New Year’s Day, January 1st, arrived as scheduled.
At the stroke of nine, the Fire Thief’s voice sounded right on ti.
Only, different people might have heard different content.
[Congratulations, you have passed the test of the fourteenth Doomsday Rule]
[Rewards have been issued to your Storage Box]
[The fifteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in fifteen days]
After listening to the Fire Thief, Zhang Minglu did not look at the rewards in the Storage Box. Instead, he stared at the deep parasitized individuals who had been gathered on the soccer field.
Right now both sides of this soccer field were lined with soldiers holding live firearms.
Those black muzzles were intimidation enough.
Behind the soldiers, the research lab’s special response team also stood ready at any mont.
If at the instant the rule ended those parasitized people suddenly transford into dangerous monsters, purification would be unavoidable.
Fortunately, that scene did not occur.
[Rule ti has ended]
[This rule challenge failed, failure penalties have taken effect]
[The fifteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in fifteen days]
These ssages sounded uniformly inside everyone’s heads on the soccer field.
The paradox was that most of these people looked calm, as if they hadn’t heard anything.
“This is great, no monster transformation!”
On the high platform, the Quarantine Zone leader looked at the scene on the soccer field and was overjoyed.
“Could it be that these people weren’t fully parasitized, but actually passed the rule?”
An imdiate, decisive denial ca from Zhang Minglu at his side: “Impossible.”
He knew perfectly well that these people were definitely deep parasitizations, and many of them had been experiencing spores since the rule began on day one.
If even they could pass the rule, then who in this world could possibly fail it?
“What are you doing?”
“We passed—why are you pointing guns at us!”
“Protest! We demand to leave imdiately. This is illegal detention!”
Suddenly the crowd on the field shouted and clamored, most showing indignant expressions, opposing personal restraint and the threat of thermal weapons.
The ard soldiers looked at one another.
These people appeared fine; they hadn’t turned into the imagined parasitic creatures, they still looked human.
“No matter what, the rule ended, and these people have not shown aggression,” the Quarantine Zone leader said. “Continuing to restrain them and prevent them from leaving is hard to justify. Dr. Zhang, should we release them?”
Zhang Minglu did not answer. He kept staring at the crowd, brow furrowed.
When his gaze fell on so individuals, he sharply noticed certain people exchanging glances, communicating through eye contact.
Other individuals were exerting themselves to act different from the others, standing isolated to appear distinct, but the behavior looked awkward and deliberate.
These discordant, eerie vibes, combined with the previous parasitic stages’ manifestations and the Survival Chest among the rule’s rewards… these elents quickly coalesced into a terrifying thought that leapt into Zhang Minglu’s mind.
“No, this is wrong!”
“These people have a problem… a huge problem!”
Zhang Minglu’s voice trembled as he imdiately contacted the Counterasures Research Office on his phone and reached Head Gao Liangwei.
“Head Gao! Listen to , absolutely do not allow quarantine zones across the country to release those deep parasitized individuals who were being detained separately!”
Gao Liangwei asked in a low tone, “What did you discover?”
“These people are already ‘dead’! Although they are still alive physically, their consciousness must be dead—the spores! The alien spores must have replaced their minds!”
Zhang Minglu was certain. The Fire Thief did not make mistakes.
If the Fire Thief set a Survival Chest in the rule rewards and gave no special explanation, then the consequence of rule failure had to be death!
And the earlier parasitic stages—from clinging to life, to aggregation, to reduced eating, to violence—were exactly the process of the spores “seizing the host.”
First preserving the host body, then accelerating parasitization via group aggregation… by this stage the spores were already deeply rooted within the host.
Next, to weaken the host’s own strength, reducing food and sleep is the most direct thod. Finally, through hallucination guidance and violence, the spores completely destroy the host’s self-control!
“If I’m right, these people—no, these parasitized forms—may retain their outward appearance, but their consciousness is now entirely the monsters’ consciousness, and they very likely possess the original hosts’ mories! The end of the rule does not an their lives are over; instead, they have beco more dangerous than before!”
The more Zhang Minglu spoke, the more fear spread through him.
On the other end of the line Gao Liangwei fell silent, but the heavy breathing betrayed the gravity of his mood.
“Because they’ve learned to disguise themselves! If we let them leave quarantine and blend into the population, it will be extrely difficult to find them later. Under no circumstances can we let them go!”
“…I understand. Dr. Zhang, your discovery is crucial. I will notify all quarantine zones nationwide imdiately and inform other countries at once.”
After the call ended, Zhang Minglu had not yet put down his phone when Dragon Soul’s serious voice ca from nearby.
“Doctor, be careful. These guys look like they’re ready to fight to the death.”
At that, Zhang Minglu looked up, and his heart tightened.
The crowd on the soccer field, which had been noisy with protests, fell completely silent.
Their gazes all fixed on the platform; they had clearly noticed that the people by Zhang Minglu were quarantine managent.
The dead quiet of hundreds of people not making a sound, even in broad daylight, sent chills down every normal person’s spine.
The Quarantine Zone leader’s voice trembled: “Dr. Zhang, we now—”
Before he finished speaking, the parasitized forms on the field suddenly shouted together.
“Spread!”
They shouted as they frantically charged toward the platform! The swift, fierce movents were like a pack of wild beasts.
“Hurry! Stop them!”
“Open fire!”
Although they still looked human, in that mont they felt more like monsters. The soldiers did not hesitate to pull triggers, but many parasitized individuals were struck by bullets and only paused briefly before continuing their charge!
This terrorized many soldiers. Zhang Minglu’s voice then cut through the field via loudspeaker; he had assud command.
“These parasitized forms have been most thoroughly altered by the spores. Their physical potential has been fully unleashed. Ordinary soldiers, fall back imdiately. Riot team, move in!”
The mobile team of dozens of elite Ascendants he brought now faced hundreds of beastlike attackers. Though nervous, orders had been given; they had to force themselves forward.
Under normal circumstances, elite Ascendants could handle hundreds of regular people easily. Like back when the academy student Shen Yun at Cangying Ridge killed and injured multiple ordinary people in one move.
But now the situation was different.
As Zhang Minglu had said, these hundreds of parasitized forms had their bodies’ potentials excavated to the extre by the spores. Even if they had been ordinary people before, now they were “supre ordinary people,” with greatly enhanced combat power.
Plus, hundreds of them charging with no fear of death created a horrifying montum that pressured the mobile team into nurous forced errors.
One elite Ascendant confronted by several frenzied parasitized attackers trembled and dropped his weapon and tools; the next mont he was torn apart alive by those attackers’ punches and bites.
Seeing this, Dragon Soul could not hold back any longer. If he didn’t go in, this mobile team, even if it could suppress the hundreds of parasitized forms, would likely be left with only a few survivors.
“Doctor, I’ll go help them.”
“All right! Dragon Soul, go now!”
Zhang Minglu hurriedly said; he did not want his mobile team wiped out in their first battle.
This battle reminded him of how Guan Tong had always emphasized the importance of real combat when at the academy.
“Guan Tong was right—actual combat experience is crucial. These elite Ascendants perform well in training, but when facing brutal enemies directly, pressure easily forces error…”
Zhang Minglu shook his head.
No, now was not the ti to dwell on that. Figuring out how to solve the parasitized threat was the top priority!
Also… what did their earlier cry of ‘Spread’ an? The rules are over; could the spores still spread sohow?!
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