Parasite (6): Parasitic Diffusion

Two hours later, Tan Xiao opened the car windows and waited until the smell inside the car dissipated, leaving only the scent of the car perfume, before finally feeling it was appropriate to have Wen Yi call the driver back.  

If it hadn’t been for the fact that they both drank and couldn’t drive under the influence, they definitely wouldn’t have let the driver help with the driving, given how thin-skinned they were when joking around.  

It only took 20 minutes by subway to reach the neighborhood where Tan Xiao lived, but driving took a full hour and a half. By the time they got home, Tan Xiao was lying flat on the sofa like a salted fish and asked Wen Yi, “Why don’t you just go back to your own place?”  

Wen Yi took off his suit jacket, yanked off his tie with one hand, and unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt, revealing a clearly visible red kiss mark on his collarbone. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Tan Xiao with a smirk, “Mr Tan, did you just get a promotion and a raise and now want to be a heartbreaker, driving your loyal husband out of this place?”  

Tan Xiao was taken aback by his words and said irritably, “What kind of husband are you? Between the two of us, I’m the husband okay? I just think that the commute from my house to the company is too long. If you keep doing this every day, it will be very tiring for you.”  

The subway was indeed overcrowded, not suitable for someone like Wen Yi, who was a pampered young master. It was bearable when there were fewer people, but during peak hours, the subway could really squeeze people’s shoes off.  

Tan Xiao had to go to work on time every day and couldn’t avoid peak hours. Although Wen Yi could have a driver pick him up, this made the commuting time on the road a bit too long.  

A day had 24 hours, 8 hours of sleep, and 16 hours of wakefulness. If work took up 10 hours, that left only 5 or 6 hours of free time. Spending less than an hour commuting each day was acceptable, but 3 hours was absolutely unacceptable.  

Originally, his work hours were already long, with 3 hours spent commuting back and forth. If he couldn’t change houses, he would rather change companies. But now he was about to get a promotion and a raise. He couldn’t change his wife, and changing jobs wouldn’t be worth it either.  

Wen Yi, however, said, “It’s okay, I’m willing to endure hardships. The driver is very steady, and I can handle work in the car.”  

Unlike ordinary workers like Tan Xiao, General Manager Wen Yi had much more flexible working hours. Even if he arrived at 10:30, no one would say anything. This was mainly because Wen Yi didn’t rely on the company’s attendance bonus to make a living.  

He sat down on the sofa next to Tan Xiao: “You are not some useless husband. You will always be my beloved baby that I want to treasure.”

If Tan Xiao were not a living person, he would definitely want to put him in the highest-spec safe.  

In the case of the other person being human, Wen Yi had also thought about locking Tan Xiao up. But just thinking about it, he knew that although Tan Xiao complained about the hard work, he would never really be willing to stay at home and live off others.  

Tan Xiao joked, “I know you can endure hardship, but I don’t want you to endure this unnecessary hardship.”  

Being in a relationship should make both people better. Wen Yi had already compromised in some areas, and Tan Xiao wasn’t the type to have such a strong and peculiar sense of pride that he insisted on making the other person live in his little nest. If he couldn’t change jobs, then he would change his place of residence.  

He asked Wen Yi, “Do you have a place near the company that belongs to you and is convenient for me to move in with you? If you don’t have a house, the company’s staff dormitory is fine, as long as it’s a decent double room.”  

CS Group had its own employee dormitories, but the environment of the shared dormitories was definitely not as good as one’s own home. The better single dormitories were not available for Tan Xiao, the team leader of this subsidiary, to apply for; but Wen Yi should be different.  

Wen Yi quickly responded, “Yes, yes, yes, of course there is!”  

He glanced at Tan Xiao and shyly smiled, “The top two floors of the company are reserved for me, and there are many empty rooms inside. We can move all the things you like from home over there. If you don’t want to live in the same building, there’s the next building too, and that one is also ours.”  

After all, they were a large corporation, so buying land and building a few buildings was quite normal. Otherwise, if the land belonged to someone else, they could easily be at their mercy.  

Even though the wealthy man was his boyfriend, upon hearing the news, he briefly felt a twinge of envy towards the rich. He took a deep breath and said, “No, let’s just stay in the building where the company is located. It’s more convenient for commuting.”  

This way, he and Wen Yi could go downstairs together, which could effectively hide their office romance. After all, Wen Yi was the new general manager now, and if they were to go public directly, it wouldn’t be a good influence.  

Wen Yi suddenly threw herself onto Tan Xiao: “Darling, you’re so wonderful. So when are we moving over? Should we move now?”  

Tan Xiao hugged him, “Are you in such a hurry?”  

Wen Yi calculated the time with him: “The later we move, the less time we have to spend together. Of course, the earlier we move, the better. That way, you can sleep in tomorrow morning.”  

