# Chapter 18: Invisible Signs
[At the beginning, its signs were nearly nonexistent.
In a place no one could have predicted, something suddenly appeared. It began to replicate itself and gradually spread outward.
From simple to complex, from gentle to aggressive, from harmless to deadly enough to kill.
This thing propagated and spread, multiplying with increasingly refined and clever methods. It eroded everything in the world, all for the sake of its own continuation.]
Extreme Virus.
The first time the Mycroft people noticed this abnormal plague was when some adventurer teams and a few Star Shepherds roaming through the Multiverse Star River reported back intelligence about certain Void civilizations adopting abnormally isolationist policies, while some non-Void native civilizations experienced extremely bizarre mass extinction events.
This happened several months after Joshua left.
After the conference for communication with various Void civilizations concluded, the Mycroft civilization temporarily halted external expansion due to core population numbers. They stopped conquering new colonies and expanding new territories, but exploration and adventure activities did not cease.
Many members originally belonging to the expeditionary force's reconnaissance units, with official support, transitioned into Void adventurer teams exploring the boundless Multiverse Star River. Meanwhile, many civilian explorers yearning for distant horizons also set out on journeys to faraway places.
Not to mention the Star Shepherd clan, who had always wandered among the stars. With the tacit approval of Mycroft's official authorities, the Star Shepherd clan was split into several parts. Some gained considerable freedom, able to roam and herd among the stars once more as they pleased, no longer confined to one place.
Starting from the Mycroft civilization's Star Gate Space-Time Hubs distributed across the Multiverse Star River, adventurers' traces had already appeared in quite distant regions—after all, they hadn't just set out in the past few months. They had departed when the Mycroft civilization began its external conquest, about one or two years ago. Through the dense teleportation networks of various civilizations and comprehensively upgraded Void engines and jump systems, even the most poorly equipped adventurer team could traverse half a star river within one or two years.
The most lavishly equipped official exploration teams, supported by the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, could even cross nearly boundless distances in a short time, teleporting arbitrarily to any coordinate set within the star river.
It was these exploration teams, which communicated most frequently with the unified government, that discovered the abnormalities in other worlds and alerted the upper echelons of the Mycroft civilization that the plague was not far from them.
"This is... the Kagan Star River... At a native civilization on its edge... we discovered remnants of the Extreme Virus that Marshal Radcliffe mentioned..."
"Yes... Half the planet's population is dead. Even beasts and bacteria could not escape... It has become a dead zone. If not for some intelligent life still surviving in deserts and polar regions, the entire planet would have turned into a lifeless wasteland..."
"The Extreme Virus has disappeared. Its appearance was very brief... But another super-bacteria, seemingly evolved from it, is still raging. We have sent samples of this bacteria back to the Unified Grand Database... This could not have appeared through natural evolution..."
"...Those infected turn into nearly immortal zombies... They sustain movement by devouring organic matter... Their strength is roughly around Silver-rank... Extremely dangerous... Maximum alert!"
Because communication across star rivers involves significant delay and distortion, even with the assistance of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, some degree of lag and information loss is unavoidable. However, this adventurer team exploring the Kagan Star River transmitted unexpectedly complete and valuable information—that the 'Extreme Virus' had indeed spread from the Bloody Star River.
When Kreler, who was acting with Elma in the Bloody Star River, first encountered the Extreme Virus, and Joshua relayed this information to the Mycroft civilization headquarters, few people paid much attention—after all, the victims were the enemy Amos Royal Court and Takur Annihilation Order. These two xenophobic calamity civilizations, whatever crisis or disaster they faced, other civilizations would only watch and laugh.
Moreover, the Bloody Star River was an extremely long distance from the nearest star river with Mycroft colonies. There would be time to take precautions once the plague zone approached. After all, how could a mere plague cross such a vast Void and directly affect the homeland of distant civilizations? Most people thought this way.
But what was puzzling were the details about the Extreme Virus discovered by the adventurer team.
