Chapter 915 - The Inner Kingdom: Haiba Village Epidemic
Chapter 915
(Unedited)
…
Shin Jiao and the rest of his group are expecting to see nice scenery but upon seeing the rotting plants and the dry and cracked ground, they were all taken aback.
"What happened here?" Gwendolyn muttered while looking outside of the carriage.
When they pass by this place a few days ago, it was not like this. The people are preparing to plant some crops and everything is lively and green. But what is in front of them is truly something that she did not expect to see.
"When we were passing by this place a week ago, it was not like this. How did this happen?" she muttered in disbelief.
Suddenly, they saw a carriage with the mark of the royal army. However, that carriage is empty and it seems that the people in the village are not around.
Shin Jiao immediately scanned his surroundings and from where he is, he saw many villagers lying on their beds with some kind of disease on their bodies.
"Is this an epidemic?" Shin Jiao muttered while looking around.
"Everyone, stay outside of the village!" Shin Jiao shouted as the caravan halted.
"Xiamen, I will go inside the village, be vigilant… There might be an epidemic in this place…"
"Epidemic?" Xiamen Gong asked.
"It's a kind of disease which has spread all over the village." Im Jae answered.
"We should rise up a barrier to prevent ourselves from getting infected." Yemei Yin said as her figure materialized atop her Windfall.
They all retreated near the carriage and Yemei Yin raises the barrier.
Im Jae, on the other hand, stood atop the carriage to get a vantage point.
At this time, Shin Jiao has already entered the village and saw that there are people lying on the ground and even on the streets. Their body has that rotting appearance and it seems that they are all suffering from the same illness.
"This… What happened here?" he muttered as he checks the body of the man.
The man is still alive but it seems that he is already weak. From the looks of it, this man has not eaten anything for a while now and he is already almost in his last breath.
He carefully checks the blisters on his body and the strange bacteria inside of it. With Shin Jiao's spiritual sense he easily figures out what type of bacteria they are infected with.
"Hmmm… This is a very rare but communicable type of bacteria. The source might be the water…" he muttered as he could already deduce what is happening.
He stood up and continues scanning.
At this time, he found a few healthy people hiding inside the village inn. These people seem to be well and not infected.
As he walks towards them they also saw him.
He stood outside the window and asked.
"What happened in this village?" the person inside seems to be a royal knight.
But from the looks of it, this person has already taken off his armor and is only wearing some simple clothing. His sword's crest is that of the Crimson Light Army, so he is one of the royal knights.
"I don't know. I heard that t has already been more than a week since this happened. We did not know this and a few of my fellow royal knights were infected. The rest of us are hiding here as the infection could be anywhere. But this place is safe…"
"Hmm… How many are still alive?"
"I don't know… But I am sure that the 8 of us inside this inn are not sick." He said.
"Okay, you guys stay there, I will try to search for others who are not sick…"
After searching for a while, Shin Jiao found another group of survivors numbering around 30 people. He leads them towards the inn which is the best place to isolate them from the rest of the village.
"Alright, listen up. I am Shin Jiao… I and my group are just passing by this village. But it seems that you guys have been suffering… I will tell you the cause of this sickness… It is the water." He explained.
"The water is contaminated by a strange bacteria which would make those who drink it weak and develop puss on their bodies. They can be transferred so you have to be careful. You just have to not let the water enter your body. Wounds can be infected, through eyes and nose and ears are also possible."
"I want those who are healthy to follow these procedures and feed those that are weak and dying. If not, then this village will lose more than half of your population…" Shin Jiao said while waving a paper with lists of instructions in the air.
After Shin Jiao gave them the instruction the people became a bit uncertain. However, one of the royal knights steps forward and then volunteers for the task.
Shin Jiao gave him a suit to cover his body.
The other knights also volunteer and those who are brave enough also came forward. But the rest are afraid to step forward for fear of getting sick.
Shin Jiao began to prepare some meals in the kitchen of the inn. He also concocted the most basic antibacterial drug penicillin while also making the meals.
He instructed the volunteers to give the sick villagers one small tablet for each person.
When Im Jae and the rest knew his plan they too did not hesitate to help. Except for Im Ao and the saint who stayed inside the carriage, the rest helped the village.
The next day…
Shin Jiao saw the villagers slowly recovering from their sickness. But of course, it would still take a while before their blisters and pus on this skin could disappear. But some of the villagers could already stand up and eat for themselves.
And so the volunteers did not have to enter the houses anymore and just put the food and their medicine on their doorstep.
The group stayed in Haiba village for a week while helping the people.
In that week, Shin Jiao explored the village and saw a river. The river seems to be the source of the bacteria and so he decided to follow it.
Soon he found an old cottage just in the outskirts of the village and with his spiritual sense found traces of the said bacteria.
He then found some traces of black magic in the house which doubled his suspicion.
Inside the house Shin Jiao discovered something.
"What is this…" he muttered as he checked on the book which is lying on the table.
The book has traces of blood on them some dried green stuff. He takes out some disinfectants and began spraying inside the house.
He then takes the book and the rest of the things that interest him inside his dimension. This type of bacteria can be of a great addition to the ecosystem inside his small world and dimension, so he did not hesitate to take those things in. Plus he is interested in what he discovers in that book.
Shin Jiao walked outside and continue following the river and soon found a strange stench nearby. And after scanning the area, he saw a corpse floating near the river with a rope on his neck.
From what he could tell, this person seems to have committed suicide or something. But the bacteria in his body did not all die. It seems that the source is coming from deep within him.
And so Shin Jiao decided to take the corpse out of the water.
When he lifted it above the ground, Shin Jiao found something incredible happened.
The corpse which heart has already stopped suddenly came to life. It suddenly opened its eyes and with only white inside it suddenly moved by impulse.
Grraaahhh!!!
It growled while waving its hands in the air. Shin Jiao saw the water splashing all over the place, but it did not hit him as he created a barrier around his body.
"The guy turned undead and is being controlled by something inside of him…" Shin Jiao muttered as he checked the body of the corpse who suddenly moved.
He takes it out of the river and then created a sealed space while enveloping the whole corpse. Then he began to scan its body.
Soon Shin Jiao found what he is looking for. What this person has is actually a curse. It is a weird curse that does not come from dark magic. Instead, it is light magic, the magic of life.
This magic of life controls the bacteria inside of this man's body to continue to thrive even though the man is already dead. And it seems that the bacteria have already evolved and were able to control the body of the man.
"This river flows downstream to the village and towards another location." Shin Jiao muttered as he suddenly cast a fireball spell and engulfed the whole corpse.
Then after the corpse was turned into dust, what's left is the curse still glowing white inside the sealed space.
Shin Jiao decided to throw the glowing energy inside his dimension. When he did this, he could feel that something seem to have been broken and a slight smile appears on his face.
Shin Jiao jumps above the tree and soared in the air.. He needs to find the direction where this river is flowing to.