Chapter 194: The Virus’s Effects and Impact

A two-hour car journey was a real long way for Sizar, especially deep in the Forest. If he ran as fast as he could, it would take him half a day to get back to White Hall. But for birds, it wasn’t a problem. Especially for the undead birds infected by the virus that feared no hardship. They would fly non-stop until they died.

As Sizar directed the zombie army toward the mech squad’s location, dozens of zombie birds also flew toward Whitehall City.

Undead creatures were pretty common across the continent. Ever since the free labor of Zombies became widespread, these beings had shed scary labels like evil, creepy, terrifying, and death, turning instead into the ultimate models of hard work — tireless, unpaid, laboring until their final breath. Plus, with the “beauty services” offered by big and small undead repair centers, even rotting Zombies started looking nicer. People’s fear faded, and they began accepting these creatures of death.

After that, the death creature warning systems set up in top-tier cities — or even smaller ones — basically became useless. Many stayed off for good. After all, who would risk switching them on? That would put the whole world on red alert. So more than a dozen zombie birds flew straight into Whitehall City without a single interception.

Unlike the cheap, uncontrollable undead Sizar usually made, these birds — while still acting largely on instinct — carried Soul Maggots planted with great effort inside them. Low-level Zombies had zero thought, so all they did was run on autopilot. But after Sizar used Soul Parasitism on them, he had a sort of “soul replacement”. Then, he programmed a simple Virtual Soul system into those maggots, which could change — or even control — the zombie birds’ behavior.

About ten kilometers out, the maggots lost their connection to the Empress, gaining true freedom of their own. Without Sizar to call the shots, these dumb birds could do anything they wanted — munching bugs, mating wildly, even suicide… But under the maggot’s influence, they kept flying toward Whitehall City, targeting crowded areas like slums, schools, and downtown landing spots to attack.

As first-generation infected hosts, these zombie birds had eaten plenty of bugs and critters along the way. Their bodies grew way stronger as a result. They had also created many smaller zombies by now. By the time they reached Whitehall City, they could attack regular humans. After that, the zombie birds went on a biting spree till guns took them out — though one successful attacker managed to get inside an elementary school, biting a huge number of kids before a guard finally showed up to stop them.

The “seeds” were planted. Dumb birds’ souls rested in peace. By sunset that day, all the injured people went home — just as Sizar’s “seeding” started blooming. People attacking people happened all over the city. For instance, multiple homes faced incidents at dinner: kids abruptly pouncing — no, lunging to bite — their own dads!

After nightfall, attacks happened everywhere. Zombie numbers exploded wildly. Authorities finally took it seriously — only for those in charge to respond with inexperienced police officers whose tactics backfired, resulting in heavier losses and chaos.

It took the Royal Pineapple army stepping in along with a few Angels from Heaven’s Condemnation Church and a ton of Ability Users from the Association to get control. Only then did the zombie growth slow. Using their super strength, they wiped out every zombie. Thus, Whitehall City returned to its carefree, competitive mood — showing just how laid-back these easygoing model citizens were.

The history books later called it a triumph of large-scale bioterrorism. As the first bioweapon of its kind, Demonic Virus Type B drew worldwide attention. After that, breakthroughs emerged in creating controllable artificial demon creatures.

After Sizar grew rich and successful, this case got dragged out again online. He ended up with nicknames like Great Demon King of Disasters and Plague Lord of Flies. Also, because of his long prison time after this incident, his Demonic Virus and mutated zombie remains became highly valuable research material. Biotech and weapons companies fought fiercely over them.

But then, those basic Zombies revealed serious downsides: low infectiveness and sluggish evolution rates. Plus, major pharmaceutical companies developed specific drugs — like antivirals and Rigidity Stop treatments — basically slapping “Sizar’s perfect little face” publicly.

For example, ordinary humans who got antivirals became immune as long as seventh-generation (or higher) zombies didn’t bite them. Ability Users vaccinated could resist bites from anything after third generation.

As for Rigidity Stop? That stuff became Sizar’s personal Nightmare. Any zombie infected by the virus could take it to cancel out the infection — regaining human consciousness as long as they hadn’t hit the mid-stage Lurker mutation. Of course, stopping the drug would cause relapse… Zero Ring mocked: “What? Foolish to ask if we’d make a drug without side effects? Pay up, idiots!”

Then came high-end modification packages targeting wealthy groups: First, inject Demonic Virus. Then take Rigidity Stop. Finally, cleanse the leftover virus from the body. With little suffering and zero work you could receive an amazing physique. This became known as the Mass-Produced Golden VIP Aristocrat Pain-Free Super Warrior Project.

