Fear of food

Chapter 123 Golden Fried Rice, a Balance of Meat and Vegetables
Chen Qi got off the car alone and followed the flow of people into Jinghai Medical College.

His purpose in coming to Jinghai Medical College this time was not only to detect the first generation of Nightmare Eaters, but also to identify the Class A pollution source.

Before he left Chang Le City, the Nightmare Clan provided a Class C pollution source, which was also included in the deal he made with Monroe.

In addition to having just consumed the Class C pollution source left by Lin Ning, Chen Qi has already consumed five servings of high-grade wild food. One more serving will allow him to complete his second qualitative leap in abilities.

However, since Chen Qi's fourth and fifth meals were from Class C pollutants, he could only barely meet the standard. In Monroe's words, he hadn't accumulated enough.

Monroe speculated that if he wanted to complete his second qualitative leap in ability, the energy from the Grade B pollution source would not be enough for the sixth feeding, and he would need to go for Grade A!
In other words, he must find and eliminate a Class A pollution source.

There are several Class A pollution areas identified in Jinghai City, but Chen Qi still went straight to Jinghai Medical College, a Class S pollution area, not to make things difficult for himself, but because many things could only be settled here.

Two locations within the medical school have been identified as Class A sources of contamination.

One is the laboratory, and the other is the second canteen.

As for the first canteen, it is highly likely that it contains S-level pollution sources.

Chen Qi is currently unable to process S-level pollution sources, and his food detection capabilities cannot detect S-level pollution sources, let alone convert them into wild food.

So his destination was the laboratory and the second canteen!
Previously in Chang Le City, with the help of Monroe, he had already tested his ability to detect and transform Class A pollution sources.

Starting from the main gate of Jinghai Medical College, the journey to the laboratory was shorter. Chen Qi ran all the way, attracting the attention of the surrounding students.

As he approached the laboratory, he also sensed that the distance between himself and the Nightmare Eater was rapidly closing.

The Nightmare Eater is closing in on him!
Finally, at the last corner before reaching the laboratory, a person who looked exactly like Chen Qi blocked his way.

"Aren't you surprised to see me?" Chen Qi's smile was somewhat cheerful. This time, he finally didn't follow the script that the Nightmare Eater had arranged for him.

No matter what the Nightmare Eater is planning or what backup plans it has, Chen Qi's escape from Chang Le City and return to Jing Hai City at this moment must have been unexpected by the Nightmare Eater!

Things didn't go as Nightmare had predicted, which meant that Nightmare's plan had failed.

The Nightmare Eater's expression was grim as he scrutinized Chen Qi from head to toe, as if trying to ascertain something.

"Why would those nightmares let you leave? What deal did you make with them?"

His original plan was to let Chen Qi master the Dream Thief's abilities before he could reap the rewards.

According to his prediction, the Nightmare Clan would complete the corruption and memory replacement of Chen Qi in two days at most.

When he takes over Chen Qi's body and facilitates the fusion of the two bodies, he will only have to face a Chen Qi whose memories have been replaced, and a weakened generation of Nightmare.

He was confident that he could suppress the Nightmare of the Generation and awaken some of Chen Qi's replaced memories.

At that point, the situation will turn in his favor.

But now, Chen Qi has appeared in the place he least expected to be—right in front of him!
Chen Qi said calmly, "I have already pledged allegiance to the Nightmare Clan."

"Impossible!" Nightmare Eater shook his head, his face full of disbelief.

He believed he knew Chen Qi well and didn't believe Chen Qi would give in so easily.

"Then tell me, why did they let me leave?"

The Nightmare Eater's expression shifted, filled with surprise and uncertainty; indeed, he couldn't think of any other possibility.

Having already taken control of Chen Qi, how could the Nightmare Clan possibly let him leave so easily!

The only explanation is that Chen Qi has completely sided with the Nightmare Clan.

The Nightmare Eater seemed to have "half-believing, half-doubting" written all over its face. Chen Qi couldn't help but sneer inwardly; even those who like to deceive others are always worried about being deceived themselves.

That bastard Shiyan lies three times in a row; he always mixes truth and falsehood in his speech, so he must be inherently suspicious.

No matter what he said, the Nightmare Eater dared not believe it completely, nor did he dare not disbelieve it completely.

The Nightmare's expression shifted between light and dark. Suddenly, its arm exploded into several tentacles, which attacked Chen Qi.

At that moment, a crack suddenly appeared between Chen Qi's eyebrows, revealing a vertical eye!
The vertical eye met the Nightmare Eater's gaze, causing the Nightmare Eater to momentarily lose its focus, standing frozen in place as if immobilized.

