The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 259: Chapter 258: Change

As Yi Chen changed hosts one after another, he grew more adept at the invasion and infection process,

having immersed himself in the assimilation of knowledge for so long, he even discarded the problem of time, and even began to forget his true identity as a human.

Moreover,

Yi Chen also gained a general understanding of the Old World (before it was sealed off) through the memories of his hosts.

The “Source Epidemic Area” could be considered a major power in the human world; patients who came from the Source Epidemic Area were of higher status and even enjoyed many privileges.

Most patients born in the Old World also shared the same goal, to strive tirelessly to be recognized by a Source Epidemic Area, to be accepted as an insider, and to obtain the corresponding illness system.

Beyond the Source Epidemic Areas, there were also many Neutral Cities and states in the Old World, but once many entered a Neutral City, they couldn’t leave… there was even a ‘City Survival Rate’ table that could be derived privately.

After all, patients had much stronger fertility abilities than humans, often seen in the wilderness where a female would squat down, and in less than a month, children would be crawling out of the holes.

To stabilize the population, there were no laws in the Old World, let alone individual rights.

What’s more, very differently from the human world, the patients made perfect use of the world’s space.

The ground was just the most surface layer, inhabited by the weakest patient groups, but also the most diverse and the place most likely to give birth to new types of patients and filled with infinite possibilities.

Most patients lived and operated in the underground areas, with places like the Source Epidemic Area located in even deeper and more dangerous regions.

There were special connecting passages between different layers, often located between some large Neutral Cities, and to pass one might need to pay fees, verify their identity, or even possess some special objects.

The reason everyone pursued the depths, and why Source Epidemic Areas were established there, was quite simple.

The Old World, or rather the “Sick Focus” a unique living world, had its earliest and most original pathological root deep within.

Therefore, the closer one was to the Deep, the more they could connect with the Source Plague, and the easier it was to gain growth and enlightenment.

In short.

From the memories Yi Chen assimilated while infecting hosts, it seemed that this world was very powerful, so powerful that Yi Chen didn’t know how to describe it.

Even one of the forces, if taken out, could easily obliterate the existing human Gentleman Organization, and even Zion City could at most take root in the surface or the second layer if it tried to relocate here.

This also greatly puzzled Yi Chen; why the Old World, powerful enough to take one’s breath away, had come under world lockdown, even the most fundamental rules were locked down.

Fertility was isolated, the population was capped, and even the qualification for death was stripped away…

That sword piercing the Black Sun, thrust into the earth, Yi Chen remembered it vividly to this day.

Forcing the Old World to survive solely through “World Parasitism.”

Who did it? Unknown, and at that time there must have been a major battle, with many Source Epidemic Areas erased in this war.

Only a few powerful Source Epidemic Areas were preserved, all significantly weakened, with their overall strength nowhere near their peak moments.

…

He had completely lost the concept of time.

As the carrier of the Mad Shell Virus, Yi Chen had long since adapted and even accepted this kind of life.

The number of patients he had infected exceeded five thousand, of which 93% were successfully educated.

In the process of education, Yi Chen had even developed a unique spiritual network that allowed him to contact these educated individuals at any time, as long as they were on the surface of the Old World, and even conduct ‘online classes’.

Gradually,

a special group was formed, and for some reason, Yi Chen tentatively named it “The Institution.”

They always stayed active in the surface area, with no intention of going deep into the Old World.

Yi Chen was very clear that with his current state as the virus, even if he wanted to delve deeper, he couldn’t go far, and he might be eradicated if he provoked a certain Source Epidemic Area.

However,

although he did not physically delve deeper, Yi Chen was continuously infiltrating on a spiritual level, drawing closer to the very root of the illness.

When the assimilated knowledge reached its limit, sufficient for him to undergo the final “Madman Evolution,” he gathered all the educated patients in a deserted area,

“”

The host parasitized by Yi Chen became the center, surrounded by concentric circles of seated figures.

They integrated everyone’s spiritual power for “signal amplification,” establishing the most direct connection between Yi Chen’s spirit and the root of the Pathogen, which, for the Patient, would be an excellent opportunity for Open Source.

The host controlled by Yi Chen sat cross-legged.

Crack!

His entire skull was pushed upwards by brain matter tentacles, revealing a highly active brain.

At this moment, the Mad Shell Virus completely opened its “caspid,” allowing the absorb-brain within to merge with the host’s brain core,

The lively brain turned black, wrapped in thorny iron chains, exuding a death aura while gleaming with a metallic luster.

If a real Madman happened to pass by, they would marvel at Yi Chen’s transformation.

This was completely different from the typical progression of a Madman and had even transcended them on a certain level—a new individual was being born.

…

[Hippocrates Hospital – Inpatient Department]

Whether it was the well-isolated private rooms or the wards with multiple patients,

those resting in the hospital began to experience various degrees of headaches and dizziness. Some comatose patients woke up prematurely, and even a vegetative patient was roused.

After examination by professional teams, they discovered that the issue did not reside with the patients but was due to external disturbances affecting the head,

This influence even gradually spread to some apprentices and staff, causing continual ringing in their ears.

Teachers and students proficient in Sensing used instruments designed to capture spiritual perceptions for detailed examinations and found,

the source of the headache was actually within the hospital’s perimeter,

specifically, that sealed white building used for Patient research, housing Pathological materials, documents, and book collections.

Furthermore, as doctors gazed upwards towards the sky, they unexpectedly noticed the clouds congealing overhead taking on a brain fissure-like circuitry structure, and even evolving to resemble a brain over time.

Moreover, the clouds turned increasingly darker and even carried a faint scent of death.

The increasingly bizarre situation led many doctors toward the white building, and among them was a lady who happened to be passing by, wearing round-frame glasses and stepping in extended leather boots.

In the depths of the Pathological Research Center, the Death Workshop.

Dr. Andre Vissari, one of the deputy directors and a person in charge of the secret medicine review board, stood beside an entirely dry swimming pool, with four empty bottles of “Dusk thin silver liquid” placed neatly on the edge.

Although Visari was pained by the cost, the scene before him made it worth it,

as several days before, he had ordered as deputy director that no one was permitted to come near here without his consent.

In the center of the dry pool.

A young man with his skull neatly incised was suspended in a sitting position,

a black bio-mass brain akin to a Madness Brain wriggled within the opened skull, entwined by spiky iron chains that heightened its activity through painful stimulation.

The top of the brain even had an opening, out of which a death aura was continuously exhaled like a breath.

The emblem of a book etched into the back of the head was flipping rapidly.

Not only that,

Yi Chen’s muscles and organs were pulsing with his brain, each piece of flesh undergoing transformation and sublimation throughout the process, engaging in deeper interactions and fusions with the iron chains spread throughout his body.

“This is my first time witnessing such an Extreme Breakthrough… How deep a connection has this kid established with the Old World? The aura seeping from his brain is precisely that of an Open Source Patient!

Different from a Madman,

he is a new kind of Patient that encompasses multiple attributes. Yet, the transformation hasn’t ceased; his consciousness, using the Relic as a medium, is continuously approaching and deepening its connection with the source of the Pathogen.

Can Three Attributes Relics actually reach such a degree? No, it must be more about him himself.

Such a terrifying individual… If that is the case, maybe what the kid said about the First Gentleman problem wasn’t an exaggeration; he could truly seize something from the Skin Market.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co