When Captain Edmund confirmed the result of their choice,
the supervisor sitting to the side revealed a relieved expression, as if he had guessed they would make such a choice.
"The information regarding the 'False Moon Incident' is classified and stored in the archives on the middle level... The materials you can see are only the portions related to the mission, and they have undergone some processing and modification.
Remember two things:
1. Once you have read the files, you may not abandon the mission. If you fail to complete it on schedule, you will receive a severe disciplinary punishment and undergo memory cleansing.
2. If we discover that you deliberately leaked information about the False Moon Incident, those responsible for serious violations will be expelled from the organization and driven out of Zion.
If there are no problems, follow me."
"Mm."
Since the team had reached an agreement, there was no reason to hesitate.
The supervisor led them inside an unoccupied counter,
and after a simple identity verification, they took the employees-only lift to the middle-level area of Gentleman Hall, which was dedicated to providing relevant missions for high-ranking gentlemen who had broken through their limits.
Unlike the public counters on the lower level,
the middle-level area placed great emphasis on privacy, with a large number of private rooms for accepting missions.
Every high-ranking gentleman who came here would receive professional one-on-one service.
The four members of the team were likewise led by the supervisor to a private room.
Before long,
a document bag bearing a G&D wax seal and fitted with a lock was delivered. The supervisor personally removed the seal on its surface.
At the same time, he drew an exquisite miniature hourglass from his sleeve.
"You have ten minutes to read it. Make the most of them."
"The False Moon Incident"
On ██/██, Year 371, with neither the local investigators nor Twilight Clinic, which was under the organization's indirect jurisdiction, reporting anything unusual, the 'False Moon Incident' occurred in Vinal City at ██:██ that night.
The pitch-black night sky, which should have been shrouded in thin mist, became unnaturally clear.
Two completely identical full moons hung in the sky.
Such a rare sight immediately drew the attention of the city's residents.
Even though the local gentleman investigators sounded the citywide alarm at the first opportunity, they still failed to prevent the incident from occurring.
According to simulations conducted afterward, only two minutes passed from the moon's appearance to the alarm being sounded, yet more than sixty percent of the residents had witnessed the 'False Moon' with their own eyes.
Within the following hour,
all urban residents who had looked directly at the False Moon developed a "moon mark" on their necks. Initial symptoms of infection appeared at the same time, and they began attacking uninfected residents in the urban area indiscriminately.
At the very moment the incident occurred, the person in charge of Twilight Clinic—Doctor Maco—immediately brought the clinic's personnel and joined the local investigator gentlemen in forcibly suppressing the outbreak.
During the purge,
using a hidden method planted by Doctor Maco (classified), they successfully found the Root of Disease behind the False Moon Incident: a Special Patient who had blended in among the residents and possessed exceptional disguise abilities.
By then, he had already become open-source. His disease name was Moonscar.
Although they successfully drew out this Open Source Patient and ultimately killed him,
our side also paid a devastating price. Nearly all the local investigators were killed, Doctor Maco lost half his body, and he fell into a deep coma. To this day, he remains in critical condition.
The reinforcements that arrived afterward cleared every corner of Vinal City, reducing the entire city to ruins.
When he finished reading,
cold sweat slid down Edmund's cheek as well.
"An Open Source Patient? Doctor Maco seriously wounded and unconscious, nearly all the local investigators dead... This..."
Yi Chen also frowned, staring at the keyword "open-source" in the document.
It made him recall the pathology class from two months earlier.
Teacher Zed had given Yi Chen a lesson that greatly interested him—"An Overview of the Stages of Living Pathogenization." It had roughly explained the transformative stages living organisms infected with Disease Infection had to undergo, as well as the dangerous forms they could attain through subsequent growth.
≮Living Pathological Transformation≯
Humans will be used as an example here. Other mammals are not much different. The more distantly related non-mammals are to humans, the greater the differences in their pathological transformations.
Pathogenization Stage:
Also known as the initial infection stage.
Based on their characteristics, different Pathogens' methods of pathogenizing the human body can be divided into two major categories:
1. "Physical Pathogenization"
2. "Mental Pathogenization"
Individuals in the initial infection stage possess no Diseased Traits, or possess very few of them. They are generally not very aggressive and are easy to eliminate.
They would usually choose to disguise themselves and hide, spending this stage in the shadows of unnoticed corners.
Once the Pathogen had completely taken root in their bodies and formed a distinct "pathogen structure," the individual could be called a Sick One.
A Sick One
possessed a sound consciousness and regarded themself as a component of "disease."
Their threatening Diseased Traits would instinctively invade and infect surrounding normal lifeforms that had not undergone pathogenization.
The innkeeper and his younger sister whom they had encountered in Green Lake Town were precisely such Sick Ones. Their self-control was simply extremely strong, approaching that of Patient Zero.
Pathological Transformation Stage
Once a Sick One fulfilled one or more conditions, such as:
surviving for a sufficient length of time,
infecting a certain number of living organisms,
absorbing the essence of other Sick Ones,
and so on,
they would officially enter the Pathological Transformation Stage.
During this stage, the "pathogen structure" would form a deeper bond with the Sick One, becoming completely integrated into their bodily structure instead of remaining as conspicuous as a pustule or rash.
It would instead disguise itself as an organ or tissue, or blend into the flesh, making it extremely difficult to detect (with its weakness hidden).
At the same time,
the individual's Diseased Traits would become greatly enhanced.
Their bodily structure might also undergo fundamental changes, such as:
growing an enormous arm far beyond normal proportions,
developing wings capable of flight,
growing an additional second brain for storing mental energy and assisting with calculations, and so on.
Individuals who perfectly passed through this stage were collectively known as Severe Diseased.
Gentlemen whose rank was "human" could almost never kill a Severe Diseased by themselves. Even if a team encountered one, considerable danger still existed.
Open-Source Stage*
Teacher Zed had not originally intended to continue discussing this stage of pathogenization, because New Gentlemen, under the organization's guidance, were assigned missions of suitable difficulty and would basically never come into contact with such existences.
Even if they truly encountered one, death would be the only possible outcome.
However,
because Yi Chen had arrived, he was in an exceptionally good mood that day. Thus, he satisfied everyone's curiosity and briefly explained a few basic concepts.
A very small number of Sick Ones could achieve a "perfect fusion" with their own pathogen structure—a fusion that reached the Soul Level.
Once they attained it,
the Sick One would touch upon the ≮Primal Disease≯ that originated in the distant Old World, and the individual would undergo a qualitative change.
Their bodies would display certain "Old World Traits" far beyond reality.
Their strength would vastly surpass that of Sick Ones.
They would no longer possess the weaknesses of conventional Pathogens.
In their place would be a tubular structure resembling a "health bar," floating above their heads. It represented the Primal Affliction they belonged to and indicated the total amount of their life force.
Such existences would often conceal this trait. One had to be proficient in Old Living Script to glimpse it.
They were collectively known as Open Source.
A specific method of killing had to be used to wear down their "health."
Only when all the liquid within the tubular structure had been depleted could one inflict genuine damage on such an existence.
Before you continue