If the S-1 virus had been a natural disaster—unforeseen by mankind and impossible to prepare against—then the S-2 virus was an outright man-made catastrophe, born of the greed in human hearts and the yearning woven into their genes.
"Hiss, isn't this the Armored Titan from Attack on Titan?"
Flipping down to the first illustration of an infected variant, the familiar silhouette left Cheng Ye somewhat dazed.
The giant, roughly twenty meters tall, was clad head to toe in armor resembling insect carapaces. Its weapon was a massive smokestack torn from a chemical plant, belching white smoke. Together, the imagery evoked an absurd sense akin to Lu Zhishen uprooting a weeping willow tree.
Facing the giant, however, were eight colossal cannon barrels, each over ten meters in diameter.
Cheng Ye wasn't entirely sure what would happen when the two clashed, but he knew one thing: that giant must have died a horrific death.
After all, modern technology was nothing like the omni-directional mobility gear from manga, where people had to zip around to slice the nape of a neck.
Within the effective range of heavy artillery lay the absolute truth!
Further down were several more illustrations: a speed infected whose Achilles tendons had grown all the way up to its neck, a flying infected with a pair of wings sprouting from its back, an intelligent infected whose brain occupied half of its total body volume...
Compared to zombies, Cheng Ye actually found these infected variants somewhat comically ridiculous.
That outrageously exaggerated appearance made it glaringly obvious that their evolution had taken a wrong turn. No matter how foolish humans might be, none would consider such forms viable or capable of sustainable development.
Naturally, it was only reasonable that they were completely eradicated and suppressed in just over a year.
"Once there's a first and a second, it wouldn't be surprising if a third or fourth followed."
Cheng Ye didn't find the author's question at the bottom of the page strange at all; in fact, it seemed entirely natural.
While the S-series viruses posed immense danger, they also held commensurate rewards.
Turning to the next chapter, sure enough, the S-3 virus made its debut.
"The S-2 virus was eradicated in the summer of 2043. Over the next five years, human civilization made a rapid recovery. Shelter cities across various regions were dismantled one after another, and humanity returned to living in familiar cities. Everything seemed to be back on track.
"Until the S-3 virus appeared!
"Although humanity's research into the S-3 virus has continued for decades, to this day its true origin remains unknown. It no longer infected humans; instead, it targeted flora and fauna. Seamlessly combining the traits of both the S-1 and S-2 viruses, it spread through water sources, spanning the globe in a mere six months. Furthermore, it enabled animals and plants to break through their natural limits, giving rise to countless wondrous effects...
"It was unimaginable that this planet could become so mad. Catalyzed by the virus, ordinary soil and plants could actually birth a miraculous plant capable of restoring youth: the Nine-Turn Ginseng Fruit. Consuming it could instantly return an eighty-year-old elder to the age of twenty, reclaiming their lost youth.
"Even more unfathomable, with the emergence of the Nine-Turn Ginseng Fruit, more and more incredible mutated creatures and plants surfaced one after another: mutated celestial-ox meat that could instantly grant humans tens of tons of colossal strength; hundred-knot grass that could regrow severed limbs and grant miraculous regenerative power; lava lotuses that could bestow fire-breathing abilities; wind-cluster leaves that enabled low-altitude flight...
"Many claimed this was a revival of spiritual energy, that a grand era of contention belonging to humanity had finally arrived. Many others called it the return of primordial antiquity, declaring that the celestial artifacts of ancient mythology were reviving one by one to lead humanity back to the primordial age, to stand atop the entire cosmos. I do not know which claim held true, but I knew with absolute certainty that this was a virus far more terrifying than S-1 and S-2!
"It grasped the human heart flawlessly, seizing upon humanity's fatal weaknesses and striking precisely at mankind's ultimate desires for immortality, strength, and transcendence. When people fought tooth and nail over flesh that could restore youth, when fruit capable of granting supernatural powers surfaced on the black market, the S-3 virus executed a massacre far more thorough than the previous two catastrophes—and did so in the gentlest guise imaginable.
"It had no need to dismantle human order; the sheer greed of human nature shattered everything all on its own!
"Humanity went mad. Everyone went mad. Driven by the pursuit of transcendence, driven to become stronger, they completely lost their minds!
"....(Violation), (Crossed out)
"How laughable. Humanity had endured the successive bombardments of the S-1 and S-2 viruses targeted directly at them without showing the slightest sign of civilizational collapse. Yet after facing the S-3 virus, which left them completely untouched, they suffered devastating casualties. Vast swaths of cities became ghost towns, and all-out war erupted in full."
The page came to an end.
There were no illustrations.
