Flesh Plague: Origin

Welcome to the Plane World of Flesh Plague: Origin. Undertake the Awakened trial.

You have temporarily acquired this plane's language: Old Swedish. Your appearance and clothing have been temporarily adjusted to suit the environment and will not arouse the natives' suspicion. Adjustments to your appearance and clothing will not affect your hidden attribute: Charisma.

You have temporarily acquired 1 cubic meter of storage space. The shape of the storage space can be adjusted freely, but its volume will not change.

The Spirit Realm Will's emotionless prompt arrived, followed by a series of introductions to the plane's scenario.

Flesh Plague: Origin

Time: 17th century

Region: Europe - Baltic Sea Region

Strength: 1.5

Background: A blood-red meteorite from outer space crashed onto the Scandinavian Peninsula. The curse of flesh spread across the peninsula. Many people died and became Plague Dead, acting on instinct alone, wandering the dark land and yearning for fresh, succulent flesh...

The biting wind cut across his face like a knife.

The scene before Bai Pu's eyes swiftly settled into focus.

He looked at his hands and experimentally clenched them.

A strength he had never felt before surged through him.

His feet stood on solid ground, and the clear sensation fed back from it was equally unprecedented.

"Personal attributes," Bai Pu murmured.

A translucent information window appeared in Bai Pu's field of vision.

Bai Pu (Quasi-Awakened)

Class: None

Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 5, Endurance 5, Spirit 9

Expertise: None

Skill 1: Origin Blood Fusion (Pseudo): You have temporarily fused with Evolution Source Blood, causing unknown changes in your body. If you fail the Trial Mission and return to reality, the Evolution Source Blood will automatically peel away; if you die, the Evolution Source Blood will also automatically peel away.

Bai Pu could barely contain his excitement. He ran freely across the vast land, feeling the wind howl past his ears as two streams of hot tears spilled down his face.

"Finally... I made it!"

Only those who had lost their sight knew the value of light.

Bai Pu had suffered from heart disease since childhood. The heavy burden brought by his excessively powerful brain had caused muscle atrophy and organ failure. Since he could remember, he had lived in a wheelchair like a living corpse. How could he have known the bliss of possessing a healthy body?

What was more, his body was no longer merely "healthy." It had reached the threshold of a Quasi-Awakened—the limit of ordinary humanity: 20 total attributes! It was as though a beggar had become an emperor overnight. The difference in experience was worlds apart.

With a strong body, his exceptional brain was no longer an unbearable burden. The dizziness caused by observation and thought had vanished without a trace!

Even Bai Pu, who had always been calm and remarkably intelligent, found it difficult to restrain the surging excitement in his heart.

More prompt text from the Spirit Realm Will flashed across his retina.

Trial Mission: Collect and successfully fuse two tubes of Evolution Source Blood.

Mission Time Limit: 10 days.

Mission Difficulty: S

Current Progress: 1/2

Mission Reward: Promotion to Awakened.

Failure Penalty: Expulsion. You will be sent back to the real world. The difficulty of your next Trial Mission will increase by an additional 30%, but its rewards will not increase.

Warning: countdown until Sting Squad enters this plane: 48 hours.

"It isn't time to celebrate yet."

After reading the Spirit Realm Will's prompts, Bai Pu narrowed his eyes in thought.

The text above was Bai Pu's Trial Mission. Once he completed it, he could advance into a true Awakened and enter the ranks of humanity's strong.

The mission progress was already at 1/2 because Bai Pu himself had already fused with one tube of Evolution Source Blood.

As for how to find the other tube of Evolution Source Blood, Bai Pu already had a lead.

The answer lay hidden in that warning—

Sting Squad!

This was clearly the name of an Awakened team.

"For the Spirit Realm Will to issue an early warning, Sting Squad is most likely hostile to me, and far stronger than I am."

How could a mere Quasi-Awakened like Bai Pu possibly provoke an Awakened team? There was no need to think about it. They had to be enforcers sent by the Superpower Corporation, pursuing him across planes!

This team should be carrying a tube of Evolution Source Blood.

The reason for bringing Evolution Source Blood was simple—they needed it as an Anchor to precisely enter the plane of Flesh Plague: Origin and hunt Bai Pu down!

