Shang Ke checked the spiritual state of the Dark Sentinel while controlling the barrier. This was a long and boring process. Spiritual barriers not only consumed more energy, but were also extremely inefficient. This was the reason most guides were unwilling to activate a barrier while giving spiritual assistance.
Shang Ke looked calm as he slowly explored. He combed through every nook and cranny, before finally finding something unusual. More than two hours had passed since he began.
The interested people outside monitoring the situation gradually grew bored. A guide whispered to his companion, "Isn't he a Dark Guide with an S-level spirit? How can a simple spiritual detection take so long?"
His companions also complained, "Yeah, we have been sitting here for two or three hours. If he can't finish his detection in one day, should we wait with him for another day?"
Several guides next to them also displayed very impatient expressions.
Suddenly, an indifferent voice spoke up, "You all feel uncomfortable sitting in a comfortable conference hall. How do you think the person using his spiritual powers for several hours on end feels?"
When the guides heard this, their faces turned green and white. If it had been any other sentinel, the guides would still dare to refute his words, but the speaker turned out to be Mitchell, who was always known to be cold and proud. They could only keep their mouths shut and refrain from speaking.
Lucian's eyes chilled, and his clenched fingers almost squeezed into the palm of his hand. He also held some prejudice against Shang Ke, but not because of the preferential treatment he received. It was because of Mitchell. Lucian liked Mitchell since he was young, but their spiritual compatibility was only 6%, while Shang Ke easily reached 96%.
How could this not make him jealous? Although he knew that it was impossible even if Shang Ke wasn't around, he couldn't keep himself calm when he saw how much Mitchell liked Shang Ke.
Lucian moved his gaze towards Shang Ke on the screen again, and a strong desire for competition arose in his heart.
Just then, the hospital received two more sentinels with the same symptoms. Since the onset of the illness was the same as that of the previous sentinels, they didn't rush to treat the patient and directly sent the patient here.
After the President arranged the people, Lucian suddenly said, "Those two men haven't been ill for a long time, so why not let me check them out."
With Lucian's S-level spirit, he could provide spiritual assistance to the most ordinary sentinels.
The Dean hesitated for a bit.
"Let's wait for the results from Shang Ke," he said.
Lucian replied lightly, "As long as we have a spiritual barrier open, I believe there won't be too much danger."
Seeing that the Dean still disagreed, Lucian added, "Time is tight. No one can guarantee that Shang Ke's detection results will be correct. He's assisting a Dark Sentinel, but there are still more ordinary sentinels in need."
After hearing this, the Dean discussed it with several other people for a moment before finally agreeing. "Alright, then we'll leave it to you. Have Officer Dwayne protect you."
Dwayne was a Class A Sentinel and was also Lucian's current best match. The compatibility between them was 82%.
Lucian took the lead out of the conference hall, and Dwayne followed him in silence.
In the monitoring screen, there was another image. Lucian opened a spiritual barrier and began to probe the sentinel's mind on the bed.
All the people in the conference hall were staring at the progress on both sides.
Just half an hour after Lucian's probe began, there was a change in Shang Ke's side. The otherwise quiet sentinel suddenly sprang up from the bed and pounced on Shang Ke. Yonis moved forward and swept his arms, throwing the sentinel back onto the bed.
All the people watching suddenly stood up, their expressions tense. An ominous idea sprung up in their hearts: did the detection fail? No, that's not it. Shang Ke hadn't stopped supporting, neither was he injured, and the situation should still be under control thanks to Yonis' capabilities.
"Don't activate a protective barrier or use spiritual attacks." Shang Ke's clear voice came through the transmitter.
What? Don't activate a protective barrier or use spiritual attacks? Everyone watched as Yonis did as he was told and relied purely on his physical body to deal with the crazed sentinel's attacks. They all couldn't help the cold sweat from sliding down their face.
