"Why was he angry at you, junior apprentice-brother? What did you do?" As they were walking back to the Superior Disciples' section, Astes asked.

"I have no idea... it seems he has some kind of grudge against me..." Virus replied as he then thought, 'He introduced himself as Deadter Ilon, hm... the second-ranked person on the Inferior Disciple Recruitment was also called Ilon... are they related?... And...? Hmm.'

"Anyway, be careful with him because I think he has some kind of grudge against you... he's also one of the strongest disciples among the Inferior Disciples... And more importantly, he has a powerful background." Astes explained, clearly worried.

"Don't worry, I will... so... did you register in the Martial Contest too? Am I really going to face my apprentice-sister on stage? Ah, defeating my own apprentice-sister would make me sad though..." He voiced with a grin on his face.

Listening to his words, Astes couldn't keep it in, "Pfft, you wis.h.!.+ Like you could've lasted until you face me... and you're already talking about defeating me, hehe. Anyway, unfortunately, every disciple can only register for partic.i.p.ating in one of the contests because both of the contests will be held in the same day... so obviously, between the two, I chose the Alchemy Contest."

"I see..." Said Virus.

___________________

TECHNOLOGY EARTH, US

The whole world was quite calm for a while now as everyone was busy living their lives trying to earn a living, get accepted to their favorite universities, dating, going through some kind of difficulty in their lives, etc.

However, it was at this moment when one of the famous independent News agencies broadcasted a piece of news which shook the whole country and began to break the peace of the world.

This particular News Company was very famous for being completely unbiased and for working with the sole purpose that every citizen had the right to know exactly what was going on around the world without any kind of censors.h.i.+p and bias.

"For everyone watching this News channel, please be warned that every word spoken from now on for this next piece of news is absolutely legitimate and real, and its authenticity was already proven by more than thousands of tests. Please keep your calm during and after hearing it." Right now, a middle-aged woman was talking on a particular News channel while a lot of people and citizens of the United States of America were watching it.

Listening to this piece of very odd news which strangely began with a warning while stating its authenticity even before announcing its related information made every person watching the channel quite curious and alarmed at the same time because it meant the news was very important and absolutely serious.

And looking at the middle-aged spokesperson's features, some people could easily tell that she was feeling quite nervous about something as there were even some drops of sweat on her forehead.

"Also, please be aware that every government throughout the whole world is trying to keep this piece of information from their people as they're afraid of panic spreading, but our News Channel feels otherwise... we feel that it's everyone's right to know this particular piece of news as it will determine their fate and life and death." The middle-aged woman continued, "Now regarding the news... currently, as we speak, there is a mutated type of HIV spreading throughout the whole world with the danger of pandemic level."

Listening to the middle-aged woman, everyone watching the channel stopped doing whatever they were busy with as they began to listen intently with a rising wave of nervousness within them.

"Now, what makes this mutated HIV disease highly dangerous is that it's extremely infectious... and we have estimated that right now, limited only to our own country, more than ninety-seven percent of citizens are already infected with this mutated Virus..." Explaining to this point, the middle-aged woman oddly went silent for a somewhat long period of time before finally continuing.

"Unfortunately, this mutated disease is much more severe and dangerous than a normal kind of HIV... because other than being easily infectious through air unlike the previous version... the estimated duration for it to kill the infected patient is also only a single year..." After getting to this point, the middle-aged woman went silent again.

Then, finally, with a blank look within her eyes, she proceeded, "More details regarding this revelation will be released on our website soon... also, please be warned once again that this piece of news is absolutely true, but in case you still have doubts regarding it, you can take a test in a lab which you can trust... that was all, may G.o.d have mercy upon us."

By now, every single person who was watching the shocking news had gone absolutely silent as their gazes were all fixed on the television screen in shock.

Especially, right now, in one of the bars at which the News channel was playing, every single person had gone completely silent as the sound of the television was the only voice spreading around.

It wasn't until a while later when the silence was finally broken, "That was a joke... right?"

"Haha, yes, definitely... it must've been..." Another replied with a voice filled with doubt.

"Haha, yes, yes... The News must be making some kind of prank... a bad one..."

But after that, everyone turned silent again.

"Maybe we should check that news' details on their website? Just in case..." One of them finally couldn't tolerate it anymore as he suggested anxiously.

"Yes, we should do that." Another replied.

Though by now, everyone's heads were already lowered to gaze at their phones as they were checking it to see the news for themselves personally.

Situations similar to this continued to happen all around the country for around half an hour when suddenly the website completely crashed and went down for some unknown reasons and it never went back online again.

Some of those people who had watched the News was having a hard time believing what they had just heard, while some didn't believe it at all.

.

.

.

However, this seed was already enough as the news began to spread like wildfire because those who had recorded it put the video over the internet, while some others uploaded the details which were placed at that News channel's website for a short period of time before going down.

.

.

.

And just like that, a lot of people went to special laboratories which could be trusted with the real results in order to test themselves just to make themselves relieved by knowing that the news was fake.

But unfortunately, except a few people, most received a shocking result!

"It's positive sir, you have some kind of mutated HIV too, just like I do!" The receptionist who was in charge of the distribution of the results announced with eyes which could be only described as dead.

"You too... oh my G.o.d, we're done!" Falling on his two knees, someone mumbled with a pale face.

"Is this the end of the world, this can't be the foretold apocalypse right?"

"No, this can't be it..."

.

.

.

At first, even when the news spread, most people still didn't believe it, but then, the results from the people who tested themselves kept spreading around all over the internet too as more and more people came to be aware of this world-shattering piece of news.