Chapter 187: Analysis
The relaxed atmosphere did not last long. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone began to seriously discuss the most urgent matter at hand—the Mutants.
“It happened very suddenly,” the City Lord of Sola said, looking up at the clock on the wall, his face bitter. “It was about sixteen hours ago, I was sitting here contemplating the issue of grain when I was dragged to the city wall by Bain, who had burst through the door. He is the captain of the Mida City guard, one of the people I trust most.”
Xia Lian nodded. “And then? What did you see on the city wall?”
Sola’s face was pale. He looked out the window, somewhat lost in thought, and replied in a low voice, “Hell…”
This middle-aged elf, who hadn’t had a good rest in over thirty hours, seemed to have only just now found the time to be afraid. His body trembled slightly, as if he had returned to the moment he first appeared on the city wall last night. The screams and wails, one after another, still echoed in his ears, and the overwhelming smell of blood in the cold wind almost suffocated him. The intense atmosphere of the previous dozen hours had not given this City Lord any time to feel fear or despair, but now that the crisis was over, the negative emotions that had been confined in Sola’s heart finally erupted.
“It’s alright, Sir City Lord. Look at me.” Xia Lian immediately walked in front of Sola, using the cross in her hand to force his chin up, and said, word by word, “Calm down.”
Sola calmed down before those eyes filled with a hazy glow. He smiled gratefully at Xia Lian, then stepped back two paces and sat down in his chair, apologizing, “I’m sorry, I lost my composure.”
“It’s nothing, nothing, I think you…”
Xia Lian chuckled, about to make a couple more thoughtless jokes, but was interrupted by Mo Tan, who had walked forward.
“Lord Saul.” Mo Tan bowed slightly to the middle-aged elf, whose face was still somewhat pale, and said softly, “If possible, we hope you can tell us everything that happened as soon as possible. Perhaps… time is running out.”
Tairo, the Knight standing beside Yu Cheng, frowned slightly, clearly displeased with Mo Tan’s interruption of the Holy Maiden, but the former gently pulled him and shook his head firmly.
Xia Lian also just gave Mo Tan a surprised look, then looked at Saul with him.
Saul, who had regained his composure, nodded and said in a deep voice, “Last night, as soon as I got to the city wall, I heard large areas of screams, and also a very strong smell of blood, so I immediately had the two accompanying priests cast a lighting spell…”
With the light of the divine spell, a hellish scene appeared before Saul’s eyes. The makeshift, simple but sturdy barracks had become a ruin, with incomplete corpses everywhere. The original five thousand infected civilians had instantly dwindled to just over four thousand, and that number was still rapidly decreasing.
Dozens of frenzied figures rampaged through the crowd, roaring loudly, tearing at any living thing that appeared in their sight. Their shriveled skin was covered in blood, and their physical capabilities were far superior to other civilians, like efficient reapers, slaughtering frantically.
“Those monsters were all living people not long ago.” Saul shook his head, smiling bitterly as he spread his hands to everyone. “No one knows why they went mad, and became so powerful.”
Xia Lian nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.
Saul stroked the decorative longbow in his hand and sighed, “Isolating those infected people outside the city was just a temporary measure. In that situation, no one with a conscience would stand by and watch thousands of people be slaughtered. I had Bain take the guards out of the city to support those poor people, and then I found those enthusiastic adventurers and entrusted them with helping to deal with the crisis…”
“So the adventurers and the guard team resisted those monsters for more than a dozen hours?” Furman couldn’t help but exclaim, “God, how brave is that…”
“Not just that, High Priest.” Saul’s pale face finally looked better. He smiled proudly, “The soldiers and adventurers were the first to leave the city. Afterward, the Mercenary Guild, the Mage Guild, the Thieves' Guild, and the Knight Association in the city almost all turned out, and even many strong young civilians voluntarily went out to support. They are all excellent.”
