Chapter 397: Experimental Subject
After Lin Ye's reminder, Klaus quickly noticed something was wrong.
"...There are this many?"
Klaus swept his mental energy through the room, his expression growing increasingly grave. Dealing with these parasites wasn't difficult, but these people were all high-ranking gang members. If parasites had appeared even within them, those lower down the hierarchy were even less likely to be spared.
"So, I wasn't lying to you, right?"
Lin Ye wanted these people to control the spread rate of the parasites, so he wouldn't have to deal with this troublesome matter himself.
"Wait, you warned me earlier to stay away from that woman. She wasn't parasitized too, was she?"
Raymond's face turned ashen, asking in a flustered and exasperated tone.
This was the first time Lin Ye had seen him lose that composed expression.
"It's fine. Those parasites can't parasitize high-level spiritual energy users... at least not yet, they shouldn't be able to. And only more intimate contact leads to parasitism. As long as you don't mess around recklessly, you'll be fine."
Lin Ye revealed a gloating expression. "Damn it... I met her the night before last."
Raymond forced out these words, then turned and left the room. He no longer had time to watch the spectacle here. The Adventurer's Association also had many mid and low-tier adventurers who liked to mess around recklessly.
"Thank you very much for the information. I will honor our agreement. Your people can sell cards in the bar, though the bar might have to close for a few days."
Klaus had a headache. With so many customers, he couldn't possibly scan every single one with his senses. Moreover, this involved privacy issues;
sensing another person's body was a very impolite act.
The gang members in the room all warily observed their companions around them. They had all heard the previous conversation. Those who could make it here weren't fools.
This was practically a supercharged version of an STD.
"If you need it, we can sell a type of parasite detection card. Also one hundred Free Coins per card."
Lin Ye had considered this business opportunity the moment he discovered the large number of parasites.
Creating detection cards targeting a specific parasite wasn't difficult. He could use Parasitism runes, and he had previously obtained that old man's research notes on parasitic organisms. This fell within his area of expertise.
[Time Marker Obtained]
"That's great. I'll pre-order ten thousand... You didn't create these parasites, did you?"
Klaus looked at Lin Ye with suspicion.
"A reasonable suspicion. But if I really had created them, I wouldn't immediately launch detection cards, nor would I sell them this cheaply. Besides, I just arrived in Free City not long ago. These parasites have been here much longer than I have. However, if Bio-Tech soon releases a medicine to eliminate the parasites, then you all need to be careful."
Lin Ye faintly sensed someone was secretly pushing forward this parasite parasitism incident. These parasites likely originated from the Bottomless Pit. If this was normal transmission, he could hardly imagine what the first parasitized person had actually done.
"Alright. I hope you can send someone to deliver the detection cards as soon as possible."
Klaus thought it over carefully and realized that if Lin Ye had been spreading the parasites, the other party indeed had no reason to warn him.
Lin Ye left the bar, drove the sports car back to the warehouse. He needed to create some templates for the parasite detection cards.
On the way, he received messages from Raymond and Ms. Carnot. They also wanted to pre-order a batch of parasite detection cards.
"These people react really fast."
Lin Ye didn't plan to raise the price. If these parasites were really connected to Bio-Tech, it was better to clean them up as quickly as possible.
Arriving at the warehouse, Lin Ye quickly produced a large number of parasite detection cards and reminded those young men not to go out and mess around recklessly.
After handling these miscellaneous matters, Lin Ye drove back to the Free Hotel. Before sleeping, he planned to read for a little while.
"...These people react really fast."
Lin Ye quickly changed into his outer clothes, walked to the window, and opened it. A group of deformed parasites were crawling along the exterior wall towards Lin Ye's room.
"Hah, why send these parasites here to die? There aren't many forces in Free City with such fast reaction speeds. How is this any different from admitting it?"
Lin Ye used a Compressed Spiritual Energy Blade to simultaneously pierce the vital points of all the parasites. However, after the parasites died, those deformed parasites turned into normal corpses.
The corpses fell like rain, yet this was meaningless. Lin Ye simply reached out and clenched his fist. The falling flesh and blood gathered together, finally merging into a mixed sphere of flesh and blood.
'Huh? That's not right...'
Lin Ye, having noticed the abnormality, was just about to fling the mixed flesh and blood sphere away when it collapsed, turning into a blood-red mist. The mist quickly drifted towards Lin Ye, easily penetrating the spiritual energy shield Lin Ye had activated.
Lin Ye threw out a piece of spiritual energy material while simultaneously activating the Parasitism rune engraved on it. The blood-red mist rapidly vanished, all parasitizing that piece of spiritual energy material.
'Just as I thought.'
Lin Ye put away the Metal Sphere. If the Parasitism rune hadn't worked, he was prepared to use the Metal Sphere to emit a spiritual energy shockwave to destroy that mist.
'This spiritual energy material can be used to create parasitic-type spiritual energy items. The effect should be quite good.'
Putting away the spiritual energy material, Lin Ye already had some ideas for crafting.
Outside the window, all was calm, as if nothing had happened.
But some monitoring devices had recorded the entire process of the previous battle. Furthermore, a pair of eyes in the distance had also been observing Lin Ye.
"Experimental Subject 1437 test concluded. Assault failed. Awaiting instructions."
A woman wearing a hood spoke softly into a specially-made Communication Device.
"Continue monitoring the target. Cease assault plans."
An old man's voice came from the Communication Device.
"An informant provided intelligence. The target may have mastered a method for creating items that can identify parasites. This will severely impact the advancement of the Parasite Plan."
The woman spoke up.
"It doesn't matter. The main purpose of the Parasite Plan is to collect experimental data. The target has already completed most of it now. Continue advancing the Parasite Plan to divert the attention of other forces... Why is there someone next to you?"
The old man immediately cut off the communication.
"Ah, I wanted to listen a bit longer. Is it the effect of some mutation organ inside you? Connected to the data over there? It seems I'll have to be even more careful in the future."
Lin Ye stood behind the woman, looking with her towards the direction of his own room.
"You..."
The woman wanted to resist but found her body could no longer move.
"Losing control doesn't feel good, does it? This is the parasite you researched. It's called Experimental Subject 1437? You understand its effects better than I do. Soon, it will devour your body, take everything you have, then use the remaining memories to find your family and turn them into parasites too. And you can only silently experience this painful process."
Lin Ye described this with a smile.
"What do you want? Information? Money? Research materials? I can give you all of it, just let me go!"
The woman let out a cry of unwilling despair. She enjoyed researching parasites and felt very resentful when she heard the Parasite Plan was being abandoned. But she never imagined she would be parasitized herself, nor did she expect the feeling of being parasitized to be so terrifying.
"I don't want those things. I only want you to receive the ending you deserve. Making mistakes means accepting punishment. That's the most basic principle. It's a pity many people don't even understand that."
Lin Ye whispered softly into the woman's ear.