The Last Gentleman

[Sunshine Hotel]

About 70% of the gentlemen who had not reached their physical limit in the entire district were gathered in this hotel. Yi Chen and Barry had also spent the night here, and even freeloaded a lavish breakfast in the morning.

As the gentlemen who jumped to their deaths formed a “Dead Man’s Road Marker” in the crossroad in an upside-down manner.

Looking along the direction pointed to by the hotel’s front doors, one could see more intense flickers of light and shadows in motion, as if a fierce battle were underway.

At the same time, voices were heard from different floors, even mixed with some screams, signifying that the hotel had already been invaded by death from the inside, and it was possible that many gentlemen had transformed into the dead.

If what was currently happening was an ordinary and common Pathological erosion, Yi Chen would have not hesitated to go up and assist. But now, the death that swept through the whole city was rapidly expanding, and every human death spawned the dead.

The most prudent course of action was to return to Sunshine Hospital and meet with Mr. Helvoye. With a Transcender present, defending against death would be much easier.

Gazing at the hotel building in front of him, Yi Chen recalled the gentleman’s course he had taken for over a year in Zion and felt his gentleman’s clothes,

constantly reminding him of the basic morals that he should possess as a gentleman.

“Barry!”

Yi Chen’s shout made Barry stop in his tracks.

“If we choose the hotel, we may end up trapped there for a long time, unable to meet with Mr. Helvoye at the hospital.

If Dean Dis’s confrontation with the source of death fails and we lack the protection of a ‘Transcender,’ we might very well die here.

Barry, you need to think this over!”

Barry, who had mostly been a source of comic relief and even often regretted coming here, became exceptionally serious at this moment.

“We must rush to the hotel; our companions need our help!”

At this time, another gentleman’s team happened to arrive at the crossroads and noticed the abnormality of the hotel as well as Yi Chen and Barry across the street.

“Please join us in helping out at the hotel!”

The invitation was made,

and even if Yi Chen didn’t consider the problem of gentlemanly conduct, he had to consider the gentlemen present.

If he still chose to leave, when the death incident eventually calmed down, the higher-ups would surely learn of this.

The organization might possibly reevaluate Yi Chen’s essence and could significantly cut resource supplies, no longer providing the “Gentleman’s Skin.”

After all, in a world soaked by plague, an individual without character who has lost their humanity could be more dangerous than some of the Patients.

Yi Chen stepped forward and patted Barry on the back,

“Let’s go, we’ll head to the hotel with them, but I have one condition.

We were clearly informed in the mission brief that if the danger in Levinhome exceeded our task’s assessment, we could retreat at any time without any liability.

When the danger inside the hotel exceeds our capability to endure, once I say go, Barry, you have to follow me and decisively retreat.”

“Alright.”

Yi Chen also clenched his teeth, gripping his weapon tightly, preparing to unleash his real strength in the hotel to clear the threat as quickly as possible.

As they crossed the intersection and met up with the other team,

one of them took two steps back, frightened by the sight of Yi Chen with black cloth over his eyes and a slightly hunched figure. He had a fleeting encounter with Hogni Zed ten years ago while helping transport bodies as a penalty at the academy, which left him with a psychological trauma.

But upon closer inspection, the young man in front of him was different in both appearance and age, merely somewhat similar in demeanor.

When everyone hurried to the front door of the hotel as fast as possible, they happened upon a terrible scene.

A gentleman with ragged clothes and a face riddled with small holes from which black Death Aura was seeping was choking another gentleman, holding him in the air.

The fingers were penetrating the neck, the surrounding skin was rapidly aging, and the situation was critical.

Hum!

Barry’s Secret Silver Hammer was still thrown at the first opportunity.

Crack! The flesh shattered.

But the gentleman corpse before them was clearly different from ordinary citizens,

The Secret Silver Hammer only shattered the arm used for blocking, and the remaining force just flung the other party away, rolling into a corner of the lobby.

The gentleman who was choked in mid-air was barely rescued and immediately received an injection in his neck.

Barry watched the dead gentleman being smashed away, “Hm? He took a hammer blow from me head-on and only lost an arm… Has the physical strength of those transformed by death also been enhanced? This is a stark difference compared to ordinary citizens. Everyone be careful.”

As he spoke those words, Yi Chen had already charged out.

With a lift of his left hand, he switched the ammunition type… and pulled the trigger!

Bang!

A rifled-slug shot out, blowing a large hole in the abdomen of the dead and crashing into it… The Pathological bullet rapidly absorbed the metallic components within the dead body, rendering its flesh soft and powerless.

As the dead struggled to rise and failed, the blindfolded youth had already arrived to kill.

Whoosh!

Moonlight descended, and the silver rats devoured.

Just as the horde was about to completely consume the filth… Pop~pop~pop! The Moonlight Rats exploded one after another.

Faced with this anomaly, Yi Chen didn’t retreat; instead, he leaned his body slightly forward.

[Homologous Induction]

At the instant the Moonlight Rats exploded, Yi Chen’s own Death Attribute surprisingly resonated.

Even though his eyes were covered, he could still clearly sense a whiff of essence from the Old World, faint yet directly related to death.

“Barry, and everyone else, don’t come close for now…”

Ensuring no one approached,

Yi Chen moved closer to the corpse, reaching out to touch the remaining chunks of the body.

Like a magnet being drawn, or as if Yi Chen himself was a magnet,

the moment he made contact, he immediately drew out the most vital “Death Plague Breath,” a trail of deep black thread, almost liquid, flowing into Yi Chen’s body.

The physical body of the gentlemanly dead immediately crumbled, turning into a puddle of filth.

Buzz! A ringing sound echoed in his mind.

Yi Chen’s consciousness seemed to be transported to the depths of the Old World, to tunnels, caves, and various buildings constructed out of skulls, as if some “Realm of the Dead” was hidden deep within.

What he glimpsed was barely the tip of the iceberg.

As his consciousness returned,

The minute amount of “Death Plague Breath” he absorbed had already become [Nourishment] for Yi Chen’s own death system.

“Excellent stuff! If I could absorb more of this essence, perhaps I could further develop and harness the Death Attribute within me, laying the foundation for the upcoming Extreme Breakthrough.”

When Yi Chen turned around,

All gentleman but Barry looked at him with wary eyes, even going so far as to be armed against him.

To prove he hadn’t been infected by the Death Plague and considering his own selfish interests,

Yi Chen took out an old business card from his backpack—the Deputy Director of Hippocrates Hospital and one of the heads of the secret medicine review department, [Andre Vissari].

He had once formed a connection with Yi Chen due to the Twilight Clinic incident, always donning a signature plague doctor mask, a rare Death Doctor.

“I inherit Death Secret Techniques from Doctor Vissari,

Based on the killing and examination just now, I have come to an important conclusion: there is an essential difference between a gentlemanly dead and an ordinary citizen dead.

A certain gaseous substance from the Old World is key to the formation of ‘gentlemanly dead,’ which can even integrate their former Professional Characteristics to make them more formidable.

Next, we must work together to confront gentlemanly dead, and absolutely cannot be isolated.

If your attacks cause the [gentlemanly dead] to break apart or crack open, I will immediately absorb the Old World essence from within them.”

Convinced by the legitimate business card and the scene of Yi Chen absorbing the Death Aura,

The Gentleman Team immediately commenced a thorough cleansing of the hotel, centering around Yi Chen.

More and more “Death Plague Breath” was absorbed by Yi Chen as nourishment,

His skin grew ever paler and more deathly white during the process, closely resembling the form of a dead.