About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"I'm not very optimistic. To be honest, the clinical features of this oripathy infection are somewhat different from those of previous oripathies."

“Not quite the same…?”

Orson frowned, indicating that he did not understand what Kal'tsit said. Although Orson had also studied some books and documents related to oripathy, it turned out that Kal'tsit had the absolute say in this matter.

"Simply put, those infected with Originopathy in Colombia are experiencing a rapid progression of their infection. Those already infected are actually in better condition than the newly infected. If it weren't for the accumulation of more effective and rapid methods for treating Originopathy, perhaps half of Colombia would have become a graveyard of Originium crystal corpses by now."

Kal'tsit's tone was very calm, but the words that came out of her mouth made Orson frown.

Although it may sound strange to say this, for Orson or anyone else, 'ore disease' is a coordinate that does not move. It does not select objects, nor does it change. It is like some kind of physical law or mathematical formula that exists in the world of Terra.

But... if Kal'tsit's words were correct, this meant that even the final 'benchmark' had changed.

Ore sickness, Originium infection—even these benchmarks have mutated. In other words, some of the "logic" at the bottom of this world may have collapsed.

"God, are those ancient gods awakening...?"

The ghost shark on the side said this sentence, which Orson seemed to have heard a long time ago.

"Aha……"

Orson sighed. He didn't like this sentence, but judging from Terra's current performance in all aspects, he might have to admit that this sentence reflected some realities that had already happened.

"In short, in Colombia, all we can do is try to keep the government running. If we rely solely on Rhodes Island, our stockpile of medicine and medical equipment won't last long."

Orson sighed. Rhodes Island was really just a pharmaceutical company after all. All they could do was suppress the mineral infection and keep the victims of the disaster alive as much as possible. Apart from that, there was nothing else Rhodes Island could do. After all, this place still belonged to Columbia.

However, the problem is that most of Colombia is currently suffering from "attacks" to varying degrees. In order to avoid sudden natural disasters, most mobile city-states have to move their cities, which naturally brings with it a lot of problems such as national borders, national security, and public dissatisfaction.

This is the case in Colombia. The government is already overwhelmed with dealing with more urgent internal situations, and has no time to deal with the devastating disaster in these border city-states.

In fact, this kind of thing is happening in every corner of the Terra continent at this moment.

"In that case, hurry up, Orson."

Ghost Shark interrupted Orson's words. She took the container containing the sea monster fragments from Aoshen, opened it and held it in her hand.

This is the final fragment. The purpose of those deep-sea cults, buried at the end of the deep sea, will soon be revealed.

"Well……"

"Tina!?"

The ghost shark holding the fragment lost consciousness and slowly lay on the bed. Orson immediately went over to ask about its condition.

"Don't worry, her vital signs are all normal. She's probably just using the most efficient method her body and mind finds to read the fragments of past data."

Kal'tsit spoke calmly, with a hint of unhappiness in her tone.

"I see... Well, as Tina said, time is running out, so I should take the initiative to find her."

Orson thought of something, he waved to Kal'tsit, and before the latter could react, he placed his hand on the palm of the Ghost Shark and activated his tuning ability.

--------

"Wow..."

Physical sensation and consciousness are divided into two straight lines, like two race tracks.

Orson clearly felt that the car on the track called "consciousness" was speeding, while the old car on the track called "body" was staying in place and still in the ignition stage, and was left far behind.

Then, consciousness crashed into a pool of liquid at full speed.

"Pfft!!"

Orson emerged his head from the sea of consciousness and kept looking around.

At this moment, he was standing on the endless blue ocean. There were not even any reefs around him. All he could see was the sea level.

At the dividing line between sky and water, Orson noticed the sky, and above the endless ocean was the dark Milky Way.

The black curtain completely covered the sky, and the white stars dotted the black like sparkling sugar grains, and then gathered into a river, which was reflected in the river in the sky.

