Ch. 257: The Plague Evolves

Why? Why is Toby here?!

Inside the smoke, Toby stood with his eyes shut, his thin shoulders hunched slightly, not moving at all.

The day after he took leave, he came back smelling of smoke... Don't tell me the church thing he was told to keep secret is just... standing in smoke like this?

Mo Fei's gaze dropped to the ochre-red armband on Toby's arm. The mark on it was identical to the ones on the tabards of the people by the fire.

So the church Toby mentioned is the Enflame Church? I thought it was the Sanctus church...

The smoke surged up again and wrapped around Toby. His shoulders twitched twice as if he were choking, and his feet wavered.

Hey, hey. Last time, a little Aqua Fortis smoke had the kid crying his eyes out, and now he's standing in the middle of it. Does he actually want to become smoked meat? Smoke from smothered damp grass can kill you if you breathe too much. No good, I have to pull him out.

Mo Fei glanced toward the entrance of the lot. Two people in ochre-red tabards stood guard there, and more were lined up outside waiting to go in.

"Stand firm!" The one in the long tabard by the fire called out. "The fire is carrying your impurity away! Endure it, and you will be clean!"

At the shout, Toby went rigid and snapped to attention, even his hunched back straightening.

He never stands that straight when I call him at the workshop... At this rate, even if I went in, he wouldn't leave with me.

After a good while, the person in the long tabard called, "Next," and only then did Toby step out of the smoke. He went over to a pale-faced woman at the corner of the lot and said something to her.

Right, he did say he'd attend with his family. Is that his family? ...Never mind. I'll ask him properly at the workshop tomorrow.

Mo Fei watched a little longer, then backed away from the gap in the boards and headed for the treatment station.

---

Even before he reached the treatment station, he could hear coughing rising on every side.

It was more crowded inside than last time. The beds had long since run out, and straw mats had been laid along both sides of the passage, every one of them occupied.

Mo Fei turned sideways to let a treatment worker carrying a basin of water pass. On the mat at his feet, a man suddenly arched his back, coughing so hard his whole body shook. When he took his hand away from his mouth, the palm was red.

When Mo Fei found Guy, he was wearing a mask and crouching beside a mat, lifting a patient's eyelid to look.

Guy didn't look up. "Stand over there. Don't block the way."

That said, he pulled out the beak mask, put it on over his mask, and pecked at the patient's chest. The patient twitched once, and his panting slowly eased. Guy took off the beak mask and moved on to the next mat.

"Why are they coughing like this?" Mo Fei asked. "I don't remember seeing anyone cough blood before."

"The disease isn't what it used to be. Besides the fever and swelling, there's a dry cough now, and more people cough up blood every day. It comes on fast, too. Several of them walked in on their own, and before long they were lying there unable to get up."

Guy jerked his chin toward the corner. "See that row? All people who were looking after patients at home. They weren't wearing masks. They kept nursing them until they went down themselves. I asked them. They've never even seen a trace of a rat-hound monster."

Mo Fei remembered the rumor Toby had mentioned before: people who looked after patients were falling one after another, and those wearing masks were fine.

"Then that means..."

"It spreads from person to person now."

...This disease can evolve? Then no matter how many rat-hound monsters the Brotherhood clears out, it'll spread anyway.

Guy raised his head and looked at Mo Fei's face. His brow furrowed at once, and he pulled a mask out of his coat and slapped it against Mo Fei's chest.
"Put it on. I've got no spare mat for you."

Mo Fei caught the mask and thought of the man who had been coughing blood just now, right at his feet.

Wait... I'm the one who came up with masks, and I'm not wearing one? Don't tell me I've caught it?

He hurriedly tied the mask on, and his gaze fell on the infection-control device in the treatment station.

Even with it right here, they're coughing like this... Don't tell me it's useless against the new one?

"What about the vaccine? Didn't you say last time that a few of the volunteers had milder reactions?"

"Those few caught it too. This exact strain." Guy paused. "What we made the old way doesn't work on the new one."

"What if we make one based on this disease?"

"The old one was tested with the black smoke from rat-hound monsters. With this one, we don't even know whether they're still the source." Guy snorted. "And even if they are, I asked the Brotherhood. They can catch rat-hound monsters, but nobody can say whether what they catch is the new kind or the old."

Someone called Guy from the far side. Guy answered, then turned back before leaving.

"The beak mask you said you'd try again. Any luck? One isn't nearly enough here."

Mo Fei opened his mouth.

That beak mask cost 42 EP, and what I have now isn't even half that. Even if I scrape it together, Chaos Transmutation might not offer the same option again...

On the mat beside them, someone began to cough again.

"I... I haven't made much progress on my end either. I'll go back and try again."

Guy nodded and turned toward the other side.

Mo Fei walked toward the door, the sound of coughing following him all the way.

What a headache... Does it really come down to Chaos Transmutation? Looks like I need to find a way to earn more EP.

---

It was already past noon when he got back to the workshop.

"M-Mr. Mo Fei!" Mira stood up the moment she saw him, holding the drum in both hands. "It's engraved!"

The drum's surface was covered in fine inscriptions, with no gap left even at the seam.

"Good work. Leave the rest to me."

Mo Fei took the drum, fitted it into the mechanism, and adjusted the rotation speed and paper feed several times until one turn of the drum matched the distance the paper traveled.

He fed in a sheet of photosensitive paper.

The drum began to turn, the paper moved forward with it, and after the developing reagent was sprayed on, the paper came out the other end.

The outline of a pattern slowly surfaced.

"I-It worked!" Mira stared at the sheet and burst into a smile.

Mo Fei let out a long breath too. At least one thing finally went smoothly.

He picked up the sheet and looked it over twice. "The printing part is more or less done. Next we need to print the scanned data, and I have to line that up with the Young Lady's side first."

Mo Fei lit up the speaking rune.

"Young Lady, the printing part of the slip printer is done. Next we need to connect the product data. I'd like to come over and discuss how to build the database. I'll bring the barcode rules for you as well."

"It won't take up half the counter again, will it?"

"Don't worry. The new version is much smaller. It only takes up one corner of the counter."

"That's more like it. Then come tomorrow, and bring the machine. This young lady wants to see it with her own eyes."

"Understood."

After Mira clocked out, Mo Fei stayed at the workbench rushing to finish the barcode rules and product data format he would bring tomorrow, drafting and redrafting.

When he looked up again, it was already dark outside.

Footsteps sounded on the basement stairs. Victor came up with a coat draped over his shoulders and stopped beside the workbench.

"Come with me."

"Now? Where to?"

"The Black Market. There's a chimera."