Ha, Men!

"Transform into a God?"

Feeling the restless begging of the Plague Disciple within him, Ning Xiuyuan's expression turned grim.

—The price of becoming a Plague Disciple was far beyond his imagination.

From a certain perspective, the extraordinary ritual for a Plague Disciple was relatively easy to perform, as destruction was always easier than creation.

But upon closer examination, it became clear that the Plague Disciple's extraordinary ritual was a massive trap!

Setting aside moral constraints, even if he could overcome the psychological barrier, would he truly succeed in spreading the Plague on a large scale?

Theoretically, perhaps.

However, doing so would come at a terrible cost.

Spreading the Plague in the supernatural world would likely alert transcendent beings halfway through the first city's outbreak, leading to him being hunted down!

The Plague that was spread would also likely be eradicated by various mysterious and malevolent supernatural powers.

As for the current human world?

It didn't seem simple either. Putting aside technological achievements, just the mysterious and unfathomable Foundation was not to be trifled with.

Looking at it this way, the extraordinary ritual for a Plague Disciple was actually more difficult to perform than that of a Disease Deceiver.

This was practically being a born villain, destined to be an enemy of the world!

"Hoo..."

Ning Xiuyuan exhaled impatiently, stood up, and looked around. After a moment of thought, he followed his spiritual intuition, walking along the farm's asphalt road towards the human settlement.

—Regardless of whether he intended to spread the Plague or not, he first needed to find a human settlement before making further plans.

Because he was hungry.

With the July wheat harvest just over, Commus Town quickly returned from its agricultural hustle and bustle to its usual state of tranquility.

The inn's business also gradually declined, returning to a state where customers were few and far between.

Indeed, a few small sparrows with gray heads landed in front of the inn, chirping curiously and peering into the inn with their bright black eyes.

Inside the inn, the young Elisa was leaning on the counter, listlessly swiping through her phone screen.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

The sound of knuckles tapping on the table finally drew her gaze away from her phone. She looked up, and the arrival of the guest sent a jolt of energy through her.

This should be a young man.

He was wearing a black tracksuit, a hooded jacket, a black mask with a colorful pattern covering his face, and punk motorcycle goggles over his eyes. This attire made him look full of personality.

However, what truly surprised Elisa was the pair of black eyes behind the goggle lenses.

Foreigners were not common in Commus Town; at least, there had been almost none in her memory.

An Asian person?

"Hello, are you here to stay?"

Elisa stood up and asked somewhat nervously, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

The person shook his head, pointed to his mouth, and held out a stack of banknotes.

Elisa was taken aback. She gestured and asked, "You don't speak Romanese?"

The person clearly didn't understand what Elisa was saying. He tapped the banknotes on the table with his finger and then pointed upstairs, clearly indicating he wanted to stay at the inn.

Elisa was surprised. He was indeed a foreigner.

But to travel without knowing Romanese was truly impressive!

After much gesturing and drawing, they managed to complete the check-in communication.

"This is your room. If you need anything, come downstairs and call me. My name is Elisa, E-L-I-S-A. Remember?"

As she escorted Ning Xiuyuan to his room, Elisa enthusiastically pointed to herself and repeated her name, enunciating each syllable.

"E-L-I-S-A!"

Ning Xiuyuan repeated it to show he remembered.

Elisa then nodded with satisfaction and turned to leave.

"Clang!"

Closing the room door, Ning Xiuyuan let out a slight sigh of relief and surveyed his room.

This guest room was quite spacious.

It was fully equipped with appliances such as a refrigerator, air conditioner, television, and microwave, along with a private bathroom. The environment was quite good.

This meant he could finally enjoy some modern living for the next few days.

Of course, that was all contingent on nothing unexpected happening.

Actually, checking into a hotel wasn't a good idea, because in this world, he was a black household with no blacker status.

Checking into a hotel would undoubtedly increase his risk of exposure, attracting the attention of official personnel and even the Foundation.

He might not even get past the initial registration.

But Ning Xiuyuan still decided to try.

He didn't know how long he would stay in this world.

The last time he left, it was because the lantern extinguished, causing him to step into darkness and return to dawn.

If his duration in this world was determined by the lantern's candlelight, then with the amount of oil he carried, he could stay for three to five days without issue.

He didn't want to spend those three to five days wandering the wilderness like a stray dog.

Fortunately, the registration issue he was most worried about didn't happen. He wasn't sure if it was because the place was a remote village with lax management;

Or if it was because money paved the way, and the innkeeper, seeing his difficulty communicating, skipped the procedure.

In any case, having a place to stay for now made Ning Xiuyuan very satisfied.

