Chapter 316: Destiny
The spread of panic, in truth, far outpaced the Spirit Devourer itself. Large numbers of ability users holding various managerial positions began their frantic escape.
After witnessing the group in the hospital—infected individuals whose bodies were eroded into unrecognizable, pitted husks by the unknown virus—all talk of power and wealth became worthless. Their own lives were paramount.
Even with repeated orders from the high-ranking officials against unauthorized abandonment of management posts, the exodus of most ability users within the government could not be stopped. Fleeing into the wilderness to lay low became the choice for many mid to low-tier cultivators.
After ten years of hunting, all mutated creatures outside the Big Four Mystical Realms had long been hunted to extinction. The wilderness was no longer a dangerous place inaccessible to humans. People, lacking much effective intelligence, faced this terrifying infectious disease, comparable to the Black Death, with their first reaction being to distance themselves from crowds.
Nearly a third of public officials abandoned their posts and fled, leading to a massive power vacuum and a temporary, small-scale social upheaval.
Under the threat of the Spirit Devourer, elite units composed entirely of cultivators were unable to muster. The upper echelons of various countries could only rely on regular armies to temporarily control the unrest.
Experts in relevant fields from various Huaxia research institutes were all urgently transferred to a single location to study the virus samples previously submitted by Zhao Lingang. A solution had to be found before the situation completely collapsed.
According to investigations targeting numerous infected individuals, the incubation period for first to third-tier cultivators was generally within fifteen days, depending on individual physique. For fourth-tier cultivators, it was estimated to be one to two months, and for fifth-tier cultivators, the incubation period was estimated to exceed half a year.
During the incubation period, patients would only feel their bodies weakening, like a perforated bucket, their internal power continuously draining.
"What are your thoughts?" Chen Bo asked, pointing at the virus report before him during Huaxia's emergency meeting.
To avoid infection, all of them attended this meeting using avatars.
"Currently, the research group only knows it's a gene-based virus, temporarily named Spirit Devourer. It synthesizes a special, powerful degrading enzyme by controlling genes, which then destroys the body."
"As for why it only affects us, they haven't found an answer either."
Upon hearing it was a gene-based virus, Cheng Mu and Liu Zhen immediately relaxed. After their bodies transformed into divine bodies, they no longer had any relation to genes, having completely become another form of existence, just like Ramdo.
"Have we still not caught that Feng Buhui?"
"According to the report from the ability users responsible for the search, they suspect there's a powerful teleportation ability user behind him, leading them in circles. Those cities haven't installed the Spirit Energy Network system yet, so there's no way to interfere with teleportation."
"It is indeed quite troublesome. Without the interference of the Spirit Energy Network, long-distance teleportation is a very vexing ability." The Spirit Energy Network system, built at immense cost, not only reduced damage to cities but could also, through powerful energy output, interfere with the use of space-movement abilities to a certain extent.
"Great Priest, what exactly is happening? Why are many of my kin suddenly experiencing body decay?" The mutated whale Great Elder, who had always been unhurried, rarely showed a hint of anxiety.
"A gene-based virus... have the land dwellers progressed this far? I, too, must accelerate my plans." Upon hearing the Great Elder's words, Seres murmured to himself at the side.
"Great Priest?!"
"Elder, please calm yourself. Give me some time; I will find a way to resolve this..."
Seres had always been the strategic core of the Sea Race, and it was precisely through its guidance that the Sea Race could develop biotechnology at an unimaginable speed.
Although still tribal in organization, the Sea Race clearly bore traces of the Zerg that Seres once belonged to. The evolutionary path taken by the Blue Whale Great Elder was precisely one specifically designed by Seres for their race, akin to the development of a biological mothership, a Leviathan.
Through its human spies on land, Seres had largely deduced the enemy's intentions: they sought to sever the Sea Race's potential for space exploration to secure ultimate victory.
However, Seres, possessing vast experience in space, directly within the oceans, step-by-step nurtured colossal biological starships capable of traversing space with their physical bodies, awaiting the opportune moment to ascend from the ocean, launch an overwhelming counterattack in space, and, combined with a ground invasion tide, catch humanity completely off guard.
Under its leadership, the so-called Sea Race would soon transform into a super-species capable of operating across sea, land, and air, just like the Zerg.
Over these past ten years, through continuous interaction, Seres had gradually transformed this race, which it had guided from an ignorant, primitive era, from merely a convenient tool into a true home. It belonged with this civilization, not as an insignificant cog in that cold Zerg hive.
Within the Zerg it originally belonged to, it was merely a killing machine, its sole purpose to obey orders and command its subordinates to complete combat missions at any cost.
Seres could no longer recall when its self-awareness awakened. It seemed to have been a result of something entering its body at the very moment the spatial rift opened during that great war, years ago.
This was also one of the reasons it had slumbered for so many years; by the time it awoke, this originally spiritless world had already entered the Spirit Qi era.
The Sea Race's current values and worldview were almost entirely derived from Seres's indoctrination. Instinctively, it found interacting with a group whose three core views were so similar to be quite comfortable. Even so, it couldn't quite grasp why it, a Zerg born for battle, would possess a concept like pleasure.
By analyzing the legacy inscribed within its body, Seres gradually applied the Zerg's extraordinarily advanced biotechnology to the Sea Race, making their combat capabilities and adaptability even stronger, in preparation for their future counterattack against humanity and their own space age.
Moreover, even in the event of ultimate defeat, a few "Leviathans," meticulously designed and modified by Seres, could carry it and the Sea Race's last embers away from this planet.
At this moment, in the experimental grounds outside Tianqing City, Bai Mo was researching methods to suppress this gene-based virus, known as the Spirit Devourer.
Many years ago, he had already overcome the Reincarnation Tribulation and condensed his Primordial Spirit. Simultaneously, he no longer had the concept of genes, so this virus posed absolutely no danger to him, allowing him to research it boldly and without worry.
Bai Mo even wondered if, should a cure ultimately remain elusive, this virus would force Chen Bo to follow the same path as himself, abandoning genes.
And just as he was concentrating on his experiment, a voice devoid of a single trace of emotion resounded, without any warning.
"Hello, my Destiny's Protagonist."
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