I'm a villain, not a devil

Chapter 735 The Sudden Outburst of the Curse

The spread of Elisa Lam's illness was much faster than expected.

The next day, when Sean went to look for her again, he discovered that her degree of mechanization had accelerated suddenly. At present, the mechanization that started from her left hand had spread to her entire upper body.

It was this rapidly spreading symptom that also caused Elisa Lam to develop other symptoms.

The movements of her entire upper body began to be restricted, the joints of her arms became difficult to move, and even her chest experienced abnormal floating when she breathed.

The mechanized bones in Elisa Lam's body showed signs of drifting and rusting.

However, in the previous half month, only half of Elisa Lam's left arm had been mechanized. After only one day, the speed of spread should not have increased that much.

Sean realized that Elisa Lam's curse might not be directed at him, but because of some special characteristics of him, the speed of the curse's onset suddenly accelerated.

Instead, I became the source of the curse?
However, just as Sean was pondering how this could have happened, something even more serious occurred.

The curse in Elisa Lam's soul finally became contagious.

On the third day, when Sean went to see Elisa Lam again, her personal maid fell at the door while holding a tea tray - those who were able to serve as maids for Elisa Lam had undergone rigorous training, and even Sean had reviewed it, so it was unlikely that such a low-level mistake would occur.

As the maid apologized repeatedly, Sean checked her.

It was discovered that the other party began to show mechanized symptoms from the toes, and the speed of the spread was equally terrifying. The maid who was fine the day before, after not being seen for a night, the bones of both calves had turned brass-colored.

Realizing that something was wrong, Sean immediately ordered the closure of the manor where Elisa Lam was living. During the inspection, he found that all the people in the manor showed symptoms of mechanization.

Even Bai Ye was alarmed, and Her Majesty the Queen quickly rushed over with elite doctors from the Imperial Medical Department.

However, examinations by the empire's top medical equipment and medical personnel did not bring any good news; even the method of transmission was not figured out.

The manor was quarantined, with dense crowds of medical personnel moving around in it.

Bai Ye stood outside an isolation room. She watched the medical staff inside examine several infected people while she said to Sean beside her: "We have used all the available detection methods, but still can't find the way of transmission. Could it be that this is really the legendary soul infection?"

The so-called soul infection is just a weird saying circulating in this world. There are many things more mysterious than this. Of course, all these sayings have the same thing in common - scary, weird, and almost unsolvable.

Sean just frowned slightly, but relaxed a little after hearing Bai Ye's words: "If there really is something that can be transmitted through the soul, then this world would have ceased to exist long ago."

Bai Ye turned his head and looked at him: "That's true...but the problem is that Elisa Lam's symptoms are the most serious. If we can't find a solution, once mechanization spreads to the whole body and the muscles and skin begin to be affected, I'm afraid the situation will be irreversible."

Sean nodded slightly. He looked at the medical staff and said after thinking for a moment, "In that case, get your people out first. I have a bad feeling."

"They are all wearing the most advanced isolation equipment, so it shouldn't be that serious..."

Apparently, as for.

Sean's premonition came true that night. Some of the medical staff who went to check began to show mechanical symptoms. By the next day, the number of infected people had doubled, and only a single-digit number of lucky people were left among that group of medical staff.

"Something bad is going to happen..." Upon receiving the news, Sean immediately went to check. All the infected people had been isolated, but no one dared to approach.

Bai Ye's expression was extremely ugly: "The isolation equipment that the empire already has is useless... Almost all the people who have had close contact with him have been infected..."

Sean also frowned. This was the first time he encountered such a tricky curse.

At present, the infected people do not seem to be normal, but when the mechanization completely spreads throughout the body, it is likely that they will explode directly and there will be no chance of rescue.

"Is the manor under quarantine?" Sean reminded.

Bai Ye nodded: "I gave the order when I received the news. The East City District has been blocked by the Imperial Army. However, three days have passed, and the mobility of people in the East City District has always been high. I am worried that the infected have appeared in other corners of the imperial capital."

