Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 97

‘I’m infected by the disease,’ David thought, and a chill went down his spine.
He was someone who had not stopped smiling even when his left hand was cut off, but the fear of being infected by an unknown disease was quite different.

‘What the hell is this disease? Is this something like a pestilence or the Black Death?’ he thought nervously.

David could always attach another body part if he lost one by using the Body Crafting Kit, but a disease was a different story altogether.
There was no way for him to replace his whole body if he ever got infected with a disease.

‘Damn it! There’s no better place for a disease to thrive than here, now that I think about it!’ he cursed himself.
He never cleaned the ruin and it was very dirty, and the corpse dolls frequently went in and out of the ruin, which made it the ideal environment for pathogens.

‘Also, I’m the only living organism in this ruin,’ he thought before realizing how scary that was.
The infected corpse dolls could no longer be considered his subordinates; instead, they were now enemies that could potentially infect him with diseases.

‘Damn it! Why did I attach a corpse’s left hand, of all things?!’ he cursed as he scratched the purple spot on his left hand until it started to bleed.

David could not remove the left hand he had attached using the Body Crafting Kit.
It would have been a different story if he attached a doll’s hand, but the human hand he had attached was now considered a part of his body.

‘It’s possible that the infection spread faster because I attached a human hand.’ A chill suddenly traveled down his spine the moment he realized that.
Perhaps the dead Travelers were carrying out their vengeance against him.

‘What will happen if I get infected by this disease?’ he thought as his back broke out into a cold sweat.
He had been overconfident, thinking he could face anyone as long as he stayed within his ruin.

‘But I can’t even fight against this disease…!’ he thought, gritting his teeth.
He would have preferred to face an extremely strong monster if this was how things were going to be.
There was no way for him to fight against a virus he could not even see, and consequently, there was no way for him to win against it either.
In fact, was there even a way for anyone to win against a virus?

“Cough! Cough!” David started coughing, as his throat had become so itchy that he felt as if he were about to go insane from it.
He looked at his hand and saw that he had coughed out a mixture of phlegm and blood.

“Fuck! Cough! Fuuuuck!” he screamed angrily, but there was nobody to direct his anger at.
He felt as if he might go insane.
The disease was nothing short of divine punishment.

‘I can’t just sit still and do nothing!’ he thought as he stood up and burned all of the dolls that had purple spots on their bodies.
He contemplated whether he should cut off his right hand, which had also become infected with the purple spots, but he decided against it.

‘The disease has already infiltrated my body, judging by the fact that I’m now coughing up blood.’ He coughed violently while looking for something he could use as a mask.
However, his neglect of the ruin’s cleanliness had come back to bite him, as he could not find a single clean cloth to use.

‘Damn it!’ He had never thought he would resent himself for not cleaning the ruin and just lazing around all day.

Finally, David managed to find a clean shirt.
It was the shirt of a Traveler he had killed in the past, that he had kept as a keepsake.
He tore the shirt apart and made a makeshift mask to cover his mouth and nose.

‘I can’t stay here after knowing that a disease outbreak has occurred.
Let’s go to a nearby village and get treated first,’ he thought.
He packed a few bottles of antiseptic and some personal belongings before leaving the ruin.

[You have exited the Shy Doll Ruin.]

[The skill ‘Recall to Ruin’ is still on cooldown.]

[You will lose ownership of the ruin if you do not return within the time limit.]

[Time Remaining: 47 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]

‘Damn it… I have no time…’

David had to hurry and return to the ruin as soon as possible if he wanted to maintain his ownership of it.
There had indeed been an outbreak in the ruin, but he had burned all of the infected corpse dolls.
David still had a lingering attachment to the ruin, and he could not simply abandon it.

‘Let’s hurry.’

He was not sure whether there was even a cure to the disease, but he had to at least try to have it cured—or at least find out the name of the disease, even if it killed him.

“Cough! Cough!” Every time he coughed, the amount of blood increased.
Knowing that time was not on his side, he walked all night to reduce as much travel time as he could.

Right on the brink of dawn, he found a small spring.
The spring water was a little bit stagnant, but the water looked clean regardless.

‘I have to get rid of the virus in my body.
Let’s wash first.’

David undressed and washed himself, then poured all the antiseptics he had on his body.
At that point, he realized that the purple spots had now spread all the way up to his chest.

‘This disease is heavily infectious.
I wonder how high the fatality rate is?’

Fatality rate was the chance of an infected patient dying from the disease.
There was a high chance that he was going to die of the disease if its fatality rate was high, but that also meant he had a high chance of surviving if it was low.

‘I’ll definitely survive this!’ David thought, clenching his fists.
There was no way he was going to succumb to a disease just like that.
He bit his lips until they started to bleed.

‘I’ll survive as long as my heart keeps beating…!’ he thought, resolving to survive no matter what happened.

