Ch.126126. Plant Transformation Virus

“···········.”

Consciousness resurfaces.

“·······ugh············”

The objective perspective unique to psychic users observes its own mind, informing the soul of its condition.

“·····ugh···········uuung········.”

That is, it has regained consciousness.

“········Hah!”

The moment she recognized this, Cash hurriedly raised her upper body from her lying position, and at that instant, she was left speechless by the scene before her eyes.

She had clearly boarded a spaceship to deliver information—’forgotten’—for some reason she couldn’t remember, she had been sucked into a psychic storm containing a space plant virus, and now she had opened her eyes in the middle of a forest.

“What is this? Why has my hair········grown longer? And why is it green?”

Not only that, but her appearance had completely changed.

The first thing that caught her eye was the extremely long, flowing green hair.

Though she had reluctantly cut her brown hair short for business activities and a neat image, now she had green hair so long it nearly touched the ground—reminiscent of leaves.

Additionally, looking down at herself, her attire had changed from a black women’s suit to nothing but a simple white summer dress—

‘My body has, shrunk········?!’

To make matters worse, her once large and beautiful knight’s purse was gone, and her body seemed to have become younger by about 15-20 years, giving her the appearance of a small adult with traces of both youthfulness and maturity.

“···········.”

Moreover, her ears had elongated like those of a race from some classical novel, and when she observed her body’s condition with her psychic abilities—

“No····way·······.”

Cash unconsciously denied the reality that was sufficient to reject—in short, she was no longer human but had become another type of living being.

The hair on her body—the body hair—was closer to plant fiber containing chlorophyll than protein, and her skin felt elastic like some kind of hardened hair gel, transparent yet strangely tough.

Furthermore, her muscle fibers had become plant fibers that only resembled human coloration, and the liquid flowing through her vessels, which were like hollow plant stems, was a substance that, though red, was more like fruit juice than blood.

Additionally, what appeared at first glance to be normal nipples or genitals were merely imitations in shape, essentially just ‘skin that happened to look that way’ like lips, with little difference from the rest of her skin. Her abdomen was filled with nutrient storage organs instead of digestive organs or implants.

And most notably, her head was also of a plant-like substance, with her brain replaced by a material akin to a degraded biological quantum computer, which had actually enhanced her psychic abilities.

“············Ah, aaah.”

But that offered absolutely no consolation to Cash, whose entire body had transformed overnight into an unknown alien plant.

Even though science had already proven the existence of the soul, for someone like her who valued the physical components of personality—especially the brain—the fact that the material constituting her brain had completely changed meant, in extreme terms, that the human known as Cash McKinley was already dead.

She believed that her current self was a different alien sharing Cash McKinley’s soul, mind, and some memories.

“········Uuugh, uuuuugh········!!!”

Though she was a field reporter who had been through thick and thin, Cash didn’t have the mental fortitude to endure a real-life version of the Ship of Theseus paradox where her very existence was in question. She wept uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.

She had been caught in a psychic storm and transported to some alien planet somewhere in space, infected with a space plant virus that made her no longer human—and furthermore, her very self-identity was now in question.

Even the strongest person would struggle to maintain sanity in such a horrific situation, and just as she was sobbing profusely—

Rustle.

With the sound of disturbing foliage or leaves, a woman appeared before her, with an appearance that Cash presumed was very similar to her current form.

Similarly having green long hair, pointed ears, and a plant-like composition, but unlike Cash, she had a well-proportioned body and wore a form-fitting green dress. The moment this woman saw Cash crying and wailing—

“········?!!!”

She became restless, trying her best to comfort Cash.

And with the help of this unidentified woman, Cash barely managed to regain her composure. As Cash looked at the woman, the woman very carefully sent her a psychic communication.

[Did you········just fall here?]

Unlike the unidentifiable language coming from her mouth, the psychic communication was something Cash could understand, so after somehow calming herself down, she sent back a psychic message.

[Yes, I did. But········I don’t understand what’s happening here.]

Thinking that she should gather information and assess the situation rather than rambling unnecessarily, Cash conveyed her thoughts, and after a moment of contemplation, the woman sent another psychic message.

[Then, I’ll get straight to the point. Like me, and probably you too, everyone living on this planet is a human who was infected with the space plant virus and caught in a psychic storm.]

[I, I see···········!]

Cash brightened at the news that there were others in a similar situation, and as the woman looked at her with satisfaction—she spoke.

[However, you won’t be able to leave this planet.]

[········W, what?]

Naturally confused by this sudden statement, Cash asked for clarification, and the woman continued with a deep sigh.

[Our bodies can only be maintained in the atmosphere of this planet, which is full of the space plant virus. Experiments have shown that bodies placed in pure air collapse within seconds.]

[Then·······.]

[Yes, I haven’t been able to leave this planet in the 87 years since I fell here. The only one who tried to leave ‘that person’········had their psychic communication cut off 17 seconds after going outside the atmosphere.]

From the woman’s will, which seemed genuinely heartfelt, Cash intuitively understood.

Indeed, she would have to live on this planet forever from now on.

‘······What am I supposed to do?’

A sense of desolation, like being alone in the vast ocean, and anxiety, like being stranded in the middle of a desert planet, dominated her thoughts.

As Cash, who had lost everything she had built over a lifetime in a single day, clutched her head and trembled, not knowing what to do—

[Please calm down, fellow compatriot.]

Along with the psychic message conveying reassurance from the woman before her, green energy emanated from the woman’s hand and seeped into Cash’s mind—

[—I guess there’s nothing to be done. Yes, that’s right.]

With a suddenly calm mind and cool reason, Cash reached that conclusion and asked her fellow compatriot:

[Is it okay to live here?]

[Yes, this body can photosynthesize, so you can survive by just eating some native plants, and our community has fairly good amenities.]

Cash smiled at the woman who explained somewhat sheepishly that the infrastructure was quite good because people with nothing else to do had put all their effort into building homes. Then a question suddenly occurred to her.

[Excuse me, may I know your name?]

[Name….you mean?]

The woman reacted somewhat strangely, as if she had never had a name to begin with, but then smiled gently and spoke.

[Ah, that’s right. Since we all communicate psychically here, we rarely use names. If you mean my old name············I think it was Sejun. Yes, Sejun.]

[Se········jun?]

Cash asked this because the name sounded more masculine than feminine, but she didn’t particularly mind.

It could easily be a misunderstanding due to language or cultural differences between speakers of different languages, so she was about to dismiss it when—

[Oh, about that. I, I was originally a man. I became like this after being infected with the plant virus.]

“Pfft───! Cough! Hack! Kack!”

Startled by Sejun’s revelation, Cash jumped up like a cat, and the two of them walked toward the village where, like it or not, they would have to continue living from now on.

And so, their story came to an end in this form.