"Wow..."

Orson sighed, after all, the scene at this moment was something that could not exist in Terra.

Most of Terra's "oceans" are false, and those real oceans only breed pure malice.

The 'sky' of Terra is also a veil of disguise, and within it there are no stars or galaxies that could illuminate the darkness.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

A familiar voice suddenly came from beside Orson. It was the doctor.

"Bo, Doctor—!"

Orson widened his eyes. This was clearly within the Ghost Shark's consciousness, but he couldn't see the nun. Instead, he met the Doctor again.

"Haha, since your girlfriend number 0 is still dormant, I'll be filling in for you~"

The doctor said, waving to Orson with his usual bright and playful smile.

"Top shift... Um, is Tina okay?"

"Tina - cough cough cough, it's only been a few days, Orson, you really are a Teddy that cannot be underestimated...hahahaha"

The doctor gave a smile that suggested something bad, while Orson rubbed his hair feeling a little embarrassed, but was too lazy to refute this guy.

"Anyway, since you're already here, then—I'll summarize all the information I know and tell you about these monsters that are pursuing the origin of the deep sea."

The doctor put away her frivolous smile and sat in the air very naturally, acting like a lecturer.

Orson didn't feel it was that strange, after all, the two of them were standing on the sea at that time.

"Well, first of all—the current Terra is actually what's called the [Second Round]. This means that before these civilizations, this world actually had its first indigenous people."

"Is it... human?"

Orson responded softly, and the Doctor nodded.

"Yes, humans. The same race as me, but these humans are subtly different from the world I originally lived in."

The doctor looked at Orson with a somewhat lonely expression.

"After I realized I might be the last [human], I began searching for any relevant information I could find, whether it was sarcophagi, ancient ruins, the Tower of Babel, or the Yan Nation's library—I collected information about the history of this world, while also frantically utilizing my own 'original memories' to minimize future tragedies."

"But... ha, my running around was meaningless in the end. I didn't save anything. The Tower of Babel was still destroyed, the Che City laboratory team was wiped out again, and the meaningless war between Ursus and Casimir continued - even you, Orson. I couldn't even save you."

The doctor looked at Orson. Her expression at this moment didn't seem like she was narrating, but more like a confession of self-abandonment.

"I?"

"In order to provide energy for my life support device—the transcriptional fusion module—you contracted a severe case of oripathy. The only thing I could do was transfer my own blood to you, but this inevitably caused rejection. So in the end... I used blood from the deep sea as a glue, transforming you into a bodyless, cursed chimera."

Chimera - this is the origin of my race.

Orson was stunned for a moment, but soon he frowned and looked at the doctor with a firm expression.

"That's not the case, Doctor! This is not a curse! You truly saved me, and that's why I'm able to stand here and witness so many miracles around me!"

"—"

Orson's words sounded very plain, yet reassuring.

"...Yeah, Orson, I'm sorry I said something that made you angry."

The doctor's eyes widened, then he smiled and shook his head.

That’s right, this is the boy. He will never care about what he has lost, but will only be grateful for and protect what he has.

"In short, the key to humanity's extinction is Originium—humans invented this substance, a "high-quality energy source" that contains a large amount of energy but has no side effects on humans, and deployed it in various places for use."

"While Originium doesn't infect humans, its use can cause natural disasters. Countless natural disasters have destroyed Earth's ecology and wiped out all of humanity. This marks the end of Act 1."

"Afterwards, the creatures that had previously escaped the first round in the deep sea were exposed to the faint radiation from the Calamity Originium. Some of them chose to step onto land, while others chose to remain in the deep sea."

"Those lives that made their way to land absorbed the genetic heritage of 'beasts' and inherited a large amount of 'human' DNA, but they also lost their resistance to Originium infection. Thus, they eventually evolved into the 'humans' of today's Terra."

