The chanting and music of the Holy Orchestra began to spread. By the time the soldiers from the two nations realized what was happening, they had been corrupted by the Profound Virus and its mutated strains, turning into zombies.
Under the control of the Shepherd Priest module, Qi Suian quickly confiscated all their standard-issue Sacred Objects and tossed them into the Melting Furnace as fuel.
With this compounding growth, Qi Suian now commanded a zombie army nearly three thousand strong.
Although it was just a drop in the ocean compared to the military might of the Xuan Empire and the Eternal United States, it was an armed force that belonged to Qi Suian alone.
And as the number of zombies and the influence of the mutated strains grew, combined with the sound of the Holy Orchestra, it transformed into a mobile natural disaster.
Wherever it went, any human—even those who didn’t turn into zombies—would be plagued by all sorts of illnesses.
However, Qi Suian also discovered a drawback: only the living could be converted into zombies.
The dead could, at best, be turned into virus bombs.
This touched upon the fundamental logic of the Profound Virus; previously, only living people could be turned into zombies.
The term "living people" specified two conditions: being alive, and being a person. Lacking either one would prevent the effect from working.
After all, the Profound Virus wasn’t some unconventional virus.
However, his actions quickly drew the attention of the Xuan Empire and the Eternal United States, yet neither took further action.
The reason was simple: both sides were waiting for the other to move.
They both understood that if their forces met, Qi Suian, the original target, would be ignored, and they would immediately start fighting each other.
Therefore, the best solution was for just one of them to act.
It was a fine idea, but since both were waiting for the other to make the first move, neither did, dragging things out until now.
"I didn’t expect this. A happy accident," Qi Suian said.
He had thought he wouldn’t have time for research, but the opposite turned out to be true. Through guiding, modifying, and evolving the zombies, he had stitched the nearly three thousand of them into one giant, amalgamated zombie.
Qi Suian then set up his home directly inside the amalgamated zombie. With the Holy Orchestra as the core, he continuously hunted other people who had turned into zombies, fusing them to create an even larger war machine.
Otherwise, how could a mere three thousand zombies possibly attract the attention of two nations? Thirty thousand deaths a day was a small number for them, let alone the three thousand zombies Qi Suian had spent three days gathering.
With this amalgamated zombie, Qi Suian built a barely adequate laboratory inside its body.
Furthermore, perhaps because he had begun to actively participate in the war and had previously achieved research results on the wartime applications of the Eternal Love series of Sacred Objects, the "War" aspect of the Apocalypse no longer seemed to be holding him back.
Not only did it not stop him, but it also seemed to faintly support him, albeit in a slightly skewed direction.
This included hormonal research on the Mutual Aid Necklace and the rejection-shielding principles of the Unbreakable Ring.
With in-depth development, even these two original Sacred Objects, which Qi Suian had initially considered rather useless, displayed immense power.
’It seems the protagonist halo is real after all.’ The effects of the Eternal Love series of Sacred Objects might be lackluster, but their underlying principles were anything but. In fact, they were of enormous help to Qi Suian.
He himself had started out by manipulating hormones and had a deep-seated hatred for bodily rejection.
When he had first enhanced his viral talent, his immune system and the body’s rejection responses had put him through hell.
Thankfully, he had possessed Super Adaptability from the very beginning. Otherwise, the process of upgrading his viral talent would have been even more agonizing.
It could only be said that while the Eternal Love series might not be the strongest or most useful Sacred Objects, they were the most suitable for Qi Suian’s research.
Qi Suian estimated that the remaining Sacred Objects in the Eternal Love series likely involved effects related to organs, nerves, and psychology.
’Eternal Love... what an ironic name,’ Qi Suian thought, sneering inwardly.
’I thought it was about love, but it’s actually about cognitive alteration and physiological control.’
’In the end, everything the victim is becomes the property of the holder.’ Qi Suian looked at the Ring of Unwavering Loyalty on his hand.
As his research deepened, Qi Suian overturned his previous belief that it wasn’t a core Sacred Object.
Fusion was indeed the core ability of the Eternal Love series, but to unleash this ability, one needed to assemble the complete set of Sacred Objects.
Through a series of physiological and psychological controls and alterations, a normal, powerful individual of the opposite sex is manipulated to the extreme, becoming a lovesick fool, utterly obedient to the holder.
To be "voluntarily" fused and become a part of someone—isn’t that the definition of eternal love?
Qi Suian wondered if, once the entire Eternal Love series was assembled, it would allow for unlimited fusion. Would merely standing there be enough to instantly mesmerize those of the opposite sex—or even the same sex—completely twisting their physiology and psychology?
And then, in an instant, they would be fused into one.
This wasn’t impossible. After all, Qi Suian had previously speculated that the complete, assembled series would be a Destructive Sacred Object.
"Is this... some kind of alternative ’devour and evolve’?" The corner of Qi Suian’s eye twitched as it dawned on him. "I guess you could say we’re fated to be, huh."
