Chapter 15 The Source of Strength

Ekaterina had now inherited the identity of "Shadow Earl" from her teacher, Master Pierre, becoming the "Second Generation" kingpin of the underworld in Lingdun.

Just as she was setting off on her honeymoon trip in the early morning, she had already instructed the Lingdun gangs to distribute the special medicine for the Red Death secretly manufactured by the Lance family.

At the same time as Suren and Ekaterina parted ways in the southern suburbs, a luxurious manor in the wealthy district north of the Rocco Valen River was filled with dozens of distraught pharmacists and noble lords.

These people were discussing how to deal with the collapsing drug market.

They woke up today to find that everything had changed.

Someone in Lingdun City was distributing medicine to treat the Red Death for free.

At first, they treated it as a joke.

Because virus experts had already said that it was impossible to develop a new special medicine for at least several years.

But to their surprise, it was true after investigation!

Someone had spread hundreds of thousands of doses of the medicine through underworld channels, and the spread of the Red Death was instantly contained.

This frightened the drug merchants who had huge stockpiles in their hands.

Because once that new special medicine came out, their [Scarlet Potion] would be worthless.

The drug merchants and the great nobles behind them busied themselves.

From morning till night, they used various policy means and public opinion slander to intercept and suppress the new special medicine everywhere.

However, because the people arranging the distribution were all major Lingdun gangs, who were originally the lowest class people most affected by the Red Death and were best at smuggling and crime.

As a result, the interception effect was not good.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on? Who released so many potions!"

"Those potions were distributed through underworld channels. I asked the police department to arrange people to investigate, but the clues they found were all fake or dead ends. No one is sure who is behind it..."

"What do you think that guy is trying to do? Even if there is a special medicine, you should at least give a price so everyone can make money. Giving it away to those poor ghosts for free, isn't that making us smash all the [Scarlet Potions] in our hands?"

"Humph! If we really find out who it is, whoever it is, we will make sure he disappears completely in Lu Ying!"

"..."

All day long, the news was bad.

These noble lords were all exasperated, and they were afraid they would suffer heavy losses this time.

No!

It was a complete loss!

The [Scarlet Potion], which was still being sold for tens of thousands a bottle yesterday, could not be sold for even a lyso today!

People were giving it away for free, how could you compete?

The only chance they could think of to turn the tables was to find the source and completely eliminate it.

Then, according to the original plan, they would let the Red Death spread again, causing a wider range of infection, the entire Lu Ying, and even poison Mafa...

In this way, the potions in their hands would still have huge profits.

But after studying for a whole day, these people still didn't understand why the person who spread the medicine behind the scenes would do such a self-defeating thing?

This move offended the entire upper class of Lu Ying. What were they trying to do?

No one could bear the consequences of this behavior of directly smashing the pot and making everyone unable to eat!

Not even the royal family!

While everyone was still discussing, they suddenly heard the sound of gunfire outside the mansion getting louder and louder.

They had heard sporadic movements more than ten minutes ago, but not only had it not stopped now.

Finally, they realized that something seemed to be wrong.

The owner of the mansion, Marquis Edward, asked, "What's going on with the gunfire in the south of the city? Has it been found out?"

Just as he said this, a servant suddenly rushed in, reporting in a panic, "My lord, something bad has happened! A big event!"

Everyone looked over in unison.

The servant gasped and said, "Urgent news has come from the south of the city. Countless mutated monsters have appeared in the city! And the police department and the military intelligence agency have also sent warnings, telling us to be careful. It seems... it seems... the appearance of those monsters is related to our [Scarlet Potion]!"

"What?!"

"A mutation incident? Didn't the police department and the military intelligence agency handle it?"

"What does it have to do with our potion?"

"..."

At this point, everyone's expression changed slightly.

But at the first moment, they didn't realize the seriousness of the matter and discussed it in a hubbub.

But suddenly, a mysterious summoning will descended without warning.

Before anyone realized what was happening, several of the dozens of people in the room had bulging veins on their faces and looked ferocious. It was as if scarlet worms were crawling under their skin, and these people also made low, beast-like roars, showing signs of mutation.

"Baron Barron, what... what's wrong with your eyes? It looks like there are worms in your eyes!"

"Viscount House, your face looks terrible, are you feeling unwell? Oh, God, don't scare me..."

"..."

These noble lords hadn't reacted to what was happening in front of them.

The few mutated people suddenly pounced on the crowd and tore at them.

Blood stained their clothes, creating a terrifying scene of wild beasts pouncing on their prey.

People died, and everyone realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Damn it! Guards! Guards!"

In an instant, the entire mansion was in chaos.

Not only these noble lords, but also some of the guards and servants outside were gradually mutating.

The sound of fighting could be heard everywhere.

Those who were bitten were quickly infected and rapidly mutated into monsters.

