Xenoparasitism - Chapter 2

“Don’t come any closer.”

A faint voice drifted into Wei Chen’s ears. He opened his eyes to find the cell’s light extinguished, pale morning sunlight streaming through the window. It was already the next day. He sat up, rubbing his forehead. After a night’s rest, his mind remained muddled, but his mood had stabilized considerably. This surprised him; today he was to be transferred to the City Police Headquarters as a murder suspect, and the public security authorities would soon file charges against him. Yet he felt no fear. It was as if the emotion had been completely exhausted during the absurd events of the previous night.

Suddenly, a piercing police siren blared outside the window, followed by a dull thud, as if something had collided. Then came the sound of a child’s crying and a man’s shouting. Wei Chen looked up and saw the man in the opposite cell standing on tiptoe, peering out the window. “What’s going on out there?” Wei Chen called out.

“I don’t know, but an ambulance just crashed into the roadside barrier. A woman ran past with a child, and a man was chasing after them. It looked pretty bad.”

The chaos had begun.

Lu Yinglan’s words suddenly flashed through Wei Chen’s mind, making his heart leap with a sense of impending doom. Just as he had this thought, a gunshot rang out from outside. He and his cellmate across the hall both turned to stare at the gate, then exchanged uneasy glances.

“Hey, was that a gunshot?” The man huddled in the corner of his bed. “What’s going on?”

Wei Chen had no answer. Suddenly, the gate swung open, and Captain Wang, the officer who had brought Wei Chen in the previous night, stumbled into the cell. Blood streamed from his left hand, soaking his sleeve. Captain Wang first opened the opposite cell and told the man, “It’s dangerous out there. Wait here for me, and I’ll get you out.”

Then he turned to Wei Chen.

Footsteps echoed as the man bolted from his cell and sprinted toward the gate. Captain Wang whirled around, shouting, “Don’t open the gate! There’s…”

Before Captain Wang could finish his warning, the man had already flung open the door and bolted out. But after only two steps, he froze, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. From Wei Chen’s angle, he couldn’t see the ceiling, but he could clearly see the man’s face contorted in terror, as if he were witnessing something unspeakable. The man glanced at Captain Wang, clicked his tongue, and whispered, “Save me.”

The moment those words left his lips, a dark shadow slashed across his neck, and his head tumbled to the ground. The headless corpse stood for a moment before blood erupted from the severed neck like a fountain.

“What’s out there?!” Wei Chen shouted.

Captain Wang grimly replied, “Monsters.”

A figure dropped from the ceiling outside the door, and someone shoved the half-open door inward, stepping into the sunlight. He was wearing a police uniform, but his eyes were completely bloodred, the whites replaced by crimson. A maniacal grin stretched across his face, and the ends of his arms had mutated into scythe-like appendages, as if the forelimbs of a praying mantis had been grafted onto his body.

Captain Wang raised his gun, aiming at the creature that could no longer be called human. “Xiao Li, don’t come any closer!”

The monster didn’t respond, only emitting a grotesque laugh from its throat before suddenly lunging forward. Captain Wang fired a shot at its head, the impact sending it crashing to the ground. But it quickly scrambled back to its feet, swaying unsteadily despite the bullet hole bleeding profusely from its forehead.

It charged again, slamming into Captain Wang. Two scythe-like blades pierced the captain’s chest, pinning him against the iron bars of Wei Chen’s cell. Wei Chen retreated to the edge of his bed, speechless as he stared at the blades protruding from the captain’s back.

Another gunshot rang out. The monster, which had been peering at Wei Chen through the bars, froze mid-motion. Its head slumped forward, finally dead.

Wei Chen leaned against the bed, gasping for breath, his mind blank. The shouts outside grew louder, as if the world were ending. After nearly a minute, he cautiously approached the cell door. First, he checked on Captain Wang—the middle-aged officer was indeed no longer breathing. Then he examined the monster. The back of its shirt was soaked with blood, the location suggesting Captain Wang had shot it in the heart. Wei Chen suddenly remembered that the shovel had pierced Lu Yinglan’s chest near her heart last night. That meant the heart was the monsters’ weak point!

He crouched down and hung a set of keys on Captain Wang’s waist. Wei Chen took them and, after trying several, finally unlocked the handcuffs. He then unlocked the cell gate and crawled out. After glancing at the two corpses, Wei Chen hesitated before picking up Captain Wang’s fallen gun. With the weapon in hand, he seemed to gain a sliver of courage and cautiously made his way toward the main gate.

Outside the gate was a corridor leading straight through the detention center’s office to the exit. The corridor was straight and clear, with no one in sight except for the corpse of his former cellmate. Wei Chen moved quietly, afraid of attracting attention. As he passed the office, he peeked inside and immediately clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle a scream. The police officers inside were all dead, most of them decapitated in a gruesome scene that was almost unbearable to witness. Wei Chen felt his stomach churn violently, nearly vomiting up his dinner from the previous night.

After calming himself slightly, he reached the end of the corridor and peered through the glass door. Outside was a street. Across the street, a car had crashed into a storefront, and people were running past, their faces etched with terror. But there were no monsters in sight. Wei Chen gritted his teeth and pushed the door open.

Outside, the morning sunlight was unnaturally pale. Cars jammed the streets, and smoke billowed from the third floor of a distant building. Suddenly, a flash of fire erupted, followed by an explosion as flames surged from the windows.

Wei Chen gripped his gun tighter and strode forward. A scream pierced the air above him. Before he could look up, a man plummeted from above, his head smashing against the concrete sidewalk. Crimson blood seeped from beneath his body, gradually staining the gray pavement red.

“Help me!”

Across the road, a disheveled woman sprinted toward him. As Wei Chen glanced over, a car swerved wildly, striking the woman and crashing into a lamppost. The driver tried to crawl out, but the toppled lamppost crashed down, striking his head and killing him instantly.

Wei Chen stared blankly at the carnage. In that moment, only one thought screamed in his mind:

This world has gone mad!

He stumbled backward, dazed, and bumped into something. Turning, he saw a man in a suit and tie. Nothing seemed amiss about him, except for his vacant, lifeless eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Wei Chen said, turning to leave. But the man lowered his head to look at him, suddenly seizing Wei Chen’s hands with surprising strength. Then he opened his mouth, wider and wider, until the corners of his lips split.

Wei Chen watched in horror as something seemed to be trying to force its way out of the man’s mouth. He frantically raised his gun, but before he could fire, the man yanked violently, tearing Wei Chen’s gun-wielding arm clean off.

“Ah!” Wei Chen screamed in agony. At that moment, a head emerged from the man’s mouth, resembling a massively enlarged locust. It lunged forward and bit down on Wei Chen’s neck. In that instant, Wei Chen heard the sickening crack of his cervical vertebrae snapping, and his consciousness began to slip into darkness.

This shouldn’t be happening…

This shouldn’t be happening!