"May I ask what you need?"
By now, the sky had darkened, and only faint candlelight flickered inside the house.
An occasional draft from the door crack made the candle flame in the room sputter, creating a somewhat tense atmosphere.
"Don't be nervous... I just want to take you to do something fun," the officer said, removing his hat and white gloves, tugging at his collar as he approached Syl with a leering smile. "So pretty, little girl..."
Syl took a slight step back, her brow furrowing.
It wasn't because she was afraid, but because she saw a slight bulge in the crotch of the officer's pants in front of her.
This tent in his trousers, pushed up by something, made Syl feel extremely disgusted.
"Back in my day, what I had was bigger than yours..." Syl raised her head, giving the officer's face a look of disgust as she internally mocked, "Pathetic little worm."
Syl's expression and look of disgust seemed to excite the officer even more.
Right now, he was probably itching to pin Syl down and gleefully watch her cry and scream.
Just like how he treated new recruits back at the military camp... To be honest, having been in the military camp for too long without seeing a woman, he was completely unable to hold back any longer. He was about to use this adorable little girl to vent his pent-up desires.
But he was destined to fail in fulfilling this fantasy of his.
"Scum." Syl sneered coldly, casually flicking her right hand forward. A small, black-and-red intertwined fleshy lump flew out from her hand.
The officer reacted quickly, swiftly swatting the mass away. Syl's "feeble resistance" seemed to make him even more impatient, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing increasingly uncontrollable.
Then, he noticed something warm, moist, and somewhat sticky clinging to his hand.
A flicker of confusion crossed the officer's expression. He lowered his head to look at his fingers.
And then he saw it—a small fleshy lump, stuck to his hand.
The officer frowned, stopping in his tracks, and shook his hand forcefully. But the lump didn't budge at all; instead, it pulsed rhythmically, as if containing life within.
"Is this a magical artifact?" The officer seemed to have some knowledge of the extraordinary. He frowned, his left hand reaching for his waist and drawing a short sword.
With practiced and swift movements, he directly swung the sword, flicking it to pierce the fleshy lump.
Black, viscous blood sprayed onto his hand. The lump deflated, turning into a sticky, blackish blood that clung to the back of his hand.
"Heh, mere parlor tricks." The officer lifted his head, looking again at the beautiful little figure standing not far away, licking his lips. "I've always heard from those noble lords that smaller ones are better. Now I finally get to try it..."
Just as he shook the blood off his hand and prepared to continue walking towards the little girl, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.
Even though he had made the motion of shaking his hand, the sticky sensation on it hadn't diminished in the slightest.
He looked down again and seemed to see something, his eyes widening slightly, his pupils contracting.
The small amount of black blood that had sprayed when he pierced the lump earlier, now staining the back of his hand—each drop of black blood had transformed into a small fleshy lump, now quietly pulsing faintly on his hand.
From one lump, it had become over a dozen lumps of similar size, horrifying and bizarre.
"Fuck... what is this?"
The officer began to panic. He used the nail of his left hand to pinch one of the lumps, seemingly wanting to pull it off directly.
And then... under the pressure of his own finger, the lump burst. Black, viscous plasma exploded from within.
A drop of it landed on his face.
"Hmph... ugh..."
Seeming to sense something amiss, the officer quickly wiped the spot on his cheek where the black blood had landed with his sleeve. At the same time, he swiftly took off his military coat and rubbed his hand vigorously with it, as if trying to wipe the lumps away directly.
*Squelch—Squelch—*
As the officer's actions grew more frantic, the sounds of lumps being punctured kept occurring.
But the slippery, sticky sensation on his hand didn't disappear at all. Instead, because of his violent rubbing, it had spread all over his arm.
He picked up the coat—there was no trace of any blood on the fabric—but his own hand was now so blackened its original color was unrecognizable.
Under his horrified gaze, the blood wriggled, slowly generating numerous fine, dense lumps covering his hand.
All the lumps seemed to be breathing, pulsating in unison. Each wriggling lump appeared connected as if part of a single whole, a sight that made one's scalp tingle just looking at it.
The most terrifying part was the officer's face. Due to bursting one lump earlier, his face was now covered with countless lumps, making him look exceptionally horrifying.
"Ugh... ugh... AAAAAAAAAH!"
The officer frantically scratched at his face and madly rubbed the lumps on his hands.
But no matter how hard he tried, he only succeeded in making more and more lumps appear on his hands and body, utterly unable to reduce the number of those dreadful growths.
If there had been a mirror at that moment, allowing him to see his own terrifying, horrifying appearance, he would likely have descended into madness.
However, at this point, not to mention the officer himself, even Syl was somewhat unable to withstand the terrifying scene.
"Gross."
Syl covered her nose, her face full of distaste, taking a couple of steps back to put more distance between herself and the officer.
While the officer now was about as disgusting as before, earlier it was his disgusting behavior causing psychological discomfort.
Now, with lumps pulsating all over his body, the officer induced both physiological and psychological revulsion, making Syl feel nauseated.
The officer now could no longer be called a "person."
As if not wanting him to emit such unpleasant, despairing screams, some of the bloody fluid wriggled, forcing its way into the officer's mouth. Soon, the officer could no longer make any sound.
He could only kneel on the ground, staring blankly at his own hands, waiting for the black blood to slowly cover his eyes.
Parasitization. Only the final step remained.
Syl watched the officer lying motionless on the ground and made no move.
She was waiting for the moment the parasitization was fully complete.
Suddenly, the officer lying on the ground twitched a finger slightly.
All the horrifying lumps on his body melted away like flowing water, then burrowed from his skin into his flesh and blood.
Like a marionette, the officer mechanically raised his hand high, then lowered it, propping himself up as he slowly stood.