Undying Shell X The True Face of the Disease

In Nobu's secret chamber.

A solitary, pure white room.

Inside the room, only the patient, who had been afflicted with Undying disease, wandered aimlessly.

A hole opened up in the top of the head.

Kevin jumped down from above.

The moment the official saw Kevin, he instantly transformed into an Undying disease -like figure and charged at him. There was no malice... nor any emotion whatsoever.

However, the intent to attack was clear.

Kevin reached out and hooked his hand, using threads of his Nen Aura to bind the other person, suspending them in mid-air.

Kevin was now completely enveloped by a barrier, a barrier as sharp as diamond crystal. In addition to blocking damage, this complete enclosure also prevented the invasion of external bacteria.

Although Kevin thought that this kind of Undying disease probably wasn't even a bacterium or anything like that.

The so-called infection is probably not the kind of transmission of germs in the conventional sense.

After getting ready, he circled around and examined the virus carrier in front of him.

"No soul, no consciousness... purely reliant on the residual functions of the body."

Kevin frowned, staring intently as he tried to recall the differences between the body before him, now devoid of soul and consciousness, and the body that still possessed one.

Parasitic state and immortal state.

Something must be missing.

Logically speaking, it should mean that it lacks consciousness and a soul.

However, a crucial reason why Kevin noticed something was wrong with the other person when they got close was that he couldn't sense their emotions.

Kevin had been able to understand other people's emotions for a long time.

The sense of malice is most acute when it is present.

If Kevin were to scan with a circle from a distance, he might not be able to spot the other person's problem.

But if the other party gets close, and Kevin can observe them with the naked eye...

That uneasy feeling just started to surface.

At that moment, Qiduo, Illumi, and Koto jumped down together from the doorway above.

The medical virology trio in the team naturally needed to take samples to understand the Undying disease.

"Have you found any problems?" Koto asked.

Kevin shook his head.

"No, apart from lacking consciousness and a soul, this body is like a standing corpse."

And so, Kevin simply sat down beside them and watched the three of them work.

After looking at it for a while, I still couldn't figure it out, so I simply closed my eyes and went to sleep.

"Asleep?"

Koto stared blankly at Kevin was sitting up asleep for no apparent reason.

"He must have entered a dream, right? He mentioned before that once you reach his level of strength, you can enter a dream on your own and control your Dreamscape."

Qiduo seemed to remember something and said...

Just as Qiduo had guessed.

Kevin closed his eyes and fell asleep, hoping to drift off to sleep quickly.

Actually, you don't need to be asleep to fall asleep, but Kevin isn't very skilled at this technique, so falling asleep is a faster and more stable way to fall asleep.

A pure white space in Dreamscape.

Kevin waved his hand, and the entire pure white space began to change, replaying the scene from when Kevin first noticed something was wrong with the other person. He began to watch the process again.

In this Dreamscape, all the information from that time was presented before my eyes.

The camera froze at the moment of the other person's death.

"Strange, I didn't sense the disappearance or escape of the soul's consciousness... Was it never there in the first place?"

This touches on a topic Kevin is unfamiliar with.

Whether it is an energy life form or a life form with flesh and blood or material life.

Ultimately, the essence of its manipulation lies in possessing a conscious soul.

Of course, the consciousness and soul here are used in a broad sense, and do not necessarily have to be something similar to the human soul.

On the Dark Continent, one thing Kevin was certain of was that the differences between lives were sometimes beyond imagination.

The so-called soul is not necessarily a single thing.

But most of them are energy clusters composed of spiritual ideologies; such a thing does indeed exist.

Although their outward manifestations differ, they are essentially the same thing.

But here's the problem.

This does not exist within the parasitized life form in front of me.

"Then why commit suicide?"

Even if a being without a consciousness or soul stood right in front of Kevin would have no way to extract any useful information from it other than killing it.

So what is the meaning of this suicide? Or is it just that it happened to coincide with a virus outbreak?

While he was pondering, Kevin woke up.

Qiduo and the others outside had already collected enough sample data and left the Four-Dimensional Apartment.

