Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Chapter 139 The New "Queen Bee"

Shen Xing turned on the lights, then opened the van door, climbed inside, went to the back of the van, reclined the seat, and opened the black suitcase.

The doll lay quietly inside, its arms still holding the thermos. [02—The Doll] seemed to have accepted the existence of the "creature" inside.

That was the crystallization of its fusion with Shen Xing's flesh and blood.

Shen Xing pulled the thermos from the doll's arms, opened it, and examined the contents of the thermos liner by the light shining in from the car window.

Inside, a clump of black mycelium was slowly wriggling. It seemed to have given up on spreading outwards along the inner lining and instead extended several strands of mycelium toward Shen Xing.

However, it can only spread a short distance; the mycelium only reaches about halfway into the inner liner before it can no longer spread upwards.

Moreover, Shen Xing could very clearly feel its connection to the abnormal flesh and blood in his body.

Compared to the [02-Doll], which is about the size of a head, this small mycelium has a much larger proportion of flesh and blood inside, so the connection is also much closer than that of the [02-Doll].

Just being alive is enough.

The new hyphae did not lose their activity and appeared to be even larger than before the abnormal flesh was fed.

This proves that the individual cut out of [02—Puppet] can be re-cultivated... Moreover, the higher the proportion of Shen Xing's genes in its body, the more obedient it will be to Shen Xing's commands if it is cultivated from a young age.

Shen Xing wondered if it was just his imagination, but the new mycelium seemed less lively than [02 - Doll] when it moved. Every movement seemed to be a beat slower.

It may be that as an individual split off from [02-Doll], it lacks some of the functions that [02-Doll] itself had... or it may be a weakened version of [02-Doll].

If you were to cut another piece from it for cultivation, you might lose even more functionality.

Shen Xing snapped his fingers, waking up [02—Doll].

"Can you see it?" Shen Xing asked, pointing the bottle opening at [02—Doll].

"Yes." The doll's indistinct voice echoed in Shen Xing's mind.

"How do you feel about it? As an offspring? Or as another version of yourself?" Shen Xing pressed.

Shen Xing's question seemed to stump him. [02 - Puppet] After a few seconds, the puppet's voice rang out in Shen Xing's mind again.

"Spare food?"

It's clear that [02—Doll] isn't entirely sure of its own answer either; it can't accurately describe its feelings about the split body in a single word.

However, from its answer, Shen Xing could tell that when [02—Puppet] lacked flesh and blood, it could directly devour this split entity and use it to restore its own body.

Shen Xing plugged the bottle opening with the cork again and put the lid on the thermos.

This thing can't be placed with [02—Doll], otherwise it will eat it when it gets hungry.

As for the mooncake box placed to the side, Shen Xing did not touch [03—Honeycomb] for the time being.

There was something Shen Xing wanted to verify.

That's what Wen Yan meant when he said unrest would occur within three days.

The cause of this unrest was mostly due to the white worms inside the honeycomb-like growths; Anning Street was one of the most severely affected areas.

It's almost 9 p.m., and there are probably still quite a few shops on Anning Street that haven't closed yet.

He wanted to see if the residents there had any response to [03—the Hive].

The best way to try to take control of [03-Hive] is to try to use [03-Hive] to control the residents who have already been infected.

If he can successfully influence their emotions, it means that Shen Xing has found the basic usage of [03—Honeycomb].

At a higher level, the only option is to have [03—the Hive] replace a part of one's body.

In fact, Shen Xing did not want part of his brain to be replaced. Ideally, the other party would coexist with his brain.

For example, one could allow another to replace a portion of one's skull, and one's own blood vessels could split to supply them with nutrients, but one must forbid the other from gnawing at one's brain.

But they act on instinct, and they won't give up on invading their own brains unless there's a more powerful threat.

After all, their underlying logic is to coexist with the brain, using the host's brain to infect and influence the infected on a larger scale, while giving the host some abilities.

After all, they themselves do not seem to have the ability to affect infected people.

Shen Xing pulled the garage door shut completely, the clanging sound of the metal door being pulled was particularly jarring in the quiet old neighborhood.

After driving the van out, Shen Xing locked the roller shutter door again, then restarted the van and drove towards Anning Street.

The closer you get to Anning Street, the fewer vehicles there are on the street. By the time Shen Xing has completely entered Anning Street, there are almost no vehicles left.

On the entire road, only Shen Xing's car was driving, its yellow headlights illuminating the road ahead.

At this time, half of the streetlights have already been turned off. At 10 o'clock, all the streetlights will be turned off. This is a measure to save electricity.

At the street corner, Shen Xing saw police cars parked on the side of the road, but he did not see any patrolling police officers along the way. There were only a few scattered passersby and less than ten shops with their lights on.

Shen Xing slowed down and observed the pedestrians around him, but in that moment of distraction, when his view returned to the empty road, he saw a woman standing in front of him in his lane.

"laugh--!"

Shen Xing slammed on the brakes, and a sharp, piercing screech filled the air as the van came to a stop just in front of the woman, avoiding a direct collision.

Shen Xing looked at the woman blocking the road... she was a woman he didn't recognize at all.

Shen Xing pressed the horn lightly, but the other party seemed unmoved.

As he shifted into reverse and prepared to back up, he glanced at the rearview mirror and discovered that several people were already standing behind the car.

"Knock knock..."

""

A man stood next to Shen Xingzhu's driver's seat, reached out and knocked on the car window.

The "queen bee" seems to have been born.

The crowd was once again under control.

However, things are different from before... These people no longer just share memories; some of them can be controlled to do different things.

However, the other party seemed to have no intention of attacking him at all; they simply surrounded his bread cart and watched him quietly.

Shen Xing rolled down the car window and looked at the man standing next to it whom he didn't recognize at all.

The man just stared blankly at Shen Xing, his face expressionless.

After a long while, the man finally spoke.

"Ah Xing..."

""

The man's behavior was wooden. He reached out as if to touch Shen Xing's face, but Shen Xing did not move, letting him touch his face with his palm.

Don't you remember me?

The man stroked Shen Xing's face with his palm and said woodenly.

He was late.

The "Queen Bee" has been born and has taken complete control of the humans infected by the white worms in this area, connecting to the neural network of this region.

and.

Shen Xing seemed to know who the "Queen Bee" was.