Free Web NovelIn an infinite darkness resembling an abyss, a giant "bubble" enveloped the city like a thin veil, making it indistinct and blurry.
Above the city wrapped in the giant "bubble," a bizarre scene was unfolding.
Writhing dark red flesh and blood, like a giant serpent devouring the world, coiled around the outer shell of the "bubble," constantly intercepting the figures flying out from the broken gaps in the "bubble."
Then...
Differentiating, replicating, abandoning, as if searching for something.
Thus, countless figures, after being tainted by the flesh and blood of the Invasion Beast, continued to float upwards, merging into the darkness, and disappearing without a trace.
Meanwhile, a small, black, ugly fish darted back and forth through the vast space.
Before those figures could come into contact with the dark red flesh and blood, it used its weak body to intercept, collide with, and defeat them.
There have been many such special spaces created by high-level urban legend since ancient times.
For example, the story of King Kakudmi visiting the Heavenly Palace recorded in the Indian epic *Mahabharata*, and the account in *Liezi* where King Mu of Zhou was taken by a divine being to a wondrous place where he could "not see the sun and moon above, nor rivers and seas below" to enjoy himself, are all similar instances.
And as the system knows, those incredibly powerful urban legend, when creating special spaces, would more or less mix their own Power into them, and what the Invasion Beast is doing now is searching for possible Power fragments among those scattered figures.
Once it finds one, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Without a host, the system cannot stop the Invasion Beast; the only thing it can do is try its best to destroy those scattered figures, reducing the possibility of it finding Power fragments.
Suddenly, the Spiritual Energy fluctuations filling the darkness grew restless.
The system's body stiffened, and it looked up into the darkness, its fish lips opening and closing, "Damn it! Again? How many times is this? What the hell is that thing?!"
As it spoke, within that turbulent Spiritual Energy, a star suddenly emerged from the darkness, rising slowly, then plummeting rapidly, dragging a golden tail flame, and with a dazzling glow, falling towards the "bubble."
This was the seventh time the system had witnessed this strange sight; that streak of light, like a falling star, repeatedly charged towards the "bubble," and was repeatedly intercepted by the Invasion Beast's flesh and blood, seemingly enjoying itself.
"..."
That wretched woman who could play mobile games while watching the world end must be thrilled to death seeing these scenes like drawing cards with good pulls, right?
The system muttered inwardly, its dead fish eyes suddenly trembling.
This time, that streak of light was actually flying directly towards it.
"What the hell?!"
The system exclaimed, quickly arching its body, its tail fin shaking violently from side to side, accompanied by a blast. It instantly shot forward like a cannonball.
In an instant, the streak of light brushed past the system, and its brilliant glow radiated onto its body.
Like an illusion, a voice sounded in its mind.
"Hello, can you help me?"
The system paused, and a light suddenly appeared in its dull, dead fish eyes.
It was the light reflected by the golden glow in the misty water vapor.
Although Gu Qianqian ate a lot, did nothing productive all day, caused a pile of trouble, and her growth speed was among the slowest of all previous hosts, with almost no merits except being exceptionally diligent and overflowing with justice.
However, being able to hear her voice again, the system was still so excited that its voice choked and tears welled up in its eyes.
"Gu Qianqian?"
"Eh? Not Gu Xixi! It's Gu Xiliu," the voice corrected.
The system paused, "Who?"
"It's, it's Gu Xiliu..." the voice repeated weakly.
System, "..."
Changing the name by just one character and pretending to be a stranger here? As expected of you, Gu Qianqian!
Your brain really is as unintelligent as ever!
But knowing that Gu Qianqian is still alive is a good thing!
The system was somewhat happy, but then it remembered the stone tablet inside its body that already had Gu Qianqian's name engraved on it, and a strong sense of embarrassment quietly rose in its heart...
Absolutely, she must not know about this! the system thought.
----
Early morning, Hua City Central Hospital, a certain independent laboratory.
"Bang bang bang---bang bang bang---!"
A sound of a metal tray hitting the bedside echoed in the laboratory.
