Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 553 Rose Disaster Zone
Flowers bloom only to bring calamity; disaster arises from love.

If the roses bloom, all living beings will become its fertilizer.

—From *The Gluttonous Classic: Lunar Eclipse*

The gray fog dissipated.

There was no fresh air in the air, only a stifling, almost frozen silence.

The wind no longer blows, and the dust no longer settles. A strange balance permeates the world, like the last straight line on an electrocardiogram after a patient's death.

Roland stood quietly in the center of the ruins, his black robes hanging down, the faint light of the gray star still flickering behind him, like a dying surgical lamp, barely keeping this poisoned world afloat.

The scalpel in his hand was still stained with blood, its blade reflecting a gray light like flowing smoke. He looked down at the ashes at his feet—the remains of four mutated beast kings.

Their sparks had long since died out, leaving only twisted pieces of plant debris and black liquid. Si Ming and Celian approached. They carefully stepped over the poisonous ash, and Celian, staring at Roland's retreating figure, whispered, "He... hasn't returned yet, has he?"

Si Ming's gaze was calm. "The crack is too deep. Look, his shoulders aren't trembling at all."

Sure enough, Roland turned around, a thin layer of ash clinging to his black-beaked mask, their reflections refracted through the glass eye sockets. He reached out and removed the mask.

His face was pale, and there was blood at the corner of his lips, yet he was smiling.

"The surgery is over," Roland said softly, his tone as calm as ever. "We should move on to the next patient."

Si Ming narrowed his eyes. "You haven't switched back to reality yet."

“Reality?” Roland tilted his head slightly, his smile gentle. “I’ve never slept in it.”

The wind seemed to have returned, and a faint sound came from the shadow of the broken wall.

Selene frowned and raised her hand to summon her blood servants, but Si Ming stopped her: "Don't move."

The ground trembled slightly. Amidst the ashes, a mass of dead flesh twitched—it was one of the beast kings that had been completely devoured by the "Plague Mist." Its body had shattered into amorphous tissue, but as everyone watched, the mass of flesh began to swell.

The skin was stretched open, and a crisp "snap" came from within. The crack opened, and from the rotting tissue, a flower emerged—a blood-red flower. Its petals trembled, wet and dripping with venom, each one breathing softly.

Deep within the heart of the flower, a red light, darker than blood, flickers, like a heart that has not yet died.

Roland's pupils contracted slightly. "Step back!" Before he finished speaking, the flower suddenly burst open.

Several slender vines extend from the flower's center, coiling like snakes as they emerge from the dust.

The surface of the vine is covered with fine barbs, each tip of which glitters with a faint light.

Roland instinctively took a step back, but the main vine was faster. "Pfft!" The vine pierced through the air and went straight into his chest. Blood spurted out.

Roland's body was forcibly pulled backward, his black robe stained crimson. The vine seemed to twist consciously, its wriggling barbs burrowing into his skin, injecting dark red viscous fluid little by little.

The gray star suddenly lit up behind him, and the mist instantly compressed into layers of protective walls, forcibly jamming the tips of the vines.

But the light was unstable, flickering back and forth between flashing and dimming.

Selene shouted, "Roland!"

Roland did not respond immediately. He looked down at the wound on his chest, blood flowing from it and dripping into the ashes, splashing up a dark cloud of dust. He slowly reached out and pressed his palm against the wound. The light from the gray star penetrated his skin like fine threads, forcibly repelling the vines.

“…Heh.” He chuckled softly.

There was no pain in his voice, only a faint sense of helplessness. "It seems there are still lingering symptoms."

That smile was exactly like the expression he had when facing a dying patient in the clinic—gentle, calm, and carrying a sense of irreversible fate.

Roland raised his head, and put the black beak mask back on. Through the cracked glass, a cold light gleamed in his eyes.

The wind stopped again, the air temperature began to rise, and the light from the gray star shone on the ground, illuminating the blood-red rose that was still growing, its petals unfolding one by one.

The light deep within the flower grew brighter and brighter until the entire ruins were bathed in blood red.

“Doctor,” a gentle voice came from the flowers, “you really are a stubborn patient.”

The gray fog was gradually swallowed up by the bright red light.

Roland raised his head, his smile unchanged. "As expected,"

"The disease is far from over."

