Chapter 121: The Blockade
January 18, 2049
Three days after Mo Tan’s final exam.
Game Time, 7:03 AM
… …
【Your mental connection has been detected. Personal information is being synchronized…】
【Connection complete. Character information is being read.】
【Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Black Vatican. Innocent World will now load. Good night.】
… …
Innocent Continent, southern Misha County, outskirts of Ina Town.
Mo Tan’s figure appeared behind a crooked tree. The location, completely different from when he logged off, surprised him slightly, but when the surrounding clamor suddenly erupted, he immediately guessed the answer.
【It seems I’ve arrived just in time for the inspection.】
Mo Tan, emerging from behind the tree, gave a wry smile and carefully navigated through the multitude of ragged refugees, slowly moving against the crowd towards Ina Town in the distance.
He knew that the thousands of gaunt faces within his sight were all lucky ones…
Lucky ones who managed to leave the blockade.
Even though they had lost their homes, even though they were emaciated, homeless, and displaced, these people were still fortunate.
At least they could successfully leave through the temporary blockade established on the south side of Ina Town; that was enough.
Leaving = Safety = Not infected with the Plague.
So, these people were lucky, because they still had hope of survival.
At least they wouldn’t die as miserably as those severely infected…
Their bodies would rot from within, any wound would inevitably worsen, skin and muscles would constantly slough off after stiffening, and large amounts of deformed, useless tissue would gradually appear on their bodies, with the only purpose of these tumors and abscesses being to make their hosts die faster.
Moreover… the spread was extremely rapid!
All this information had been given to Mo Tan by Yu Cheng, who had arrived in the infected area two days prior. Yu Cheng had now set up in Hofur City, located in the central Misha County, which was once one of the most severely affected areas by the Plague. However, after Holy Maiden Xia Lian used a certain large-scale High-Rank divine spell, it had temporarily become safe, and in the past two days, it had accommodated a total of over five thousand refugees and infected individuals.
【A check-up once in the morning and once in the evening… No wonder there wasn't a single person nearby when I arrived here yesterday…】
Mo Tan, who could already see the blockade south of the town in the distance, thought to himself. Along the way, he had seen many refugees fleeing to the southeastern continent and had heard some news, such as the large-scale blockade established by the Holy Church United and some neutral forces on the edge of the infected area in the past two days.
As for its purpose, it was self-evident…
To blockade the Plague, to blockade the infected.
Each node had several clergy members from the Holy Church United and a small number of combat professionals, whose duty was to prevent infected individuals from leaving the infected area.
Because the Holy Church United, Mage Guild, Adventurers' Guild, Mercenary Association, Thieves' Guild, and other neutral organizations, as well as various large and small forces nearby, had dispatched a large number of personnel, a blockade encompassing the entire Misha County had begun to operate in a short period.
Twenty-four-hour blockade, two one-hour inspections daily, prohibiting any infected person from leaving.
This was the entire job of the blockade node.
Precisely because of this, Mo Tan, who arrived outside Ina Town yesterday afternoon in game time, did not see any refugees. After all, those who successfully left would certainly not stay in this vicinity, and many more simply could not leave the blockade.
“The people working there…” Mo Tan gazed at the checkpoint in the distance, shaking his head with a wry smile: “They’ll probably have nightmares for the rest of their lives.”
He sighed with a sense of melancholy and quickened his pace forward.
… …
A golden light flashed and disappeared. The pale-faced old priest painfully closed his eyes, shook his head at an elf girl in front of him, and whispered, “I’m very sorry, little girl…”
“How could this be?!” The girl with long emerald hair collapsed to her knees, her eyes brimming with tears, and she murmured as if her soul had left her body, “Impossible, I… I’m infected…?”
The Dwarf Thief, dressed in a brown leather armor, looked at the girl with a complex expression and said to the old priest beside him, “Old Man Owen, why don’t you check again? This girl is probably not even a hundred years old; among the tree elves, she’s at most a child.”
“Dice!” The Orc Shaman, squatting on a wooden crate behind, glared at the Dwarf Thief and said in a deep voice, “Don’t make Lord Owen waste any more magic! When has his judgment ever been wrong?”