Taking advantage of the opening, Chen Qi bit off the tentacles of the Nightmare Eater in a few bites. The Nightmare Eater woke up in pain and retreated, but its eyes were fixed on the vertical eye between Chen Qi's eyebrows, its face full of disbelief.

Immediately, an uncontrollable anger surfaced on his face.

He was furious, his face contorted with jealousy, his eyes filled with madness and resentment, like a wild beast whose prey had been stolen and was now completely enraged.

"How can you?"

"how dare you!"

"You actually accepted the fusion with the Nightmare Clan!"

"Why!"

"Why!"

He roared wildly.

The vertical eye that appeared between Chen Qi's eyebrows represents the alienation of his body, an ability possessed only by parasites.

Moreover, this type of mutation is more similar to that of the Nightmare Clan, indicating that he accepted the parasitism of the Nightmare Clan and completed the fusion with the Nightmare Clan, or at least the initial fusion!
He had been lurking within Chen Qi's body for so long, racking his brains, but he still couldn't achieve any fusion with Chen Qi's soul.

This left him with immense potential, yet unable to unleash it.

But the Nightmare Clan, having only been in contact with Chen Qi for a few days, actually accomplished what he had always dreamed of!

He understood that this was not a tactic employed by the Nightmare Clan, but rather a compromise made by Chen Qi himself.

If Chen Qi is unwilling, even a Nightmare of the Generation 1 cannot forcibly merge with Chen Qi; at most, it can only achieve a shallow parasitic state like him.

That's why the Nightmare Clan wanted to erase Chen Qi's memories, in order to make Chen Qi willingly cooperate with the parasitism and fusion.

But Chen Qi still has all his memories, which means that he himself cooperated with the Nightmare Clan to complete the parasitism and fusion!
"Why!" Nightmare Eater roared, "Weren't you supposed to be tough? Why did you give in!"

"Don't you humans all believe in first come, first served..."

"I was obviously the one who came first!"

The Nightmare felt betrayed. He had put so much effort into Chen Qi and had long considered him as his own.

He originally intended to take advantage of the Nightmare Clan, but unexpectedly, the Nightmare Clan took the credit instead.

This was unacceptable to him!
"I don't agree!"

"Don't try to get rid of me!"

"Don't forget, your humanity still remains with me; we are still one!"

With a roar of fury, the Nightmare turned into a lump of flesh and lunged at Chen Qi.

"Since that's the case, then merge with me again, and don't even think about getting rid of me!"

Chen Qi snorted coldly, and a layer of blood-red light instantly covered an area of ​​more than ten meters around him.

With a wave of his hand, the minced meat was dragged by an invisible force and pushed to the edge of the red light.

"field!"

A blurry head emerged from the minced meat, looking at the surrounding red light, further confirming in its heart that Chen Qi had merged with the nightmare.

This red domain is unique to their generation of Nightmare Clan.

Chen Qi can now use his domain, something only a parasite fused with a generation of Nightmare Clan members can do!
Although the scope of the domain is still very small, indicating that Chen Qi and the first generation of Nightmare have only initially merged, it is undoubtedly a fusion.

Chen Qi casually waved his hand, and the lump of flesh that the Nightmare had transformed into was flung away with tremendous force. "This domain is really useful!"

Chen Qi sighed inwardly. The Nightmare Clan alone had no combat power, and the Devourer alone had low combat power, but the parasite created by the fusion of the two could perfectly exert the strength of both, achieving a result greater than the sum of its parts.

If one cannot be controlled by the Nightmare Clan, then merging with the Nightmare Clan is the best way to strengthen oneself.

Chen Qi ignored the Nightmare Eater and, taking advantage of the moment he shook it off, rushed towards the laboratory.

Within his domain, the students and teachers passing by were all in a daze, turning a blind eye to Chen Qi's battle with Nightmare Eater.

Chen Qi could even control them directly, much like eating a ghost face cookie.

However, its influence range is far smaller than that of the Ghost Face Cookie. His current domain only covers a dozen meters around him, while the Ghost Face Cookie can affect everyone within his field of vision.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Qi had already run into the laboratory.

But this time, he wasn't pulled into the illusion until he entered the laboratory.

Everything was normal in the laboratory, with various experimental instruments and equipment on display. There were no dissection tables or countless corpses.

There were only a few students conducting experiments.

Chen Qi was not surprised; he knew that the real illusions created by Class A pollution sources also selectively affected those around them.

It's impossible to pull all the teachers and students who enter the lab into the illusion during the day; there's no need for that.