Although Yonis was very strong, he would most likely suffer a lot if he didn't use his spiritual powers to resist the crazed Sentinel's attacks. However, to everyone's surprise, although the crazed Sentinel attacked Yonis time and time again, he didn't show any sign of having difficulty dealing with it, and was in fact skillfully dealing with the attacks.
"Spiritual Resonance." Mitchell suddenly spat out two words.
What? This was spiritual resonance? Everyone looked dumbfounded.
The probability of spiritual resonance was extremely low. Every time it happened, it was huge and magnificent, completely unlike the current silence. How could a resonance happen so silently? Only a few walls separated them from the two, but they completely could not feel anything. This was totally unscientific!
"Sir Mitchell, are you mistaken?" The President asked carefully.
Mitchell's eyes never left the screen as he replied, "This is a spiritual resonance led by Shang Ke. Yonis' spiritual powers have blended into Shang Ke's domain."
"A Spiritual Resonance led by the guide?" The crowd was shocked. When they looked at the screen again, they found that the situation seemed to be as Mitchell said. Yonis seemed to have entered Shang Ke's domain and vanished without a trace. Even their equipment couldn't find him, and only the fluctuation of Shang Ke's spirit could be seen. The others couldn't feel the power of spiritual resonance, probably because Shang Ke had isolated them with his barrier.
Doing this required extremely strong spiritual power and control, as well as absolute trust and perfect compatibility.
The sentinel's madness didn't last long, only four or five minutes. One punch stopped in mid-air and he looked confused, staggering back. Then, with a thud, he fell on the bed and fell fast asleep.
Shang Ke slowly withdrew his spiritual power and looked tired. Sweat ran down his forehead and chin, soaking the hair on his temples.
A powerful arm supported him from the back, and Yonis' eyes filled with distress for him. "You've worked hard, let's go home."
Shang Ke nodded, and Yonis picked him up, heading towards the conference hall.
Everyone in the conference hall was already impatient. Seeing the two men come in, they immediately asked, "How's the situation? Have you discovered the cause?"
Shang Ke drank a sip of the warm water from Yonis and answered, "It's smell."
Yonis sat down next to Shang Ke and encircled his waist, oblivious to the surrounding people.
"Smell?" The President asked urgently, "You mean the substance that causes psychosis is transmitted through smell?"
"Yes." Shang Ke naturally leaned against Yonis and explained, "I guess this is a poison with a special stimulating smell that ordinary people and guides can't detect, but sensitive sentinels can. They immediately form memories and erode the spiritual domain, giving their brains the illusion of being enveloped in this smell entirely, like being stuck in a thick fog. Unless they completely use up their spiritual powers, they will smell this 'scent' all the time."
Everyone looked skeptical. After several inquiries, they finally believed Shang Ke's detection results.
"This kind of drug which can make sentinels fall into psychosis, is it artificially made?" A sentinel suddenly asked.
Shang Ke replied cautiously, "I think it's very possible." Sentinels have high immunity, so natural scents can only make them annoyed and irritable, while something more serious can cause spiritual disorder. Even drugs with hallucinogenic effects wouldn't make them fall into psychosis so easily.
If their speculation was correct, then the force capable and willing to manufacture this kind of drug was undoubtedly the Anti-Government Union.
Everyone focused on the matter at hand as they discussed without pause.
At this moment, Shang Ke spoke up again, "There is one more thing to note."
All eyes focused on him once more.
"The symptoms are contagious."
"Contagious?" A single word caused an uproar.
"The first two guides that tried to treat the sentinels didn't activate their spiritual barriers, so the sentinel's spiritual memory infected them. The most frightening thing about this drug is that it forms itself as a fixed memory and continues to stimulate the patient's consciousness.
It's like a trigger, and the moment you touch that trigger, you'll be hypnotized. Guides aren't as immune to it as sentinels, so the moment they touch that trigger, they're infected. It lasts until their spiritual power returns to its original state, and they can recover their minds."
The crowd appeared enlightened.
The President asked, "So, you didn't allow Yonis to use spiritual attacks earlier to prevent him from being infected by those who are?"