An Qing, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them and looked at Silver Horn, who was pale-faced on the hospital bed.
"What is it? Did you find anything?" An Qing asked.
"I... uh... no..." Silver Horn opened his mouth but couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.
"Bang---!"
As if angry at himself, a hint of frustration flashed in Silver Horn's eyes, and he slammed the bedside again with the metal tray, then opened his mouth towards An Qing.
An Qing looked into his mouth and her heart immediately tightened.
In Silver Horn's mouth, a large number of teeth had proliferated, and two tongues were overlapping and intertwined.
The tissue proliferation in his mouth had deprived him of the ability to speak. Although he had made a significant discovery at this moment, he could no longer verbally communicate it to An Qing.
Seeing the change in An Qing's expression, Silver Horn confirmed that she understood his situation. He then turned his head and raised his eyebrows towards the pen holder on the desk not far away.
An Qing was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood Silver Horn's meaning, "Paper and pen, right? Wait a moment, I'll get them right away!"
Saying this, An Qing quickly walked to the desk, retrieved paper and pen, set up the bedside table, and placed it in front of Silver Horn.
Silver Horn struggled to sit up straight, took a deep breath, and began to write.
...
【On the night I injected the special substance extracted from the black night disease research sample into my body, I developed sleep dysfunction, which is a symptom of infection.
About two hours later, I felt some kind of heterologous tissue with Spiritual Energy fluctuations proliferating within me, attempting to replicate my Spirit Mark Power.
It seems to randomly enter living organisms through dreams and replicate any Power it comes into contact with.
This is also one of the reasons why patients with this black night disease eventually develop abnormal limb proliferation.
To verify its various characteristics more quickly, I deliberately released my Spirit Mark, allowing it to replicate, accelerating the progression of the disease.
The moment I dropped my Spiritual Energy defense, its replication speed increased by more than tenfold!】
Seeing this, An Qing's heart skipped a beat, and she looked at Silver Horn in surprise, "Then now, your body..."
Silver Horn gave An Qing a wry smile and continued to write.
【Don't worry, I'm fine, I won't die.
My Spirit Mark can create life-saving medicine, and naturally, it can also create deadly poison. It's barely possible to pre-set a slight toxicity within the Power.
Uh, you can understand this process as the replication of a DNA double helix before cell division, and my Power serves as a template for it.
When I used my Spirit Mark skill to imbue my Power with toxicity, it was equivalent to a malignant mutation occurring in the DNA, so it will gradually become "poisoned" during the replication ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) process.
Fortunately, its intelligence seems low, and it actually took the bait, replicating the toxin I pre-set while also replicating the Power.
While it was undergoing high-speed replication, I also began to gain a deeper understanding of it by analyzing the changes in my own Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
Just now, I reached the conclusion I wanted.】 freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Seeing this, An Qing's eyes lit up, and she quickly took two steps forward.
Silver Horn smiled at her, signaling her to remain calm, and then continued to bury his head in writing.
【I can now confirm that this black night disease is contagious, similar to the transmission method of parasites. Those with Spiritual Energy potential are the most susceptible group, followed by ordinary people. Plants, animals, and even buildings also have the possibility of infection.
According to the currently known data, as long as the patient has not entered the stage of limb proliferation, it is possible to deactivate the Strange Tale tissue within them through the combined use of some Alchemy potions, achieving the goal of inhibiting the black night disease.
Later, I will use my Spirit Mark ability to create the corresponding inhibitory potion. You just need to find a Psychic proficient in Alchemy to analyze the potion's composition, and you will be able to produce the same potion.
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After large-scale production, spraying it throughout Hua City and adding it to daily water supply can suppress the spread of the disease.
However, the prerequisite is that the activity of that Strange Tale's tissue does not further increase.
Furthermore, this outbreak of black night disease is caused by the body tissue of a certain intangible Strange Tale, exhibiting parasitic characteristics and extremely high activity.
Simply suppressing the disease still leaves a major problem.
