This is the symptom Mary is most familiar with.

Most of her life has been spent struggling against this plague.

Coughing blood means the infected's internal organs have ulcerated, and bloodless skin signifies the patient is suffering from severe blood loss.

This red snow has brought an even more violent epidemic, progressing much faster than the Crimson Plague she knows. Everyone in the square is already terminally ill. They don't have a week's incubation period; at this pace, by tomorrow, Oasis City will become a ghost town.

Their lives will continue in another twisted form.

She has seen many towns that are completely "necrotic," where the streets are filled with writhing tumors, with human limbs grotesquely pieced together. Only tattered clothes vaguely hint at their identities before mutation, silently communicating the despair brought by the spread of the Crimson Plague.

No one knows better than her how to hold back the plague's spread.

The priority is to isolate all infected people. It's cruel, but they must be left to die in pain and despair. To prevent the plague from spreading, the mutated monsters must be burned after most are dead, though this can only delay the spread of the plague.

Because some will always slip through the net.

Whether due to oversights under pressure or the inability to let go of loved ones, someone always becomes a breach, and once the plague tears a hole in the city's blockade, it can drag the whole city into Hell overnight.

The act of reading the charges has come to a halt.

Mary stands on the high platform, overlooking the suffering residents of Oasis City. She has seen this sight too many times and knows better than anyone that this city is doomed.

The only rational act left is to eliminate the source of infection, to ensure the plague is completely eradicated in Oasis City.

To fight the Crimson Plague, one must strip away human emotions and become an unfeeling machine in the eyes of others.

If it were her in the past, she would have immediately moved to exterminate the plague source—from the moment they were infected with the Crimson Plague, these people were no longer their compatriots but plague messengers.

Witnessing this scene were also Laris's comrades driven to desperation by Sariman in the sewers.

That twisted body still retained a final shred of consciousness. The red snowflakes falling through the rigid sewers made the "doctor" cease the futile fight. Muted, indistinct murmurs came from beneath the disfigured face.

"It's so beautiful, truly beautiful."

Everyone underestimated Laris's determination.

As long as he could set this city afire, he would willingly use himself as kindling.

This red snow was the fire he ignited.

He heard coughing beside him; the massive body, fighting the "metal can" with brute force, was also affected by the red snowflakes. He coughed up fresh blood, the piercing pain in his chest causing him to collapse, like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing, able only to emit hoarse groans.

Only death can bring absolute equality, even for them.

Laris's obsession has integrated into this snow, spreading to every corner of Oasis City.

The continual coughing and wails of pain are the Soul Suppressing Song bestowed by Laris, though even at the end, they couldn't stop the "metal can" from advancing, but they became the biggest winners.

The officials of Oasis City, the people of Lower City, the Church Court's Saint, and they themselves—everyone will descend into oblivion after death.

In a few days, this plague will spread to other cities, sweeping across the Far West, then to the Empire, eventually carried to the Western Continent by trading ships, and ultimately no one will be spared.

This time, they will go beyond the Crimson Epoch, accomplishing what even the Red King never did.

The Seventh Epoch, named Death.

…

"Looks like you underestimated his resolve."

Bazarian watched the crowd in the city center square, speaking indifferently.

They are all terminally ill, even their souls are being twisted. Even though Mary possessed the power of reversal, it couldn't keep up with the pace of the plague's spread.

She could burn the infected to ashes just as those in the past did, yet the infected animals and insects have already left the city under Laris's consciousness, heading to various cities in the Far West.

He has no personal ambitions like the Red King and does not intend to establish an empire ruled by the infected.

The plague is merely a means to an end for him, with only one clear and definite purpose from the start—to spread death throughout the world.

"I won."

Bazarian said softly.

By this point, Mary was powerless to change the outcome, "You really should have taken my advice."

She realized her awakening idea through Laris's hands. Under the plague's spread, disorder and death would quickly sweep across the world, allowing her to witness the collapse of the order meticulously constructed by "another her."

She should be ecstatic, yet now, those painful wails failed to arouse any interest in her.

Even death, the ultimate concept for humanity, had lost its meaning.

Perhaps only Ethan's reaction could pique her interest, for ever since encountering this intriguing man, Ethan had always been at ease in her eyes, as if nothing could elude his control.