Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 268 Symbiosis?

KV-237 relayed the intelligence it had gathered, and Doom learned the truth. The usually quiet bridge of the Royal Majesty was now even more silent; everyone had witnessed the evil hidden beneath the prosperous city.

In the world of The Shapeshifters, the ratio of men to women of all ages is controlled at 1:1. This is not achieved through advanced technology or genetic control, but by throwing the surplus population into pipes and feeding them to the alien monsters.

Despite some suspicions, when the truth was revealed, it was so ugly it was chilling.

"Continue to gather information, piece together complete intelligence, and then record it."

Doom's tone was calm; he showed no anger or impulsiveness. His eyes remained expressionless as he instructed Iron Man to continue gathering intelligence, clearly stating the next course of action with the phrase "Documented."

Waiting. Doom was waiting for intelligence to come back, waiting for everything to become clear, waiting for the Imperial reinforcement fleet to arrive.

An entire legion responded to the support and is traversing the warp to reach the Shaper's domain.

Inside the sewers, KV-237 was also waiting.

It then released several more nanobots, which meticulously manipulated the robots to faithfully record everything.

The alien devoured the human body with gusto, its sharp, serrated jaws slicing it to pieces. A mass of bloody pulp entered the middle of the body, and the alien began its next feeding.

The billions of tiny worms that make up the body tumble and swim like mercury, extending their tiny mouthparts to insert into the blood plasma and extract nutrients from it.

In just a moment, the tiny, transparent worm, having eaten and drunk its fill and sucked up a large amount of blood, turned completely red.

237. I can see it now. Those insects that make up the body are soft and resemble transparent centipedes, with many long and thin tentacles arranged on both sides of their bodies.

The tentacles are extremely thin and long, much like the silk threads of a spider. It is because the tentacles are tightly bound together that the worms can connect with each other closely and form a complete body.

As the flesh and blood were digested, the alien monster let out a satisfied groan amidst the cries of the surrounding humans.

In less than ten seconds, the crimson color of the alien body faded, the nutrients were digested, and the transparent body turned into another color.

The tiny worms began to feed the alien, their mouthparts expelling a golden liquid that flowed into the alien's body through the gaps in their bodies, where it solidified into a gel-like mass.

The alien creature made of worms began to move; the swarm of worms beneath its body surged and crawled toward the entrance of a freight elevator.

Ugh~~
Its ferocious maw opened wide, and it regurgitated a golden, gelatinous substance from its body into the freight elevator.

ding~~
The automated elevator sensed the cargo, immediately closed the hatch, and left the meat-and-flesh dining table with the golden-yellow colloid inside.

Inside the enormous, filthy room, the alien once again spat out thin threads, binding humans one by one and feeding them into its mouth, beginning a new round of feeding.

237 departed, retrieving all the nanobots, activating the cloak, disappearing into the darkness, and heading to another location.

There are no more secrets here...

KV-230, following the nanomachines, finally located its target.

It lay prone on the exterior wall of the apartment building, like a nimble four-legged gecko, its movements so gentle that even the most sensitive sensors could hardly detect its presence.

Slipping through the window crack into the living room, 230 tiptoed through the lock and entered the master bedroom.

It moved nimbly, looking down at the sleeping couple by the bedside. Its mechanical hand quietly transformed into a cold, gleaming syringe, which it aimed at their necks and pressed down.

A potent hypnotic drug with precisely controlled dosage allows couples to sleep until the next morning, preventing them from waking up in the middle of the night and disrupting their activities.

After doing all this, 230 drifted away, closing the door behind it without leaving a trace.

Having dealt with his worries, Iron Man arrived at the target room, climbed up the wall, and observed the boy from directly above while hanging upside down.

With the electronic scanner at full power, 230, like a ghostly phantom, silently observes the sleeping human infant.

The boy was fast asleep, lying on a woven velvet mattress, covered with a soft goose down comforter; he should have been sleeping very soundly.

The reality was quite the opposite; he seemed to be having a nightmare, sweating profusely in his sleep, clutching the blanket tightly for a sense of security.

230 saw the reason: the boy was completely uninhibited in front of it.

Iron Man finally understood why the shapeshifters were not afraid of genetic testing and why the Empire's initial screening had not found any abnormalities in their bodies.