Although the condition of patients whose black night disease has been suppressed will not die from it, there will be some residue of the urban legend organization and the Alchemy potion used to suppress the urban legend organization's activity. In the short term, the Spiritual Energy potential of infected individuals may show a false increase.
The residue of the Alchemy potion can be ignored.
As for the residue of the urban legend organization, that urban legend must be found and hunted down to prevent it from advancing in the future and reactivating those residual organizations.
I have a list here of urban legend that the Night Watch currently knows have the characteristic of copying the Powers of other Psychic and urban legend. These can be considered key investigation targets.
Later, please help me give this to the Superintendent. She will go to the database to conduct a comparison investigation.
Also... help me prepare a high-specification isolation room. I need to be alone for a while.】
"Alone for a while?" An Qing was stunned, examining Silver Horn with a look of surprise and uncertainty.
Could it be that he's not going to make it and wants to wait for death alone? An Qing thought.
Silver Horn gave a wry smile and picked up his pen to write a passage.
【I need to give myself a strong dose of medicine, otherwise, I won't be able to completely cure the black night disease in my body.
This strong dose of medicine is highly toxic. To prevent the toxicity from spreading, a high-specification isolation room is necessary.】
After reading what Silver Horn wrote, An Qing took a deep breath and nodded, "I understand, leave it to me!"
"Heh..." Silver Horn let out an indistinct laugh, picked up his pen, wrote down the list of urban legend he suspected on the paper, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep. Soon, his breathing dropped to freezing point, as if he had died.
————
One hour later.
Jin Guan City, Night Watch Southwest District Headquarters, Superintendent's office.
【...Suspected urban legend: Invasion Beast, Bionic Monster.
Invasion Beast is suspected to be under the control of the Eclipse Society. Based on current clues, Jin Jiao has been ordered to launch an investigation.
The Bionic Monster appeared near Shanhai Pass three months ago. Requesting the local Night Watch to assist in the investigation.
Above, Inspector Xing Yuan.】
After clicking to upload the report, Inspector Xing Yuan slumped into her chair and let out a long sigh.
After comparing the Power characteristics and recent movements of the five urban legend on Silver Horn's list, she finally narrowed the scope from five to two.
Although investigating the movements of two urban legend simultaneously still requires a lot of manpower and resources, it is within the Night Watch's acceptable range.
After uploading the report, she rested for about three minutes before sitting up straight again, picking up the golden bao sang cang xiao badge on her desk, and gently touching it with her fingertip to send a message to her subordinate responsible for contacting the more than twenty operatives skilled in Alchemy.
"How is the progress?"
"Superintendent Adult, everything is going smoothly. We expect to start dispensing by noon tomorrow at the latest."
"Very good!" Inspector Xing Yuan curved her lips, "Tell them to use the materials in the warehouse freely. If it's not enough, I'll subsidize it personally!"
"Understood!"
After a brief inquiry about the progress of the potion refinement, Inspector Xing Yuan sat at her desk, clasped her hands under her chin, and stared intently at the golden bao sang cang xiao badge on the table, beginning to wait for Jin Jiao's reply.
Time passed slowly while waiting. About half an hour later, the golden bao sang cang xiao badge suddenly vibrated, emitting a buzzing sound on the desk.
"Buzz buzz—!"
Inspector Xing Yuan reached out and lightly touched the badge, and Jin Jiao's voice sounded in her ear.
"Void! We've locked onto that guy's location! He's in a cold storage facility on the outskirts of Yue City!"
"Very good!" Inspector Xing Yuan nodded slightly, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes, and said coolly, "Then, let's make a move!"
"Don't worry, for Silver Horn, I'll turn that grandson into meat paste!"
————
Early morning, Hua City.
"Recently, a new type of influenza A epidemic has appeared in Hua City. A city-wide lockdown will be implemented starting at 17:00 on March 7th... Citizens who experience symptoms such as insomnia, excessive dreaming, lethargy, abnormal limb pain, or proliferation should go to the nearest large hospital immediately..."