Tairo suddenly asked with some confusion, “I remember most of the combat power in the county had already been organized and sent to various blockade lines a while ago. Why…”
“You are right, Sir Knight.” Saul nodded to Tairo and then explained with a smile, “Most Mid-Tier professionals have already left. Those remaining in the city are mainly low-tier or apprentice professionals, and many new faces who had never been to the various guilds before. Their strength is generally not very strong.”
Tairo immediately looked at them with respect, “Goddess bless.”
Mo Tan, after pondering for a moment, asked Saul, “How strong are those monsters? Are there varying levels of strength?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about that.” Saul shook his head, somewhat clumsily taking off the quiver hanging from his waist. “As the Holy Maiden said, I know nothing about combat, but you can ask Bain later, he should know more.”
After a brief pause, Saul continued to describe the situation to everyone…
After several reinforcements successively left the city, the situation temporarily improved. The civilians infected with the Plague were slowly gathered together. Although hundreds of people were still killed in the process, most of them finally retreated behind the temporary simple defense line that had been established.
“Those monsters tirelessly attacked the defense line. In the initial period, many people sacrificed themselves because we didn’t understand their weaknesses.” Saul clenched his fists tightly and said in a deep voice, “They seemed to have no obvious vital points; they would never completely lose their combat ability except by decapitation. But at that time, we were still full of confidence, after all, their number was less than a hundred. But…”
…
Ten minutes later, Xia Lian, Tairo, High Priest Furman, and the two players left the City Hall with solemn expressions. City Lord Sola, who hadn’t closed his eyes for nearly two days, had been helped away to rest. Exhausted but still wanting to continue working, he had been hit with a sleep spell (physical) by Furman, and was probably not going to wake up before dinner.
“What are your plans next?” Xia Lian sat on the steps in front of the City Hall, carefully placing the cross in her hand on the ground, and asked the distressed Furman, “It seems the previous idea won’t work anymore.”
“I’ll go back to the church first, perhaps I can hear the oracle of our Lord.” The strong Orc High Priest sighed and said in a low voice, “I never thought this place would become like this overnight. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to leave yesterday…”
Xia Lian shook her head. “You staying here would just mean one more person fighting those monsters with their fists. It’s useless.”
Furman nodded, then bid them farewell and left.
A moment later, Xia Lian looked up at Mo Tan and the other two, and asked in a low voice, “What do you all think?”
“I don’t think those monsters are very strong in combat,” Tairo immediately replied in a serious tone. “Although they are difficult to fatally wound, and their speed and strength are higher than ordinary people, they are definitely no match for us Paladins.”
Xia Lian rolled her eyes, then looked at Yu Cheng. “Wang Yu, what do you think?”
Yu Cheng lowered her head, pursed her lips, and whispered, “I want to go out of the city to understand the situation. Lord Saul said that many of the healthy civilians who were injured by the monsters immediately contracted the Plague. If this is a common situation… it will be troublesome.”
“Indeed, this is something we need to understand as soon as possible.” Xia Lian nodded, then glanced at Mo Tan. “You had the most questions just now, what have you thought of?”
Mo Tan rubbed his forehead. “This matter must be related to the Plague, because only infected people turn into monsters. This can be seen from the fact that no one in Mida City has mutated. Among the five thousand civilians infected with the Plague outside the city, over four hundred turned into monsters within sixteen hours, but not a single one of the three thousand healthy civilians inside the city had any problems. So, it’s obvious…”
Xia Lian smiled approvingly at him. “I think so too. Anything else?”
“The direct factor in becoming a monster is indeed related to physical condition,” Mo Tan replied without hesitation. “That Miss Yu Ying said that three people in their team had turned into monsters before, and their common point was that their physical condition was not good. And it is said that the physical condition of that group of people was considered good among the large number of refugee groups in the county; at least they could eat their fill and had tents to sleep in at night, so the mutation rate might be relatively low. The specific situation is similar to the five thousand people outside Mida City. As for most of the other refugees, they were not so lucky. Lack of food and clothing and weak bodies were common situations, for example…”
Xia Lian blinked. “For example what?”
“For example, the nineteen monsters Yu Ying encountered before.” Mo Tan said softly, “Perhaps they were in a relatively poor state. Of course, this is just my guess.”
