Imposter System

[Secondary Reproduction Lv. 0->Max: As the main unit of reproduction, the Hive Queen gains the benefits of multiple sub-bodies. They do not inherit any portion of your skills or abilities. However, the tertiary sub-bodies do not need Evolution Points in order to become mature. They will grow inside a host body. Sub-body hosts will follow your commands.

]Number of sub-bodies: 5]

Matt read over the skill, and it matched with what he remembered. The main Hive Queen parasite player could be a complete beginner in the Parasite game, but as long as they infected a single person, that person could win for them. The reason for this was exactly this Secondary Reproduction skill.

Any other sub-parasites couldn't infect the whole crew. This was another reason why Hive Queen had the highest win-rate and lowest learning curve.

Alexis went to sleep immediately after leveling her abilities. She decided to not activate Frenzy to test it in fear of over-stimulating Alex. She wasn't completely certain if it would affect him or not. She also didn't feel like she had much control over the skill. It was true to its name of Berserk.

The trio planned to stay in their quarters while Alexis recovered from the evolution. After the initial excitement of childbirth, Matt refocused on his plans for the future. The situation with Alexandria needed to be solved as soon as possible. Additionally, now that things have settled down, it was time to begin feeding again.

There were many factors for why they laid low the last six months and one of them was specifically because of Alexandria. In the guise of further tests, Matt had her take blood samples every three days. On his way to pick up food, he stopped by the lab. Today was one of the days she took a sample, so when he arrived, Alexandria was already cleaning up.

"How did it go today?" Matt asked as soon as he entered the lab.

"I can't use that spot anymore." She said with a resigned expression. Matt nodded his head and inspected her leg. One thing they had discovered from constant sampling of her blood is that the alien cells completely merged with her bone marrow. They had attempted to take a bone marrow sample but failed completely.

The bones had hardened to the point where no instrument could penetrate it. With some medications to stimulate the production of naïve cells, they were able to determine that her body was slowly replacing all blood cells with the new alien hybrid cell. After three months, her whole circulatory system was now composed of the new cells.

They had run several physical exams on Alexandria and discovered that she was able to maintain a hundred percent oxygen saturation even after an hour of sprinting. Wounds healed almost as quickly as Matt's, and her immune system destroyed various neurotoxins they injected into her body.

Although it seemed no other organ had benefited from this enhancement, this was quite powerful already. A month later, the skin and venous walls were strengthened, and needles were unable to penetrate. This continued every few attempts until there were only a few places left that they could draw blood from. They had even attempted to insert a catheter into her venous portal vein, right next to the heart, but it was eventually forced out of her body.

"Good news then, you can stop taking blood samples. We should have enough now." Matt said while smiling.

There were now several months' worth of blood samples. Matt had hoarded them up until now. He wasn't sure if infecting Alexandria would make her blood stop giving Evolution Points. When Matt tried it with Alexis, they discovered that it only shifted Evolution Points between the two of them, but once it reached zero, it didn't give any extra points.

"Does that mean you've reached a conclusion!?" Alexandria was very happy to hear this. Five months ago, Matt promised that he would have a solution for her problem. She didn't want to be some strange alien-hybrid. She dutifully took blood samples while Matt studied her condition. She was worried with his recently workload that it would take a long time, but he always seemed to take time out of his day to see her and work in the lab. Her affection for him had grown, but her condition always made her self-conscious and scared to voice her feelings out loud.

"That's right. Come by my quarters tonight. I'll finish up here, you can head back early today."

Her face turned red. She could only nod and leave while her heart pounded. She was worried that Matt could hear her heart beating, which only made her more nervous. She quickly left the lab without looking back.

Meanwhile, Matt was eying the blood sample, not having noticed the strange actions at all. However, this didn't mean he was oblivious. He had long deduced her affections for him. Ever since their first meeting, he knew she liked him. But he didn't have an ounce of affection for her. He was a parasite, after all. Well, Alexis being the exception…

"…" Matt blinked his eyes in a moment of confusion and returned to his work. The fertility drugs were showing signs of working. He emailed his latest results to the other researchers and went into Martha's room. She had been like this for so long that he wondered if she would ever return to normal.

{Martha, Alex was born. It was the second time I saw life being born in front of me. You were the first. Alexis evolved as well. Also, we have finally decided to bring Alexandria into the fold.} After updating the sleeping Martha on the situation outside, he sent her various images from the last few days. With his tasks complete, he proceeded toward the cafeteria to get food.

When he returned, Alexis was just finishing with giving Alex his lunch. She looked at the food in Matt's hands like a voracious animal. He quickly set up the food in front of her and she started to chow down. Ever since the poisoning incident, Matt used his hypnosis on the cafeteria staff for information. He learned that the chef was put on forced leave and all the cooking had been done by the AI that day.

He then proceeded to hypnotize every staff member to ensure his food would be delicious, safe, and to-go. Because of his position as Head Investigator, no one complained, fearing that Matt would find out their dirty secrets.

After eating, the two chatted on random topics and played with Alex. Before long, there was a ring from the door. Matt realized he forgot to tell Alexandria a specific time, and it seemed she chose right before dinner to come by. He went to the door while resisting Alexis's glare. When he opened the door, he saw the olive-skinned beauty with hair tied back, wearing a simple light-green sun dress and Greek sandals. She jumped in fright when Matt opened the door.

"M-Matthew, I didn't know what time to come so…" She couldn't finish her sentence as she detected a frightening existence coming from beyond the door. She swallowed her saliva and looked up at Matt pleadingly.

"Come in, you're right on time." He said nonchalantly.

Alexandria walked in carefully. The sound of her sandals seemed very loud in the quiet room. She didn't know why, but she felt extremely nervous. Matt led her directly to the bedroom and her heart began to beat even more.

"H-Hello Commander." Her voice slipped out and she accidently called Alexis by her rank. The tension in the room was like a thick blanket draped over her shoulders.

"Sit down." Matt said, pointing to a recliner in the room. She immediately complied and began hoping this awkward situation would end immediately. However, Matt was completely uninterested in the silent battle between the girls. He already stated his intentions and had no reason to continue reaffirming them.

"Alexandria, before we begin, you have two choices. First, take the pill in my left hand. You will go back to normal in a few weeks and be able to live out your life. However, you won't be able to return to the lab anymore."

Or you can take the pill in my right hand. Upon taking it, there is no coming back. Instead of separating from the living metal, you'll be bonded even more strongly to it. However, you can continue working with me and will learn things about this ship and mission that will forever change your perspective of life and the universe you know."

In Matt's hands were a red capsule and a blue capsule. Inside the red capsule was the sub-body produced by Alexis. This would forever lock her into her current form. Inside the blue capsule was sugar. The first option didn't exist. He would hypnotize her if she decided to go that route. He just wanted to create a suspenseful scene and test her willingness to evolve.

"I… I'll take the red pill!" She only took a few minutes to decide but hearing that she would get closer to Matt was all she needed. Matt smiled and placed the red pill in her hand.

"Welcome to Wonderland, Alice."