Gray starlight and crimson light overlapped on the ruins.

The air began to tremble, foreshadowing another "operation," while the gray star's faint light continued to flicker, though the light became unstable.

Roland knelt on one knee, a corner of his black beak mask shattered. He looked down and tore open his blood-stained clothes, the wound on his chest throbbing violently.

The blood wasn't flowing; it was "growing." It wasn't blood, but a dark red fungus.

It extends from under the skin into a fine spider web, its patterns scattered between the sternum and shoulder blade, like a flower about to bloom. That is Hepburn, the parasitic fungus of that blood-devouring rose.

Once it invades flesh and blood, it will "coexist" with the host's nervous system. It doesn't kill; it simply "waits to bloom."

Roland's breathing was steady. Gray Star shone like a cold surgical lamp as he took a reagent bottle from his pouch. The liquid inside was silvery-white, but under the light, it rippled with a faint green hue.

He inserted the syringe into his chest and pushed it into his body without hesitation. The moment the medicine flowed in, the venomous patterns under his skin flickered, then were suppressed back into his flesh. Smoke rose from the wound, carrying the smell of burning.

Roland steadied his breathing and whispered, "Come out, Miyoko."

The air vibrated slightly, and the petals of the blood-red rose in the ruins began to curl, with fine red mist overflowing from its heart, like blood breathing.

The red mist spread, covering the ground and intertwining with the light of the gray star. A soft laugh came from the mist, gentle yet carrying an innate sarcasm.

"Dr. Roland, I never expected to see you again." The red mist was pushed aside, and she slowly walked out.

It was a woman, her white lab coat covered in blood, and rose petals sprouted from her feet with every step she took.

Her long hair hung down, clinging wetly to her neck, and tiny thorns grew on her fingertips. Every time she bent her fingers, a drop of bright red sap would drip from the thorn tip.

Her eyes were an eerily bright rose-red, a color that shouldn't exist on a living person—too vibrant, too intense.

Harano Miyoko, the "bloodthirsty rose" under the gluttonous lunar eclipse.

Roland slowly stood up, and the gray starlight behind him flickered.

His voice was calm, yet sharp as a knife: "The serotonin you spread is well-prepared. But there's too much of the formula left over; I can see the structure in your spores. Fungi shouldn't have an odor."

Midoriko smiled slightly, a smile sweeter than blood. "So you've found the antidote? Then you should know that the antidote only delays death."

Roland raised his hand, his fingertips still stained with blood. "Don't be too pessimistic; the disease will always require testing."

The two faced each other, one gray, the other red, their auras clashing in the air, even the wind being torn to shreds.

Miyoko looked at him, her smile deepening. "The doctor from Gray Star... is still playing the savior? Your medicine is dead. Gray Star is just a corpse of the old era."

A soft, mocking laugh came from beneath Roland's black-beaked mask. "And you? You merely make life rot more beautifully."

Midoriko's eyes turned cold in an instant. She raised her hand, the thorns on her fingertips gleaming faintly. "I am far more qualified than you to heal the world. You destroy with poison, I nourish with flowers. The difference is, I can evolve."

With a gentle twist of her hand in the air, the blood mist gathered in her palm, forming petals that bloomed one by one, suspended in the air, each petal dripping with blood. The air suddenly tightened.

Roland's eyes gleamed slightly beneath his mask. "So you've also learned 'evolution'."

Miyoko chuckled softly, her voice gentle, as if coaxing a patient: "No, it's a garden, not a garden."

The next second, the ground suddenly cracked open. Crimson vines burst forth from the cracks, entangling the entire ruins.

Each vine tip is budding with flowers, and inside the buds are eyes, teeth, and pulses.

Roland took a step back, and gray starlight and red light intertwined in his pupils. The two forces of power met head-on for the first time: gray for disinfection and purification, and red for reproduction and devouring.

A low rumble emanated from the air, like the world itself breathing painfully.

Roland murmured softly, "It seems... we'll need major surgery this time."

The gray star spun, the light and shadow were like knives, and blood flowers began to bloom.

Miyoko raised her hand, her fingers interlaced.

The movement was soft and graceful, like a flower about to bloom.

