A Coincidental Plague

Lu Yuan's eyelids twitched.

No, seriously, who are you?

You barge into my house without so much as a greeting, and while covered in blood, you expect me to save you?

The man only managed to spit out two words before he collapsed backward, weak and limp. Lu Yuan lunged forward, grabbing his clothes just in time.

This guy was one step away from death. If he had hit the ground any harder, he probably would have dropped dead on the spot.

Lu Yuan laid him down gently, propping him up into a half-reclining position. A quick glance revealed that his entire face was as pale as a corpse's, his lips devoid of any color.

His body was covered in a dense web of over a dozen wounds, deep enough to see bone, and his clothes had been shredded into rags, making him look like a beggar.

"Don't worry... I won't implicate you. I've already shaken off the people chasing me..."

The man gasped for air, his breathing ragged.

Lu Yuan laughed in disbelief. "Who exactly are you? Who is hunting you down? You say you've shaken them off, but how can you be sure? What if the people chasing you are people I can't afford to offend? If my whole family gets dragged into this because of you, where am I supposed to go to seek justice?"

"Hiss~~~"

The man shivered in pain. "Young brother, there's a porcelain bottle on my chest. Help me pour one out and feed it to me."

Lu Yuan pulled out the porcelain bottle and was stunned to find that the pill inside was a Trauma Healing Pill. He felt a surge of surprise—could this man be an official of the imperial court, just like Xu Ziyi?

After swallowing the pill, the man's breathing finally steadied, allowing him to speak in coherent sentences.

"Young brother, can I beg you for one thing?"

"Don't even open your mouth."

Lu Yuan refused decisively.

"I'm not a bad person. I am a Baihu of the Imperial Guards."

"Then I definitely can't help you. I'm not a court official. With my meager strength, I wouldn't dare get involved in the affairs of the Imperial Guards."

"This is a matter of great importance. Young brother, I'm begging you. You only need to deliver an item and pass on a message for me."

A look of desperation appeared on his face as he pulled a box from his waist.

"Inside this box is a pill, but you must, absolutely must not consume it. Please, take it to the Youjian Inn in the east of Taikang City. Just tell the innkeeper that it's something from Shen Luo, and tell him that the box contains a Yin Yang Pill... Young brother, you must deliver this message! It concerns the lives of thousands upon thousands of people!!"

Lu Yuan asked, "What exactly is a Yin Yang Pill? And who is hunting you down?"

"The Yin Yang Pill is..."

Thud.

Before he could finish his sentence, his head slumped down.

Lu Yuan's brows shot up.

Are you acting in a TV drama? Finish your sentence! Leaving it half-said like that is driving me crazy.

He hated people who left their sentences hanging more than anything in this life.

Feeling as restless as if a cat were scratching at his heart, his curiosity peaked. He opened the wooden box and discovered a pill inside that he was very familiar with.

It was, surprisingly, the very pill he had snatched from the secret chamber at the Taiping Sect stronghold.

Because he had never figured out the effects of those pills, he had kept them all safely tucked away.

"Is this pill called the Yin Yang Pill?"

Lu Yuan frowned as he looked at the corpse, speculating in his heart, Could this Yin Yang Pill be related to the Taiping Sect? Were the people hunting him down also from the Taiping Sect? Damn, how is the Taiping Sect everywhere? Everything seems to be connected to them.

"Should I deliver it or not?"

Lu Yuan fell into a dilemma.

Although he detested the Taiping Sect, it appeared to be an incredibly massive force at the moment. Opposing such a behemoth was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

If he were to get dragged into the struggle between the imperial court and the Taiping Sect, he wouldn't even know how he died.

"Let's deal with the body first."

To be safe, Lu Yuan dug a pit in the backyard and buried the corpse directly.

"Second Brother... Second Brother, are you there?"

"Coming."

Lu Yuan dropped the shovel, stomped the dirt flat, and clapped his hands before leaving.

