Chapter Fourteen: The Meeting

The primordial substance was the very foundation of Adonsa’s existence. It possessed extraordinary plasticity; at the very beginning, it could evolve the most suitable form for survival on this planet from only a trace of atmospheric components. Even Adonsa himself would not dare claim complete understanding of its mysteries.

Up until now, the primordial substance had actually bestowed three abilities upon Adonsa.

The first, and most fundamental, was imitation.

If the primordial substance had not mimicked the nervous systems of stray dogs and even humans by devouring and simulating them, this consciousness known as Adonsa would never have emerged; it would have remained an amoebic entity, capable only of simple reflexes.

The act of thought itself was an achievement far more arduous and precious than humans ever imagined. Though mankind might not be the only sentient life on this planet, they stood at the pinnacle, transcending billions of other species. All of this began with the first ape that gazed up at the stars in curiosity and wonder.

Humanity spends nearly twenty years catalyzing the maturation of the central nervous system, nurturing incomparable intellect and wisdom. Yet Adonsa, in less than a minute of parasitism, had stolen this sentience for himself.

Biological modification was Adonsa’s second ability. This could be used both to advance the evolution of the primordial substance and to enhance the host.

In comparison, brainwave perception seemed much more unremarkable. However, the events of that night had revealed to Adonsa the existence of supernatural power, and the ability to perceive such forces had suddenly become immeasurably important.

Adonsa realized that supernatural abilities were, in essence, a special manifestation of brainwaves. Therefore, the ability to sense them should not be limited to mere perception alone. Yet, lacking sufficient samples, there was no way to analyze or research this further at present.

The third ability—division—manifested a power still more terrifying.

The split entities and the main body shared a unified consciousness, but the vessels carrying that consciousness could operate in parallel. In other words, Adonsa could think simultaneously with multiple brains, greatly accelerating the speed of thought.

Though it could not truly multiply computational power tenfold with ten brains, Adonsa’s mental processing speed was already vastly enhanced, making research work immensely more efficient.

The acuity of Adonsa’s consciousness was always intimately tied to his vessel. It was only after devouring his first human brain and simulating the human nervous system that he gained basic cognitive ability. As the simulation grew more refined, his thinking drew ever closer to, and ultimately far surpassed, that of humans.

Provided ample nutrition, Adonsa could divide once per day, allowing the number of split entities to grow exponentially. At first, there would be only a handful, but once a certain threshold was crossed, their numbers would explode in a frenzy of growth.

By then, Adonsa would truly become a colossal hive-mind organism, his capacity for survival far exceeding anything imaginable.

For now, the urgent task was to amass knowledge and advance his own evolution. No matter how glorious the future, if he were cut down at this early stage, it would all be meaningless.

Over the next three days, Adonsa successfully increased the number of split entities to sixteen, carefully selecting solitary individuals from all walks of life—programmers, cleaners, and more.

Adonsa’s parasitic efficiency was extraordinary. With merely a mouth-to-mouth contact, a highly mobile split entity could burrow into the cranial cavity through various orifices, devour the brain, and, while absorbing fragmented memories, take control of the body.

Although the hosts under Adonsa’s control moved fluidly enough, their facial expressions and speech remained stiff and unnatural, limiting him to those who lived alone with no close contacts.

The parasitized humans would continue their original lives under Adonsa’s direction, continuously feeding him information and knowledge from every corner.

With careful management, all the split entities hid themselves perfectly, arousing no suspicion or unrest.

Yet, despite Adonsa’s efforts to minimize the modifications to his hosts, the split entities required enormous nutrition, causing the hosts’ appetites to skyrocket tenfold overnight—they could consume an entire roast pig in a single sitting.

For some low-income hosts, this was a catastrophe. Even a case of instant noodles barely sufficed and still resulted in malnutrition. Clearly, if necessary, extreme measures would have to be taken.

This served as a warning: unchecked expansion would have enormous repercussions. A sudden surge in food consumption among the populace would inevitably attract the authorities’ attention; any investigation would almost certainly expose Adonsa’s existence.

Even without much social awareness, Adonsa knew well what kind of turmoil a parasitic, self-dividing monster would bring to human society.

Thus, limiting the number of split entities was essential.

Such restraint was necessary.

Amidst the confrontation of various forces, a cold, evil, and nauseatingly terrifying power began to spread throughout the city.

It was silent and unstoppable, sweeping through everything without a trace or warning.

The city was being devoured, starting with a pus-oozing stray dog, then moving on to politicians wielding immense power—endlessly, without pause.

———

In the boxing ring, a fighter who had spent the previous round battered beneath a relentless storm of punches suddenly, in the last three seconds of the countdown, lashed out with a nearly impossible blow, striking his opponent’s auricular ganglion. The violent impact knocked the opponent out cold, never to rise again.

The coach rushed forward to embrace his victorious boxer, unaware that the reason for his earlier passivity was simply a result of the coach’s own words: “Knocking out your opponent in the final three seconds makes for the most exciting match.”

Having only just taken control of this body, Adonsa was still unfamiliar with everything, relying solely on the host’s scant knowledge and experience to muddle through the world of boxing.

The boxer gazed indifferently at the roaring crowd, a strange violet glint flashing in his eyes.

———

“Useless! You can’t even write such basic code? You’ve lost your bonus for this month! Go back and review your programming fundamentals!”

At his boss’s furious roar, a portly man with glasses stiffly exited the office and returned to his desk.

Since last night, his memories had been fragmented, making it impossible to write even a single coherent line of code.

He pulled a copy of “Programming Fundamentals” from the bookshelf, eliciting laughter from his coworkers.

He removed his glasses. His hands rapidly flipped through the book, rifling through the pages with the speed of a gusting wind. Then he closed the book, reached for another programming volume, and repeated the process, his eyes capturing every image and character like a camera.

“What’s he doing?”

“Is this some kind of joke? Who can absorb a book that way?”

“He must be crazy—the boss’s scolding has driven him mad.”

His colleagues whispered among themselves.

And so the fat man stayed late at the office, reading under the lamp until dawn.

Then he began to code.

The next day, his fingers moved so fast it seemed the keyboard would shatter, but the program he wrote wouldn’t run at all.

On the third day, he worked through the night to fix thousands upon thousands of bugs, lines of code pouring down the screen like a waterfall.

On the fourth day, he began optimizing the algorithms, reaching a level of completion far beyond his peers.

On the fifth day, the task was finished, and the man with glasses received lavish praise from his boss.

Everyone stared in astonishment as the former underachiever rocketed to the top of the entire company.

Only the computer screen reflected the indifference in his eyes—and a deep, uncanny violet.