As soon as the vessel was opened, Xiang Nan's fingers came into contact with the virus.
And then… the expected withering of flesh didn't happen. He looked outwardly fine.
But Xiang Nan could clearly feel a powerful sense of decay racing up from his hand and sweeping through his body. Just as he'd suspected… He closed his eyes and carefully tasted the feeling of being poisoned. It was destruction at the cellular level—highly contagious, extremely fast, utterly uncontrollable.
In fact, Xiang Nan had already tested and analyzed the virus using several experimental subjects… but only after personally feeling how domineering it was did he truly understand why even someone as strong as Meruem, the Ant King, couldn't withstand it. Even with his own vitality plus the life force bestowed by two Royal Guards, his life still bled away at a terrifying pace.
"No matter how strong the individual, cells are fragile… Unless your very life has advanced to the point where you can command your own cells, whether human or Chimera Ant—or even certain species on the Dark Continent—you won't escape… That's also why a single human's danger rating is only C, yet humanity as a vast species organized into nations can reach A– to B+, even more fearsome than the Chimera Ants as a whole."
"The power of technology… the gift of civilization…"
Xiang Nan opened his eyes and said flatly.
By now the toxin in the bottle had seeped out through the opening, fully diffusing through the sealed chamber.
Long before Xiang Nan became a Nen user, technology had already proven its edge—back when he used military hardware to hunt other Nen users.
"The cells in my body are undergoing massive necrosis… but the flesh infused with Altana energy is constantly pushing back. My cells are proliferating quickly, yet the surge of vitality can't keep up with the rate of destruction. At this level of virulence, it's exactly as I thought: no matter how immense your life force is, if your individual cells can't resist the virus, all that vitality is just a free offering. At best, it delays the time of death…"
Xiang Nan took a glass vial containing Altana solution from his system inventory, uncorked it, and downed all that Dragon Vein power like a drink.
Right now, his tolerance for Altana still required him to "push" it into his system via syringes; the amount he could absorb in one go was nowhere near chugging an entire bottle. Also, injection and oral ingestion aren't the same.
Injected, the energy travels through the bloodstream, gradually spreading through the body—slowly absorbed and digested.
If he drank it directly, with his current physiology—specifically his gut's digestive capacity—it would instantly detonate that planetary life force.
"Ah!"
Barely a few seconds after Xiang Nan swallowed the energy, his entire face flushed bright red, and his temperature spiked.
Veins and blood vessels bulged across his skin, writhing beneath the surface… The explosive surge made those swollen vessels and meridians look ready to tear his skin apart like paper.
Even Xiang Nan's willpower could hardly bear it.
A low growl began in his throat, swelling into a roar.
His Nen, too, slipped from his control and erupted through the chamber in a violent surge.
Meanwhile, in a monitoring room far from the test facility—
Hands in his pockets, Owl stared at the screen showing Xiang Nan's agony, his face blank.
The soldiers at the console—also members of the Pandora's Box organization, Owl's trusted men drawn from the armed forces of Edi, one of the Ten Dons—were absolutely reliable… No one in the base knew Xiang Nan was risking his life to crack the virus.
Total secrecy.
If the military high command learned of it, they'd never allow Xiang Nan to take such a risk… After all, to the Republic of Padokea, Xiang Nan is far too valuable.
"If you die… this world might never survive the Multiverse's onslaught anyway. It'll end sooner or later, and there won't be much point left for me to stick around."
"But… Pandora's Box is your 'brainchild,' at least… I'll try to take it over and 'raise' it, but with Omokage around, that's probably going to be tough…"
Owl spoke softly while watching Xiang Nan on-screen: crawling across the floor, bleeding from every orifice, then shrinking into a dark corner of the room, his limbs twitching faintly.
Xiang Nan had told Owl part of his plan.
Owl knew very well what Xiang Nan was risking himself for… for this world—or rather, for humankind.
Owl didn't really get it. As a former creature of the underworld, Xiang Nan's resolve felt a bit "stupid."
In Owl's eyes, as long as you live, that's enough. No need to care about anyone else's life or death… When the Multiverse's "punishment" descends, the first to be hit will definitely be the nation-states led by the V5, not lone operators like them.
Right now, Xiang Nan was basically shouldering future risks in advance—taking the hit for others.
"You're so selfless… I wonder if anyone else will even be moved by it…"
Owl let out a faintly mocking line.
No one knew of Xiang Nan's "sacrifice"—what this man had done… Even the world itself wouldn't accept his "goodwill."
Of course, Owl also understood that beyond protecting this world, Xiang Nan had another driver: the thrill of playing the Multiverse's game… The man wants to grow stronger, to keep breaking limits, to climb the mountain and see a different "view."
And for that, he's willing to shoulder the consequences.
Xiang Nan had made arrangements beforehand.
If he died, news of his death was to be kept under wraps for a while… He'd also given Owl the contact numbers of two Nen users from the Nameless Hamlet.
There were follow-up tasks Owl would have to handle.
But to Owl, if Xiang Nan died, then basically everything was "over." No matter what he did afterward, it would be meaningless.
On the screen, Xiang Nan sat crouched in the corner—too shadowed to see clearly… but blood was spreading across the floor beneath his feet.
It seeped from his shoes, spreading outward—plain to see on the feed.
The two Pandora's Box soldiers looked rattled.
Owl just kept his eyes on the monitor in silence.
His "eyes"… could see the Nen wafting from Xiang Nan's shadowed body.
As long as that "aura" still existed—no matter how faint—he wasn't truly dead.
Time ticked by…
Soon, the man on-screen moved.
Another glass vial of mysterious liquid appeared in his hand. He repeated the process: uncorked it… drank.
Then, through the loudspeaker… came the groans and roars of pain all over again.
"…"
Owl's eyelids twitched hard. He said nothing.