Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 203 Smallpox

"Quick! Someone come here! Take this man—no, you all go find a big piece of cloth to wrap this bastard up, then throw him into the woodshed!"

Duan Ye's face turned pale. What kind of person was this? Knowing that he had smallpox, he still dared to come and treat people.

All that could be heard from inside, wrapped in a bed sheet, was a young doctor shouting, "My lord, I'm innocent! I've already said I don't make house calls, it was your men who forced me to come..."

Duan Ye didn't have time to dwell on these things. He pressed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Was Wujiang County going to do anything about the smallpox outbreak? But how could they do anything about it? All the doctors had run away!

Should we leave with our leader and men now? Or should we immediately organize people to quarantine Wujiang County?

If one of you or one of your subordinates contracts smallpox, they will become a source of infection.

After some deliberation, Duan Ye decided to take over the responsibilities of the Wujiang County Magistrate and seal off the county town, just like he had done with Baishi County before, leaving only a few entrances for trade to ensure that the smallpox epidemic did not spread.

As for Lin Fan and Niu Dadan's wounds, they could only have someone quickly bandage them up. Fortunately, the hemostatic powder found on them was very effective, preventing them from losing too much blood. The two were only unconscious with high fever, but seemed to have no other problems.

But when Duan Ye checked on the two men again that evening, he found small pustules on Lin Fan's forearm, as did several of Duan Ye's men.

They had no choice but to take isolation measures, sending their subordinates who had contracted smallpox to take care of Lin Fan and Niu Dadan, thus separating them from the others.

In the Great Qian Dynasty, the plague was so terrible that no matter how many people and supplies Duan Ye had prepared, it was all meaningless in the face of the plague.

That night, the first death from smallpox occurred in Wujiang County. It was a prostitute whose body was covered in pustules, resembling an irregularly shaped human balloon. Her former beauty and graceful figure were nowhere to be seen.

Because of the abscess in her throat, she had long lost the ability to speak and could only groan in pain. To prevent her from scratching the abscess, her hands were tied. The abscess ruptured where the rope was tied, and a mixture of red and yellow liquid flowed out.

She probably suffocated because abscesses blocked her trachea. The people who disposed of her body covered their mouths and noses and wrapped themselves up tightly before daring to enter.

The gauze skirt was pushed up by the pustules, making it look like she was wearing sexy lingerie over an inflatable doll.

The two men wanted to lift the man, or this lump of pus, onto a stretcher, but the man felt soft to the touch and was impossible to handle.

The two men steeled themselves and lifted her up with all their might.

Wow!

The boils ruptured one after another, and copious amounts of pus flowed down, submerging their toes. All that remained in their hands was a withered, dried-up humanoid object, like a desiccated corpse.

"Ah! Ah! Ahhhhhh!"

The two exclaimed in surprise and rushed out the door, abandoning their stretchers.

In the end, they simply found a few brave men to lock up the rooms in the brothel and that was the end of it.

Duan Ye frowned as he listened to his subordinate's report, his heart heavy.

The Great Qian Dynasty did have records of smallpox. This plague was extremely virulent at the beginning, and it is conceivable that a large number of people will die starting tomorrow, and the number will continue to increase.

This gradual increase in deaths will plunge the entire Wujiang County into terror. People who have no hope of survival will do many unimaginable things, such as suicide, robbery, and rape. These cases will spread as rapidly as a plague.

About 20% of the people would die directly from smallpox, after which the severity of the disease would decrease significantly.

Based on past experience, even more people will die from the collapse of social order.

Furthermore, if a large number of untreated corpses accumulate as the disaster nears its end, they could trigger a new plague.

Therefore, Duan Ye was facing an extremely difficult situation. He had to maintain social order and cremate the bodies under extremely harsh conditions in order to minimize casualties.

It remains to be seen how much impact this incident will have on his entire team, especially considering that they are at a critical juncture in the fight against bandits.

"My lord! A doctor has come from outside the city and says he can cure smallpox!"

Duan Ye frowned slightly and said to the knight who came to report, "Didn't we say that people from outside the city are not allowed to come in anymore?"

However, he didn't delve into the matter further. After all, if the person who came could truly cure the smallpox epidemic, then letting him in would be the right thing to do.

Duan Ye disregarded everything else and hurried to see the doctor. When he saw that it was Doctor Lei, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Doctor, do you really have a way to treat smallpox?"

Doctor Lei arrived with the pregnant Sun Ruolan and Er Gou, and said urgently, "What's a little smallpox? Go get the medicine according to my prescription first. Where is Brother Lin Fanxian? Take me to see him quickly, he must have made himself half dead again."

"You're truly a miracle doctor, you can even predict this." Duan Ye realized something was off after saying that, as miracle doctors and fortune tellers don't seem to be the same thing, and it didn't feel right to praise someone like that.

After handing the written prescription to Duan Ye, Doctor Lei rushed to check on Lin Fan. Seeing Lin Fan covered in blood, Doctor Lei sighed with relief and quickly began treating his wounds.

It has to be said that among all the doctors in these dozens of chapters, Dr. Lei has made the most progress; his bandaged hands now leave afterimages.

However, seeing Lin Fan's broken wooden arm, he decisively gave up. "Er Gou, help him reattach his arm."

Watching the other team doctor busy with carpentry, Dr. Lei picked up a cold teacup and took a sip. "Brother, you... well, I won't say anything to you this time. You did a good job killing that dog of a magistrate to avenge Brother Wanli."

He paused and continued, "We took a different route here than you, and ended up running into Brother Wanli by the roadside. That fool was still alive, and when he saw me, he kept apologizing, saying that he couldn't kill the Great Commander of Crab Mountain to avenge me. What help could I ask him for? He was too badly injured, and was only kept alive by some secret technique. He was already exhausted, and I couldn't save him no matter how hard I tried."

As he spoke, Doctor Lei took out an ancient incense burner from his pocket, a wisp of smoke drifting into the distance. “None of you know how to cherish your lives. Actually, I didn’t want to live that much either. I was just afraid of dying and afraid of pain. Well, there’s no turning back now. I’ll handle my own affairs. You take good care of your injuries, my dear brother.”

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and stuffed it into Lin Fan's arms. "Brother, I've always said that the entrance to the mortal world is in Kunlun, but I've never told you where it is. Actually, I was afraid that if I told you, you would leave me alone. Now I've written the exact location here. If I can't come back, you can go to the mortal world by yourself."

At this point, Dr. Lei smiled with relief, "After all, you're the one who should go home. As for me, I need to settle my family matters before I can set off."