Cheng Ye, however, was gripped by a profound shock. The words seemed to drag him into that deranged era, showing him how human nature was cut open in the age of transcendence, turning weapons meant to defend against external threats into bayonets plunged straight into the heart of civilization.
"A grand era of contention, where anyone could achieve transcendence.
"When even the ordinary people hiding in shelter cities developed greed, the foundations naturally began to spiral out of control, dragging human civilization into the abyss."
Inexplicably, Cheng Ye suddenly thought of Earth.
If such a virus were to appear on Earth, could humanity truly withstand the successive blows from S-1 to S-2, and then the catalysis of S-3?
Moreover, there was something Cheng Ye had always wondered about.
Apart from some geographical names, the Blue Star wasteland he currently found himself in was identical in every way to the Earth he had inhabited before his transmigration.
Could it be that I didn't transmigrate to another world, but rather traveled through time?
Cheng Ye couldn't help but speculate.
Modifying geographical names wasn't difficult. Once supernatural powers entered the picture, redrawing territorial boundaries was practically effortless.
And what followed in the text regarding the transition from the Old Era to the New Era seemed to consistently validate his deduction.
"The turmoil brought about by the S-3 virus persisted for fifteen whole years, and the population of Blue Star plummeted at one point to fewer than two billion. Wars erupted across the chaotic planet. Every time a new supernatural wonder emerged, it sparked a 'grand spectacle' involving tens of millions of people. And the only reason this farce finally came to an end was not because humanity realized the peril of the virus, but because the S-3 virus mutated once again. S-4 had arrived!
"In the autumn of 2063 of the Old Era, the S-3 virus split and produced the unique S-4 virus. How laughable; everything seemed to come full circle. The S-4 virus actually reverted to the mode of the S-2 era, losing its wide-area transmission capability and spreading through the air only among a specific demographic. And that specific demographic was precisely those who had previously become... transhumans!"
"What?"
Cheng Ye froze inwardly, nearly crying out in disbelief.
If one were living through the eras described in the book, perhaps they wouldn't perceive the terror of the S-series viruses so clearly.
Yet boiled down, wasn't going from S-3 to S-4 just like a telecommunications scam—luring victims in first before slowly slaughtering them?
"Transhumans infected by the S-4 virus suffered rapid, catastrophic loss of control over the power within their bodies. As their genetic chains fractured, they devolved into walking corpses that survived purely on biological instincts—what we commonly refer to as primal infection sources.
"Although the S-4 virus did not directly affect ordinary humans, the mutated power within transhumans remained a lethal source of contamination. A tiny minority, upon coming into contact with this power, were fortunate enough to inherit a sliver of supernatural ability; far more, however, followed the same tragic path. Gaining power at the cost of their sanity, they became infected variants whose actions were driven solely by biological instincts, residual memories, and former habits, endlessly reenacting fragmented slivers of their past lives.
"Traced to their origins, all the various infected variants we encounter today can be linked back to those transhumans of the Old Era, where the sources of their abilities can be found.
"Due to the elusive and exceptional nature of primal infection sources, the lethality of humanity's technological weapons became severely limited. To ensure civilization's survival, various regions restarted the shelter city project to protect ordinary humans while cordoning off the infection sources from expanding any further.
"The first restarted shelter, Xinhuo Shelter City, was completed in 2070. To prevent future generations from unearthing history and repeating the same mistakes, the surviving humans made a bold decision: sever all ties with the Old Era, redraw the planet's map, completely expunge from cartography those continental plates and ruined cities contaminated by primal infection sources, and bury portions of history that had dealt catastrophic blows to civilization, thereby embarking on the path of the New Era.
"The year 2070 of the Old Era became Year 1 of the New Era, and human civilization returned to the right track. This is an arduous path of struggle destined to last for centuries. Alas, my days are numbered, and I will not live to see the true end of this catastrophe!
"Yet perhaps... there is an S-5, an S-6. What do you think?"
Rustle.
Without realizing it, Cheng Ye had reached the final page of Origin of Infection, his gaze lingering on the question that the author seemed to have penned with the very last ounce of his strength.
S-5?
S-6?
The S-series viruses had mutated a mere four times, yet they had driven human civilization to the brink of collapse.
If another broad-spectrum mutation occurred—or several more—reverting to a wide-area transmission mode like S-1, bringing zombies back into existence, zombies that had broken through the physiological limits of carbon-based lifeforms...
Cheng Ye couldn't suppress a shiver, instantly realizing that this wasteland was likely far more dangerous than he had imagined.
At the same time...
"The current year is New Era Year 35. If I can find the buried history and prove that this place is Earth...
"Then that means... I didn't travel to a parallel world, but rather... eighty years into the future?"
...
Chapter 14