Chapter 177 - Plague
Chapter 177: Plague
The plague started two weeks ago. One day, a large number of residents in the city fell ill. Before that, there were no symptoms, as if the virus had suddenly appeared all at once.
Heath asked, “There were no signs before the plague happened? For example, when a patient entered the city.”
Beagle shook his head. “No, Sir.”
“At first, we also considered whether it was the season or the weather, but the weather has been very good recently, and the seasons have not changed.”
“After that, we also considered looking for the source of the infection, but we could not find it. It was as if the patients had appeared overnight. That day, a large number of patients poured into the church, and we were sure that we have never seen it before.”
Heath asked, “Have you tried to give them Holy Water?”
Beagle said, “When the patients first appeared, we used Holy Water to save them, but it didn’t have any effect.”
Heath frowned.
Holy Water was a healing potion that he had specially prepared using a variety of materials. In theory, it should have an excellent effect on these pestilence diseases.
Beagle sighed and said, “I really didn’t expect the Calamity of Hyenas to fall on us!”
Heath asked, “The Calamity of Hyenas?”
Beagle nodded and said, “Yes, Sir. This is not the first time this kind of plague has appeared. In the past two years, there have been outbreaks in many places.”
“They are just like hyenas. They break out in one place and bring disaster to this place. When almost everyone is dead, they suddenly disappear, and then they break out in another place…”
Listening to Beagle’s story, Heath narrowed his eyes.
He had a clue…
If his guess was right, this plague was probably…
The carriage drove all the way to the city, and finally stopped in front of the newly built cathedral in the city. Heath and his entourage got off the carriage.
There were only a few more patients here than in the city. There were people lying everywhere on the stone steps in front of the cathedral.
The wailing continued.
“Ah… Save… save me… Lord Priest… Save me…”
“I’m in so much pain… I’m in so much pain…”
“Who can help me… Who can save me…”
Heath walked in front of a patient and carefully observed him. He called a clergyman next to him to ask about his condition.
There was nothing special about his appearance. He was not much different from a normal human being who had a fever. His face was pale, his whole body was hot, and he was weak and feeble.
What was slightly special was that red spots would grow all over his body after the onset of the disease.
From the appearance of the red spots, it indicated that the patient had started to develop the disease, and the period from the onset of the disease to death was about three days.
“…That’s all we know, Sir,” the priest said to Heath.
Heath nodded. “Okay, I understand.”
Then, he bent down and opened the patient’s eyelids to look at his eyeballs.
After observing it for a while, he suddenly took out a bell from his dimensional pocket and shook it lightly.
This was a negative element particle detection bell. It was a kind of Wizard tool that was used to detect negative elements. It had excellent effects on poisons, dark elements, corrosive elements, and many other things. It could discover many things that were hidden very deeply.
Ding! A clear bell rang.
Along with this sound, a strange scene appeared.
Under the patient’s skin, dark green worm-like things suddenly appeared.
Heath immediately stretched out his finger and gently cut at the patient’s skin.
With a ‘pu’ sound, a wound naturally opened up, facing the direction of the worm.
After the skin was cut open, one could clearly see that there were actually small bugs hidden in the flesh below.
It was just a worm. Its appearance was similar to an earthworm, but at the top was a tiny upper body that seemed to be the upper body of some kind of cat, with a pair of sharp little claws.
“This… What kind of monster is this?”
“How can there be such a thing?”
The bishop and the clergy were shocked. Looking at the densely packed worms squirming in his skin, they felt their scalps go numb.
After the worms were exposed, they hurriedly tried to escape to the sides or deeper into their muscles, but they were blocked by Heath’s Wizard’s Forcefield.
Then, Heath used his dagger to pick out a strange bug.
The exposed bug immediately bared its fangs and brandished its claws at Heath, showing a fierce look.
Heath looked at the strange bug and his eyes couldn’t help but light up. “Acter Abyss Worm!”
This was the same as the Abyssal Queen Worm he saw in the Magic Bug Forest. It was also from the abyss. Its scientific name was Acter Abyss Worm, a type of abyss worm.
This kind of worm had a very strong reproductive ability. It liked to invade animals, especially human bodies, to lay eggs and reproduce. A single abyss worm like this could multiply tens or millions of times in just a few days.
Heath asked, “Have there been any suspicious people in the city recently?”
Bishop Beagle thought for a moment and said, “There are no suspicious people, but if you want to talk about strangers, there were indeed a few people who came a few days ago. They claimed to be Wizards, and those Lords were very kind to help treat the patients.”
“They also said that the plague was spread by someone with malicious intent.”
Heath said in surprise, “Wizards? Did they say where they came from?”
Bishop Beagle shook his head. “No, my Lord.”
Heath thought for a moment.
Then, he put down the patient. “Bandage his wound.”
Bishop Beagle stepped forward and said, “Then my Lord… Those bugs… Don’t you need to deal with them?”
Everyone had seen the dense swarm of insects just now.
Heath shook his head and said, “Not for the time being.”
After a pause, he continued, “Those two Wizards were right. This plague is indeed not naturally formed, but someone has maliciously poisoned them.”
The crowd was shocked.
“Ah?”
“Wh… what? Someone poisoned them? Who did it? It’s too abominable!”
“Who on earth is so vicious!?”
Beagle was also surprised. “Sir, is… is this true?”
Heath nodded. “It’s absolutely true.”
The Acter Abyss Worm was not contagious. If someone had not spread it maliciously, such a large area would not have been affected.
“This person is too evil!”
“Why would he do that? He has such a vicious heart!”
“No matter who it is, we must find out who it is!”
The crowd was agitated.
Beagle frowned. “Sir, then what… what should we do now?”
Heath said, “Leave it to me.”
No matter what this guy’s motive was, he actually came to his territory to do evil. Then, he should be prepared to bear his anger!