Crystal Palace from Infinite Anime

why?

There are not so many whys.

It’s just that, just do what you want to do.

Chapter 15 Saeko’s Dilemma (Large Chapter)

The most serious illness Lin Zhiyu had ever experienced was two or three years ago, during the global pandemic. His symptoms were considered severe at the time, and while he wasn't admitted to the ICU, he still needed medication and several days of recuperation at home before he could regain some energy.

Now Lin Zhiyu had the same bad feeling as before. Lying on the bed, he felt dizzy and hot in the head, and every part of his body was painful. His throat was dry and sore.

Pneumonia is certainly not worse than scarlet corruption, but Lin Zhiyu is now a "superman" with full endurance!

Even someone as strong as Lin Zhiyu became so bad in condition as soon as he was infected with Scarlet Corruption. This shows how overbearing Scarlet Corruption is.

But Lin Zhiyu really didn't like seeing people around him looking dejected, so even though he was in a bad state, he still tried to appear as relaxed as possible.

Laura didn't understand why Lin Zhiyu risked his life to save her. Lin Zhiyu didn't explain much, but just smiled and said to Laura:

"Don't be so depressed. You're fine, and we killed the dragon. We should be thankful and happy."

Looking at Lin Zhiyu's smiling face, Laura couldn't smile no matter what.

There was no mirror in the room, so Lin Zhiyu had no idea how bad he looked now - not only was his face pale, but his eyeballs were densely packed with bloodshot, which looked extremely creepy!

It took a lot of courage for Theresa to look directly at Lin Zhiyu in this state. She looked into Lin Zhiyu's eyes with fear and suddenly whispered:

"Brother, you... your eyes... there seems to be something moving in your eyes."

As she spoke, Theresa subconsciously grabbed Uehara Rin's chest, her heart filled with worry about Lin Zhiyu.

At first, others thought Theresa had seen it wrong.

Laura, who was standing closest to Lin Zhiyu, stared at Lin Zhiyu's eyes carefully, and at a certain moment she suddenly discovered that a certain bloodshot line on Lin Zhiyu's eyeball really looked like some kind of insect wriggling slightly!

"Oh my God! Lin, I swear what Theresa said is true. There must be something in your eyes!" Laura said to Lin Zhiyu with a look of horror.

"Really? It's not that exaggerated." Lin Zhiyu just felt a little dry in his eyes. He smiled again, then raised one hand and rubbed his right eye which suddenly felt itchy.

As Lin Zhiyu rubbed his eyes, the white of his right eye, which was originally bloodshot, quickly turned red. Dark red blood flowed out of his eye socket, thick as pulp.

"Oh my God, stop it, don't do that again!" Laura, who noticed something unusual, immediately reached out and grabbed Lin Zhiyu's wrist.

Lin Zhiyu also felt tears running down his right eye. He raised his other hand and touched his eyelid. Then he looked down and found that his finger was not stained with tears, but blood!

Only then did Lin Zhiyu raise his head in a belated realization, and glanced at everyone in the room. He found that everyone, including Theresa, had a look of horror on their faces.

just like……

It's like he has turned into a monster now!

Then I thought about the things in the game and even the things I had seen along the way, those things that had become twisted and deformed because they were deeply corroded by the scarlet corruption.

It suddenly became difficult for Lin Zhiyu to maintain even a superficial optimism.

"I...is there a mirror here? I...what have I become? Do I look terrible now?" Lin Zhiyu's tone began to become a little flustered.

He originally thought that with his 100-point physique, even if he was infected with the Scarlet Corruption, it wouldn't deteriorate so quickly to the point of distortion and deformity, right?

But the reality seemed to be much worse than he expected.

Seeing that Lin Zhiyu could no longer remain calm, Uehara Rin knew that Lin Zhiyu must be thinking too much and thought that he had become distorted.

She wanted to tell Lin Zhiyu that the situation was not that bad, it was just some bleeding in the eyes. She also wanted to put Theresa down and then go forward to help Lin Zhiyu wipe the blood and tears from his face.

But at this moment, Lin Zhiyu's originally pale face began to quickly become red with blood, and the veins on his forehead bulged out. The blood vessels that were slightly swollen and protruding under the skin trembled from time to time, as if they would burst under the skin at any time.

"Well……!"

An intense feeling of swelling and pain filled Lin Zhiyu's head, causing him to cover his head and groan in pain.

"Brother..." Theresa huddled in Uehara Rin's arms, worried to the point of tears again.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Meifeng immediately walked out of the room and went to find Bertram and the others.

Laura supported herself on the bed with her hands, bent over and only a few inches away from Lin Zhiyu. She anxiously called out Lin Zhiyu's name, but she didn't know what to do to help Lin Zhiyu.

