Biological Crisis in the Capital

What kind of fresh new way was this to solicit customers?

Lin Shou scratched his head. It was his first time visiting a brothel, and this fellow had already taken a liking to him.

With dusk falling, Lin Shou decided to take care of business first.

Following the route from the Lantern of Life inside that Heavenly Punishment corpse, he wove through the maze of the Eight Great Alleys and found a large courtyard with a sign reading Red Person Hall.

Lin Shou pushed open the door. Inside the modest space stood a small stage, where several dan performers in colorful costumes sang and danced. They wore pretty makeup and looked quite the part.

Below sat several gentlemen, all wealthy patrons who supported the troupe.

No gentleman could afford to keep artists.

Although these gentlemen were more interested in beauty than art and could hardly be called gentlemen, the truth was that most performers in those days relied on wealthy patrons to keep food on the table.

Lin Shou found a seat. Before long, the brothel procurer came over. A medicated plaster clung beside his temple, and he sidled up to Lin Shou with a leering look that made him seem downright sleazy.

"Sir, take a look at the girls in our Red Person Hall troupe. If you fancy one, I'll call her over. You can have some tea together and chat."

Lin Shou glanced at him, then swept his gaze over the several pretty, fine-featured girls onstage. They were all attractive, but none was prettier than Yao Hesheng, whom he'd just seen.

"I heard there's a girl here at Red Person Hall named Xu Linfang. Is she pretty?"

Lin Shou asked. Xu Linfang was the one the Heavenly Punishment corpse had kept as a lover while he was alive.

"Xu Lin... Oh, what a pity! Xu Linfang quit and went back to her hometown. Why don't you take a look at the others? See if anyone catches your eye. Sir, let me tell you, our girls are the very best in the Eight Great Alleys..."

The procurer faltered noticeably at the name Xu Linfang, and his expression turned strange. Though he managed to cover it up, Lin Shou knew he'd come to the right place.

Heavenly Punishment was contagious. If that rogue had caught it from Xu Linfang, he should have developed symptoms by now, too.

Using Subtle Perception, Lin Shou carefully examined the several girls onstage, then pointed at one.

The procurer called the girl down, then cheerfully opened his mouth to pitch her to Lin Shou. Lin Shou pressed a silver ingot to his face and sent him away, so he wouldn't interfere with their private conversation.

The procurer was too sharp. Lin Shou wouldn't get anything out of him, so he'd have a chat with the young girl instead.

The girl came and sat beside Lin Shou. She looked like the youngest in the troupe. Lin Shou had deliberately chosen a child; children were easier to get talking.

"Sir, you're too kind. I..."

The girl had just begun reciting the lines she'd learned for greeting customers when Lin Shou raised a hand to stop her and asked:

"Where are you from?"

The girl froze, not expecting Lin Shou to ask that. Usually, when a gentleman came in and they met for the first time, he'd ask her name and what she could do. Who started by asking where she came from?

"Back to you, sir: my family's from the Min Region."

"Your family's in the Min Region. How did you end up in the Capital City performing?"

"My parents died when I was little, so I went to the streets to beg. A gentleman saw me and said he'd take me to the Capital City and find me a job, so I could have food to eat. That's how I ended up here."

Lin Shou nodded as he listened. The poor child had come looking for a way to survive because she had nothing to eat. In truth, there wasn't much difference between children like her and corpse stitchers: both had come because they couldn't afford food. One sold her body; the other sold his life.

"Do you want to do this?"

The girl was too young to hide what she felt. She glanced down at the costume she wore as a dan performer and gave a bitter smile.

"Whether I want to or not, things have already come to this. There's no changing it now. At least, thanks to your kindness, I can still put food on the table."

When she grew up, she'd be left with a body riddled with illness and a short life. Such a little child had been ruined like this, all so someone could make money from her.

"Give me your hand."

The girl obediently held out her hand, thinking the gentleman meant to touch her. He was still better than some, who came right over and put their arms around her. That had made her uncomfortable more than once.

But Lin Shou merely rested his fingers on her wrist, as if taking her pulse.

"Are you a doctor?"

Lin Shou shook his head without answering. After feeling her pulse, he studied her complexion. Her cheeks were rosy like peach blossoms, her skin soft and enticing—she was almost impossibly pretty.

Lin Shou confirmed the symptoms. No mistake: it was Heavenly Punishment.

His eyes swept over the performers onstage. Every person in Red Person Hall had Heavenly Punishment. This place was a massive source of infection.

If Lin Shou hadn't been protected by his Body Immune to Six Diseases, he wouldn't have dared come here.

"I'm going out to use the latrine."

Lin Shou put some copper coins in the girl's hand, though he wasn't sure she'd have any use for them.

With that, Lin Shou rose and left.

Once outside Red Person Hall, he vaulted onto the wall and slipped over the rooftops into the back courtyard under cover of night. It was where the residents slept. Since everyone was busy serving customers in the front, Lin Shou checked the rooms one by one. In the end, he really did find something in one of them.

A young girl with all her fingers missing, half her body crippled, and her face covered in lumps and sores lay sleeping in the room. Wasn't this Xu Linfang?

As expected, she'd caught Heavenly Punishment, too. The disease had disfigured her like this, so she no longer showed her face.

Lin Shou was sure. He vaulted out of Red Person Hall and found a little beggar nearby. After giving him some money, he told him to take a message to the Imperial Medical Academy: there was an outbreak at Red Person Hall in the Eight Great Alleys...

The little beggar went to deliver the message, and Lin Shou waited in a dark corner nearby. About the time it took to burn a stick of incense passed.

A great crowd of government officials arrived at the entrance to the Eight Great Alleys, frightening everyone. They thought a crackdown on prostitution was underway.

One group stood out the most. Their clothes were all in one piece, like giant sacks that covered them from head to toe. They were tightly wrapped up; each held a medicine chest in one hand and something like a colander in the other. A hose connected the two, and when they pressed the medicine chest, the colander sprayed water.

These were people from the Imperial Medical Academy.

Lin Shou was impressed. They had not only protective suits but also equipment to spray disinfectant. The Imperial Medical Academy had some real expertise.

The crowd marched into the Eight Great Alleys and found Red Person Hall. One of the clerks went up and kicked the door open. The Imperial Medical Academy's people charged in, spraying disinfectant as they went.

Everyone inside Red Person Hall was terrified. What was going on? They'd been watching a fine performance when a bunch of oddly dressed people barged in and started spraying water. Were they celebrating the Water-Splashing Festival? What was this about?

The gentlemen who supported a troupe weren't ordinary folk. They were wealthy officials and merchants. What did it mean to come barging in and splash water in their faces? The place instantly descended into chaos. Someone slapped the table and shouted at the procurer, demanding to know what was happening.

The procurer could only step forward and ask who these people were and why they were interfering with his business.

But as soon as he came forward to ask, the clerks retreated a long way, their faces full of fear. One of the Imperial Medical Academy's people, dressed in a sack-like protective suit, came over, looked at him, and shouted:

"Leprosy! It's definitely leprosy! Everyone in Red Person Hall must be sent to the Six Afflictions Pavilion!"

The Six Afflictions Pavilion was an isolation ward where the sick were confined during epidemics.

Leprosy, known to ordinary people as Heavenly Punishment, had a name in Lin Shou's previous life: Hansen's disease.