It was no wonder Wen Yi was so eager; after all, that day was Monday, and there were still four more workdays ahead. If they could spend one more day together, they would have an extra three hours each day! Excluding work hours, that was six hours a day, and three hours was half of that, which meant their time together would double!  

Tan Xiao said with a smile, “Today is fine, but you have to promise me one thing: let’s keep our office romance low-key.”  

Wen Yi asked him, “Why? Is there something about me that can’t be shown to others?”  

“Of course not, it’s just that it has a bad influence on the company. I don’t like being pointed at and talked about by my colleagues.”  

People’s opinions could be frightening. Although he was not afraid of them, he was not used to sudden changes in the work environment. Moreover, his relationship with Wen Yi was still too new. They were currently in the honeymoon phase, but who knew if this love would cool down in the future.  

He rested his face on Wen Yi’s shoulder: “Don’t you usually keep your work phone and personal phone completely separate? For now, I don’t want to mix company matters with my personal affairs, and it’s not good to rely entirely on your strength. I also want to see what I can achieve on my own.”  

With Wen Yi around, he could ensure that he wouldn’t be treated unfairly and didn’t have to worry about being bullied. This alone made Tan Xiao very grateful. As for being public, there were pros and cons. The downside was that if they ever separated, it could get very messy.  

But Wen Yi was right. Since the two of them were together, they couldn’t hide their relationship like some underground affair. “It’s just that we won’t make it public at work. If someone sees us and asks, I’ll tell them. I can introduce you to my family and friends first.”  

Speaking of parents, Tan Xiao suddenly became worried and said, “Your parents won’t break us up, will they?”  

After all, he was just a low-level employee. Objectively speaking, he was still living off Wen Yi’s substantial benefits.  

Wen Yi swore, “Don’t worry, no one can tear us apart.”  

He didn’t care much about the friends and family in his memories. In fact, the attitude of those so-called parents towards him was very different from that of ordinary parents towards their children.  

With a smile, he wrapped his arms around his neck and said, “I trust you. Unless you change your heart or take the initiative to break up with me, I won’t leave you because of external forces.”  

Wen Yi looked into his lover’s gentle and affectionate eyes, cupped his handsome face, and gave a soft “Aww”: “Me too.”  

Moving was originally a time-consuming big project, but according to Wen Yi, his penthouse on the top floor was fully equipped, and he could move in with just his bags at any time. He only needed to pack his everyday items. Of course, if he was used to using something regularly and liked it, he could bring it along.  

Tan Xiao thought for a moment, and in the end, aside from a whole suitcase of clothes and a box of unused daily necessities, he only used a bunch of bags to pack all the food in the fridge: “Food bought shouldn’t go to waste.”  

He cut off the water, electricity, and gas switches at home, and with a somewhat uneasy heart, he returned to the area where the International Trade Financial Center was located with Wen Yi that afternoon. After all, he didn’t know if he would come back after this trip. Tan Xiao didn’t plan to rent out the house; he kept it as a backup plan for himself.  

The office building used a public elevator for companies, but there was also a separate entrance that was usually guarded by security, allowing only the owners to enter and exit.  

Wen Yi entered his information and swiped it in advance to go upstairs. This elevator was much faster than the one in the company. Although it was not as spacious, the interior was resplendently decorated.  

However, Wen Yi’s large flat was obviously not as fancy as the one in the elevator. Each floor was several thousand square meters, with different suites having different decoration styles, but each style was very beautiful. He could probably understand what Wen Yi meant when he said that a smaller house was better, because if it were too big, it would be easy to get lost going around, and once separated, they might need a walkie-talkie to find each other.  

Tan Xiao liked each set very much, but in the end, he still chose a set with a refined and fresh style similar to his home: “Let’s stay in this one.”  

This place was about four hundred square meters, and it had everything it should have. Of course, more importantly, the style looked familiar; he had always been nostalgic and long-lasting.  

Moving into a new house, he wasn’t too excited about it. After all, his previous little nest was quite comfortable. He had just one comment about the new house: “The dedicated gaming room is nice, playing games is very enjoyable. The bed is big and soft, and the bathtub is also large, easily accommodating two people.”  

When he went to work the next day, Tan Xiao added a handful of health-promoting black goji berries to his thermos. He also thoughtfully prepared honeysuckle and wild chrysanthemum for Wen Yi to help reduce heat.  

Although doing this kind of thing was very enjoyable, he didn’t feel any discomfort, and his work efficiency was even higher than before, with his energy returning to the peak state of his freshman year. However, the frequency was still a bit too much; it should be done gradually and not overdone.  

The next day, Tan Xiao went to work as usual, and Wen Yi immediately found him to discuss the promotion and raise. This time, not only was Tan Xiao’s previously suppressed supervisor position elevated, but it was also a double promotion, directly promoting him from supervisor to the head of the department.  

