Using intelligence from Harrington and a bit of his own luck, Qi Suian still ended up in the wrong place a few times.
Thankfully, he didn’t act immediately, but instead conducted a thorough investigation.
He couldn’t afford any complications before obtaining the two Holy Relics. If people from the Eternal United States noticed him beforehand, he would lose the crucial window of time he needed.
Fortunately, Qi Suian eventually found Kong Xiang’s contact.
But the more Qi Suian observed, the stranger it felt. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
The contact was indeed well-hidden, and his professional skills were all up to par.
The fact that Qi Suian found him was due to luck, not because the man had exposed himself.
Otherwise, the Eternal United States wouldn’t have needed to use Kong Xiang as bait to lure him out; they could have just arrested him directly.
As for evidence? The man wasn’t anyone with status or position. No one would care if he disappeared.
It was precisely because they didn’t know his identity that they resorted to this baiting operation.
After so many years of war, the quality of spies had naturally risen in tandem with the conflict’s brutality.
This was why, after Kong Xiang was exposed, they chose to go to such great lengths to unearth more spies.
What Qi Suian found strange about the contact was that the man’s unguarded actions seemed as if he were putting his affairs in order.
It was as if his days were numbered.
With his wife and children, a careful observer could see his desire to spend more time with them, as if trying to will time itself to slow down.
Qi Suian didn’t investigate further. ’Time is short, and I don’t have any to waste on this.’
So he made his move.
There was no interrogation, no concern for the aftermath.
In a single moment, he sent the entire family of four to their final reunion.
He quickly found the Holy Relic, and his expression turned very strange.
The Holy Relic wasn’t, as he had imagined, something to aid Kong Xiang’s espionage. Instead, it was a rare and powerful weapon of destruction.
[Black Death Plague Doctor]
[Quality: A]
[Trait 1: Plague Under Puppet Strings]
[Trait 2: Gaze from the Sewers]
The ability of this Holy Relic was obvious: to unleash an Extraordinary version of the Black Death.
All who were infected would feel nothing at first, yet its contagion was extremely potent.
The moment they captured Kong Xiang and his contact, the Black Death would begin to spread, using them as vectors.
Most of the time, there were strong countermeasures against such Holy Relics, and they rarely took effect.
This time, however, the Eternal United States was confident in their victory. After all, they were the hunters. Who would have thought the prey would fight back, much less by sacrificing their own lives on enemy soil?
Furthermore, the Holy Relic was small and exquisite, its activation extremely covert, with the user even acting as both bait and sacrifice.
Therefore, the plan wasn’t for him to hand the Holy Relic to Kong Xiang. Instead, the day before meeting Kong Xiang, he was to infect himself with the Black Death.
Afterward, he would transport the Holy Relic back to the Xuan Empire, and only then go to meet Kong Xiang.
This way, he, his family, Kong Xiang, and the Eternal United States School Officers involved in the capture would all be inescapably infected.
And the infection wouldn’t manifest so easily. As the School Officers returned to their posts, the Black Death would spread even further.
With the power of this Holy Relic, wiping out the entire high command of the Eternal United States was unrealistic, but it would definitely create a storm.
The incubation period for the Black Death was about three days, during which it would continue to spread.
With this time lag, even if the outbreak was discovered after the fact, it would be too late.
Even if it couldn’t infect the top brass at the general level, the officer corps, from Captains on down, would be unavoidable targets.
’The idea is pretty good, but far too naive.’
’It’s not like you’re the only ones with Holy Relics. This is the Eternal United States.’ Qi Suian was certain that it might infuriate the Eternal United States at first.
But the entire storm would be quelled within a day at most.
For no other reason than that plagues and diseases were not difficult problems to solve when Holy Relics were involved.
Especially when it was circulating at the leadership level.
It was even possible that they would be screened and the Black Death discovered ahead of time.
The simplest reason was that someone was bound to possess a Holy Relic for disease protection, or one that passively dispelled or cured illnesses.
It was highly likely that one of these School Officers’ colleagues or subordinates would have one.
Once triggered, the problem could be solved before the Black Death even broke out. So, the plan was good, but there were far too many unstable factors.
Especially on the enemy’s home turf.
Of course, that’s not to say it had no chance of success.
There was a chance of success, just not as high as one might imagine.
Even if it succeeded, the impact wouldn’t be huge, and it would be indirect rather than direct.
For example, they might retaliate against the Xuan Empire in kind through their own spies.
Whether the retaliation succeeded would be another matter, but they would have to make the gesture. After all, it was a way to answer to the United States’ high command.
Otherwise, if the enemy plotted against you and you did nothing, wouldn’t you look like a pushover?
The two sides were already mortal enemies; of course they would use lethal means.
