In a luxuriously furnished hourly room,

Nash sat on the edge of the large bed, continuously relaxing his mind through deep breaths, trying his best to adjust his own state, trying his best to recall his essence as a parasite.

"Boss William, should I take a bath first?

Although I have already bathed many times when I left the circus, scrubbing clean every part of my body.

But I accidentally fell into sandy ground just now, and after walking for a while, my body might be slightly dirty, which might not be too good for parasitizing in your brain."

Leaning against the door, William sent out waves of perception, realizing the entire hostel was now empty, "It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about being clean~ Speaking of which, Nash, you’ve got quite the reputation. These people are really scared of you.

How many people have you killed in the past to make them so afraid?"

Nash’s scattered eyes swiveled back and forth, as if carefully calculating.

"It must be the parasites inside them that are scared, right? No, that’s not right, there are other patients in this inn... All in all, the most I’ve killed doesn’t exceed a hundred.

But all these people were serious hindrances to the circus’s development,

deluding themselves with the desire to investigate the circus’s true nature,

or recklessly blocking and intercepting the circus’s supply of goods.

Usually, Art doesn’t make a move, and it’s my poker-faced assassination squad that takes swift action, which inevitably exposes themselves."

"Well, let’s get on with the parasitism then."

"We’re starting now!? I thought you were going to perform some special ritual or take a nap or something, Boss."

"Just a simple parasitism, why make it complicated? Hurry up, haven’t you been training in parasitism all this time?"

"Training is one thing, but when it actually comes to doing it, one can’t help but...okay~ let me get ready."

Nash was so nervous that his body was secreting fluids profusely,

Gradually, his human disguise completely faded away, turning into a giant amoeba that looked like solidified water.

"Can you make yourself a bit smaller?"

Facing William’s question, Nash could no longer reply,

He continued to shrink by expelling water, until he was the size of a fingertip, which was the smallest he could manage.

"Come on~"

William gently cradled Nash in his palm and placed him next to his ear.

He let the soft creature travel through his ear canal towards the brain, a slow process that even felt like Nash was secreting body fluids excitedly in the ear canal, leaving his ear stinking.

When Nash finally reached the brain area, he was immediately shocked by the sight before him.

As an amoeba specialized in parasitizing the brain, Nash’s genes contained various ’guides’ to the brain, and in his childhood his parents also imbued him with extensive knowledge about the brain, acquainting him with different types of brains.

But the "Madness Brain" seen before him far exceeded his understanding,

What was before him was not a brain at all;

in Nash’s view, it resembled a black star system filled with death,

The perfectly spherical complete form of the Madness Brain,

Black mist shrouding around the brain,

Reconstructed circular arteries, like stellar rings, wound around the Madness Brain, providing the optimal blood circulation.

And the ’skull’, carved with text and patterns like a circuit board, was like a barrier imprisoning this dead star.

Excited, nervous, and full of desire, Nash suddenly became calm at this moment;

it was as if he floated in the starry sky, and everything turned silent.

He slowly heard the call from the Madness Brain, awakening his instinct as a parasite, slowly crawling onto the brain, following the best cerebral sulcus routes towards the depths, and settling in.

Without realizing it, the parasitism was complete.

When the nerves inside Nash perfectly aligned with the brain... Buzz!

He was suddenly drawn by a force of consciousness, following the complex networks of the Madness Brain towards the depths, towards a hidden Consciousness Space.

In the blink of an eye,

Nash found himself in a human form dropping into a library, with William sitting opposite him.

"Boss, is this... your own constructed Consciousness Space? These books are the physical manifestations of memories, and they’re so finely executed, truly worthy of you!"

Nash was quite excited, even rubbing his entire face back and forth on the wooden table surface to feel the delicate grain.

"Looks like you’re still very good at parasitism."

"Just fulfilling the needs of the boss. Other than you, I’d never parasitize in someone else’s brain... Before, just thinking about parasitism made me want to vomit, but now, I only feel happiness. I feel so lucky to be able to be a parasite."

"During the transit through the channel, just stay here quietly, and you might be able to minimize the side effects that come with world crossing."

"Don’t go flipping through my memories, nor harbor any curiosity. Just sit tight and don’t move."

"Understood. Without your permission, boss, I won’t touch anything."

Hum!

William returned to his physical body and traversed the "passage."

The reason he chose to let Nash parasitize himself at this time

was actually to conduct a final test.

After all, William had obtained Yi Chen’s memories and seen many hypocrites. Cases where a so-called ’friend’ who played their part well turned around and bit back in the end were not uncommon.

Now that William was about to leave the circus to develop on his own, he needed to test Nash’s loyalty,

to see if, as an amoeba that specifically targeted the brain, he had any interest in his host’s madness brain, or if there were secret plans deeply hidden.

Even the slightest "bad thought," once it occurred, would be caught.

If William judged that Nash harbored any despicable thoughts related to himself, he would abandon him right there, or if the situation was severe, even take him to Zion for execution.

William deliberately slowed his pace while crawling through the passage, prolonging the test.

"Library"

Nash sat stiffly, his eyes wide as brass bells, trembling incessantly.

The library before him was too tempting,

not in the sense that a parasite desired to nest in the brain and take over,

but these books, related to William’s memories, appeared to him as limited edition, privately collected, perfect photobooks, so close at hand yet forbidden from viewing,

this was the ultimate torture, more unbearable than being pierced by countless steel needles.

Moreover, Nash was unaware that behind a certain bookshelf in a secret passage lurked an eye watching him—one that would unleash killing intent at any unusual move he made.

Unfortunately,

Yi Chen did not get his chance to act, instead, he was starting to feel sorry for the motionless Nash on the stool, who was shaking his legs and quickly moving his right hand.

Halfway through the passage,

William suddenly received a telepathic message from Yi Chen,

"William, stop monitoring him, you’re wasting my time."

"What happened?"

"That creep who’s extremely obsessed with you has fainted. It seems like he endured an unbearable torture. Hurry up and crawl out~ He’s a talent who will be very useful later on."

Having crawled out of the passage,

William immediately moved Nash’s consciousness out of the library and revived him through the nourishment of his madness brain.

"Nash, what made you pass out... Was it a side effect of traversing the passage?"

"Cough, cough, cough~ It’s not... It’s my own problem.

Don’t make me go to that library again;

it’s too tormenting. I could have delved deeply into understanding you through those books, yet I wasn’t allowed to look at a single one."

William comforted him kindly, "If you want to understand, cooperate more with me. Work with me in killing enemies, performances, and resource acquisition, and you’ll gradually learn more.

Now I’m sharing all permissions for vision, hearing, and so on with you. Experience the human world~ Gradually try to assist me on our journey and show signs of illness traits in concert with me."

"Alright~"

After exiting the passage and its corresponding temple, standing atop the mountain, Nash could also feel the thick gray matter enveloping him.

"Hm? This place is almost no different from the Old World~ such dense pathogen gray matter. I estimate it won’t take more than a decade for the world infection to be complete.

By the way, boss, where is this friend of yours you spoke of? Is it far from here?"

Yet, William didn’t point in any direction, but instead, his finger pointed straight up through the clouds.

"Ah?"

"On the moon... Currently, the Moon’s position is quite far from us. We might need to cross oceans and go to another continent of this world."

"The Moon!!"

(Interlude)

As William and Nash departed,

the owner of the Black Worm Inn could finally take a deep breath. After escorting the guests back, he went alone to clean the room the two had used,

only to find a completely soaked bedsheet and a strange odor that made the owner stand still for a long time, reflecting. Ultimately, he shook his head, instructed his staff to dispose of the bedsheet completely, and replaced it with a new one.