Surgery

Faced with the choice Boss had given him,

Yi Chen did not hesitate in the slightest. He took a step forward and entered the "Sister's Room."

Click, click~

A strange sensation of pressure came from beneath his soles, accompanied by a series of bizarre sounds.

His foot had landed directly on the fish scales covering the floor.

At that moment,

His sense of smell and sight simultaneously received an "impact" from the room.

It was an almost tangible stench, boring into Yi Chen's body like a living club and relentlessly pounding against his stomach.

Everywhere he looked,

Fish scales covered the floor in thick layers. Some had even taken root in the damp floorboards, as though the room itself had grown them.

If this had been Yi Chen when he had first arrived in this world, he would certainly have protested the sight before him by vomiting.

Creak, creak~

With all ten fingers pressed against the sides of his face,

He quickly formed a Plant Mask.

"Phew! I can finally breathe normally... This place is truly unsettling."

The voice came from the bathroom.

Boss seemed to be performing some kind of "treatment" on Sister. A large amount of blood seeped through the crack beneath the door.

Before stepping into the bathroom,

Yi Chen turned his head toward a corner of the room and noticed an important and unusual detail.

A wooden desk made from raw timber stood in the corner.

The walls around the desk were covered in fish scales, as was the floor.

Yet the desk itself remained clean amid the filth. There was not a single fish scale on it—not even any trace of damp mold.

The wooden desk seemed to be very important to Sister. She must have cleaned it every day.

Several photo frames rested on top.

They included a Family Photo, as well as a Sister and Brother Photo.

In the photos, Sister had black, curly hair, and it was clear that she had an excellent relationship with her brother.

Yi Chen silently committed the scene to memory.

Creak~

He turned and pushed open the bathroom door, which was only slightly ajar.

A horrifying scene entered his view.

This bathroom was somewhat larger than the other guest rooms and was also equipped with a bathtub.

Sister lay inside the bathtub.

Her limbs were firmly secured by the Restraint Straps installed inside the tub.

Compared with her appearance the previous night,

Sister looked a little more like a "human"... More precisely, the Fish Scale Disease covering her body had been greatly reduced.

However,

The fleshy fish scales had not fallen off on their own.

Boss had ripped them from her body, one by one, while they were still alive, leaving them scattered inside and outside the bathtub.

At that moment,

Sister's screams had already become very faint.

Severe pain accompanied the massive blood loss, and her vitality was fading away with it...

She barely struggled anymore.

Not a trace of color remained in her gaunt cheeks, which bore fish gills.

Fish scales still covered both sides of her abdomen. There appeared to be more than forty of them, and her condition was not optimistic.

Before Boss could say anything, Yi Chen spoke first.

"Boss,

your sister is evolving toward the 'Phase Three' of the disease, right? Her condition doesn't look very good. May I take a look?"

His words left Boss quite surprised.

She had not expected that this young man, who had only been staying here for a little over a day, had already identified the stage of her Fish Scale Disease.

She gave a slight nod, granting her silent permission.

Yi Chen carefully moved beside the bathtub.

Although he had no medical background and knew little about the relevant knowledge, the plants inside his body could sense vitality draining away.

"Boss, you want me to remove all the remaining scales, correct?"

"Yes."

After receiving Boss's consent,

Yi Chen gently placed his palm against Sister's abdomen, touching the surface of the fish scales.

Thin, fresh, and supple roots slipped into the gaps between the scales and burrowed beneath the skin.

The tips of the roots released a natural tissue fluid with healing properties.

Then they slowly and gently pried out the fish scales.

This reduced the amount of bleeding and caused almost no pain... If anything, it was a little itchy.

The only drawback was that the process was not very efficient and proceeded rather slowly.

Yi Chen carefully picked out the fish scales from her abdomen.

At the same time, he placed his other hand against the areas of Sister's body that were bleeding heavily and wove roots to stop the bleeding.

During the process,

Sister opened her black, jewel-like eyes and watched the lodger before her.

Boss simply stood quietly to the side.

