Chapter 118: Talent Sucking Parasite
The command chamber remained silent after the explanation. No one rushed to speak, not because they lacked questions, but because the revelation itself demanded time to settle. The forgotten twin, whose existence had been deliberately erased from every archive the Corrode Family possessed, had suddenly reappeared in the middle of the apocalypse carrying strength that none of them had anticipated. The contradiction was so overwhelming that even the oldest elders, whose expressions had remained unchanged for decades, quietly stared at the frozen image of the young man standing beside the crimson mantis.
The old patriarch slowly shifted his gaze toward one of the military officers.
"Continue the recordings."
The officer immediately nodded before signaling the technicians.
One recording after another began playing across the enormous screens surrounding the chamber.
The first sequence showed a King-Class Beast stalking through the ruins while suppressing every trace of its presence. The creature’s camouflage blended perfectly with broken walls and collapsed buildings, making it almost impossible to distinguish from the surrounding debris. Even the analysts admitted that, without the tracking system, they would have struggled to locate it.
Then the recording reached the familiar moment.
Clayne bent down.
He picked up an ordinary pebble from the ground.
The chamber remained completely quiet.
Several new family members who had not witnessed the original footage frowned slightly, believing there had been some mistake in the recording.
Then...
His thumb flicked.
The pebble vanished.
The footage immediately switched to another camera following the beast.
The King-Class Beast continued running for only a brief instant before a clean hole suddenly appeared through its skull. Its enormous body collapsed heavily onto the ruined pavement without ever understanding what had happened.
Silence.
One elder unconsciously leaned closer to the display.
"...Again."
The technicians replayed the footage.
Slow motion.
Frame by frame.
The pebble remained visible for only an instant before it exceeded the recording equipment’s ability to capture it.
No hidden weapon.
No spiritual artifact.
No technological assistance.
Only a fragment of broken stone.
The father stared at the screen without blinking.
His calm expression slowly began changing.
"...He..."
He could not finish the sentence.
The next recording immediately began.
This time, several King-Class Beasts approached simultaneously from different directions while remaining hidden.
Clayne never once turned toward them.
Instead, he casually walked forward while speaking to the crimson mantis beside him as though taking an ordinary stroll.
Without warning, another pebble left his fingertips.
The first beast fell.
A second pebble.
Another beast collapsed.
A third.
A fourth.
Each attack appeared effortless.
Each attack struck with impossible precision.
The mother slowly covered her mouth.
"...This..."
Her eyes widened.
"...This cannot be the same child."
The recordings continued.
Another sequence displayed the crimson mantis standing quietly behind Clayne while devouring the corpses of King-Class Beasts one after another. Rather than appearing frightened by the horrifying creature, Clayne occasionally reached over and patted its armored neck exactly as someone might encourage a loyal companion.
The mantis visibly responded.
It lowered its head.
Its wings relaxed.
It happily continued eating while occasionally communicating with Clayne through sounds no ordinary person could understand.
One researcher quietly spoke.
"The creature obeys him completely."
Another nodded.
"There isn’t even hesitation."
The father watched every interaction.
The mantis was not merely following orders.
It trusted Clayne.
Completely.
The next recording displayed the aftermath of another encounter.
Several King-Class Beasts had already fallen.
Their corpses covered an entire street.
Clayne calmly stood among them without showing the slightest sign of exhaustion.
His breathing remained steady.
His school uniform bore almost no damage.
The surrounding buildings, however, had suffered enormous destruction from the beasts themselves.
One commander quietly muttered,
"...He fought all of them..."
His voice grew softer.
"...and didn’t even seem serious."
The chamber once again fell silent.
The technicians continued playing every surviving recording collected before communication had finally been lost.
Each sequence revealed another astonishing detail.
His composure.
His confidence.
His precision.
The frightening ease with which he dispatched creatures capable of devastating entire cities.
Every new recording overturned another assumption.
Every replay forced the elders to reevaluate the forgotten twin they had long considered talentless.
The father slowly lowered his eyes.
Images from long ago quietly resurfaced within his mind.
A quiet child.
One who rarely complained.
One who seldom argued despite being constantly compared with his younger brother.
He remembered dismissing those memories countless times over the years, believing that the family’s evaluations had already determined the boy’s future.
Now...
Those old conclusions appeared increasingly uncertain.
Beside him, the mother remained motionless.
She watched the recordings without saying a word.
The young man on the screen no longer resembled the forgotten child who had once quietly walked through the family estate while attracting little attention.
He now stood alone against monsters that ordinary armies could scarcely confront.
Every movement carried confidence.
Every decision displayed remarkable composure.
Every action suggested experience earned through surviving countless battles.
She slowly whispered,
"...He grew up."
Nobody interrupted her.
The words were almost inaudible.
Yet everyone heard them.
The father slowly exhaled.
A complicated expression crossed his face.
There was surprise.
There was disbelief.
There was confusion.
Yet beneath all of it...
Something else quietly emerged.
He slowly looked toward his wife.
She was already looking back at him.
Neither of them spoke for several long moments.
Then...
Almost at the same time...
The corners of their mouths lifted ever so slightly.
It was not a triumphant smile.
Nor a proud smile born from ambition.
It was simply the quiet smile of two parents who had just witnessed that the forgotten twin they had not seen for so many years and just dumped in a random mansion...
...had somehow survived the impossible and become astonishingly strong, especially in this apocalypse.
