novellhall Chapter 30: Extraordinary Trait: Copper Plague
Chapter 30: Extraordinary Trait: Copper Plague
After giving the instructions, Pearson looked at the black-and-white ID photo of Ivan pasted on the document. He had a thin face, ordinary features, and a stubborn look in his eyes that was typical of young people.
He looked like an ordinary, poor student.
But what's in his blood is anything but ordinary.
Beneath the bustling city, various extraordinary factions maintain highly defined spheres of influence and rules.
This is not a single vampire, or a single witcher.
This is a freak that is simultaneously tainted with the blood of vampires, the scent of witchers, and the potions of the Healing Church.
The Red King's Labs is not afraid of any of these factions.
It's not worth getting into trouble with three different forces over a single syphilis sample.
He didn't want to provoke those powerful, wealthy aristocratic vampires who occupied the University of Sages.
I also don't want to provoke those low-life witchers who have nothing to lose and are as clingy as plaster.
Not to mention the black-robed madmen and red-robed fanatics hidden beneath the white robes of the Healing Church.
Pierson adjusted his suit jacket, straightened his crooked bow tie, and resumed his haughty tone.
"Take all the medicine off his body, and don't let him take any random medications for the next couple of days!"
Yuri has strong execution skills.
Just as Evan was getting bored, the door was pushed open not too loudly, but the rhythm of the boots on the wooden floor changed.
Evan looked up and saw Yuri walk in, followed by the freckled, robust nurse from the front desk downstairs.
Her arms were crossed over her chest; she looked more like a thug than a nurse.
"Hand over all the medicine you have on you."
Yuri's tone left no room for negotiation.
Ivan's face was grim, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Doctor, my stomach and intestines are hurting terribly. I can't live without these medications."
Yuri was silent for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on Ivan's face behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
"I will provide you with other painkillers."
Evan sighed and reluctantly pulled a small black medicine bottle from the inside pocket of his jacket.
That was the copper elixir of the Healing Church.
He unscrewed the bottle cap and poured the pills one by one onto the bed sheet, counting them while muttering to himself.
"One, two, three... thirteen pills left."
He put the pills back into the bottle, tightened the cap, and handed it to Yuri.
"Remember to return it to me."
Yuri took the bottle, didn't even look at it, and stuffed it directly into the pocket of his white coat.
"Is there anything else?"
Evan then took out a bottle of aspirin from another pocket, counted it out, and handed it over, following the same procedure.
"Is there anything else?"
Ivan hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a small bottle containing mercury pills from deep inside his pocket.
Yuri's eye twitched.
When he took the third bottle, the expression on Ivan's face had changed from "scrutiny" to "indescribable".
A strange glint, one that even he himself was unaware of, flashed in his eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses.
"How the hell have you survived until now?"
Yuri sighed inwardly.
He stuffed the three bottles into the deep pocket of his white coat, then turned and gestured for the nurse to come forward.
The freckled nurse's thick hands skillfully searched Evan's body.
From the outer pockets of a jacket to the inner pockets, from the shirt pockets to the trouser pockets.
Her movements were swift and disrespectful, as if she were rummaging through a bag of dirty clothes.
Ivan obediently raised his hands, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"That's all," the nurse told Yuri.
Yuri nodded and turned to leave.
A few minutes later, the door was pushed open again.
A medicine bottle was thrown in through the crack in the door, bounced twice on the bed sheet, and stopped.
"Take three pills each time, three times a day," the voice outside the door said calmly.
The door closed again.
In the laboratory.
Yuri placed the three medicine bottles on the workbench, lining them up in a row.
Pilsson stared at the three bottles and remained silent for ten seconds.
"How the hell has he survived this long?"
He finally uttered the words he had been holding back for so long, his voice filled with an almost absurd sense of doubt.
Yuri cleared his throat.
"He said he can't live without painkillers now. His stomach and intestines are hurting so badly he can't stand it."
He paused for a moment, then added.
"That kind of longing and fear cannot be faked."
He has worked in this industry for over ten years and has seen countless people participating in drug trials. He can tell at a glance who is genuinely in pain and who is faking it.
The barely suppressed pain on Evan's face was not an act.
"He's probably not far from death," Yuri concluded.
Pilsson glanced at the three medicine bottles and waved his hand.
He had no interest in those three medicines. A pile of mortal garbage.