"If we can't find any useful information, we might as well use a clumsy method."

Kevin muttered to himself, then waved his hand, and a huge Medicine Tripod appeared.

This is not the medicine made by Kevin, but the Medicine Tripod of the Mental Image.

It directly enveloped the opponent and instantly began refining them.

Very weak.

The small, weak individuals, once enveloped, almost instantly transform into concentrated matter.

"So fast, and there's nothing there?"

It was like training an ordinary animal; it offered absolutely no resistance.

Within the floating Medicine Tripod, a mass of matter floats.

It is a condensed form of humanity.

It resembled a mass of blood.

"Only this, nothing else... What does that mean? Does it mean there's no virus? Then how can it be immortal?"

Kevin scratched his head, completely baffled.

There has to be something working within the human body to keep it from dying, right?

How could there be nothing at all?

When Kevin's Mental Image Medicine Tripod covers the opponent, it will absolutely control the opponent completely and then refine them. It will not allow anything to escape during the refining or covering process.

That's almost impossible.

If he were strong enough, Kevin felt he could even directly overpower the Overlord.

He can control opponents of the same level who are stronger than him by relying on the Medicine Tripod.

Because this is the absolute state achieved after the sublimation of Nen ability.

An absolute mechanism.

Unless the Undying disease is something even more outrageous than the Overlord.

If that's the case, then what's the point of saying anything? We might as well just wait for humanity to die.

The moment the idea came to mind, Kevin froze, as if a ray of light had pierced his mind.

"Wait, wait, let humanity die. The Gatekeeper must know about the Undying disease, which is why he used this disaster to teach humanity a lesson." From the Gatekeeper's perspective, it doesn't matter how many humans die, even if only one in ten or even one in a hundred survives, the human race will still exist.

"Of course, modern society will definitely regress drastically, possibly all the way back to the ancient Iron Age, as long as enough people die." Even if only a few thousand people remain, the human race will still be preserved and can reproduce and develop again.

For the Gatekeeper, securing this point is enough.

This is their true responsibility.

Such an exaggerated lesson was enough to instill fear in humanity of the Dark Continent outside.

Perhaps, as time goes by, many years from now, humanity will still give birth to adventurers who will explore the outside world.

But there was a gap of a thousand years in between.

At least it will make the Gatekeeper feel that there's been some peace and quiet for a while longer.

In other words, it can be confirmed that Undying disease, something that currently seems completely incomprehensible, will not wipe out humanity. So why is that?

Why is the Gatekeeper so confident?

Furthermore, the Gatekeeper may never have been to the Dark Continent; he was created by humanity's ancestors.

The creatures created resembled Nen Beast.

Its understanding of the Dark Continent should come entirely from human ancestors; perhaps after their deaths, the knowledge and memories in their minds were transferred into the consciousness of this being.

Therefore, the ancestors of humankind must have known about the Undying disease.

Then let's put all the information we currently know together.

There's only one possibility left.

"The mechanism of genocide... so it's Undying disease?"

Kevin muttered to himself, sitting on the floor deep in thought.

Once this idea began...

It seems everything is now connected.

First, there are Machine Lifeform.

There were signs of a fight in their home, as well as fragments of weapons belonging to outsiders.

At the time, it was believed to be an invasion by outsiders.

But aren't those aimless Machine Lifeform, those self-repairing and recombining Machine Lifeform that resemble walking corpses, quite similar to these immortal bodies suffering from Undying disease?

Exactly the same.

It has no consciousness or soul, operates solely through its body, and is aggressive towards living beings.

The same can be seen from the body in front of us during the experiment just now.

It is aggressive.

However, their primary targets for aggression are their own kind.

He wanted to prove something very simple.

Kevin jumped out immediately.

They found Melusina directly.

"Take my box out for a moment."

Seeing Kevin's somewhat anxious expression, Melusina took out a small box from her spatial storage.

It contains items that are useful but not currently needed.

He took out a piece of cloth, which contained the ceramic-like fragment he had previously obtained from the Machine Lifeform's home.

