Fear of food

Chapter 55 Missing Memory

Scenes flashed through Chen Qi's mind like a slideshow.

Sun Xuechao's strange behavior and unusual words in the elevator;

Sun Xuechao's dazed and confused state after they defeated Madam Wu;

The cream cake was also found in Sun Xuechao's hospital room!

Who exactly moved the cream cake to Sun Xuechao's ward, and why?
If wild food is a source of pollution, then cream cake must be a major source of pollution!

Why was Sun Xuechao forced to share a room with a major source of pollution day and night?
When these clues are put together, although they cannot directly reveal the truth, they are enough for Chen Qi to confirm the abnormality of Sun Xuechao!

"Quickly open!"

Chen Qi pulled Xu An'an and Dabing, who were closest to him, back away to create distance between them and Sun Xuechao.

Needless to say, the sharp eyesight of the three middle-aged men, Coffee, Swill, and Chasing the Wind, was immediately followed by them, and they quickly moved back to hide.

"Brother Sun, is that you?" Chen Qi asked with some uncertainty.

He was certain that Sun Xuechao was suspicious, but then he remembered that just moments ago in the hospital ward, when he was eating a cream cake and had fallen into a dazed state, it was Sun Xuechao who had woken him up and fought alongside them...

If Sun Xuechao really wanted to harm them, he should have had plenty of opportunities.

Moreover, recalling what just happened, even though the domain came from Sun Xuechao, it didn't seem to cause them any trouble from beginning to end; in fact, it even helped them.

Sun Xuechao remained calm, looked at Chen Qi, and smiled, "Chen Qi, do you know that we are their best containers?"

"To them, each of us is a precious resource."

Chen Qi was slightly taken aback, but he roughly understood what Sun Xuechao was talking about.

Coffee's eyes flashed, and he said, "You mean, we are the best vessels for the parasites?"

Sun Xuechao nodded: "We are naturally more resistant to terror, which is why we were able to avoid being affected from the beginning."

"But this also means that our bodies can hold more terrifying energy and have a higher upper limit."

"The domain you're talking about can only be mastered by people like us who parasitize it."

Zhui Feng frowned: "Then why not just parasitize us directly, instead of choosing our family?"

Coffee rolled its eyes at Chasing Wind: "Of course it's because they can't parasitize us. The prerequisite for them to parasitize us is that they would contaminate us, right?"

Sun Xuechao looked approvingly at the coffee: "That's right. Strange food is both pollution and a source of terrifying energy. Only when we are polluted, accept strange food, and eat strange food for a long time can we continuously provide energy for the parasite in our body to grow."

Big Pancake's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "I understand! We are the innate holy bodies in cultivation novels, the targets of Nascent Soul stage monsters who covet possession. Making us eat strange food is to prepare for possession!"

Sun Xuechao paused, clearly not quite able to keep up with Dabing's train of thought. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "More or less, but the ones that parasitize us aren't some Nascent Soul stage monsters. They themselves are also very fragile in their early stages, so they're in the initial stage."

"They are so fragile that if they provoke our resistance in the early stages of parasitism, it may lead to the failure of parasitism and their direct death."

"Therefore, the parasitism must be completed without our resistance, and basically everyone is unaware that they are being parasitized."

"By the time we realized we were being parasitized, it was too late; we couldn't get rid of them." Having said that, even though he already knew the answer, Chen Qi still asked, "So, Brother Sun, you were parasitized too, right?"

Sun Xuechao nodded frankly: "I didn't realize it before, but after you ate that cream cake, I suddenly remembered a lot of things."

Chen Qi took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "Is it still not too late?"

Sun Xuechao knew what Chen Qi was asking and shook his head: "It often takes more time to parasitize people like us, but my parasitism process had already begun before you were admitted to the hospital."

"Moreover, that cream cake further accelerated the parasitic process, allowing me to initially merge with it. As a result, I also shared some of its memories and gained some understanding of them."

"Speaking of which, it's all thanks to your wild lychee. If I hadn't eaten that lychee, I probably wouldn't be able to be sober enough to talk to you right now."

Coffee frowned and asked, "What exactly are these 'the things' you keep talking about?"

Sun Xuechao thought for a moment and said, "They have no physical form, are good at manipulating desires and bewitching people, and are similar to the 'ghosts' in our legends. And since they call themselves 'nightmare,' I think it would be more appropriate to call them 'nightmare eaters.'"

"Nightmare Eater?"

"So all the parasites are controlled by the Nightmare Eater, including our family members?"

"How can we possibly save our family members?"

Everyone present had too many questions about this disaster, the so-called "nightmare," and everything else.

But Sun Xuechao shook his head and said, "There's not much time left. You don't need to ask anymore. I have something to say to Chen Qi alone."

They could only keep their questions to themselves, but what did "not much time left" mean? Was Sun Xuechao about to lose control?
At this moment, apart from Xu An'an, no one noticed that an elderly man with gray hair but a vigorous spirit was walking from the direction of the hospital's outpatient department.

Xu An'an silently retreated behind the crowd and the dog, squatted down and stroked the golden retriever's head.

Chen Qi and Sun Xuechao came to the side alone.

Sun Xuechao said directly, "You should already know that you are special, right? Don't you find it strange that you stayed in the hospital for ten whole days and Dr. Zhao and the others let you go unharmed?"

Chen Qi frowned and said, "Dr. Zhao should still be in the early stages of parasitism, and may still retain some humanity... However, it is indeed strange that his wife did not attack me earlier."

Chen Qi knew that given his previous weakened state, he would have had a hard time withstanding a parasite like Madam Wu forcibly feeding him.

Sun Xuechao gave him a deep look and asked meaningfully, "Are you sure your memories after being hospitalized are all intact?"

Chen Qi was stunned, then his heart started racing and his thoughts became somewhat chaotic.

Sun Xuechao continued, "Before you ate the cream cake, I had absolutely no memory of being parasitized by the Nightmare Eater. Are you sure you haven't lost a piece of your memory?"

Chen Qi tried to calm himself down and started to recall from the first day he was transferred to Jingyi Affiliated Hospital until he escaped. He said somewhat uncertainly, "I don't think so."

"Really?" Sun Xuechao smiled. "Then do you remember what you were doing on the morning of August 30th, the second day after you were admitted to the hospital?"

"Sleeping? Daydreaming?" Chen Qi frowned. "I can't remember."

Sun Xuechao shook his head: "I've been your roommate since the first day you were hospitalized. I've seen everything you've been through every day. That day, you left the ward with Dr. Zhao early in the morning and didn't come back all morning."

(End of this chapter)