Suddenly, a blade pierced through David’s heart.

“Kuheok!” he groaned in pain.

“Wow, this dude was really here!” Henrick exclaimed in surprise, while using the mana threads in his hands to control the large sword-wielding wooden doll that had stabbed David through the heart.

“D-damn… Damn you…!” David cursed while gasping for breath.

“That punk Kang Yoon-Soo told me to come here, so I did.
But who knew you would be here leisurely taking a bath? Isn’t the water cold?” Henrick asked.

David started to vomit blood as he struggled in pain.
However, Henrick did not give him a moment’s reprieve, controlling his wooden doll to drive the sword deeper through David’s heart.
He then openly mocked David, “You killed so many people, but you wish to survive?”

The wooden doll twisted its sword and crushed David’s heart, and an unimaginable pain spread throughout his body.

“Eaaaahahahakk!” David screamed in pain as he struggled wildly to fight back; however, he could not resist at all, because he was completely naked and did not have any weapons or his summoning box.
However, he gathered all his strength and spat out blood toward Henrick as a last stand.
“Hnnngh… Ptui!”

“Ugh, what are you doing?” Henrick grumbled as he wiped the blood off his face with a disgusted expression.

“Hehehe… You’re now infected by the disease as well…!” David said, smirking at the thought of bringing someone else down with him.

“I already took the cure for this, you punk,” Henrick retorted.

“…”

David breathed his last and died in the pool of spring water, which had been dyed red with his own blood.

[You have killed the owner of the Shy Doll Ruin, David Abi.]

[You may collect the treasure at the heart of the Shy Doll Ruin.]

[You are an Artisan.]

[You have attained the required puppeteering skill level.]

[Do you wish to take over the position of Rick’s Successor?]

“Rick’s Successor?” Henrick muttered, blinking a few times in confusion.

“You’ll be able to have an easier time controlling your dolls,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Can you please not sneak up behind me like that?” Henrick exclaimed, jumping in surprise when Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly showed up beside him.
He cleared his throat and continued, “I’m thankful that you told me where this guy would be, but don’t you usually deal the final blow?”

“I’m not a Puppeteer,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied nonchalantly.

Kang Yoon-Soo would certainly have killed David if he had chosen to be a Puppeteer in this life, but he had no intention of becoming a Puppeteer in this life at all.
Additionally, he knew from previous experience that it would be much more efficient and effective if he let Henrick take the role of Puppeteer in this life.

“Let’s go and collect the treasure of the ruin,” he said.

“What about the other two?” Henrick asked, referring to Iris and Shaneth who were still asleep at their campsite.

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “We’ll be the only ones going.”

“Why? Is there something disgusting waiting for us?” Henrick asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo did not say anything and merely nodded in affirmation.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo had used the horse bone to infect the corpse dolls that went out to scout outside the ruin.
The corpse dolls were easily infected because they were dead, and they also spread the infection quite rapidly.

[You have infected the dolls in the Shy Doll Ruin with a fatal disease.]

[Total number of infected—117.]

[You have successfully caused an outbreak.]

‘It was very effective to fight through biological warfare,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The one thing that could neutralize an advantage in level or numbers was an outbreak of an infectious disease.
In fact, it was arguably even more effective than being a necromancer who continuously raised undead to fight.

Henrick could not help but frown, remarking, “You scary bastard.
What would you have done if the disease spread to nearby areas?”

“The investigators would have stopped it,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied nonchalantly with a shrug.

That was the specific reason why he had asked for 1st Grade investigators to be deployed, since the whole continent would be in danger if the disease spread all over instead of being contained.

‘There aren’t many vectors for the disease to spread since the outbreak happened in the ruin,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The two men walked through the forest, but Kang Yoon-Soo, who was walking in front, suddenly turned in a different direction.

“Hey, you punk, that’s not the way that bastard’s footsteps came from,” Henrick said.

“There’s somewhere we have to stop by before we go to the ruin,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he walked toward a secluded area.

As they entered the forest depths, they heard the cries of beasts growing louder, and a person shouting ahead of them.

“You dare to think you can fight against me?!” an old man wearing a black robe shouted as he swung a black staff.
Wherever the old man swung his staff, the leaves in the forest withered, and all traces of life faded.

Facing off against the black magician was a group of investigators wearing official uniforms.
Their leader called out, “The black magician is almost dead! We have permission from the headquarters to kill him.
Don’t hold back and keep attacking him!”

While hiding behind a bush together with Kang Yoon-Soo, Henrick whispered, “Is that the black magician you were talking about?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

It was the black magician who had spread the infectious disease, and he seemed to be on his last legs as the investigators’ onslaught of attacks kept pouring in.
The old man seemed as if he might die at any moment, as he struggled to prop himself up by supporting himself with his black staff.