Like their company, the base salary was actually quite standard, with the bulk coming from project commissions. Each department head controlled the distribution of bonuses for their subordinates, and whether the bonuses were high or low was not solely up to the department head.  

Tan Xiao asked, “Where’s Director Jin?” Director Jin was his former direct boss.  

Wen Yi said, “He is not suitable for the technical department, so he went to the newly established channel department. The previous sales department is now under the channel department.”  

Director Jin’s work ability was still quite good, but compared to technical skills, he was better at interpersonal relationships. The previous discussions about promotions were actually initiated by Director Jin himself.  

The benefits in the sales department were much higher than in the technical department. Tan Xiao nodded, signed his self-evaluation report, and after Wen Yi approved it, he was officially promoted in the company’s system.  

After being promoted to department head, the bonuses for the projects were no longer managed by the original supervisor, but were directly handled by Wen Yi. The team members he had previously led as a team leader were also promoted to team leaders if they were suitable.  

KK Smart Company had a new General Manager, and the employees who were reassigned were not just Tan Xiao. There had been significant changes in the personnel structure: some were transferred to equivalent positions, some were promoted, some were demoted, and some left the company. Tan Xiao, who got a double promotion, was the “luckiest” one.  

After being promoted two levels, his salary naturally saw a significant increase. Previously, he received bonuses from a single project team, but after being promoted to department head, he could earn commissions from multiple projects. In the end, his take-home pay could potentially triple or more, a genuine promotion and salary increase without any fluff.  

During the lunch break, Tan Xiao didn’t go to the cafeteria but was instead given takeout to eat in the office by Wen Yi, who used being busy as an excuse.  

They said it was takeout, but it was actually the housekeeper hired by Wen Yi. The house chef prepared the food and sent it down directly from upstairs. The presentation and taste were incomparable to the cafeteria.  

The company cafeteria claimed to treat all employees the same, but the leaders had many social engagements and none of them actually went to the cafeteria every day.  

Tan Xiao being called into the general manager’s office didn’t raise much suspicion. After all, he was now the new department head, and as an airlifted general manager, there were certainly many official matters to discuss with the department head. This indicated that the general manager valued Tan Xiao’s performance.  

That day was different from the previous one. In a light-hearted manner, he said he was having a meal with Wen Yi, which meant the two of them were seriously having a meal, discussing company matters while eating: “I suddenly got promoted, shouldn’t I find a time to treat the department heads to a meal? And we should also have a separate meal for our own department’s employees.”  

These two meals should be separate; one was to unite peers, and the other was to win over subordinates.  

He said to Wen Yi, “I can have that meal with the Director and the others with you, but I can’t take you along with my department’s meal. I’m afraid they might be too timid.”  

Tan Xiao said, “Let me first report to our boss here. I guarantee that during the meal when you’re not around, I won’t touch a drop of alcohol. We’ll finish eating and then that’s it. I absolutely won’t do anything unnecessary. The time might be set for one of these days. I’ll treat someone to dinner after work, which might take about two hours.”  

When he talked about his “boss” he wasn’t referring to a company leader, but to the boss at home. After all, he was now a family man and couldn’t avoid suspicion like he used to.  

Wen Yi glanced at him, his eyes swirling with a myriad of emotions, and said, “Agreed.”  

While the two were having dinner, Tan Xiao played the news from his phone as background noise.  

Originally, he listened to the news in the morning, but he and Wen Yi tested how soft the bed in their new home was the previous night, which delayed him a bit, so he moved it to now.  

The news broadcast featured an archaeological story: “Archaeological experts in a certain area of the outskirts of City A have discovered ancient fossils while filling in a pit, and it is suspected that they have detected a special life form within the two-billion-year-old fossils! This could potentially rewrite the history of our planet!”  

The chopsticks that were picking up food paused for a moment; this news sounded strangely familiar, as if he had heard it before. Were these old news stories being dragged out by media platforms to boost their clicks?  

He scrolled through his phone and found that it wasn’t old news; the date showed that this event had happened just a few days ago. The experts had discovered the fossil about a month ago, but it had only been reported by the media in the past few days.  

Speaking of which, it was almost a month ago when he got hit on the head and was sent to the hospital.  

He just remarked on the coincidence and didn’t think much of it, continuing to eat.  

Wen Yi watched his actions, and with a glance from the corner of his eye, he also looked at the phone screen. Seeing the so-called ancient fossils in the related images, his expression suddenly changed.  

However, when Wen Yi looked at Tan Xiao, his expression returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.  

He picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and said to Tan Xiao, “This shredded potato is stir-fried quite well, you should eat more.”  

The structure of KK Smart Company had undergone changes. According to the boss’s requirements, they would definitely be hiring some new employees. Tan Xiao had just been promoted to department head, and there weren’t many people under him that he could trust and rely on. Naturally, he was considering building a team from the new hires he personally interviewed.  