"However... Originium infection didn't become the key to ending the tragedy. The 'people of the second round' realized the significance and value of Originium, risked infection, and embarked on the same path as humans, starting a new round of destruction."

"[The Wrath of the Ancient Gods]—this is actually nothing more than the world's rejection of Originium. Natural disasters, Originium worms, the reawakening of the Sea Heirs in the deep sea... all of this is the world's attempt to cull these 'heretic creatures.'"

The doctor calmly told Orson about the past and future of this world.

"In other words... if the Originium can be eliminated, the culling in this world will be alleviated?"

Orson proposed a solution after thinking about it, and the doctor nodded.

"Ah, in a sense, Originium is the root of everything. After all, this so-called Originium is actually the energy of the planet's origin."

"In that case——"

"—Even so, this is not your mission, Orson."

The doctor interrupted Orson, she moved closer to Orson, stretched out her arms and gently hugged the boy.

"You've done well enough, Orson. You don't need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. That's not something a human should shoulder. You can just call it a day and let those self-proclaimed exploitative, immortal old men deal with this mess."

The doctor spoke softly, and Orson could tell from the other party's tone that the doctor was not joking.

She sincerely hoped that she could extricate herself from this "mess" and live an ordinary life from now on, just like the young man who first lived in the North.

This is indeed what Orson wanted. The young man has never felt satisfied or excited about the "power" he holds. All he has always wanted is an ordinary life with his companions.

but……

"I will continue, Doctor. This is not only to carry on the will that you failed to complete, but also my own will - I want to save the world because the people I love are here."

"...You haven't changed at all. No, you've become much more handsome than before."

"Then, let's go to the Land of Beginning and End. There, perhaps we can put an end to all the disputes caused by the Originium."

The doctor let go of Orson and gave him a coordinate.

"Thank you, Doctor. The fact that I can meet you is surely the result of my luck accumulated over countless generations, past lives, and past lives before that."

Orson looked at the Doctor and said with a smile.

"It's the same for me. Even though I came to this world inexplicably and can't change anything, because of your existence, I have meaning."

The doctor responded with a smile, then looked at Orson.

"But—you bear not only the original sin of humanity, but also the original sin of Originium creation. Do you know what this means?"

"Hmm...are there more people who like bad boys?"

Orson joked like this, then wrote down the coordinate nodes and waved his hand as he left the deepest part of his consciousness.

"..."

——Then it’s time for me to make up my mind.

Looking at the ripples that were originally spreading outward from where Orson was standing, the doctor seemed to have made some kind of decision.

06. Dragon Gate

"Well……"

In a daze, Orson regained consciousness, but he never saw Ghost Shark in Ghost Shark's consciousness until the end. It felt like the Illya movie.

"Tina?"

Orson supported his body with one hand and rubbed his eyes in confusion with the other hand, while softly asking the nun who was still lying on the bed with her eyes slightly closed.

At this time, Ghost Shark still had not regained consciousness, but judging from the steady pulse on the monitoring machine and the indifferent expression on his face, Ghost Shark should be simply sleeping, and not being haunted by some nightmares like before.

Today, the Ghost Shark is no longer eroded by nightmares. She has slowly gotten rid of what the Deep Sea Church had done to her, but it will probably take a very long time to repair her damaged soul.

"How's it going, Orson?"

After confirming Orson's return, Kal'tsit breathed a sigh of relief and went over to ask Orson if he had found any useful information.

"Well... I received a set of coordinates."

Orson casually picked up the medical record beside him, turned to a blank page and wrote down the coordinate numbers he had obtained from his memory.

"Coordinates, what are they about?"

Kal'tsit took the piece of paper with the number written on it and asked with a slight frown.

"I don't know the details, but it's said to be able to end everything... Well, it's probably somewhere."

Orson shrugged. The doctor in his mind was still a Riddler until the end, but he could understand it. After all, this time even the Doctor might not understand it at all.

"I understand. Now let's go to the command center."