Students

Sickness Qi hung thick in the air.

Sunlight could not pierce the dense fog.

White fuzz spread across every street in the town.

Occasionally, strange roars rang out before silence returned.

It was even closer to complete deadness.

Two figures darted through the streets.

"Damn it!"

"Why... have we fallen so low?"

The male student wore a special white uniform, a strange mask over his face and an oddly shaped scalpel at his waist.

His body was covered in strange mucus.

More critically, his right hand had been completely severed.

"We're seeds of the [Plague Exterminators]."

"We absolutely can't die here."

The woman's voice rang out, sounding utterly exhausted. "Yu Jinhai, the problem now is that the nearest route to Blue Stone Town Central Hospital has been blocked by a [Throat Beast]."

"A Throat Beast's fevered epidermis can only be breached by an Intern Plague Exterminator."

"When all's said and done, we're only apprentices..."

Yu Jinhai's expression changed. "Then what do we do? Stay here forever?"

"Eventually become [Disease Seeds] and remain Fallen for all eternity?"

"Lin Rui, there's something else you'd better understand clearly."

"It doesn't matter if we die here, but if [Chen Yao] dies here, both we and our families are finished."

At the mention of that name, Lin Rui's heart jolted.

That twisted little girl had joined them solely to pad her credentials.

"At least the captain is with her right now."

Lin Rui spoke softly.

Before the Pestilence struck, as a third-year student at the First Medical Academy of Pingchang Circuit, she had thought this would be a simple internship.

They belonged to the school's internal plague extermination team, the prototype for future participation in various plague extermination competitions and even the Six Nations event, the [Plague Extermination Draft].

Before they set out, however—

A school director had shoved a girl into their team.

That violently tempered girl.

"I know you don't like her."

"But..."

Yu Jinhai composed himself. "Her brother is one of the [Seven Xuanyuan Stars]."

At the mention of that name, Lin Rui's body trembled.

That man's brutality was notorious throughout all of Pingchang.

If his younger sister came to harm, then...

Along the road—

White fuzz bloomed in the corners.

The mucus on the ground grew thicker with time.

In some of the narrower alleys, it had even crystallized.

It looked utterly disgusting.

The deeper they went, the more inexplicably uneasy Zhou Zhi became.

Blue Stone Town Central Hospital stood within the Pestilence Zone, where Sickness Qi had gathered most densely.

Zhou Zhi's expression remained unchanged as he walked at the front of the group.

"Xia Yu, are you from Blue Stone Town?"

"A student?"

As the only girl currently in the group, Zhou Zhi paid her extra attention.

Not because of Xia Yu's beauty.

It was because Xia Yu seemed to know certain things about the Pestilence in this world.

She had even identified the source of the [Taisui] Liang Xiao had possessed earlier as knowledge originating from another country.

"Yes."

Xia Yu gave a faint smile. "I might look young, but I'm very serious about it."

"I'm working hard so that I can become a [Plague Exterminator] someday."

Yet when she saw their current surroundings, Xia Yu grew troubled again.

"I told you, I've lost some of my memories."

Xia Yu's reflection appeared in Zhou Zhi's eyes, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Can you tell me some things about Plague Exterminators and the Pestilence?"

Xia Yu looked at Zhou Zhi with her beautiful eyes.

Xuanyuan's education system was divided into two types.

At least, throughout all of Pingchang Circuit, there were only two types.

As for the rest of the Sixteen Xuanyuan Circuits, Xia Yu had never been there and did not know what they were like. At most, she could see them on television.

And not every household in Blue Stone Town even owned a television.

Zhou Zhi remembered that Uncle Liang's home had one, but within the Pestilence Zone, its signal had been completely cut off. It was nothing but an empty shell.

Ordinary education and plague extermination education.

At school, teachers taught foundational knowledge such as plague extermination. This was universal education.

Then came the sorting.

The vast majority entered society to work. A small number of suitable people—those who had mastered [spiritual power]—could proceed to the next stage of education.

That was plague extermination education.

Through the annual [Medical Examination], one could enter one of Xuanyuan's major Medical Academies to study how to wield spiritual power and develop all kinds of Plague Extermination Arts.

"So, after passing the Medical Examination, you can be called a Plague Exterminator?"

Zhou Zhi asked.

Beside him, Xiao Nan, Lei Heng, and the others also pricked up their ears.

"No."

Xia Yu waved her hand. "That's not how it works."

"Passing the Medical Examination only means you're qualified to become a Plague Exterminator. Of course, that's only what I've heard."

"Once you become a student at a Medical Academy, you gain the status of a [Medical Student]."

"Although you still can't be called a Plague Exterminator, you at least receive a special title. You are called..."

"[Apprentice Plague Exterminators]."

"They struggle to deal with individual Pathogens and cannot stop or reverse the diseased transformations of patients, but they are indeed seeds of Plague Exterminators."

Xia Yu lowered her head. "Still, even so, Plague Exterminators like Mr. Zhou Zhi, who can wield spiritual power, are extremely rare."

"Out of the several hundred people in a single grade in all of Blue Stone Town, I'm afraid only a handful can master spiritual power and receive the next stage of plague extermination education."

Zhou Zhi nodded slightly.

Spiritual power was the dividing line between those who could become Plague Exterminators and those who could not.

And then...

"So I'm not a real Plague Exterminator. At most, I can only be considered... an Apprentice Plague Exterminator."

Something stirred in Zhou Zhi's eyes.

"Xia Yu, what about real Plague Exterminators?"

Xia Yu shook her head. "I don't know either."

"I only know that you have to pass the [Grand Selection] and obtain a professional license before you can conduct plague extermination work as an [Intern Plague Exterminator]. But something like that is far too distant from us."

"And the Plague Exterminator at Blue Stone Town Central Hospital is an Intern Plague Exterminator who passed the Grand Selection—a real Plague Exterminator."

Xia Yu became a little excited as she spoke, but then looked somewhat embarrassed when she saw Zhou Zhi.

Zhou Zhi inconspicuously shifted his gaze away.

Though this was supposed to be an introduction to the world.

Zhou Zhi still felt that something was off.

Xia Yu herself...

Stepping over the white fuzz on the ground—

Zhou Zhi was still thinking.

Crack.

Ahead of them—

A strange sound came from the distance.

There were roars that did not sound entirely human.

And bizarre coughing.

Whoosh!

A blade sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.

The sound of collapse came from inside the wall.

A long scalpel dragged across the ground.

"Mucus Men... no."

"Are there still humans in this town?"

A man's voice rang out.

As if it were only natural.

"Perfect."

"You, lead the way."

"We're going to Central Hospital."