Four Split Personalities

"I see."

Upon hearing Qiu confirm the ’bad news’ in person, Gahares seemed a bit surprised, but his emotions didn’t fluctuate much. His brows furrowed then relaxed, much like a student stumped by a tough exam question suddenly being given the right answer, experiencing an epiphany.

The worsening state of his body didn’t stir much negative emotion in Gahares; rather, it was Qiu’s habit of secretly alleviating his internal pain without fully healing him that left him somewhat confused. Although he could chalk it up to the girl’s mischievous streak, something about it didn’t quite make sense.

Finally, after laying it all out, Qiu offered a flawless solution.

It wasn’t a matter of unwillingness to save, but an inability to heal.

"Hmm, I thought you’d be more upset, Brother Lei. How boring!"

Qiu pouted, then turned around and flopped onto the bed, gently swinging her legs as she said, "Hmm, let me clarify a bit. First, Brother Gahares, you’re probably a secondary infected, right?"

Gahares nodded slightly, confidently replying, "That’s right."

"Then that’s correct."

Qiu propped her chin, pulling a funny face at Gahares, whose body was largely corroded by the plague, with several core organs starting to fail, yet he remained composed: "And if I’m not mistaken, your two infections, Brother Lei, were those intentionally rapid ones, right? Like drinking mutant’s blood or something."

Gahares felt a wave of nausea, lightly laughed while shaking his head: "Not quite that extreme, but not too far off either. Both were pretty direct."

"Yeah, incredibly direct."

Qiu, who had secretly checked Gahares’ body during his times in the [Flawless Evil] state, wrinkled her nose and slowly said: "So during your first infection, the plague completely seeped into you. Even though my skill proficiency wasn’t very high at the time, you wouldn’t have been able to withstand it given your strength, but thanks to our player nature, you managed to maintain your clear divine will. Without it, you would’ve become a mutant at the moment of infection."

Gahares furrowed his brow, hesitantly asked, "So players can’t become mutants?"

"They can, but the likelihood is lower than for NPCs."

Qiu shook her head, earnestly explaining: "At least, back then, the plague I spread found it difficult to turn players like you, Brother Lei, into infected ones. Those with higher levels were even harder, but if it succeeded, mutated players would likely ’die’ directly, leaving behind a corpse nearly identical to their panel before death, causing indiscriminate destruction."

Gahares sighed in relief, admiring the smart girl before him from the bottom of his heart, then continued to ask: "And then?"

"If you’re referring to what happens to players after becoming mutants, then nothing else. But if you mean yourself... hmm, since you quickly received pretty effective treatment, despite being heavily infected, you still unreasonably recovered. However, because you were too weak, Brother Lei, though you recovered, you never fully got better!"

Gahares was a bit bewildered, puzzledly repeated: "Recovered, but not fully better?"

"Yes, yes, recovered but not completely."

Qiu nodded vigorously, pursed her lips, pondered for a while before organizing her words: "Simply put, Brother Lei, you got vaccinated, didn’t you? Flu vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, and so on."

Gahares nodded; he had received these basic vaccines.

"Vaccines contain strains of the disease, but surely Brother Lei won’t immediately catch the flu or hepatitis B after getting vaccinated~"

Qiu cheerfully clapped her hands, smiling said: "My plague works the same way. After being cured, Brother Lei, there’s no plague left in your body, but there actually is plague inside you!"

[This...]

Though her explanation was a bit chaotic, Gahares understood her meaning—it was similar to the brief example Qiu gave—something like: although his body is healthy, he carries a sickness.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Brother Lei, you’ll be immune since you’ve been healed, basically making you resistant to my plague until you die and recreate your character, but..."

At this point, Qiu annoyingly glared at Gahares: "Brother Lei is not obedient at all, deliberately making himself infected again. Don’t know how you did it but it’s a way that even the immune system couldn’t withstand! So now there’s nothing Qiu can do!"

How it happened...

Feeling speechless, Gahares gave a bitter smile, recalling the scene almost without trying.

That was several months ago in the Southern Territory of Misha County, at a temporary camp outside Disk Tree City...

Back then, Gahares was just a common man in the central area of the camp, only there due to Her Highness the Saintess’ favor, spending his days dealing with Yu Chen and the infected alongside several Holy Knights.

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