Chapter 418: Fortune and Misfortune

Reality is like a low-budget film forced into production without a script; sometimes, the plot unfolds in ways entirely beyond expectation.

For a long time, spiritual plagues like Dream-Loss Syndrome have been troublesome precisely because they can spread through the circulation of spiritual quality. And spiritual quality is a thing whose nature is always shifting and uncertain.

Even with the most rigorous defenses, if a deceased person happens to have some lingering obsession, thought, or desire attached to an object, and that object falls into someone else's hands, it can spread just like that.

Whether it be banknotes, plastic bags, or old clothes...

But the protection of the Tianmen Law is equivalent to a repulsive field covering the entire city; ordinary people can hardly perceive it, yet it is omnipresent, and it changes on its own to deal with anomalies. Even without being formally activated, such minute spiritual quality residues as a spiritual plague would be thoroughly dispersed, unable to persist.

It fundamentally lacks the foundation for transmission.

From this perspective, the Municipal Hall is as stable as a mountain, and there is actually no problem.

This is the confidence that Tian Tian Yuan has brought me!

Unfortunately, confidence is often hard to maintain, and Tian Tian Yuan is often not omnipotent; beneath seemingly rigorous rules, there may be countless loopholes to exploit.

The first to suffer was the Beishan District, where foreign immigrants and a massive number of undocumented residents were crowded together.

When the first and second patients with Dream-Loss Syndrome were discovered, it could still be treated as an isolated incident, but when dozens or hundreds of patients with Dream-Loss Syndrome were found queuing up at the hospital to buy sleeping pills, the situation began to turn serious!

"Yes, it's right here, Sister Wen."

The little expert at leading the way, Tong Hua, easily locked onto the source of the infection.

A van pulled up with a screech in front of a dilapidated office building, the entrance still hanging with all sorts of messy signs like 【Six-Dimension Super-Magnetic Mind Healing Center】.

Located in a remote suburb, with sparse traffic, secluded and dilapidated—this kind of place is simply the favorite of pyramid schemes, fraud gangs, and religious groups.

The loudspeaker outside was playing cheerful oldies...

But the lobby inside was dark and empty, with only a few stumbling figures wandering back and forth.

The stench of rot faintly spread out.

"Damn it all to hell..."

Wen Wen glanced at the scene inside, then could no longer hold back, sighing wearily.

First, it was the Bai Bang terrorists, followed by a large, roving Mind-Pivot fraud gang, and then a suspected evil cult organization spreading among immigrants—a pile of issues had erupted all at once these past few days, like playing Whac-A-Mole; press one down, and two more pop up.

The Beishan team, which had been lying flat for a while, was already spinning in circles, and as a result, before those self-detonating warriors from Bai Bang who had fled could be captured, Dream-Loss Syndrome began to spread.

Having rushed over in a desperate race against time, yet everything was already beyond saving.

One look was all it took to know.

There were no living people left inside...

"Notify the police station, put up the blockade first; the inside needs to be cleared out completely." Wen Wen waved her hand and sighed as she got out of the car.

"Uh..." Tong Hua hesitated to speak.

"What is it?" Wen Wen asked, puzzled.

"The security department for this area has already been disbanded."

Tong Hua shrugged: "After Xu Chaoxian outsourced the police station, this area couldn't afford the security fees either, so it has always been outside the governed zone... After all, it's the Beishan District."

Boom!

The ground beneath Wen Wen's feet cracked open with a loud noise.

Her face turned livid.

"Son of a bitch..."

Wen Wen gritted her teeth, having nothing more to say; she silently rolled up her sleeves and walked straight toward the office building. With one kick, she shattered the teetering glass door; amidst the ear-piercing sound, those few wandering figures stiffly turned their heads back.

On their hollow faces, there was no spark of life.

Within their flesh and blood, they were already empty; now, all that remained was the pure biological craving belonging to the creature after its distortion.

Hunger.

"Hungry... hungry..."

Those blood-stained mouths opened instinctively; behind the counter, two corpses lying on the ground also slowly crawled up, and even their cannibalized, broken shells wriggled as they crawled with their hands.

Yet, even though they had fallen to this state, those faces still carried a faint, lingering smile.

Eerie and terrifying.

It was just a pity that they had chosen the wrong person...

Wen Wen closed her eyes in frustration, took a deep breath, and then stomped her foot.

Boom!

