Silence returned to the room.

[3:32 remaining]

The countdown appeared.

’What should I do?’

The desk wasn’t far from the floor. If he rolled off, he might be able to search for something smaller and safer to take over.

But his condition made the idea risky

Jumping down was one thing. Getting back up was impossible.

If he failed to find anything below, he would die there and end up being used as jewelry. That is, if he did not just dissolve into sludge.

[3:01 remaining]

The timer continued to tick down.

Samantha was breathing softly, already asleep. Her body rose and fell gently under the blanket.

A guaranteed host but a very dangerous one.

[2:30 remaining]

With no better options left, he rolled toward her and gambled everything—something a strategist like him hated. Relying on luck was never his style.

He decided to go through her ear. It led closer to the nervous system and offered the fastest path to control.

’Wait.’ A thought held him in place.

’Is the nervous system really the best pick? Logically, it would be the hardest to penetrate. I had a hard time taming a worm, so a human would be exponentially harder.’

The entry point was too direct. Too unstable. One wrong move could ruin the entire process.

He needed a safer method. A slower approach. One that gave him a body without triggering resistance.

His attention drifted toward her lower body, and he remembered a science lesson from when he was young—especially the topic about the female reproductive system.

’Technically, I did come from an egg...’

’And even if I fail, infecting her internal organs would be much safer.’

[1:00 remaining]

There were still a lot of loopholes and uncertainties in his plan, which made him uncomfortable. But time was not on his side.

’No use overthinking it,’

Samantha slowly opened her eyes. When she did, she found herself floating in a pool on some tropical island resort.

It took a moment before she realized she was dreaming. She didn’t panic. She was actually a frequent lucid dreamer, an effect of her cognitive-related ability.

"Nice. It’s not as good as the real thing, but I’ll take it!" she said, letting out a small giggle.

A moment later, a man with a bare torso and defined abs approached her, carrying a drink on a tray.

He handed her a tequila.

"This is the life."

The water was warm and calm. It wrapped around her body in a soothing way.

She didn’t mind it at first. In fact, she welcomed the comfort.

But then the liquid began to change color, turning darker and thicker, moving like gel spreading through water.

"What...?" She felt something slip into her.

Resistance came as she tried to push herself up. The thick fluid held her down. It pressed against her from every side. The sensation felt strange, unfamiliar, and invasive.

"I... I feel something inside me..." Her breathing quickened.

Instinctively, her hand moved to her lower abdomen. She felt a faint pressure from within, as if something was spreading slowly.

"I need to wake up.

Samantha tried to bite her lip and move her toes, hoping it would wake her from nightmares like usual.

Nothing happened.

Her chest rose and fell faster as she struggled to stay calm.

"NO—!"

A soft moan escaped her lips as her head tilted further back. Her fingers dug into her swelling stomach, but she could do nothing to stop it. The pressure kept building.

Her breathing turned ragged. Tears slowly slipped from the corners of her eyes.

It wasn’t just pain. It was pure pleasure.

That was what terrified her the most.

She shook her head weakly.

"N-No... stop..." Her voice came out breathless, barely louder than a whisper.

Her abdomen expanded further, stretching. The fullness grew heavier, dragging her body down.

It kept growing until the pressure became unbearable.

"A-Ahhh—!"

A strange slimy liquid rushed out of her all at once, overwhelming her senses.

"NO—!"

Samantha shot upright from her bed.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to catch her breath.

The room around her slowly came into focus, but her heart still pounded as if she were still trapped in that nightmare.

Her hand moved, touching the sheet. The fabric was damp.

She had wet herself.

"Seriously..."

She pushed herself upright, running a hand through her messy hair. Her heart had begun to calm, but the embarrassment was still there. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

At her age, wetting herself felt more humiliating than anything else.

"I need a vacation leave. I’m too stressed out," she muttered aloud, thinking her dream was her brain’s way of telling her to rest.

After calming down a little more, she stood up and headed toward the kitchen.

Only the faint sound of her footsteps broke the silence as she walked across the living room

She grabbed a glass and drank it in one go.

It wasn’t enough.

She filled another, the cool water easing the dryness in her throat.

Still unsatisfied, she filled a third glass and emptied it as well.

Only then did she stop, placing both hands on the counter. She lowered her head slightly, letting out a long breath.

Then she glanced down at her still exposed body.

The pleasure from the dream was too real.

She frowned slightly, her hands moved down as she checked herself. There was a slick liquid there that was definitely not urine.

"I really need a boyfriend. I’m stressed out and sexually frustrated. That’s probably why I got that weird dream,"

She exhaled slowly, trying to push the thought away. Next, she changed the bed cover, tossed the damp sheet into the laundry basket, and lay back down.

It took a couple of minutes before she finally dozed off, shifting positions a few times as she tried to get comfortable.

click!

The sound didn’t come from anywhere else. It came from her abdomen, where four eyes were now moving rapidly without her knowing.

’It actually worked,’ Francis sighed mentally.

He had taken a gamble and infected her internal organs, choosing not to disturb her nervous system until his weakened condition improved.

It would have been much better if he had found a worm in her body, but she took good care of her health.

’It’s really poetic that I ended up in her belly like a parasite,’ he paused. ’Oh... I am a parasite.’

With his life no longer in immediate danger, he began thinking about his next move.

Currently, he was in a weak state, and even if it worked, he doubted he could fully control a human mind without reaching Category 4 or higher first.

He came up with multiple options.

The first one made the most sense and was the safest. He would wait until he fully recovered, then kill her from the inside and find a new animal to take over.

However, he discovered she worked for the Defense Force. And seeing her living in such a luxurious apartment, it was safe to assume her status was quite high.

This meant staying with her would provide access to the Defense Force network, the very group that had been a thorn in his side.