Chapter 67: You Will Ultimately Be Me

“...a new...embryo...so fortunate...” A hazy consciousness emerged from the mist—a language unknown to humans, one Panyi might have understood had she remained awake.

But now, she was utterly lost in the illusion it had crafted.

The voice was more excited than ever, as if witnessing its imminent dominion over a new world.

“An undiscovered, new—demon embryo...suitable as a mother body...how fortunate indeed...in this desolate world...”

The mist surged and pulsed, like a heart beating with excitement.

“...Perfect...the weak creatures here are so dull—no matter how much they merge or reproduce, they’re merely countless accumulations of weakness...but if I use her as a mother body...I will merge and multiply into the strongest...I shall become the greatest among my kind, I shall attain the title ‘Mother Goddess of Desire’...”

As if stirred by visions of a glorious future, the alien mist surged violently, spreading its thick, viscous fog across the entire city.

Countless people, asleep in their dreams, had invisible viscous fluids seep into their bodies, their limbs twisting in grotesque ways.

“Come...my lambs...the time has come to offer your lives to your master...let your lives nourish this new demon embryo, the mother body, to birth and multiply your great lord...”

“On the day I am reborn, this world shall groan beneath my feet...perhaps even stand alongside the supreme beings of this world...ha ha ha...”

Amid its wild laughter, the mist quivered violently, blotting out the entire sky, and continued spreading relentlessly toward distant cities—Lucheng, Ningcheng, Guangcheng, and beyond.

“‘Mother Goddess of Desire’? What is that?” A detached voice suddenly asked.

“It is the ultimate form of my Zhi Nie clan, the ultimate goal of every member of our race...” it replied eagerly.

But instantly, the atmosphere froze.

A figure slowly emerged from the mist—now barely resembling a human.

She had worn a white shirt and black trousers; now, her slender frame beneath the shirt bulged with Cengcengdiedie deformities, stretching the loose fabric taut, especially her abdomen, swollen as if six months pregnant.

Her once-straight legs twisted in a manner no human limb could possibly achieve.

Her face was no longer recognizable as human.

“So this is your plan? Originally, you intended to merge all life in the city...but seeing me, you decided to use every human life as nourishment, and my body as the mother body, to birth your Zhi Nie clan’s ultimate form—the ‘Mother Goddess of Desire’?”

Her mouth was positioned strangely atop her head; she tried to speak, but could no longer produce sound—of course, all her organs had shifted out of place; just breathing was a miracle, let alone speaking.

So she resonated her mental frequency with the Zhi Nie member to establish communication.

“What a strange method of reproduction...” Panyi’s expression was peculiar—if one could still read expression on her deformed head—“With human thinking, no matter how clever, you’ll never understand what you aliens are after...if this is what we’ll keep facing...how do we even deal with it...”

She raised her bumpy right hand and touched where her chin had been—now her ear.

“When did you wake up?” It was momentarily startled, but not alarmed; the invisible mist churned, drawing closer to her body.

“When you went too far.” Panyi was almost grateful her face had moved elsewhere—otherwise she’d be blushing with shame.

“Since you’re awake, all the better—you can watch as I ascend to godhood—oh, the thrill of having a demon embryo as my audience, witnessing itself become the mother body of my birth—I’m so excited...” As she spoke, the entire mist trembled with excitement.

“What demon embryo?” Panyi asked quickly.

“Oh, this poor little thing doesn’t even know its own identity...but don’t worry, my dear, you will become the cradle of my birth—no, no, you will become part of me, you will ascend with me to godhood, we shall never be parted. Then you will understand everything...”

As she spoke, the mist across the city surged together; countless people awoke to find their bodies writhing uncontrollably, twisting grotesquely.

“Sigh...why do these things always leave half their words unsaid...” Panyi sighed with endless melancholy.

Immediately, centered on her form, an invisible mental force exploded outward, like ink dropped into water, dissolving swiftly through the mist.

The invisible viscous fluids hidden in the mist, touched by this ink, suddenly went numb. They writhed desperately, then were instantly destroyed by a stronger, more dominant force.

“You can’t stop me—you’ve already been infected!” It laughed maniacally.

