Our Family Has Fallen

After receiving confirmation, Lance recalled the black-eyed, frenzied beasts Balistan had mentioned discovering.

Suddenly, the corpse, which couldn't have been deader, twitched, its stiff limbs beginning to tremble.

Paracelsus, whose attention had been on Lance as she answered, failed to notice this due to her mask's limited visibility. However, she did see him draw a gun and point it in her direction.

Before she could react, a gunshot rang out. All she saw was a muzzle flash, and her body instinctively recoiled.

Yet, in the next instant, she felt no pain. Paracelsus remained remarkably calm; she knew that at this range, he couldn't have missed. So the shot wasn't aimed at me. But what is he trying to do?

Just as she was about to question him, she heard the thud of something heavy falling behind her.

Turning, she saw the corpse had somehow risen. Despite taking a bullet, it wasn't dead and was once again shakily trying to get up.

"Ah!"

With a cry of alarm, Paracelsus, who had previously seemed so incredibly brave, was so frightened by the sight that she stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Get back!" Lance, having already switched guns, urged her. You're in my damn way!

Paracelsus, momentarily stunned, only reacted after hearing his shout and scrambled out of the way.

The second shot rang out, the bullet whistling through the air and striking the head. Finally, the corpse stopped thrashing and lay completely still.

Shooting the body is useless; you have to hit the head. What's the principle behind that?

Lance also seemed to notice something. The mushrooms on the corpse were concentrated on its upper body, especially the head. Is there a connection?

But now wasn't the time to dwell on such things. He turned his gaze to Paracelsus. Even through her mask, he could sense her lingering panic.

He didn't believe someone willing to steal corpses late at night would be frightened by a dead body. The real reason was likely that the reanimated corpse had shaken her scientific convictions. In her "scientific" worldview, the dead did not return to life. But in this world...

Lance could only conclude that her scientific principles weren't quite scientific enough.

"Are you aware that in nature, there's a type of ant that moves sluggishly, with fungi—a kind of mushroom—growing on its head? In reality, the fungus controls the ant's actions by releasing certain substances, much like you administer potions to your test subjects. It's a simple matter. You claim to be scientific, yet when faced with a phenomenon that defies common sense, you don't investigate its principles or the cause of the condition. What are you afraid of?"

Paracelsus quickly understood his meaning and her perspective shifted.

That's right! What am I afraid of? On the contrary, this is excellent research material!

Her fear dissipated, replaced by a burgeoning curiosity.

However, when she got up and looked back at the corpse, she saw its head had been blown to bits. A pang of disappointment struck her—her fear had cost her valuable material.

"I want to request test subjects for infection research."

Lance frowned upon hearing this. This woman truly has no regard for human life, demanding live experiments so readily. They only had about a dozen pirates locked up. At this rate, she'd go through one every few days. Now this? If she continued like this, how long would his supply last for her experiments?

But then Lance had an idea. He'd heard of lab rats. How could I not procure such excellent experimental material? Aren't they just domesticated from common house mice? Other resources might be scarce, but who knew how many could be caught in the granary in a single day. Unfortunately, getting them immediately wasn't realistic...

The problem was, based on current information, he feared this plague had already spread throughout the wilderness. He urgently needed more information, especially regarding its transmission routes and potential treatments. He had initially planned to gather more resources before acting, but now it seemed if they didn't resolve this quickly, the plague would inevitably spread to Hamlet.

Damn it! That old bastard really left a mess...

"Alright," Lance decided, "I need you to quickly determine this plague's transmission method, as well as preventative and treatment measures." He approved her request.

Using the lives of these heinous criminals to find a way forward is better than risking our own people.

"Test Subject Two showed no obvious signs of infection after three days of environmental exposure. However, once a wound was present, fungal hyphae appeared at the injury site within a single day and then spread throughout the body via an undetermined mechanism. The infected don't die immediately but become hosts for the fungus. Dissections revealed the fungus grows from the inside out; muscles and internal organs begin to fibrose, becoming like the fungus itself. After three days, the skin also fibroses, turning dark brown and becoming incredibly tough—so tough a scalpel can barely cut it. Dissection proved extremely difficult; by this stage, all bodily functions have ceased, yet, strangely, the brain remains active. Keep in mind, there's no blood flow, the internal organs have fibrosed, and even the heart has stopped beating!"

At this point, Paracelsus seemed somewhat excited as she led Lance into a tent. Inside was a dissected late-stage infected test subject. The corpse's skin resembled shrunken tree bark, covered in irregular dark brown spots. Some areas featured raised, bright yellow pustules; dissecting these revealed unerupted mushrooms within. These growths covered the entire body, particularly dense on the head. Clusters of yellow-capped, white-stalked mushrooms sprouted from the eye sockets, mouth, nose, and ears. The grotesque sight was enough to induce trypophobia at a glance, making one's scalp tingle with an instinctual revulsion, a primal urge to get away.

But that wasn't all. The test subject's head had been sawn open, exposing the brain and revealing an even more terrifying sight: the base of the mushrooms consisted of fine white filaments, all rooted directly in the brain tissue. He saw the entire brain entangled in a dense mesh of these white filaments. Even when exposed, it still twitched faintly, like jelly.

"Is this why you called me over?"

"After three days, the pathogen takes control of the body. At this point, everything except the brain has lost all signs of life. The only explanation is that this pathogen is sustaining the brain's vitality. I've tested it; it's a necrotizing fungus that reacts only to flesh and blood. Under the pathogen's control, the host seeks out flesh and blood. If it cannot find any, it enters a dormant state. However, when a living organism of flesh and blood approaches, it reanimates—this is the reanimation phenomenon we observed. After reanimation, their movements are stiff, but they will attack any living creature of flesh and blood, presumably to spread the infection."

Hearing this, Lance gained a general understanding of the pathogen. As long as it wasn't spreading via airborne spores, that was somewhat reassuring. His greatest fear was the inhalation of spores, leading to fungal infection and fibrosis in the lungs, ultimately resulting in mushrooms sprouting from within. This evoked bad memories; such a scenario was utterly uncontrollable. Even burning all the infected wouldn't suffice—unless the entire area was abandoned.

Is this the old man's scheme? Using a bioweapon to create a quarantine zone, making entry difficult.

The uncontrollable nature of this bioweapon filled him with an immense sense of crisis. No one knew what mutations might occur if the wilderness creatures became infected. If such a plague emerged, Hamlet would become a dead land, rendering all his recent efforts worthless.

"We can't wait any longer! Prepare yourself. I'm organizing a team to scout the wilderness and assess how far this has spread."

Lance's expression was more solemn than ever.

"But my research isn't complete."

"The wilderness offers more test subjects, more samples. There's no better laboratory than that."

Lance stated, his words decisively overriding her objection.