Initial Fusion

Father Wright, looking utterly distraught and incredulous, turned toward the voice and saw Orlando smile weakly at him, his face pale.

The grotesque tumors that periodically bulged from his cheeks made him look horrifying and repulsive.

Yet to Wright, this sight made him so excited he could barely contain himself!

Compared to losing control and dying, this was already the best outcome amid disaster.

"You're not dead? Hahaha, you're not dead? Wonderful, wonderful..."

Father Wright laughed and cried in excitement, moving so wildly that he even slammed his head into the carriage wall.

Orlando gave a bloodless smile and said nothing more, struggling with all his might against the loss of control. Yet the despair of plunging into an abyss had already vanished without a trace.

He could feel the evil god of disease that had been dragging him toward the abyss reluctantly release its grip.

His Extraordinary characteristic had a high degree of fusion, and without a fatal wound holding him back, given some time, he would be able to resist the madness!

"Hurry and stop his bleeding. I only healed his heart," Ning Xiuyuan reminded them from the side. After a moment's thought, he added, "My power can only accomplish this much."

"Being able to do this is already remarkable. You're the most gifted physician I've ever seen!" Atley praised him lavishly, then suddenly understood.

That explained it. How could Arthur, having only just consumed an Extraordinary characteristic, possibly heal such severe wounds?

He had thought a miracle had occurred!

He never expected Arthur had only healed the heart and abandoned the other injuries. Such quick-witted improvisation in the moment—impressive!

No wonder Your Excellency the Bishop had been willing to take in this outsider!

At that thought, Atley's heart stirred.

—An outsider with no offensive ability, who could only heal illnesses and save lives, might not be so unacceptable after all. They might even need his help someday.

Orlando was the finest example.

It seemed he would have to find an opportunity to properly befriend him later.

"You flatter me. It is all thanks to the blessing of God of Dawn," Ning Xiuyuan said humbly.

When Wright had grabbed him by the collar earlier, the reason he had not explained himself was that he, too, had not been sure whether this approach could deceive death.

Now, it seemed his risky gamble had succeeded!

Come to think of it, he had only consumed Disease Deceiver yesterday. In terms of fusion, it was practically zero, and his power could only be called feeble.

In theory, he should have been utterly incapable of deceiving Orlando's life-threatening injuries.

But who said he had to deceive "all diseases"?

Why couldn't he classify "heart rupture," "torn chest muscles," "subcutaneous tissue laceration," "bacterial infection," and the like as separate diseases?

The facts proved that his guess had been correct.

His power was limited, but deceiving a ruptured heart was no fundamentally different from deceiving torn skin.

Both merely healed wounds.

He had succeeded.

Although Orlando, as an Extraordinary, was still bleeding profusely from his chest, the fatal wound around his heart had healed. With the formidable physique of an Extraordinary, he had ultimately snatched his life back.

Healing such grave injuries on his first attempt left Ning Xiuyuan deeply moved, but it also gave rise to a peculiar feeling within him.

—His self and the Disease Deceiver Extraordinary characteristic were rapidly fusing, only stopping at around one-eighth.

Though it was only one-eighth fused, it gave him deeper control over Disease Deceiver, and his power grew stronger still.

His "self" had also undergone subtle changes because of this fusion.

—His six senses had grown sharper, his thoughts more meticulous, and his body noticeably lighter.

No wonder Extraordinary beings are ranked by the number of Extraordinary characteristics they fuse. Even my purely altruistic Extraordinary characteristic can bring such obvious improvements; the others probably need no mention.

As Ning Xiuyuan pondered in silence, Atley patted Wright and gave him a meaningful look.

Wright froze, only understanding after a long while.

"Mr. Arthur, I'm deeply sorry. Please forgive my earlier loss of composure," Wright finally remembered his offense.

"If apologies were useful, what would we need laws for?"

Ning Xiuyuan's tone was icy, his expression dripping with sarcasm.

Atley's expression changed slightly. He had not expected this outsider's face to change so quickly!

Wright's old face flushed crimson.