An Anchor was usually a high-value Spirit Energy Oddity, or an item with special significance and an extremely high connection to a certain Spirit Realm plane. It served as a locator when Awakened used Spirit Realm Teleportation.

Evolution Source Blood itself was highly valuable and counted as a Spirit Energy Oddity. It also had an extremely high degree of connection to the plane scenario called Flesh Plague: Origin! It could be said to be a perfect Anchor.

Without Evolution Source Blood, Sting Squad could only enter a plane scenario at random among the countless Spirit Realm Planes. They could not possibly enter the plane where Bai Pu was.

Therefore, the other tube of Origin Blood required for the Trial Mission should be seized from Sting Squad.

The difficulty of this Trial Mission was astonishingly high! As Bai Pu understood it, ordinary Awakened Trial Missions were only B-rank to A-rank. They did not involve confronting other Awakened and only required dealing with natives.

Bai Pu's Trial Mission was as difficult as S-rank! He had to confront a well-trained team of Awakened!

Considering that he had received no training whatsoever and was a complete blank slate in Combat Expertise and skills, the gap in strength was simply too great. An S-rank difficulty rating was entirely reasonable.

Not to mention that even if Bai Pu obtained the second tube of Origin Blood, he would still need to find a way to fuse with it—there was no second Dean Zhao here.

The reason for such difficulty was that Bai Pu had "brought" an exceptionally rare Spirit Realm Oddity... Evolution Source Blood, into the trial!

The Trial Missions generated by the Spirit Realm Will were often designed specifically around a trial participant's potential, seeking to uncover their talents to the fullest extent possible.

If a trial participant deliberately brought a Spirit Realm Oddity inside, there was a high chance of triggering a difficult mission related to that Spirit Realm Oddity!

This was also what many geniuses sought. They were not satisfied with ordinary difficulty and wanted to challenge higher difficulty!

High Trial Mission difficulty had its benefits. For example, as long as an S-rank Trial Mission was completed, one could advance to at least an elite class, starting a step ahead of other Awakened! If it was completed brilliantly, advancing to an even more powerful class was not impossible.

Bai Pu also noticed that Sting Squad would descend into this plane 48 hours later than he had.

Bai Pu guessed that after he escaped the Spirit Realm, the Superpower Corporation would not delay and would surely dispatch a pursuit team at once! The reason Sting Squad entered this plane 48 hours later was the balance imposed by the Spirit Realm Will.

If both sides had entered this plane simultaneously according to actual time, the mission difficulty might have soared all the way to SSS-rank!

These precious two days were left for Bai Pu to make preparations in advance.

Bai Pu found a wooden stick, a thin shard of stone, and several dead vines, then made a crude stone axe. He weighed it in his hand. It seemed somewhat heavier than an ordinary stick and stone shard.

He stepped across the cold, hard Nordic earth, silently walking forward as he considered how to respond.

"It is definitely impossible for me to face an Awakened team alone. Only by fully exploring the scenario and using the natives' strength can I fight them!"

Even taking a step back, fusing with the other tube of Evolution Source Blood would inevitably require dealing with the natives.

Since the plane of Flesh Plague: Origin was so closely linked to Evolution Source Blood, perhaps Evolution Source Blood itself was an oddity produced by this plane. There was a strong possibility that the natives possessed the knowledge and skills to fuse Origin Blood.

A stumbling humanoid silhouette appeared on the horizon ahead, entering Bai Pu's sight.

"It doesn't look like a normal person... Could this be one of the 'Plague Dead' mentioned in the plane description?"

As he drew closer, Bai Pu clearly saw what the Plague Dead looked like.

Pale skin, shriveled cheeks, ragged linen clothes, and legs that moved mechanically.

Its eyes in particular were entirely blood-red, with no visible outline of eyeballs at all.

"It doesn't seem fast, so it shouldn't be difficult to deal with. But my weapon is crude, and I don't know any combat techniques or skills. I'm practically a blank slate! I can't rush in recklessly."

Bai Pu quietly retreated behind an earthen mound, crouched down, and began digging with the thin stone blade of his axe. Before long, he had made a crude pit trap with sharpened branches planted inside.