At that moment,

Little Grape's voice rang out in his mind.

'Hey! Do you even know what you're doing?

The person in front of you is a "Disease Infected."

Once she successfully undergoes Scale Shedding, she'll successfully pass through the infection process and become a Sick One with a complete consciousness.

She's one of the culprits responsible for spreading disease through this world and reducing it to ruins!

By instinct, they'll hate the uninfected. Their desires will drive them to invade and occupy your body.'

'If they really wanted to attack me, they would have done it last night.

Besides, from the moment I entered the bathroom until now, Boss has had plenty of chances to act.

I still don't understand exactly what this world is about.

I'm only integrating and analyzing the information I've observed and inferred, then drawing conclusions that are useful to me~ I believe offering help is necessary.

Once we establish a mutually beneficial relationship,

we may be able to obtain some crucial clues, allowing us to touch upon the truth behind the town and the mastermind directly, and pass the organization's assessment with a high score.'

'I'm seriously starting to wonder whether you're even a creature from this world.

What you're doing might provoke the displeasure of some humans... But it is pretty interesting.'

Little Grape said no more and silently observed Boss's every movement.

And so,

Like a large-scale surgery,

By the time the final scale was pulled from her body by the roots, eight whole hours had passed.

It was already noon the next day.

Splash, splash~

Boss turned on the bathtub faucet and immersed Sister in the water.

When she woke again, she would completely become the Sick One Little Grape had mentioned.

Just then,

One of Boss's hands gently came to rest on Yi Chen's shoulder.

The latter remained somewhat alert and instinctively reached toward his hand axe.

However,

It was merely a gesture of thanks.

"You've worked hard, Mr. William."

"It's nothing... I was willing to help."

"You can return to your room and rest.

I'll make sure nothing troubles you while you're resting. By the time you wake up, it will probably be nighttime... Come directly to the first floor for dinner then."

Yi Chen made an OK gesture and turned to leave.

By the time he returned to his room,

Fatigue had already left him completely unable to hold on.

Little Grape voluntarily separated from him and acted as though he intended to guard the door.

"Go to sleep already. I've gotten plenty of sleep inside your body.

Don't wear yourself out.

If these siblings really provide useful information, or are even willing to help us, perhaps we'll be able to obtain the Giant Eyeball."

However,

Yi Chen merely leaned against the headboard. He was still worried about one thing.

"Once tonight passes, the assessment will enter its final countdown.

Tonight may not be peaceful either.

Remember to wake me once the sun sets."

"Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep!"

Little Grape acted just like a security guard.

He moved the wooden chair beside the bed and sat upright on it.

This was the soundest sleep Yi Chen had gotten since arriving in Green Lake Town.

Perhaps because of the plants inside his body,

He naturally woke when the sun set and photosynthesis stopped.

He opened his bleary eyes.

His vision was completely filled by a huge mouth.

Black hair covered the area around it.

An eyeball held inside the mouth stared at him from almost "eyeball to eyeball."

A strange voice, formed from multiple vocal cords, emerged from the mouth.

"You're awake?"

"Little Grape, don't scare people!"

After putting on his clothes,

He equipped himself,

And when he pushed open the guest-room door, the candlelight in the corridor was gone. All the candles had been cleared away, leaving only darkness so deep he could not see his hand before his face.

He lit the Kerosene Lamp at his waist.

Keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he headed downstairs.

The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs,

A delicious aroma slipped into his nose.

Following the scent, he looked toward the guest room beside the first-floor counter.

The door was half open, and candlelight spilled through.

Yi Chen pressed himself against the wall and quietly peered inside.

The guest room had been arranged like a Dining Hall.

Various fish dishes and soups had been placed on the wooden round table.

Apart from Boss,

A Black-Haired Woman was seated there as well.

A thin white dress covered her not-yet-healed body.

She seemed to have caught the "foreign scent" at the door and turned her pale, youthful face toward the entrance.

The fish gill structures on her cheeks had disappeared. She looked no different from a normal person.

"Mr. William, come eat!"