The higher ups of the Corrode Family would get angry, and they would scold them to take him back now, and then they are so angry, this young man could actually become a pillar of the Corrode Family, and they the parents would nod, but they are smiling still and it infuriated the Corrode Family, why are they happy? The two couples would suddenly explain that in his body was a attached a talent swapping parasite that is completely unnoticeable and each time his blood grow stronger, the talent sucking parasite would suck his blood and drain him dry, and he can’t notice it, the parasite would then born flies that absorbed his blood and give it to their son Clay to make Clay grow stronger. End the scene on the part where the Corrode family was in complete, shocked, to be exactly, this is cruel and as long as the parasite wasn’t noticed by Clayne, it would keep getting stronger and stronger.
The faint smiles lingering on the faces of the couple had barely formed before the atmosphere inside the council chamber changed completely.
Several elders abruptly rose from their seats, their robes swaying violently as overwhelming pressure filled the ancient hall. The military commanders who had remained silent until now exchanged shocked glances, while the researchers instinctively lowered their heads. Nobody had expected the forgotten twin to display such overwhelming strength, much less for that strength to belong to someone whose existence the family itself had erased.
One elderly council member slammed his palm against the stone table.
"What have the two of you done?"
His voice echoed throughout the chamber with unmistakable fury.
"Do you understand what those recordings represent? That young man casually exterminated King-Class Beasts with ordinary pebbles. He commands an unknown crimson creature powerful enough to terrify even our reconnaissance divisions. A person with that level of potential could become one of the future pillars supporting the Corrode Family for generations."
Another elder immediately stood as well.
"You allowed someone like that to leave the family without a second thought?"
A third elder’s expression darkened.
"You did not merely lose an ordinary descendant. You discarded a strategic asset whose value may now rival our strongest combatants."
The criticism came one after another.
Every sentence carried greater weight than the last.
"You are his parents."
"You should have brought him back long ago."
"You should have monitored his growth."
"You should have ensured he remained loyal to the family."
"Send people immediately."
"Bring him home."
"No matter what conditions he demands, negotiate first."
"If negotiations fail, devise another method."
"Under no circumstances can someone like him remain beyond the family’s influence."
The military commanders quietly nodded.
Even they understood the importance of such a decision.
An individual capable of effortlessly eliminating King-Class Beasts during the earliest stage of the apocalypse represented an existence that could completely reshape the balance among humanity’s great forces.
Yet...
Despite the overwhelming criticism surrounding them...
The couple continued smiling.
It was neither arrogant nor provocative.
Rather...
It was strangely calm.
That calmness only irritated the council even more.
One elderly woman finally frowned.
"Why are the two of you smiling?"
"You have just been reprimanded before the entire council."
"Your forgotten son has surpassed every expectation while existing completely outside the family’s control."
"What possible reason do you have to smile at a time like this?"
The father slowly lifted his head.
His expression remained composed.
"There is a reason."
The chamber gradually became quiet once more.
The mother gently folded her hands before speaking.
"You believe Clayne escaped the family’s influence."
She slowly shook her head.
"That is not entirely true."
Several elders frowned.
The father continued.
"When the twins were still children, our researchers developed a special biological parasite."
"It was never intended to harm either child directly."
"It was designed to preserve the family’s greatest investment."
A researcher suddenly seemed to remember something.
"...The Synchronizing Parasite..."
The father nodded.
"Yes."
"The final version."
The room became noticeably quieter.
The mother continued the explanation.
"After the bloodline evaluations concluded, the researchers reached a decision. Clay possessed the greatest potential the family had seen in generations. Clayne’s compatibility appeared far lower. Since Clay had already demonstrated the ability to benefit from his brother’s biological growth, the researchers sought a way to continue that process without requiring both brothers to remain together."
She paused before speaking more softly.
"They succeeded."
Several elders slowly leaned forward.
The father spoke in an even tone.
"The parasite was attached to Clayne’s body before he departed."
"It was microscopic."
"It remained completely dormant."
"It produced no pain."
"No discomfort."
"No obvious symptoms."
"It became impossible to detect through ordinary examination."
Several researchers quietly nodded.
They vaguely remembered classified experiments from years earlier.
The father continued.
"The parasite possesses only one purpose."
"It quietly observes the condition of its host."
"As the host’s bloodline becomes stronger..."
"...it gradually absorbs an extremely small portion of that improvement."
The chamber remained silent.
The mother calmly finished the explanation.
"The parasite periodically produces tiny winged carriers."
"They resemble insignificant insects."
"They leave the host unnoticed."
"They return directly to Clay."
"The refined biological essence gathered from Clayne is then transferred into his younger brother."
She lowered her eyes.
"Every improvement Clayne achieves..."
"...is partially condensed..."
"...and delivered to Clay."
The words echoed throughout the ancient chamber.
No one interrupted.
The father looked toward the frozen image of Clayne standing beside the crimson mantis.
"As long as Clayne never discovers the parasite..."
"...the transfer continues."
"Every increase in his bloodline."
"Every improvement in his physique."
"Every new biological evolution."
"A portion of it will eventually become nourishment for Clay."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The council members stared at the couple.
Some wore expressions of disbelief.
Others looked toward the researchers, silently asking whether such a thing was even possible.
Several researchers slowly lowered their heads.
None denied it.
The old patriarch’s eyes narrowed.
Even the seasoned military commanders found themselves unable to speak.
One elderly council member finally whispered,
"...So..."
"...the stronger the forgotten twin becomes..."
Another quietly finished the sentence.
"...the more benefits the younger brother receives."
Nobody spoke afterward.
The vast council chamber remained completely still.
Shock spread across every face.
Not because the parasite existed.
But because of what it meant.
If the parasite truly remained undiscovered...
Then every battle Clayne survived...
Every hardship he overcame...
Every new evolution he achieved...
Would continue strengthening Clay in silence, carrying away a portion of the elder twin’s hard-earned growth without him ever realizing it.