Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 515 - 466: Covering Ears

Chapter 515: Chapter 466: Covering Ears
There’s a fitting analogy for the plague: when you wake up in the morning and see a few snowflakes falling outside your window, the world beyond has often already accumulated a blanket of snow.
For the people of Taiyuan Prefecture, their lives had completely changed within just a few days.
You could no longer see enthusiastic street vendors, porters carrying loads, or newsboys holding newspapers.
Many shops on both sides of the street had closed. Only those selling daily necessities like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, and the pharmacies, remained open, with long lines forming outside.
Everyone in line wore masks and kept about an arm’s length from each other. No one dared to cut in line.
The reason was simple: Government Officials and soldiers from the garrison stood at the shop entrances, maintaining law and order and watching the crowd with stern eyes.
"Make way, make way!"
Shouts came from across the street. Two medical personnel, wearing white uniforms and sick house armbands, lifted a stretcher from the residential area. They hurried toward an open-canopy flatbed vehicle.
On the stretcher lay a young man, gasping for air. His arms and legs were covered in lumps and black spots, his eyes were blood-red, and his lips were tinged with pink foam.
"GURGLE—"
The man, delirious, weakly lifted an arm, reaching out to the crowd across the street for help. But the next second, he started coughing violently. He spewed a large amount of bloody foam from his mouth, and his body curled up.
It wasn’t long before his eyelids fluttered and closed completely.
The medical personnel paused. After checking the man’s neck through thick gloves and confirming no response, they decisively pulled out a large, waterproof oil paper bag from the open-canopy vehicle.
They threaded a hemp rope through the dead man’s neck and underneath his thighs, managing to place him and the rope into the waterproof oil paper bag without making direct contact, and then tied the bag shut.
Their movements were as practiced as a butcher packing meat for a customer.
"Eldest Son!"
An elderly couple ran out from the residential area, their voices filled with immense grief, stumbling toward the waterproof oil paper bag on the ground. "Eldest Son, how will we live without you? Take us with you! Eldest Son!"
Before they could touch the bag, a Government Official stopped them using a Water and Fire Stick.
The nearby medical personnel and Government Official gently persuaded the elderly couple to leave. They finally convinced them to board another flatbed cart, which headed towards a quarantined sick house outside the city.
Once the vehicle had driven away, a Government Official approached and announced loudly, "Did you all see? The deceased just now blatantly ignored epidemic prevention regulations four days ago, secretly drinking and socializing with several friends.
"And even two days later, when he learned that one of them had been diagnosed with the plague, he still chose to hide it.
"The end result was that not only did he sicken and die, but his parents, brothers, and sisters living in the same house all became close contacts. Now they are all at risk of contracting the plague!
"You can deceive the Government Office, the Government Officials, and the other officials temporarily, but you cannot deceive the plague!
"ing any issues promptly is not only being responsible for yourself but also for your family and neighbors!"
The hoarse announcement, repeated countless times, echoed down the street.
"COUGH—"
Amid the queue, someone couldn’t help but cover their mouth and cough quietly.
The people queued on either side of him immediately showed signs of alarm and quickly moved away, clearing a circle around him.
"I’m not, I didn’t!"
The coughing person hurriedly explained, but the Government Officials still pulled him out of the line. They dragged him to the flatbed vehicle and removed his mask to check it for any trace of bloody foam.
Similar situations were occurring in various districts of Taiyuan Prefecture.
Meanwhile, in the makeshift laboratory constructed at the Governor Mansion, He Fanshuang, who had rushed to Taiyuan, saw Li Ang, whose eyes were bloodshot.
"These are soil samples previously collected from various places by the Academic Palace East Lord Tower. I’ve brought them all for you," He Fanshuang said.
Frowning as she carefully examined Li Ang’s bloodshot eyes, He Fanshuang asked, "How long have you been without sleep?"
"Not too bad. I slept just at dawn. Now, I can get three hours of sleep each day."
Li Ang yawned. He didn’t explain that he was actually relying on Mo Si to endure.
The process of refining streptomycin was still not going smoothly. Li Ang had to use the Nearby Worm to request that the Academic Palace send soil samples. These samples were collected from special locations, such as the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains and Endless Sea Island, in an attempt to find usable Streptomycetes.
Beside him, Qiu Feng, wearing a white lab coat and safety goggles, bluntly interjected as he took the heavy iron box from He Fanshuang, "Three hours, he says? It’s restless sleep, drifting in and out of consciousness! In reality, he’s likely not even getting two full hours of rest a day. Fanshuang, you persuade him. If he keeps this up, he’ll work himself to death even if he doesn’t fall ill!"
"I can’t persuade him," He Fanshuang shook her head. "Next time you use the Nearby Worm to communicate, just let Cui Qiao answer; she’s still in Chang’an. He will at least listen to her."
"How is the situation in the city?" He Fanshuang asked.
Li Ang was silent for a moment. "...To be honest, it’s terrible," he said. "The plague is spreading too quickly and too fiercely. Whether it’s bubonic, pneumonic, or septicemic plague, once patients show symptoms, they die very quickly.
"I’ve had the city’s newspapers publish daily updates on the plague. These educate the public on its dangers, routes of transmission, and prevention measures. Coupled with the daily sight of corpses being carried out from residential areas and suspected patients being taken away, the people of Taiyuan have finally realized the terror of the plague. This is unlike the beginning, when they thought it was just a common, localized disease akin to seasonal malaria.
"However, understanding the dangers of the disease is one thing; wishful thinking is another."
Li Ang grimaced at He Fanshuang and continued, "I have divided isolation wards into several categories: severe patients, mild patients, suspected patients, preventative quarantine cases, and non-plague patients.
"Each type of ward has different levels of medical resources.
"If everything goes according to my plan, we can cut off the human-to-human transmission chain in time.
"But to the common people, all they know is that if someone is taken away for isolation, there’s a high chance they won’t return. For them, parting in life is tantamount to a farewell in death.
"To prevent themselves or their family members from being taken away for isolation, they’ve devised various methods to resist the Government Office.
"For instance, children act as lookouts at street corners. Whenever Government Officials conducting house-to-house visits appear, the children whistle to alert the neighbors. This enables people to hide their coughing family members in wardrobes, water tanks, or under beds.
"They band together by neighborhood to deceive the Government Officials, preventing them from taking the sick and thus avoiding being taken for isolation themselves."
"..."
He Fanshuang commented, "It’s like burying their heads in the sand."
"It’s human nature," Li Ang shook his head and added. "If someone in the family dies, some people will hide or even abandon the body.
"For example, they might throw the corpse onto the street, onto rooftops, or into water ditches, or hide it in haystacks. They’re convinced that by doing so, they themselves won’t have to go to the isolation sick house.
"Worse, they might smash the deceased’s face with rocks. This makes it difficult for Government Officials to identify the plague victims, thereby preventing them from tracking the deceased’s family."