But after a moment of panic, the guards reacted quickly and killed the mutated people.

Blood soaked the luxurious carpet in the hall, and worms were still vibrant in the blood.

But before they had time to breathe a sigh of relief, they watched as the monsters whose heads had been smashed slowly merged, turning into a multi-limbed, mutated fusion form.

"Not good, these monsters can't be killed!"

Seeing this strange scene, while horrified, these people immediately thought of the "Rodrica Queen cruise ship incident" a month ago, in which thousands of people disappeared!

At that time, the "Lingdun Daily" and the "Queen's Metropolitan Daily" reported that one side said it was sacrificed by a cult, and the other said it was a storm accident.

The attitude of the Lu Ying royal family was also confusing, and the investigation results have not yet come out.

But seeing this scene, everyone understood who was lying!

Thinking again that the people who mutated just now were all people who had drunk the [Scarlet Potion], these greedy pharmacists knew that disaster was imminent.

Councilor Lance's previous warning was correct!

There was a big problem with this potion!

For a time, the sound of gunfire rang out everywhere.

These unkillable zombie-like mutated monsters swept through the entire Lingdun at a terrifying speed, like a tsunami.

......

After all, having experienced it himself, Suren was not too surprised to hear the sound of gunfire in Lingdun City.

But looking at the gunfire and flames that lit up all around the city, a solemn look flashed in his expression.

Those zombie-like mutated monsters infected by outer god parasites were difficult for ordinary people to kill.

Either the corpse had to be disposed of cleanly, or the parasites had to be killed with *baqi* (overlord aura).

Otherwise, they would gather into more terrifying multi-faced monsters, and their strength would snowball and become stronger and stronger.

But there weren't many *baqi* users among the 30 million people in Lingdun, and most of them were concentrated in the wealthy districts.

And precisely, the wealthy districts were heavily infiltrated by the Giant Hermit Society.

Ordinary people infected as zombies were not a big problem, but if professional-level people were infected, their ability to infect a second time would be terrifying.

Those potential high-level professional believer were the "big thunder".

And the situation in the southern city was not good either. The civilian areas were mostly ordinary people and low-level professionals. Once a zombie tide broke out in such a high-density population residential area, the consequences would be unimaginable.

In short.

Without thinking, tonight's situation would be very bad.

A lot of people were going to die.

Suren received intelligence from the Mirror Organization through the communicator at all times and also knew that the current situation in Lingdun was really very bad.

Because the Rodriguez and Ernest families were in the outer god camp, and the two congressmen had been planning for a long time, evil god believers had spread to all key departments.

At the first moment of the disaster, almost all official departments that could deal with emergencies, such as the police department, city defense, security team, emergency office, and special service department, were completely paralyzed.

There was also fierce fighting in some combat departments such as the military and the military intelligence agency.

This was just the beginning.

Now that the outer god hadn't shown up, the big change was still behind.

......

The water was very deep tonight, and Suren was not in a hurry to join the battle in the city until the situation was clear.

He walked towards the city.

As he walked, he suddenly thought of something and took out a three-pointed black light crown.

This was the [Profane Crown] he got from killing William.

He hadn't had time to take a closer look before, so now he just took it out to see.

When Suren took it in his hand, the touch was like iron but not iron. It was like holding a highly condensed mixed law item, and his entire sense became clear in an instant.

"Eh..."

He murmured softly in his heart.

Just holding the crown in his hand, it was as if the world in his eyes was different.

Earth, wind, water, fire, light, darkness... obviously, various law elements, etc., were perceived several times more clearly.

But at the same time, the feeling of having his essence extracted also came to his mind with the crown in his hand.

Suren muttered again: "What a strong curse special effect..."

Because he had a [Shroud of Oz the Ice Man] in his hand, he was very familiar with this feeling.

Looking at the attribute panel, sure enough, those data representing lifespan were being consumed at an accelerated rate.

Calculated, it was much better than the shroud, probably in the ratio of 1:10.

Wearing it for one day consumed ten days of lifespan.

But this was the most basic consumption.

If he continued to actively pour spiritual power into it, the feeling of law perception would be clearer, but lifespan consumption would also be faster.

Suren thought that William's hair was white before, probably because he had used a lot of lifespan in exchange for accelerated perception before advancing to the seventh rank.

Of course, in addition to lifespan decay, the crown also had a distorting effect on mental strength.

However, for Suren, who was already distorted, this negative mental impact was completely negligible.

With the thing in his hand, he pondered for a while, smeared a little blood to sacrifice it successfully, and put it on his head.

Then, his entire head felt as if it was constantly immersed in ice water, and the feeling of "seeing through everything" before was instantly much clearer.

It was as if he saw the rules of operation of natural laws.

Some feelings that he felt were completely ethereal before were now extremely clear, as if he could grasp them at any time.

