“Are we going home already?” Galen asked.Alexander shook his head. “No, not yet. I’ll stay here with you.”Galen said nothing else and pursued his lips. As a child, his emotions were written clearly in his gaze.Seeing Galen troubled, especially when he was still young, hurt Alexander. He tucked Galen under the blanket and asked, “What’s wrong?”“Grandpa is sick.” Galen looked like he was about to cry.Although Galen constantly bickered with Dominic, making the older man go crazy sometimes, the two had a close relationship. Dominic adored Galen very much, and Galen had treated Dominic as his family already.Alexander was moved and said softly, “Yeah.”“Is he going to die?” Galen asked again, his voice trembling.Galen seemed to have been waiting to ask this question for a long time. It was just that he was too young and did not know how to bring the matter up. He was also afraid of the topic.Alexander did not answer right away. Instead, he briefly thought before asking, “Do
Alexander was relieved when he noticed Galen had stopped crying. He touched his son’s forehead and found it no longer hot. Then he got up and retook Galen’s temperature before asking, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”Galen shook his head lightly and said softly, "I'm a little hungry.""I'll get you something to eat." Alexander laughed. It was music to his ears that Galen felt hungry. After all, being hungry and having an appetite would help to replenish his energy.After waiting a few minutes, Alexander saw that the temperature on the thermometer was normal. It seemed like Galen was stable for now. "Lie here while I get you something to eat. You can't get out of bed and run around, okay?"Galen nodded obediently. "Can I visit Grandpa?"Alexander wagged his index at Galen and said, "No, Grandpa is sick and needs to rest. You can see him when he feels better, okay?"With the older man's situation still unknown, it was unclear how contagious the disease was. It was better to m
Alexander called his assistant to buy food and necessities to deliver to the door. Then he ordered the assistant to leave it at the door, and someone would pick them up later. The things he got included noodles and various other food.After that, he thought about how they would take a while to buy and deliver them. He knew Galen would be starving by then. Alexander turned around and looked in a daze at the things in the kitchen, arms akimbo.‘As the old saying goes, no one could make bricks without straws. I’m in a dilemma!’"Let me do it." Austin, who was rubbing his legs, appeared at the kitchen door. He assumed that an influential person like Alexander would not cook by himself.Alexander turned around and raised his eyebrows, looking at Austin with undisguised suspicion. "You?"Although Austin was grimacing from the pins and needles in his legs, he still felt a rush of dissatisfaction with Alexander's attitude. "Don't underestimate me!"First, Alexander doubted his medical sk
"What are you looking at?" Austin felt himself getting scrutinized and thought for a moment before turning his head to look at the pot in the sink. "I honestly didn't know there was soup in it. I promise I haven't given your son anything from the pot in the past two days."After a pause, seeing that Alexander was silent, Austin guiltily added, "I admit, I did give him instant noodles."However, instant noodles were not a big deal. Austin had eaten them before and did not see any severe harm.‘Besides, I wasn’t feeding Galen instant noodles every day. We just have no choice right now!’Alexander ignored Austin's explanation and suddenly walked forward to grab Austin's arms and lift them.Austin panicked. "What are you doing?! You…"Alexander pulled up Austin's sleeve, revealing more than half his arm."Huh?" Austin was startled, still not understanding Alexander's motive.Austin's arms were snow-white, whiter than most women’s.Unlike the previous muscle swelling, it looked lik
"How can this happen?!" Austin, sweating profusely, stood by the bed and exclaimed in shock.Alexander was silent. He bent down, took one of the older man's arms out of the blanket, and scrutinized it. Strangely, the red marks and raised lines he had seen on Dominic's arm before had disappeared.Cold to a human's touch, the thin arm had no trace of the previous imprint. It was as if everything was an illusion and had never existed. Austin was puzzled as he looked at Alexander’s actions.‘Alexander did the same thing to me; now he’s doing it to Uncle Dom. What is he looking for? Does he know something I don’t?"What are you looking for?" Austin leaned his head over and asked curiously.Alexander almost forgot there was another person with him and was startled. He glanced at Austin, shook his head, and did not speak.His silence made Austin lose his composure. "Hey, what does that mean? You checked my arm like that before, and now you're doing the same to Uncle Dom. What are you lo
That punch landed right on Austin’s stomach, causing him to let out a loud growl as he staggered backward. He pointed at Alexander and wanted to say so much, but he could only say, “F*ck!”“I don’t know what’s going on now either. I’m unsure if everyone here got infected by a virus, an infectious disease, or…” Alexander stopped briefly before continuing, “You guys are medical practitioners, yet you don’t know what’s happening.“Do you think I’d know anything? I was just checking if there was anything strange with your bodies. I didn’t mean anything else, and you shouldn’t read too much into that either.”Before Dominic regained consciousness, Alexander could not bring up the matter of the symbiote because he did not know what it was either. Seeing how rash Austin was, he might just exacerbate the situation.However, Austin noticed the momentary pause in Alexander’s words.‘What could it be if not a virus or an infectious disease? What is it?’Perhaps the two men were causing too
Dominic shut his eyes and nodded slightly in agreement with Alexander while Austin remained quiet. However, guilt-ridden for having caused all this, he was anxious to find out what it was all about.“It’s not your fault.” Seemingly able to read his mind, Dominic raised his hand slightly and moved his fingers. “Go… fetch my silver needle.”Austin repeatedly nodded upon hearing his granduncle’s instruction. “Right away!”He was eager to do everything for his granduncle as long as the older man could get well.Dominic quietly gazed after Austin as he anxiously ran out of the room like a child, then turned to Alexander.Alexander knew the older man had something to say to him.“I…” Dominic then raised his arm.Alexander knowingly held the arm a bit higher and rolled up the older man’s sleeve. “I checked both your arms, and there’s nothing. The mark you showed me before has disappeared. I also checked Austin’s body; he doesn’t have it either. What the hell… was it?”He knew it was e
Austin stood in shock at the doorway as what he held fell to the floor with a clang. As he always took his time when asked to do things, Dominic was surprised that his grandnephew was back so soon.Worse, he seemed to have overheard their conversation.“Uncle Dom, I’m… the mother?” His voice sounded odd. It was hard for him to accept this. Although Austin always suspected he was the source and the cause of what had happened, he found it hard to accept what he had just heard. Even the word “mother” sounded bizarre to him.Dominic coughed and explained, “Not you, but the thing inside you.”However, the older man’s brief clarification only bewildered Austin further.“Inside me…” Austin looked down at his body but could not see anything with his clothes on. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his skinny body. His previously lean and clear-defined muscle groups were no longer visible.Dominic saw what his grandnephew was doing and coughed before sighing. “You won’t be able to