Dice, the Dwarf, glared back fiercely and shrieked, “Bastard! This girl shows no signs of infection; her complexion is more normal than yours! What’s wrong with checking again? She still has several hundred years to live! Proportionally, she’s not much older than your daughter!”
“You…” The Orc Shaman suddenly stood up, holding the huge totem pole in his hand, and walked in front of the Dwarf, angrily saying, “Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. If our only priest exhausts his magic prematurely, other healthy people might have to wait for the next batch. If anyone gets infected during that process, will you take responsibility?”
Dice opened his mouth but ultimately fell silent with a grim expression.
Then…
Golden light once again bloomed from the cross in the priest Owen’s hand, enveloping the despondent elf girl.
“Lord Owen!” The Orc Shaman sighed with a wry smile at the old man who had cast a divine spell again, “Didn’t you hear what I just said…?”
“But Dice is also right.” The old priest straightened his somewhat hunched body with effort, gripped the somewhat faded cross in his hand tightly, and turned to smile, “Of course, you are also right, so I will persevere until the inspection time ends. If my magic isn’t enough, I still have faith…”
The Orc also fell silent.
“If magic isn’t enough, I still have faith…” The meaning contained in this sentence was simple: after exhausting all magic, one would rely on sheer will, overdraft, and risk their life.
【I hope a miracle happens.】
The Orc’s eyes were fixed on the elf girl in front of him, and he clenched his fists tightly. If he could, he would have wished for this child, who was about the same age as his daughter, to safely leave this dangerous place.
If only…
He widened his eyes.
Unfortunately, no miracle occurred.
Under the pale golden divine light, a black shadow appeared on the girl’s left shoulder…
“I’m truly sorry.” Owen averted his gaze and whispered, “I not only used Dawn Eye just now, but also tried to use a healing divine spell for you… but…”
The elf girl looked up blankly at the old man in front of her, trembling as she asked, “But… what?”
“Let me see your shoulder.” The Orc Shaman stepped forward and said to her in a deep voice, “Perhaps you were attacked by some dark magic before.”
At this point, he didn’t want to give up so easily, which was why he said such a thing.
But in truth, the few people present all understood that if an ordinary civilian elf girl had truly been attacked by some evil magic, she would probably have died long ago, so…
“No!” The girl suddenly shrieked, then lifted her leg and ran towards the outside of the blockade. The agility unique to elves made her move swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, she had already run a dozen meters.
“earth spirits, please…” The Orc Shaman sighed and raised the totem in his hand.
Then…
A dagger suddenly plunged into his totem pole.
The Dwarf Thief named Dice instantly interrupted the spell, then shot out like a blur.
With only this less than one second of delay, the elf girl had already escaped the casting range of a Mid-Tier Shaman.
“Dice!” The Orc roared, throwing the totem in his hand to the ground and about to chase after her, but he was pulled back by the priest beside him.
Owen gently shook his head and whispered, “It’s alright, Dice… he’s actually much calmer than you. Let’s continue our work.”
“But!”
“Wait for him to come back. You still need to help maintain order.”
… …
The people in front of Mo Tan became fewer and fewer, and the refugees behind him ran even faster. He silently calculated that in about half an hour, this area would become empty again, but before that, he should be able to…
Hmm?
Just then, a small, slender elf girl suddenly appeared not far away.
“Help!” The girl immediately cried out when she saw Mo Tan, “Save me… I, I’m not infected!”
Mo Tan stopped, but did nothing.
A short, dark shadow suddenly appeared beside the girl, and a chilling gleam flashed past…
The sleeve of the elf girl’s right arm turned into countless fragments.
“It seems you are indeed infected, little girl.” The Dwarf Thief gave a wry smile as he returned his dagger to its sheath, looking at the girl’s exposed shoulder, and whispered, “Come back with me.”
Mo Tan noticed that on the girl’s fair and smooth shoulder, there was a small, not very large, lump.
