Epidemic

When Jiang Shuo and Li Zicheng entered the room, Yu Yuhan was bent over a thick stack of medical texts without even raising her head. "The medicine I just used on your friend was only a disinfectant for external wounds. It poses no danger to him at all. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing with medicine."

Judging from the spots on the corpse's arm, the deceased had developed blisters after contracting the epidemic. Blindly squeezing them open had worsened the condition and hastened death. Irritating disinfectants, meanwhile, were highly effective at preventing infection and keeping people from scratching the sores open.

"As a physician, you should understand the danger of an epidemic. When exactly did you discover signs of it?" Jiang Shuo asked. An epidemic was no trivial matter; he had to be cautious.

"I found this corpse while traveling here from the Capital. That was some time ago." Jiang Shuo had returned instead of fleeing at the sight of the corpse and severed limbs like everyone else, and Yu Yuhan's attitude toward him softened somewhat.

Jiang Shuo frowned. "Then the disaster victims gathered outside our city..."

"At least, I hadn't discovered anything when I arrived. But an epidemic is fiercer than a tiger. It reaching Yulin is only a matter of time. We cannot afford even the slightest wishful thinking."

"Why didn't you report something this important to the County Magistrate?" Li Zicheng asked urgently. Famine compounded by epidemic was like snow falling on top of frost—it left the disaster victims no path to survival at all.

"I already said it: no epidemic has yet been found in Yulin. Without proof, why would he believe me?" Having apparently failed to find any useful information, the irritated Yu Yuhan shoved the books on the table aside. They clattered to the floor. She rose, casually slung the bundle at her feet over her back, and said to Jiang Shuo and Li Zicheng, "You two, carry those baskets over there. Come on, we're going outside the city."

Jiang Shuo and Li Zicheng turned and saw two hemp baskets, each half a man's height, sitting beside the door beneath thin cotton cloths. Lifting the cloths revealed baskets full of flatbreads, their aroma making mouths water. The two exchanged glances, vaguely guessing what the flatbreads were for, and their opinion of Yu Yuhan improved further. The baskets were cumbersome, but thinking of the disaster victims enduring hunger, they gritted their teeth and carried them out of the city, either on their shoulders or backs.

The group encountered the soldiers guarding the city gate again. Security outside was extremely chaotic, and few residents left the city; even those who did had to register. But when the soldiers saw Yu Yuhan, they waved her through. Apparently, she had done this sort of thing more than once, and the soldiers already knew her.

At Yu Yuhan's appearance, the Adam's Apples of the disaster victims gathered by the gate bobbed up and down, while bright glints flashed in their line of sight.

Only after reaching the foot of a slope did Yu Yuhan instruct them, "All right, put the two baskets here."

The two set the baskets down. Jiang Shuo asked curiously, "Shouldn't we call the disaster victims over?" Before the words had even faded, waves of indescribable howls rolled closer from afar. Jiang Shuo turned his head and saw a sight he would never forget—disaster victims, a dense black mass, came tumbling and crawling toward them like a pack of wolves surging forward. Many who fell were trampled alive by those behind them. The cave dwellings on the mine mountain displayed astonishing capacity, and the torrent pouring from them flooded an entire mountainside. Strange cries, whether of pain or excitement, filled the whole space.

In the blink of an eye, the disaster victims had rushed before them. Jiang Shuo and Li Zicheng silently retreated several steps in fright.

"Take them slowly, everyone, don't rush..." Yu Yuhan did her best to maintain order, but one person's voice was instantly swallowed by the deafening clamor.

Filthy, skeletal hands grabbed at the flatbreads in the baskets, their first act always to cram them into their mouths. Those too starved to stand crawled on their knees, dragging themselves forward no matter what. The sounds of wolfing down food gnawed at everyone's nerves. Some disaster victims swallowed whole pieces without much chewing, choking as they lodged in their throats and cutting off their breath. The turbulent crowd made it difficult for Yu Yuhan and the others to get close. By the time they forced their way in with immense effort, the person's eyeballs were nearly popping from their sockets, their face purple as a rotten eggplant—they had suffocated to death.

The baskets were torn to pieces, and flatbreads littered the ground. Some people grabbed clods of dirt along with the bread, yet swallowed them without a care, their mouths full of grey yellow mud. Weaker women and children who could not seize any bread wailed in desperation. Even more people came to blows over the flatbreads. They no longer cared how hard they struck; having one flatbread snatched away might mean having their very life taken. Amid the stain of blood, the cries and screams became especially piercing. Jiang Shuo watched it all, chills running down his back, his clothes already soaked through with cold sweat.

Not far away, the soldiers who had watched the entire scene with cold eyes let out bursts of mocking laughter. To men who had never experienced hunger, the disaster victims looked exactly like livestock raised at home. "Why is this little girl from the Capital so foolish? In these years of drought and famine, half of Great Ming is suffering hunger. Can you save them all by yourself?"