Strongest Incubus System

The gates of Mirath appeared ahead.

Damon did not slow down.

The guards barely had time to recognize the group before he passed them.

"Baron!"

"Later!"

"Lord Damon, there was—"

"Later!"

Ester ran beside him.

Jian Yue was only a few steps behind.

Mu Qing could not keep the same pace, but Chen Mo practically dragged her through the short folds he could still open inside the city.

The mark on Damon’s arm burned more and more.

It was not continuous pain.

It came in pulses.

Each one stronger.

As though something distant were sending questions.

And something inside Jian Li was answering.

"Where is she?" Damon asked.

Aria opened the notebook while running.

"East-side quarters. Ester left instructions that no one was to move her."

"Good."

Ester looked at him.

"I know how to do my job."

"That was a compliment."

"It sounded suspicious."

They turned into the main corridor.

A servant nearly dropped a tray when she saw them.

Damon could already feel it.

Not Jian Li.

Something else.

Weak.

Artificial.

Dark blue.

Exactly like his mark.

"Shit."

Jian Yue heard him.

"What?"

"It’s stronger."

He accelerated.

They reached the corridor leading to the rooms.

Celina stood in front of the door.

Sword in hand.

Elizabeth beside her.

Both were already alert.

Damon stopped.

"What happened?"

Elizabeth answered quickly.

"Three minutes ago, Jian Li started having spasms."

Ester went pale.

"Fever?"

"No."

"Pulse?"

"Unstable."

"Breathing?"

"Normal."

Celina opened the door.

"But the room started freezing."

Damon went still.

"She doesn’t have the Root."

"I know," Elizabeth said.

They entered.

Jian Li was lying down.

Eyes closed.

Pale skin.

Slow breathing.

Beneath the sheet, something moved.

Not her body.

Lines.

Climbing up her legs.

Crossing her abdomen.

Reaching her chest.

Ester tore the sheet away.

The white scars left by the Heshan Root were glowing.

But not white.

Dark blue.

Mu Qing stopped at the door.

"No."

Jian Yue turned toward her.

"You knew this could happen?"

"No."

"You put this inside her!"

"I put in structures to keep her circulation going!"

"And now they’re waking up!"

"I KNOW!"

Damon raised one hand.

"You can kill each other later."

Jian Yue took a deep breath, but did not release the sword.

Damon approached the bed.

His mark reacted immediately.

The lines on Jian Li’s body pulsed.

Her back arched.

Ester shoved Damon backward.

"Move away!"

He stepped back.

The lines weakened.

Silence.

Everyone noticed.

Damon looked at his arm.

"I’m making it worse."

Xue Lian entered.

"Not you."

She studied Jian Li.

"The mark."

Damon took another step back.

"Adaptation’s core is using my Anchor to locate her structure."

Mu Qing went pale.

"I copied symbols from the altar."

"Yes," Xue Lian replied. "And that was enough."

Ester was already examining Jian Li.

Two fingers against her neck.

Then her wrist.

Then a hand over her chest.

"She’s alive."

Jian Yue stood beside the bed.

"Will she stay that way?"

"No one talks to me for twenty seconds."

Everyone fell silent.

Damon counted mentally.

Ester pressed three points.

Inserted a needle near the sternum.

Another below the ribs.

A third into the thigh.

The lines slowed.

"It isn’t a direct attack."

Damon became serious.

"Then what?"

"It’s reconstructing her."

Mu Qing closed her eyes.

That was worse.

Ester continued.

"Her circulation was destroyed after carrying the Root. Her body no longer knows how to maintain spiritual flow on its own."

"I know," Jian Yue said.

"So does this thing."

Damon understood.

"Adaptation is trying to correct it."

Ester nodded.

"Without asking."

Xue Lian stepped closer.

"It’s function."

Everyone looked at her.

She pointed toward the lines.

"There is no intention to kill Jian Li. The structure is doing exactly what it was created to do."

"Adapt the vessel," Damon said.

"Yes."

Jian Yue clenched his teeth.

"Then do we let it?"

"No," Ester, Xue Lian, and Damon answered together.

Jian Yue looked at all three.

Damon continued.

"Because we don’t know what it is adapting her for."

Xue Lian nodded.

"It could rebuild her circulation so that she can accept any artificial core."

Mu Qing lost even more color.

"A universal vessel."

Damon looked at her.

"Like Vorn tried to make me."

The room fell silent.

Jian Yue lowered his eyes toward his sister.

The lines kept climbing.

Slowly.

But steadily.

"How do we stop it?"

Ester looked at Mu Qing.

"First I need to know exactly what you left inside her."

"Support formations."

"How many?"

"Twelve primary."

"Secondary?"

Mu Qing hesitated.

Ester raised her face.

"How many?"

"Thirty-six."

Damon closed his eyes.

"Of course."

Jian Yue looked ready to kill someone.

Mu Qing ignored him.

"She was dying."

"I know," Ester replied. "I’m not judging right now. I need the map."

Aria already had the notebook open.

"Can you draw it?"

"Yes."

"Do it."

Mu Qing knelt on the floor.

She started drawing.

Ester pointed toward Damon.

"You leave."

"I can help."

"You’re a beacon."

"Good argument."

He stepped back to the doorway.

The mark continued pulsing.

Weaker.

But it did not stop.

Damon closed his eyes.

He felt the pattern.

