Carroll trudged along a long path, weaving through equipment and bottles, barely managing to keep up with the person ahead.

The two arrived at a secluded hut. The scholar lit a candle on the table, revealing a face that hadn't been groomed in a long time. His messy hair and beard, along with the unpleasant smell emanating from him, almost made Carol think he was a fraud.

"Carol, choose the ability you want."

"I...I work as a porter. If there's a way to make me stronger..."

"That means your strength has increased."

Carol hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "I have a question... It seems that everyone else who was vaccinated is in the tents at the front, so why was I the only one brought here?"

With his slender fingers, the scholar carefully took out a copper syringe from a wooden box that was emitting cold air, and said, "Because there aren't enough people there."

"But I saw..."

The scholar glanced at Carol, took five silver coins from his pocket, and placed them on the table.

Carroll fell silent the moment he saw the money.

After the injection of the foreign bacterial solution was completed, Carol sat in the tent for almost an hour before finally being allowed to leave. As he walked out of the tent, he didn't forget to look back at what was behind him.

Thinking of the foreign liquid flowing through his body, Carol touched the five silver moons on his chest, sighed in distress, and walked home with his head down, his mind in turmoil.

After walking for more than half an hour, Carole finally saw her dilapidated door in the distance. She tried to quicken her pace, but found that her body was getting hotter and hotter, and the scenery in front of her was gradually blurring.

Struggling to step into the house, Carole, who was suffering from a high fever, took advantage of her mother's hangover and called her thirteen-year-old sister Brenda to her side.

Carroll pulled five silver coins, still warm from his body, from his pocket and handed them to Brenda, saying weakly, "Take this money and exchange it for rye and bran in the street... Remember, don't let Mother see it."

Brenda looked at Carol, whose eyes were bloodshot from a high fever, and said fearfully, "Brother, you're sick."

"Don't worry about me, go quickly!"

Watching Brenda run out of the house, Carroll raised her hand and looked at her palm. Her skin had turned a sickly red, and she could even faintly see the blood flowing rapidly in her veins.

"Is it because I got caught in the rain this morning that I developed a fever?" A moment of clarity dawned on Carol's mind, and she immediately dismissed the guess.

The strange liquid that the mysterious scholar injected into himself.

The thought of this possibility overwhelmed Carroll with fear and fever, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He struggled to crawl out of the house to find the scholar and ask for help in rescuing himself.

However, before he could climb more than a few meters, an immense pain surged over him like a tidal wave, and his consciousness gradually drifted further and further away.