Plague Disciple

"Prefect! Prefect, please hold on, Lord Stephen is coming right away!"

As soon as the extraordinary characteristic entered his esophagus, the illusion of taking the Disease Deceiver reappeared.

A group of clergy, clad in attire vastly different from that of the Church of Dawn, surrounded "Ning Xiuyuan." They were all wailing and weeping profusely.

"It's useless, listen to me. I took the Plague Disciple privately. I was wrong, I shouldn't have taken it. Remember, after I die, strip it away, destroy it, and never let it appear again. It is the Mother of Plague, a blasphemous characteristic, a Chaotic Calamity! Also, destroy all my medical notes after February 7th. Don't read them, remember..."

As these words, spoken from Ning Xiuyuan's first-person perspective, emerged, indescribable complex emotions surged like a raging tide, battering the dam of Ning Xiuyuan's rationality.

Fear mingled with relief, sorrow intertwined with joy, guilt concealed with equanimity – a bizarre and unsettling mix of emotions.

In his daze, Ning Xiuyuan felt as if he had awakened past-life memories, transforming into the Prefect.

His obsession with saving lives and healing the wounded had led "him" to bravely ingest the Plague Disciple, attempting to sever the root of disease by mastering its source.

But he was wrong.

The extraordinary characteristic of the Plague Disciple forced him to spread the plague to achieve fusion.

But with a healer's compassion, how could he do it? How could he dare to do it?

Yet, the price of defying the extraordinary characteristic was – loss of control!

As his consciousness neared its end, the Prefect couldn't help but pour out his heart in prayer to the Lord, confessing his sins and seeking redemption!

"Great Lord, please forgive your devout follower's haste. I should not have tried to understand the source of the plague. Please forgive me, pardon me, and save me!"

The Lord seemed to hear his voice. He felt his soul drift out of his decaying, degenerate, and mutated body, floating towards the Lord's eternally blissful Divine Realm.

"Uncle, don't worry. I've already found a renowned doctor. His medical skills are exceptionally superb, and he will cure you. I guarantee it!"

"Really?"

"Dad, did you hear that? A physician praised by Sister Angela must be very powerful!"

Faint praises, traversing endless time and space, reached an unknown place beyond the Creation's awareness. They gently echoed in Ning Xiuyuan's ears, his mind almost having transformed into the Prefect.

The voices were not loud, but they were like thunder.

"What is this?"

Ning Xiuyuan's eyes snapped open. The boundless farm, littered with countless compressed straw bales, completely severed his consciousness from the Prefect's emotions.

"I am not the Prefect. I am... Arthur!"

"I am Ning Xiuyuan!"

Ning Xiuyuan's pupils dilated, and sweat poured from him like molten metal!

He could hardly believe that he had unconsciously fallen into someone else's consciousness, even nearly perishing and dissipating with it.

"The Prefect? The previous owner of the Plague Disciple? Such a strong mental imprint. Could it be that the strength of the mental imprint varies for each extraordinary characteristic?"

Ning Xiuyuan's face turned slightly pale.

This experience, so completely different from the Disease Deceiver, filled him with lingering fear.

If not for a few threads of hopeful sound awakening his reason at the critical moment, he might have been completely lost!

"This is still too risky! Fortunately, the mental imprint of the Disease Deceiver's previous owner didn't act up. Otherwise, my situation might have been even worse."

Lingering fear welled up in Ning Xiuyuan's heart.

If he had known this would happen, he likely wouldn't have ingested this extraordinary characteristic.

That feeling of completely forgetting oneself was too terrible.

"Hoo—"

Ning Xiuyuan took a deep breath, easing the shock in his heart, and carefully began to sense the extraordinary characteristic of the bird-beaked strange person.

This extraordinary characteristic was named: Plague Disciple.

In theory, it could control all plagues; plagues would be its weapon.

The higher the fusion degree of the extraordinary characteristic, the wider the range of plague dissemination and the greater its power!

Its extraordinary ritual was precisely the dissemination of plague.

Only when within the scope of the plague's coverage would the extraordinary characteristic feel comfortable and calm.

However, since it was named Disciple, this also indicated that it was not the plague itself.

Ning Xiuyuan's heart stirred, and a set of pig-nosed biochemical protective suits grew from within him, quickly covering his entire body and wrapping him tightly.

No wonder that strange person appeared with the image of a medieval bird-beaked doctor. It turns out this is the plague antibody granted by the extraordinary characteristic!

Ning Xiuyuan marveled at the protective suit, which clearly had a sci-fi feel, adorning his body.

The reason he had the image of a pig-nosed gas mask was fundamentally due to his different understanding of plagues compared to the bird-beaked oddities.

After all, the bird-beaked mask was the gas mask used by medieval doctors.

With a thought, the pig-nosed biochemical protective suit melted away like snow meeting spring sunshine. Ning Xiuyuan attempted to don the image of the bird-beaked doctor.

But no matter how his spirituality stimulated the extraordinary characteristic, his body surface could not generate a bird-beaked mask. Instead, various gas masks could be continuously changed.

"Is it based on the subconscious understanding of anti-toxic protective gear?"

Ning Xiuyuan had a vague suspicion forming, so he didn't probe any further.

Extraordinary characteristics didn't align with rational understanding;

Or rather, their existence far surpassed Ning Xiuyuan's knowledge base.

Trying to grasp their principles was as difficult as a primitive person trying to understand how a mobile phone worked.

For Ning Xiuyuan, all he needed for now was to "know how" and learn to use them.

As for "knowing why"?

That would have to wait for the future!

After figuring out the range for manifesting the Plague Disciple's immunity, Ning Xiuyuan immediately used this characteristic to change his attire.

A black hooded tracksuit quickly grew from his skin, a black mask covered his face, and his eyes were protected by goggles with a punk biker aesthetic.

What should have been the oxygen tank for a biological protective suit was transformed by Ning Xiuyuan into a backpack, used to carry the crystal lantern.

—This outfit, barely passing as normal urban human attire, was the limit of his modifications.

After finishing, Ning Xiuyuan used the shared vision of the rats as a mirror, looking himself over and carefully adjusting a few details until he perfectly resembled a young urbanite. Only then did he nod with satisfaction.

He had originally planned to sneak into the human residential area to steal some clothes, but now it saved him a lot of trouble.

"Ugh!"

Just then, Ning Xiuyuan suddenly clutched his chest, his face draining of color.

It felt awful!

The recent exertion of the Plague Disciple's extraordinary characteristic had caused his Plague Disciple characteristic to surge uncontrollably.

They were like hungry monsters, hidden within every cell of Ning Xiuyuan's body, shouting, roaring, and raging.

Because the surrounding environment made them feel suffocated!

Loss of control?

Loss of control originating from the extraordinary characteristic itself?

Ning Xiuyuan instantly realized what was happening to him!

With a thought, he gathered all the field mice around him and spread the plague.

As the rat swarm became infected, Ning Xiuyuan immediately felt the surrounding air become much fresher, and the surging extraordinary characteristic gradually subsided.

But this wasn't enough.

At this moment, the plague was to him what oxygen was to humans.

Indispensable, irreplaceable!

The concentration of the plague emitted by the rat swarm could only temporarily suppress his surging extraordinary characteristic. He had to create a suitable environment as soon as possible, or he would inevitably face a loss of control.

At the same time, deep within his consciousness, a seductive voice whispered.

"Go, go infect more creatures. As long as you can infect the entire world, you will transform into a God!"