Chapter 241: I Was Just Looking at the New World and Listening to a Poem, How Did I Get Cursed?

"This is... a rainforest?" Qi Suian’s expression was wary as he observed the new Doomsday World.

He could sense this environment wasn’t exactly welcoming to modern humans.

"AI, gather intel," Qi Suian said. He didn’t rush into action, instead instructing the AI to use the Tai Sui God’s reconnaissance network to scout.

Meanwhile, he took out a server unit and installed it on the Tai Sui God.

The Tai Sui Divine Armor Value had already reached 77 points, having completed five evolutions in the process.

This meant the Tai Sui God now had five empty module slots.

The environment wasn’t too harsh, so he could spare one to enhance the AI.

As the server equipment was installed, a new SSS-class module was successfully created.

[SSS-Class: Civilization Cloud Atlas Data Center]

With the server, the AI’s efficiency skyrocketed. Especially when combined with the Quantum Dynamic Structure Chip module, the AI’s improvements in all areas were visible to the naked eye.

This was just the beginning. As the Tai Sui God continued to grow, it would naturally become even more powerful.

Soon, a large amount of data was collected by the AI and compiled into a comprehensive report.

"No anomalies, and no network of any kind. But it did capture a special signal transmission, and it’s being decrypted now?" Qi Suian briefly summarized the report’s contents.

The special signal wasn’t some kind of electromagnetic wave transmission; it was more like something... strange.

Parsing it was a bit troublesome, but with the four modules of Language, Translation, Communication, and Signals, translating it was just a matter of time.

’So what’s the deal with this world?’

"It can’t be like the Cold Winter World, where the apocalypse hasn’t even started, right?" Qi Suian muttered. "Based on the last four Doomsday Worlds, I must have been dropped somewhere near a major boss."

’So... I should check the number of survivors first.’

Qi Suian opened the interface and took a look. Three million people.

"That few?" Qi Suian grew even more confused.

He had been through four Doomsday Worlds, and the number of survivors had never been less than a hundred million.

But this time, there were only three million.

This was genuinely bizarre.

This applied to both this Doomsday World and the survivors.

’I can be reasonably sure for now that this isn’t a repeat of the Cold Winter World, where the natives of the Doomsday World were turned into survivors.’

’If the population of an entire planet was really this small, it’d be completely screwed.’

Through the AI’s intelligence, Qi Suian confirmed that the world he was in was still a planet.

However, in terms of size, it far surpassed the Wasteland World.

The Wasteland World could be said to be the smallest planet among the doomsdays Qi Suian had experienced.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easily divided into north and south.

But its small size didn’t make it any less ridiculous.

As he was thinking, the number of survivors began to drop.

Qi Suian only glanced at it before paying it no more mind. A drop was normal; it would be a problem if it *didn’t* drop.

After all, they were here to survive, not to play around.

If people didn’t die, wouldn’t that be a disservice to the "doomsday" in "doomsday game"?

The rate of decline would only slow down once they established a foothold in the mid to late stages.

After about ten minutes, the AI finally decrypted the content of that special signal.

When Qi Suian looked at it, he thought it seemed a bit insane.

"A poem with a curse in it?"

"And it’s being spread in some unknown way." After reading it, Qi Suian wondered who would be crazy enough to encrypt a piece of text that was just insults.

[Based on the analysis, this appears to be some kind of curse.]

The AI suddenly piped up with this sentence.

"I get it. The curse of Tutankhamun."

"For any who enter this tomb with an impure heart, I shall wring their necks like I would a bird."

"Who knows how far away that is. I refuse to believe this curse can come and get me through the internet."

He trusted the AI’s judgment but didn’t quite believe this thing could actually affect him.

[The carrier is currently unknown, but it can be confirmed that the content *is* the method of transmission.]

[I should not have translated the content for you to see.]

"???" Qi Suian was now completely dumbfounded. The curse really had come to get him through the internet.

’Is it really this unscientific? Then again, it’s a curse. What’s the point of talking about science?’

"How do I solve this..." Qi Suian had only just arrived, and he’d already gotten hit after casually peeking at someone else’s communications.

This new Doomsday World really fought dirty.

More importantly, he didn’t feel cursed at all. His health was... well, he was as sick as ever.

Ever since being infected with the Abyssal Virus, he had never been healthy. He had always used his collection of illnesses as buffs.

[The poem’s content does not explain, but there is good news.]

[The curse you have contracted is one of disease. For you, it has no effect.]

[Furthermore, it is not immediately effective. It requires contact with the corresponding pathogen.]

[You are inside an expedition-grade life support system and cannot come into contact with external pathogens.]

[And the diseases you carry are already at their peak state, so they cannot be affected by a disease curse.]

Hearing this, Qi Suian was amused. He hadn’t expected his own weirdness to run into such a weird curse.

Anyone else would probably have been done for within two minutes in this rainforest.

