Chapter 28: The Three-in-One Xi Nian Appears!
The revolving door cut off the hotel interior from the street outside.
Inside the partition, a dark liquid writhed and crawled across the floor.
Suffocating. Crushing.
A feeling Xi Nian had never experienced surged through his body and mind.
Difficulty breathing? No—he couldn't breathe at all!
In that instant, Xi Nian felt like he wasn't suited to survive on this planet.
There was no doubt—his Master of Affection ability had been triggered, and his body was being reshaped by some extraordinary power.
"If this keeps up, I'll die?" Xi Nian's body boiled like liquid, collapsing onto the ground, his form twitching and writhing uncontrollably.
"Meow!"
The cry of a cat drew his attention. From his fallen backpack, a small orange kitten squeezed out through the zipper.
It was Xiao Huang!
Xi Nian trembled. His instincts surged forward, and the black liquid he had become leapt toward the kitten, enveloping Xiao Huang and merging directly into her small body.
At the hotel front desk—
"Welcome." The receptionist looked up when the revolving door turned. But instead of a guest, a pure black cat padded into view.
"Where did this stray come from?" She rushed forward to shoo it away.
The black kitten froze for a moment, then quickly grabbed the backpack in its mouth and darted out through the revolving door into the street.
On the bustling avenue—
Pedestrians scattered as the strange black kitten dashed past with the bag, disappearing into an alley.
Minutes later—
On the rooftop of a five-story building, the backpack lay to one side while the black kitten perched on the railing, staring down at the neon-lit streets below.
"Who am I?"
"I'm a symbiote, Venom… no, I'm a Flerken, a cub…"
"No, no, no! That's wrong!"
The black kitten clutched its head with oddly human-like motion, then its eyes gleamed with clarity. "I remember. I am Xi Nian, an ordinary human high school student, living in Washington D.C."
"What exactly has happened to me?" The black kitten took a deep breath, his mind filled with tangled voices.
A hoarse, sinister voice growled: "What's wrong with this human's body?"
"Why is he in control?! Cursed, hateful, pathetic!!"
Then came a pure, childlike voice: "Xi… Nian, are you okay?"
"Ahh, I can't control my body anymore, it feels like being locked in a dark room…"
"Quiet, both of you. Let me think this through." Xi Nian rubbed his temples and crouched down, forcing himself to organize his thoughts.
Because of shared thoughts, Xi Nian quickly understood what had happened to his body.
It all started with the voice calling itself Venom.
Venom was a symbiote from another planet. Hitching a ride on a research company's spacecraft, it had accidentally arrived on Earth.
As a symbiote, it couldn't survive alone. It required a host.
Venom discovered that some humans were highly compatible and ultimately chose Xi Nian as its host.
But things became complicated.
Symbiotes have no fixed gender—they can be considered both male and female.
When Venom merged with Xi Nian, it counted as "intimate contact." And when its liquid body fused with his, it fulfilled the conditions of energy exchange.
Thus, Xi Nian's Master of Affection ability was triggered.
He gained the powers and traits of a symbiote. That was why his body had melted into black liquid earlier.
And then, through instinct, he had merged into Xiao Huang's body.
In simple terms: Venom parasitized Xi Nian, and Xi Nian parasitized Xiao Huang.
Symbiote, human, and Flerken—three different beings had fused together. Xi Nian remained the dominant will, but Venom and Xiao Huang's thoughts could also be shared.
"A human with such extraordinary power…"
Venom muttered, puzzled: "If you've become a symbiote, why can I still inhabit you?"
Normally, symbiotes cannot coexist. They can only devour one another.
"I think I understand." Xi Nian sighed.
Although he had gained symbiote abilities, his essence was still human. That allowed the bizarre arrangement: symbiote inhabits Xi Nian, Xi Nian inhabits the Flerken.
"This is the first time I've ever seen three species sharing one body." Venom's harsh voice trembled with excitement.
"Wait—though I can't control it, I can feel it. This body we've formed together is incredibly strong!"
"Strong? …Maybe." Xi Nian glanced at his tiny cat paw, not sure how to describe this state. His feline body was wrapped in a black layer with streaks of lightning-white markings on his abdomen.
"Yes! With this power, we can defeat them!" Venom roared in excitement.
Xi Nian tilted his head. Through shared thought, he understood what Venom meant.
Venom wasn't the only symbiote to arrive on Earth.
There were three more.
They were enemies. Unlike Venom, they wanted to colonize Earth by taking human hosts and leading their kind in conquest.
"Again with destroying Earth? What is it with you aliens—do you think Earth stole your food supply or something?" Xi Nian rolled his eyes.
Suddenly—
The black kitten's body stiffened, turning sharply. From the side of the building, a model-like woman climbed up the wall like a puppet on strings.
Her movements were stiff, her eyes blank. Her bare hands were covered in jagged brown spikes.
"It's one of my kind! We symbiotes can sense each other's location!" Venom warned urgently in his mind.
"Now you say it?!" Xi Nian leapt away, his body streaking like black lightning.
The model lunged after him with inhuman speed, her arms swelling with spikes until they became massive, hammer-like weapons that slammed down toward the small cat's body.
In midair—
"You think I'm easy prey?"
The black kitten twisted, its mouth splitting into a monstrous grin. Its tail lashed out behind, tearing the air itself. In an instant, the tail transformed into a sword nearly four meters long, many times the cat's own size!
Slash!
The massive hammer-arms were sliced cleanly in half.
The symbiote within the model reeled in shock. It hadn't expected Venom, trapped in a weak Earth kitten, to become so terrifyingly strong.
She tried to retreat—
But the enormous black sword cleaved downward, splitting her from head to toe in one decisive strike.
[Please give powerstones if you're enjoying the story.
500 stones = 1 extra chapter
patreon com/GuessMyName33 for advanced chapters]