After a pleasant meal, he waved goodbye to Zhong Mo, and they agreed to meet again soon.
Yue Shi walked slowly through the streets, enjoying the autumn breeze as he strolled back to Happiness Apartments.
He pulled out his keys, pushed open the door to his home, and collapsed onto the bed, quietly staring at the ceiling, which was stained with faint patches of mildew.
The sounds of stray cats drifted in from outside, and vehicles sped down distant streets. The various noises did not disrupt the room's silence; instead, they highlighted a certain deathly stillness that felt isolated from the rest of the world.
Yue Shi closed his eyes.
Everything around him seemed to freeze. In an instant, his consciousness detached from reality and sank into the mysterious space.
The towering black stone tablet stood as if eternal, permanently rooted in place. Countless tentacle reliefs on its surface guarded the full moon at the very top.
On the only animated tentacle, four fully open golden eyes shone brightly. Yue Shi's gaze met the fourth eye, and as lines of small text appeared out of thin air, he reviewed the new ability he had acquired—
【Plague Doctor】
【A miracle worker】
【And a quack】
【Restoring life with a touch, shifting sickness and disease】
【“Your illness wasn't cured; it just moved to someone else.”】
Clearly, this was a healing-type ability, but... not “healing” in the conventional sense.
Currently, Yue Shi possessed four abilities: 【Raven's Secret Whispers】, 【Decaying Talons】, 【Shadow Soldiers】, and 【Plague Doctor】. Three of them leaned toward the support category. His only offensive ability, while powerful, was severely limited by range.
However, as long as this mysterious stone tablet remained, he would acquire even more abilities in the future. His potential went far beyond this.
The tentacles extending from the stone tablet could extract a certain “breath” from the corpses of supernatural creatures. Originally, he hadn't known what it was, but after hearing Zhong Mo’s description of the source, Yue Shi felt that this breath was likely the so-called “source.”
Plundering and devouring the source for one's own growth. If this guess was true...
It must never be detected by anyone!
Every time the tentacles “fed,” they were in an unobservable state that only Yue Shi could see. However, he couldn't rule out the possibility that someone with special abilities might perceive something unusual.
There was another significant hidden danger—the corpses of the supernatural creatures.
The sources of the supernatural creatures Yue Shi had killed had all vanished. Their bodies had been taken by Tulip Security Company, and there was no telling where they ultimately ended up.
Once someone noticed and followed the trail to investigate...
Yue Shi’s brow furrowed slightly, but after agonizing over it for a moment, he pushed the concern to the back of his mind.
Since what had already happened could not be undone, there was no point in sinking into paranoia and self-attrition. He couldn't stop anyway; he had to continue devouring any source he could find, as it was directly linked to his growth.
Only by becoming powerful as quickly as possible could he better deal with potential crises.
But that didn't mean he would do nothing and let things take their course.
“When dealing with supernatural creatures in the future, I should try to destroy the corpses as much as possible, and... I need to find a suitable scapegoat!”
—Boss Pi!
...
By the time he left the mysterious space, the afterglow of the setting sun was already pouring over the clouds. The magnificent sunset clouds made the sky look like a giant palette.
Reasonably, Yue Shi should have gone to test his new ability and familiarize himself with the application of 【Plague Doctor】 as soon as possible.
But he was simply too exhausted. His head throbbed as if he had pulled several all-nighters in a row, and he felt like he could pass out at any moment.
He summoned two shadow ravens to stand guard by his side. Yue Shi didn't even have time to take off his clothes; he had just adjusted his pillow to a more comfortable position when he fell into a deep sleep.
Meow~
Meow, meow~
Early the next morning, Yue Shi was woken up by the faint, persistent sounds of a cat meowing.
He checked the time; it was only a little after seven in the morning.
There were several unread messages on his phone. He tapped them open; they were from Zhou Zhiheng, sent last night. The Heart Thief incident had been successfully handled, and the task bonus had been settled.
There was also an account service notification: he had received a transfer of 200,000. His available balance was now 451,273.65.
Tulip Security Company was always prompt and efficient with money, never delaying payments.
Or rather, no private organization would be stupid enough to withhold a transcendent’s pay.
Zhou Zhiheng also informed Yue Shi that the company had given him and Zhong Mo two days off. However, another group in the company responsible for investigating the Bee Woman was having a very difficult time and might need support at any moment, so he was asked to keep his communication lines open.
Yue Shi replied with a belated, “Okay.”
After getting out of bed, he simply prepared two cups of instant noodles to fill his stomach. After washing up, he changed into clean clothes from the inside out.
Yue Shi saw several red and swollen marks on his chest and a few purple bruises around his ankles. These were remnants from yesterday's battle, but they didn't hinder his movement, so he ignored them.
Today, he was going to test the specific effects of 【Plague Doctor】. He had originally planned to head straight to a hospital, but as soon as he went downstairs, he saw a stray cat curled up in a corner, letting out weak cries every now and then.
The first test subject had appeared in such a perfect manner.
“Pspsps~” Yue Shi called out softly.
Hearing the sound, the stray cat only gave him a disdainful glance and ignored him completely.
Left with no choice, Yue Shi had to walk over himself.
As he got closer, he saw that the stray was a thin orange cat, its body so dirty that its original fur color was obscured.
The orange cat's back leg was injured. It wasn't afraid of strangers and didn't hide when it saw Yue Shi; it only gave a listless meow.
Yue Shi leaned over and activated 【Plague Doctor】. When his fingers were about twenty centimeters away from the orange cat, he suddenly sensed the “illness” on its body!
It was a strange, indescribable feeling. It wasn't perceived through his eyes or ears; it was more like how an old doctor of traditional medicine knows a patient's condition just by touching their pulse.
At this moment, Yue Shi fully understood where the orange cat was “sick.”
Although he didn't know the specific names of these “illnesses,” he could manipulate them.
He didn't rush to do anything but first conducted a range test.
The kitten was very well-behaved, lying still and watching Yue Shi with a strange look as he busied himself moving around it.
Soon, Yue Shi confirmed that the maximum effective range of 【Plague Doctor】 was indeed twenty centimeters.
Within twenty centimeters, he could control the “illness” on the kitten. But it wasn't a cure; it was... a transfer.
First was autologous transfer. The kitten had a skin disease on its face, and with a hook of Yue Shi’s finger, it was moved to its back.
The entire process was extremely easy, with almost no consumption of energy.
The next part, allogeneic transfer, was the real priority.
Yue Shi caught bugs, sparrows, and even another stray cat one after another, but unfortunately, none of it worked.
The orange cat's “illness” could not be directly transferred to other individuals. No matter how Yue Shi pushed his ability, the transfer of the “illness” always pointed to only two places—
One was the orange cat itself, and the other... was Yue Shi himself.
Rate on N.U.
