Hello, I Am a Noble Infected

After stabbing and cutting several wounds into himself, Li Aoz was covered in blood.

"HP's down to half. Mm, that should be about right."

Li Aoz hid the suitcase. The money inside still had plenty of use, just not yet. Given his current blank-slate abilities, the shelter mission would take at least five weeks to complete. If anything went wrong, or if he leveled up more slowly, it might take months.

But Li Aoz was in no hurry at all. In a sense, Starcaller players were the same kind of people as the Doghead Bar regulars. They never believed the things they loved were weak. They only thought, endured, and worked hard, with exceptional patience.

"My Charisma is 13. The civilian Main Class... it's meaningless. I don't want to waste experience on something like that. If I can obtain the Mutant class, every level-up will increase my Charisma. Combined with the effects of Permanent Feat: Love Hunter, my stat growth will be considerable. There's no need to gain meaningless class levels in the early stages."

Players had countless opportunities to make mistakes in the early game, but Li Aoz did not. He still did not know whether, as an ordinary NPC, he could repeatedly run instances like players did.

After all, there were not many NPCs who could enter instances. They generally only appeared when the plot required it, and they had to at least be elite or expert templates.

Li Aoz rubbed his forehead and smeared his face with blood. Blood, gravel, and Frost and Snow mixed together, making his pale skin stand out even more. With his high Charisma bonus, it was easier for people to notice him and see at a glance just how miserable and pitiful he was.

Li Aoz adjusted his breathing, making his heart race faster and faster. With stiff, feeble steps, he slowly walked deeper into the shelter. His origins had not been particularly good to begin with. His clothes were old, ragged, and weathered. After struggling in the snow for half the day, he was already filthy. With a camping knife and wounds all over his body, he looked as if he had just been through a brutal battle—half-mad and babbling deliriously.

"Help... help... help me..."

Pinching his throat, he used all his strength to make the hoarsest, weakest sound possible. His gray eyes were dull as he staggered through the dark corridor, occasionally and deliberately crashing into corners, stairwells, and other places where surveillance cameras had been installed.

"Hehehe, save me—why did you leave me here—you have to save me!"

Li Aoz wandered around seemingly without purpose for several minutes. Sometimes he moved sluggishly, sometimes wildly, and sometimes, without warning, he would slash and smash at the surrounding walls.

As he covered his face with both hands and wailed, his gray eyes flickered.

"I've put on this much of a performance, crying and making a scene. Even if those 'doctors' are blind, they should have noticed me by now, right?"

Sure enough, after kneeling on the ground and wailing for a while, his ears twitched slightly.

From deep within the shelter came the sound of machinery moving.

Clack. Clack-clack.

Someone was coming.

Without showing it, he knelt on the ground and sobbed, silently counting in his heart.

3, 6... 12? Was it 12 or 13? If it was 13, I wouldn't need to keep going this hard. They'd directly lock me up as a patient with the highest danger rating.

Li Aoz paid no attention to the approaching footsteps. He continued kneeling and sobbing, using his fingertips to pull his eyelids wide open and letting the blood from his wounds irritate his eyes into producing tears.

This self-harming act immediately had an effect—within the shelter passageway, silent as death, a low female voice suddenly sounded. "Don't get close. The patient has self-harm tendencies, and his actions lack logic. He is very likely a Level 5 Esha Infected. If he suddenly erupts, you could easily be injured."

Li Aoz covered his face with five fingers and peered through the gaps. Under the shelter's dim fluorescent lights, he vaguely saw a Frostplate woman in a white lab coat, with a slanted red cross emblem on her chest. The left half of her face was delicate and lovely, while the right half was covered by a chrome mask.

"But Anna, Assistant Physician Anna, he's holding a knife..." Another woman sounded hesitant.

"Don't worry—Head Nurse Nordly, I'll leave it to you. The target may be an extremely rare Level 5 Esha Infected. Capture him alive at all costs." The assistant physician called Anna turned and looked toward the towering, burly Head Nurse beside her.

"Leave it to me."

Head Nurse Nordly's muscles bulged all over her body. She nodded slightly, her voice deep and muffled like a bull's. After putting on a mask and latex gloves, she approached Li Aoz step by step.

Sensing hostile intent, the system immediately entered combat mode and read the other party's information.—Entering combat state. Assessing...

Based on your level, you will see the following information about the enemy:

Name: "Netherhumanitarian Aid Organization" Head Nurse—Nordly Crowe

Level: Destruction-type Lv.20 [Martial Artist]

HP: 260/260 (Healthy)

Attributes: Strength—18 Agility—11 Constitution—20 Charisma—4 Will—5

Rank: Alpha-class (newly entered the extraordinary)—"An Alpha-class extraordinary."

She was even a Destruction-type Martial Artist.

Li Aoz was not surprised. No matter which planet it was, Destruction-type class holders had always been the most numerous. The threshold was low, results came quickly, and the military encouraged advancement in that direction.

But Li Aoz did not care. Although this setup of his would inevitably involve a fight, his ultimate goal was not to kill her.

Head Nurse Nordly Crowe slowly raised her fist. Her strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person, and her HP was several times Li Aoz's. Capturing him would be effortless.

"Do not resist, patient," she said. "I am here to treat you."

At those words, Li Aoz immediately trembled. He lowered his head as though he had been stimulated, and confusion entered his voice.

"Treat... treat... me?"

