Chapter 248: Parasite
[Current Research Subject: Chakra Parasite]
[Research Progress: 99.99%]
Kenichi rubbed his hands together.
To be honest, ever since he began researching that fossilized parasite, he had barely paid attention to his cheat panel. It never chimed, never issued tasks, and most of the time it might as well not exist.
But now the progress had finally reached the last sliver.
That alone was enough to make his heart beat faster.
At the same time, he could not help feeling wary. What if this last bit got stuck for days, like those download programs from his previous life that loved freezing at ninety nine percent?
Fortunately, it did not take long.
That night, in the dead silence of 3:30 AM, Kenichi sat with his eyes open, watching the bar like a hawk.
Then, at last, the progress ticked forward.
One hundred percent.
As the research bar completed, Kenichi grew even more alert. He patted his chest, touched his scalp, and checked himself carefully. Nothing felt strange. No abnormal sensation. No crawling feeling inside his body.
This time, he did not find any parasite within himself.
Instead, something wriggled out of his pocket.
It crawled into his palm, curled up obediently, and let out a faint chirping sound.
It was about the size of a leech, pitch black, with thin red patterns etched along its body. Its head had a pair of enlarged mouthparts like a centipede's, unsettling to look at. Long tentacle like filaments squirmed around its sides, twitching gently.
In his previous life, plenty of people would have started shaking on the spot. It reminded him of that black striped ash moth that made even brave men pretend they suddenly had somewhere else to be.
"Is that it?" Kenichi scratched his head. "No extra information at all?"
The good news was obvious. The ancient chakra parasite had truly been brought back.
The bad news was just as obvious. The research seemed to have given him a living parasite, and nothing else. No additional data. No explanation. Not even a helpful line of text.
He stared at it, then exhaled slowly.
"At this size… you're probably a queen, aren't you?"
Luckily, he was not completely ignorant. He had done research in the past, and the books his teacher collected had saved him more times than he liked to admit.
These ancient chakra parasites were strange creatures. According to what he had read, they operated with a strict matriarchal hierarchy. A parasite queen sat at the top, with layers of lesser parasites beneath her.
Kenichi flipped through his books, searching for anything useful.
Unfortunately, there was not much.
Instead, page after page praised the Sage of Six Paths and his heroic achievements. The tone was practically worshipful, which irritated Kenichi more the longer he read.
He was not here for a shrine. He needed parasite information.
While he skimmed, the parasite in his palm stirred again.
Kenichi felt a faint, odd sensation, and his gaze sharpened. The little thing seemed to be gnawing at the chakra that leaked unconsciously from the surface of his body.
"It can eat chakra?" Kenichi's interest rose immediately.
His first impulse was to dissect it.
Then reason slammed that impulse back into its cage.
There was only one of these. A true national treasure. If it died, it was gone.
Still, the fact that it could feed directly on chakra gave him ideas.
"If it can grow just by feeding like this," he muttered, watching it chirp softly after eating its fill, "then things get more convenient. Maybe parasitism isn't even necessary."
His mouth twitched as he stared at it.
Unless he personally turned into a parasite himself, he had no intention of letting a bug crawl inside his body.
But if this creature truly had the ability to control other parasites, or if it could grant a host some unusual combat ability, then testing it was not impossible.
He just could not hand something like this to someone else and let them control it.
Kenichi paused.
Then he realized he had fallen into a rigid way of thinking.
Yes, this was a queen parasite.
But he could tell it was strangely close to him, almost as if it regarded him as its parent.
That should not have been possible.
Most insects did not have concepts like affection or dependence. They moved by instinct. Some female mantises even ate their mates after breeding, simply to replenish energy. Expecting human morality from an insect was pointless.
Yet this parasite was different.
Because of the research process, it seemed bound to him. Dependent on him. Loyal in a way that felt almost unnatural.
If that was true…
Then in a sense, wasn't he the one above the queen?
Wouldn't that make him the one who could command it absolutely?
"Do a somersault," Kenichi said, testing the idea.
The parasite did nothing.
Kenichi clicked his tongue. "So you don't understand spoken language."
He tried again, but this time he focused inward.
And in that moment, he sensed it.
A thread of thought, faint but real.
The parasite could not speak, but it sent out simple intent, longing and reverence so strong it was almost pure.
Kenichi formed the command directly, pushing the meaning into that thought thread.
Somersault.
The parasite immediately flipped over in his palm.
Kenichi's eyes narrowed. "So it really works."
He tested the limit.
"Suicide."
The instant the command formed, the parasite twisted violently, trying to tear itself apart with its mouthparts.
Kenichi reacted at once and stopped it.
As he expected.
He was the one above it.
And the brutal hierarchy of insects meant that once the command was received, it would be carried out without hesitation.
Since that was the case…
Kenichi's mind drifted to a single person.
Someone who had just become the queen and Snow Shadow of this country.
And right now, there was no one more suitable than her.
.....
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