Chapter 617 - 481: Microscope (Part 3)

Lin Miao couldn’t help but feel a headache; with these three women, it was like a constant drama, and there were more than three women in the household, making the backyard a theater every day.

Each one of them was just as challenging and none was easy to handle.

"Alright, you came through it the same way, it’s all part of the process."

"The Young Master is right. Mei’Er was once full of anxiety, and now she is completely devoted to serving the Young Master," Yue Mei’Er said with eyes as soft as silk, her tender emotions melting in the air.

At lunch, only Yue Mei’Er accompanied him.

The senior sisters and Xia Zhu were busy at the quarantine site. Naturally, their lunch would be brought to them, so they wouldn’t go hungry.

Lin Miao was indeed a bit hungry and ate a fair amount; given his current cultivation, eating was more about satisfying his appetite rather than gaining energy.

In fact, he was able to absorb the free energy from the environment to supplement himself.

Isn’t the point of cultivation this very thing?

First comes fasting, and then comes longevity.

Although "longevity" is a misleading term, the higher one’s cultivation, the less energy food provides, unless they’re extraordinary materials with no comparison to ordinary ingredients.

Once one advances to the Tian Yuan stage, they could go months without food or water, living without issues, and with water, even longer.

"Is my temporary lab set up yet?"

"It’s been instructed and will be completed today," Yue Mei’Er replied. She couldn’t understand why Lin Miao insisted on building a house outside as a temporary lab when there were many houses on the estate.

In truth, Lin Miao was building a temporary biological laboratory. If it were on the estate, he couldn’t guarantee against a smallpox virus leak during experiments.

It was safer to build one in the wilderness where no one was around. Upon discovering a leak, it could be destroyed immediately.

"By the way, news from the city says Pei Jian and the Imperial Envoy have ordered a ten-day street lockdown!" Yue Mei’Er reported, constantly monitoring the situation in the city. "Multiple ’pox’ patients have been found in the city, and while details are unclear, several neighborhoods have been affected, causing a lot of panic and many are fleeing, blocking the city gates completely."

"Are there people leaving the city to hide in nearby villages?"

"Certainly, so I’ve arranged for people to guard the village entrance. If anyone comes, they are immediately taken away for disinfection and quarantine, otherwise no entry is allowed!"

"Hmm, there’s only so much we can take on, so we must first look after ourselves," Lin Miao nodded. "If Pei Jian sends people looking for me, you need to notify me immediately."

"Understood, don’t worry. A matter this important, how could Mei’Er not know the weight of it," Yue Mei’Er nodded. "Mr. Cen passed away this afternoon, and the villagers want to send him off, which I agreed to."

"Is there clarity on the origin of the civet cat?" Lin Miao inquired.

"Not yet, no one knows how that civet cat appeared in Mr. Cen’s kitchen, or how it ended up as a bowl of meat," Yue Mei’Er shook her head.

Lin Miao knew that Mr. Cen lived alone, and during the New Year, even if someone visited, they might not witness it all.

Moreover, now that he’s deceased and can’t speak, who could truly know how the civet cat came about?

Not to mention, there were no tools found to kill or skin it, and the processed civet skin was very clean. Mr. Cen wasn’t a hunter and had no professional butchering skills, clearly indicating someone else dealt with the civet...

There must be another person involved.

Right now it cannot be confirmed whether the civet cat is the source of the "smallpox" infection, so whether it’s critical evidence or not remains uncertain.

"After lunch, accompany me to a few other villages; I need to conduct field visits to identify the zero patient in these villages."

"Alright." Yue Mei’Er naturally wanted to accompany Lin Miao outdoors.

However, Lin Miao also brought Liansuo along and carried the medical kit for specimen collection.

Xiayuan Village is closest to Erli Village; the relationship between the two villages is good, and the villagers even have inter-marriages. Actually, not just these villages, but all the surrounding ones have inter-marriages as long as there’s no deep-seated animosity.

This area belongs to the outskirts, where the living environment is relatively safe. Thieves typically avoid approaching, especially because villages on the outskirts exist under the protection of the estates owned by Dongshan City’s powerful elites. Most villagers don’t own or have free land, and although they are freemen, they make a living by farming for landlords and nobles. Naturally, these commoners receive protection, so bandits dare not cause trouble, as it would provoke suppression by the military and government bounties.

The suburbs have many villages with fairly large populations, but moving further afar, unless there is fertile land, the number of villages and people decreases. Only strategic transport hubs or towns tend to gather large populations because of trade and transport.

The first "pox" patient in Xiayuan Village was also a child. The child’s grandmother, however, was seriously ill.

Then the child’s father, a cook working at a restaurant in the city, returned to work after New Year’s and became infected, developed a fever, and was sent home. It’s most likely that someone at his workplace got infected too.

This household could afford the child’s education and tuition, as the father worked in the city. Teachers were scarce in these adjacent areas.

The child’s mother is from Erli Village, so through her family connections, they paid for the child’s schooling at the village school there.

During the New Year, visiting the in-laws and paying respects to the teacher with the child is quite normal.

Mr. Cen was the first infected in Erli Village, the child and father were presumably the first infected.

The mother, however, is not in the temple and remains unaffected for now.

After returning home, the father went to work in the city, leaving the child at home, where the frail grandmother contracted the infection from the grandson.

The two showed no symptoms initially and during the incubation period, and the child interacted and played with several familiar friends in the village.

The virus spread in this manner.

Xiayuan Village’s cases, without exception, are directly or indirectly related to this father-son duo.

Ma’yi Village’s situation is similar.

Nearby villages also have cases with clear transmission chains, making it easier to handle. Break the chain and disinfect to eradicate the virus, thus ending this "pox" outbreak.

Nevertheless, Lin Miao sensed that there was something more complex at play.

According to the information Yue Mei’Er gathered, nearby in Xinping Town, cases of fever and back pain surfaced, with a substantial number of sufferers.

Judging by the transmission chain leading from Mr. Cen, it shouldn’t have spread so quickly or reached a distant place like Xinping Town.

If the civet cat is the source of the "pox" and merely an accident, then such a situation in Xinping Town wouldn’t have occurred – more verification is needed, of course.

And how to explain the cases in Dongshan City? The village folks working in the city and those in close contact have been accounted for. A comparison could clarify if Erli Village’s Mr. Cen is indeed the infection source.