’The essential ability of this Holy Relic is singular: it controls the Black Death, it doesn’t create it from scratch.’ Qi Suian tried to activate it, but the activation failed.
That was how he arrived at this conclusion.
’Without the Black Death, this Holy Relic isn’t just mediocre—it’s completely useless.’
’No wonder Trait 1 is called ’Plague Under Puppet Strings’.’
After another search, Qi Suian quickly found an empty vial.
This vial contained the plague bacteria. It was stored in an extremely secret and secure location to prevent the contact’s family from getting their hands on it.
It was also protected by multiple layers of safeguards.
To even open the vial required a specific technique.
Qi Suian, however, was different. He opened it with brute force. He just needed to release the contents and verify his conclusion.
Three minutes later, Qi Suian finally ceased his manipulation of the Plague Doctor Holy Relic.
’Damn, a side effect is the urge to go hang out in the sewers...’ Qi Suian forcibly suppressed this impulse with his Spirit and willpower.
’This is just the beginning. If I use it too much, I’ll probably turn into a giant humanoid rat and spend the rest of my life in the sewers.’
For an initial side effect, it was actually pretty good, since there was no real harm done.
Even the price for overuse was merely turning into a humanoid rat living in the sewers for eternity, rather than death.
He would even retain his self-awareness and be able to use the Plague Doctor without regard for side effects or costs. And because he would be a rat, he could even control the plague within his own body.
It even felt, in a way, like an upgrade.
And since it was a human turning into a rat, his height and weight wouldn’t change. He would not only possess the specialties of a rat but also retain the advantages of a human.
He could probably become the king of the sewers.
’This is great news. The control ability I needed has arrived.’ Qi Suian sighed in relief.
With this Holy Relic, the Tai Sui God could now control the Cursed Psalm and the Devoted Holy Orchestra.
So he immediately installed the module, filling his last remaining module slot.
And with that, the days of having even a single empty module slot were gone, never to return.
[SSS·Plague Disease Shepherd]
’Huh? Not only did you change its name, you changed my profession too, didn’t you...’ Qi Suian grumbled.
It was originally a doctor, but now it’s become a Priest.
The good news, however, was that with this module, the Tai Sui God’s influence over the Plague and Disease series was instantly upgraded to absolute control.
He didn’t experiment right away, but simply reviewed the data report provided by his AI.
This control extended not only to the Cursed Psalm and the Devoted Holy Orchestra but, in conjunction with Qi Suian himself, also allowed him to command the derived Abyssal Virus mutant strains and the zombies they created.
Qi Suian could already control the zombies, but the mutant strains had been more troublesome, and controlling them was a struggle.
Now, however, it was different. Not only was it not a struggle, but he could do it with ease.
’Although gaining the ability to control Plague and Disease series modules seems a bit lackluster on its own, with other modules from the same set, even a single ability can serve as a buff for them.’
It only had one ability, but it could enhance other modules. Modules from the same set received the biggest boost, but even modules not from the same set would receive a partial buff.
For example, things like the Virus Bloodline-type symbiotes, since they were part of the same series even if not the same set.
However, completely unrelated modules like the True Martial Jade Vein Lotus or the Profound Mysterious True Spirit Jade naturally received no direct buff.
For a buff to apply, there had to be at least some connection, not a total lack of relation.
However, while these modules didn’t receive a direct buff, they could still benefit indirectly. After all, with enough modules, it was easy to form synergistic effects.
The enhancement of one module had a high chance of boosting all other modules, just to varying degrees.
’Next up is finding Kong Xiang and getting the Eternal Love series Holy Relic he’s holding.’
Fortunately, there was no need to search this time. Qi Suian knew where Kong Xiang was; he just had to go kill his way there.
Kong Xiang wasn’t the point. He was just a step in the process. The real targets this time were the group of pursuers from the Eternal United States.
Without the Shepherd Priest, Qi Suian really wouldn’t have been able to beat them. But now that he could directly control the Devoted Holy Orchestra and the Cursed Psalm, Qi Suian was confident he could kill every last one of those School Officers.
And, in the process, take the Holy Relics they carried.
He was in dire need of module slots, so he required a large number of Holy Relics as fuel to evolve the Tai Sui God.
The reason was simple: this was already the third module from the Plague and Disease set, yet the combination module still hadn’t appeared.
This meant he still hadn’t collected all the pieces of the set.
In a way, the effect of a combination module was far stronger than that of a single set module, resulting in an even more powerful ability.
Take, for example, the Tai Sui God’s resurrection ability from ’Life of a Novice Player’.
And while the Plague and Disease set effect might not become a trump card for Qi Suian like ’Life of a Novice Player’, it would undoubtedly be something extraordinary.