The rain poured down in torrents.
It was the day after the establishment of the Church of the Earth Mother.
Early in the morning, the sky over Ningcheng turned pitch-black. The rain fell in a dense sheet, reducing visibility to a mere seven or eight meters.
Thud, thud, thud!
A young man in white clothes stumbled down the street toward the hospital. His face was deathly pale, and he was trembling violently, in extreme agony.
“What's happening? My body hurts so much... It hurts so much.” The young man in white tried to pull out his phone to call for an ambulance.
Clack!
But the moment he pulled it out, his hand lost all strength, and the phone dropped into a puddle.
“My hand... Why can't I control my hand?” He stared at his hand, terror written all over his face.
He had only had a mild fever for a few days. How could it have escalated to this?
Plop!
Suddenly, a splash of red appeared before his eyes, and the world around him turned crimson. He tried to reach up and wipe his eyes, but his hands were completely powerless.
Thud!
The young man's legs suddenly gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. Through the reflection in the puddle...
...he saw blood seeping from his eyes. He tried to open his mouth to call for help, but his tongue had gone completely numb, producing only a muffled, “Ugh... ugh...”
Splat!
The next second, the young man lost all control over his muscles, and his body slumped forward into the water.
The shallow water, only a few centimeters deep, submerged his nose and mouth, drowning him in his helpless state.
On this day, identical symptoms began appearing all over Ningcheng.
People would suddenly feel excruciating pain throughout their bodies, followed by a complete loss of muscle control, before finally dying of suffocation or internal bleeding.
Wee-woo, wee-woo!
Amidst the heavy downpour, the wails of ambulance sirens never stopped as patients were rushed to the hospitals one after another.
In the VIP ward on the top floor of the hospital, Zhang Yi listened to the sirens below. He turned to look at Peng Fei, who was standing by the window. “What's going on? Has he made another move?”
Peng Fei turned back, looking utterly confused. “No, the Inspector Bureau hasn't received any reports. I'll call the hospital director over to ask.”
He pulled out his phone and immediately called the hospital director. After a few rings, the call connected. “Come to Group Leader Zhang's ward.”
With that, he hung up and looked back at Zhang Yi. “By the way, you told us before to keep an eye out for anything unusual. I actually did notice something strange recently.”
After Zhang Yi's appointment, he had discussed the situation in Ningcheng with the three of them.
The most important task was to look out for anomalies to prevent monsters born from stories—like the Butcher—from appearing.
Peng Fei's words caught Zhang Yi's attention. “Tell me.”
“A new church recently appeared in the suburbs. They've been expanding too quickly, and their name is identical to the church in the biography of the Earth Mother, so I've been keeping an eye on them,” Peng Fei explained.
Hearing this, Zhang Yi immediately took out his phone to search for the Church of the Earth Mother. After reading for a moment, his face darkened.
Just as he was about to speak, rapid footsteps echoed from outside.
Knock, knock, knock!
The ward door was knocked, and then it opened to reveal a balding man in his fifties wearing a white lab coat.
He looked at Zhang Yi and Peng Fei with a respectful expression. “Group Leader Zhang, Deputy Chief Peng, you called for me?”
The situation in Ningcheng was highly unusual, and Peng Fei had been exceptionally promoted to Deputy Chief two days ago.
“What's going on with all the ambulances outside?” Zhang Yi asked, suppressing the questions in his mind for now.
Facing the inquiry, Cao Liang's expression turned grave. “An infectious disease has suddenly broken out across the city. Those infected experience excruciating pain throughout their bodies and die within an hour.”
“So far, our hospital has received no fewer than two hundred emergency calls, and I heard the other four hospitals in Ningcheng are facing a similar situation.”
“That serious?!” Peng Fei couldn't help but gasp at Cao Liang's words.
Zhang Yi's expression shifted slightly. “Die within an hour? Is there really no way to save even one? Since it's an infectious disease, have you identified what type it is?”
