Enforcer Manual
Chapter 764 - 762: Spread_1

Chapter 764: Chapter 762: Spread_1

Before this, the "Emperor" had never seen this kind of virus.

The infected hearts mutated, eventually being replaced by machinery and gears—an impossibility from a biological standpoint for someone who believed in modern science.

This made him even more curious about what kind of future Diago had seen that would lead him to kill Father Godel in such a way.

He took Diago away from the central square of Silvermoon Harbor, back to the ruins of the Lunar Eclipse Church, which had now become home for the orphans.

It was only after they arrived "home" that he began to ask, "What exactly did you see?"

"Father Godel infected everyone, turning them all into monsters."

"Monsters?"

"Robots... They looked just like you."

This answer plunged the "Emperor" into silence.

Firstly, he felt it necessary to clarify that he had not been infected by the virus, but had voluntarily undergone prosthesis modification, which was to fight against dangerous enemies like those referred to as "Dominate."

The weakness of Psychic Users lay in their frail flesh; prosthesis modification was a means for them to quickly rid themselves of these weaknesses.

The researchers of Psychic Abilities clearly realized this as well, which is why they came up with the concept of armament—a synthesis of prosthesis and Psychic Abilities.

However, he was still unable to fully comprehend the future that Diago had foreseen.

"You mean to say, Father Godel forced the others at the port to undergo prosthesis modification?"

"Prosthesis?"

Diago looked somewhat puzzled.

The "Emperor", realizing that the concept of prosthesis wasn’t widely known "outside", explained, "It means to surgically turn part of a body into machinery."

"No."

Diago shook his head, "Those who were infected would eventually become like that."

He did not regret it. If he were to do it over, he would still unhesitatingly attack Father Godel and nip the epidemic in the bud.

The messenger of the "Father God" had said that taking their hearts was the only way to kill them.

Otherwise, other mortal wounds would only speed up the mutation of their bodies.

Although the townsfolk wanted to capture him for the reward, Diago still loved this port city, which held many fond memories, and he absolutely did not want it to be replaced by cold machines.

The "Emperor" fell into silence once again.

He began using his operating system’s built-in engine to search for keywords like "mechanical virus," based on Diago’s description, but ultimately found nothing.

Up to this point, neither the United Government nor the "outside" had ever encountered a virus capable of transforming human flesh into machinery. The only remotely similar virus was known as the "flesh plague," which coincidentally also occurred within the borders of the Third Neutral Country. Those infected with the flesh plague eventually lost their sanity, turning into instinct-driven beasts, behaving much like the zombies depicted in films.

The external department of the United Government discovered that the "flesh plague" could infect not only humans but if exposed to the plague for an extended period, even machinery and artificial intelligence could be affected by the plague and mutate.

And yet, the "mechanical plague" described by Diago was the complete opposite.

If he hadn’t seen Father Godel’s heart grow gears with his own eyes, he would probably dismiss it as Diago’s nonsense.

A zealot’s mind is often in a state of considerable instability.

At this moment, Diago became his only avenue to understand this plague.

"How can we identify those who have been infected with this... mechanical plague?"

"I don’t know."

Diago shook his head blankly, "The ’Father God’s’ messenger told me that Father Godel had been infected, so I eliminated him."

As for when and how Father Godel became infected, he also had no clue.

The "Emperor" knew that the messenger of "Father God" most likely referred to the "Whisper" appearing in the Spirit Troupe; during the last encounter, it had requested him to head to Misty Archipelago, a place where, with the arrival of high-level councilors, significant events that might impact the future of the United Government and the entire world were unfolding.

But now his plan was disrupted.

The one who could have taken him to Misty Archipelago, Father Godel, was dead.

The Tidal Church in Silvermoon Harbor fell into chaos after losing their cornerstone, some succumbing to fear, while others were proclaiming to torture the murderer to death.

He had no choice but to find another way to cross the unknown waters.

Fighting a creature of that size at sea was clearly irrational; his abilities would be suppressed—in a full activation of power, his boat would sink before anything else.

His instincts told him that there must be even more terrifying creatures lurking beneath those waters.

..................

When Song Lan awoke from his sleep, it was already midday outside.

Despite having slept in, he felt not the slightest bit relaxed; instead, his mood grew even heavier.

In Silvermoon Harbor, a new mechanical plague had emerged, one he had never heard of, and until the end, he had not figured out how to distinguish the infected.

The scenes Diago saw in his dream were extremely vague; he only saw that everyone in the harbor had turned into fleshless machines, but he couldn’t describe what changes their temperaments underwent after becoming machines.

After talking with Lu Xiang, he heard even worse news.

Similar cases had occurred in District Seventeen.

The victims were three homeless wanderers, and their hearts had been hollowed out too.

This indicated that the mechanical plague had infiltrated District Seventeen.

"Are you saying that after they got infected, their hearts turned into gears, and the one who killed them was actually trying to prevent the spread of the plague?"

On the other end of the phone, Lu Xiang summarized Song Lan’s narration.

Captain Doug was highly concerned about this sudden violent case, and now the special operations team was holding an emergency meeting next door.

However, having not gone to the scene and just oversleeping at home, Song Lan surprisingly took a step ahead of them, finding new clues.

This made Lu Xiang recall Song Lan’s absurd theory—that with good luck, everyone could be a great detective.

Dumb Bird seemed to be proving his theory correct with actual actions.

This might be called the "Dream-solving Method."

Song Lan asked, "Where was the last place those three men went to?"

"A bar, they hung out there every day."

Although he had a premonition, Lu Xiang still confirmed the result, "They might have already infected other people in the bar, or the person who infected them is still there, continuing to spread the virus."