"What’s its name?" Zhou Chen asked the others, pointing at the hideous monster.

"Matthew," one of the bandits answered.

"Don’t you think it’s strange, seeing it like this?"

The bandits exchanged glances. "Matthew’s always looked like this."

"Their minds have been corrupted too. Their perception has been eroded. If they hadn’t run into us, they would have been Assimilated into this within three days," Catherine said, looking at Zhou Chen. "Didn’t you notice this Corrupter when you used your Ability?"

Zhou Chen shook his head. "Besides corrupting their perception, it also has some ability to disguise itself. It was disguised as a human at the time."

’That much was true. A moment ago, I hadn’t looked closely or used my senses to check. I just made a wish to brainwash them all, never expecting there was a Corrupter mixed in.’

"Matthew, what do you want to do?" Zhou Chen asked directly. Now that the brainwashing was successful, this Corrupter was his loyal subordinate.

"Reproduce... Expand..." A muffled voice emerged from between the writhing tentacles on the monster’s head. "Reproduce... Expand... Reproduce... Expand..."

"...When were you corrupted?" Zhou Chen asked again.

"Red River City... Red River City... Red River City..."

’Red River City?’ Zhou Chen was stunned. That was their next destination.

"Be specific."

"Red River City... Red River City..." Matthew just kept repeating the same words. It was clear it didn’t have much of a mind.

"Did Matthew escape from Red River City?" Zhou Chen had to ask the other bandits.

"No, he’s from Tren City, out west. After he joined us, we were just wandering the wilderness. A few days ago, we went to Red River City to get laid."

’They all went to Red River City, but only Matthew was corrupted. That means the source of the corruption wasn’t very powerful back then. The question is, how much has it evolved by now...’ Zhou Chen thought for a moment, then gave an order to the bandits: "The other three vehicles will go to Rusted Iron City and join the Poisonous Sore Gang. Your vehicle will come with us to Red River City. Matthew, put on your disguise."

Matthew’s appearance immediately changed. He became a sallow, emaciated man in his thirties with a dull, wooden expression.

"You’re taking a Corrupter to Red River City?" Catherine didn’t think this was a good idea.

"It’s been brainwashed by me now, so it’s not dangerous. If we run into other Corrupters, it might come in handy. If worst comes to worst, we can use it to find the source of the corruption," Zhou Chen said.

The group set off once more.

Half an hour later, the vehicles drove into the outer districts of Red River City.

Seeing the bustling streets, teeming with people, Catherine and the others were dumbfounded.

Order in Red River City had been restored far too quickly. Back in Rusted Iron City, you could barely see any ordinary citizens on the streets—it was all gang members, and they were burning the bodies of Crystal Disease victims everywhere. But here in Red River City, life seemed to have returned to normal. Shops were open, street vendors were everywhere, and there were even children playing in the streets.

And yet, despite this bustling, lively scene, Zhou Chen frowned, feeling a sense of oppression.

’There are so many people, so why... can’t I feel much of a human presence?’

Instead, there was a cold, viscous, and slimy feeling that he couldn’t shake, as if a frigid tentacle might crawl up his back at any moment, wrap around his neck, and strangle him to death.

This faint premonition lingered in Zhou Chen’s mind, making him feel that the entire city was strange, shrouded in an eerie shadow.

Another half an hour passed, and the group arrived at the slums near the city center. This area was far livelier than the outer districts. The already narrow sidewalks were packed with all sorts of vendors: fruit and snacks, books and magazines, batteries and locksmiths... making the dirty, disorderly streets even more crowded. The traffic was so heavy that vehicles were at a standstill, their horns blaring deafeningly. There was absolutely no sign of the Crystal Disease having ever run rampant.

"Have you guys noticed something?" Zhou Chen suddenly asked.

"What?"

Staring out the window, Zhou Chen said grimly, "None of the people here have any marks of corrosion left by the Crystal Disease."

The other four stared, wide-eyed in astonishment. They quickly looked around and saw it was true. The pedestrians on the street bore no residual marks of the Crystal Disease. This was highly abnormal. To date, the Crystal Virus had evolved countless times, and there had never been a single case of complete recovery in North Carolina. Most of the time, the Crystal Virus merged and coexisted with the human body, and in those cases, crystalline Ore would inevitably be left on the body.

"Either Red River City never had an outbreak of Crystal Disease, or they’re all Ascenders who are immune to it, or they’ve completely cured it. But none of those are possible."

Zhou Chen said in a low voice, "They’ve all been turned into Corrupters."

A suffocating silence spread through the car.

’They’ve all been turned into Corrupters?’

’How many would that be? A few thousand? No... given the speed at which mental corruption spreads, it has to be at least ten thousand!’

’An outbreak with tens of thousands of infected individuals is a massive-scale mental corruption event. If the local North Carolina Star Association were operating normally, they would have issued a red alert long ago!’

’We’re in the wolf’s den right now...’ A cold sweat broke out on Catherine’s forehead, but she forced herself to calm down quickly. "First, let’s meet with our contact. Hopefully, they haven’t been corrupted... If the situation is too serious, we leave immediately."

The man in sunglasses who was driving nodded. Just then, the red light turned green. As he was about to step on the gas, a group of pedestrians surged forward without warning, blocking the vehicle. More people then gathered like a tide, completely surrounding their two cars.

These pedestrians, men and women, young and old, were all expressionless, staring blankly at the five people inside the car.

The sun shone down from above, but a chill ran through their hearts, and their expressions changed drastically.

Zhou Chen was used to high-stakes situations, so he remained calm and thought of a way to break the stalemate. However, what happened next made his expression falter as well.

"We are Matthew."

A thousand people opened their mouths, speaking in perfect, deafening unison.

"We want to talk to you."

’They’re all Matthew... A single consciousness from the source of the corruption, controlling all the infected?’

Zhou Chen’s mind raced. ’If all these Corrupters are controlled by a single consciousness, then when I brainwashed one Matthew, the other Matthews would have surely noticed. It’s only natural that they’d block our path now.’

’They’re probably here for revenge...’

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Chen manually rolled down the car window. The glass descended with a series of squeals.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"The future!"

"...Whose future?"

"Our future. Everyone’s future," the thousand "Matthews" replied in unison.

"I don’t understand what you mean."

Men, women, children, the elderly... countless different voices intertwined, like the maddening whispers of the Abyss: "I can protect everyone from the ravages of the Crystal Disease. I can make everyone share a single, unified mind. This completely eliminates the Darkness, evil, and violence in the human heart. It only took two days for the chaotic Red River City to be restored to perfect order. North Carolina needs me. I can bring North Carolina a bright future!"

"So you mean North Carolina will become a better place if everyone is turned into ’you’?" Zhou Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Correct. As long as everyone’s minds are unified, there will be no class discrimination, wealth discrimination, or gender discrimination. There will be no more war," the Matthews answered in unison.

"It’s a nice idea, but that’s all it is—an idea. You don’t have enough Power to Assimilate everyone in North Carolina. And the reality is, once the source of corruption expands to a certain point and becomes a high-level threat, the North Carolina Government will have to step in and clean it up, whether they want to or not."

"That is why the Matthews wish to talk with you."

’So it wants to negotiate a partnership with the Poisonous Sore Gang?’ Zhou Chen’s expression was strange. ’To think I’d run into a potential "ally" even here.’

Of course, Zhou Chen knew the Plague Doctor would never agree to a partnership. Besides their differing ideologies, the most important reason was that the "Matthews" were a form of mental corruption.