Chapter 129 Ill-substance

 【Wendell Town】is only a three-hour drive from Zion.

After getting part of the information from the housekeeper, Yi Chen originally planned to wait until Edmund came back. Now that his arm had recovered, the only problem was to pay back the money.

This kind of event task determined by the organization should not be a big problem.

However,

When Jin heard that the incident was suspected to be related to modern artifacts such as firearms, he smelled the danger and interest in it, and actively requested to go as a supporter of "Gethsemane".

 Since I have been saying “definitely next time” these days, I responded considering that the place where the incident happened is not too far away.

 The two of them rented a fast carriage and rushed to their destination quickly.

When he came to the inside of the town and saw patients whose bodies had mutated into gun-body structures, Jin's excitement level was maximized.

 Using the clothing to conceal his aura, he quietly approached the weapons factory in the night.

 Then extending through the plants, carrying the little grapes to observe each room, and soon found the location of Edmund and the two.

 …

  【Staff Breakroom-03】

The iron door was sealed, and there was no sound from outside for the time being.

Dagbert can already move around normally and is currently trying to move his arms to swing his sword.

 Currently,

Jin leaned against the door very leisurely, rubbing some meat cubes from unknown sources in her hands and feeding them to the little pendant on her shoulder.

Yi Chen is helping Edmund repair the injuries on his waist and abdomen. A large amount of new flesh has grown out and suppressed the pain.

“Edmund, what kind of sick person is hiding in this factory that can actually hurt you like this? But it’s strange that there is no movement to pursue or search for you.”

“It has been determined that it is a very special and rare severe disease, or it is called [ill-substance].”

"What!?"

Yichen's eyes widened when he heard this word, and even Jin at the door stopped feeding.

 Ill-substance, a word Yi Chen had learned about in books, literally means sick substance, and generally refers to unconscious substances that are infected by illness.

 The unconscious matter here needs to be divided into two categories.

  1. Unconscious organic matter such as plants, fungi, etc.

   2. Inorganic substances such as stones, steel, water, etc.

According to a large number of surveys, it has been proven that the closer a person is to humans, the greater the chance of being infected and affected by disease, and vice versa.

 Hence, especially inorganic substances, the probability of being affected by pathogenic changes is very small, and even if they are invaded by pathogenic factors, they often will not change much.

 However, in some extreme, special or accidental circumstances, inorganic substances may have a small probability of becoming comprehensively diseased.

 When it passes the infection period, it will become an existence equivalent to a sick person. This is a "disease object".

 Different from patients, since inorganic objects themselves do not have consciousness, consciousness is born for the first time when they become [sick objects], and they begin to understand and adapt to the current world.

 Hence, the nature of [diseases] themselves determines whether they are dangerous and harmful to the world.

For example, a diseased object transformed from a stone may always be in a neutral state. You walk by it or even sit on its head, and it does not react at all.

Unless you take out a miner's **** and dig into its flesh, it will cause emotional fluctuations and attack you out of a dangerous instinct.

However,

Modern industrial products like firearms, which are themselves defined as war and killing, once turned into diseases, the consciousness that is born is also related to war and killing.

They will kill other living things indiscriminately, whether they are sick or not, and gain satisfaction from killing, gain knowledge of the world, and gain self-improvement.

 Another point needs to be emphasized:

There is an essential difference between [abnormal illness] and [disease].

 The former needs to be fully formed in a severely gray environment or gray area where there have been human activities, corpse remains, or even the subjective creation of open source patients.

Although their bodies contain inorganic matter, they have a human body shape, have more human body proportions, and have sound human consciousness and thinking patterns.

For example, the doctors and nurses in the twilight clinic were mostly designed by [Yuehen] himself, and formed together with the bathing of moonlight and the effect of ashes.

 Hence he is classified in the category of sick people.

As for the disease substances, both in terms of difficulty of formation and material content, they are of a higher level. They can be said to be 'purely natural' disease products, which are extremely rare and difficult to deal with.

 And their value is far higher than that of the sick. Gentlemen even call them "dangerous treasures".

 …

“A diseased object with [gun] as its essence was actually born here, and the disease has reached a serious level~ Fortunately, I listened to Jin’s persuasion and came to support you, otherwise it would be really dangerous.

　What is the opponent's form, attack mode and infection method? Has the investigation been completed? "

Edmund lit a cigarette and said helplessly:

"So far, we and another team have still not been able to confirm the "true form" of the disease. We only know that it is hidden in the factory. It can quickly transfer to any ordinary firearm and shoot "bullets" at us.

 Including the pistol I carried with me, I had to throw it away. "

 The classic gun that should have been mounted on Edmund's waist has long since disappeared.

“The main body can be transferred to any firearm at will... This is too restraining for you, no wonder it puts your two teams into danger.

By the way, is there anything we need to pay attention to with the bullets fired from it? "

“Extremely accurate and changes trajectory mid-flight.

The bullets that Dagbert could originally block with his giant sword were able to change their trajectories the moment before they touched the giant sword, bypassing the giant sword in an arc and hitting the flesh.

 As long as you are within its range, it is almost impossible to dodge.

Once it hits, the bullet will definitely embed into the body and quickly absorb iron from the blood, causing the individual to die from lack of oxygen.

 When an individual dies, the bullet will turn into a "pathogen" to enslave the corpse and become an infected person. The corpse will actively eat metal to increase the body's iron content and form a barrel structure.

As you saw on the way here, they are all living corpses of residents who were transformed by bullets.

This thing inherits the murderous nature of firearms and can be enhanced by killing human bodies again and again... If it is allowed to leave here, a small town or even a city will be massacred soon.

 It itself can also be realized [open source] with the essence of firearms. "

“Hmm...self-aiming, body transfer and bullet infection~ And being in such a firearms factory with complete geographical advantages is really troublesome.

 Jin, any ideas? "

“I’m not very good at dealing with ‘non-flesh and flesh’ things, but for this kind of disease that comes with its own gunpowder, maybe my red lotus can also be effective.

 Hold me a moment, I’ll go out and try how accurate the so-called [self-aiming] is. "

Jin directly tore off the sealing talisman on the iron door and walked out of the room in a big way.

 “Hey! It’s very dangerous...”

Edmund wanted to stop him, but was interrupted by Yi Chen.

 “It’s okay, let her go.”

About ten seconds passed, and three consecutive gunshots rang out outside, accompanied by a burst of chicken crows.

Jin quickly returned to the room,

Xiao Pei, who was standing on her shoulder, was in a state of frightened hair.

“Phew! It was indeed dangerous. One of the bullets almost grazed my trouser leg and I was almost hit... I tried to catch the bullet but failed.

Like this guy said, firearms from different positions will shoot at me.

 But they are not shot at the same time, but with a certain time interval~otherwise I really can't dodge.

William, I can’t solve this incident alone. Can we do it together? It would be much easier for me if I had someone to help draw the fire. "

"Oh, I see."

 After a conversation,

Edmund and Dagbert looked at the gentleman wearing a colorful mask with incredulous eyes. They probably remembered that he was an examiner from the same batch as them, but they had not seen him since.

 “William, who is this...”

“Jin Almeida, my teammate from the last mission, is from Gethsemane~ Also, I have already thought of a way to break the situation.”

 (End of this chapter)