Hate leadership, understand leadership, become leadership.  

The CS Group had welcomed quite a few new employees, among whom there was one staff member wearing the standard plaid shirt. He had a somewhat introverted and reserved demeanor, which immediately made him fit the role of a typical otaku programmer.  

Wang Mingming, who was nervously going for a job interview, suddenly saw a very familiar face in the rush.  

That face, that face as handsome as a star, although the features were more defined and no longer the youthful innocence of their first meeting, Wang Mingming would never forget.  

“Tan Xiao, the boss! It must be Tan Xiao, the boss!”  

Wang Mingming was extremely excited, almost bursting with the urge to rush over and tightly hug the boss’s thigh, becoming a well-behaved leg accessory.  

He swore that he would absolutely be very obedient, doing whatever the boss said, not daring to go west when told to go east, and not daring to chase chickens when told to chase dogs.  

This was Wang Mingming’s second time entering the god game’s instance world. In real life, at that time, players who were proactive and adventurous had already entered the instance for the third or even fourth time.  

The time in different instances varied, but because the flow of time in reality and in the game was different, once players entered an instance, whether they stayed for 7 days, 10 days, or even a month, they would not spend more than 24 hours in reality from entering to exiting.  

Every official player, after successfully escaping from the last instance, could normally postpone the next instance once at most, which meant they could avoid entering the instance for half a month in real life. However, the postponement card could only be used once, and the next time they would be forced to enter.  

Moreover, according to everyone’s speculation, if players used the delay card too much, the game might have a penalty mechanism, such as assigning players to high difficulty levels that did not match their skill.  

But similarly, players could choose not to wait seven days and enter the instance early. Wang Mingming didn’t have the courage to enter early. After much hesitation, he stayed in reality for seven days, diligently learning some survival knowledge that might not be useful. Finally, after enduring it until a flash of white light passed, he became a member of the ordinary-level super-large urban instance, “Parasite.”  

Unlike last time, this time the instance’s requirements did not prevent players from revealing their identities. Wang Mingming tried posting on an anonymous forum using an anonymous account, and the post was successfully sent without any hindrance.  

Of course, for the sake of her own safety, Wang Mingming quickly deleted the relevant messages as soon as possible. Just like last time, the game required them to play their roles as well as possible.  

[Parasite: Archaeologists in City A unearthed a mysterious fossil and detected unusual life forms within it. Little did they know, this research would bring an unprecedented disaster to City A. Gradually, the citizens of City A began to notice that the people around them seemed to have changed.]

[Difficulty of the instance: Normal level]

[Copy area range: City A] 

[Main Mission: Survive for one month, don’t get parasitized.]

[Mission failed: Eradication]

However, Tan Xiao did not notice Wang Mingming, which was quite normal. This time, Wang Mingming was not using Aunt Zhao’s body, but his own original body—a weak, homebound man who had been in sub-health for a long time and had a bunch of minor ailments.  

This time, the system very thoughtfully assigned Wang Mingming an identity: a small game streamer for Happy Cat Entertainment, a subsidiary of CS Group.  

Tan Xiao was exceptionally handsome, and Wang Mingming, who also worked at the subsidiary, didn’t have to put in much effort to find out some information about him: the new director of KK Smart Company, young and handsome, with a bright future ahead.  

Wang Mingming showed a look of admiration: “A big shot is a big shot, this time their status is much more impressive!”  

He needed to find a way to contact the big boss, then think about what he could offer, and work hard to win the boss’s favor.  

After all, this mission was about parasitism. Who knew how strong the parasitic monsters were? Going solo was definitely not as good as having players help each other out.  

Little did Tan Xiao know that someone was secretly wanting to cling to him.  

In a research institute funded by the CS Group, a corner of the black fossil, which the researchers regarded as a treasure, was finally pried open.  

Various forms of electrical energy were infused into this hard, massive fossil, quietly flowing out a bit of silver from within.  

That silver transformed into an extremely fine mist, quietly dispersing into the air. When the researchers removed their masks, it floated into their noses, mouths, and ears.  

The terrifying creature that emerged from its dormant state slowly gnawed at the brains of these unfamiliar intelligent beings, reading the memories stored in their cerebral centers, and then mimicked the actions of their original owners.  

Men and women washing their hands in the bathroom briefly contorted their faces, some struggling to choke themselves with their hands, looking pained and fierce.  

But soon, the person in the mirror’s complexion returned to normal, their movements went from mechanical and stiff to natural and smooth. They walked out of the research institute as usual, then made their way from the suburbs to the city center, blending into the crowd of City A.  

The parasites craved more energy, and their endless, frenzied expansion was an instinct of their race. Without external intervention, this terrifying race could completely control the entire City A in just a month.