Virus King - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Virus Resistance! Injection with the Zombie Virus!

TL: YYang

In the Evolvers’ Forum of the future, someone had once summarized the two biggest factors affecting an Evolver’s strength: talent and profession.

As long as someone avoided turning into a zombie, talent would appear naturally when the Cosmic Will descended. However, powerful hidden professions were rare, often requiring extreme fortune to acquire.

Chen Bai knew of a few prestigious, powerful hidden professions, as well as where to go and what was needed to change into them, and about some hidden secret realms from his past life. But at the moment, such knowledge wasn’t of much use.

Right now, the only thing he could work on was his talent.

After the Cosmic Will descended, all talents, items, skills, and professions were ranked from F-Rank to SSS-Rank. Anything ranked above S-Rank was unique. Such items, skills, professions, or talents would even draw the gaze of certain gods. SSS-Rank items, even fragments of them, would be hotly pursued by the gods themselves.

In his past life, Chen Bai had been killed by the Dark Mother Goddess—who had actually liked him—over a dispute involving a fragment of an SSS-Rank item. The worth of a mere fragment hinted at the unimaginable value of a complete item.

But now, how could he manage to awaken his talent at an SSS-Rank—a one-in-a-billion rarity—in just ten days?

Chen Bai fell into thought. In the analysis of that forum post from his past life, it had been made clear: make every effort to understand one’s hidden talent, develop it further, and just before the apocalypse arrived, maximize one’s abilities when signs of the apocalypse appeared.

For most people, this sounded like nonsense, since no one knew what their hidden, soon-to-be-awakened talent would be, nor what abilities it would grant.

But for Chen Bai, who had returned from the future, he knew exactly what his talent was: ordinary.

[Virus Resistance (E-Rank Talent): Your physique differs from others, making it hard for any bacteria or virus to break through your immunity. Even the basic zombie virus would struggle to kill or assimilate you by viral infection.]

It sounded impressive, but in reality, the dangers of the apocalypse went far beyond the initial zombie virus, which was only a starting threat. This talent didn’t enhance combat strength in the slightest.

Chen Bai had pondered many times in his past life how he might develop his talent from the outset. And now, the heavens had given him the chance to try.

Since that was the case, what was there to hesitate about? In the apocalypse, a one-in-ten chance of powerful opportunity was enough to make countless people risk their lives. And here, he wanted strength; he wanted to spit in the face of those gods on high, to make the Dark Mother Goddess kneel before him like a whore, mouth open.

If he didn’t have that kind of courage, he might as well jump off the building before the apocalypse and be done with it.

So, how could he maximize the use and development of his talent?

The answer was simple!

…

As night fell, a lone figure arrived at the Jiangcheng University Affiliated Hospital.

Chen Bai adjusted the brim of his baseball cap, wasting no time. After confirming the information, he skillfully arrived in front of a particular room on the third floor.

At this late hour, the family member on duty had gone to sleep.

Inside the room lay a figure, seemingly in a deep sleep, like someone in a feverish coma. However, Chen Bai could see what no one else could—the worm-like pulsations occasionally writhing under the skin, along with the slightly darkened, sharpening nails.

A zombie!

This sort of creature was already a familiar sight to Chen Bai.

The figure on the hospital bed remained asleep.

Chen Bai took out a syringe from his coat pocket. Without hesitation, he inserted it into a purplish, protruding vein on the figure.

With a faint groan, dark red, almost black blood slowly filled the syringe.

Ten seconds later, Chen Bai adjusted his cap and left the hospital, departing from the Jiangcheng University Affiliated Hospital without looking back.

In his dorm, his roommates hadn’t returned, likely still engrossed in fierce online battles at the internet cafe. This final blaze of youthful energy had only ten days left.

Chen Bai wasn’t interested in their affairs. Their outlooks and personalities didn’t align; to him, so-called brotherhood was unremarkable. Decades of memories from his past life, paired with his background as an orphan without family, left him emotionally detached. He’d give a hint if he happened to see them, but he wouldn’t go out of his way.

Moonlight poured in.

The pure white light illuminated the dorm even without any lights on, making it bright and clear.

At that moment, despite decades of battle-hardened experience in his past life and a heart as steady as iron, Chen Bai felt a flutter of excitement and tension.

Because he knew that in the next moment, he couldn’t even guarantee that he’d still be around to see tomorrow’s sun.

The zombie virus was the most terrifying virus, bar none. It had a horrifying transmission rate and absolute lethality.

The worst part? Even after death, the infected could still rise and continue spreading the virus.

No virus could compare. All those that attacked human organs or the immune system were defenseless against this mysterious zombie virus.

Chen Bai knew his talent well, and as the apocalypse approached, it was starting to show its effects. Without that, he never would have dared to attempt this.

But what if?

What if he couldn’t fully activate his talent? What if he squandered this possibly one-in-a-lifetime chance to restart?

After all, with his knowledge of everything that would happen in the future, he could take things step-by-step to grow stronger. Did he need to gamble everything like this?

As soon as the thought appeared, Chen Bai extinguished it.

Nothing was 100% guaranteed. In this apocalypse, strength could only be won by taking risks. Losing the drive to move forward—that would be true defeat.

In the future, opportunities to make powerful strides through simple choices were few and far between.

He took a deep breath, casting one last glance at the bright moonlight outside, then picked up the syringe.

Chen Bai plunged it directly into the bulging vein on his arm.

The moment the last drop of the dark-red virus-tainted blood entered his system, his face went pale.

It was as if all his strength had been instantly drained.

With the last ounce of his energy, he stumbled to his feet, tossed the syringe into the toilet, and flushed it down.

It felt as though every vein in his body ignited.

His blood vessels tightened and twisted in unison, while his heartbeat thundered in his chest, each pulse a sledgehammer pounding from within.

Finally, Chen Bai could hold on no longer, collapsing headfirst onto his bed.

…

Side note: Profession can be translated as “job” or “class”, however they’re slightly less ideal. Classes seem to denote a few main things, such as fighter, tank, archer, mage. Also, “job” seems too basic and games like WoW use profession instead of job.