Chapter 39 Omens of the Plague
Although a street assassination attempt against the emperor ended in a farcical scene where Jiang Mianmian "broke a tofu knife with her bare hands," the aftershocks behind it did not easily subside.
In the Regent's Palace dungeon, the few survivors were interrogated for a day and a night, but they were all very stubborn and did not utter a single word until they bit their tongues and committed suicide.
This kind of death-defying behavior made Chen Jin's face even more gloomy.
Inside the study in the main courtyard.
Shen Jin frowned as he looked at the autopsy report Ying Yi presented: "You mean, these people all have...red spots?"
“Yes.” Yingyi’s expression was somewhat strange. “We initially thought it was lividity, but the coroner’s examination revealed that it was present before death. Moreover… all of these people’s lungs were ulcerated, as if they had suffered from some kind of acute illness.”
Chen Jin tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
The assassin who carried out the mission is now suffering from a sudden illness?
This is too much of a coincidence.
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, accompanied by Jiang Mianmian's unique and ever-energetic inner voice:
[Be careful! Be careful! Something terrible has happened!]
[Something terrible has happened! My hot pot restaurant might have to close down!]
The door was pushed open, and Jiang Mianmian rushed in anxiously. She was still holding the toy bow that the little emperor had given her, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.
Shen Jin put down the official documents and looked at her anxious appearance, which eased his heavy mood a little.
"What's wrong?" He reached out and pulled her close, wiping her sweat. "What happened at the hot pot restaurant? Did the kitchen explode?"
"It's not the kitchen!"
Jiang Mianmian gasped for breath, "It's in the south of the city! The manager I sent to the market in the south of the city to buy fresh tripe just came back. He said... he said that the old woman selling vegetables, the one we rescued that day, is dead!"
Shen Jin was stunned: "Dead?"
Although the old woman was frightened that day, she was not injured, and Jiang Mianmian even gave her money. How could she have suddenly died?
"It's not just her!" Jiang Mianmian's expression turned unusually serious. "The manager said that several households in that alley are acting strangely. Some people have persistent high fevers, some are having convulsions, and some... are biting anyone they see!"
[It bites anyone it sees!]
These four words were magnified and embodied in Jiang Mianmian's mind, carrying a deep sense of fear.
These symptoms include high fever, erythema, convulsions, and increased aggression.
[Isn't this the harbinger of a zombie virus outbreak in a post-apocalyptic world?! Even if it's just a low-budget version, in ancient times with no medical or sanitary facilities, this would be a catastrophe!]
When Shen Jin heard the unfamiliar words "zombie virus," he didn't understand their meaning, but he keenly sensed the tremor that came from the depths of Jiang Mianmian's soul.
She was afraid.
He was even more afraid than when facing the Empress Dowager or an assassin.
"Prepare the horses!"
Shen Jin suddenly stood up, his eyes cold. "Go to the south of the city."
"I'm going too!" Jiang Mianmian grabbed his sleeve. "Only I know about this! I won't feel at ease if I don't go!"
[I need to check! If it really is the T-virus or some kind of mutated flu, we must lock it down immediately! Otherwise, the entire capital will become a ghost town!]
Looking into her determined eyes, Shen Jin did not refuse.
"Put on a face mask." He took a clean cloth from his pocket and personally tied it around her face, covering her mouth and nose. "Stay close to me."
...
The capital city, a slum in the south.
This was the dirtiest and most chaotic place in the entire capital, with sewage flowing everywhere and a terrible stench. Although it was dilapidated on ordinary days, it was also full of the lively atmosphere of everyday life.
But today, it's eerily quiet here.
The streets were deserted, save for a few emaciated stray dogs scavenging for food in the garbage. Every house had its doors and windows tightly shut, with only occasional suppressed coughs and painful groans escaping from the cracks in the doors.
An indescribable smell filled the air.
That's... the smell of decay.
Jiang Mianmian was riding a horse, and although she was wearing a veil, that familiar, nauseating smell still got into her nose.
This is exactly the taste!
[The smell of a corpse! Although it's still faint, it's definitely real!]
Her palms began to sweat; the post-apocalyptic PTSD made her tense all over.
"Your Highness!"
At this moment, the head constable of the Jingzhao Prefecture in charge of this area came running over with several yamen runners, all of them wearing masks and with pale faces.
"Your Highness! What brings you here? This place...this place is unclean!"
"What's going on?" Shen Jin asked in a cold voice.
"Your Highness," the constable stammered, "starting the night before last, people in this area have been falling ill one after another. At first, we thought it was just a cold, but then...then those people went mad, biting anyone they could get their hands on! Those bitten also fell ill soon after! Now more than a dozen people have died!"
Where is the body?
"They're all...they're still inside...nobody dares to take them in!"
Shen Jin's expression was extremely grim.
Just then, a scream suddenly came from a dilapidated house next door.
"Ah! Help! Don't bite me!"
Immediately afterwards, the door was kicked open, and a ragged man stumbled out. Behind him, a disheveled woman with a face covered in red spots and bloodshot eyes pounced out like a wild beast, opening her mouth to bite the man's neck.
