Perhaps feeling somewhat offended, Mr.
Yang fell silent.
Ye Cang, standing nearby, kindly wanted to offer a few words of comfort.
But he suddenly realized something and whipped his head around.
He saw Welt Yang gripping his cane tightly, his gaze hollow, staring blankly ahead, his eyes utterly dead.
Damn!
He got hit?
When did that happen?
“Quick!
Save him!” The youth shouted.
The already-tense Himeko and Dan Heng immediately rushed forward.
The former took an adrenaline shot from the first-aid kit and loaded it into a syringe.
The latter directly connected the defibrillator’s power and began adjusting the voltage.
Ye Cang didn’t hesitate.
He clenched his right fist and threw a punch straight into Mr.
Yang’s face, roaring: “Do not answer!
Don’t even think about it!”
But although he now bore the blessing of the Aeon of Abundance, with the stature of an Emanator, his physical condition was barely at the passing line for a Pathstrider.
Breaking through Welt’s defense was still beyond him.
This needed Dan Heng.
“Dan Heng!” he shouted.
“I’m here!” His good brother’s voice was quick and calm, reassuring.
Ignoring the pain and numbness in his fist, he pointed at Mr.
Yang, who had been knocked to the ground, and commanded rapidly: “Knock him out!
Don’t ask why!”
“Okay!” Out of instinctive trust, Dan Heng didn’t ask further.
He formed his hand into a blade and delivered a measured chop to the back of Mr.
Yang’s head.
Concussive but not damaging.
Perfect force.
Mr.
Yang’s eyes rolled back and he passed out on the spot.
Only then did the man’s taut body slowly relax, even slumping slightly.
“So hot.
His body temperature is already over fifty degrees Celsius.” Himeko pressed the back of her hand to Welt’s forehead, shock in her eyes.
She said gravely: “If he were an ordinary person, this temperature would already mean multiple organ failure.”
Of course.
After all, this was the man famous for doing “Yang sit-ups.” His vitality was on par with a cockroach.
Ye Cang gazed at Mr.
Yang’s slightly weathered face, his expression complicated.
“He should be fine now.
Thanks to Mr.
Yang, I think I understand the transmission principle of this meme.”
Dan Heng placed his fingers on Mr.
Yang’s pulse and nodded slightly, acknowledging Ye Cang’s words.
“Pulse is very weak, but still recovering.
We probably won’t need the defibrillator.
Good thing you noticed early…”
March, who had been somewhat panicked, now calmed down.
She looked at Ye Cang in surprise and asked: “How did you know that knocking Mr.
Yang out would interrupt the meme contamination?”
Ye Cang opened his mouth, about to say something, when his face suddenly paled.
A feeling of near-death surged up in his heart.
He subconsciously clutched his chest and shook his head gravely: “From now on, everyone, no questions!”
“Why…” March was about to ask the reason when Ye Cang covered her mouth.
The entire observation car fell into a terrifying silence.
Only the sound of heavy breathing and intermittent static remained.
The train had already been contaminated by the meme.
From the moment Welt Yang answered the first question, that meme contamination had crossed half a star system from the Herta Space Station and descended upon the Astral Express.
“So this is the truth of the meme contamination.”
Himeko murmured to herself.
A meme contamination that spreads through “question and answer.” As long as you answer a question posed by an infected person, you will be attacked by this meme…
And what kind of place was the Herta Space Station?
The territory of an Emanator of Erudition, gathering countless knowledge-hungry scholars and followers.
They walked the Path of Erudition, greedily absorbing all knowledge and truth, just like the Aeon of Erudition itself.
So the spread rate of this meme on the Herta Space Station was almost catastrophic!
Comparable to a plague!
Ye Cang naturally thought of this too.
And with the second loop’s reminder, he quickly connected more dots, including the birth, transmission, spread, and containment of this meme.
“Now, I’ll speak.
You don’t make a sound.”
He weighed his words and spoke in a strange, halting tone: “The meme comes from Nous.
They are the ‘source.’ Lady Herta is ‘Patient Zero.’ ‘Patient One’ is…
the Herta puppets.”
“Because of the number of Herta puppets, ‘Patient One’ is not one person, but a group.”
“The transmission method is ‘question and answer’ and ‘thinking.’ The medium, I suspect, is anything that can convey a ‘question,’ including but not limited to conversation, communication, text, even facial expressions and body language.”
“In summary, everyone present has already been infected by the meme.”
“Based on the difference between our condition and Mr.
Yang’s, direct question-and-answer versus indirect question-and-answer results in vastly different levels of contamination.”
“Because we were only bystanders to the question, our contamination is relatively mild.”
“But if we continue the ‘question and answer,’ the contamination will gradually deepen, until…”
“Dementia or death.”
“So, I name it—”
“Meme [Folly].”
Before Ye Cang could finish, Mr.
Yang, who had been lying unconscious on the ground with a dazed expression, suddenly moved.
A pained groan escaped his lips.
Everyone’s gaze was immediately drawn to him, and for a moment, even Ye Cang’s bold deductions were forgotten.
“Mr.
Yang, are you okay…
mmph!”
March habitually started to ask about Mr.
Yang’s condition.
The words “are you okay” hadn’t even left her mouth before Ye Cang smothered them in her throat.
The latter glared at her and said irritably: “I just said all that, and you didn’t hear a single word…
Tch!
Remember this, March!
Do not ask questions, do not answer!”
“Mmmph…
mm!”
The pink-haired girl nodded like she was pounding garlic.
At this point, she didn’t care about her little face being red from Ye Cang’s grip.
She looked at the thumb near her nose tip with lingering fear.
“March?
Ye Cang?” Mr.
Yang’s pupils slowly focused.
His weathered face, barely recovered in color, looked frighteningly ghost-like.
He only felt his head swollen and muddled, about to explode at any moment.
His whole being was in a state of dementia and confusion.
Forget understanding the current situation, even recalling what had happened earlier was torture for him.
“What happened…”
“Dan Heng!” Ye Cang’s pupils contracted.
He roared.
Bang!
Dan Heng was quick.
Before Mr.
Yang’s question could leave his mouth, another fast, accurate, and ruthless chop landed heavily on the back of his head, knocking Welt Yang out again.
The “question” that had almost escaped naturally died in the cradle, unable to cause further contamination.
“Nice!” March gave a thumbs-up.
She was practically looking at the two men in front of and behind her with new eyes.
“Not that, why did you knock him out…
good job!” Ye Cang subconsciously wanted to demand “why did you do that?” but managed to hold it back.
He could only sigh helplessly: “Actually, you just needed to cover his mouth.
Mr.
Yang is a key combat force for this trip.
He has to know the truth.”
Translator’s Note
I’m choosing a new work to translate.
The link to it is in my bio.
The choices include 1 work related to Arknights, 1 work related to HSR and Undertale, 1 work related to HI3, and 2 works unrelated to any gacha.
The poll lasts 2 days.