The current Chen Qi is probably not the kind of person who is welcomed. Unlike last time, he wasn't pulled into the illusion as soon as he got close.

But it's okay, Chen Qi's food detection ability has already detected the location of the Class A pollution source!
It's right in the corner of the lab!
He located the source of the pollution and quickly tracked it down.

His foraging abilities finally came into play, transforming the pollutant into high-quality wild food.

When Chen Qi arrived at that corner, he saw a bowl of rice.

A bowl of golden fried rice!
Each grain of rice is distinct, coated with golden egg yolk, and has an enticing aroma.

Chen Qi unconsciously swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily.

"eat!"

He reached out to pick up the bowl of golden fried rice, but he knew it wasn't that easy.

High-quality wild food has the ability to save itself; when faced with danger, it will do everything in its power to save itself.

Therefore, he will inevitably be drawn into the illusion.

Sure enough, when Chen Qi's hand was less than ten centimeters away from the bowl of fried rice, the surrounding light and shadows shifted, and in a flash, the fried rice disappeared.

The light suddenly dimmed.

Chen Qi returned to the familiar morgue.

The surrounding autopsy tables were filled with corpses.

When Chen Qi returned here, his mindset was completely different from last time; he was no longer tense or fearful.

This time, he had learned from Marilyn Monroe how to escape from the illusion!

But he was in no hurry to escape the illusion.

He was searching among the corpses; the darkness did not obstruct his vision. He walked through the bodies, his gaze sweeping over their pale faces.

A moment later, he paused and saw a slightly familiar face.

"Is this the father of the pancake?"

Chen Qi gently stroked the forehead of Da Bing's father, waking him up.

"Follow me." Chen Qi didn't say much, just gave a simple instruction.

He knew this was just a manifestation of part of the father's humanity, and there was no need to say too much. It would be enough to awaken him and arouse his rebellious spirit.

The father looked bewildered, but then seemed to remember something and obediently followed behind Chen Qi.

Just then, the lights above their heads suddenly turned on.

A group of teachers and students rushed in from outside the laboratory, as if they had received a message.

"A patient has woken up!"

They went straight to the lighted area and saw Chen Qi and Dabing's father under the light.

"Oh no! An intruder has brought the patient back to life!"

"Save him too!"

A teacher, accompanied by five or six students, carrying first-aid tools such as hammers, axes, and electric drills, rushed towards Chen Qi and his companion.

Chen Qi tried it out and found that his domain was unusable in this illusion.

He remembered that when he first came to this illusion, Xia Huiyun and other level parasites were unable to use their domains, and even lost their ability to mutate their bodies.

It seems that everyone has become an ordinary person, except that the parasites are more resilient and stronger.

This is probably the difference between illusion and dream. In a dream, whether it is a parasite or a glutton, all abilities can be used. However, the abilities of a nightmare parasite are enhanced in a dream.

Within the illusion, all parasites and ability users are treated equally and are weakened.

However, although Chen Qi's ability to generate food, domains, and food detection was ineffective in the illusion, his most fundamental ability to eat would not disappear.

Besides... he's a parasite now too!

Chen Qi rushed forward in one stride, much faster than the teachers and students.

The female teacher in the lead wielded a chainsaw and swung it down at Chen Qi's head.

"Eat it!"

"Edible chainsaws? They're all fake!"

In Chen Qi's mind, a weak yet excited voice couldn't help but shout.

That was the voice of a nightmare. He had been eaten by Chen Qi and was left with only his head, so he was practically on the verge of death.

It wasn't until after the initial fusion with Chen Qi that it regained some vitality.

When Chen Qi left Chang Le City, he had not yet merged with the Nightmare. In fact, the merging process only began on the plane back.

This was also part of the deal between Chen Qi and the Nightmare Clan, but more importantly, Chen Qi needed the Nightmare Clan's power!

He needs the powerful combat strength that the fusion will bring!
Otherwise, he can't do anything and can only become a battleground for the Nightmare Clan and the Nightmare Eater Clan. No matter which side wins, he will be controlled.

Exploiting the conflict between Nightmare and Nightmare Eater to gain personal benefits is his only way to survive, and also his best option.

Chen Qi opened his mouth and bit at the spinning chainsaw chain.

quack!

He bit off half of the chainsaw blade, and the chain flew off.

Chen Qi chewed a few times, and although he didn't feel much of a substance in his mouth, he still made a series of crunching sounds.

He smacked his lips, feeling a lack of taste in his mouth, then grabbed the female teacher, opened his mouth wide enough to be bigger than a watermelon, and swallowed her head whole.

A good mix of meat and vegetables, just right!
(End of this chapter)