Black smoke filled the city, thick and swirling. Every house was tightly locked, and withered grass climbed over the windows, as if the place had been abandoned.
Occasionally, two or three young men, thin and with white cloths covering their faces, would mechanically push the trailer, their eyes filled with a despair like a stagnant pool.
The things on the man's cart were covered by a pile of withered yellow grass. Upon closer inspection, a hand covered with red spots was visible. It turned out to be a person who had died from the plague!
The young man, like a soulless robot, showed no surprise at Luo Jiu and his group, mechanically walking past them and throwing the diseased corpse into the burning fire amidst the haystacks.
In this city ravaged by the plague, all the remaining living people became like walking corpses, numb and cold-blooded.
They didn't know when the epidemic would end, or whether they had already contracted the disease. In this lifeless city, they felt abandoned by the world, with only a dark night without a ray of sunlight remaining in the future.
Along the way, corpses were everywhere, the only exceptions being those afflicted with disease. Some were wrapped in white cloth, others could only be covered with piles of straw, their final resting place awaiting the last remaining young men to carry their bodies to the fire.
The group, who had been chatting and laughing all the way, fell silent upon seeing the scene before them, as if a heavy stone was pressing on their hearts, causing them a strange sense of oppression.
Beneath our feet lies endless sand and dust, behind us, the smoke of war rises and falls. Human life is truly a fragile thing; a single epidemic can destroy a city.
Wen Zhaobai channeled his magic into his pupils, and things invisible to the naked eye slowly appeared. He followed the wisps of demonic energy and disappeared into the alley.
"Strange..." How did it just disappear?
The houses deep in the alley were also dilapidated; when the wind blew, the doors rattled as if they could fall to the ground at any moment.
"Bang!"
The sound of something falling came from inside the door.
The group exchanged glances and then rushed forward to break down the door.
A little boy dressed in black fell to the ground, his brows furrowed and his legs trembling uncontrollably.
Luo Jiu hurriedly tried to help him up, but a voice came from behind.
"Junior Sister Luo Jiu, he has contracted the plague."
Luo Jiu paused, looked at the little boy's exposed hand, and sure enough, it was covered with red spots.
She hesitated for a moment, took out a pill from the bag and swallowed it before helping the little boy up.
As soon as Luo Jiu touched his body, she was so startled by the scalding heat that her hand trembled.
He has a fever.
The little boy's face, which should have been soft and fair, was flushed with an unnatural redness, and he kept muttering about his mother.
A group of people were frantically taking care of the sick little boy, afraid that he might not wake up if they weren't careful.
The fever caused by the epidemic was even more unpredictable. After taking a lot of tonics from Luo Jiu, the little boy finally woke up.
"Who...are you?"
The boy looked at the beautiful Luo Jiu in front of him, tugged at his sleeve to cover the spots on his body, and subconsciously took a few steps back.
A pair of doe-like eyes peeked out from the arm and shoulder, curiously observing the group of people who had suddenly appeared.
"Don't be afraid."
Luo Jiu smiled slightly, reached out her hand, wanting to comfort the sensitive little boy, but was interrupted by a single sentence.
"Don't touch me!"
The boy suddenly screamed, and when he saw Luo Jiu awkwardly withdraw her hand, he explained in a low voice.
"I have contracted the disease."
So don't touch me, you'll get infected.
"Don't be afraid."
Luo Jiu pointed to the veil on her face and comforted her:
"We are wandering healers who have come here. Can you tell me what happened here?"
"Plague. There's a plague here, they're all dead, all dead..."
The boy's dark eyes were filled with tears as he murmured these two or three sentences.
"them?"
While Luo Jiu was comforting the little boy, Wen Zhaobai began to look around the dilapidated house.
This is an abandoned clinic. The plaque above the door reads "Hanging a gourd to save lives," but several cracks have appeared in the middle, as if it had been maliciously hammered by someone.
The counter was completely empty, covered in dust. The few chairs that remained were all overturned on the floor. The entire clinic looked as if it had been inexplicably ransacked by robbers.
Why would a traditionally respected medical clinic be targeted and disrupted during such a critical time? And where is the clinic's owner...?
"Xiao Qi, what is your relationship with the owner of this clinic?"
Wen Zhaobai surveyed the area and finally posed his question to the boy.
"He is my mentor."
The little boy spoke timidly, his expression revealing an unconcealable gloom.
"He's a wandering doctor, just like you. He came to Luoxia City a few years ago and rented a shop right next to my house."
He was an exceptionally skilled doctor, and he often treated poor people like us for free; he was practically a living god. All the neighbors and villagers loved and respected him.
But from that day on, everything changed.
The first patient with a persistent high fever was brought to the old doctor, who happened to be up in the mountains collecting herbs and had left an apprentice at the shop.
The apprentice thought it was just a simple fever, so he prescribed some medicine, didn't pay much attention, and sent the person away.
Who knew that the person contracted the plague, didn't receive timely treatment, and died. The clothes weren't properly disposed of, which then infected many more people.
As soon as the old doctor returned to the shop, the city lord had already sent men to wait inside. Without saying a word, they tied him up and smashed the entire shop before leaving.
“They said that my master delayed the epidemic, which allowed the disease to spread rapidly. They wouldn’t listen to any of his explanations, and the next day they tied him to a pillar of fire and burned him to ashes.”
“I chased after them outside, crying, explaining and kowtowing to them. I asked the neighbors for help, but no one paid any attention to me. Yet they had all been treated by my master.”
The little boy's voice choked with emotion, and tears finally welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face.
The sound of a boy sobbing and choking could be heard from inside the room. He had been holding it in for far too long, watching helplessly as his beloved master was wrongly accused and killed. Such grief would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"This city lord is no good person. In order to absolve himself of his dereliction of duty, he had a highly respected old doctor burned alive. Doesn't he fear being struck by lightning?"
The junior apprentice who was with him helped clean up the clinic while spitting and cursing.
"Shh!"
Luo Jiu came out of the room and whispered, "She's asleep."
Wen Zhaobai pointed towards the door, and the group of people straightened up and followed slowly.
"The demonic energy has stirred; it has appeared in the city lord's mansion."
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