For decades after that, the low-cost Demonic Virus provided excellent effects. After being improved and repurposed, it became a go-to weapon for colonizing backward species: “Heard there’s a gold mine under your land? Mine now. Serve me as slaves! Resist? Fine! Launch one virus missile, and everyone turns zombie!”

None of these had any connection to Sizar himself though: after creating the virus through sheer hard work, someone stole it without paying him royalties — and he was the one who ended up in jail for it as he endured long prison hardship he hated to revisit… just great.

…

While those bio-dumb-birds flew straight toward Whitehall City, Sizar led—no, actually became bait as he coaxed the zombie horde into charging the mech team base.

By now, those first-generation zombie princes — specially tinkered by Sizar — had fully evolved into creatures far scarier than Lurkers. Not even an ounce of their former Orc warrior selves remained. What’s more, Sizar had modified them to harness base Death Qi, making them transcend biological weapons and become supernatural creatures with dual identities as both Demon Creature and Undead. Whether they wound up in Hell or the Underworld later, “Mom wouldn’t need to worry about nationality identity! Woohoo!”

Seated on his undead horse, Sizar looked back discretely and felt the violent aura radiating from those elite zombies: pure Greed and lust.

He shuddered. Suddenly he felt foolish — a classic case of one’s trap backfiring! He created these monsters himself only to end up their bait, stuck halfway through escape… it was truly rare to self-sabotage to this level!

Thanks to that second mutation, zombies no longer acted completely clueless. With weak wills awakening within them, driven by instinct—they became cunning beasts. Think predators with intelligence. Power-wise, they shot directly up to Ability User levels. After that, though they could kill all the humans they wanted — strength would barely rise. Not without consuming Ability User corpses or getting top-tier virus liquid from Sizar first.

For now, Sizar was making himself a juicy target: releasing an irresistible scent just to say: “Mommy is Ginseng Fruit~ Come eat me! Eat me to become extra cute~!” Those zombie leaders chased him blindly without attacking — their instincts conflicted.

During that entire chase, these leaders developed beast-like minds and had already divided the lesser zombies into separate packs. Now the elites stood roughly equal in size and strength. So: if they killed Sizar now, how would they split him? Fight each other? Then which one would be left strong enough to actually eat Sizar?

They stood locked at a stalemate, giving Sizar breathing room.

Looking at his “children”, Sizar felt that bittersweet maternal mix of pride at their independence and sadness at emptiness. An hour earlier, he might’ve destroyed the whole horde. By now, it posed a threat to himself — and there was no stopping the chaos. Perfect weapons! Except they just didn’t obey orders.

As he struggled with chaotic thoughts, Milk’s flickering mental link finally went crystal clear.

Nearby! At last! The mech squad was close!

Milk’s info felt short: one group of twelve mechs stood nearby. Each packed power no weaker than Highest Affliction. Plus around two hundred fully armed soldiers — high-grade exosuits, assault rifles, bombs, and medical supplies galore. Currently they had Milk trapped at a half-circle and his poor companion Mummy had taken severe damage: an arm gone and barely holding at all.

Time to unleash my might fully!

After ordering Milk around mentally, Sizar sped up straight forward — zombie army hot at his heels.

…

“Captain! Target sharply accelerated and changed course!” One crab-shaped mech reported to the largest one nearby: a giant scorpion-type bot.

“That’s fine — probably some last futile struggle! Stay alert. Full formation trailing speed. We have to retrieve that key!”

“Understood!”

Huge though they looked (heavy, somewhat clumsy), these metal mechs proved surprisingly agile runners. Every footfall created a deep crater — special leg thrusters unleashing bursts of momentum propelling them forward at fantastic speed. Not light at all though.

They rushed ahead for a while until blurry glimpses of Milk emerged far ahead — beyond which faint tremors started reaching them.

“Earthquake?” One ordinary soldier at the back leaned toward the ground nervously.

…

“Master!” Milk finally cried out loud upon spotting distant Sizar. It had been tough — twelve mechs chasing him all-out! Surviving depended solely on being a Mummy: not caring much about blades or bullets — with zero vital points and knees that got shot repeatedly without failing. Otherwise… long gone already.

“Turn left!” Sizar suddenly tugged tight on his horse, leapt high into the air, shifting into an aura-tightly-bound Serpent Demon form before landing silently. At the same moment, his faithful undead steed exploded violently below. A red mist scattered everywhere as the demon flies hidden in the horse’s innards swarmed out loudly: carrying thick viral scents — and zipping towards the enemy mechs!