After inspecting the guest room and confirming there were no cameras or other disgusting things, Ning Xiuyuan picked up the clothes he had just bought and went into the bathroom.

After showering and changing into shorts and a T-shirt, Ning Xiuyuan leaned against the window, admiring the exotic scenery while popping open a can of carbonated drink and carefully bringing it to his lips.

As the familiar artificial sweetener and carbon dioxide flooded his mouth, Ning Xiuyuan's eyes narrowed, his entire body relaxed, and his mind briefly cleared, as if he had returned to his time on Earth.

Unfortunately, this world, which was similar to Earth, was not Earth after all.

Ning Xiuyuan was absolutely certain of this.

Because he couldn't find Coca-Cola in the supermarket.

The "taxes" he collected by treating rats and sparrows as righteous thieves were also completely different from the mainstream currency in his memory.

"Sigh!"

Ning Xiuyuan sighed softly, downed the carbonated drink in one gulp, then closed the window, drew the curtains, and went to sleep.

Around nine o'clock that night, Ning Xiuyuan slowly woke up.

He didn't turn on the lights, ate something in the dark, opened the window, and jumped down from the second floor barefoot.

Before his feet even touched the ground, a black light bloomed between his feet like a ghostly vine, spreading up his legs and intertwining to transform into a Batman suit covering his entire body.

"Crack!"

With a standard superhero three-point landing, a flock of bats flew past overhead, scattering in all directions.

Ning Xiuyuan raised his face, savoring the Leap of Faith with a hint of regret that he couldn't manifest an Iron Man suit, and even more regret that no one saw it.

Heh, men!

Commus Town, shrouded in darkness, appeared very quiet, with only the streetlights making the town seem even darker.

However, even a small sparrow has all its vital organs.

In the central area of the town, a nightclub was brightly lit.

Ning Xiuyuan stood quietly in the darkness, patiently waiting for his prey to appear.

Effort paid off.

Around eleven o'clock, several drunken middle-aged men stumbled out, arm in arm.

After walking together for a stretch, they parted ways.

Ning Xiuyuan randomly picked one to follow, simultaneously beginning to spread the Plague, attempting to infect him individually.

However, as soon as he had this thought, a strong and strange idea exploded in his mind.

"No, you can't do this. This is blasphemy. This is the work of devils, and it will never be forgiven!"

Ning Xiuyuan's face suddenly turned pale.

—It was the Prefect! The mental imprint of the Plague Disciple's previous master was preventing him from spreading the Plague.

Damn it!

Ning Xiuyuan had a premonition that if he forcibly spread it, this mental imprint would enter a state of complete frenzy.

He would have to fight it to the death.

"Hiss—" Ning Xiuyuan took a deep breath and cursed in a low voice, "Can't even rest in peace after death!"

With a thought, he directly stepped forward and knocked out the drunkard, who was already operating on pure instinct, with a chop to the head.

Then, Ning Xiuyuan dragged him into the tall grass by the roadside. A rat scurried out and urinated on his mouth.

Ning Xiuyuan could clearly feel the Plague he had spread onto the rat indirectly entering the drunkard.

This time, the Prefect's mental imprint did not interfere.

Ning Xiuyuan then tried to strengthen the reproduction rate of the Plague within the drunkard, but the Prefect's mental imprint remained as calm as ever.

"Heh, dead things are just dead things!"

Ning Xiuyuan sneered, feeling the Plague rapidly spreading throughout the drunkard's body, and carefully observed the drunkard's physical condition.

He needed to find a plague with high infectivity and low mortality among the plagues he could access.

This was the only solution he could find after careful consideration.

This was also the fundamental reason he chose to venture out in the middle of the night.

As the virus proliferated and the alcohol catalyzed, the drunkard's complexion grew worse, his breathing more rapid; he was clearly on his last legs.

Meanwhile, Ning Xiuyuan felt the air become increasingly sweet, and the Plague Disciple trait within him grew more active.

The activity here wasn't agitation.

It was a positive kind of activity.

Ning Xiuyuan could even clearly feel his power increasing, though it was minuscule, it was still an increase.

This feeling intoxicated Ning Xiuyuan.

After a while, Ning Xiuyuan sighed and made a grasping motion in the air.

Instantly, all the viruses within the drunkard died.

As the viruses died, the power that had increased within Ning Xiuyuan receded, and the air became hot and dry, making him uncomfortable.

However, Ning Xiuyuan's discomfort was manageable, but the drunkard's physical discomfort could not be sustained.

This was because the viruses had already caused severe damage to his body!

Seeing this, Ning Xiuyuan didn't panic. He reached out and lightly pointed, directly deceiving the failing organs.

Apologies, I'm stuck on writing. There's one more chapter coming, which will be very late, so don't wait up.