……
The rest of the time was incredibly boring for Evan.
He began to regret not bringing a few books with him.
After confirming that there would be no surprise body search, Evan took out the small glass bottle of Night Demon Potion that he had just tucked into his buttocks and hid it in a more secluded place.
There were no surveillance cameras in this ward, not even a peephole.
Night Demon Potion is his last trump card.
In case of an accident at night, this bottle would allow him to navigate the darkness with ease and find a chance to escape.
Two hours passed.
The reverse effect of the b virus has been achieved.
[Stage 3 B Virus: Side Effect Reversal Completed.]
Your immunity has increased, and your constitution has been permanently increased by 0.02.
Your self-awareness has improved, and your mental strength has permanently increased by 0.02.
Ivan looked at the two lines of text and immediately laughed in anger.
"Immunity, and self-awareness?"
He mentally connected these two pieces of information with the previous prompts.
"In other words, the side effects of the B virus are: reduced host immunity and reduced host self-awareness."
"Make the host more susceptible to infection, and allow the B virus to multiply rapidly within the host and engulf it."
"And then... make the host gradually stop recognizing themselves?"
A layer of cold sweat seeped out from his back.
"Damn it. The virus is breeding poison."
"You guys are fucking inhuman!"
The logic behind this thing is more terrifying than he imagined.
They treat people as petri dishes and syphilis as nutrients, allowing the B virus to continuously engulf, multiply, and concentrate within the human body.
During this process, the host will gradually lose self-awareness and become something they want.
He secretly memorized this clue, preparing to ask Hill about it when he had the chance.
The Copper Elixir of the Healing Church, and the B Virus from the Red King's Laboratory.
The two organizations planted different seeds in ordinary people at the bottom of society.
The resulting substance from the collision of these seeds within the same body was unexpectedly stored in his control panel.
Lunch was served at 12:30 pm.
An intern in a white lab coat walked in carrying a tin tray, placed it on the bedside table, and left without saying a word.
Ivan sat up and glanced at it.
It was quite a feast.
The staple food was white bread, the kind of fine white bread baked with a golden crust, which Evan usually couldn't even bear to smell.
A glass of warm whole milk, a small dish of mashed potatoes, a sliced tomato, and a small piece of roasted carrot and beef sprinkled with rosemary.
This lunch would cost at least twenty cents outside of Goodington Street.
"The Red King Laboratory is certainly willing to invest heavily."
Evan picked up his fork and began to eat slowly.
After lunch, he was so bored that he shouted out the door.
"Doctor, could you find me some books to read?"
After waiting for about five minutes, the door was pushed open, and Yuri casually tossed in a stack of things.
A few old newspapers, two medical manuals, and three old medical textbooks.
The textbook's cover was worn out, the spine was taped back together, the pages were yellowed and brittle, and it smelled of a mixture of old paper and mothballs.
Ivan flipped through the books one by one.
He had originally planned to apply to medical school, so he had no objection to these things.
More importantly, he also possesses basic medical and chemical knowledge of the 21st century.
Many pathological descriptions that are perplexing to people of this era are easily understood by him.
For example, a manual describes the cause of "biliary disease" as "fluid imbalance and excessive black bile".
After reading a few lines, Evan matched it with cirrhosis and bile duct obstruction in modern medicine.
Time slips away unnoticed.
When the panel popped up the notification again, it was already 2 PM.
[Unknown fusion side effects reversed.]
The extraordinary trait "Copperization 0.01%" evolves into "Copper Plague 0.03%" (click to view details).
"Copper plague?"
Ivan raised an eyebrow.
He used his consciousness to open the details section.
Lines of explanatory text unfolded in my field of vision.
[Copper Plague: Transforming the body into a copper form, using copper as a carrier, it can engulf and control viruses and bacteria.]
[Every 1% progress significantly increases immunity and resilience, and permanently increases constitution by 0.03.] (The following values correspond to the preceding effects, not two separate effects.)
[Activation available when progress reaches 30%: You become immune to most viruses and bacteria, and your body can undergo localized copper formation]
[Activated when progress reaches 50%: You can condense viruses and bacteria and infect targets through scratching and biting]
[Activated when progress reaches 70%: Gain full immunity, complete copperization, and infect via copper.]
[Activation available when progress reaches 100%: Transforms the composite virus into the extremely fast-acting Copper Plague.]