The part of it inside Panyi accelerated its writhing.

Panyi’s deformed body began changing again: her arms retracted into her torso, her legs merged into her body; the viscous fluids tore and fused with her, coiling her into a strange spherical shape, nurturing a new life within her abdomen—a strange, demonic power, like a seed, rapidly growing.

Yet the mental force radiating from Panyi did not cease; instead, it spread faster across the entire city.

In Lucheng, countless people watched in terror as their bodies twisted under alien forces—when suddenly, the twisting stopped all at once.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Panyi’s mental frequency echoed in its ear; from the faint, pained moans, it heard mockery—“...Is that all the pain? Not enough...I need more pain—the kind that proves I’m still alive...”

“Is that so? Then try this!”

Though it spoke these words, its tone held alarm for the first time.

It retracted most of its body; since it could no longer draw nourishment from ordinary humans under Panyi’s mental control, it decided to pour its entire form into Panyi’s body—still a chance to achieve its ultimate goal.

Thus, on this extraordinary night in Lucheng, countless sleepless people saw from their windows: the perpetually fog-shrouded sky, the mist visibly dispersing.

A full moon appeared in the night sky—but more dazzling than the moon was the grotesque monster in the heavens.

The monster defied description; some of its organs vaguely resembled human parts, yet bore no true connection to humanity.

The mist swirling above Lucheng was entirely absorbed by the monster, like a colossal vacuum, gulping down swirling clouds of fog.

Its size grew, and grew, until it nearly obscured the moon.

Its skin stretched transparent, revealing a faint, writhing shadow within its abdomen, expanding rapidly.

Just as people feared its bloated body would explode in the next second, it twisted violently—and in an instant, a vortex appeared in its place.

The vortex lasted only a fraction of a microsecond—but in that fleeting, imperceptible flash, everyone felt as if they had plunged into an abyss—though the sensation was so brief it could be dismissed as a momentary lapse.

In that lapse, the entire city’s population slipped into deep sleep; as they fell into dreams, their deformed bodies slowly returned to normal.

%%

At the moment all the viscous fluid had been absorbed into her body, Panyi activated “Hunger.”

Her form formed a vortex, slowly rotating and reshaping, transforming the alien intruder’s true body into pure life essence.

What a feast!

She felt she could sustain herself for a long time.

And as she savored this delicious meal, she briefly gained its abilities—illusion, consumption, fusion.

She plunged the entire city into sleep, making them believe it had all been a dream, restoring their deformed bodies to normal.

But restoring her own body—now utterly inhuman—to its original form took considerable effort. After all, this Zhi Nie intruder had only ever consumed and fused; it had never restored its prey.

Many mysteries remained, such as the “demon embryo.” So she drew its spirit back into her mind sea.

“...Tell me—what is a ‘demon embryo’?” Panyi stared at the translucent, trembling slime before the vortex.

“You...you are not the demon embryo...” It gazed at the black hole vortex, its thoughts in chaos—“...I misjudged you...forgive me...”

“Then what am I?—Speak my name...” Panyi said coldly.

“You are...the Supreme...Xue...”

The instant it uttered the first syllable of that name, across countless layers of the cosmos, billions of light-years away, a gaze—somehow—settled upon this place.

In her mind sea, the black hole vortex accelerated without warning, and before it could utter the second syllable, effortlessly sucked its spirit into smoke, drawing it in strand by strand.

Panyi stared coldly at her own vortex-shaped body. She hadn’t moved—so it must have been the other one inside her.

“You did a foolish thing...” It spoke, after a long silence.

“If I didn’t do something foolish, how would you come out?” Panyi sneered.

It fell silent again.

“You’ve lived inside my body for so long, and I still don’t know who you are. I’ve been a terrible landlord...by the way, have you ever paid rent?” Panyi said with deliberate sarcasm.

“Do you think your mental power arose out of nowhere?”

“Oh—you?” Panyi realized, but sudden rage surged within her: “It was you! You forced me down this path—I could have lived a quiet life...”

“From the moment you were born, a normal life was never possible...” It said Dandan ly.

“What is your goal? Who are you?”

“...You will ultimately be me, I will ultimately be you...” It fell silent once more.