"Hiss..." Qi Suian sucked in a sharp breath. His flesh, saturated with the Deep Virus, began to disintegrate as if someone were flaying him with a razor blade.

His bones started to dissolve, and his internal organs began to fail.

’Hang in there. Just hang in there...’

The expedition-grade ecological circulation unit did its utmost to maintain a stable environment, all to keep Qi Suian alive for a little longer.

This wasn’t the first time he had experienced such agony.

Every upgrade to his viral talent came with an excruciatingly painful transformation. Success was never guaranteed on the first try; it required dozens of attempts, coupled with incredible adaptability.

"BLECH..." Qi Suian wretched up a mouthful of black blood. The force was so great that one of his eyeballs popped right out of its socket.

The optic nerve was surprisingly resilient and didn’t snap, leaving the eyeball dangling, still connected to his brain.

He wasn’t doing this just to torture himself. He needed to force the Deep Virus into a directed mutation, binding it completely to his very being.

Thus, it wasn’t just him who was being tormented, but the Deep Virus itself.

Throughout this process, Qi Suian’s Spirit gradually formed a connection with the Deep Virus. As the transformation intensified, they slowly moved toward symbiosis.

As his entire body threatened to melt into a puddle of sludge, Qi Suian knew this attempt was another failure.

He immediately opened his mouth to tell the AI to initiate deactivation and spare himself any further suffering.

But right at the brink of death, the Deep Virus’s mutation completed, becoming one with him.

At the same time, the talent displayed on his panel changed.

And then, Qi Suian died. This whole process was coercive by nature, and his own death had become a common occurrence.

[B-Rank Talent: Viral Symbiosis: Deep]

"Success!"

Qi Suian looked at the "Viral Symbiosis" on his panel, a joyful expression spreading across his face.

Now that they were symbiotic, the Deep Virus in his body was completely bound to him. If it ever left his body, it would die.

Of course, if Qi Suian died, the Deep Virus would die with him. However, thanks to their symbiosis, the virus in his body could now be reforged alongside him after death.

And the Deep Virus’s mutation—no, its evolution—was not over yet.

To ensure the survival of its host, Qi Suian, the Deep Virus was forced to provide him with various abilities: continuous growth in physique and Spirit, a formidable life force, regeneration that bordered on immortality, a body with no fatal weaknesses, and more.

Of course, these abilities were still in their infancy and required further development. Activating them would also come at a cost—most likely nutrients. If his body lacked sufficient nutrients, the abilities would consume the Deep Virus instead.

More importantly, Qi Suian had established the symbiotic link through both his physique and Spirit.

Now, even if he were to become fully infected, the Deep Virus would not be the dominant partner; they would exist as equals.

Of course, Qi Suian could also use his Spirit to interfere and set a threshold for the Deep Virus.

’Severe infection at 99.99%. Unleash every ability I have.’

Qi Suian immediately cranked his infection level to the maximum.

’The Deep Virus is now a permanent part of my immune system, and my original immune system has been forced to accept it.’

’I could get rid of the symptoms, but there’s no real benefit in doing so.’

He could eliminate the effects of his fever, weakness, and so on, but it wasn’t worth the cost.

As long as he had these symptoms, the protection from the Deep Virus and his body’s overdrive state would stack, making him even more powerful than when he was healthy.

Moreover, he was certain that the more severe his symptoms became, the more they would stimulate the Deep Virus’s activity and strength.

The Deep Virus feared Qi Suian’s death, and since Qi Suian was constantly on the verge of dying, the virus had no choice but to forcibly provide all sorts of aid.

’And then there’s... what is this thing?’

Qi Suian discovered, through the AI’s feedback, what appeared to be a tumor growing in his brain.

Calling it a tumor wasn’t quite accurate. According to the data, his Pineal Gland had apparently undergone some kind of mutation.

’To be more specific, it’s as if my Pineal Gland has turned into a highly concentrated Deep Virus Crystal.’

’Don’t tell me... it’s an ability???’ Qi Suian suddenly realized. He wasn’t much different from a zombie now.

All he needed to do was die, and a second consciousness would be born.

Unfortunately, he was stuck 0.01% away from that, preventing it from happening.

As long as the infection wasn’t total, being 99% away or 0.01% away made no difference. It was just a matter of dying sooner or later.

However, Qi Suian couldn’t die. Given enough time and stimulation, the Deep Virus might even evolve to protect him automatically.

"Since it’s in my brain, it’s most likely a Spirit-type ability," Qi Suian muttered. "Could this be the unknown effect of being reforged after a full-infection death?"

Not all abilities manifest physically; some are based in the Spirit.

It was like the cloned Chunyu Bao’s Corpse Domination ability. His body showed no physical signs of it; the mutation was purely in his Spirit.

His ability wasn’t considered a Spirit-type, leaning more toward the soul-type classification.

Most Spirit-type abilities use one’s physique to amplify, strengthen, or even physically manifest the Spirit.

The reason was simple: the Spirit requires a physical body to be housed, so the two are inseparable.

Of course, nothing is ever absolute, and exceptions always exist.

However, Qi Suian could make a pretty good guess about the ability developing within his crystallized Pineal Gland.

This wasn’t just a wild guess; he was making an educated judgment based on the ability-related aspects of the Immortal Surgery.

After all, that technology was already capable of artificially guiding the birth of abilities to some degree.

"I just don’t know how long it will take."

Qi Suian had no idea how long it would take for the symbiotic Deep Virus to finish reinforcing his body.

The plan and the data were sound; he just couldn’t predict exactly how far the Deep Virus would go.

Just as he was using the data to run projections, the slab of his own flesh he had previously carved off began to twitch.

’What does that old bastard want with me?’ Qi Suian wondered. ’I’ve been giving him the runaround for days. He shouldn’t be contacting me now.’

Nevertheless, he immediately disabled the soundproofing and adopted the tone of a model employee. "Boss, what are your orders?"

"Get ready. In three days, we begin to cleanse the world. Dispose of all survivors and any zombies not of our clan."

"This cleansing operation will require your intelligence support. Get to these coordinates as soon as possible..." Zombie Chunyu Hu rattled off a string of coordinates.

Searching for them one by one was too much trouble. Zombie Chunyu Hu planned to just steamroll everything. Anyone—human or zombie—who managed to distinguish themselves from the rest might just possess the destiny he was searching for.