Chapter 479 - 412: Detoxification
Chapter 479: Chapter 412: Detoxification
Flora Bloom returned to the table, her face crestfallen. "Aren’t I just supposed to be getting fat? Why has my face changed so much?"
Evangeline Rook cleared her throat and continued to explain.
"This is what’s so terrifying about the aberrant insect Nina Rook is raising. It doesn’t just drain a person’s life force; its toxins also travel with that life force to every part of your body.
"And since it’s a toxin, it will naturally cause some external manifestations. For instance, your face and your skin... right now, they’re just becoming unsightly, but eventually, they will begin to ulcerate. If this goes on for too long, the poison will seep into your organs and bones. When that happens, your entire life force will be siphoned away by the aberrant insect and transferred to Nina Rook.
"Once you’re dead, General Cross will be a free man, and she’ll have grown stronger. It’s a win-win, so why wouldn’t she do it?
"If it were me, I’d take a deal that kills two birds with one stone, too!"
"How do we cure it?"
Upon hearing this, Lex Cross’s expression grew even more tense and grave. He couldn’t care less how Flora Bloom’s appearance changed, but when it was a matter of life and death, the stakes were entirely different.
"So why do you think I said you two are lucky?" Evangeline Rook held out her hand. On it was an insect that looked like a silkworm—plump, fleshy, and snow-white. It was hard to tell its head from its tail, but both ends of its body sported a single, colorful horn.
"My aberrant insect may be injured, but it’s leagues above that artificially cultivated mongrel of Nina Rook’s.
"Furthermore, my aberrant insect is the perfect counter to hers. Now, give me your hand."
Evangeline Rook took Flora Bloom’s hand and suddenly pulled a dagger from her waist.
Lex Cross tensed, instantly on guard. "What do you think you’re doing?"
"Relax. I’m not interested in you, so I’m not going to harm your woman!"
Evangeline Rook sliced the dagger across Flora Bloom’s fingertip.
A small cut instantly appeared on Flora’s fingertip. Before any blood could emerge, the silkworm-like aberrant insect in Evangeline Rook’s hand suddenly flew up, as if it had smelled food, and leaped onto Flora’s finger, burrowing its way inside.
Evangeline Rook’s aberrant insect disappeared into Flora Bloom’s fingertip. But soon, Flora’s body began to react.
A soul-deep itch seemed to emanate from her very blood, prickling at her skin. It was especially bad on her face, and Flora raised her hands, desperate to scratch.
With lightning speed, Lex Cross pulled Flora into his arms, pinning her hands. But he was a step too slow; she had already managed to leave a red scratch mark across her face.
"Flora, don’t scratch!"
Flora’s blood felt like it was boiling. Her face was flushed bright red, and being pinned in Lex’s embrace, the intense heat building in her body had nowhere to go, making her feel utterly miserable.
"Why is she like this?" Lex Cross shot Evangeline Rook a cold glare, sending a chill down her spine.
"What are you so worried about? That other insect has been siphoning her life force to Nina Rook. Now that we’re trying to drag it out, of course Nina’s side is going to fight back."
Flora felt two distinct energies—one hot, one cold—chasing each other and colliding within her veins. She was certain: the two aberrant insects, Nina’s and Evangeline’s, were dueling inside her body.
Flora clutched her stomach with both hands and glared menacingly at Evangeline Rook. "You can pull it out, fine, but if you dare harm my child, you will face the consequences!"
The overwhelming itch made her words come out in ragged gasps, but the sharp, ruthless look she gave Evangeline Rook was the spitting image of Lex Cross’s.
"Whoa, what are you so afraid of? The baby in your belly is the scion of the War God of the Cross family! No evil spirit or aberrant insect can harm her for the time being. She’s perfectly healthy!"
Flora breathed a sigh of relief. The itching sensation across her body slowly morphed into a sharp, piercing pain, as if something was trying to burst out from under her skin.
The bodies of those with superpowers were incredibly resilient, especially Flora’s. The cut Evangeline Rook had made on her fingertip earlier had already healed completely.
A deep purple insect form could be seen trying to break out from under the skin of Flora’s arm. It pushed up a lump of flesh that looked like a huge, grotesque tumor, and it skittered back and forth beneath the surface.
"Quick, slice open the skin on her wrist!"
As Evangeline Rook spoke, Flora realized she wasn’t the only one who was weak, sore, and in pain. Evangeline was hunched over, a faint green energy swirling around her that looked like a candle flame on the verge of being extinguished by the slightest exertion.
Flora took a mouthful of spiritual water to restore her energy, then grabbed the dagger from Evangeline Rook’s hand and slashed it fiercely across her own wrist.
Blood slowly welled up from the gash, then began to trickle to the floor.
All eyes were fixed on the grotesque, bulging shape of the insect.
Beneath the skin of Flora’s arm, it thrashed about as if suffocating, violently tearing through her muscle and tissue. Its sole purpose was to find an exit, to escape and gasp for air.
It repeatedly probed the area near the gash on Flora’s wrist. Timid and cautious, it lingered there for nearly half an hour.
As it moved around inside her arm, it kept tugging at the skin around the cut. Even though Flora’s bleeding had stopped quickly, the constant movement prevented the wound from closing.
"It’s coming out! General Cross, trap it! Don’t let it escape! We absolutely cannot let this thing get back to Nina Rook!"
Finally.
A purplish-red feeler, like the body of a snake emerging from its den, poked out from the wound on Flora’s wrist.
Evangeline Rook’s pale face suddenly flushed red with excitement. Her skeletal, claw-like hand shot out and seized the protruding, purplish-red feeler.
SQUEAL!
You could see the ferocious strength Evangeline Rook was using. No matter how desperately the aberrant insect struggled, she held it by its feeler and steadily pulled it out.
The moment more than half of the insect’s body was exposed, a shroud of black energy enveloped it. It struggled, but it could no longer sense the outside world or break free.
This aberrant insect was about the size of a common longhorn beetle. It had two antenna-like, venomous feelers, a protruding forehead, and a body with six legs that was somewhat spider-like. Its overall color was grayish-purple, with purplish-black front mandibles.
The thought that such a disgusting creature had been moving inside her body for the better part of a month made Flora want to vomit.
Instantly, a wave of nausea surged up from her stomach. Her stomach convulsed, and clutching Lex’s arm for support, Flora turned and began to vomit violently.
She spewed up a mass of foul-smelling, sticky, blackish-brown sludge.
Lex’s brow furrowed as he supported Flora, patting her back. "Are you all right?"
Flora managed to gulp down a few mouthfuls of spiritual water and splash her face before weakly raising her head. Her body was so drained that she could only remain standing by leaning on Lex for support.
"I’m so tired!"
Evangeline Rook let out a weak, pained smile. Green motes of light flowed from her fingertips, touching the wound on Flora’s wrist, which was already on the verge of closing.
After a moment, Flora’s wound split open again. With a soft SQUELCH, the snow-white, silkworm-like creature from before slowly crawled out.
However, while the silkworm-like aberrant insect was still white, it had lost its former plumpness. The pair of tiny wings that had been hidden on its back were now broken and gone.
Its once-chubby body now looked as if it had been completely drained of energy, utterly listless.
"Sigh... my aberrant insect hadn’t fully recovered. And now... now it’s even more severely injured... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!" As she spoke, Evangeline Rook broke into a fit of coughing she couldn’t stop, speckles of blood appearing on her lips.