Bai Wu woke up groggily, even having an icy cold dream in the process.
He dreamt of being wrapped in damp, cold yet soft things. When he opened his eyes, he realized that something was, indeed, on top of him.
Five or six severed limbs, oozing black blood, were casually draped over his body. One even pressed against his long tail.
"Wang Defa? What is this?" Bai Wu muttered in disbelief, then scanned the surroundings. The operating room looked like it had been ravaged by an eight-level hurricane.
At the same time, through the mirror, Bai Wu noticed his rotting skin was gradually healing. Compared to before he lost consciousness, his level of humanoid transformation was now more than halfway.
"Could it be that once the demon thing on my waist occupies half of my body, I lose consciousness?" Bai Wu tentatively concluded, then immediately turned his focus to the doctor who wanted to cut him open.
"Hiss~"
As Bai Wu got up, the rotting side of his body protested in pain.
Then, in the corner of the operating room, he spotted something... let's call it a "lump" of a person.
If not for the faint traces of a white coat on this "lump," Bai Wu wouldn't have associated it with the elegant epidemic doctor from before.
After getting up, Bai Wu realized the floor was littered with the severed remains of bloody nurses. A few legs here, some chest muscles there, scattered like blocks.
"Eh, what a shame, my XP is normal. I could have used these to make a holy grail."
Bai Wu sighed in regret, kicking aside a pair of plump grayish chest muscles.
Enduring the pain, he crouched down in front of the now lumped-up epidemic doctor.
"Looking in my eyes!"
Bai Wu asked soulfully, though he had prided himself on being kind to others, but the fact that he almost got turned into stew couldn't be ignored.
The epidemic doctor's bloodied and mutilated head wobbled, and one of its eyeballs plopped onto the floor.
"You..."
With a slap, Bai Wu picked up a small arm from the floor and hit the epidemic doctor's face, interrupting its wind-like voice.
"How are you still alive after being torn apart like this?"
Bai Wu clicked his tongue, astonished at the sight before him. The epidemic doctor was completely disassembled. The lower half had been minced into mush, while the upper half was filled with all kinds of syringes, its skin completely peeled off.
"I..."
Slap! The nurse's arm struck the epidemic doctor's face again, splattering a bit of dark brown liquid and causing a yellow tooth to fly up.
"Speak up!" Bai Wu yelled, eyes wide with anger.
After two slaps, the epidemic doctor's lone remaining eye was filled with fear.
Not wanting to be further slapped or humiliated, the epidemic doctor immediately blurted out with lightning speed.
"Let me talk!"
The voice of the epidemic doctor, though cracked and hoarse, carried a hint of grievance.
"Didn't I let you talk?" Bai Wu asked, confused, then slapped the epidemic doctor again, and said matter-of-factly, "Wouldn't you respond faster?"
The epidemic doctor stared in disbelief at Bai Wu, its lipless teeth quivering slightly. Then, it managed to say, "We monsters are immortal."
"?"
Bai Wu's mind seemed to fill with a golden question mark, and then he continued asking, "What's human epidemic?"
Having just woken up in this strange place, Bai Wu was full of questions and only wanted to understand the rules here.
"Human epidemic is the only infectious disease among us monsters. Once infected, you turn into something called a 'meat person.' Your consciousness gets wiped, and your body rots."
As the epidemic doctor spoke, it extended its skeletal arm and picked up its own eyeball from the ground, stuffing it back into its eye socket.
"However, you're the first one with consciousness to be infected so quickly," the epidemic doctor continued.
"I've only won first place in a race before I was born. I never got first place again," Bai Wu suddenly thought proudly to himself, feeling a moment of self-satisfaction. He then continued asking, "Why didn't you treat yourself after getting infected with the human epidemic? Also, those nurses seem different from you."
"I want to conquer the human epidemic!"
The epidemic doctor's voice suddenly became passionate. Bai Wu twitched the corner of his mouth and raised his hand to slap it, bringing the doctor back to its senses.
The epidemic doctor froze for a moment, glanced at Bai Wu, and continued, "They are rule monsters, only acting according to fixed rules. I am a conscious monster."
Bai Wu remained silent for a moment, then looked at the epidemic doctor with a gentle voice and said, "You could be a good doctor. Since you want to study, I'll help you."
Bai Wu's smile made the epidemic doctor feel uneasy, suddenly regretting being a conscious monster—the kind that could feel fear.
Bai Wu took a deep breath, then blew straight into the epidemic doctor's face.
"Ahhh!"
The epidemic doctor screamed like it had encountered something terrifying. The body that was already in a lump-like state began to dissolve like snow under sunlight, finally turning into a disgusting pile of flesh.
"Target: Epidemic Doctor (struck out) Meat Person.Affiliation: None (terminated).Purpose: Spread the human epidemic.Note: This thing can't be called a person. Let's just stew it."
Bai Wu looked at the prompt and fell into deep thought. The outcome wasn't what he had expected, but still, it was different from what he had imagined.
"What went wrong? Why didn't it turn into something like Yangmian?"
Bai Wu couldn't figure it out, so he decided not to dwell on it and started thinking about what to do next.
"Forget it, I'll research that later. The most urgent thing now is to leave and first deal with the thing on my waist."
Bai Wu hadn't forgotten the thing growing on his waist, though it hadn't been active for a while.
He lifted his shirt and saw "Bai Wu" on his waist, with a look of terror on its face.
"Impressive, you're still able to show expression even without skin," Bai Wu scoffed, bending down and blowing into "Bai Wu" once more.
In the blink of an eye, "Bai Wu" began shrinking, letting out its final sound: "No! Without me, you can't leave this place!"
It then flattened and fell off like a layer of skin.
"Hmm?"
As Bai Wu glanced at this skin, he saw a new message appear.
"Target: Bai Wu's Second Skin Face.Purpose: Bai Wu's second skin face can effectively block detection by human epidemic.Note: No shame, invincible under the heavens. Boy, do you have no shame?"
Ignoring the humorous note, Bai Wu picked up the second skin face with his fingers and carefully examined it.
It was just a layer of skin.
Bai Wu thought this was a perfect disguise tool for his continued survival. He immediately applied it to his face, and as soon as it touched, the second skin face seemed to come alive, becoming thicker and more solid.
Through the mirror, Bai Wu saw his new appearance. His face was wrapped in bandages, with his exposed skin looking blue, his nose resembling Voldemort's, and sharp fangs filling his mouth.
Clearly, he was no longer a normal monster.
At least now, Bai Wu felt a little safer. Beating the epidemic doctor earlier was also a way to vent his fear.
After all, his identity had changed—he was now the source of the plague, though still pretty weak.
Opening his eyes, he found himself now at odds with the world.
Just then, Bai Wu saw Yangmian, the doll, rolling back toward him.
Then, heavy footsteps echoed from the doorway.
The next second, he saw a figure so large it broke the doorframe.
The Night Shift Butcher was here!