The Last Gentleman

[Wendell Town]is only a three-hour drive from Zion.

After obtaining partial information from the butler, Yi Chen had planned to wait for Edmund’s return to discuss further, as his arm had healed, leaving only the issue of repayment.

This was an event mission recognized by the organization, so it shouldn’t pose too great a problem.

However,

When Jin heard that the incident might be related to firearms, a modern invention, he sensed danger and interest and spontaneously requested to go as a supporter of “Cesimani.”

Since he had always been saying “next time for sure” lately, and considering the site wasn’t very far, he agreed to respond.

The two quickly rented a speed-type carriage and rushed to their destination.

Upon arrival in the town and seeing patients whose bodies had ominously morphed into gun-like structures, Jin’s excitement peaked.

Disguised by their clothing and concealed by the night, they silently approached the weapons factory.

Through extending plants carrying small grapes, they observed various rooms and quickly located the position of Edmund and another individual.

…

[Employee Rest Room-03]

The iron door was sealed, with no sound coming from outside.

Dagbert was already able to move normally, currently trying to maneuver his arm to swing his great sword.

Meanwhile,

Jin leisurely leaned against the door, fiddling with some meat pellets whose origin was unknown, feeding them to Xiaopei on his shoulder.

Yi Chen was attending to Edmund’s wounds in his waist and abdomen, where a substantial amount of new flesh had grown and suppressed the pain.

“Edmund, what kind of patient is hidden in this factory to have injured you so severely? But it’s odd, there’s no chase or search for you.”

“It’s confirmed, it’s a quite special and rare Severe Patient, or rather a ‘Sick Object’.”

“What!?”

Yi Chen widened his eyes at this term, even Jin paused his feeding.

Sick Object, a term Yi Chen had come across in books, literally meant diseased material, broadly referring to unconscious materials imbued with pathological contamination.

Such unconscious materials needed to be divided into two types:

1. Unconscious organic materials such as plants, fungi, etc.

2. Inorganic materials such as rocks, steel, water, etc.

Extensive research had shown that the closer to humans, the greater the likelihood of being infected and impacted by pathology, and vice versa.

Hence, especially with inorganic materials, the probability of being affected by pathology is very low, and even if they are invaded by pathology, they usually do not undergo significant changes.

Yet in certain extreme, special, or accidental situations, inorganic materials may have a small chance of undergoing complete pathologization,

Once it overcomes the infection phase, it will become an existence equivalent to a Patient, which is what a ‘Sick Object’ is.

Unlike Patients, since inorganic materials inherently lack consciousness, their awareness is only born at the moment they become ‘Sick Objects,’ beginning to recognize and adapt to the current world.

Therefore, the nature of the ‘Sick Object’ itself determines whether they are dangerous or harmful to the world.

For example, a Sick Object that was a stone may remain neutral, you could walk past it or even sit on its head without any reaction.

Unless you take a miner’s pick to its body, which may cause emotional turmoil, and it would attack you out of a defensive instinct.

However,

For modern industrial products defined by war and slaughter like firearms, once transformed into Sick Objects, the consciousness that births also associates with war and slaughter.

They would indiscriminately kill other organisms, whether Patients or non-Patients, deriving satisfaction from the slaughter, gaining an understanding of the world, and improving themselves.

Another point needs stressing,

There is a fundamental difference between ‘Non-Normality Patients’ and ‘Sick Objects’,

The former can only be fully formed in severely pathologized environments or Gray Domains following human activity, remnants of corpses, or even through subjective creation by Open Source Patients.

Although their bodies contain inorganic materials, they possess human body shapes, have a higher human composition, and sustain sound human consciousness and thought patterns.

For example, the doctors and nurses of the Twilight Clinic, who were largely designed by Moon Scar herself, formed in conjunction with moonlight baths and the effects of pathologization.

Thus, it was categorized among the “patients.”

The Sick Objects, in terms of formation difficulty and material content, are a step higher; they can be described as ‘naturally occurring’ pathological products, extremely rare and difficult to deal with.

Moreover, their value far exceeds that of the patients; among gentleman, they are even referred to as ‘dangerous treasures’.

…

“It’s surprising that a Sick Object with a gun as its essence was born here, and the degree of pathologization has reached severe~ Luckily, listening to Ting Jin’s persuasion to come support you all, otherwise it would have been really dangerous.

What is the opponent’s shape, attack patterns, and infection mode? Have you figured it out yet?”

Edmund, however, lit a cigarette, and said somewhat helplessly:

“So far, we and another team have still not confirmed the ‘true form’ of the Sick Object. We only know it conceals itself between factories, rapidly transferring to any ordinary firearm, and shooting ‘bullets’ at us.

I have even been forced to throw away the pistol I carried with me.”

The classic sidearm that should have been attached to Edmund’s waist was already gone.

“The essence can freely transfer to any firearm… This is really restrictive for you, no wonder it pushed both your teams into a dangerous situation.

By the way, is there anything particular about the bullets it fires?”

“Extremely accurate, and they change trajectory mid-flight.

The bullets that Dagbert could originally block with his great sword can change trajectory at the last moment before touching the sword, curving around the great sword to hit the flesh.

As long as one is within its range, it’s nearly impossible to dodge.

Once hit, the bullet will embed in the flesh, rapidly drawing the iron elements from the blood, leading to an individual’s death by hypoxia.

After the individual dies, the bullet transforms into a ‘Pathogen,’ enslaving the corpse to become an infected; the body actively consumes metal to increase its iron content and develop a gun barrel structure.

Just as you saw on the way here, all are residents turned to living corpses by getting shot.

This thing inherits the essence of firearms, killing repeatedly to gain strength… If it leaves here, a small town or even a city could swiftly be slaughtered.

It can also materialize the essence of firearms as ‘Open Source’.”

“Hmm… auto-aiming, essence transfer, and bullet infection~ and it’s situated in such a gun factory, holding a complete geographical advantage, what a nuisance.

Jin, do you have any thoughts?”

“I’m not very good at dealing with ‘non-blood-and-flesh’ things. However, this kind of Sick Object, with its innate gunpowder, might be susceptible to my Red Lotus.

Wait for me a moment, I’m going out to test just how accurate this ‘auto-aim’ really is.”

Jin directly tore off the Sealing Talisman Paper from the iron door and walked out of the room with great swagger.

“Hey! It’s very dangerous…”

Edmund wanted to stop her, but was interrupted by Yi Chen.

“It’s okay, let her go.”

About ten seconds passed, and three consecutive gunshots were heard outside, accompanied by the sound of a chicken clucking.

Jin returned to the room quickly,

with little Pei on her shoulder in a startled fluffed-up state.

“Phew! It was indeed dangerous, one of the bullets nearly grazed past my pant leg, almost hitting me… I tried to catch the bullet but couldn’t succeed.

Just like this guy said, guns in different positions all fired at me.

But they didn’t fire simultaneously, instead, there was a certain time interval~ otherwise, I really couldn’t have dodged.

William, I can’t resolve this incident alone, shall we tackle it together? It will be much easier for me with someone else drawing the fire.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

After this discussion,

Edmund and Dagbert looked at this rainbow-masked gentleman with an incredulous expression, recognizing him perhaps as an assessment candidate from the same batch, but had not seen him afterward.

“William, who is this exactly…?”

“Jin Almeda, my teammate from the last mission, from Cesimani~ Moreover, I have thought of a way to breakthrough now.”

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