First, the virus had extremely high infectivity and lethality, with incredibly tenacious vitality, capable of surviving in the Void—but on the planet where its remnants were found, not only had all the Extreme Virus died off, but some intelligent life was still barely surviving in remote areas like deserts and ice fields. Meanwhile, a super-bacteria, clearly strengthened by the Extreme Virus but far inferior to it, had replaced its original position, killing off the remaining intelligent life.
This was contradictory but could be explained: the Extreme Virus's active lifespan was naturally this short, which was why it suddenly disappeared before it could kill all life on a planet. The second puzzling point could only indicate that the Extreme Virus didn't just infect complex organisms; even bacteria could not escape its grasp.
This news was just the beginning. Soon, one after another, information about the great plague came flooding in from all corners of the Multiverse Star River.
Kagan Star River, Duya Star River, Mosuo Star River, Aixinke Star River... One after another, different star rivers, all experienced the same terrifying supernatural virus appearing at nearly the same time. The source of this virus was untraceable, completely unfathomable. Within the same star river, two civilizations infected with the Extreme Virus at the same time could be separated by half a star river's distance.
This was completely inexplicable.
Regarding this, many adventurer teams had no explanation, and it even sparked panic in their hearts—if this plague could infect the distant Mycroft world out of nowhere, would they become the civilization's sinners? Considering this, for a time, many adventurer teams stopped sending messages to the unified government headquarters.
Until that day, when an adventurer team accidentally discovered the possible truth behind this virus.
"There is no source of infection!"
Across distant time and space, communicating between two worlds through the power blessed by the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, the hoarse voice of an adventurer team leader revealed deep bewilderment and confusion. This adventurer, wrapped in a biochemical suit, truly didn't know how to explain the phenomenon he had observed: "This plague... this virus... it appears out of thin air from the air itself!"
"When we arrived at this world, the plague hadn't appeared yet. By the Seven Gods, we happened to witness the moment the Extreme Virus emerged and infected the entire world!"
"It... is like a natural coincidence—yes, coincidence! In an empty place, naturally and precisely, the prototype of this virus was born. It appeared in the forest, infected the local trees, and this prototype rapidly evolved according to the local environment, then became the terrifying Extreme Virus that can consume a person's flesh and blood, leaving even the soul unable to escape!"
"We have already withdrawn from that world, but the observation array we left behind can still detect that the plague continues to ravage the continent, not even the oceans are spared... This appeared out of nowhere; it has no source at all!"
...
Mycroft Civilization, Jetram Star Domain, Star Gate Void Base Conference Hall.
In the solemn hall, an aged voice calmly recited a segment of observation records.
"...First, it erodes flesh and blood. Inside a living body, it consumes the host's own stored energy to undergo rapid evolution—at this stage, over ninety-nine percent of hosts die from energy insufficiency, excessive evolution causing the collapse of their life essence. Their flesh, blood, and souls all become energy consumed by the virus's evolution. However, there is still a chance of success. Calculations indicate that if properly prepared, an ordinary person with massive energy infusion has a one-in-ten-billion chance of successfully evolving, ascending in one step to Ultimate-rank."
"Similarly, Silver-rank and Gold-rank have a one-in-three-billion and one-in-one-billion chance respectively of breaking through to Ultimate High-rank—that is, after breaking through the life limit, they receive another enhancement, touching the threshold of Legendary... And if it's Ultimate-rank, with sufficient preparation, their chance of surviving the virus's evolution increases to one-in-a-million! After evolution, they—or rather, it—would likely rely on the virus's power to achieve a special kind of Legendary. But even if they survive, the thought patterns of this viral super lifeform would be transformed, becoming a newborn life completely different from the original, only possessing the same memories."
"Death of Rebirth—that's what I plan to call the process catalyzed by the Extreme Virus. Even if one survives the ultimate evolution akin to rebirth, the original life has already died. What lives on is merely a monster possessing the original's memories."
