Evolution

At least.

Zhou Zhi had never seen anything like it in any of his lives.

One second, she was smiling and saying something. The next, she was peeling your skin off.

Literally peeling your skin off.

The pain in that instant was more than Zhou Zhi could bear.

The agony was so intense that words could hardly describe it.

But the next moment, his body was wrapped in a strange mass of flesh.

The sensation was indescribably sticky and disgusting.

Zhou Zhi knew very well that Chen Chaosheng's Skin had been put on his body.

"Skin grafting... Mm, not bad."

Xia Yu gently toyed with her scalpel, as if she were sculpting a fine work of art.

"Add some fat... then repair it properly, and stitch it up slowly."

Xia Yu smiled, but coldness lay deep in her eyes.

It was absolute indifference.

Under normal circumstances, the man before her would become pathogenized from the severe rejection, or perhaps burst apart under the lingering power of Chen Chaosheng.

But if it worked...

Perhaps something even more interesting would happen.

It really was painful.

Xia Yu, it turned out, hadn't lied to him.

Still, pain of this degree was something he could endure.

Having arrived in this strange Pestilence World, Zhou Zhi didn't have any special ambitions. He just wanted to survive.

That was all.

"Tsk."

Zhou Zhi clutched his head and made a sound.

His voice was low, unlike before.

And yet so familiar.

That was...

Chen Chaosheng's voice.

Zhou Zhi's expression shifted slightly.

He held out both hands and looked at his brand-new body.

There wasn't a single sign of stitching, as if the skinning he'd just endured had been nothing but an illusion.

"This is..."

He had become Chen Chaosheng.

The voice, appearance, and bearing were exactly the same!!

Xia Yu's eyes widened.

Then she burst out laughing, utterly delighted.

"It really worked. It really did!"

"I can't believe it actually succeeded!"

Zhou Zhi reined in his emotions.

He truly hadn't expected a surgery of this caliber to exist in this Pestilence World.

It was practically...

the level of bringing a corpse back to life.

"All right. This has already exceeded my expectations."

Xia Yu spoke softly.

"Next, take your clothes off."

"Enjoy your reward."

Zhou Zhi understood in an instant what Xia Yu meant by taking his clothes off.

She made peeling someone's skin sound so casual. It was a truly terrifying thing.

A tearing pain that reached the depths of his soul.

"To pursue what you desire, enduring pain is only natural."

Xia Yu spoke gently, her eyes alluring.

The [Snake and Scorpion] in her hand danced like a graceful dancer.

As skin and fat slowly melded with his body, Zhou Zhi felt a familiar sensation—so familiar that it seemed deeply abnormal.

And his muscles, too, seemed to be mutating.

Information flowed through him.

[Zhou Zhi]

[Physical functions slightly increased].

[Physical appearance slightly improved].

[Maximum spiritual power slightly increased].

[A tiny bit of fragmentary knowledge of Plague Extermination Art (plastic surgery)].

[Compared with the human appearance, some believe that the filthy heart within is more in need of cosmetic surgery].

Ha... ha...

Zhou Zhi fell to his knees. His skin fit him perfectly.

"What exquisite surgery."

Xia Yu said softly, "But it's already getting late. The [Changdu] Epidemic War Corps should have received the news by now. They're not stragglers from the surrounding towns, but true elite forces."

The woman spoke gently. "You can keep the [Human Skin] and Chen Chaosheng's [Black Kite]."

"Just remember... this Human Skin can only be used a limited number of times."

Xia Yu blinked.

Zhou Zhi's expression shifted.

"Well then... goodbye..."

Xia Yu waved. "We'll probably meet again."

She scattered through the world like sand.

Xia Yu's body seemed to dance away like dust.

At the same time, Chen Chaosheng's corpse began to disappear, along with the woman.

In the end,

the entire world was utterly silent.

Zhou Zhi lifted his head and looked at the moonlight above.

At that moment, an inexplicable force surged through his body, as if everything about him had been remade.

It was hard to imagine this strange journey.

[One hour and twelve minutes remain until vital signs disappear completely].

[Pathogenization Index: 50.62% (continuously decreasing)].

[Source of pathogenization: Influenza].

Zhou Zhi came to his senses at once.

"There's still a lot to do."

Zhou Zhi touched the area around his chest.

Then he slowly walked forward.

Toward [Qiu Ti]'s corpse.

Zhou Zhi's life was now in danger because of his Inferior Lung.

And now...

there was a good enough lung.

Zhou Zhi gripped the pitch-black Plague-Slaying Blade in his right hand.

It was Chen Chaosheng's [Black Kite].

It was heavier than the Plague-Slaying Blades he'd used before.

And that was after Xia Yu had improved his body, making him stronger.

Qiu Ti's body hadn't been damaged when he died.

The mustached man seemed to have had a lot to say before he died, but he'd stared wide-eyed and, in the end, said nothing.

He raised the scalpel.

[Surgery Start].

Zhou Zhi's gaze was solemn.

The blade cut through the corpse's still-warm skin.

A faint sound came from it.

[High-temperature sterilization].

As the surgery continued, the temperature rose.

The blade moved through the body.

At last, the internal organs lay exposed.

The two lungs that had held Qiu Ti's boundless ambition.

[Strange lungs].

"[Excellent Howling Lung]."

"[Great Sneeze—a special organ born from Qiu Ti's Plague Disaster Ritual, containing the power of an upper-tier disease (Pneumonia)]."

"[As a bodily organ, its overall quality is beyond question]."

"[Tell me, which is more important, the left lung or the right?]"

"[Can be removed with a scalpel]."

His expression didn't change.

Zhou Zhi's hands didn't hesitate for a moment.

After experiencing the feeling of having his skin peeled away, he barely reacted to pain of this kind.

A strange world.

Zhou Zhi performed the surgery.

The new lung was twisted, and within it dwelled a strange power, surging with powerful vitality.

A strange force.

His heart beat as he felt the warmth brought by the new organ.

"How interesting."

Zhou Zhi set down the scalpel.

He slowly stitched the wound closed.

Everything was so strange.

Yes.

Just as Xia Yu had said.

All of this was truly fascinating.

[Vital signs are stable].

[Pathogenization Index: 12.2% (continuously decreasing)].

[Source of pathogenization: Pneumonia].

Zhou Zhi let out a long breath.

At last, the long-standing sense of urgency faded.

But even now, he couldn't let his guard down.

Zhou Zhi swept his gaze around.

Corpses lay tangled together, mucus flowed everywhere.

There were still plenty of things here he could use.

Before the Changdu Epidemic War Corps arrived,

he needed to at least prepare for what came next.