"Yes." Shang Ke nodded. "When spiritual powers come into contact with another infected one, both the sentinel and the guide may be infected."
The Dean's face changed slightly. He turned to the President of the Guild and said, "If the situation is true, I'm afraid we'll have to implement martial law nationwide."
The number of guides was less than that of sentinels, and the ranks were uneven. Once things grew worse, many sentinels definitely wouldn't be treated in time, and some guides wouldn't come out unscathed.
The President nodded in approval.
Just then, a guide suddenly exclaimed in horror, "Look at Lucian!"
The crowd hurriedly turned to the screen and saw that the sentinel Lucian was in charge of was going crazy. Dwayne, the sentinel beside him, immediately activated a protective barrier.
"This is bad!" The Dean and others got up at the same time.
Dwayne was an experienced sentinel, and he used spiritual attacks the moment he opened the barrier. The process lasted only two seconds, and the mad sentinel was quickly sent flying. After that, Dwayne's body froze, and his face revealed signs of struggle, as though desperately trying to suppress something.
"Dwayne, what's wrong with you?" Lucian supported his own barrier and looked anxiously at Dwayne.
Dwayne didn't answer, keeping a defensive posture rigidly.
Suddenly, the crazed sentinel attacked him again, his fists pounding against his chest. He still didn't move an inch, standing firmly in front of Lucian.
Lucian finally noticed something was wrong and split off a piece of his spiritual power to detect Dwayne's situation. He was dismayed to find that he was also showing signs of psychosis.
Lucian neglected the crazed sentinel and wanted to save Dwayne first. But, due to the shift of spiritual power, the originally stable barrier shook. Seeing as it was about to collapse, another barrier suddenly appeared and enveloped the two of them.
"President." Lucian was pleasantly surprised to see the old man.
"Get out of here." The President ordered.
Lucian didn't hesitate and reached for Dwayne's hand. His finger barely touched him, but he was immediately brought into psychosis.
It turned out that Lucian's psychiatric treatment for Dwayne had not stopped, but his own barrier had been removed, so he was infected the moment he made contact with Dwayne.
The President's face immediately changed. He just pulled the two of them together into his barrier and hadn't had the chance to separate them. Now Lucian was having a problem too.
Infected sentinels could still be treated. But once a guide was infected, their spiritual powers would be exhausted quickly.
At the moment of crisis, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Lucian's wrist, separating him from Dwayne.
"Shang Ke, what are you doing!?" Yonis had just captured the frantic sentinel when he saw Shang Ke courting disaster.
Shang Ke was a Dark Guide. He was incompatible with the spirits of ordinary sentinels and would inevitably reject ordinary guides.
"Ah!" Lucian gave a painful cry and was about to glower at Shang Ke when he was pulled out of the President's barrier.
"Do you want to kill us?" Lucian stood firm and rebuked loudly. As soon as he finished speaking, he found everyone looking at him and Shang Ke with strange eyes.
What is the meaning of that look of yours?
"Shang Ke, what's going on? Aren't you a Dark Guide?" A guide couldn't help asking, "Why can you treat normal guides too?"
Everyone saw what happened just now. Lucian was already showing symptoms of infection, but Shang Ke awakened his sanity with a quick grab.
Shang Ke laughed as he replied, "This is called 'stimulus therapy'. I'm not compatible with the spirit of ordinary sentinels and guides. Forced contact will produce a reflective reaction, which is what I used to wake Lucian up."
"So what you're saying is that you can use this method to treat ordinary sentinels. It is simple, crude, safe and effective." A sentinel with an active mind immediately said.
When Shang Ke saw the people's expression that looked as if they were thinking, so you could do that, he silently rolled his eyes. "This method is only applicable to newly infected people."
If they really applied "stimulus therapy" to those sentinels, they would definitely die faster.
When they heard this, they were all disappointed.
Only then did Lucian realize that Shang Ke rescued him. His expression was somewhat stiff, and he said in a dry voice, "Thank you."