"This is the Extreme Virus... Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think of the discoveries made by the Black Squad and other exploration teams in foreign star rivers?"
Iger, Barbarossa, Baniel, William, Nature Mentor, and other Legendary experts gathered together, some attending in person, others using avatars or projections, to discuss how to deal with this inexplicably bizarre plague.
"Although bizarre, only this method of transmission can explain why this plague simultaneously infects completely different civilizations at opposite ends of a star river."
The questioner was naturally the meeting's host, Pope of the Seven Gods Iger. The one answering was the Sky-Piercing White Tower's chief, Barbarossa, who had recently been deeply studying the magical knowledge brought by the Knowledge Seizer, probing the essence of supernatural power. This brilliant mage raised his head and said calmly: "They were actually already infected long ago. The virus's appearance is merely one form of the 'plague's' manifestation."
"In other words, we too must be cautious. At the very least, we cannot allow those exploration teams that discovered the Extreme Virus to immediately return to headquarters... Although somewhat heartless, they are now very dangerous and require careful observation."
The Mycroft Legendary experts would not easily abandon their compatriots. This atmosphere was mainly a good habit brought by Iger, Joshua, and others. Even cold-blooded individuals like the Fishman High Priest and rational ones like Barbarossa could not openly advocate abandonment. Regarding this, Nature Mentor nodded solemnly: "I will dispatch some avatars to the distant plague-affected worlds to investigate its essential principles. If we can develop a vaccine or specific medicine, we can deal with this crisis."
Regarding viruses and bacteria, only Nature Mentor and the Fishman High Priest, Legendary experts specializing in the path of life, had detailed research. Besides them, perhaps Baniel, a mage who mastered microscopic runes and created elemental life, might have some research on their structure. The Fishman High Priest Godar's expertise leaned more toward evolution, hybridization, and life modification—creating things that don't exist in natural ecosystems, like fish whose blood tastes like red wine, trees and vines that produce milk, etc. Creating a new virus might be his specialty, but finely analyzing its essence might be slightly off his specialty.
Nature Mentor's specialty covered everything contained within all natural ecosystems. Although the Extreme Virus was bizarre, it did not exceed this scope.
"Ladies and gentlemen, don't you find this situation surprisingly similar to the last time the 'Death Evil God' awakened?"
Just as the Legendary experts present were dividing tasks among themselves, preparing to send their avatars or projections to various star rivers to assist local adventurer teams and obtain as much information about the Extreme Virus as possible, the silent Nostradamus frowned deeply and proposed a conjecture: "That time, the entire star river, due to the Death Evil God's chaotic stirring, experienced collective civilization self-annihilation—that also appeared out of nowhere, unfolding influence out of thin air... just like this plague appearing out of nowhere!"
"Is it possible that this plague is actually a 'chaotic information disturbance' created by some powerful Evil God? And these seemingly invisible viruses are one of its minions?"
—Not a plague, but an invasion of Chaos minions?
This conjecture was not far-fetched and was even surprisingly reasonable. So everyone exchanged glances, and the Legendary experts, previously somewhat relaxed, truly sensed a crisis from this.
"The power of the Plague Evil God?"
Iger was attending in person this time. The old Pope stroked the armrest of the conference room chair, his expression thoughtful, but he shook his head: "No, the Church has always been watching the seal of the Plague Evil God. Perhaps it could indeed develop something like the Extreme Virus, but its power..."
Recalling the breathing of the Death Evil God that made the World Star River tremble even before it awakened, and then considering this super plague spanning over a dozen known star rivers with an inconceivably vast scope, Iger felt somewhat unable to accept: "It simply isn't this strong. To be honest, based on my current understanding, the Plague Evil God's power cannot even surpass the combined strength of everyone present. I... together with Eideliel, could stably suppress it."
This statement was actually modest—the old Pope originally wanted to say he alone would be enough, but after thinking about it, since it was still just speculation, he added another Legendary's name.
After all, they hadn't fought yet, so verbally showing some respect first.