"At least you reacted quickly... What happened to the few medical staff who weren't infected?"

Bai Ye replied: "After a preliminary look, those who were not infected were basically the weak ones. Their implanted prostheses seemed to be immune to this curse. Of course, it is also possible that the mechanized characteristics just happened to appear on their prostheses, making it difficult to distinguish. There are still two vetoes left, one at the middle level of the king level, and the other at the peak of the king level. It seems that powerful strength can also isolate the curse to some extent."

The weak and the poor will not be affected... Sean said thoughtfully: "Isolate them first, especially the two vetoers, and see what level the curse can affect at most."

Bai Ye said: "I have already given the order, but the biggest problem is that we don't know what serious problems will be caused after the mechanization is fully completed. Not only is there no treatment method, but we don't even know how it is transmitted - is it possible that the city that brought the curse to Elisa Lam has already begun to have problems?"

Both of them knew the seriousness of the question. Sean replied, "When I found out about it, I had already sent Cheryl and Moza to that city to investigate. With their speed, they should be able to bring back some useful information by tomorrow at the earliest, or the day after tomorrow at the latest. Tsk, please, I'll go find the infected person to check."

However, the severity of the matter exceeded Sean's expectations.

By the fifth day, Moza and Cheryl had not returned yet, but the infection in the imperial capital had already broken out.

Elisa Lam's condition was the worst, with only her head left unmechanized. At the moment, she could hardly move, and every breath required a huge amount of physical strength. At the same time, mechanization began to show surface characteristics, starting with the source. Elisa Lam's left hand had been completely dyed a metallic brass color, and no matter what tests were done, it could not be distinguished from metal.

This time, even Sean didn't dare to cut off Lam's hand for examination. The whole hand was mechanized, and he didn't know whether the regeneration of the severed arm would cause any trouble.

He took a piece of Lam's brass nail for testing and found that the metal was ordinary Tongzi alloy, one of the most common metal materials in mechanical equipment. It was incomprehensible that human tissue suddenly turned into brass, but even though Sean stayed by Lam's side and used his mental power to pay attention to her every moment, he could not detect any changes in this mechanization.

The transformation of cells into metal should take a process, and the energy involved will not remain unchanged, but this curse is so unreasonable that even Sean cannot detect any change in the energy.

It's like energy comes out of nowhere and disappears out of nowhere.

While Elisa Lam’s symptoms were not a big problem, the real problem was that the curse had already begun to erupt in full force.

Since yesterday, a specially set up medical team has received many patients from Dongcheng District. The symptoms of all of them are the same, only they can vaguely feel the mechanization, and this mechanization is spreading rapidly.

The number of infections surged to more than 20,000 in just one day.

These people were arranged in several aristocratic manors that Bai Ye had forcibly emptied. However, by the next day, the manors were no longer able to accommodate them.

The number of infections directly exceeded 100,000.

At the same time, worse news came.

The two king-level medical personnel who were not originally infected finally showed symptoms of mechanization in the early morning of the same day. They were also infected, but because of their strong strength, they were able to suppress themselves in the early stage and did not show it. As time went on, their strength could no longer be suppressed.

"The infection can no longer be suppressed. There is still no definite route of infection. What we can observe at present is that the weak and the poor are indeed not affected, and the infection basically occurs within the range of close contact - but all isolation equipment is useless..."

Bai Ye, who had a big head, stroked her forehead. Just now, she had ordered the city to be closed.

The weak who cannot be infected have become the main force. However, the number of the weak has always been smaller than that of the Vetoes. After all, not everyone can afford expensive prostheses.

If the entire imperial capital fell, it might mean that about 90% of the people would turn into metal, which would be a catastrophic disaster.

Her Majesty the Queen knew very well that such a strange way of infection could not be completely isolated artificially. Perhaps in other corners of the city, there were already unknown infected people who were about to show symptoms.

