Chapter 611 - 479: Suspected Source of Infection (Part 3)

Lin Miao reached out to flip through it; this Mr. Cen wasn’t that knowledgeable, but his handwriting was decent. This person seemed to enjoy writing poetry.

Except these poems were more like doggerel, just average in quality.

Nothing worth his attention.

The disease comes from the mouth; since nothing was discovered in the study or living room, then it’s time to check the kitchen.

These days, Mr. Cen should have been cooking for himself, so he wasn’t someone completely unfamiliar with household duties.

The kitchen was quite messy, clearly not a place often used for cooking. The water jar contained half a jar of water, and rice and flour were plentiful.

Lifting the pot lid, he discovered half a bowl of meat inside.

It emanated a rancid smell, and Lin Miao couldn’t immediately identify what kind of meat it was. After all, meat is recognized by taste, not sight.

However, this spoiled meat was certainly inedible; it would upset the stomach.

But it could be confirmed that it wasn’t cured meat. Cured meat has a different color and texture compared to fresh meat, and even if cooked, it wouldn’t spoil under current temperature conditions like this.

This was fresh meat.

At that moment, Lin Miao suddenly detected an unusual scent, or more accurately, a faint bloody smell.

Mr. Cen was a scholar with no muscle to handle a chicken, let alone fish, so how could there be a bloody scent in his house?

Within the woodpile.

Lin Miao spotted a tuft of something resembling yellowish-brown fur.

He walked over, squatted down, and instead of using his hands, took a piece of firewood to pull the thing out.

Upon closer inspection, it was an animal hide still stained with blood, seemingly recently skinned. However, the skinner’s technique was rather crude, not like someone experienced in handling such wildlife—more akin to a novice.

Lin Miao had often ventured into mountains with his master to gather herbs since childhood, and sometimes hunted. He immediately recognized it as masked palm civet.

In the dead of winter, masked palm civets should be hiding away, hibernating.

Finding their hibernation burrow requires the exceptional skill of a seasoned hunter—the likes of Mr. Cen, a scholar, could hardly catch a masked palm civet.

Wild masked palm civets have a high probability of carrying viruses; if it’s the "smallpox" virus, it wouldn’t be surprising.

But how did the masked palm civet end up at the village temple?

Reasoning this way, the remaining half bowl of meat in the pot should be leftover masked palm civet meat, though it’s uncertain yet if this masked palm civet carried the "smallpox" virus.

Still, a masked palm civet found in an unlikely place, followed by the owner’s consumption leading to "pox virus" infection and death.

There’s ample reason to suspect this masked palm civet as the infection source.

Mr. Cen was infected without realizing; he’s the children’s teacher in the village. Through close contact, the children got infected too, making the transmission chain clear.

However, the issue remains—what’s the situation with the neighboring village’s "pox virus"?

Are they also part of this infection source?

Actually, confirming this isn’t difficult.

Originally, Lin Miao made glass mainly not for profiteering, though that was part of it, as without money, nothing gets done.

He wanted glassware, because any laboratory study relies on various glassware—beakers, measuring cups, and even syringes. Despite being a practitioner of traditional medicine, he didn’t dismiss modern medicine.

Whatever cures and saves lives is good medicine; traditional medicine is macro, while modern medicine is micro.

Traditional medicine is restricted by its means and cannot perceive the microscopic, only observe the macroscopic, limiting its development.

Thus, considering Western medicine a false proposition—it’s merely traditional and modern medicine, with traditional medicine being epitomized by traditional medicine, making it the target of modern medicine.

Some people betray their heritage by discarding ancestral tradition, while others treasure it, making them shameless degenerates.

Does microscopic medicine not need the theories of yin-yang and the Five Elements?

It does, just that modern people failed to learn, understand, and pass it on well—half-baked. Why do the nodes within the human body identified by modern medicine closely resemble traditional medicine’s meridians and acupoints?

Through stimulating these nodes, one can regulate the body’s material balance, achieving the goal of curing diseases.

Lin Miao created convex and concave lenses; making telescopes was merely a byproduct, as his real aim was creating microscopes, which can reveal the microscopic realm of bacteria and virus activity.

Without them, how would one explain what bacteria and viruses are? Others wouldn’t understand, leaving people to reason as wind evils invading the body.

Lin Miao had been working on this, even secretly commissioning Mr. Hong to forge microscope components. Naturally, the other party didn’t know his intentions—not asking, as "Mr. Lin" commanded and offered adequate payment, ensuring dedicated effort.

In the beginning, there was no urgency—step by step would suffice; now, urgency made making a microscope imperative.

The smallpox virus is visible under a microscope; only slightly smaller than ordinary bacteria, requiring a microscope to determine whether the masked palm civet carries smallpox virus, otherwise how to confirm it’s the source of the "pox virus" outbreak?

Convex and concave lenses are naturally available at Miao Manor—it’s a glass production base, with a team of craftsmen specifically assigned to polish lenses here.

Telescope, as a bold profit item, Lin Miao certainly knows how to make money from it.

Why leave the fortune for others instead of earning it himself?

Pei Jian received a telescope, presumably discerning this treasure’s value, wouldn’t leave it idle in his hands.

Mr. Hong was actually at Miao Manor, along with his entire family and seven or eight apprentices, currently dedicated to creating the telescope’s tube for him.

Therefore, everything is ready.