While horsing around as bait, Sizar never idled. He spent forever breeding Demon Flys — how many times today? First three huge explosive batches to cover for his sister. Later viruses to infect the village. Then extra viruses again to boost zombie numbers. Benefits? Super-fast mass production of minions. Costs? Weak, easily dying pests that exhausted massive amounts of energy. To keep replenishing them, he consumed every drop of Blood Honey and Soul Syrup stockpiled over years. Blood Honey grew the Demon Flys fast; syrup repaired brain strain from constantly commanding so many. Prolonged breeding nearly sucked his soul dry!

These final Demon Flys were the last batch: they fed on zombie horse flesh inside constantly — getting plump (with zero explosive capability or viral spreading) and so fat they would pop easily. Their sole purpose was carrying massive amounts of “fake virus juice” — smelling totally like the real thing but completely useless.

First, the zombie horse exploded. Then came these heavily flavored flies. Not enough brain cells in the zombie bosses for logic: “Ha! You think your disguise works?” Nope! They viewed Demon Flys as Sizar and zoomed after them — leaving genuine Sizar to flee as a Serpent Demon streaking silver through woods. Gritting teeth, chasing Sizar: Milk followed.

On the enemy side, the mechs finally saw what they were up against: a charging mob of mutated jungle beasts behind monsters charging their way. Who knew that goblin had a druid partner who could command monsters? Whatever! “Take aim and shoot!”

Mechanical limbs shifted firing barrels as twelve machines instantly became twelve fortresses pouring cannon shells backward rapidly. Behind them, infantry ducked behind cover: rifles clattering away. Flesh blasted up instantly: chaotic noise everywhere.

As the mechs slaughtered zombies effortlessly from afar, the Demon Flys slipped beneath projectiles before charging straight into enemy mechs — directed by Camilla from afar as suicide attackers.

Thwack… Thump… Smack… Countless flies died as they bumped harmlessly onto mech armor — splattering gooey liquids all over surfaces instead.

Weird odors spread through air — not awful exactly, but deeply unpleasant. Backline troops felt nauseous. Then came a shocking surprise: those creatures didn’t die — instead charging harder! Worse: torn-up corpses started crawling back together toward soldiers! The scene felt ripped directly out of nightmares. Never seeing biochemical horrors before: the squad froze! Even mech pilots struggled to process.

Seconds later: the zombie tide smashed through infantry frontlines — chewing them to bloody paste instantly. As for those twelve metal beasts: they became main targets — soon surrounded by swarms of biting corpses.

Sizar clung to tree with serpent tail like a crooked ornament — silently watching the battle below.

The zombie numbers overwhelmed — but most posed no threats to mech armor except the elites he customized. Still, being crowded everywhere, mechs struggled to move. Shells tore limbs apart and blew zombie stomachs hollow but they kept coming relentlessly. Finally, one mech lost balance and got toppled down. Unable to right itself, the machine fired desperate call for help: killing zombies pointlessly as it waited.

Time to act. Seeing the pinned-down mechs helplessly accept mass zombie “massages”, Sizar abandoned fleeing plans — switching to vengeful revenge. Concealing all aura — disguising himself perfectly as an ordinary zombie — he silently waded into the massive pile heading towards one Royal Pineapple mech unnoticed.

That mech’s pilot sensed him slightly — but recognized just another zombie serpent amid countless monsters and stopped firing. Already sick of shooting everything — knowing the armor held — he sat back and started snacking calmly.

Sizar got shoved by an angry large female Orc zombie for cutting the line — as he pushed towards the target vessel. He ignored that. Lifting one hand — glowing faintly from Demon Snake Fist — he thrust the green blade straight through tough mech plate. Instantly, deadly Viruses flooded into the mech’s interior!

“Calling! Urgent rescue! Emergency… cough! cough!”

In moments — driver poisoned dead inside. Nearby mechs fired explosive shells hoping to breach through — but struggled to aim well in the swarm jam and ended damaging nothing. Worse: zombies blocked paths entirely while other crawling mutants — like giant virus rats — gnawed through weapon barrels, jamming main cannons. Meanwhile, Sizar crouched behind a mech, avoiding shells cleanly.

Death soon silenced the pilot. Without driver, mech halted fully: blue glow over its armor faded completely too.

Sizar’s eyes flashed: he summoned Cat Shit One and ripped a material label free before sticking it successfully onto the armor! His resource portal opened beneath — swallowing the crab-mech whole before slamming shut with a heavy rumble! That left confused zombie lickers clinging to thin air on the ground.

Suddenly losing one mech stirred chaos on both sides. Sizar quickly slithered deep into zombie crowds: quietly vanishing as he slipped away — now carrying one stolen Royal Pineapple mech proudly.