At this moment, Lin Zhiyu, who heard the shouting, suddenly turned his head, his blood-red eyeballs seemed to be bulging out of his eye sockets, staring at Laura terrifyingly.

Laura was so frightened that she subconsciously stood up straight and took a step back.

Lin Zhiyu then used one hand to support the bed, raised his upper body, gritted his teeth and continued to stare at Laura with a look as if he wanted to devour her.

"Lin Zhiyu! Wake up!" Seeing that Lin Zhiyu seemed to have suddenly become unconscious, Uehara Rin quickly spoke up to try to wake Lin Zhiyu up.

Lin Zhiyu turned his head to look at Shangyuan Lin and Theresa again, his eyes still violent, accompanied by heavy breathing, the blood vessels on his forehead trembled more frequently, and the bloodshot in his eyeballs were obviously wriggling.

"Wow, brother..." Theresa pressed her face tightly against Uehara Rin's soft chest and cried out in fear.

Lin Zhiyu clutched the bed sheet tightly with one hand, and seemed to have regained a little consciousness after hearing Theresa's crying. Then he slowly lowered his head, trembling all over.

"What's wrong with him!" Laura looked at Shangyuan Lin in panic.

Uehara Rin was silent for a moment, then said to Laura speculatively:

"Perhaps it's because the Crimson Corruption also affects the mind. Have you seen those wild dogs in the fields outside? They seem to be so aggressive because of the influence of the Crimson Corruption."

While answering Laura, Uehara Rin walked to Laura's side, pushed Laura behind him with one hand, told Laura to be careful, and retreated several steps to protect Laura, obviously worried that Lin Zhiyu would suddenly attack and hurt someone.

"No, we should do something and find a way to help him!"

Laura was pulled back to the door of the room by Uehara Rin. She knew that the decision made by Uehara Rin was very rational, but at this time, shouldn’t they stay away from Lin Zhiyu?

In Uehara Rin's opinion, if Lin Zhiyu really loses control, then it would be difficult for them to fight Lin Zhiyu, and it would be difficult not to fight him, and that would be the most troublesome thing, so if they can avoid him, they should try to avoid him as much as possible!

On Lin Zhiyu's side, the negative effects of the Scarlet Corruption, a brief moment of loss of control, had vanished as quickly as they had come. His breathing gradually calmed down, his mind regained its ability to think, and he could hear the conversation between Laura and Uehara Rin.

But Lin Zhiyu did not speak to the two girls immediately. Instead, he called out his personal information panel in his mind and looked at the description of his ability "Absolute Concentration".

Absolute Focus: Automatically activates upon entering combat or being subjected to a mind control effect, granting extreme resistance to mind control effects.

——Here comes the problem.

Can pathological mental abnormalities be considered as the effects of mind control?

Judging from Lin Zhiyu’s performance just now, it obviously doesn’t count.

Therefore, we must absolutely focus on this ability, mainly targeting methods such as illusions.

For example, if you remove a person's frontal lobe and make him demented, is this considered a mind control effect?

Of course not.

In this case, absolute concentration will naturally have no effect.

"Alpaca, I almost forgot. Scarlet Corruption doesn't just continuously deplete HP. Even the kind-hearted Millicent, who split from Malenia, was driven mad by the Scarlet Corruption, even attacking the Faded One in the Corruption Lake..."

At this moment, Lin Zhiyu thought of the story in the game where the player, who plays the role of the Faded One, would encounter a plot and an important NPC in the Corrupted Lake area of ​​Galid.

The girl named "Millicent" was separated from Malenia when Malenia chose to transform into the flower of Ionia and erupted in scarlet corruption. As Malenia's incarnation, she symbolizes all the noble qualities of Malenia.

Even someone as loyal and kind as her.

In the plot, her first encounter with the players begins with her actively attacking them.

This is the horror of scarlet corruption.

It not only destroys a person physically, but also has negative effects on the mental level, driving the infected person crazy!

"Add some, add some quickly, I still have some exchange coupons left..." Lin Zhiyu thought hopefully.

Fortunately, even before this world began, he spent a lot of money to buy "Arsonist" and "Ghost Slayer", two abilities that he proved to be worth the money through actual combat.

But he still had enough coupons.

After spending 2 redemption coupons to buy compressed biscuits and mineral water, Lin Zhiyu's redemption coupon balance is now 15.

At this time, Lin Zhiyu hurriedly spent 10 exchange coupons, and added 5 points of spirit and 5 points of endurance on the attribute panel. The remaining 5 exchange coupons were for the final guarantee. Whenever the disease broke out again and he felt that his body or mind could not bear it anymore, he would immediately add corresponding points to see if the symptoms could be alleviated.

