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They're cold and slippery against my tongue. I taste them curiously, wondering if they'll have some exotic flavor.
Let's see... Hm, yes, they taste like unflavored gelatin. Disappointing.
—Gulp!
They slowly slide down my throat and reach my stomach.
I wait a second, two seconds, three seconds.
"Huh? Nothing's going to happen?"
I shouldn't have spoken so soon because...
Brushhh!
I feel heat. More like, I feel fire burning in my stomach. I've never had the fortune of drinking lava from a volcano, but I guess this is the closest I'll ever get to experiencing it.
"Gaaaahhh!"
I writhe on the grassy ground by the stream, clutching my stomach with both hands.
Damn it! This is karma slapping me in the face after I played with those worms like a sadistic bastard.
The heat spreads from my stomach to my chest, up my arms, down my legs, and finally to my head.
This is different from when I ate the ghoul's wing.
I remember that feeling warm and comforting. It even made me feel alive for the first time.
Wait... this makes me feel alive too! I feel pain! Hahaha! I can feel pain!
It's a horrible feeling, but at the same time wonderful because it means my body is responding as a living body should.
"Gh... gah... ahhhh...!"
I feel the pain in every fiber of my being.
Then I feel the heat concentrating especially on my head. I bring my hand to my skull because of the damn stabbing pain and feel something strange under my fingers.
Are the holes closing?
Ah, right. Eating the ghoul's wing even allowed me to reattach my favorite arm when Mr. Ghoul ripped it off. So this must be the same thing, right?
At high speed, the bones of my skull reassemble with clicking sounds. The flesh covers them like little worms intertwining with each other before my skin completely covers it.
In less than a minute, my head is completely healed with no scars or marks to indicate that I pierced my skull with my own fingers.
The concentration of heat moves down from my head to my shoulders. It moves down my arm and stops at my two hands where the heat intensifies even more.
Shortly after, the heat disappears completely.
"Haah... haah..."
I am confused by everything that just happened and want to scratch my head to process it all. But at that moment...
"Ahhh! Shit! What is this?!"
I let out a scream and am so startled that I almost fall backwards.
The reason is because the five fingers on my right hand have transformed into sharp blades. They are not my normal fingers, as they are knives coming out of where my fingers should be.
They seem to be made of white metal or something similar because in the moonlight they reflect on the five blades.
Wait... The other five fingers on my other hand have also transformed!
"No, no, no, no, no!"
I quickly wave my hands in front of my face in panic.
If I go around town like this, I'll surely be arrested and taken to some secret government laboratory.
They might even chase me as if I were some kind of failed experiment.
After all, it would be very easy to discover that I'm not human if I have damn knives instead of fingers.
As I desperately think about cutting off my hands to hide the fact that I'm a monster, the blades retract inward and my hand returns to normal.
Huh?
It seems to work according to my intentions.
To test that theory, I think about bringing them out again and...
—Shink!
The flesh on the back of my hand and palm loses consistency and turns into a hard material that attaches to the blades.
My fingers are completely sharp and about 15 centimeters long. In addition, they are four centimeters wide and barely five millimeters thick.
"Fufufu... ufufufufu..."
I laugh because I've gained a weapon integrated into my body.
Then I ask myself an important question as I look at my transformed hands.
"Wait... so I... what am I now?"
I'm not human. But I'm not completely a zombie anymore either. I ate parts of a ghoul and gained slightly faster regeneration. Now I ate alien parasites and gained retractable knives that replace my fingers whenever I want.
What the hell am I turning into?
A zombie that ate a ghoul and then swallowed alien parasites.
If someone asks me my name next time, I'll introduce myself as Frankenstein.
Anyway, I take a closer look at the blades.
They're very thin despite being long.
I think they might not be very durable even though they have a shiny, terrifying edge. Maybe they'll break easily if I hit something hard.
I look at a nearby tree and decide to test how good or bad this new weapon is.
I need to know if I can trust it or if it's just for show.
But when I take a step toward the tree to get closer...
My vision blurs.
No, I don't feel weak, and I haven't fainted.
I just moved too fast. A second ago I was several feet away from the tree, but the next second my head is buried deep in the trunk with a horrible sound.
—Crash!
Ahhhh! My skull is broken!
Ah, I don't feel any pain.
The tree makes a crunching sound and begins to slowly lean over before falling with a crash that shakes the ground.
"..."
I am speechless as I stare at the fallen tree in front of me.
"What... what just happened?"
I try to get up from the ground, placing my hand where my knife fingers had automatically retracted.
But the ground gives way under my hand. It feels like beach sand instead of compact earth.
"Huh?"
I grab the trunk of the fallen tree for better support, and my fingers dig into the hard texture.
Pieces of bark and splinters fall to the ground.
"It can't be..."
It seems that consuming those disgusting worms not only gave me retractable blades. It also made my body extremely resilient, gave me superhuman speed, and absurd strength.
I briefly recall the Parasyte anime I watched in my previous life. I remember that when the parasite named Migi partially fused with the protagonist to heal him from a fatal wound, it made his body much stronger.
The protagonist could jump very high and punch walls until they collapsed.
It seems that by eating two parasites of that type instead of just merging with one, the effect was completely absurd and exaggerated.
"This is... incredible..."
I pull the blades out of my fingers when I decide to test them on the trunk of the fallen tree.
I lowered my hand carefully this time. After all, I didn't want to move too fast. It would be very sad if I cut myself in two.
—Shiiish!
The blades cut through the trunk. The cut wasn't noticeable, but the top of the trunk slid off without resistance.
"Woah..."
My claws didn't break, they didn't even bend or lose their edge!
I remove the blades and they become my normal fingers again. Then I take them out again. Then I remove them. Over and over again, testing the mechanism.
"This is great... this is really great... What should I call you?"
Umm... Yes, this is a good name.
Knife Fingers.
I know it's not a very good name, but don't judge me, okay? I'm a poor zombie with an unstable memory.
A smile forms on my face.
"Fufufufu..."
I laugh alone in the forest by the stream as I admire my new abilities.
I probably look like a villain laughing after gaining new power. But I don't care at all.
This world is very dangerous.
But now I feel like I can protect myself and protect Rei and Saya if necessary.
I'm not weak anymore.
Then suddenly I think of one thing...
The parasites...
Damn it!
What if those parasites fall near Rei or Saya and turn them into their hosts?
With that terrifying thought, I decide to go investigate as I start running.
—Craaaack!
Ah, I forgot about my new strength.
I knocked down some trees along the way.
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