Chapter 109: Jiang Wan Awakens and Those Awaiting Disposition

They slept peacefully, one devoid of a heartbeat, the other of a mouth.

Holding the medicine in his pocket, he felt an incredibly complex surge of emotions. Jiang Wan was easy enough—once the outer cocoon was peeled away, he could feed her. But what about Zhang Lan? She no longer possessed the esophagus connecting her mouth to her stomach; would medication even work for her?

He frowned, remaining silent for a long time before another thought struck him. "That's not right," he muttered, walking over to Zhang Lan and crouching down. "The problem is she can't chew either... I can't just chew it up and feed it to her, can I?"

Chen Qing hesitated, looking at those lips, whitened by death, unable to bring himself to do it. "Tsk. It’s not that I couldn’t... but if I just feed it to her, it’ll only sit in her mouth. Would that even be effective?"

Curiosity stirred within him, but he knew experimenting on Zhang Lan would have to wait. He turned and walked back to Jiang Wan. The cocoon, formed by layers of white silk, seemed to have thickened and taken on a slightly yellowish hue.

"Ever since you left," Bu Zhaozhao drifted over, "she’s been spinning more and more silk. The color has changed, too. You’d better hurry."

He nodded, reached out, and grabbed a loose thread on the cocoon, pulling hard. Despite his efforts, the cocoon remained unmoved. He took out a pair of scissors and cut it open. Jiang Wan, lying inside, had undergone a drastic transformation. Her face was covered in fine, short downy hair, with longer, needle-like bristles distributed among her eyebrows.

Around the corners of her eyes, six or seven compound eyes had sprouted. They were covered by a thin, milky film, yet beneath those membranes, the eyes could clearly perceive the flickering of light. They rolled around, occasionally focusing on Chen Qing, watching the man who had brought them back into the light.

Without overthinking it, he reached out and cradled Jiang Wan’s shoulders, lifting her upper body to a sixty-degree angle. As he pulled her up, the orange glow of the setting sun spilled over the bright, silvery scales covering her skin. Each scale was only a few microns wide, yet their density gave them the elegance of a silk dress.

Supporting her body, he used his free hand to gently pinch her jaw, forcing her mouth open just a sliver. Only then did he lower his head and retrieve the prepared E-500 from his pocket. Because he had lowered his head, he missed the moment those dozen compound eyes shifted in perfect unison.

They rotated, the dozen pupils beneath the thin membranes staring intently at Chen Qing’s eyes. Looking at the youth before them, these newborn eyes radiated a terrifying malice. With just their gaze, they expressed every thought: loathing, weariness, hatred.

These emotions, which should not have existed in a newborn, were all gathered here. It was impossible; it should have been impossible. Newborns should be filled with desire, not such useless emotions. They should be hungry, greedy, and eager to kill any rival for food—not like this, radiating the purest, simplest malice that served them no purpose at all.

The very next second, after he looked up with the chocolate in his hand, the eyes shifted away. He looked at the young girl before him, at the gap he had forced between her lips. The compound eyes spun frantically, as if they already knew their impending fate.

They peered into the world. As Chen Qing attempted to insert the chocolate directly into her mouth, only to fail, the speed of their rotation gradually slowed.

Then, he let out a "tsk." With a mix of reluctance, embarrassment, and a hint of unwillingly admitted excitement, he chewed the chocolate in his mouth. Hearing Bu Zhaozhao’s constant, mocking "Oh! Oh~" sounds beside him, his cheeks and ears burned red.

Mouth to mouth, ignoring the hatred of those dozen eyes, he pushed the liquified chocolate into her. The moment the liquid passed into her mouth, Jiang Wan’s body underwent a startling metamorphosis