My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

The atmosphere gradually became tense.

The demon of death stood not far away, its dark yellow eyes staring at the two through the eye holes of its mask.

Its body had completely stabilized, its black coat hung down, and its leather hat pulled down half of its face, giving it a sickly beauty.

It exhaled yin energy from its mouth again.

This time, the amount of yin energy spewed from the mouth of the sick and dead ghost was exceptionally large.

The yin energy didn't attack directly, but rather surrounded the ghost of the sick and dead, forming a huge circle.

The black air currents churned and spun within the circle, like a moat of black mist encircling the elusive spirit of the dead.

The disease caused the bird's beak to close shut.

It stood in the circle, motionless.

Looking at the huge circle made of yin energy, Zhang Ying felt a tightness in his chest.

How big was that circle? At least twenty meters in diameter. The concentration of yin energy was extremely high, so black that it was almost opaque, like a black wall standing around the sick and dead ghost.

Even if he mobilized all the blood he could control within his own domain, he still couldn't completely envelop all this Yin energy.

His ghostly domain could only cover a radius of ten meters, while the yin energy circle around the sick and dead ghost was several times larger than the area covered by his ghostly domain.

Just as Zhang Ying was thinking of a solution, the yin energy that had formed a circle began to spread outwards.

They spread outwards from the edge of the circle like smoke blown away by the wind, slowly but steadily. As they spread, the concentration of the yin energy decreased, changing from deep black to grayish-black, and then from grayish-black to translucent.

The translucent yin energy continued to spread, permeating in all directions.

Zhang Ying immediately realized a problem.

The disease is a deadly omen, a pre-existing virus that is about to cover the surrounding area.

Those yin energies contained smallpox virus, and once they spread in the air, it was impossible to tell with the naked eye where the virus was present and where it wasn't.

Once the surroundings are filled with invisible viruses, how is this any different from a ghost realm?

No, it's even more terrifying than the Ghost Realm.

The realm of the supernatural has at least one boundary, and this pervasive spread of the virus can reach anywhere the air can.

We can't let this cycle of death and stagnation continue any longer!

Zhang Ying gritted his teeth, squatted down, pressed one hand against the blood, and stared intently at the dead monster in front of him.

Under his control, the blood on the ground began to surge, like waves rising from a red ocean. He gathered all the blood he could mobilize within the Ghost Domain, trying to envelop the spreading Yin energy as much as possible.

The blood surged upwards in swirls, enveloping a portion of the yin energy and stripping it away from the air.

Zhang Ying condensed the blood, which was enveloped in Yin energy, into several dark red blood blades, each nearly two meters long with edges as sharp as blades.

He swung his arm violently, the blood-stained blades slashing towards the sick and dead monster.

The first bloody blade struck the chest of the sick and dead ghost.

The black coat was ripped open, the skin was torn open, and red rashes and pustules appeared at the edges of the wound.

But this time, the rashes and pustules subsided almost the same moment they appeared.

The concentration of the virus wrapped in the blood blade was too low, and the diseased lesions in the body of the Dead Ghost were suppressed before they could spread.

The wound healed twice as fast as before.

The second blood-red blade struck the same spot immediately afterward.

This time, there was only a shallow wound. The rash appeared only in a few scattered spots and disappeared in an instant.

The third, the fourth, and the fifth.

Zhang Ying unleashed all the blood-stained blades in one go.

Several slashes landed continuously on the Sickly Death Ghost, but their effect grew weaker and weaker. The first and second slashes could still cut through the skin, but after the third slash, the Blood Blade could only leave a thin white mark on the Sickly Death Ghost.

Damn it, I can't even break through their defenses!

Zhang Ying's brows furrowed tightly.

This thing's defense is growing rapidly; every attack helps it adapt, and every healing makes it more resilient.

If we keep hitting it, we won't even be able to touch the hem of its clothes, let alone hurt it.

Just as he was pondering how to kill the Sickly Death Ghost, Shen Yugang tugged at his sleeve from behind.

The force was very light, as if they had run out of strength.

Zhang Ying turned around and his eyes widened suddenly.

Small red rashes began to appear on Shen Yugang's face, neck, and the back of his hands.

