329 You Are Late

"Selling knives and cutters, yo!" At dawn, a white haired youth squatted in a corner of the messy and shabby market of Auschwitz and hawked dispiritedly. The rug before him was covered in the swords he had stolen along the way. There was also a carrot he had bought from a nearby stall. After he washed it, it would be his breakfast.

So early in the morning, no one was here other than some vegetable sellers. The dilapidated grouping center was like Avalon's downtown district. It was filled with chaos, unruliness, and coldness. It seemed horrible but not horrible enough to be unlivable. It was stuck in the middle, filled with the feeling of living each day as it happened and wishing for nothing more.

Ye Qingxuan had lost his will to fight. He had been prepared to battle it out with the locals but after he entered the city, he realized that no one paid him any attention. They did not discriminate against outsiders; they just acted as if the outsiders did not exist. This made Ye Qingxuan feel indescribably upset and disappointed.

Scraping his carrot clean, he gnawed it mindlessly while making disgusted faces. Carrots grown in this kind of place definitely would not taste good. It was dry and felt like he was chewing on dirt.

"How do you guys live…" He sighed and yawned.

Last night, he had predicted a full-out war but the others were very restrained. They only tested him a bit and then left. The others had no confidence and did not dare to fight. It started off with a big drumroll but ended with nothing. He had acted cool for nothing.

According to the plan, he should meet with the Angloian grandmaster that was here to oversee the trial and learn about the situation, listen to some suggestions, receive some advice, undergo vigorous training, and hopefully learn some secret tricks. However, none of that happened. Ye Qingxuan did not even know the grandmaster's name.

He hid his face in dark mist the entire time and did not even come out for food. After he saw Ye Qingxuan last night, he took the youth to a shabby inn. Pointing at a room, he said something along the lines of I live here. Don't come if you don't have any problems. If you do…it's best to not come either. Anyway, just pretend I don't exist.

"You're here now so it'll all depend on you," the grandmaster had said seriously while patting Ye Qingxuan's shoulder. "I promised Maxwell that you won't die. As for the rest, whatever. I believe in you, Ye Qingxuan."

Ye Qingxuan could only chuckle sarcastically. The other grandmasters showered their students with good stuff in hopes that they would not be eliminated. But for Ye Qingxuan…it was so unreliable.

Oh, this mysterious grandmaster did give him something.

"But it's useless!" Ye Qingxuan stared at the object. It was a…small whistle that the grandmaster had made from a doorknob. Yes, the type of toy whistles for kids. That man had even told him seriously to not play with it.

No sh*t! Why would he?

Ye Qingxuan tossed the whistle onto the rug before him. But after thinking, he sighed and put it back in his bag. What if it wasn't entirely useless? Right? But it probably was useless…

"Hey, knife, how much?" A man squatted before him and asked with a strange accent while looking around.

Ye Qingxuan gazed at him and replied in local Romulusian, "Which one? I can give it to you for cheaper. Buy one get one free, just forty pounds, how about that?"

Hearing his words, the man looked over with a strange gaze.

"Yeah? My accent is good, right?" Ye Qingxuan chuckled proudly.

The emotionless man stood up and left without saying anything. Ye Qingxuan blanched. Wait! Why are you leaving? I'm so friendly and nice! I won't hit you! Is it wrong to have a good accent? But he did not do anything and just watched the man leave.

It was his only customer.

Ye Qingxuan shook his head and sighed. The Sacred City had strict regulations that musicians could not disturb the civilians during trials and missions. They were also forbidden to use music scores on locals. Once discovered, the musicians' rights to the trial would be revoked. For serious cases, they could even be forcefully brainwashed by the Silent Authority to become someone useful to society.

"But his beastly characteristics are obvious," Ye Qingxuan muttered to himself as he watched the passersby.

Compared to other races, male Romulusians had slighter frames and rusted copper skin. Because of their environment, their skin usually was not very healthy. However, thick hair grew on their faces and limbs. Many also had sharp fingernails that were thick and hard like a beast. This was due to their blood tainted by the natural catastrophe. Apparently, these signs were especially prominent in recent newborns. Fear of light and water, aggressive… If this continued, Romulusians would probably really become werewolves after five or six generations.

Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan sighed involuntarily. What other hope existed in this kind of place? Auschwitz was practically the wilderness. There was no sign of life outside the towering gray walls. They suffered droughts. The land was covered in weeds and non-arable. There were no geographical advantages or possibility to be suitable for life. It was just a place to stay.

If he had to name something that could be developed, it would be the sparse copper mines. But with the discovery of the relics, even the mines were gone. There was no way to better the environment. It was understandable that the people here were just whiling their days away.

A bell shocked him from his thoughts.

The dilapidated church across from the market slowly opened its doors, revealing the shabby yard and building within. Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan rose, knocked the dust off, and walked forward without a care for his stall.

If the locals ignored him and the big guy from Anglo was unreliable, he could only try the Church. They would not ignore a candidate for clergymen like him, right? Furthermore, Ye Qingxuan had been sent here by the Church. Rather than the trial, he had come here to help the sick!

-

Just as he had expected, there were no official mission members in this tiny church. There was only an old pastor who could not really see and two mixed local children who cleaned the place. There were no believers in Romulus. The annual budget was barely enough for the pastor to eat. Maintenance was a huge sum as well.

The pastor stared at Ye Qingxuan's identification card for a long time with his old eyes.

"Oh, the flu? I reported it years ago but there was no news. I thought they gave up on it." He patted Ye Qingxuan's shoulder. "I didn't think someone would actually come. You scared me. But sadly, you're late."

"Late?" Ye Qingxuan blanched. "Did they all die?"

"No, it's just a common fever. They get better after a few days." The pastor shrugged. "So, Mr. Ye, you're late. The flu died out half a year ago."

Ye Qingxuan gaped. He could not accept this. He had come here passionately to help the sick but everyone was cured before he even got here! It was like the villain of an adventure novel died from the plague when the hero just embarked on his journey. The world was saved and everything was peachy but…Ye Qingxuan did not feel happy.

"Then why didn't you withdraw your request?" Ye Qingxuan just wanted to cry. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been fooled by that *sshole Maxwell and came here."

"Let me finish." The pastor sighed. "The flu was put out but…it's still here."

Ye Qingxuan froze.

It was still here? What did that mean?

-

There was a basic surgery room in the church's basement.

After a long silence, Ye Qingxuan looked away from the small microscope. Rubbing his eyes, he muttered a curse. He was sure that the flu was man-made. Someone had created a flu targeting the Romulusians with room for maneuvering.

The observation sample was a Romulusian who had recently died from old age. He could clearly see the virus in the blood and organs. It was dormant and essentially harmless but it was still integrated with the body.

Regular people would be able to kill the virus with their immune system and remove them through metabolism. Demons were not affected either; their bodies were completely different from humans and were immune to ptomaine and other diseases. It was a different story for Romulusians who were mixed with human and demon blood.

This disease clearly targeted their lack of immunity, filling the gap between their two sides. This meant that the demonization process of Romulusians could be sped up until the demon blood would completely replace their human side.

"This is horrible." Ye Qingxuan sighed. "How many people were infected?"

"…Practically everyone."