He immediately realized the severity of the situation. Just this single hospital had received over two hundred calls.
The other hospitals combined must have at least a thousand. When factoring in those who died without even calling for help, the death toll was likely staggering.
Coupled with the newly emerged Church of the Earth Mother, Zhang Yi was certain there was some connection between the two.
“I understand. You may go,” Zhang Yi said to Cao Liang.
The doctor nodded immediately and hurried out.
Once Cao Liang left, Zhang Yi immediately turned to Peng Fei. “Contact Wang Pingcheng and Zhuge Ming. I want to hold a video conference with them right away.”
While the various hospitals were swamped with patients, inside Zhao Jin's villa...
...a cup of hot tea sat before him. Beside the tea lay two black sheep hooves and a small pile of ashes from a dead tree.
These were the fusion materials he had prepared. With the Ghost Shark as a precedent, he wanted to experiment with creating more monsters.
Staring at the materials before him, Zhao Jin sank his consciousness into his mind.
Destiny Force: 2,372 strands!
“Though the Miasma didn't grant me Destiny Force immediately, its lingering effects are quite potent. It's almost on par with the Butcher.” Looking at his accumulated Destiny Force, Zhao Jin took a sip of his hot tea.
Everything was currently proceeding according to his plan.
Holding his teacup, Zhao Jin stood up and walked to the window to gaze at the heavy rain. “So many factions have gathered in this tiny Ningcheng. Things are about to get turbulent.”
In his perception, many outsiders had entered Ningcheng, and their numbers were far from small.
Finishing his tea, Zhao Jin's figure vanished on the spot, along with the black sheep hooves and the dead tree ashes.
When he reappeared, he was standing on a street.
The rain poured down.
Rain pelted Zhao Jin's body. Before him, the young man in white lay on the ground, the rainwater submerging his nose and mouth.
He had been killed by the plague of the Miasma, and there was no longer any Destiny Force on his corpse.
Slash!
Zhao Jin extended his left hand. A translucent Slash sliced through the young man's ankles, causing blood to flow.
He placed the two sheep hooves against the severed ankles and smeared the dead tree ashes over the wounds. Upon coming into contact with the rain and blood, the ashes turned thick and viscous.
Destiny Force manifested in Zhao Jin's hand as he murmured expressionlessly, “Instead of being disposed of like trash, you might as well use your body to leave one last trace in this world.”
As ten strands of Destiny Force entered the young man's body, blood seeped from his severed legs, fusing them with the sheep hooves.
Thud! Thud!
His body suddenly began to twitch, splashing the puddles. The fused hooves grew larger, and black wool began to sprout across the young man's skin.
Rip!
His frame shot up, expanding from one point seven meters to two point three meters. His clothes tore apart as his muscles swelled.
Pop!
Two bulges rapidly formed on his forehead before bursting open, allowing a pair of black horns to sprout.
Swoosh!
The twitching body suddenly went still, and then the monster quickly stood upright.
Seeing this, Zhao Jin's figure faded away, reappearing on the roof of a nearby six-story building.
“Baaah!!!” A shrill, agonizing bleat escaped its mouth.
Its eyes had turned blood-red from the plague, and a foul, stinking liquid dripped from the corners of its mouth.
Thud, thud, thud!
The hooves splashed through the puddles as it disappeared into the streets.
Information flashed in Zhao Jin's mind.
Fulai Sheep
Status: Consciousness deceased. An entity born from the fusion of a black sheep's body and dead tree ashes. Requires fear to survive!
Race: To be named!
“Race: Lost Sheep!”
Unlocked: Lost Sheep Race!
Lost Sheep Race: Mutated from creatures infected with the plague, fused with sheep and ashes!
Looking at the information on the panel, the corners of Zhao Jin's mouth curled upward. “This fusion process feels like opening a mystery box. It really is full of pleasant surprises.”
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