Suren's eyes immediately became radiant: "What a strong effect!"

With this thing, he inexplicably had confidence in his heart that he would definitely be able to comprehend the domain and advance to the seventh rank.

It just depended on how much lifespan he had to consume in the end.

He casually pinched a warlock seal and released a fifth-order [Fire Python Art] technique.

After observing, Suren found that the element control ability brought by the crown made the technique's power half a rank higher than what he had mastered before.

Moreover, when he looked at the skill comprehension improvement again, there was also an abnormality.

Although people could not perceive the difference, there were detailed changes on the data panel.

Suren released a few more alchemical techniques and confirmed that it was the crown that brought the increase.

To use data as an analogy, releasing a skill proficiency used to be "+1", but now releasing a skill proficiency was "+3", "+4".

The comprehension income was several times higher.

Seeing this, Suren was greatly moved: "This Profane Crown is really a divine help for comprehending various law skills."

However, wearing it for a year would consume ten years of lifespan as a basic consumption.

Most people would be trapped at the threshold of the seventh rank for the rest of their lives.

And having this crown only meant increasing the probability of comprehending the domain, but it was not certain.

Suren only prayed that he could comprehend his domain sooner.

......

Suren was somewhat reluctant to let go and didn't plan to take it off after putting on the crown.

This feeling of mental clarity made his brain feel very happy.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to his mind, and he thought that the crown seemed to have requirements for *baqi* when it was used as an advanced material.

He tried it casually, and *baqi* surrounded his body.

Instantly, a soft sound.

He actually found that the feeling of lifespan decay had lessened?

Looking at the data, it was less than half of what it was before.

With this new discovery, Suren's eyes shone brightly, and he thought: "The Dominator species *baqi* can also suppress some of the crown's curse characteristics and reduce lifespan consumption?"

This was good news.

It also meant that he could consume less lifespan to comprehend the domain.

But after thinking about it, it was not strange.

There were very few professionals who could comprehend the "Dominator species *baqi*".

Usually, they were some high-ranking generals, emperors, and other commanding professionals who had to possess a Dominator aura.

After all, Reigadi was once a Mafa royal family, and this crown was originally worn by the emperor and his heirs, so it was reasonable to have this hidden condition.

.......

Wearing the crown seemed to make his thoughts clearer.

Suren had been walking from the southern suburbs all the way and had gradually been able to see buildings.

At this moment, the battle in Lingdun City was already very fierce, and explosions all over the city reddened half the sky.

His night vision was excellent, so he jumped onto the top of a building and had a panoramic view of the Queen's district in the southern city.

In the sky, small military airships were floating around the city, shouting to the residents of the city with loudspeakers.

"Everyone should try to stay at home and keep their doors closed!"

"Monsters will revive after being killed, so don't kill them if you can avoid it, please try to avoid them!"

"Everyone should not gather in densely populated areas!"

"..."

These precautions were being played in a loop on the radio.

The disaster had only been happening for half an hour, and being able to react so quickly and inform the whole city of the characteristics of the monsters must be the opposition alliance of Lance and Raphael.

The monsters on the street could not threaten the airships for the time being, but still, he could see rocket launchers of unknown origin firing from the streets and shooting down the airships. Then there was another fierce battle.

The battle was not only between humans and monsters, but also between humans and outer god believers.

Looking up at the sky, the moonlight also presented a strange blood red color, shining on the fog that filled the Lingdun area, as if covering the entire city with a layer of blood-colored gauze.

Suren identified it and it showed [Moonlight with slight mental pollution].

The reddish moon in Lingdun had been there since the Red Death began to spread. Tonight's red was the most bewitching, and it also exposed the effect of pollution. It was not difficult to see that this was the means of the outer god.

"Polluted the moon?"

Suren murmured, inexplicably thinking of a familiar person's methods.

After asking about the situation on Mr. Black's side, he learned that the members of the Dawn Organization had already arrived and were trying to solve the monsters.

Screams were heard one after another in the streets, and the streets were full of wandering zombies. In the hazy fog, he could already see many tall "Hundred-Faced Monsters" and "Thousand-Faced Monsters".

Suren planned to join Mr. Black and the others.

Today's situation could not be reversed by individual heroism. Only by gathering strength together could he protect himself and solve some problems.

Just in the short time he was communicating, suddenly, hundreds of panicked civilians rushed out of a foggy street corner not far away.

This was the Tanner Street of Queen's District's Newmant Avenue, one of the oldest areas of the city, and also one of the most densely populated areas.

"Run away! The monsters are catching up!"

The crowd ran out in panic.

Behind them, a group of zombie monsters were chasing after them relentlessly.

Because it was the suburbs, a monster attack suddenly broke out, and a large number of residents were running wildly in the streets, looking like they wanted to escape from the city.

