The night was dark.
Only the faint moonlight beneath the sky remained.
Half a li outside the village, wooden barricades and fences formed a line of defense. Two soldiers stood guard every five paces. There were three such lines in all, keeping people from entering or leaving the epidemic zone.
Every night, the soldiers had to force themselves to stay alert.
Under the shadow of death, the epidemic zone was filled with despair and silence. The commoners and slaves could not bear the pressure, let alone the soldiers and physicians sent there.
Many people tried to escape under cover of darkness to save their lives. They might have a slim chance if they got away, but if they stayed, they would sooner or later contract the disease! Once infected, they would become so ill within days that they lost consciousness, then their limbs would convulse and their skin turn bluish-purple.
Some patients went from being huge and fat to nothing but skin and bones in a mere seven or eight days. Their bodies turned black and blue, covered in purple bruises, as if some evil ghost had sucked the life and blood from them. Their faces twisted in death, their eyeballs nearly bulging out of their sockets.
Other patients began vomiting blood as soon as they fell ill. Their cheeks grew gaunt and hollow, while their bodies rapidly swelled as if filled with air, stretching their skin almost transparent. The slightest force made that taut skin Broke Through on the spot, sending flesh and blood flying up to the rafters.
One physician had been standing nearby and was caught directly in the blast.
The foul-smelling organs splattered all over his face.
The next day, that physician began showing symptoms of the disease too. He died not long afterward, and his