Harker eventually got inside his room. He shoved the evidence under his bed to be disposed of later, put on new clothes, and pretended to yawn as he went to greet his family downstairs.

He noticed Yan still flying by his side. "You can disappear now. Don't want my Dad to get a heart attack again and add up to our medical expenses."

"Oh! Yes, right away!" Yan vanished into thin air.

But Harker can somehow feel he's still there. Watching.

He did wonder about one more thing, but he'll ask that later. For now, he had to act like everything was normal to his family.

"Good mornin', everyone!" He greeted them.

Someone went out from the kitchen upon hearing his voice. It was his father in a wheelchair, holding a frying pan and wearing an apron.

"Oh, Harker! Since when did you get home? I thought you had that extra gig you're talking about." His dad said. "Also, it's already noon."

"Good noon then, Dad!" He chuckled. "I got home last night and went through the window as always. Didn't wanna disturb your sleep. What's for lunch?"

Two little 7-year old boys that look identical to each other ran towards him.

"Harker! Harker!"

"Look how much we earned from handing newspapers to the neighbors!"

They proudly showed him their pennies and dimes.

"That's great! You guys be careful when bicycling, alright?" He ruffled their hair. "You just got rid of the training wheels last week."

A pale 10 year old girl with red rashes on her face that looked like butterflies coughed vehemently.

But she still managed to smile. "Sam and Sammy's Newspaper Delivery Service is booming, you know. We might give the other newspaper boys a good run for their money."

Harker high-fived her. "It's 'cause Boss Chloe's really good at managing her employees! Nothing can beat your strategic planning and marketing."

Chloe held out a drawn poster from crayons that says 'Sam and Sammy deliver newspapers to your doorsteps for a fair price! Subscribe to our Newspaper Delivery Service now!'

She shrugged. "Eh, it could still use some work. This is all my artistic skills could allow. Cough! Cough!"

Their dad suddenly teared up. "Ah, you kids the best! It's a shame that you have a crippled father who's supposed to be the one scrambling jobs for money..."

Harker sighed, patting his dad's shoulder. "This again, Dad! Don't worry 'bout it! You're also doing your best to take care of 4 kids on your own, that's a job that's hard to do even for people with legs!"

He pointed to something on display. They were beautiful hand-crafted stools that were sculpted with animal designs.

"Plus you're doing carpentry work on the side. You'll win the woodcrafting contest next time, I'm sure! Then you won't need to have Mr. Faust buy your work and resell it. You'll have customers searching for you instead!"

Harker's Dad, Mr. Howard Jones wiped his small tears away. "You're right... Ah, don't mind the waterworks. It's 'cause of the damn onions, that's why. Let's just eat lunch, I cooked up some chicken and peas!"

"Sweet!" The Jones children exclaimed.

As they ate, Harker can't help but think of just how he values this family so much. They may have nothing, but at least they have each other.

He'll do anything to protect them from this monstrous world.

But Harker forgot that he was also a monster now. Just after taking a few bites of his food...

[ ERROR! Absorption Limit exceeded.]

Harker was confused when he saw this holographic screen appear before him—

"Urk!" Until he felt the food rise up on his throat.

Mr. Jones was worried. "Are you alright, son? Something wrong with the chicken and peas?"

He tried to force it back down. "Nothing. It's fantastic, Dad."

He tried to take another small bite.

historical

[ERROR! Absorption Limit exceeded.]

He almost vomited right on his chair, so he rushed to the toilet.

"BLERGH!" He puked out the small bits of lunch he ate....

"Fuck." He wiped his mouth.

[Absorbed Cooked Chicken's Ability (Ejected)

Raw Power: D-

Endurance: D-

Range: D-

Speed: D-

Precision: D-

Potential: D- ]

Another one for Peas showed up, and it's the same thing. All D-, and it was ejected by the system.

"What's the meaning of this, Yan?" Harker grumbled. "I can't even eat human food anymore!?"