Xia Lian tugged at her ear. “A very reliable guess.”
“Also,” Mo Tan narrowed his eyes and continued, “I saw a map of Misha County in the City Hall just now and found that Mida City and B尼斯镇 are far apart, but people in both places have mutated, so…”
“Sir Tairo.” Xia Lian immediately turned to Tairo and, in a rare commanding tone, said, “Arrange for fifty Paladins to search with Mida City as the center, to see if those monsters exist everywhere, the wider the range, the better.”
Tairo immediately said loudly, “Yes!”
Then, after nodding to Mo Tan, he strode away.
Xia Lian looked Mo Tan up and down for a long time. “Anything else? If so, just say it all at once.”
“There’s also the issue of mutation time.” Mo Tan, as it turned out, wasn’t finished. He subconsciously tapped his chin with his index finger. “The mutation time Yu Ying mentioned earlier is almost the same as when the third batch of monsters appeared among the infected civilians outside Mida City. And here, the time interval between the first and second batches, and from the second to the third, was almost five hours. So, it seems… if another batch appears, it’s very likely to be in two hours.”
Yu Cheng and Xia Lian both looked at him in surprise.
Perhaps Mo Tan hadn’t made any high-difficulty deductions, but few people could consider all the details so clearly in a short amount of time like him. At least, they couldn’t.
“One last point, though it’s useless to say it now,” Mo Tan said. “This situation should have started last night, because before that, no matter how many people died from the Plague, they never turned into those monsters. You know, Hofur City also has a sufficient population base. So, if we ever find time to investigate the cause of this incident… this time point might be worth noting.”
Xia Lian smacked her lips. “You’re amazing.”
‘He’s really super reliable _(:3 」∠)_’
This was Yu Cheng’s exclamation in the message.
Mo Tan spread his hands. “Anyway, that’s all. Holy Maiden, please make a decision.”
“We’ll stay in Mida City for now.” Xia Lian nodded, thinking as she spoke. “After the Knights who went out to search return, if it’s confirmed that this situation has appeared throughout the entire territory, then I will personally lead a group of people out to deal with those monsters. We absolutely cannot let them remain!”
Yu Cheng nodded in agreement.
Mo Tan frowned slightly, as if he felt something was not quite right, but he didn’t say anything.
Xia Lian let out a soft breath and continued, “You two go to the infected people gathered outside the city immediately. Wang Yu, you are, after all, a God-blessed one of the Goddess. Although your ability to treat the Plague is not as strong as mine, you do have it. Save as many as you can, in the order of critically injured, seriously injured, and lightly injured. Black Vatican, you be her target. If Wang Yu’s divine spell goes wrong, you know what to do.”
Mo Tan nodded. “I know.”
Yu Cheng, however, said softly with some distress, “My Dawn Wish can only be used once in a long while, and its range is very small…”
“Your ordinary divine spells should also have a dispelling effect.” Xia Lian raised her hand and poked Yu Cheng’s forehead, smiling, “Don’t forget you are also a Holy Maiden, girl.”
Mo Tan also nodded. “If that’s the case, you don’t need to completely heal them; just ensure their physical condition isn’t too bad. This way, at least the chance of them turning into monsters can be reduced.”
“Hmm, I’ll Try.” Yu Cheng nodded vigorously.
“One more thing.” Xia Lian’s expression suddenly became serious. “Black Vatican, you calculate it carefully. As soon as it’s almost time for the mutation, immediately take Yu Cheng to a safe place. Otherwise, even if there are Paladins watching you, I won’t be at ease. Go.”
“What about you, Holy Maiden?” Yu Cheng asked curiously. “Are you going to the church or the chapel?”
Xia Lian shook her head. “No, I’ll just sit here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Huh?”
“Overdrawn. Alright, don’t mind me, you two hurry up.”
“Yes, Holy Maiden…”
“Oh, by the way, Holy Maiden.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want me to bring you back a couple of oranges?”
“?”
Chapter 184: End