Chapter 69

Chapter 69: The Impostor

Before ten o’clock, the mall should’ve been bustling with people. But for some reason, it was eerily empty—desolate and silent.

Heli sat astride her electric scooter, deep in thought as she watched Mi Xiaoliu, who was dressed normally in a girl’s outfit.

As if completely unaware of Heli’s gaze, Mi Xiaoliu clutched her Newton’s cradle and quietly rode the escalator up to the second floor, then down again to the first, and then back up—endlessly looping, thoroughly entertained.

So strange…

Heli silently waited for her to tire herself out.

The light, airy feeling below the waist from the skirt was also strange—similar to wearing a trench coat, with that sense of exposure underneath. But unlike a tightly wrapped coat, a skirt could easily be lifted by a breeze, which was… odd.

Puzzled by this unfamiliar sensation, Mi Xiaoliu reached down to lift the hem for a better look, only for Heli to quickly press her hand down and lecture her thoroughly.

“In the future, try not to wear girl’s clothes in public,” Heli said—repeating what Sasha had once warned Mi Xiaoliu.

This kid… she’d definitely be the one in an old-school harem anime responsible for fanservice.

The bustling commercial area in the city’s north—it had taken Heli quite a long ride on the scooter to get here.

Maybe it was because of the recent surge in crime, or perhaps the viral urban legends of zombies and impostors caught on camera—once night fell, no one stayed outside anymore except unlucky office workers. Even the escalators had to be manually activated by Heli using less than legal means.

“That boy from earlier today…” Heli placed a hand on Mi Xiaoliu’s head and pondered aloud, “Stay away from guys like him in the future. If one asks for your contact info, don’t give it.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll buy you a pudding.”

“…Okay.”

After a glance around and seeing nothing suspicious, Heli gave one last look toward the hawk hidden in the shadows, then patted the back seat of her scooter, signaling that it was time to go home.

Thanks to her modifications, her scooter had a battery reserve comparable to an electric car.

She hadn’t planned to make a long night of it—just brought Mi Xiaoliu to what should be the most dangerous area in hopes of luring out the Third Fractal. But once again, nothing.

Did they recognize me? That’d be bad—very bad.

From behind, Mi Xiaoliu gently wrapped her arms around Heli’s waist—at Heli’s instruction. After all, grabbing the lower handle between the legs was a little improper for a girl. But this time, Mi Xiaoliu rested her head directly on Heli’s back.

She’d fallen asleep.

Normally, she went to bed early—staying up late was always forced.

Heli didn’t return immediately. Instead, she cruised around the area a bit longer, occasionally sniffing the air like a dog on a scent.

Then, passing a fork in the road, she turned left—a direction that did not lead home.

She finally stopped by an arched bridge and stood silently for a moment.

After counting a full sixty seconds several times over, she rode her scooter forward again, stopping by a tree where she found a humanoid creature.

Its face was unnaturally elongated. The eyes weren’t even symmetrical—one high, one low. Its arms and legs had swapped proportions—long arms where legs should be, short legs where arms belonged—but still the width and thickness of a human’s.

It looked neither human nor ape.

And yet this thing lurked in a creepy little grove. If anyone happened upon it in the dark, they might literally die from fright on the spot.

Heli, however, calmly circled to its back on her scooter.

The impostor didn’t react at all—because, in a way, it was unconscious.

Heli jabbed a finger into its skin. Her fingertip corroded through the surface like it was dipped in acid, wisps of white smoke curling up as the flesh dissolved. She stirred around inside, then pulled out. A viscous, transparent fluid oozed slowly from the wound—filthy as mud sliding down a mountainside, only stickier.

Disgusting.

As if only now remembering to be sanitary, she delicately pulled a test tube from her pocket and used a swab to wipe the substance from her finger and seal it inside.

She took out another tube and used a surgical blade to painstakingly cut off a small chunk of flesh, which she also sealed away.

After that, she left the motionless impostor and rode off.

Back home, she carried Mi Xiaoliu to her own room, removed her brand-new ankle boots, and tucked her in.

Then, she returned to her shared kitchen-laboratory, placed a slide under the microscope, and inserted the sample between the slide and cover glass.

She already had a rough idea of what it was—but it was a subject she’d never directly studied.