Did you find anything?

Biscuit, who was talking to Melusina, asked.

I have an idea.

With that, she took the fragment and ran back. Men Qi and Melusina exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

They happened to run into Qi Ya and Gon on the road, and pulled them down together.

As soon as I jumped down, I saw Kevin standing there, completely stunned.

"What's wrong?"

Amidst Melusina's questions, Kevin slapped himself.

Am I an idiot?

The cauldron floating before them contained only a pool of blood; the corpse from before was nowhere to be seen.

Biscuit, standing to the side, finally understood.

"What are you planning to use this ceramic shard to experiment on that body? But have you forgotten that you just melted it?" At this moment, Qiduo and the other two also jumped down, because the sample they had just obtained had lost all its activity.

But they found nothing.

There is no additional, different substance present; it is simply a human sample.

Kevin shared his thoughts with everyone.

"Based on what you've said, and the information we have at the moment, it is indeed highly probable, but we can't verify it right now." Qiduo pointed to the ceramic shard in Kevin's hand.

This is the fundamental basis for verifying that battle within the home of the Machine Lifeform.

Based on the intelligence they had at the time, and by working backward from the current inferences, they can deduce the truth.

There are two possible scenarios.

Undying disease broke out in the home of Machine Lifeform, and the Machine Lifeform were turned into walking corpses.

One of those beings using these ceramic fragments came to destroy these Machine Lifeform.

But the great battle in between.

It was a battle between two Machine Lifeform.

Therefore, it is possible that two non-mechanical life forms suddenly broke into the home of Machine Lifeform.

These are two completely independent matters.

Or perhaps it was Undying disease, which hadn't yet affected Machine Lifeform at the time; it spread from both sides in the battle.

This is the least likely possibility.

We can make inferences based on some details within the Machine Lifeform's home.

It's highly likely that the Machine Lifeform contracted Undying disease, which is why they perished internally without encountering any intense battle. The entire city suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Then the battle took place.

This can be inferred from the details.

Therefore, only the first two possibilities exist.

To determine which type it is, you only need to test it with ceramic fragments.

This unique structure might have been designed to eliminate the Undying disease.

It's not about eliminating the occurrence of the disease, but rather eliminating the immortality that the disease results in.

So we need to go and catch another one?

Kiy asked from the side, clearly very interested.

"There's another way."

Kevin said, holding the shards, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

The scene was quickly recreated in the Dreamscape, and fragments appeared in Kevin's hand.

Dreamscape are free, and all prior information is certain.

The scene before me was now only occupied by the sick official.

When Kevin attached the ceramic shards to the other person's body, there was no reaction.

Subsequently, the state of the infected official in front of him switched to a state where he had entered Undying disease.

The ceramic shards reacted immediately.

The fragments cut the other person's body, but the wounds did not heal; they were not in a state of Undying disease.

The immortal body was injured.

The shards were driven into the opponent's body, instantly creating a bloody hole in their brain.

The body Undying disease collapsed to the ground, just like an ordinary corpse.

"It actually worked!"

Kevin was both surprised and delighted.

The Undying disease is the Red Line that cuts off the life of any species.

This means that the Machine Lifeform has truly crossed the Red Line of the life form cluster, and therefore encountered danger.

The faction that uses these ceramic shards should be aware of the existence of this Red Line.

They are specifically responsible for eliminating the immortal bodies left behind after these diseases have disappeared.

In other words, these immortal bodies are essentially a form of harm as well.

What was the purpose of that battle?

What changes occurred to these immortal beings during their battle with the enemy?

Yes, that's something we need to take into account.

An immortal body may not be a body that can be slaughtered at will, and it is certainly not just a physical characteristic that cannot be destroyed.

The Undying disease is actually Red Line, a real disaster that has befallen the world after it imposed certain rules on the population size of different races.

This disease will not occur when a certain ethnic group lives in a closed environment.

This disease originated from Beyond brought back from the Dark Continent.

I understand now; everything is clear.

Humanity is truly blessed.