"You know, it’s actually pretty suitable for me. Must be a fateful opportunity," Qi Suian mused. ’Every time I land, my plot armor never disappoints.’

It’s just that Qi Suian had missed most of them before. This time, however, the curse made him deeply aware of it.

A thought spun in his mind, and then he considered something.

"Say, if I undergo death reforging, will this curse dissipate because I died?" Qi Suian contemplated.

[You can try it.]

"Then deactivate me," Qi Suian said.

By this point, Qi Suian couldn’t even kill himself if he wanted to. His life force was too tenacious.

So he needed the Tai Sui God to give him a hand.

At the moment of death, the AI recorded a strange aura gradually dissipating.

After reviving, Qi Suian reviewed his memories and found a clear gap.

"I’ve forgotten the contents of the poem," Qi Suian then asked, "Do you still remember it?"

[It is saved in the database. Perhaps because I am not a life form, I can act as a carrier without triggering the curse.]

"Good stuff!" A use for it suddenly occurred to Qi Suian.

Since knowing the content equaled being cursed, if he encountered an unbeatable enemy in this Doomsday World, he could just have the AI use the Tai Sui God to broadcast or project the poem’s content.

Every single one of them would be cursed with sickness.

It would also be extremely effective for large-scale slaughter. All he’d need was a loudspeaker, and the enemies could just wait for death.

This method compensated for the Tai Sui God’s lack of a wide-area attack.

The Ghost Energy Storm from the Floating Cannons was indeed an area-of-effect attack, but its large range was only in comparison to the Dark Energy Beam.

After all, its effectiveness relied on numerical superiority combined with the decomposing ability of the ghost energy. His handful of Floating Cannons was simply not enough to unleash the module’s true power.

As for the carrier of the disease curse... that was unclear.

However, if he could get his hands on it, as long as its quality was S-class or below, Qi Suian would choose to make it a module for the Tai Sui God.

"AI, listen to this..." Qi Suian briefly outlined his idea to the AI.

He received the AI’s full affirmation, which stated that the killing efficiency would be extremely high.

"Right, I remember the radiation from the Black Crystal has a powerful mutation ability."

"What if I paired the poem with the Black Crystal..." Qi Suian discovered a way to stack effects.

First comes the sickness, then the Black Crystal radiation causes mutation. The mutation becomes a new disease, which leads to even more disease...

With this whole set of debuffs, even if it couldn’t kill enemies, it could definitely weaken them.

"If I added human immunodeficiency virus to this, I can’t even imagine..."

As he spoke, Qi Suian took out a Black Crystal.

This was the original version of the Black Crystal that Qi Suian had snagged from the Triumphant Eden.

It wasn’t the later version of the Black Crystal that carried the nascent consciousness.

The reason he didn’t dare use it in the Wasteland World was fear that it would be infected after being taken out.

But now things were different. Having left the Wasteland World, the Black Crystal couldn’t cause any trouble.

A sword from a past dynasty can’t kill an official of the current one.

Qi Suian decisively installed it as a module and obtained a new SSS-class module.

[SSS-Class: Natural Radiation Crystal]

The name was simple and clear, as were its effects. By infusing it with energy, it could form a Radiation Force Field.

Enemies enveloped by the force field would suffer radiation damage and accumulate radiation in their bodies, leading to mutation.

This mutation targeted cells and genes.

Its range and intensity could grow along with the Tai Sui God’s evolution.

Of course, both could be adjusted.

A larger range would mean lower radiation intensity, while a smaller range would naturally mean higher intensity.

Furthermore, the AI could strengthen it by overloading it, achieving a state of "I want it all," but it would then either need repairs or be scrapped and restored through permanent restoration.

"This is basically a radiation aura. Paired with the poem, it’s a walking catastrophe!"

’Looks like I absolutely have to get my hands on this fateful opportunity.’

"AI, locate the source of the signal. We’re going to go grab it," Qi Suian said calmly.

The fact that it could be decrypted meant that the poem’s content was being continuously broadcast in some fashion.

So finding the source shouldn’t be too difficult.

[Locking on...]

[Source lock failed. Directional lock successful.]

[Distance unknown. Proceed?]

"Go. Can’t let someone else get there first." Qi Suian understood one thing clearly: this time, he had to face two protagonists.

One was the survivor protagonist, and the other was the Doomsday World’s protagonist.

Neither of them was a pushover. The former was backed by the doomsday game, the latter by the world itself.

Coupled with the low number of survivors, it most likely meant the danger level was extremely high.

If he didn’t develop his own strength quickly, one wrong step could lead to a cascade of failures.

So when he came across something this lethal, he definitely had to grab it for self-defense.

As for having the content being enough, without needing the original object?

’If even the content is this powerful, wouldn’t the original object be even more terrifying?’

’Once I stick it onto the Tai Sui God, anyone who looks at it will get sick. Paired with the Natural Radiation Crystal’s radiation aura, I guarantee if they don’t mutate in three seconds, they’re the impressive one.’