So Lin Zhiyu's attributes became:

Strength: 100 (+91)

Agility: 41 (+31)

Stamina: 105 (+95)

Spirit: 36 (+25)

……

To be honest, Lin Zhiyu was not sure how much help a total of only 10 attribute points would bring to him in resisting the scarlet corruption.

Not to mention that his endurance has already reached its soft cap, and the improvement effect after 100 points is no longer obvious.

All I can say is, any improvement is better than no improvement!

But at the same time, Lin Zhiyu also knew that this method only treated the symptoms and not the root cause, and was definitely not a long-term solution.

"Remember, in the game, the power of fire is the strongest counter to Crimson Corruption. Many monsters associated with Crimson Corruption are weak to fire. Even the Crimson Corruption state can be easily removed with a prayer called 'Healing of Flame'."

"But from a plot perspective, Michaela, as Marenia's brother and a demigod with incredible talent, can only help Marenia suppress the Scarlet Corruption, rather than eliminate it, even after begging his parents and trying every possible means."

"So the real question is, can 'Healing of Flame' really cure the Crimson Corruption? That's not right. What I should be thinking about now is how to learn 'Healing of Flame' instead of questioning its effectiveness before I even get the medicine."

Sitting on the bed, Lin Zhiyu, whose mental state had recovered, fell into deep thought.

At this time, there were hurried footsteps outside the room.

Lin Zhiyu just looked up at the door.

Just then, Li Meifeng led three Red Lion Knights into the room, and all three knights had their hands on the grips of their weapons, looking alert and vigilant.

Lin Zhiyu knew that it must be Li Meifeng who went out to ask for help, so he described his previous performance to the three knights. The three knights knew that they had lost control, so they were ready to fight.

"I'm fine. At least now, I've recovered my consciousness." With his back against the stone wall that was tightly attached to the bed, Lin Zhiyu's words made everyone in the room breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, Lin Zhiyu, who was still thinking about the prayer of "Healing of Flame", remembered that in the game it seemed that this prayer could only be obtained in the Lienia area southwest of the border.

How could he possibly get to Lienia in such a short time?

"I myself play with fire. With the ability of arsonist, my fire control ability will sooner or later become more proficient than those fire martial artists. So I can actually develop my own fire healing... right?" Lin Zhiyu thought uncertainly.

At this time, the three Red Lion Knights who had just returned to the room, led by Orson, stepped forward and asked Lin Zhiyu if he was sure that his body was okay for the time being.

Lin Zhiyu nodded and wanted to ask Orson, "Do you think I look like I've lost my mind now?" But just as Lin Zhiyu's lips moved slightly and he was about to speak, a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.

correct……

Aren’t the Red Lions also professionals who play with fire?

Perhaps their professionalism in playing with fire is not as good as that of the fire martial arts monks.

But asking them to give some guidance to a newbie like me who only has talent will definitely be no problem!

Lin Zhiyu’s biggest problem now is that he only knows how to release the power of fire, but doesn’t understand how to restrain the power of fire.

The "healing of fire" is obviously a manifestation of restraining the power of fire, rather than releasing the power of fire for the purpose of destruction.

Once Lin Zhiyu receives guidance and learns how to control the power of fire in an internal form, then perhaps he will be able to develop his own fire therapy method!

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The sky gradually darkened, and gusts of evening breeze passed over the bloody and scalding lake, blowing warmly across Busujima Saeko's face.

Sitting on a small piece of land in the middle of the lake, covered with various large red and white mushrooms, the height slightly exceeds the surface of the lake.

Busujima Saeko slowly finished a piece of compressed biscuit and drank up the bottle of mineral water, which had little left.

Then she stood up from the ground, katana in hand, and looked around.

"puff--!"

Not far away, a part of the boiling blood-red lake water burst and erupted, as terrifying as the flames erupting from a volcano.

The same scene appeared one after another at various locations on the lake.

Busujima Saeko, who had seen all of this, took a deep breath and said to herself helplessly, "I've been trapped here for almost two days. I can't just sit here and do nothing. I have to try to get out of this place. Besides, I've already tried with my knife. The water level here isn't high, only up to my knees..."

Before coming into this world, Busujima Saeko never thought that she would end up in a different place from Lin Zhiyu.

I never expected that the landing point at the beginning would be so dangerous!

Although he didn't know what Scarlet Corruption was, he didn't know that this lake was the Corruption Lake area in Gaileyd that was most severely affected by the Scarlet Corruption.

But the dangers around here are visible to the naked eye.