Her expression grew increasingly grim.

Then—two hands suddenly reached from under her arms and grabbed—

Her breasts.

“Old lady, what do you eat to grow these?” came Gloria’s slightly tipsy voice.

“People trying to lose weight shouldn’t be obsessed with the fat on other people’s bodies.” Heli smacked her on the head with a blank face.

Only when drunk would Gloria dare pull something like that—otherwise, she’d be running to her mom with complaints.

Today, though, she didn’t seem that drunk. At least her logic was coherent: “You’re not the one making those ‘zombie’ urban legends, right? Weren’t you researching a drug like that lately?”

She staggered into a nearby chair.

“I never planned to make zombies,” Heli said flatly, observing the impostor’s tissue through the microscope. “Though I could if I wanted to.”

“No way? I’m taking my girls to raid the instant noodles aisle tomorrow,” Gloria gasped. She seemed to sober up on the spot.

“Don’t worry. I already planted a row of sunflowers and pea shooters in the backyard.” Leaving the microscope, Heli picked up a lump of modeling clay she had originally prepared as a gift for Mi Xiaoliu and fashioned a rough little clay figure. She then stuffed the impostor’s “flesh” into it and coated it with the remaining fluid sample.

The clay doll began to move—barely, but unmistakably.

Considering it was just ordinary modeling clay, any movement was incredible.

“Are you switching careers to witchcraft now?” Gloria hugged her from behind and rested her chin on Heli’s shoulder, peeking forward.

“It’s a controllable bacterium… well, controllable for high-level viral ability users,” Heli said, manipulating it with tweezers. “With the right tissue to host it, it can be used to transmit commands, and even share senses like sight and hearing with the host.”

That was the structure of synthetic impostors. Even Heli had never seen this data before. The benefit was, if the tissue was shaped properly, it could execute delicate operations without issue.

Take capturing Mi Xiaoliu, for example—using a robot could easily lead to failure or even accidentally breaking her bones. But an impostor moved with intuitive precision—as if it were part of her own body.

Honestly though, Heli thought the method was a bit dumb if it couldn’t fully impersonate a human. The Third Fractal’s power level couldn’t be that high.

“Then why not just use a real human?” asked a drunken Gloria, raising a terrifying suggestion.

Heli glanced sideways at her. “Of course you can.”

In fact, the human body was much better suited for this than an impostor. It was the most sophisticated tool there was.

“First you feel a chilling cold in your body, then numbness like your blood has stopped. You can move, but you feel nothing. That numbness lasts about four hours—until brain death. At that point, your body can be controlled like a puppet…”

“Ugh! You’ve actually tested this?!” Gloria shuddered, rubbing the goosebumps on her arms, instantly sober.

“I’ve seen the data,” Heli said tersely, clearly not wanting to elaborate.

Within the records of Second Division’s virus and drug experiments over the last six years, one test subject name kept appearing—”Mi”. Most people reading the data assumed “Mi” was a codename for a type of test subject. Otherwise, how could someone have died so many times?

That experiment had tried to use this method to access the subject’s powers after death—but it had failed.

Aside from the bacteria, the impostor’s tissue also carried a virus—the same one Mi Xiaoliu had been infected with.

Heli diluted the remaining sample with half a tube of water, then—without hesitation—drank it in one gulp.

Gloria nearly fainted, thinking Heli had suddenly snapped.

But Heli just savored the taste and casually opened Mi Xiaoliu’s homework book, flipping past a page where Gloria had scribbled her diet plan. Then she began writing down incomprehensible data.

—

The next day was Sunday.

Mi Xiaoliu stared blankly at her notebook, now filled with unfamiliar handwriting. She looked up at Heli in confusion.

“No tutoring today. You’re free to do as you please,” Heli replied without turning around, still busy with her experiment.

A violet mushroom cloud puffed from a beaker, painting her face in shades of purple.

The living room had grown even stranger—not just busier, but also more… unsettling.

Scattered throughout were grotesque, nightmarish impostor figures—just standing there.

Thankfully, it was Mi Xiaoliu. Anyone else would’ve wet themselves on the spot.

Heli had crafted them all overnight.

They were different from the one she had encountered the night before, but still capable of limited movement.

Making them grotesque enough had been exhausting work.