I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 207

My eyes slowly opened. I had fallen asleep? This was the first time I had ever truly slept since I had mimicked a human. I didn’t depend on a brain like other people. I wasn’t sure how my mind worked, but it remained just as complex whether I resided in a single cell or had a dozen cells. Since my body was mimicking a full adult body with the cell count to match, my brain was one of the areas where I cut corners. I had only mimicked the necessary components in the brainstem and midbrain to replicate the basic maintenance my cells needed.

I had never bothered to construct a cerebellum; my skull was mostly filled with cerebral fluid and cartilage to maintain the structure and position of the parts I did need to replicate. I had never put the two together, but perhaps this was why I didn’t have the impulse to sleep. It appeared that to fully enjoy sex, I had to mimic a greater portion of the human brain. It had happened naturally, taking resources from other areas so that I could focus on Fate and our pleasure. The result seemed to be that I grew tired and slept. I flooded my body with enough hormones that I went into a sex-induced coma.

As I was thinking this, I felt an arm wrap around me and two soft things pressing against me. I looked down to see Fate there, her naked body clinging against mine, my robe partially wrapped around her to keep her warm in the chilly night. In truth, our body heat had made the cave quite warm for some time, but that had been some while ago, and while we slept, the temperature had begun to drop once again. While admiring Fate’s beauty, her blue eyes snapped open.

She stared at me silently, and I felt a clenching in my chest. Did she have a change of heart now that her mind was in a better place? Would she hate me? The playboy in me would have already been awake and out the door before she ever woke up. That way, I could cautiously observe her attitude the following day and then act accordingly. I hadn’t expected to fall asleep, so naturally I hadn’t expected to be in such a disadvantageous situation where she was on top of me and I couldn’t escape without putting my hands on her. She could then call the cops and get me arrested for assault!

No, that was the wrong world. It was too easy to start thinking like a playboy again. That was all a literal lifetime ago. Still, I wished she would react, but her expression was unreadable. That’s when she turned away and sat up. She didn’t try to throttle me. She simply made a soft sigh and pulled her legs under her. With a glance around the cave, she covered her robust chest, stood up, and then began looking for her clothing.

I watched her dress, and she didn’t object. However, when she moved her arms from her chest, I noticed her shiver, her nipples stiff from the cold. That reminded me, and I quickly pulled out thicker clothing and handed it to her.

“Here,” I offered.

She looked down at the clothing with hesitation. “These are… Mara’s?”

“Not at all,” I responded, but when she gave me a dubious look, I continued. “They are owned by nobody.”

She seemed to relax and accepted the clothing. In truth, they were Carolina’s clothing. I had taken mostly Tanner’s clothing from the farm, but I had also grabbed a few pieces for Mara, both as a keepsake for when she wanted them and because I felt Mara might have a growth spurt one of these days and need something with more room.

However, seeing Fate slip the thicker fabric over her body, the chest bulged out, barely contained within poor Carolina’s blouse, which looked like it wanted to rip apart. It seemed like Fate’s genetics were superior to Mara’s mother in this respect. I felt a bit of sympathy for Mara. Knowing Abigail was only a size smaller, perhaps Tanner’s lineage will save her. Then again, if Mara had a mutation, she, too, could grow such healthy specimens.

“What are you looking at?” Fate demanded, noticing where my eyes were and blushing. “It’s tight.”

“I was just thinking about genetics. For example, how were Destiny and you born so… different?”

She frowned. “People say we look like sisters all the time.”

I sighed. She just didn’t get it. She continued to dress, and when she was finished, she still frowned.

“It’s still cold.”

I grinned and reached out for her. “I’ll keep you warm.”

She dodged my grab, taking a step back, and my grin froze on my face.

“Do you hate me now?” I asked.

Her brows pulled together. “I’m not angry about last night.”

I cocked my head. “Then, what is it?”

“Do I need to explain it?” she asked. “You’re still engaged to Abigail. Abigail is my best friend. I have betrayed her trust, and so I must live with the consequences.”

“The consequences?”

“As… much as I enjoyed the previous night…” Her cheeks grew pink. “I am still a daughter of the Lou family, and a paragon. I can’t ignore my responsibilities. I always knew that I wouldn’t be able to follow my heart. I had to prepare for that since I was a young girl. I didn’t expect… I didn’t think I would fall in love. However, this is only an inconvenience.”

I smiled bitterly. “Anything for the Lou family, right?”

“The Lou family is who gave me a blessed life. It’s only right that my life belongs to them.” she responded. “So, once we leave this cave, please don’t mention this affair again. I will not acknowledge our relationship, and if you force things, I’ll get angry.”

I raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You know, we haven’t left the cave yet.”

She looked up, a bit startled. Her cheeks reddened even more.

“Th-that’s true.” Her voice faltered.

I held out my arms, smiling flirtatiously. “Well?”

“You are… incorrigible,” she spoke unhappily, but she still stepped into my arms.

Our lips met once again, a soft, lingering kiss filled with everything we couldn’t speak out loud. Her hands held onto my shoulders as she leaned her chest against mine. We remained like that for some time, lost in each other’s embrace.

“Spirit…” An imperceptible whisper entered my ears.

Since Fate’s mouth was occupied, there was no way it was her. I pulled away, quickly extending my senses as far as they could go. I detected no life nearby.

Fate frowned with a look of dissatisfaction over our intimacy being suddenly interrupted. “What’s wrong?”

She noticed me turning around and looking off into the darkness. “Spirit…”

“There, did you hear it?” I asked.

Fate’s frown deepened. “All I hear is the wind outside.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Someone is calling out to me. How deep does this cave go?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “There are cave systems all over this mountain. No one knows how deep they go.”

The voice called again. “Spirit… come here…”

My frown deepened. It was soft, ethereal, more a breath than a voice, and unmistakably not from Fate. It was coming from deeper in the cave. The strange thing was that I was pretty certain it didn’t use sound to transmit the voice. Rather, it was more like the voice was being transmitted directly into my head.

“Spirit… we should be returning soon.” Fate looked uncomfortable. “We are close to the sage beast’s territory, and I still don’t know if my family is safe.”

“I hear someone calling my name,” I admitted. “The voice is coming from deeper into the cave.”

I started to walk in that direction, but Fate reached out and stopped my arm. “Are you certain? I don’t hear anything.”

I smiled back at her. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

Her face turned red. “You’re not just doing this so we stay in the cave longer, are you?”

I blinked and then chuckled. “If I wanted to keep you in the cave, I would have just kept doing what I was doing before. Our journey might have been delayed by several hours.”

“That’s not true!” She grew flustered and then gave a cute huff. “You’re impossible.”

I took her hand and continued to move forward into the darkness. She no longer resisted and continued with me. The cave narrowed, but it stretched on into the dark. I made a gesture and produced a glowing ball. Fate glanced at it with curiosity.

“That isn’t being produced with energy,” she noted. “How are you producing it?”

“Bioluminescence,” I told her.

She stared at me for a moment, but it appeared she didn’t want to appear foolish by asking for clarification on the word and dropped it. That was probably for the best. It was just a clump of cells from my body, a mixture of bioluminescent cells and osteons that constructed an extracellular matrix in the shape of a ball. It felt and looked like an opaque crystal ball that glowed, and that was all anyone needed to know about it. I could have just as easily made my fingers glow, but such a sight would have been creepy.

The pair of us continued heading into the dark.