"Big Brother, what's up? By the way, have you finished the True Essence Blood Refining Pill?"

"How could it be that fast? It takes me seven or eight days to purge the pill toxins after taking one; I'm not like you, finishing it in two days."

Lu Cheng rolled his eyes and retorted:

"Today, you're coming with me to deliver the medicinal soup."

"Deliver medicinal soup? To whom?"

Lu Cheng sighed, "An epidemic has been spreading through Lingbao County recently. In just half a month, over a hundred people have died. Father had people simmer some medicinal soup that can prevent the plague to give out for free. I'm worried there will be too many people, so I need you to come and help out."

"Alright."

Lu Yuan did not mind doing good deeds within his power.

He was very glad that Lu Longjing was not a merchant who lacked benevolence despite his wealth.

After leaving the house and walking out of the wealthy district of Lingbao County, Lu Yuan caught a glimpse of a corpse lying in a foul-smelling ditch. Looking to the side, he saw a man pulling a handcart with three more corpses lying on it.

"Daniu, heading outside the city?"

"Yeah. Look at this, three more died. These three all died of illness. The government says that to prevent contagion, all the bodies have to be hauled outside the city to be burned."

Lu Cheng glanced over and said, "Don't look. Remember, you must avoid contact with those infected. Keep at least ten feet away from them; the closer you are, the higher the chance of transmission."

He sighed, "I don't know how many people in Lingbao County will die from this epidemic. Looking at the situation, I'm afraid it won't stop at just a few hundred. More and more people are dying."

"Holy Master above, I beg you to bless my poor son and let him wake up! As long as my son can wake up, this old woman is willing to shorten her life by twenty years!"

Inside a room, an old woman was kneeling and praying to a statue, kowtowing repeatedly.

"The old man is dead, and my daughter died of the illness too. Son, you must not leave your mother all alone."

The old woman sobbed in a low voice.

Through the half-open door, Lu Yuan could see the old woman carefully holding up a bowl after kowtowing three times:

"Son, this is the talisman water I begged for from the Taiping Sect. As long as you drink it, you will get better."

Seeing Lu Yuan standing still, Lu Cheng patted him on the shoulder: "Why did you stop?"

"Wait."

Less than ten seconds after the talisman water was poured down his throat, the old woman's son woke up. She was overjoyed; ignoring her son, she turned back to the statue and kowtowed heavily, her face filled with fanaticism:

"This old woman kneels before the Holy Master! Thank you, Holy Master, for saving my son!! I am willing to serve the Holy Master for the rest of my life!!"

Lu Yuan's heart stirred. Was this talisman water really that miraculous? Could it cure an infectious epidemic?

Or was it that this talisman water was specifically designed for this type of disease?

Having witnessed the Taiping Sect massacre an entire village, he did not hesitate to speculate about the Taiping Sect with the worst possible malice.

What if the Taiping Sect was the culprit behind this plague?

One had to know that in ancient times, the mere mention of a plague was enough to turn people pale with fear.

Compared to natural disasters and man-made catastrophes, a plague was even more terrifying.

In ancient times, with limited medical and sanitary conditions, if one contracted a plague, they were essentially left to fate—if they could endure it, they lived; if they couldn't, they died.

Lu Yuan remembered a type of infectious disease called smallpox, also known as the pox. Its main symptoms were pustules all over the body, which would gradually dry and scab over. Once the scabs fell off, they left scars, commonly known as "pockmarks."

The nobles of the Qing Dynasty were more prone to this strange disease; even the Shunzhi Emperor died of smallpox. The Qing court was in a state of panic. Coincidentally, among Shunzhi's six princes, Kangxi was the only one who had contracted smallpox at the age of two and survived, though he was left with pockmarks.

Thus, the lucky Kangxi was chosen to be the heir to the throne.

If even princes faced such slim chances of survival against infectious diseases, what hope was there for ordinary people?