After finishing his preparations, Bai Pu caught up with the Plague Dead, which had already wandered far away.

The sound of footsteps caught the Plague Dead's attention. It turned with a roar, stretching its arms forward in a pouncing stance.

Bai Pu gripped his crude homemade stone axe, gathered his courage, and charged at the Plague Dead, swinging the axe at it.

The swing had no technique behind it, and its angle was somewhat off.

Yet the Plague Dead showed no intention of dodging. It charged straight in and took Bai Pu's heavy blow on its shoulder! At the same time, one claw raked toward Bai Pu's chest.

Rip! Blood spattered. Bai Pu's linen clothes provided no protection whatsoever, and three bloody gashes instantly appeared across his chest.

The pain of torn flesh struck him. Worse still, Bai Pu's homemade stone axe broke after that single attack—the dead vines snapped, and the bound stone blade flew off! Only a bare wooden stick remained.

Your attack dealt 6 points of blunt damage to the Plague Dead.

The Plague Dead's claw attack dealt 10 points of Sharp Damage to you, causing a bleeding effect. You lose 1 Health Point every 5 seconds until the wound heals.

I can't beat it!

Every point of Endurance provided 10 base Health Points. Bai Pu had 5 points of Endurance, meaning he only had 50 base Health Points. In a single exchange with the Plague Dead, he had lost over one-fifth of them!

Bai Pu pressed a hand over the wound on his chest, turned, and fled.

However, after suffering the claw attack, the skin over Bai Pu's body writhed slightly and secreted strands of slick, semi-solid grease. It swiftly solidified into a transparent layer of keratin! The Spirit Realm Will's prompt immediately followed:

For unknown reasons, your body has undergone a Stress Response Change, increasing your defense against Sharp Damage. Duration: 120 minutes, or until the next Stress Response Change occurs.

Bai Pu froze briefly. Looking at his remaining thirty-odd Health Points, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and faced the Plague Dead once more!

Clearly, this "unknown reason" had to be a mutation caused by fusing with Origin Blood! Bai Pu had to seize this opportunity to face a lone Plague Dead and test just how useful his mutation ability was.

Whoosh! The Plague Dead swung its claws, and the second claw strike hit him again!

But this time, Bai Pu clearly felt that the instant the Plague Dead's sharp claws touched his skin, the keratin layer deflected them and dispersed much of the force!

This attack merely broke his skin and left marks. The damage to Bai Pu dropped from 10 points to 5.

"The temporary change in my skin actually reduced the damage by half?!"

Bai Pu was both shocked and delighted.

However, he still had no intention of tangling with the Plague Dead head-on. Having tested his mutation ability, he immediately turned and continued fleeing.

The Plague Dead roared as it pursued him. Though it limped and staggered, its stride frequency was astonishingly fast, even quicker than a healthy ordinary person running!

Fortunately, Bai Pu had 5 points of Agility, two or three times that of an ordinary human in numerical terms, so the Plague Dead could not catch him. He ran all the way over the earthen mound.

Boom!

With a muffled crash, the Plague Dead fell into the pit trap.

The sharpened branches planted in the pit snapped with several cracks. They failed to pierce through it, causing the Plague Dead negligible damage—at most, it was a scratch.

However, Bai Pu's tactical objective had already been achieved. With the Plague Dead's stiff limbs, it would have difficulty climbing out of the trap for a while.

Bai Pu knelt on one knee before the trap, swung the wooden stick with all his strength, and smashed it down wildly.

Duang! Duang! Duang!

After more than ten blows, the stick snapped, yet the Plague Dead was still alive. It roared as it climbed upward, its sharp black nails gouging huge chunks from the frozen soil.

The originally steep inner wall of the trap had been clawed into a small slope by the Plague Dead. Given a little more time, it might truly escape.

Bai Pu did not dare delay. He threw away the broken stick, planted one foot on the Plague Dead's shoulder, and unleashed all 5 points of his Strength, pinning it against the inner wall of the pit. Then he clenched his fist.

One punch, two punches, three punches...

The Plague Dead's entire head was beaten to pulp. Rotten blood mixed with dark yellow brain matter slowly flowed out, and at last it stopped moving.