Lucas pulled a rag from his pocket and wiped the blood from his dagger. "What's up with these guys?" he asked, puzzled. "I thought the Corrupted were supposed to be raving lunatics. How come he could still talk?"
"Could it be a trap?"
Aglaea shook her head and slowly approached the corpse. After studying it for a moment, she said, "No, he genuinely retained some awareness."
To be precise, this wasn't a case of spiritual corruption, but rather a more direct physical contamination. The man's mind remained intact, but his body—every muscle from head to toe—had been hijacked by the Flesh Tumor growing on his neck.
He could only watch helplessly as his body mutated: his skin cracking, his limbs lurching uncontrollably, and his flesh twisted beyond recognition. This very helplessness was an unimaginable torment.
Hearing Aglaea's explanation, Lucas shuddered. "I have a feeling this is even more terrifying than spiritual corruption."
Aglaea didn't reply. Instead, she let out a soft, resigned sigh. Slowly, she raised her right hand, golden threads coiling around her fingertips. From this point, they stretched out into the distance.
Though the threads were thin, they shimmered with a faint golden light under the dim sunlight, catching Lucas's eye. He instinctively murmured, "So beautiful!"
The next moment, Aglaea gently clenched her fist. Every zombie wandering outside the city walls was simultaneously decapitated. As she released her hand, all the golden threads vanished. She murmured, "For these Corrupted, a swift death is perhaps a mercy."
Lucas stared in stunned disbelief, his gaze sweeping over the carnage. Though the number of zombies shambling at the gates hadn't seemed overwhelming—perhaps a hundred at most—they had all been wiped out in a single instant?
He knew Aglaea was a god, and that gods were undoubtedly powerful. But knowing something and witnessing it firsthand were entirely different things.
It's like the difference between someone who's never left Earth seeing photos of our planet from space versus actually traveling in a spaceship and witnessing Earth firsthand. The impact would be worlds apart!
After clearing out the small fry guarding the entrance, Aglaea strode forward. Even at this early stage, she had already gleaned a crucial clue: every zombie bore a Flesh Tumor, though its location varied slightly.
The Flesh Tumor was likely the source of the flesh contamination. If they could understand it better, they might find a way to resist the corruption, paving the way for the All Nations Alliance to launch a full-scale invasion and cleanse the corrupted zones.
As they entered the city, a scene of utter devastation unfolded before them. Shattered carriages blocked the roads, and the buildings on either side looked as if they'd been violently ravaged, their walls demolished and shattered. Countless zombies wandered aimlessly through the city's streets.
Seeing the carnage, Lucas couldn't help but remark, "In this situation, it's definitely better to sneak in and quietly search for the source of these Flesh Tumors, right?"
Aglaea wanted to retort, "Are you even capable of sneaking around anymore?"
Even if Aglaea hadn't said anything, Lucas quickly realized the problem himself. He glanced down at his golden cloak, his brow furrowing slightly. A Thief's stealth relies on minimizing their presence, blending into inconspicuous shadows, but this cloak would instantly make him the center of everyone's attention.
So he either had to remove the cloak to remain stealthy or abandon stealth altogether. After a moment's contemplation, Lucas decided to keep it on.
He felt like he was playing a roguelike game and had suddenly acquired an overwhelmingly powerful buff, completely upending his previous playstyle. The buff was so potent that instead of trying to adapt it to his existing playstyle, he needed to proactively adapt his tactics to fit the buff.
"I'll scout ahead for you," Lucas said. "Just wait here for a moment!"
But Aglaea gently shook her head. "No need. My Golden Thread already permeates every corner of this city. I've located the source of the corruption."
Lucas froze, his face blank with confusion. "?"
As Aglaea spoke, she continued forward, no longer walking on solid ground. Instead, she stepped onto a Golden Thread suspended in mid-air with the tips of her high heels, as if ascending a series of invisible steps into the sky.
Balanced perfectly on nothing but her toes and the slender threads, Aglaea declared, "The source of the corruption lies at the city's heart."
As she walked, she quickly reached a height of about twenty meters. In this city of low-rise buildings, it was an impressive altitude, leaving the zombies on the ground craning their necks to stare up at her, completely unable to reach her.
Aglaea continued toward her destination, indifferent to Lucas's fate. Whether he followed her along the Golden Thread, charged through the streets below, or found some other way to reach the city center, it was up to him. After all, her selection criteria had emphasized adaptability and resourcefulness.
Lucas paused briefly, then, faced with the zombie-infested streets, charged forward without hesitation. With a light leap, he vaulted onto the nearest rooftop and began sprinting across it.
During his sprint, many zombies, upon spotting him, leaped five to six meters into the air and lunged at him. But Lucas had no intention of engaging in combat, easily dodging each attack and quickening his pace.
Before long, he even reached the city center ahead of Aglaea. This was partly because Aglaea wasn't in a hurry, treating her aerial journey like a leisurely sightseeing tour, taking in the sights as she glided through the air while mentally processing the intelligence relayed by the Golden Threads spread throughout the city.
A gentle breeze brushed her face, causing a strand of golden hair to sway lightly across her forehead. Aglaea casually smoothed her hair, and once she confirmed she hadn't missed anything, she finally exerted force with her toes. The Golden Threads bent slightly under her power.
Then, like an arrow released from its bowstring, Aglaea shot forward. Just as Lucas reached his destination, he felt a golden flash streak past him, and Aglaea materialized beside him.
Aglaea then gazed up at what remained of the Adventurer's Guild. The building had been bloated from within until it burst, leaving only its signboard dangling from a massive, ten-meter-tall Flesh Sphere.