Under molecular-level scanning imaging, abnormalities are occurring within the boy's body, revealing the fundamental reason why body sculptors alter body shape and create beauty.

A transparent, colorless parasite with a body as soft as if it had no bones was lurking in the boy's spinal fluid!
It lives in symbiosis with the spine, its soft body sliding in the cerebrospinal fluid, secreting a numbing fluid to alleviate the host's pain, and devouring the spinal cord. The parasite fills the hollowed-out sections of the spine with its own body, becoming part of the host's body and taking over the original functions of the spinal cord.

After doing all this, the parasite completes its metamorphosis, its body undergoes genetic assimilation, and it becomes indistinguishable from normal spinal cord tissue.

The spinal cord sampling performed by the Empire was nothing more than tissue extracted from the spinal cord, which was nothing more than parasite tissue with DNA completely identical to that of humans.

Not content with this, the parasite, after replacing the spine, grew countless silky tentacles on both sides of its body, which then wrapped around the nerve structure.

In just two hours, every nerve in the boy's body, including the tiny peripheral nerves, was wrapped in silken tentacles.

Now, parasites have integrated with humans, completely replacing the nervous system and controlling every detail of the body.

It begins to control hormone secretion, stimulates the development of various human organs, and guides humans to grow in the direction of "beauty." As for excess fat and other nutrients, they all become its food.

On the Royal Majesty, Doom watched the whole process, and the fog in his mind gradually dissipated, revealing where the handsome men and beautiful women of the Shaping Union came from.

They are infected with parasites, which allows them to control their own hormone secretion, thus giving them better developmental options.

Doom shook his head with disdain and said in a mocking tone, "This is what you call 'symbiosis'?"

He had heard the term from the consul and had long harbored doubts; now he knew its secret.

What appears to be a symbiotic relationship is actually the aliens' domestication of humans, which gradually develops into a continuous plunder.

After watching the entire parasitic process, you can see the parasite devouring the nervous system and gradually taking control of the human body without any hindrance.

The inside of the brain is the hardest hit area. Except for certain areas of self-awareness, the rest of the brain tissue has been completely eaten away and replaced.

Symbiosis is based on fairness, with both parties cooperating fairly.

Parasites can devour the human brain at any time, replace the personality, and completely enslave the human body; this behavior is unrelated to symbiosis.

Doom gave the order for Iron Man to conceal himself: "KV-230, you have completed your mission. Conceal yourself and await further instructions."

With the intelligence chain gradually completed, all that's left is for 117 to finish the mission so that we can learn about the ecological patterns of the parasite species and then wipe them out in one fell swoop.

"Your instructions received." 230 reported back, then erased all traces and left the boy's room.

Just as it reached the living room window, preparing to leave, an unusual noise came from the master bedroom.

230 immediately bent down, its slender body leaping up and hiding in the gap in the ceiling. At this moment, it was like an inanimate object, quietly waiting for the situation to develop.

Uh... hoo...

Heavy breathing could be heard as two humanoid creatures staggered forward, emerging from the master bedroom.

The handsome male and beautiful female owners were completely naked, and their nervous systems visibly twitched beneath their skin, causing various physical incoordination.

“Stress response.” 230 quietly noted it down. From the first glance at the two of them, plus the information it had just gathered, it knew where this change came from.

The sleeping pills, which are effective against humans, have triggered a reaction in the parasite, leaving it in a state of confusion and having lost control of its nervous system.

“The enemy…the enemy…”

The man was breathing heavily, his face contorted, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth, his eyes darting around, and his speech impediment: "Is there an enemy... invading...?"

The parasite knows what's happening, and the human body is under its own control, so there will be no endocrine disorders or heavy sleep.

However, it is uncertain whether there is really an enemy, or whether the mosquito bite caused a rejection reaction.

Their movements startled the elderly and children in the house, who then came out of their rooms and into the living room.

An elderly couple, a married couple, and two children. Six people were in the living room, four of them surrounding two others.

"What happened? What's wrong with you all?"

The grandfather asked anxiously, while the two children trembled beside him, clearly frightened by their parents' terrifying appearance.

"Eat these animals!" The twisted man trembled, his voice hoarse yet terrifying, as he spoke to his brethren hidden in human bodies, "Quickly!"

(End of this chapter)