"If you don't buy me a drink over this, I absolutely won't accept a verbal apology." Ning Xiuyuan abruptly changed his tone and smiled faintly.

Wright stared blankly, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, exactly! There's nothing a glass of brandy can't settle."

Atley could not help laughing at the sight.

Ning Xiuyuan wore a smile at the corners of his mouth, but a trace of coldness flashed deep in his eyes.

This time, he had healed him, so everyone was happy.

If he had failed, Wright would likely have resented him for the rest of his life.

Even if he did not hate him, their relationship would never have become close.

Doctor-patient relationships really were troublesome!

Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do, Ning Xiuyuan voluntarily stepped out of the carriage. The carriage was too cramped; better leave it to them to make things extra intimate.

"What happened to you all?"

Standing beside the carriage, Ning Xiuyuan looked at Father Pine, who stood outside the compartment and peered within.

—He had been driving the carriage earlier.

"Hmph, we ran into a damn watchdog!"

At the mention of it, Pine ground his teeth so hard they clacked. Even his young, handsome face twisted slightly, showing just how furious he was.

"A watchdog?" Ning Xiuyuan was greatly puzzled.

"We received a report that Kamelan Cemetery had apparently been dug up. When we went to investigate, we discovered someone was stealing corpses."

Pine continued on his own.

"He had been controlling zombies to fight, so we thought he was a Gravekeeper. But just as we had chopped off all the zombies' heads, a headless zombie suddenly attacked Orlando."

"We were careless. He wasn't a Gravekeeper at all, but a... Puppet Master!"

Even recalling the scene left lingering fear on Pine's face, along with even greater humiliation and rage.

At the time, they had already brought the situation under control.

Zombies might have bodies of bronze and iron and immense strength, but once their heads were chopped off, they immediately became lifeless objects.

Precisely because of this, they had let their guard down.

Who could have imagined that the enemy was a Puppet Master capable of controlling all false life?

The earlier scene of every zombie having its head blown apart and collapsing to the ground had all been a deceptive act he staged, meant to let him suddenly strike and wound someone at the critical moment.

Ning Xiuyuan looked astonished upon hearing this!

Orlando had previously introduced him to the two Extraordinary characteristics of Gravekeeper and Puppet Master.

A Gravekeeper could transform corpses into zombies and command them. Their own body could also transform into a zombie form, making it an Extraordinary ability that combined melee and ranged combat.

As for Puppet Master, as the name implied, it could theoretically control all false life.

Its weakness was that its true body was extremely fragile. Like his Disease Deceiver, it had practically no offensive or defensive power.

Using the Puppet Master's ability to control zombies and disguise himself as a Gravekeeper—wasn't that remarkably similar to Ning Xiuyuan being a Disease Deceiver while disguising himself as an Ascetic Physician?

It seemed that in the future, whenever he encountered Extraordinary beings, he absolutely could not be deceived by the abilities they displayed.

Many Extraordinary characteristics had overlapping traits.

Using those overlapping traits to disguise oneself was entirely possible.

"What happened afterward?" Ning Xiuyuan pressed.

"He got away. To protect Orlando, we could only watch helplessly as he escaped."

"Who was he?"

"No idea. The Puppet Master Extraordinary characteristic isn't common, but it isn't rare either. Outer gods, heretics, and wandering Extraordinary beings could all possess it," Pine said.

Ning Xiuyuan nodded, suddenly recalling the ghost that had appeared in the groom's quarters.

Could that ghost have been a puppet controlled by this Puppet Master?

"Hehe..."

A pleasant female voice suddenly came from inside the carriage, interrupting Ning Xiuyuan's thoughts.

A woman?

Where had a woman come from inside the carriage?

Ning Xiuyuan turned his head and, through the carriage door, saw in astonishment a wisp of a woman's departed soul suddenly emerge from the rusty sword Atley had pulled out.

She giggled softly. Before anyone could react, she lunged at Orlando's back, seeming slow but moving fast, like a lovestruck woman rushing into her lover's embrace.