It was then that Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly made his move.
“Abyssal Sword.”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword stabbed through the old man from behind.
The old man gasped, “W-Who are you…? Kuheok!”

Kang Yoon-Soo twisted his sword before the black magician could finish speaking, and the old man died on the spot.

[You have killed Orikel, the black magician who caused a plague.]

[You have gained ownership of all the items in the black magician’s dimensional pocket.]

[You have obtained seven Seeds of Plague.]

[You have obtained four Corrupted Crosses.]

[You have obtained the Staff of Plague.]

Kang Yoon-Soo had suddenly shown up and dealt the final blow—it was a kill-steal.

“What the hell! Who are you?!”

“How dare you kill someone in front of us investigators?!”

The investigators angrily approached him; judging by their flashy uniforms, they were visibly high-ranked.
Their bodies glowed, as they had been blessed to prevent them from catching the disease while fighting against the black magician.

Kang Yoon-Soo did not bother to reply, instead pulling out the amulet around his neck and showing it to them.

“I-it’s the Zero Grade Dragon’s Claw Amulet!”

The investigators all shouted in surprise before lining up in an orderly fashion.
A beautiful woman at the front of the line gave a salute before displaying a bracelet that had a phoenix engraved on it and calling out, “1st Grade investigator Sheryl and fourteen others reporting!”

They were the 1st Grade investigators who had been dispatched after receiving Kang Yoon-Soo’s report.

Kang Yoon-Soo leisurely walked up to Sheryl and patted her shoulder, saying, “Great job.”

“Yes, sir!” Sheryl replied.

The investigators had just been engaged in a battle, but none of them seemed to be tired at all.
The 1st Grade investigators were the strongest among them.

‘The Royal Special Investigation Unit,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

They were the investigators who were acknowledged by the royal palace, and they were routinely dispatched to different branches of the empire.
They possessed far superior stamina and combat prowess compared to average investigators, and their swordsmanship did not fall behind that of the knights at the royal palace.

‘They’ll find me suspicious if I stay with them longer.’

They were different from those Kang Yoon-Soo had conned in the past.
They were people who had the extraordinary ability to discern whether the person in front of them was a fraud or not, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to escape their suspicions even if he displayed remarkable acting.

“I was investigating the cases of Travelers going missing in these parts when I saw you guys.
It really feels good to see that my juniors are doing a great job,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Do you mean you were investigating at this hour?” Sheryl asked.
Her tone was gentle, but it was evident that she was interrogating Kang Yoon-Soo.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded casually and said, “Of course.
Ah, now that I think about it, you seem to be from the Vulpehin branch judging by the wings engraved on your bracelet.
Is Sir Rapentahil doing well these days?”

“He is still on active duty,” Sheryl replied.

“I am glad he is still as active as ever.
It feels like yesterday that he burned his mustache while chasing after that arsonist,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
A few of the investigators let out a laugh in response.

“Are you acquainted with Sir Rapentahil?” Sheryl asked.

“Hmm… Have you guys heard of his endless nagging yet? He was quite an earful back in the day,” Kang Yoon-Soo remarked.

“Haha! We get that every day until we are sick and tired of it.
He is obsessed with accruing merits all the time,” Sheryl said.
However, she raised a brow before she asked suspiciously, “You seem to be quite young.
Are you from a recent batch?”

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at her for a moment.
He could deduce that Sheryl was the strongest one among the investigators present, and he could also tell that she was almost on par with a knight captain in terms of her level and her combat prowess.

He cleared his throat before replying, “I am a Traveler, as you can see.
I was specially promoted earlier than the others, just like you guys.”

Kang Yoon-Soo leisurely dodged the question.
The investigators might have had sharp instincts when it came to detecting lies, but Kang Yoon-Soo had the knowledge from his previous lives.
That was one of the main reasons why all of his lies were just too believable.

“Anyway, I heard that permission was given to kill him so I stepped in to help, but I hope I did not offend you guys,” he continued.

“Not at all; we are thankful that you took care of the black magician for us,” Sheryl replied.

“Then, keep up the good work,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, before raising a salute and leaving.

However, Sheryl’s gaze fixated on Kang Yoon-Soo's back for quite a long time.

“Did you manage to fool them?” Henrick asked from behind the bush.

“I think so,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Be careful.
It won’t end with just jail time for you if you get caught impersonating an investigator,” Henrick said, yawning and scratching his cheek.

Suddenly, however, he stared at Kang Yoon-Soo and said seriously, “Hey.”

“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Their gazes met.

Henrick took out a bottle of alcohol from his back, and Kang Yoon-Soo took out a bottle of transparent alcohol at the same time.
They then mixed both of the drinks they had in equal proportions.

“I knew I could count on you when it came to this,” Henrick said, snickering.

“I guess,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The two men clinked their bottles and drank while they walked toward the ruin.