The next instant, bright red blood spurted from her palm, and the blood spontaneously combusted in the air.

The light from the flower veins spread across the ground—circling and circling.
Pulsating patterns spread out from beneath her feet.

"Disaster Zone - Sea of ​​Roses in Madness".

The world shattered.

The earth churned, tearing buildings and corpses into the air.
Blood mist gushed from the cracks, and roots and vines grew wildly.

The petals bloom, recombine, and overlap in the wind.
In the blink of an eye, a sea of ​​blood enveloped the ruins.

Roses are growing wildly.

Each flower is nourished by blood and flesh.
The petals have a texture so delicate they're almost like human skin.

The aroma was so strong it was suffocating—sweet, fishy, ​​and rotten.

It's the smell of life mixed with death.

Selene was pulled back by Si Ming, her blood wings half-spread.

Roland stood alone on the edge of that sea of ​​blood.

The wind lifted his black robe, revealing gray stars shimmering behind him.

He extended his right hand, and the gray mist in his palm rapidly flowed and expanded.
Medicine bottles, syringes, and shards of a silver scalpel appeared out of thin air.

Surgical instruments, like those used before a ceremony, surrounded him.

"Amanta—prepare for surgery."

The gray star flashed.

Amanta emerged from the fog.

Half of her face was gentle, the other half was a skeleton.
The bone wings ignited with a ghostly blue flame, and the nurse's skirt billowed in the wind.
Countless silver needles floated beneath my feet.

She raised her hand, and a silver thread sliced ​​through the air.

A surgical incision in the void is outlined between the gray fog and the blood.

-

Roland stepped into the disaster area.

The gray mist spread with his footsteps.

Blood splattered against the mist, causing ripples to spread through the air.

"Anesthesia - injection."

He raised his hand and threw the reagent bottle, which shattered.
The plague fog burst open instantly, transforming into countless fine threads that rushed towards the sea of ​​blood.

The vines in the flower field throbbed wildly.
Countless roots pierced the gray mist, and blood flowed backward along the vines.

"Remove - the lesion".

The gray fog retaliated, like a conscious storm.
A phantom carrying countless parasites and viruses,
They gnaw on the flower roots and rot the petals.

The petals withered instantly, only to regrow in the next breath.

Amanta chanted softly, and deathly flames overflowed.

Her silver threads, like spider silk, coiled around the roots, attempting to seal off the flower's veins.

Every silver thread was burning, and the firelight reflected off her skeletal face.

Roland held the scalpel high, and the gray star spun behind him.

"Final diagnosis—beginning."

He charged into the storm. The gray fog surged after him.

The medicine bottles shattered one by one in the fog.

The plague's liquid evaporated in the air, turning into poisonous rain that poured down.

Gray and red collide.

The rose exploded, its petals flying like blades.

Roland's black robe was torn in several places.

Amanta was almost completely engulfed in blood.

He raised his hand and pierced the air with a needle.

The gray star transformed into a line, piercing through the sea of ​​blood and penetrating Miyoko's chest.

For a moment, the world stood still.

The growth of the blood flower has stopped.

The sweet fragrance in the air suddenly turned into a putrid smell.

Miyoko's body trembled slightly, and she lowered her head.

A gray brand appeared on her lapel; it was the mark of the Gray Star.

But in the next second...
The brand was swallowed by the blood.

She raised her head, her gaze cold.
The sea of ​​flowers in my eyes has bloomed again, and the gray marks have been gradually erased.

boom--

A burst of red light erupted.

The entire disaster area was stirred up again, and flower roots sprang up from the ground.

The vines lashed out all around like a violent storm.

The gray fog was suppressed and torn apart.

Amanta was swept up by the shockwave, and her body disintegrated into dust.

Roland knelt on the ground, the light of the gray star dimmed.
The black robe was soaked in blood.

In the sound of the wind, the fragrance of flowers once again covered the gray mist.

Miyoko floated in the air.

A sea of ​​blood blossoms rolled at her feet.

She looked down at the gray afterimage below.

His expression was calm, as if he were looking at a dead specimen.

Roland was breathing heavily.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, dripping down his chin into the floral mud.

The light of the gray star pulsed wildly in his palm.

Like a dying heart—its light flickers on and off.

The mist swirled around him, but could no longer condense into a shape.