Jiang Li quietly finished watching the news broadcast, closed her laptop, and turned to look at Silver Horn in the isolation room, whose entire body had turned purplish-gray, and frowned.
"Sister Qing, I've basically arranged everything here. Is there still no sign of him waking up?"
After obtaining enough information about this black night disease outbreak, Hua City quickly activated emergency measures and issued notices through television, the Internet, text messages, and other channels.
The Special Operations Team also divided the city into areas to isolate patients and suspected patients.
Although it was somewhat hasty and suspicious, this was the only way. Only by effectively controlling the public could they try their best to administer the potion to everyone.
However, since black night disease is currently perceived by the public as almost incurable, to avoid causing panic and chaos and letting the situation worsen, after careful consideration, the notice only stated that a new type of influenza A had appeared.
In fact, even so, before the lockdown, major supermarkets and shopping malls in Hua City had already experienced panic buying of supplies.
There were even some unscrupulous individuals who tried to leave Hua City with their entire household registration book before the city was sealed off.
However, with the assistance of the police and the Sky Eye system, plus the Night Watch's standard Spiritual Energy items used for enemy detection, coupled with Bai Kai, the "Hua City's Fastest Legend," and Li Xuan, who fancies himself "Hua City's Fujiwara Takumi."
As long as you can't use teleportation Spells or fly at high altitudes in the stratosphere, they can catch you and bring you back!
Within the entire Southwest region's Night Watch, operatives skilled in Alchemy have been working non-stop for the past eight or nine hours. The potion to suppress black night disease is almost ready.
If you don't stay in Hua City obediently and wait for the potion to be dispensed, but run around everywhere, aren't you harming others?
An Qing looked at the unconscious Silver Horn and shook her head at Jiang Li with a helpless expression, "No, I estimate he won't wake up for a while."
"If this black night disease is truly as he analyzed, it's already good that he's only in a coma, barely saving his life, thanks to the special nature of his Spirit Mark."
"..."
After staring at Silver Horn in silence for a while, Jiang Li stood up and said to An Qing, "Then let's leave it at that? You stay and take care of him, I'll head out first."
"I just received a notification from Superintendent Inspector Xing Yuan. They've locked onto the movements of the Eclipse Society member secretly controlling the Invasion Beast and have issued a bao sang cang xiao signal. I need to rush over to provide support."
By the way, ask A Hua and Du Sixian if they've contacted that guy... Jiang Li added in her heart.
When the black night disease first appeared in Hua City, the increase in patients was relatively slow, but starting this morning, the number of patients has clearly increased, with three to forty new cases appearing almost every hour.
For a time, the Hua City Si Ye Hui and major hospitals were swamped and overwhelmed.
At such a time, Lu Yibei, the King of Weird Tales, who could summon the aura of Hua City's leylines, was the most likely person to find the urban legend causing the black night disease in a short period of time, yet he was nowhere to be seen.
It was one thing for him to be a salary thief at the Night Watch during normal times, Jiang Li was too lazy to bother, but at a time like this, he was still missing. He had slacked off all the way into the Mariana Trench.
Very angry!
————
Outskirts of Yue City, a long-abandoned cold storage facility.
On the cold operating table, piles of meat chunks that were no longer distinguishable in shape were stacked. Berses, covered in bloodstains, stood in front of the operating table, his face filled with excitement.
After nearly a day, he had thoroughly studied the black night disease patient from the inside out and finally reached a conclusion, verifying the conjecture in his heart.
"Indeed, I was right! These black night disease patients all have the flesh and blood of the Invasion Beast in them! But why did it lose its physical form?"
"No, no, it must have found a great template to copy!"
"I must go back, I must go back quickly and see what it's copying!"
With that, Berses dropped the saw in his hand with a clang and quickly walked towards the exit of the cold storage facility.
As soon as he pushed open the door of the cold storage facility, he froze in place.
He saw a man holding a golden gourd blocking the doorway, giving him a cold smile, "Scumbag, where do you ♦ think you're going? Did you ask your Grandpa Jin Jiao?"
Berses, "..."
