Chapter 57: Plague Spirit Chosen

Facing Jeanne’s bewildered gaze, Zhou Yun looked calmly at Montg and said:

Sorry, Ryan Ruth was a fake name I made up.

Hearing Zhou Yun’s words, Montg shrugged helplessly:

“Never expected that Ryan Ruth wasn’t your real name.”

Montg’s tone dripped with sarcasm, as if to say: Who wouldn’t guess that name was fake?

“My real name is Sanci Liman.”

Zhou Yun placed his hand over his chest and spoke solemnly.

The instant he finished speaking, Montg and Jeanne’s faces twitched in unison.

Sanci Liman, Sanci Les, and Giliiman—

throughout the Empire, Sanci Les was the most revered Primarch in the hearts of most citizens,

especially near the Bal System, where even Archangel statues often stood side by side with the Emperor in churches.

Zhou Yun had fused the names Sanci Les and Giliiman into his own,

and this blasphemy struck Montg and Jeanne harder than Ryan Ruth ever had.

“This name also reflects my parents’ tastes.”

Zhou Yun placed his hand over his chest, gazing nostalgically:

“My father loved the Smurfs, and my mother loved—”

“You’re not going to tell me your mother loved winged things, are you?” Montg asked, his eye twitching.

“My mother loved the Archangels!”

Zhou Yun shot Montg a disgusted look, mimicking the purple-robed woman from the settlement, making a warding gesture:

“You shameful heretic—how dare you call the Archangels winged things!”

“Pah! Blasphemy! It makes me sick to hear it.”

Montg: “.”

Jeanne: “.”

The winged figure in the white light: “.”

Three near-death stares pinned Zhou Yun, but he didn’t so much as blink.

“The day Giliiman rises, I’ll call him Smurf.”

The winged figure in the white light spoke softly:

“And I’ll tell him it was you who gave him that nickname.”

“I hope Giliiman doesn’t have a bad morning temper.”

Zhou Yun’s cheek twitched slightly.

Montg didn’t notice. He pointed toward the settlement’s gate: “Go inside and talk?”

“No.” Zhou Yun yanked Jeanne behind him.

Though he hadn’t seen the settlement’s interior, judging from the mutants emerging from it,

its depths were surely blessed by the Father’s power, teeming with viruses, bacteria, and parasites spreading diseases from the Highest Heaven.

For a Plague God believer, this was acceptable—but for Zhou Yun and Jeanne, it was a hostile environment.

Moreover, he didn’t fully trust Montg or Marqiet.

The diseases unleashed by the Chaos deity they worshiped were impossible to guard against, and Zhou Yun had no intention of venturing deeper into their territory.

If they truly became enemies, facing those plagues—

Zhou Yun did have one solution.

He glanced at the fourth-dimensional pocket containing the Future Department Store.

[Item Name: Adaptation Lamp]

[Origin: 22nd Century Earth—Future Department Store]

[Manufactured: 291.m3]

[Function: A green, pistol-shaped ray lamp. Its beam enables adaptation to any natural, physical, or chemical environment—including but not limited to space, high altitude, mudslides, sandstorms, lava, seabed, underground, lightning storms, toxic pathogens, and stellar surfaces. One exposure lasts 24 hours.]

[Rental Price: 1,600,000 per use]

With the Adaptation Lamp, Zhou Yun could be immune to all environmental harm for 24 hours—even walking on a star’s surface would leave him unharmed, and even divine plague could be resisted.

But—

The rental fee alone was 1.6 million; the purchase price was a string of zeros Zhou Yun couldn’t even read. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t rent it.

As he thought this, Zhou Yun returned to the chair and sat down heavily, clearly refusing to enter.

Montg rubbed his brow beneath his black horns and waved to the mutants beside him.

The mutants, who had been trembling before Zhou Yun, seemed granted pardon and hurried into the settlement, unsure of what they were doing.

Montg nodded to Zhou Yun: “I’ll go get my brother. Let’s talk outside—we might need your help with something.”

“I’m expensive.”

Zhou Yun smiled:

“But I also need your help. Bring a map.”

“Alright.” Montg nodded and turned into the settlement.

Zhou Yun watched Montg’s retreating back, rubbed his Superman gloves, and turned to Jeanne beside him.

“No danger.”

!.read

Jeanne instantly understood Zhou Yun’s meaning, nodding obediently and whispering:

“They don’t plan to attack us.”

Jeanne used her precognitive ability to glimpse the immediate future.

She bit her lip, suppressing her revulsion toward the mutants.

Yet she seemed to understand the value of restraint.

If Jeanne truly was the Emperor’s vessel, raised by Him, then His parenting skills had improved somewhat.

Soon, a group of pale, rotting corpses emerged from the settlement.

They were pitiful victims infected by the Plague Zombie Plague—flesh constantly decaying, yet still retaining some awareness, trapped within corpse-like shells.

A single zombie was weak, but countless zombies could coalesce into an endless tide of rot, drowning enemies.

Yet Montg’s mutants didn’t merely command zombie warriors.

They directed the plague zombies to haul iron plates and synthetic wood to an open space beside Zhou Yun, stacking and assembling them into a crude little shed in moments.

Zhou Yun watched the scene with interest.

The two factions of the Undercity—

Gene Thieves survived through unity and diligence inspired by faith in the Four-Armed Divine Emperor, building tidy towns.

Mutants survived by symbiosis with the Plague God’s blessings, gaining immense resilience and enslaving tireless zombies for labor and construction.

Why do both sides seem more efficient than the Undercity factories?

Whether cheats or zombies, both were nearly tireless, their productivity far surpassing the Undercity factories.

As Zhou Yun mentally grumbled, Montg emerged from the settlement with Marqiet.

Marqiet gave Zhou Yun a slight nod and whispered:

“We’d like to talk to you—about the vision the Angels showed us.”

“Angels?” Jeanne paused, blurted out involuntarily.

“Yes, our merciful Angels.”

Montg added, in a tone meant to soothe a child:

“They’re adorable, round, green pus-balls, no bigger than infants—playful and cheerful, yet filled with divine mercy.”

Zhou Yun’s eye twitched slightly.

This wasn’t an Angel—this was a Plague Spirit!

No way—you two were truly blessed by nothing but a Plague Spirit?!

Guys, big shots, please follow up on Monday night—it affects whether the author can make it into the Three Rivers ranking (this round’s competition is fierce).

(End of Chapter)