People in the crowd were constantly mutating. Although a few low-level professionals fired back at the monsters, not only were the monsters not killed, but their numbers were also increasing, chasing closer and closer.

The unknown fear that the people around them might mutate at any time filled people's eyes with panic and despair.

The crowd rushed past, and seeing someone "silly" standing there on the street, a kind-hearted uncle anxiously pulled him, while urgently shouting: "Young man, don't stand there, run! If those monsters bite you, you will turn into a monster!"

Suren didn't leave.

The uncle didn't have time to say a second sentence and could only run away anxiously and helplessly.

The crowd ran past him, but he still stood there quietly.

Until an instant, a zombie pounced over with its teeth bared. Suren's eyes suddenly sharpened, *baqi* surrounded his body, and he rushed towards the monster herd.

Although tonight's events could not be reversed by individual ability, he still planned to solve the immediate problem first.

Moreover, seeing those monsters, he also planned to confirm a guess.

These were all first-order mutated monsters, which posed no threat to high-level professionals and could be blown away with one punch.

Suren rushed into the monster tide, like a killing god, and could kill several monsters with one punch.

Those monsters smelled the breath of living people and swarmed over.

There was no need for Suren to chase them down. In just a few encounters, he smashed the monster herd into a pile of broken limbs and flesh.

Hundreds of zombies died cleanly.

Not far away, the crowd that had been running out of breath was stunned.

In the foggy streets, the strange sounds were getting louder and louder, and it seemed that more monsters were涌出来. These people did not dare to stay any longer, and after repeatedly thanking Suren, they ran away towards the suburbs in a panic.

Suren looked at the few monsters that were chasing after them, and a flash of inspiration came to his mind, so he waved the Black Scythe and cut them all in two.

This kind of simple physical attack could not completely kill those monsters. He didn't look at them any more, and with a condensed technique, he raised one hand forward: "Void Blood Devour!"

In an instant, a spatial vortex formed, and a huge void suction force sucked in the scarlet debris of the surrounding monsters.

Before long, the life essence was sucked dry, leaving behind a pile of impurity powder on the ground.

After digesting the life essence, Suren frowned slightly, seeming to have discovered something abnormal.

Just in the time it took to devour, the three monsters that had been cut open by the Black Scythe not far away had also merged and condensed into a three-faced, six-armed zombie and stood up.

Suren raised his eyebrows, teleported over and blew it up with one punch.

He once again used the [Blood Devour] ability to devour those remains with red worms.

In an instant, his blood and energy were abundant, and his face was slightly flushed.

After carefully identifying the changes in the blood and power data, he finally confirmed something and muttered to himself with a radiant expression: "Sure enough, these evil god parasites have a very high level of life, far exceeding that of creatures of the same level. The life essence of multi-faced monsters is also more than the life essence of several individual zombies combined."

He had this guess when he harvested the demon monk Las Vegas before.

Now it was certain.

He still needed a large section of power attributes before the fusion of [Isaac's Giant Strength] could reach the threshold. He had previously obtained a few [Blood Refining Crystal Cores] by chance, which had soared a large section.

After that, he never found the crystal core again, and the improvement had been slow.

Suren estimated that it would take at least a year and a half to meet the conditions if he absorbed it slowly.

But now, he saw a new way.

That was to absorb the outer god parasites in these mutated monsters.

Although the current situation was unclear, it was certain that the more monsters he absorbed, the less the outer god would recover its strength!

Moreover, Suren had also just discovered that the comprehension effect of the [Profane Crown] would be doubled during combat.

No matter what stage a professional was at, as long as it required comprehension and understanding, combat was the best shortcut.

Combat + Crown = Multiple Shortcuts!

Now was a disaster, but it also contained opportunities.

......

Thinking of this, Suren immediately dialed Mr. Black's communicator and asked, "Mr. Black, do you know where the monsters are most concentrated in the city now? I have an idea..."

This was a very dangerous plan. Once the outer god noticed that someone was digging at its foundations, it would definitely focus on him.

But at the same time, it might not be an opportunity.

Suren was not a weakling. To kill him, at least a seventh-rank professional was required.

And he was not alone. Even a seventh-rank professional could not kill him.

Once an eighth-rank expert from the Giant Hermit Society came, or the outer god descended in person, Master Pierre and Mr. Mirror and other top professionals would naturally take care of them.

The current situation was that the longer it dragged on, the more people would be polluted by the outer god, and the stronger the outer god would become.

An early decisive battle might not be a bad thing!

Opportunities and risks coexist.

If Suren could plunder enough blood from the outer god in the fierce battle, he could not only weaken the enemy's strength but also greatly shorten the time it took to fuse the Giant Armor.

With the blessing of the crown, he might not be able to comprehend a "great opportunity" in this crisis-ridden battle!