Chapter 356: God of Viruses? System Tampering

Chapter 356: Chapter 356: God of Viruses? System Tampering

Sean Chandler’s gaze was locked on the spot behind where Seraphina Sullivan had been standing.

That was exactly where Solomon Ennis’s mangled corpse had fallen.

And now, Solomon’s body, which should have been completely and utterly dead, was undergoing an incredibly bizarre and hair-raising transformation!

The corpse of Solomon Ennis—missing a good part of its head and with a gaping hole in its abdomen—

was slowly, bit by bit, "pushing" itself up from the ground in an unnatural, extremely rigid posture!

Its shattered cervical vertebrae made a cringe-inducing grinding sound. The empty abdominal cavity swayed with the movement, but no organs spilled out.

"He’s not dead?"

Seraphina Sullivan was shocked, but she immediately dismissed the thought.

’No, that’s not right!’

The Eye of Simplification and her own senses had both confirmed that Solomon Ennis’s life aura had been completely extinguished by those three shots!

’Then what is this...’

"A post-mortem transformation?! Zombification?!"

The thought flashed through Seraphina’s mind, but she found it absurd just as quickly.

’Impossible! When I killed him, there were no living zombies around to bite him, and he showed no signs of infection himself... How could he be zombifying?’

She immediately activated the Eye of Simplification again.

She locked her focus on the grotesque body that was rising.

However, the information that came back struck Seraphina like a bolt of lightning, her pupils instantly dilating!

[Name: Solomon Ennis] (Beloved of the God of Viruses)

[Gender: Male]

[Abilities:

1. Zombie King: A special zombie individual undergoing transformation/mutation. Possesses the rudimentary ability to Control and command ordinary zombies. Body strength and Recovery Power vary depending on the virus and residual Energy.

2. Titan Power: Possesses terrifying Power and physical defense far beyond that of an ordinary person. Can activate his bloodline for a short period, transforming into the astonishingly destructive [Titan Giant] form!

3. Virus Evolution (Divine Favor Trait): Implanted with the "God of Viruses’s" Beloved trait. Possesses extremely strong viral adaptability and Evolution potential. Can accelerate transformation and Evolution by devouring flesh, blood, and similar viruses, with a chance to inherit or mutate new Abilities.

[Weaknesses:

1. Muddled consciousness, relatively slow movements, unstable abilities.

2. Extremely sensitive and vulnerable to Purification/Sacred Energy.]

"Beloved of the God of Viruses?!"

Seraphina stared at the line of text in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?! A moment ago, you were a Beloved of the God of Slaughter! How did you die... and become a Beloved of the God of Viruses?!"

The change was too fast.

It completely defied Seraphina’s understanding!

In the brief moment she stood there in shock, the "risen" corpse of Solomon Ennis made its next move.

The stump of Solomon’s neck began to writhe as fleshy tumors grew, quickly forming a half-mangled face.

On the remaining half of the face, a cloudy eye began to swivel, seeming to lock onto Seraphina and Sean.

A guttural gurgle, like a broken bellows, escaped its throat. However, it lunged not at them, but at an ordinary zombie that had just been drawn over by the scent of blood!

RIP!

It brutally tore open the other zombie’s chest with its remaining arm.

Then, it stuffed the rotten flesh into the edges of the gaping hole in its own abdomen and began gnawing on the zombie’s head with its mangled teeth.

A nauseating scene unfolded.

The moment the devoured, rotting flesh touched the cross-sections of its body, it was as if it were being digested and converted by some invisible force, rapidly fusing with its mangled form!

The hole in its abdomen filled at a visible rate with new, bluish-black flesh and tissue that glistened with a slimy sheen.

Even on its newly-restored, half-mangled head, a thin, fascia-like membrane began to spread, attempting to repair the damage.

Although it hadn’t returned to its original state, its aura had clearly become more solid, more... dangerous!

An aura blending the stench of rot, blood, and a cold malice began to spread.

"What in the world... is wrong with this thing?!"

Sean Chandler was completely dumbfounded. The scene before him defied all logic.

A man who had just died suddenly "came back to life" as a zombie and could heal rapidly by eating other zombies?

Seraphina’s expression was grim. She didn’t know either.

But the information from the Eye of Simplification and the illogical scene before her both pointed to a terrifying possibility.

An existence far beyond their comprehension had interfered with this dungeon.

’The God of Viruses?’

As if to confirm Seraphina’s worst fears.

[Ding! Traces of interference from several unknown higher-dimensional existences detected! The fundamental rules of the ’Zombie Kingdom’ Trial Dungeon have been altered! The overall difficulty of the dungeon is about to undergo an unpredictable leap! Warning! Warning!]

The system’s cold but urgent notification suddenly exploded in the minds of all Players!

However, the notification lasted only a moment before it became intermittent, as if suffering from intense interference:

[Ding! Due to... unknown existence... forc...ible access... of system’s base protocol... severe... interference... detected... Error... Error...]

[System... attempting to initiate... emergency forced return protocol... to protect Players...]

A glimmer of hope had just sparked in the hearts of all the Players.

[Ding! Forced return protocol failed! Error code: Authority override! Space anchor locked!]

[Warning! Players can no longer exit the current dungeon through conventional means!]

Before despair could fully set in, the system’s notification tone changed abruptly!

It was no longer the cold, mechanical, emotionless synthesized voice from before. Instead, it had become... a "new voice," one laced with obvious twisted humor and madness!

[Ding~! Hello, my dear ’Players’! Good afternoon!]

The new system’s voice was light and teasing.

[Those boring, run-of-the-mill old quests have all been tossed out!]

[New, more interesting, more exciting game rules and quests have been sent to your little panels!]

[Please be sure to read them carefully, and then... try your hardest, struggle with all your might, and please us! Hee hee hee hee—!]

The message ended with a hair-raising cackle of overlapping, shrill laughter, filled with madness and malice.

This bizarre voice slithered like a cold serpent into every Player’s mind, bringing with it a fear far deeper than that of facing a zombie horde or a special mutant.

It was the absolute malice of an unknown, higher-dimensional existence—the terror of having the rules twisted on a whim, of one’s fate no longer being one’s own!

Seraphina Sullivan stood frozen, processing the system notifications in her mind, so different from before.

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

It seemed her worst fears had come true in the most terrible way possible.

This so-called civilization Trial Dungeon.

Had gone completely off the rails.

It had been turned into a... cruel playground in the hands of some unknowable existence or existences.

And they, the "Players," had become... playthings, forced to perform in a cage, their lives and deaths no longer their own.

Ahead, the zombified body of Solomon Ennis, still regenerating, seemed to have received a new directive.

It stopped devouring the ordinary zombie and slowly turned. Its remaining, cloudy eye once again locked onto Seraphina Sullivan.