An invisible ripple spread along the material, sweeping through with great force; wherever it passed, every corpse and shell fell to the ground, with muffled thuds echoing continuously, from bottom to top.

Amidst the roaring, the floor slabs shook violently; the surging power spread through the medium, destroying every body, causing the entire office building, shrouded in heterodox spiritual quality, to fall into dead silence.

Dust to dust, earth to earth.

No more sound.

Only a light, hallucination-like chuckle sounded from behind.

Wen Wen turned her head suddenly, but behind her, it was empty; there was no one there.

She silently clenched her fists.

In the dead silence, there was a sound like bubbles bursting... wisps of illusory light rose from those corpses.

Spiritual quality overflowed.

Within the mouths, noses, and eye sockets of those remains, something wriggled, gradually drilling out like tiny insects, wet and slimy, twisting their bodies; after completing their incubation, they shed their final shells.

Thin, delicate wings slowly unfolded and fluttered.

Amidst the swirling rainbow light, they were eerie yet dazzling.

One by one, they rose, and just like that, amidst the hallucination-like laughter, they spread their wings and headed toward the free sky.

Regrettably, before that could happen, Wen Wen had already reached out her hand.

Silently clenching it.

————Ruined Ruins · Stasis Zone!

The building froze in an instant. Not just the matter, but even the spiritual quality could hardly escape from the eternal stagnation.

And immediately after, the Myriad Phenomena shook.

Snap!

Outside the office building, as Tong Hua was quietly opening a bag of potato chips, he heard the sound of returning footsteps.

Behind Wen Wen, the massive office building slowly collapsed in the wind, turning into billions of sand grains, scattering silently and profusely.

"Holy crap!"

Tong Hua was dumbfounded: "Sister Wen, have you finally mastered the divine art? When are we going to become civil and martial, and unify the underworld!"

"Don't mess around."

Wen Wen tapped his forehead in annoyance, pulled out a cigarette case, and instinctively put one in her mouth, but her movement stalled in mid-air; after a long while, she took the cigarette down, crushed it into powder, and threw it away.

"This is going to be troublesome..."

In the sky, a wisp of faint rainbow light flickered; in the chaotic slums in the distance, amidst the mud after the heavy rain, several fully developed spiritual quality insects rose into the sky.

As their wings opened and closed, they scattered specks of phosphorescence.

The outbreak was unexpectedly fierce and swift.

The wilderness, which had only flourished for a few months after the rainy season, fell silent once again, sinking into closure; all settlements closed their gates or cut off their roads.

Panic spread like a substance, even developing to the point of expelling all outsiders, and even besieging stowaways.

Even the operation of the Messenger Logistics briefly fell into a standstill.

No orders to take.

Compared to the stability brought about by the Security Bureau's all-out mobilization in the city, the wilderness was already in chaos; countless flying insects spread their wings, rising and falling continuously, gathering together to become a gorgeous, enchanting, yet bone-chilling disaster.

Even animals could not escape.

In fact, there were already signs of them specifically besieging and parasitizing small creatures.

In the massive amount of imagery sent back by drones, animals with stiff postures would sometimes walk and then collapse by the roadside; within their rapidly rotting corpses, a large number of insects would quickly hatch and spread wildly.

This wave of disaster caught everyone off guard.

Fortunately, thanks to the coast's vigorous promotion of vaccines earlier, not many people suffered damage in the first wave of impact. But according to people who fled from other states, several unlucky settlements there had already been completely devoid of any living people; they were empty inside, with insects flying everywhere.

As panic spread, a large number of people began to gather toward Xinquan once again.

But one checkpoint after another blocked them outside, where they lingered, unable to leave.

Xinquan was already under martial law.

Now, it was the turn of those settlements and "smart alecks" who had mocked and even violently expelled medical staff when the vaccines were being promoted to start regretting.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Dark masses of heads gathered together; even knowing there was a possibility of infection, they could no longer care.

"Please, big brother, let me in; the goods are going to spoil."

"The children are innocent!"

"You wouldn't just stand by and watch us die, would you?"

"I knew it, how could you be so kind? It must have been you who released it!"

"Let that guy named Ji come out and give everyone an explanation!"

"Everyone don't be afraid, let's charge up together..."

The clamorous and noisy voices overlapped, boiling over; the restless crowd gradually became frantic.

From beginning to end, the armed security guards at the sentry post remained expressionless.

"Damn idiots."