"It seems my virus just can’t escape those words."
The primary growth direction of the Profound Virus in Qi Suian’s body wasn’t actually evolution.
It was life.
It was what allowed him to survive and gave him the basic conditions to grow stronger.
As for evolution? He didn’t think much of it.
Whether it was "devour and evolve" or "adapt and evolve," neither was fundamentally guided by conscious will.
At first glance, it might seem that you could evolve endlessly just by frantically devouring things or by being in extreme environments, but in reality, that was not a good thing at all.
The former would lead to an accumulation of conflicting abilities. In the end, instead of evolving into a powerful being, you might just become a deformed, useless monstrosity.
The latter was even worse. "Adapt and evolve" didn’t mean you’d grow gills in the water and lungs on land. It meant you’d evolve into an aquatic creature in the water, and then evolve a terrestrial form upon returning to land.
After three to five such cycles, you might become omni-capable, but the question of whether "you" were still "you" would become a very serious topic of discussion.
Of course, if it were the flawless "devour and evolve" or "adapt and evolve" abilities typical of a protagonist, that would be a different story.
But such abilities were more like pre-planned blueprints, being filled in piece by piece.
Even Qi Suian wouldn’t dare claim his Profound Virus was flawless; anyone could see it was riddled with issues that needed fixing.
After all, since he had merged with the Profound Virus, it was no longer its original self, so the updates and patches were constant.
’Forget perfection. There’s always a higher mountain. What’s the point of talking about perfection? Only continuous growth is real.’
"Sigh, I wonder when the third Eternal Love Sacred Object will show up," Qi Suian muttered.
He definitely wanted it, but that would come down to luck.
[An enemy is approaching at high speed. Based on data from the reconnaissance network, there is a ninety percent probability that it is Sharp, the Chief Judge of the Seventh Execution Chamber.]
"So soon? It seems he’s confirmed that I made up the plague."
"Can I even escape?" Qi Suian didn’t consider fighting.
’There’s no way I can win.’
His power was no match for his opponent, even with the addition of the war-zombie monster stitched and fused together from nearly three thousand zombies.
His opponent relied on the Component Sacred Object, the Elemental Chalice, which was effective against single targets, areas, and even entire armies.
[Escape is likely impossible. We need to...]
[Wait. Another enemy, on par with Sharp, is approaching him.]
[Suspected to be a leader of the Xuan Empire’s clandestine forces. The target is likely Sharp himself.]
Hearing this, Qi Suian’s expression became priceless.
"I get it. This is the classic trope where the protagonist is being hunted by a powerful enemy, and at the critical moment, another expert of the same level appears to lend a hand."
"Back in the Eternal United States, no one came to intercept him because of the environmental constraints."
"But this is the battlefield between the two nations, so it’s perfectly normal for a high-ranking official from the Eternal United States like Sharp to be targeted."
"Killing him and taking his Elemental Chalice would be a much greater blow than wiping out an entire active military unit of the Eternal United States on the battlefield." Qi Suian quickly understood. It was a coincidence, but one that his protagonist halo had certainly manufactured for him.
"Pei Yisheng, Grand Commander of the Black Cloud Guard," Sharp said, his expression grave. "Your old man died by my hand. Do you want to die too?"
Not far away, a middle-aged man from the Xuan Empire blocked his path, a broad, good-natured smile on his face.
"It’s precisely because my deadbeat old man died at your hands that I had the chance to rise in rank."
"I have to take your head to my old man’s grave and thank him for making way for me," Pei Yisheng said, his tone casual.
In reality, he hated this damn old man Sharp to the bone.
His father may not have been a perfect father, but he had loved him dearly. It was just that their traditional father-son relationship meant his father rarely spoke his feelings, preferring to show them through his actions.
Therefore, after his father’s death, upon becoming the Black Cloud Guard Grand Commander of the Xuan Empire, he thought of nothing but taking Sharp’s life.
Driven by this conviction, he worked incredibly hard and earned the favor of the Xuan Empire’s Emperor. Though only middle-aged, he had already experienced a meteoric rise, reaching a position equal to Sharp’s.
So, when intelligence reported that Sharp had entered the battlefield, he rushed over without hesitation to kill him.
He hadn’t come alone. He was here first to pin Sharp down, while the rest were still on their way.
Many of them were Sharp’s enemies.
Sharp rarely left the Eternal United States. Having caught such a rare opportunity, they naturally had to go for the killing blow.
Sharp’s heart sank. He could see the hatred hidden beneath the other man’s casual demeanor.
This kind of hatred was normal. After so many years of fighting, the two sides had long become sworn enemies.
He could also tell that more than one person had come; his opponent had reinforcements.
To save his own life, he could only temporarily give up the chase of the Iron Armor Man.
Between the Iron Armor Man and himself, Sharp naturally knew that he was more important to the Eternal United States.
It wasn’t that no one could replace him, but that he could provide more value to the United States alive.