and the derivative of [01—Wall] fused perfectly within Shen Xing's body.
Shen Xing could feel that his control over his body had clearly improved to a higher level, especially in terms of blood flow.
He can use the fungal carpet attached to his muscles to quickly engorge a specific area with blood, achieving a faster, instantaneous burst of power... even the corpora cavernosa, which his muscles couldn't previously control, can be rapidly engorged and swelled with blood—
This means he can control all parts of his body except for muscles, internal organs, and blood vessels.
Besides the central nervous system and nerve bundles, Shen Xing can also absorb or control other areas such as fat, fascia, lymph nodes, hair follicles, and sweat glands to a certain extent.
Moreover, the network formed by these fungal mats allows Shen Xing to store more blood and nutrients, essentially giving him an extra life support system that allows him to consume more nutrients than his body can handle.
What about ability?
Besides these physical changes that one can feel, what are the abilities of the split form of [02—Doll]?
Can one mimic the complete appearance of another person through a photograph? Can one acquire their memories by devouring flesh and blood? Like [02—Doll]?
Most importantly, how am I performing in front of the DV camera right now?
Shen Xing kicked the clump of wild boar flesh and skin off the cliff. Before long, the flesh would be torn apart by other nocturnal creatures.
He returned to the car and retracted the black mycelium and abnormal flesh into his body.
Shen Xing looked at the rearview mirror inside the car. His reflection appeared unchanged.
No, there have been changes.
His face was no longer so pale, and compared to his previous thin and haggard appearance, Shen Xing's cheeks now looked much fuller.
Shen Xing took out the DV camera from his shoulder bag, loaded a new cassette tape, took off all his clothes in the car, removed his glasses, and filmed himself from head to toe for about half a minute.
He switched to playback mode and repeatedly checked the video he had recorded, especially comparing his face repeatedly, and then confirmed one thing.
As long as the mycelium and flesh do not ooze out of the body, the appearance will not show any blemishes.
but.....
Shen Xing rewound the video slightly and looked at the position of his eyeballs in the photo.
His eye sockets had some blemishes... but not as severe as the empty eye sockets of [02—Doll].
If you take a picture of yourself from a slightly distance, the noise around your eyes will probably cover your entire eye socket... and after a few days, once the noise is gone, what will remain in the picture will probably be two black blobs.
Just like [02 - Doll].
My own body eventually developed observable abnormalities...
Seemingly to give it a try, Shen Xing put on his glasses and re-recorded the video of his face.
When he played it back, he found that under the reflection of the glasses, almost no noise was visible.
It's alright... You can buy a larger round-framed pair of glasses to cover it up a bit.
However, no matter how much you try to cover it up, your eyes will still be visible in certain shots from certain angles.
Next... it's time to test the ability. We'll use the ability that Shen Xing tested on [02—Puppet].
He unzipped the suitcase, revealing the [02 - Doll] inside, and then snapped his fingers to wake it up.
Now, in Shen Xing's eyes, [02—Doll] is no longer a doll, but the little girl who was copied by the doll. And if Shen Xing wants, he can change his vision back.
【02—Puppet】is no longer a teleporter in front of Shen Xing, and its only advantage has disappeared.
The little girl woke up, sat up, and looked at Shen Xing, seemingly stunned for a moment.
After a while, it climbed out of the suitcase, approached Shen Xing, and hugged his leg.
Its "closeness" to Shen Xing seems to have become stronger due to the fusion of these two unusual things.