The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 112: Chapter 111: External Heart

[High Wall Base]

The nutrient meat soup flowing from the factory mostly gets channeled here via the underground river, forming mud ponds between deep pits, which provide essential nutrients to the tree walls, accelerating the expansion of the entire forest.

Yi Chen decided to take a short rest here for some self-repair. @@novelbin@@

The incident was far from over; he would face the even more terrifying and unknown Church.

During the rest period, he needed to consider two things:

1. Reconnecting his left arm, which had been smashed by the Village Chief,

2. Considering the issue with the heart,

Little Grape had been bearing the function of the heart, which was not only tiring for it but also resulted in the loss of a very important “Visual Enhancement.”

Unless he cut open his right chest like he did against the Nag, exposing the heart might allow him to maintain vision.

Such an approach was, of course, unrealistic in actual combat, and it would greatly increase Little Grape’s risk.

Now, a special option lay before him,

and Yi Chen, having never done this before, was somewhat indecisive.

The steel heart in his hands, full of cracks, was lit by the glow of the campfire, and it felt as if a voice was whispering in Yi Chen’s ear, urging him to insert this heart into the empty left side of his chest.

In a sense, as long as this heart remained fresh, the Village Chief was not truly gone.

Just by placing this heart into a body, under the effects of the Grey Zone, it could slowly regenerate back into the appearance of the Village Chief.

“Little Grape, is it possible for my body to accept this heart?”

“If you want to die, just say so. Before you die, remember to dig out the grape for me…” Little Grape could not be bothered to explain.

“Surely doomed?”

“Let me put it this way, the fact that you could accept a ‘Pathological Crystal’ while wandering around cemeteries is already unbelievable. Albert, in his heart, did not really think you could survive.

The ‘Burning Technology’ used to refine the crystals is unique to Zion, and by controlling the fire temperature and the long duration of sealed kiln burning, most of the pathogenic material can be eliminated.

Even then, the harmless crystal obtained still poses a danger to humans and needs to wait until the breaking of the Limit of Man to reduce the risk.

The heart in your hands has not undergone any burning refinement, and it comes from a Severe Patient… If you want to use that thing as a heart, you might as well just blow yourself up!

Plus, yours truly hasn’t complained about the heart issue, so why are you in such a hurry to change hearts?”

All of a sudden, Yi Chen changed his tone,

“Taking on the role of the heart has been too much for you.

And in the recent fight, you were nearly kicked by the Village Chief.

If you, Little Grape, could be freed from the responsibility of being a heart, it would allow you to provide more help and avoid injury. Even if I died, you could escape from here.

The Church headquarters we are about to go to will inevitably be even more dangerous, and I must make some changes.”

After these concerned words were spoken, Little Grape did not respond immediately.

After about ten seconds,

“Cough cough, my life is much more valuable! If you’re not afraid of dying, then give it a try.

However, don’t connect your own blood vessels to this heart, but try connecting it using the ‘Plant Disease’ you have already mastered, using illness against illness.

I will try to erase ‘the consciousness of the Village Chief’,

Whether or not you can truly utilize this heart is up to you.”

“Alright.”

Yi Chen was not afraid of death,

He was well aware that if he didn’t make a change and continued to let Little Grape act as the heart, he would most likely die deep within the Church… To uncover the ultimate secret, to find out Jin’s whereabouts, sacrifices were necessary.

He unfastened the buttons of his waistcoat and shirt,

exposing the left side of his chest that had been pierced,

and slowly placed the Village Chief’s heart into the cavity, a perfect fit.

Crack crack~

Vascular-like plant roots burrowed into the crevices on the surface of the heart, connecting to and trying to accept the blood produced by the heart.

“Come on!”

A deep grey blood began to spread throughout the body from the chest down along the roots.

With it came an agonizing pain,

like steel spikes flowing through the blood vessels, piercing every area the blood passed through.

Veins as tough as steel cables protruded from every part of the body, even gradually losing control over the physique, the entire body began to harden, and breathing became obstructed.

When this grey blood flowed into the brain, it also brought the consciousness of the Village Chief, trying to invade the consciousness of Yi Chen.

However, it wasn’t dangerous.

The defeated Village Chief, having lost his will and hope, brought a very weak consciousness that couldn’t shake Yi Chen’s dominant position.

At the same time,

the grape slowly opened its mouth, and on the level of consciousness, a mouth as deep as an abyss appeared, swallowing the Village Chief’s residual consciousness within the Pathogen Core.

“Village Chief’s consciousness has been erased, now it’s your turn~ William.”

As the grape’s voice came through, Yi Chen started to fight against the ‘hardened blood’ that was spreading throughout his body, using physical control techniques he had learned from Zede.

His thoughts returned to that half-year of agonizing special training.

About the third month into the special training, there was a major accident,

Yi Chen got stuck in the waist and abdomen while using a device called the “Happy Roulette,” causing multiple internal organs to rip, leaving him at death’s door.

Zede moved him to the surgery room at the fastest speed,

considering he might die at any moment, the only option was to forcefully replace Yi Chen’s organs with those from a living corpse.

Although the organs taken from living corpses were perfectly integrated by Zede’s skilled medical techniques and functioned normally,

Yi Chen, who was pulled back from the border of Hell, instantly felt a sense of strangeness and rejection from his body as soon as he regained consciousness and opened his eyes, clearly sensing that the organs inside him were not his own.

Cold, foreign, and even bereft of life, filled with the essence of death.

Every time these organs functioned, they brought about continuous intense pain and even bruises on the skin’s surface.

Zede, however, comforted him with a relaxed face, gently touching Yi Chen’s body.

“Relax! Although these are ‘their’ things, you can still use them, after all, we are all classified as ‘humans’.

As a human, one has to be open-minded and learn to accept new things.

Consider our physique like a little miss who always has some sort of mental cleanliness obsession.

But she can’t always wear her own clothes, for example, if she’s stripped of her clothes on the street, it’s necessary to immediately snatch someone else’s clothes to wear.

If the little miss strongly resists wearing someone else’s clothes, then as the master, we must properly train her.”

After lying on the surgery table for half an hour, enduring the physical pain, Yi Chen, on the verge of losing consciousness, actually felt the body’s rejection slowly fade away, and those organs from the living corpses were transformed into his own.

…

[High Wall Base]

An entire hour passed by,

The steel-like veins that covered the body were gradually suppressed,

Unlike the situation in Zede’s surgery room, Yi Chen didn’t choose to ‘wear someone else’s clothes,’ but rather remade someone else’s clothes into his own.

The Village Chief’s heart had been completely absorbed by the plants, replaced by a temporary heart woven from plants.

Once again, Ancient Living Text flickered in the retinal space.

“Forest Guardian – Casimir’s Tumor-like Crystal’ quality upgrade form ‘Ordinary (Variant)’ to ‘Quality (Variant)'”

* ‘Vascular Tissue’ trait now provides a 30% increase in physique enhancement, mainly reflected in increased hardness and tenacity.

* ‘Growth Roots’ trait further developed, embedded into the heart sample, can create a temporary heart (or enhance the existing heart) by employing the body-wide plant traits.

Note: During the maintenance of the temporary heart, plant outward-release abilities cannot be used.