Miyoko hung high in the air, the waves of blood-stained water creating a roaring sound.

The disaster area is engulfing everything.
Even the sky was being pulled and collapsed by the roots of her roses.

Roland knelt on one knee, each breath feeling like it was burning him.

He looked up at the blood-red sky.

"It seems that doctors should also have an end page in their medical records."

The gray star suddenly lit up.

Light spread from his chest, like veins bursting open.

Countless runes appeared on his body, intertwining with blood vessels and star patterns.

At that moment, his figure seemed to become a container of stars and gray mist.

The wind stopped.

The black-beaked mask shattered, and the fragments scattered in the light.

Roland's voice transformed into a spell-like whisper:
"Burning Star, the Demon of All Plagues, Gray Star's Final Clinic."

The world trembled at that moment.

A gray star shot into the sky from behind him.

Transformed into a falling star,

A gray-white curtain of light fell from the sky.

The entire disaster area was covered by a thick layer of starlight.

The fog of plague burst open.
The gray waves swallowed the roots of the red flower.

The rose vines hissed in the air.
One by one, they withered, broke, and burned.

Amanta's phantom reappeared.

Her half-skull face flickered with deathly flames.

Bone wings unfolded behind Roland.

The silver needles and reagent bottles converged in the air to form a giant inverted cross.

The entire battlefield was sealed off.

The gray mist swirled around him, forming a vortex.
He raised his hands, blood flowing down his arms.

That was the blood he offered to Gray Star.

Grayish-white rain fell from the sky.
Each drop carries with it a deadly plague and a prayer.

Gray Star responded to him.

Its light pierced through the clouds.
Falling from the sky,

The Roland and the entire sea of ​​flowers were enveloped together.

Miyoko suddenly looked up.

The crimson roses withered behind her.

The boundaries of the disaster area began to collapse.
The sea of ​​blood and the gray fog merged together.

Her body was forced to fall, trapped in this cage of gray stars.

She roared in fury, her blood-red wings flailing wildly.
But no matter what, it couldn't break free from that layer of gray starlight.

"Roland—!"

The voice of the God of Fate came from afar.

He rushed to the edge of the storm, only to be thrown back by the reverse energy.

Selene's blood wings spread, but were caught in the gray mist and unable to move.

Roland turned around, revealing his eyes, which were reddened by the firelight.

His lips curled up slightly, as if he were smiling.

"leave me alone."

His voice was torn apart by the wind.

Yet it still carries a gentle firmness.

"Come on!"

"The light of the gray star can only burn once—"

"Live on while it's still lit."

The gray star exploded completely.

Waves of light engulfed the sky.

The crimson petals turned to dust in the gray mist.
Amanta's phantom scattered into countless silver lights.

Finally, it transformed into a faint smile, passing over Roland's face.

He closed his eyes.

His entire body turned into part of the gray light.

They fell into the heart of the flower sea along with the gray star.

The shockwave of light swept across the entire ruins.
The storm, the gray fog, and the sea of ​​blood collapsed simultaneously.

At that moment, the world was completely silent.

The God of Fate looked up and saw that the sky was "frozen"—

The surface of the rose-colored sea condensed into gray crystals.
The expansion of the disaster area was completely suppressed.

Roland did it.

He paid for it with his life.
The disaster area was temporarily sealed off in the graveyard of Gray Star.

The wind rises again.

Blood and ash intertwined,

The sea of ​​flowers remained still.

The air felt like a burnt-out operating room.

Quiet and sterile, yet filled with the smell of death.

Selene knelt on the ground, her voice almost broken.

"He...didn't come back."

Siming watched as the gray light slowly dimmed.
His expression was calm, but it concealed a deep pain.

The sea of ​​flowers burned out, gray stars fell to the ground, and the last ray of light illuminated the end of the entire instance.

In that light, one could almost see the silhouettes of Roland and Amanta, one in black and one in white, one alive and one dead, walking side by side in the gray wind.

The gray fog dissipated.

The color faded.

The world falls silent.

When the gray star falls to earth, the sea of ​​flowers turns to blood.

The doctor is gone, but the plague remains.
-
The Mad Doctor's Diagnosis Book - Fragments - Epilogue

(End of this chapter)