Different from what had happened with Selection.

There was no claim here.

Adaptation was simply looking for a problem and trying to solve it.

And Jian Li was practically an invitation.

Broken circulation.

Spiritual scars.

A body already accustomed to sustaining something foreign.

Damon opened his eyes.

"Turning off the formations won’t be enough."

Xue Lian turned.

"Why?"

"It has already identified Jian Li as a correctable incompatibility."

Mu Qing stopped drawing.

"Then even if we destroy my symbols..."

"It’ll look for another way."

Ester became serious.

"Then we need to make Jian Li stop looking incomplete."

Silence.

Damon looked at her.

"Can you?"

"Not quickly."

Xue Lian thought.

"We don’t need to fix her."

Damon understood.

"Just change the classification."

Ester frowned.

"Explain."

Xue Lian pointed at Jian Li.

"Adaptation sees damage and tries to correct it."

"Yes."

"Then we need to make the structure recognize her current state as chosen."

Damon smiled.

"Refusal."

Xue Lian shook her head.

"Not exactly."

She looked at Jian Li.

"Consent."

Everyone fell silent.

Mu Qing stopped completely.

That hit her.

Perhaps more than the others.

For years, Jian Li had chosen nothing.

Not the Root.

Not the reconstructed body.

Not serving as a vessel.

Damon understood immediately.

"The true network respects refusal."

"Yes."

"But this one is artificial."

"Adaptation still needs an objective."

Xue Lian pointed toward the lines.

"If Jian Li herself defines that she does not want to be reconstructed this way, it may create a functional conflict."

Ester looked at the unconscious girl.

"She needs to wake up."

Jian Yue answered.

"Then wake her."

"That isn’t how it works."

"Then make it work."

Ester looked at him.

She did not argue.

She took another needle.

"Hold her hand."

Jian Yue did.

Ester inserted the needle below the collarbone.

Jian Li reacted.

A small movement.

"Jian Li."

Nothing.

Another needle.

"Jian Li."

Her fingers moved.

Jian Yue squeezed her hand.

"Li."

Her eyes opened.

Barely.

Confused.

"Ge...ge?"

"I’m here."

She tried to sit up.

Ester placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No."

Jian Li breathed with difficulty.

"What..."

The dark-blue lines pulsed.

She groaned.

Damon stayed far away.

"Jian Li."

She managed to look at him.

"You need to listen."

"I’m listening."

"Your body is trying to be reconstructed."

She frowned.

"Again?"

Damon almost smiled.

"Unfortunately."

Jian Li closed her eyes.

"I hate my life."

Jian Yue let out a laugh that almost turned into crying.

Ester continued.

"There is an ancient structure inside you. It thinks it’s helping."

"It isn’t."

"Good," Damon said.

Jian Li opened one eye.

"Good?"

"Keep thinking that."

Xue Lian stepped closer.

"Jian Li, you need to decide what you want your body to be."

She looked confused.

"My body?"

"Yours."

Mu Qing remained motionless on the floor.

Unable to look directly at her.

Xue Lian continued.

"Not a vessel. Not support. Not a replacement for a Root."

The lines grew stronger.

Jian Li took a deep breath.

"And if I don’t know?"

Damon answered.

"Then start with what you don’t want."

She looked at him.

The room fell silent.

Jian Li closed her eyes.

"I don’t want another Root."

The lines hesitated.

Everyone saw it.

Damon smiled.

"Again."

"I don’t want to carry anything."

The glow diminished.

Mu Qing looked up.

"It’s working."

Jian Li squeezed her brother’s hand.

"I don’t want to be a vessel."

The lines stopped.

Completely.

The mark on Damon’s arm burned.

A message entered his perception.

OBJECTIVE INCOMPATIBLE.

He laughed.

Ester looked at him.

"What?"

"It’s irritated."

Xue Lian understood.

"Keep going."

Jian Li opened her eyes.

Now there was anger.

Good.

"My body is mine."

One of the lines went dark.

Then another.

"I don’t need to be useful to exist."

Mu Qing closed her eyes.

More lines disappeared.

Jian Li breathed.

"I don’t want to be perfect."

The symbol on her chest that Mu Qing had created four years earlier cracked.

"I just want to live."

Every dark-blue line went out.

The room returned to normal.

No cold.

No pulses.

Nothing.

Damon looked at the mark.

The false Seed was trembling.

ADAPTATION REFUSED.

He exhaled.

"We did it."

Ester immediately raised one hand.

"Don’t celebrate yet."

Damon looked at her.

"Why?"

She was examining Jian Li.

Pulse.

Breathing.

Eyes.

Then she went still.

Jian Yue noticed.

"What?"

Ester placed a hand over Jian Li’s abdomen.

"Mu Qing."

She stood.

"Yes?"

"Your formations."

"What about them?"

"They’re gone."

Mu Qing went pale.

"All of them?"

"I can’t feel any."

Xue Lian stepped closer.

She understood.

The refusal had not only shut down Adaptation.

Jian Li had rejected the artificial structure sustaining part of her circulation.

Jian Yue looked at his sister.

"Is that bad?"

Ester did not answer immediately.

Damon became serious.

"She needed them."

"Yes."

"How much?"

Ester raised her eyes.

"To stay alive?"

Silence.

Jian Yue tightened his grip on his sister’s hand.

Ester took a deep breath.

"We’re about to find out."

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