On the sentry tower, Lu Feng finished his cigarette and waved his hand with zero interest.

Then, in front of the checkpoint, the high-pressure water cannons on the armored vehicles activated, spraying, and amidst the blaring of alarm sirens, forcibly dispersed the crowd.

You wouldn't take the free vaccines when we gave them to you, and now that something has happened, you turn around and blame us.

Like they're fucking sick in the head.

Besides... the vaccines had long since run out.

They hadn't even fully covered the people of Xinquan.

"Can't get in touch."

Yu Shu put down the phone and shook his head wearily: "At first, when I called, they would still make excuses, but yesterday, even the prepayments and breach-of-contract penalties were all returned."

No production capacity, no logistics, couldn't get them shipped over, and still had to queue.

There were as many excuses as one could want.

As a result, they dragged it out and dragged it out, until now...

But in reality, where is vaccine production so complicated?

It was nothing more than those pharmaceutical companies wanting to seize the opportunity to loot a burning house, selling the waste that had been piled up like mountains in their warehouses for the price of gold.

Even worse, they were fanning the flames.

Currently, on television, they were going all out every day to publicize the dangers of "new encephalitis," with mouthpieces blowing up the tragic consequences after the onset of the disease, and the price of vaccines on the black market began to skyrocket crazily.

Over in the Old Town, Chen Xingzhou had brought over a batch of generic drugs from Qiandao for the sake of their friendship, but alas, it was a drop in the bucket.

Among the people Ji Jue knew, Xie Lan did have this ability, but he was only one person; without professional equipment, how much could he hand-craft in twenty-four hours without sleep?

For several consecutive days, Ji Jue's expression grew increasingly gloomy.

Everything could have been saved, yet he could only watch helplessly as it all rotted to this point.

Unable to watch any longer, he turned to look at the names of those pharmaceutical companies and insurance financial groups, reading them over and over from top to bottom, memorizing them in his heart.

He drew Panying and sheathed it, sharpening it repeatedly, yet he still found it hard to restrain himself.

Amidst the ticking of the clock, on the other side of the office, Yu Shu, who was processing documents behind the desk, suddenly stiffened and looked down at his phone.

He hesitated to speak.

Ji Jue looked up, looked over, and discerned his situation, "What is it?"

"Something happened."

Yu Shu's words were stuttering, hesitant.

Just a moment ago, in Xinquan Town, the first infected person to "die" because of the spiritual plague had appeared...

Ji Jue was silent; after a long while, he slowly stood up.

Walking out the door.

The market was silent, and the cordon had been pulled up.

Not far away, there were still people looking on in horror, their lingering fear not yet gone. Thanks to the previous preparations and arrangements, the death of the infected person did not cause large-scale chaos and panic.

The crowd had been evacuated and handled at the very beginning of the discovery.

On the stall, the soup was still bubbling, but behind the table, the gaunt man lay on the chair, curled up, as if he had fallen into a sleep from which he would never wake, no longer having any breath.

In a brief nap, he had fallen into a long sleep.

As if he were still immersed in a beautiful dream, the corners of his mouth carried a slightly upturned arc.

Resembling a smile.

In the silence, only the huge soup pot that was about to boil dry was bubbling and emitting sound, with wisps of steam rising. The rice noodles that hadn't been cut on the basket were already stuck together.

Ji Jue looked at that face on the recliner, finally discerning the appearance and traces of the past; in a moment of realization, he suddenly remembered that he had even treated him to noodles before.

It was just that, at that time, his smile was too worldly and mature; it was hard to distinguish whether it was fawning, awe, or tearful gratitude.

Now, the smile was much more relaxed.

"... Didn't they say, they had the vaccine?" he turned back and asked.

"The vaccine is not a hundred percent guarantee." Yu Shu's expression was complex: "If the physical condition and soul condition are too weak, they will also lack resistance... besides..."

He paused, sighing silently.

This body was already at the end of its rope.

Qi and blood were weak, and breathing was difficult.

It was just like a candle in the wind...

Even without this incident, who knows when he would have died; the so-called spiritual plague was just the last wisp of wind that happened to blow by.

Ji Jue turned back to look at the market manager who had just arrived: "What's his situation?"

"It's him."

After the market manager figured out who the deceased was, he was stunned for a moment, his expression complex, as if he had expected it long ago, and he sighed softly: "At least he can suffer a little less; it can be considered a release."