A grayish-white… small lump, faintly revealing dark red within…
“I don’t want to!” The elf girl began to sob softly, “I’m not going back… Waaah… I don’t want to die… Please… Please…”
Dice shook his head: “You must go back.”
“No!” The girl shrieked as if collapsing, then rushed to Mo Tan, gripping his shoulder tightly: “Save me! Save me!”
Mo Tan sighed and patted her small, trembling hand, which was shaking with fear: “If you’re willing, I can take you to Hofur City. There should be someone there who can cure you…”
“No, I’m not going, I want to leave this place!” The girl forcefully shook off Mo Tan and said tremblingly, “I want to live, I don’t want to die!”
Then she started running, running at the fastest speed she had ever run in her life.
Then…
Pfft!
“Why?” The girl, standing stunned, widened her eyes, muttering softly as she staggered forward.
A sharp dagger was plunged into her back.
“I’m sorry.” The dagger’s owner whispered, “Sleep… When you wake up, everything will be alright…”
Thump…
“Mmm~” The girl, who had fallen to the ground, showed a faint smile and, in a daze, whispered to the Dwarf kneeling before her, “Sorry, I… caused trouble for everyone…”
Then she closed her eyes and slowly stopped breathing.
“You’re a priest, aren’t you?” Dice, with his back to Mo Tan, gently pulled the dagger from the girl’s back, returned the blood-stained weapon to its sheath, and spoke hoarsely, “Can you pray for her?”
Mo Tan, who had been silent until now, nodded, walked to the girl’s corpse, knelt down, and gripped the cross in his hand.
“What should I pray for?” He asked the Thief beside him, who had his head bowed low.
“Aren’t you a priest?” The latter mumbled, trembling slightly, “Why ask me?”
“Then, can I pray for her to be happy when she wakes up?”
“Too cliché…”
“Is that so?”
“Never mind, let’s just do that.”
“Okay.”
Mo Tan held the cross in his hand, not using any skill, but simply repeating a sentence softly in his heart.
After a long while, a ethereal voice sounded in his ear.
【Understood, I’ll watch over her.】
… …
Five minutes later
“Done?” Dice asked softly when he saw Mo Tan stand up, “That fast?”
“The goddess has promised me she will take care of her.” Mo Tan smiled at the Dwarf in front of him, whose eyes were red, “So, it’s fine now.”
The other man pulled out a dirty handkerchief, blew his nose, and pouted, “Alright, keep your distance.”
Mo Tan nodded and stepped back two paces.
Then he saw the Dwarf Thief pull out a small bottle, carefully sprinkle the liquid inside onto the girl’s body, and then sprinkle some onto the dagger from before…
“Holy water?” Mo Tan asked in a low voice, “Is that enough for disposal?”
Dice shook his head, placed the dagger, sheath and all, beside the girl, and whispered, “Holy water is useless. The bodies of those infected with the Plague must be cremated.”
With that, he took out a small black stick from his waist pocket, rubbed it on the ground a couple of times, and then gently placed it beside the girl.
Flames shot skyward…
Two minutes later
“My name is Brut Dice Shadow, you can call me Dice.” The Dwarf said softly to Mo Tan, who was walking beside him, “Are you entering the infected area?”
“Black Vatican, a priest of the Dawn Sect.” Mo Tan introduced himself, then nodded, “Yes, Holy Maiden hopes I can come here to help.”
There was nothing wrong with his statement; after all, Yu Cheng was indeed the Holy Maiden of the Dawn Sect and had indeed welcomed his arrival.
Dice shrugged: “Alright, I hope you can save a few more people without dying…”
Mo Tan nodded silently.
“Are you a human?”
“Yes.”
“That girl just now, if converted to your human age, would probably be in her teens.”
“Is that so…?”
“You stood by and did nothing to save her just now.”
“One could say that…”
“And I personally ended her life.”
“Yes…”
“Am I a heartless bastard, a good-for-nothing who can’t do anything?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Because you had no choice.”
Dice froze for a moment, then let out a somewhat bitter, dry laugh…
“Yes, I had no choice.”
Chapter 118: The End