Sean also frowned. This feeling of being out of control was what he hated the most. Moreover, he had just boasted to Elisa Lam a few days ago, but now she was lying in bed unable to move. How embarrassing.

He tapped the table with his knuckles and said thoughtfully, "At present, it seems that Elisa Lam is the one who caused the infection, but the source of the infection should still be in that city. If Moza and Cheryl don't come back tomorrow, I will go there myself. However, I suspect that we have been infected a long time ago."

Bai Ye frowned: "You mean, our souls are actually infected with this curse, but our strength is stronger, so it hasn't erupted yet?"

Sean nodded slightly: "That's about it. I do have the ability to isolate this curse, but I suspect that the aura of this curse has already entangled me. This also means that even if I am not affected, my actions may affect others."

Bai Ye was a little bit unbelievable: "It's so weird... But it doesn't make sense. With such a powerful curse, why haven't we seen any relevant information? Moreover, the mechanization of the human body is not a simple transformation. It also requires energy changes. With so many people in the city, where can so much energy come from?"

Sean said thoughtfully: "Except for gods, I can't imagine any other powerful being who can have such means... I thought it was not aimed at me before, but looking at the current situation, it is aimed at me - after Elisa Lam came into contact with me, the speed of infection increased by more than ten times."

Bai Ye frowned. "But even if there really is a god in the dark who takes action, how can he ensure that this curse will only be fully activated after encountering you? Something that acts on the soul level, even if it needs a trigger to explode, then this trigger can only be related to you, right?"

Bai Ye's meaning was very simple. In today's world, gods could not descend, so logically no one could get anything related to Sean's soul. Moreover, Sean's strength was there, and if someone wanted to use his soul to cause trouble, they had to get past him first.

This is also what Sean is confused about. He can do anything to other people, but why can the other party make this curse start to erupt rapidly only after encountering him?
"Could it be... something left over from my previous life... After all, the soul remains unchanged, only the memory and body are lost..." Sean thought to himself. Now, the only thing that could be used to tamper with something related to his soul without his knowledge could only be something left over from his previous life.

Just as the two were thinking about the problem, Shadow came and reported a piece of news.

The first dead person appeared.

"The old chef at Ms. Lam's estate was one of the first to be diagnosed with the symptoms. However, an hour ago, his mechanization had not yet spread to his entire body, and the coverage was about 70 percent, and only his bones showed symptoms of mechanization. However, according to the report, a few dozen minutes ago, his mechanization suddenly accelerated, and within a few minutes, metal features appeared on his body surface."

"When I arrived, he had completely transformed into a brass robot. Not only was he mechanized, his original human features had also changed. For example, his chest cavity had inexplicably extra gears, cores and other structures, corresponding to his original internal organs."

After listening to Shadow's report, Sean and Bai Ye's expressions became more solemn.

Sean asked, "He has completely turned into a robot... Does he still have any signs of movement after turning into a robot?"

Shadow shook his head. "After that, he completely lost his breath of life, and those mechanical structures showed no signs of autonomous movement. It is worth mentioning that the chef was not the one with the most serious symptoms at the beginning, but he has a warm and gentle personality. In the past two days, he has been cooking for others despite his inconvenient body. In the morning, noon and evening, he would distribute food in the hall of the manor."

Sean narrowed his eyes slightly: "In other words, he is the one who has the most contact with the infected people?"

"You can understand it this way..." Shadow paused halfway through his speech, and then his expression changed.

The shadows around flickered, and disappeared from the spot in an instant.

"Shadow?" Bai Ye called out in confusion. She didn't notice any danger, and even if there was danger, Sean was by her side.

Shadow's slightly solemn voice came from the shadow under the table: "I must stay away from you..."

"Why, Shadow, you..." Bai Ye suddenly paused and his pupils suddenly shrank.

Shadow said in a deep voice: "I sensed the emergence of mechanization, and it began to spread from my fingertips. I was infected, Your Majesty, Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)