Nordly exchanged a glance with the assistant physician in the distance. The Infected seemed to retain some awareness. Perhaps his danger level was not as high as the Professor had assessed.

"That's right. You don't need to be afraid." Nordly moved closer to Li Aoz. The strength within her body circulated, releasing pressure that came crashing down upon him like a wall.

When ordinary people faced such intimidation from the depths of their genes, they could not help but feel a desperate sense that there was nowhere to run.

Yet the man before her showed no reaction. He remained silent.

Nordly did not dare let her guard down. She spread open a large hand capable of tearing apart a northern giant bear alive and extended it toward him in a friendly gesture. If he dared to suddenly attack, Nordly was confident that with her strength, she could smash the heel of her palm into his jaw in return.

"If he's a rare Level 5 Infected, it would be best not to damage his consciousness..."

Nordly thought.

Li Aoz raised his head and looked down along the black hair scattered across her forehead. He vaguely caught sight of a tiny red mark on the right side of Head Nurse Nordly's neck.

Martial Artists did not gain their strength out of thin air. Those who rapidly increased their power without promptly making up for shortcomings in their martial realm would develop weaknesses known as Weak Spots.

Normally, as long as one broke through a Weak Spot, it could deal massive damage to the opponent. Even in a fight between equals, concentrating fire on a Weak Spot had a good chance of allowing the weak to defeat the strong.

Although players had mostly shed such weaknesses by the later stages, on Azure Planet, where the extraordinary system had only just begun, only a small number of people recognized the problem of Weak Spots. Many even took it for granted that this was the result of natural balance.

Facing Head Nurse Nordly's outstretched hand, Li Aoz appeared uncertain. In the end, he still "cautiously" placed his hand in her open palm.

"Good. Containment is proceeding smoothly."

Feeling the weak strength in her palm and the other party's battered body, Nordly could determine that he had no ability to resist. Through her overwhelming strength and presence, she conveyed this information to him as well.

The genes of Esha Infected had mutated, and they usually possessed extremely sharp danger perception. When facing an enemy that was too strong, they would not resist with force—but that was only if they were not provoked.

The instant Nordly gripped Li Aoz's hand, she launched her attack. With a backhanded motion, she dragged him to the ground, kicked away the camping knife in his hand, then pressed one knee against Li Aoz's back and pulled a pair of composite-material handcuffs from her waist, locking his wrists together.

Nordly immediately roared in a low voice.

"Target has been secured! I repeat, target has been secured!"

The medical team behind her immediately raised all kinds of firearms and formed a circle around them. Li Aoz did not resist. He kept his head lowered, silently allowing them to bind him tightly. Only after they put him in a yellow restraint suit did a group of female medical personnel drag him up from the ground.

Nordly clapped her hands and glanced at Assistant Physician Anna, who looked calm beside her. She casually said, "Looks like the Professor misjudged him. His infection level isn't that high. He's just acting more violently."

"He has severe injuries, and his strength has not fully manifested. Do not question the Professor's judgment," Anna said flatly. "Besides, the fact that he bypassed so many guards at the main entrance and reached the abandoned logistics station is strange in itself."

"So, you think he awakened Aoneng early?"

"That possibility cannot be ruled out. The Professor's judgment has never been wrong, and it cannot be wrong."

"Anna, the Professor isn't a god." Nordly shook her head and looked at Li Aoz, muttering, "What about this looks like a high-danger Infected? I can't see it at all. The Professor must have been cooped up so long he's gone soft in the head—"

"Head Nurse Nordly!"

Anna's gaze turned cold. Even the half of her face hidden behind the mask seemed to show displeasure as she said quietly.

"If you doubt the Professor, then come take a closer look. From the bottom of my heart, I firmly believe the Professor never makes mistakes."

"Really?"

Nordly was extremely dissatisfied with Anna's blind worship of the Professor. She immediately turned and walked over to Li Aoz. One hand pressed on his neck to stop him from moving, while the other pinched his chin and turned his face from side to side. Finally, she stared fixedly into Li Aoz's lifeless gray eyes and sneered. "Someone this weak is completely different from a Level 5 Esha Infected—"

Before she could finish, Li Aoz suddenly opened his mouth. A streak of white light shot from between his tongue. At such close range, even an Alpha-class Martial Artist could not evade it.

Shnk! Nordly froze in place. She released Li Aoz and reached for the right side of her neck. Blood gushed out as a vivid wound sliced evenly across her blood vessels.

A cold blade had pierced precisely into the dark red mark on her neck.

For some reason, Nordly faintly felt unsteady on her feet. The strength that had always circulated smoothly and skillfully through her body now leaked away rapidly, like air from a punctured balloon.

"Head Nurse!"

"Are you all right, Head Nurse Nordly?"

Nordly's face turned pale. Just as she was about to say something, the world before her suddenly became a black curtain.

Thud!

With a crisp sound, Nordly dropped to both knees. Though she had not lost much blood, she fell into shock.

Anna glanced at Nordly on the ground and said calmly.

"I'll take the Head Nurse back. Jie Min, Ashley, escort the patient back with the security team."

The "Infected" did not meet her gaze as he was escorted away by armed personnel. Anna, however, lowered her head and looked at the floor.

In a corner lay a camping knife, quietly missing its tip.

Anna fell silent for a moment before pressing the button on her earpiece.

"Anna, how is the situation?"

A gentle inquiry came from the other end.

"Professor," she said. "Your diagnosis is as precise as ever."