The red rashes were pink and densely distributed on his skin, as if he had been bitten by countless mosquitoes.

Shen Yugang's face was pale, his lips were purple, and he looked much weaker. He swallowed hard and said:

"Brother Ying... I think... I've been infected."

His voice was hoarse and trembling.

Zhang Ying's heart sank.

"When?"

He had clearly enveloped all the spreading Yin energy, and Shen Yugang had been standing behind him, within the protective range of the Ghost Domain. How could he have been affected?

Before he could react, a strange sensation came from his body.

Zhang Ying looked down and saw that tiny red spots were starting to appear on his forearm.

Those red dots are small and light in color; you can hardly notice them unless you look closely.

But they were indeed appearing, one after another, densely covering his skin.

He also contracted the virus.

Zhang Ying forced himself to calm down, looked around, and searched for the path through which the virus had invaded.

He only realized it when his gaze fell on his feet.

The ground where he was standing, or more precisely, the blood covering the ground, had been completely stained black by the yin energy.

Black, sinister energy seeped from the ground, mixing with the loess and gravel like black veins. This energy seeped into the blood beneath Zhang Ying's feet and crept directly to the two of them.

The Yin energy exhaled by the sick and dead ghost, which spread in the air and was blocked by Zhang Ying's blood blade, was all just a feint!

Its true purpose is to conceal the yin energy it transmits to the earth!

The yin energy seeped into the ground from beneath the feet of the sick and dead ghost, and then crawled all the way down to where Zhang Ying and Shen Yugang were standing.

The smallpox virus was diluted in the air and inhaled by the two of them, one breath at a time.

Zhang Ying clenched his fists.

Damn.

They fell for the trap.

This thing never intended to launch a direct attack from the beginning. It knew that Zhang Ying's Ghost Domain could block the Yin energy from the front, so it deliberately used a large amount of Yin energy to attract attention and secretly bypassed the defense from underground.

"We have to get going!"

Zhang Ying acted decisively, grabbing Shen Yugang by the collar.

The blood remaining on the ground surged under his control, forming a crimson wave. The wave rose from beneath Zhang Ying's feet, propelling the two backward at a speed several times faster than running.

The Fever Demon watched the two walk away, its dark yellow eyes on its mask devoid of any expression.

Zhang Ying controlled the Blood Wave to retreat, crossing empty streets, turning one corner, then another. He only stopped when he was sure the figure of the Sickly Death Ghost was completely out of sight.

He leaned against the outer wall of a house and withdrew from the ghost realm.

The blood on the ground lost control, dried rapidly, and turned into a dark red mass that was scattered by the wind.

Zhang Ying was panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat.

He opened the panel.

[Sanity Value: 15]

Zhang Ying took a deep breath and turned off the panel.

Beside him, Shen Yugang slumped to the ground, head down, looking at the red rashes that were still spreading on the back of his hand.

The rash has spread from the back of my hand to my wrist, and from my wrist to my forearm. In some places, it's no longer just a rash, but has developed into pustules the size of my little finger.

Shen Yugang looked at those pustules and felt terrible.

"Brother Ying... how much longer can I hold on?" His voice was weak, as if he were asking Zhang Ying, or perhaps asking himself.

Zhang Ying remained silent.

He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the red spots on his arm. Compared to Shen Yugang, his symptoms were much milder; there were fewer rashes, they were lighter in color, and none of them developed into pustules.

The system had enhanced his physique, which to some extent suppressed the spread of the smallpox virus within his body.

However, suppression does not equal immunity; the virus is still spreading in his body, just at a slower rate than in a normal person.

Zhang Ying quickly made a mental estimate.

Based on the current rate at which the virus is spreading within his body, he can only survive for a maximum of three hours.

He turned to look at Shen Yugang.

Shen Yugang's condition was clearly worse. Pustules had begun to appear on his face, more than a dozen of them, large and small, on his forehead, cheeks, and chin, each swollen and filled with murky fluid.

His breathing became rapid, his lips were dry and cracked, and his eyes began to glaze over.

At this rate, he can only last for an hour at most.

Zhang Ying clenched his fist again.