Yan reappeared by his side. "You still can! However you have reached the limit of your DNA Absorption because you ate Xi Hua. Food still has a little bit of DNA in them even when cooked or processed."

Harker felt even more pissed. "I know that. So I can only eat stuff once I start to digest Xi Hua more?"

"Yes. You'll be releasing the indigestible parts of her, like bones and hair, in a pellet 3 days from now. So that should lessen your Absorption Space."

Harker coughed. "But it still gets filled up anyway since most food still has DNA. The only stuff I could probably eat without worrying about my Absorption Limit are things like egg whites and salt."

"Or dirt, sand, soil.... Hehe." Yan added.

Harker gave him a 'fuck off' expression.

Yan reassured him again. "I'm just joking, Master! Don't worry! The more your body absorbs Xi Hua, the more space you'll have for food. And once you fully absorb her for a month, you'll be able to have freed up space. Cooked and processed foods have very little DNA anyway."

Harker stood up, clenching his fists.

"I can't just stop eating for a month, that will be suspicious. Everyone knows me as a big eater. There's no reason for me to be fastin' since I ain't part of any religion like that."

He sighed. "So it will be a constant trip to the bathroom then. Like some guy with bulimia."

Yan wondered. "Why don't you just make up excuses for now when anyone invites you to eat? Like a stomachache or something."

"That will get my people worried. And I hate makin' people worried." Harker said. "I can probably force myself to finish the meal and then vomit it all later once nobody's watching..."

"That's quite troublesome and painful for you, isn't it?" Yan asked.

"At least it's not troublesome for everybody else."

He left the bathroom, and forced a smile again to his family. "Heya, guys! Did anyone steal my chicken 'n peas while I'm not around?"

Chloe turned from her chair. "No but...You okay? I heard you vomiting..."

Samson, the one they call Sam, pouted. "Are you sick too?"

Samuel, the one they call Sammy, also pouted. "I don't want Harker to be sick.... Who will take us to the arcade this weekend?"

Harker chuckled nervously. "It's nothing.. My tummy's just feelin' a bit sensitive."

"Oh, is that so?" His dad furrowed his brows. "I hope nothing's wrong with the chicken and peas...."

"Of course not, Dad!" He sat back on his chair. "Like I said, it's fantastic! Did you use some sazon from the Garcias next door?"

"Yeah. I figured that it could replace the Italian seasoning." His dad said.

Harker nodded. "How are they by the way? I heard Mrs. Garcia's startin' a small taco stall 'round here..."

Harker distracted his family with some small talk so they won't notice how little he has been eating. He had been used to doing this, actually.

There had been many times that he got sick, but he still acted normal. He once manage to fool his family with a 104 degrees Fahrenheit* high fever and even got to work too.

Harker told Yan this once the meal was over and everyone's in the living room. The children played games, while his Dad listened to the radio, working on his woodcraft. The radio was loud enough for them to not hear him vomiting.

"Your willpower to not trouble others is very strong, Mast— Harker. It's very commendable." Yan thought.

"Yeah, but yours isn't. Like I said, you should drop the Master stuff already." Harker said as wiped his mouth and went upstairs.

"It's quite difficult for me. I'm used to doing this, but I won't trouble you anymore, M— Harker." Yan said.

Harker just sighed, feeling cranky because of all the puking. It was really good food too, and he hates wasting good food.

He went to his bedroom to pick up the bag of evidence and dispose of it. "Hmm... Maybe I should bury this somewhere pretty far away and secluded. As for covering my tracks... I gotta go back to the hotel disguised as Xi Hua and check out. I saw some of those CCTV camera stuff in the lobby and elevator, but luckily none on the floors."

Harker went to do just that. He buried the evidence in a cemetery....

Where his mom's grave was.

-------------------

A/N: 104 degrees Fahrenheit is 40 degrees Celsius