That night was like a nightmare for the people of the Yong Capital. Rats that normally scurried away at the sight of humans suddenly ran rampant through the city, biting many of its residents. Bats also attacked passersby and livestock in a frenzy. Only at daybreak did the turmoil finally begin to subside, but the trouble did not end when the rats and bats stopped attacking.
Disease began to spread through the Yong Capital. In the space of a single morning, every major clinic in the city was overflowing with patients.
After parting with Ji Feihua, Hu Xiaotian returned to the Yong Capital. The streets were deserted, and the few passersby he saw hurried along with cotton cloths covering their mouths and noses.
When he returned to Pingyan Lane, Qin Yutong and Xia Changming were both in the courtyard where Jian Rongxin was temporarily hiding. Only after seeing that everyone was unharmed did he relax. Before he could tell them what he had witnessed the night before, he first brought up the chaos in the city. "I heard something serious happened in the Yong Capital last night," he said quietly.
Xia Changming nodded. "It certainly did. A lot of people were bitten by rats and bats last night. They say more than a hundred have already died."
"On my way here, I heard that every clinic in the Yong Capital, large or small, was packed with patients," Qin Yutong said. "Even outside the sealed Divine Farmer Society, there were plenty of people waiting to seek treatment." She had put her mask back on, deliberately concealing her peerless beauty.
"New Year is almost here," Jian Rongxin said. "How could something like this happen? It's always the common people who suffer."
"When a nation is about to fall, demons and monsters spring