The False Moon Incident and the Pathogenization Stage

When Captain Edmund confirmed the choice, the supervisor sitting beside him showed a relieved expression, as if he had guessed they would make such a choice.

"Information regarding the 'False Moon Incident' is classified and stored in the mid-level archives... The information you can see is only the part related to the mission, and it has been processed and modified.

Remember two points:

1. Once you have read the document, you cannot abandon the mission. If you fail to complete the mission on time, you will be severely reprimanded and subjected to memory cleansing.

2. If it is discovered that you have leaked information about the False Moon Incident, those who commit serious offenses will be expelled from the Organization and banished from Zion.

If you have no objections, please follow me."

"Okay."

Since the team had reached an agreement, there was nothing to hesitate about.

The supervisor led everyone into the idle counter area.

After a simple identity verification, they took the staff-only elevator to the mid-level area of the [Gentleman Hall], which was specially provided for high-level gentlemen who had broken through their limits to undertake relevant missions.

Unlike the public counter format on the lower level, The mid-level area had a high degree of privacy, with numerous private rooms for mission acceptance.

Every high-level gentleman who arrived here would receive 'one-on-one' professional reception.

The four members of the team were also led by the supervisor to a private room.

A moment later, A document bag with a G&D wax seal and a seal was delivered. The supervisor personally removed the seal on the surface.

At the same time, he took out a delicate small hourglass from his sleeve.

"Ten minutes for reading. Make it quick."

[False Moon Incident*]

On the ██th day of the ██th month of the 371st year, [Vinal City], indirectly governed by the Organization, experienced the 'False Moon Incident' at ██:██ that night, without any feedback of abnormalities from local investigators or the Twilight Clinic.

The dark night sky, which should have been shrouded in mist, became exceptionally clear.

Two identical full moons hung in the sky.

Such a rare sight immediately attracted the attention of the city's residents.

Even though the local Gentleman investigators sounded the city-wide alarm immediately, they still could not prevent the incident from occurring.

According to simulations conducted afterward, within two minutes from the appearance of the moon to the issuance of the alarm, over 60% of the residents had personally witnessed the 'False Moon'.

Within the following hour, City residents who had directly looked at the false moon developed 'Moonscars' on their necks, simultaneously showing initial infection symptoms and beginning to attack non-infected residents indiscriminately.

At the very first moment of the incident, the person in charge of the Twilight Clinic, Doctor Maco, immediately led the clinic staff and the local Gentleman investigators to carry out a forced suppression.

During the cleanup, Through the hidden means* (classified) planted by Doctor Maco, they successfully identified the root cause of the 'False Moon Incident,' a special patient who had disguised himself extremely well among the residents.

At this time, he had [Open Source], and his disease was named Moonscar.

Although this open-source patient was successfully lured out and eventually killed.

Our side also paid a heavy price: almost all local investigators were wiped out, Doctor Maco had half of his body crippled and was in a deep coma, and he was still in critical condition.

The reinforcements that arrived subsequently cleaned up every corner of Vinal City, and the entire city turned into ruins.

Upon finishing the read, Cold sweat trickled down Edmund's cheeks.

"Open-source patient? Doctor Maco is severely injured and in a coma, and the local investigators are almost wiped out, this..."

Yi Chen also frowned, staring at the keyword [Open Source] in the file.

It reminded him of his pathology class two months ago.

Teacher Zed had given a lecture that Yi Chen found very interesting—"A Stage-by-Stage Overview of Living Pathogenized Individuals," which roughly described the stages of sexual transformation that living beings infected by pathogens would undergo, as well as the dangerous forms they could achieve through subsequent growth.

≮Living Pathogenization≯

Here, [Humans] are taken as an example; other mammals are not much different. For non-mammalian animals, the greater their difference from humans, the greater the difference in pathogenization.

[Pathological Transformation Stage]:

Also known as the initial infection stage.

Depending on their characteristics, different pathogens categorize the pathological transformation methods they perform on the human body into two major types:

1. "Physical Pathogenization"

2. "Mental Pathogenization"

Individuals in the initial stage of infection do not possess, or possess very few, pathological transformation characteristics. Their aggressiveness is often not strong, and they are easy to eliminate.

They usually choose to disguise themselves, hide, and spend this stage in unknown corners and shadows.

Once the pathogen has fully taken root in them and formed a 'pathogen structure' with distinct characteristics, the individual can be called [The Diseased].

The Diseased, possess sound consciousness and regard themselves as a part of the 'disease'.

They have threatening diseased characteristics and instinctively invade and infect normal, un-diseased life forms around them.

The innkeeper and sister encountered in Green Lake Town were precisely such Diseased individuals, but their self-control was extremely strong, approaching that of [Patient Zero].

[Pathological Transformation Stage]

The Diseased will officially enter the Pathological Transformation Stage after meeting one or more conditions, such as:

Surviving for a sufficiently long time, Infecting a certain number of living beings, Absorbing the essence of other Diseased individuals, And so on.

In this stage, the 'pathogen structure' and the Diseased will combine at a deeper level, becoming a complete part of their physical structure, no longer as conspicuous as pustules or rashes.

Instead, they will disguise themselves as an organ or tissue, or merge into the flesh, making them difficult to detect (weaknesses hidden).

At the same time, the individual's diseased characteristics will greatly enhance, and their physical structure may undergo fundamental changes, for example:

Growing abnormally large arms, Differentiating into wings capable of flight, Growing an extra, second brain for storing mental energy and collaborative calculations, etc.

Individuals who perfectly complete this stage are uniformly called [Severe Diseased].

Gentlemen of the 'Human' caliber can hardly kill a Severe Diseased individual alone; even a squad faces considerable risk.

[Open Source Stage*]

Teacher Zed originally didn't intend to continue discussing this stage of pathogenization, because new Gentlemen, guided by the Organization, are given tasks of appropriate difficulty and basically won't encounter such beings.

Even if they did, the only outcome would be death.

However, due to Yi Chen's arrival, he was in an extremely good mood that day and satisfied everyone's curiosity by briefly explaining some basic concepts.

A very small number of Diseased individuals can achieve 'perfect fusion' with their own pathogen structure—a fusion that touches the soul.

Once achieved, the Diseased will touch upon the [Primal Disease] originating from the distant Old World, and the individual will undergo a 'qualitative' change.

Their bodies will exhibit some 'Old World Traits' that far exceed reality, their strength will far surpass that of the Diseased, conventional pathogen weaknesses will no longer exist, instead, a tube-like structure, similar to a 'health bar,' will float above their heads, representing their 'Primal Affliction' and indicating their total life force.

Such beings often hide this characteristic, and one must be proficient in the Old Living Script to glimpse it.

They are uniformly referred to as [Open Source].

Specific killing methods are required to deplete their 'health points.'

Only when the liquid within the tube-like structure is completely depleted can true damage be dealt to such beings.