Shang Ke laughed, "You're welcome. You should thank Dwayne. Even if he lost consciousness, he remembered to protect you, otherwise you would have been hurt before we could arrive. "
Lucian turned to look at the man's straight back, a subtle feeling emerging from his heart.
He turned to Shang Ke again, ready to express his gratitude, when he saw Shang Ke's eyes focused on something as he rushed at him.
Lucian was thrown to the ground and felt dizzy. Suddenly, there were drops of warm liquid dripping onto his face.
He opened his eyes and found Shang Ke half propped up above him, his head lowered and blood oozing out of the corners of his mouth. He still had a smile on his face as he murmured, "That was a close call..."
"Shang Ke!" A gust of wind blew by, and Shang Ke was suddenly enveloped in a familiar embrace. Yonis looked at the large pool of blood on his back, his eyes blatantly revealing his fear.
"I'm sorry, it was because he tried to save me..." The dangerous look in Yonis' eyes interrupted the words Lucian was about to say.
"Scram!" He shouted, a murderous aura enveloping his entire body.
Shang Ke leaned on Yonis' shoulder and said weakly, "Don't blame him. The attacker was probably aiming for me."
Lucian also had red hair. Although the shade was slightly different, it was easy to mistake him for Shang Ke since the Union was too far away.
The greatest evidence came from the System notice: 【Main Mission Completion Countdown...】
Countdown? Shang Ke was a bit confused. Why was there a countdown?
【Host's life is quickly fading away. If you survive, the Main Mission will be counted as complete, but if you die, it will be a failure.】
Wait a second, wasn't his purpose heroic death? He was doing it for death, but he could fail anyway?
【The Main Mission content was: "Survive" Three Assassination Attempts by the Anti-Government Union. If Host dies, then it means they have succeeded in their assassination, which means failure of the mission.】
So this could happen too!
Shang Ke tried his best to hold on to his last consciousness, and he clung to Yonis' arm.
Dear, you must save me! It doesn't matter if I have to go through another punishment world with bonus difficulty. But, the failure of the task means I can't get enough reward points to get the key to backtracking!
Shang Ke never had such a strong desire to live.
However, he still couldn't hold on and finally succumbed to his injury. He didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to Yonis.
When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the System space.
He died and failed his mission too...
【Congratulations to Host for completing the Main Mission—Survive Three Assassination Attempts by the Anti-Government Union.】
Eh? System, you aren't playing with me, are you? I will warn you right now, I am in a very bad mood. If you let me find out you are playing with me, I will go into berserker mode!
【The System never plays with people. Host has truly completed the Main Mission.】
"Didn't you say the mission would be counted as a failure if I died?"
【Generally, that is true. However, you won the prize this time.】
"Prize? What prize?"
【Human Creation Prize.】
"?" Can you elaborate a bit more on that?
【You're pregnant.】
What?!
【Before Host died, they discovered that you were three months pregnant. They took the embryo out of your body, and it survived artificial cultivation. The continuation of your bloodline can also count as the continuation of your life, so the System has judged your mission complete.】
Shang Ke was thoroughly dumbfounded.
He actually got pregnant? Pregnant!
Compared to failing his mission, learning that he was pregnant after his death made him even sadder.
If he had known earlier, would he have saved Lucian? If he didn't save Lucian, he would not only have finished the task alive, but would have even seen his child with his own eyes. Forget it, "heroic" had almost become an instinct now. If he saw someone in distress and failed to save him, he wouldn't do enough justice to the essence of "Holy Mother".
He had obtained victory, but his man who had just welcomed new life also had to cope with his death at the same time. Just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable. The only good news was that the child survived. If his one death took away two lives... Shang Ke didn't dare imagine how painful it would be for Yonis.
Shang Ke gathered up his spirits again to continue his missions and work hard to obtain reward points. All so that he could go back again!
A/N : HE.WAS.FUCKING.PREGNANT!!
Shit what a shitty timing to die : )
Hope no..He will come back to this world. Anyways....on to the next arc!