Ji Jue was silent for a moment, his voice growing colder: "Was anyone extorting him?"

"No, no, no, there isn't; our market doesn't have such things, and even if there were, they would have had their legs broken by the security team." The manager hurriedly explained, wiping his sweat, sighing with emotion: "This guy was just too hardworking; selling noodles morning and night, going to dump trash in the middle of the night, and every time he went back and forth to Yacheng, he would bring a bunch of odds and ends to sell; he did this every day... I told him many times that his body wouldn't be able to take it, but he wouldn't listen.

I heard that the coast pays by the piece plus a base salary, and he went to participate many times; the recruiters all knew him, and every time they only advised him to come back, saying he was too old and couldn't take it at all.

A few days ago, he even asked me if delivering goods made money; it's a good thing I stopped him and didn't let him go."

"Did he owe debts?" Yu Shu asked.

"Yeah, more or less, everyone has a bit these days, but his gap wasn't small."

The manager brought over a few people who were sweeping the floor to answer, all talking at once: "Besides making money to pay off debts, he also had to pay for his wife's medical treatment, for that thing called moss..."

"Moss disease?"

"Yes, the one that caused a stir a few years ago; outside the city, there wasn't a family that didn't have someone die."

"Bankrupt, couldn't buy medicine; I heard that besides his wife, everyone in his family was gone."

"Poor guy."

The auntie smoking a cigarette leaned on her broom and shook her head: "A few days ago, his wife died too."

"Didn't they say she was getting better?" The manager was also stunned: "Last month he was happy for a long time, and even gave me candy..."

"She was supposed to be getting better." The auntie looked at him and said in a low voice: "As a result... encountering this kind of thing, it's inevitable. If you ask me, he suffered enough; he couldn't hold on anymore, right?"

Yu Shu was stunned.

His eyes lowered.

Long before going to Qiandao, he had flipped through the records of the Chongguang Society.

In the past few hundred years, the records of many spiritual plagues were as vast as the sea; among them, Dream-Loss Syndrome alone had several shelves, with dozens of large-scale epidemics, all occurring during chaotic periods and intervals of war.

Compared to the tragic situation recorded in the books where the entire island was silent, today was just a small skirmish.

In the statistics of the Chongguang Society, the incubation stage of Dream-Loss Syndrome is actually very long, and there is no lack of asymptomatic carriers, and the causes of the onset are also diverse; among them, the most common cause, however, is only one...

————Wanting to die.

After losing all persistence for living, a craving for death will arise. As consciousness gradually evaporates, the self also departs along with the dream, never to be seen again, leaving behind only an empty shell in the dust of the world.

Never to feel pain again.

In the silence, Ji Jue was silent, gazing at that peaceful face covered in wrinkles. As if still immersed in a beautiful dream, all the suffering and creases had been smoothed out into an arc, slightly upturned.

Using up the smile he had saved his whole life.

"Mr. Ji..."

Yu Shu summoned his courage and called out in a low voice.

"Don't worry, I'm not that fragile."

Ji Jue slowly shook his head, "I'm just thinking... in the end, what did he see?"

Yu Shu's lips moved, and for some reason, he suddenly recalled: when he was at sea, with a gun pointed at his face, that was himself at that time.

The corpses drifting in the ocean, the singing in the mist, as if there was an unprecedented peace calling out to him...

When the end came, what he felt was not fear and unwillingness.

But a kind of relief, as if a burden had been lifted.

"... Probably happiness."

He whispered instinctively.

Looking at that face.

The suffering had ended; from now on, there was no need to worry.

That was why he smiled...

"Happiness?"

Ji Jue seemed to have smiled.

He finally turned back, looking at him, but there was no smile on his face, his pupils pitch black: "In a world where you only feel happiness when you die, doesn't anyone think there's a problem?"

"..."

Yu Shu was stunned, silent.

Only his fingers trembled, instinctively clenching.

Being looked at with such eyes, he wanted to answer, but couldn't speak, and couldn't find the answer.

And Ji Jue had already turned and walked away.

Leaving decisively.

Unable to bear it any longer.

"Isis."

"Sir, I am here."

"Prepare mercury for me, activate the workshop, adjust the sequence, mobilize the spiritual quality reserves, and open material storage vaults four and seven..."

"Understood, large-scale alchemy project preparation, preheating begins."

Isis asked a final question, "What is the project name?"

"【Worm】." ===== CHAPTER 419 =====