"roar--!"
The sound coming from the woman's throat was not a human voice at all, but a roar like that of a wild beast.
"careful!"
With quick eyes and hands, Shen Jin casually picked up a copper coin from the saddle and flicked it with his finger.
"Smack!"
The copper coin struck the woman's pressure point precisely. Her body stiffened, and she fell straight down. Even as she lay on the ground, her mouth continued to open and close, making a "clattering" sound as her teeth clashed.
Jiang Mianmian's pupils contracted sharply as she watched this scene.
[T-Virus! Definitely a low-spec variant of the T-Virus!]
[Rabies? No, rabies doesn't spread that quickly! It's a highly contagious disease! It's transmitted through bodily fluids! And it attacks the nervous system!]
[Oh no! With such a dense population in Beijing, if word gets out, it'll be like a live version of Resident Evil!]
She dismounted and, ignoring Shen Jin's attempts to stop her, quickly walked to the frozen woman's side.
Instead of touching her directly, she picked up a twig and used it to lift the woman's sleeve.
The woman's arms were covered with dark red spots the size of copper coins, some of which were already festering and oozing pus, emitting a foul stench.
"Your Highness!" Shen Jin pulled her back abruptly. "Don't touch her!"
"Be cautious and prudent!"
Jiang Mianmian suddenly looked up, her eyes, which were usually filled with smiles, were now filled with an unprecedented solemnity and determination.
"Lose the city!"
She stared intently at Shen Jin and said, enunciating each word clearly, "The south of the city must be sealed off immediately! Everyone who has been in contact with the patient must be quarantined! There can be no delay!"
"This is a plague! A plague that eats people!"
Listen to me! You absolutely must listen to me! This is no joke! This thing is a million times more potent than that Seven Deadly Poisons Powder!
Shen Jin looked at her.
He saw fear in her eyes, but even more so, a calmness and decisiveness befitting a "professional".
Every word she spoke struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
plague.
In ancient times, these two characters represented death and destruction.
"good."
Shen Jin neither asked why nor questioned her judgment.
He turned around and, facing Yingyi and the terrified head constable behind him, issued an order that would shake the entire capital:
"Issue my decree!"
"Dispatch 3,000 Imperial Guards and immediately seal off the 36 wards in the south of the city! Entry is permitted, but exit is not!"
"Prefect of the Capital, immediately take a count of the sick and gather all patients in... the dilapidated temple south of the city. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"
"Shadow One, take this token and enter the palace. Instruct all the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Academy to wear face coverings, bring all the necessary medicines, and arrive here within half an hour! Anyone who delays will be executed!"
Swift and decisive in action.
This is the Regent.
Jiang Mianmian looked at the man standing in the middle of the chaotic street, his back as imposing as a mountain, and felt certain.
Thankfully, he's there.
As long as the source can be contained, there is hope.
[But... what exactly is this disease? It's like a zombie virus, but it doesn't seem to be entirely it. Could it be... poisoning? Or was it deliberately introduced?]
As Jiang Mianmian looked at the woman lying on the ground, the jade pendant she had seen on the assassin in the hunting grounds that day suddenly flashed through her mind.
And as Shadow One just mentioned, the assassin also has red spots on his body.
[Wait! The assassin... Red Spots... has gone berserk...]
Could this have been deliberately staged?
Who could be so ruthless? The Empress Dowager? Or that hostage from the enemy country?
Just then, a cold wind blew by.
Jiang Mianmian couldn't help but shiver.
She suddenly realized that this crisis might be even more terrifying than she had imagined. It wasn't just a plague, but a biological war targeting the entire continent...
"princess."
Shen Jin walked up to her without her noticing, took off his cloak, and wrapped it tightly around her.
"Are you scared?" he asked in a low voice.
Jiang Mianmian looked up at his deep eyes.
【Of course I'm scared! I'm terrified! I'm the most scared of all!】
But... seeing how desperately you're trying to protect this country, I suddenly feel... it wouldn't be right not to help you.
"I'm not afraid."
Jiang Mianmian shook her head, grasped his hand, and said with a firm look in her eyes, "With Your Highness here, even the King of Hell would have to register first."
"and……"
She pointed in the direction of the dilapidated temple, "This illness, I think... I might... perhaps I can cure."
Although my healing abilities are weak, I have a personal storage space! It's packed with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs! If I combine it with traditional Chinese medicine…maybe I can even make a vaccine?
Shen Jin looked at her.
Can it be cured?
She claims she can cure a strange disease that even the imperial physicians have never seen?
But he believed her.
Believe unconditionally.
"good."
Shen Jin gripped her hand tightly. "Then my life, and the lives of countless people, are in your hands."
"The Divine Physician Princess".
Jiang Mianmian: 【…Don't call me that! I still want to be a lazy bum!】
Although she complained, Jiang Mianmian knew that this time, she really couldn't stay lazy anymore.
A life-or-death battle against the epidemic has officially begun in this dilapidated slum in the south of the city.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com