Mikaela kept thinking of where she had heard the name Ning before. 'I'm sure I heard master speak of him sometime in the past, but where?' she couldn't remember easily.
"Ah, you are the volunteer with the weird dances," She said as she finally remembered who he was.
"W-Weird dances?" Ning was a little confused as to what she meant.
"Yeah, I heard you do weird dances every time you healed one of the pregnant-looking women," Mikaela said.
"Ah, that's… not a dance. It's a technique, but yeah, that is me," Ning said. 'I'm surprised neither the granddaughter nor the grandfather remembers me after I shaved my head. I must've been a blimp in their otherwise massive radar,' he thought.
Along the way, he could hear sounds of panicking from each of the rooms in the hall. Soon, she took him to a room where her master resided.
"Master, Volunteer Ning is here and he says that he has some information about the black disease," Mikaela said.
"Oh, Volunteer Ning. Please, come on in. I can certainly use your help this time," the First Elder said as soon as he saw Ning.
Ning walked into the room and saw a bunch of people standing in front of him, all with the same black spots. 'I see. They must've directly come here instead of the volunteer hall. So, they don't know anything.'
"You have information, Volunteer Ning," the First Elder asked.
"Yes, uhh... First of all," he said as he turned to the people and said, "You guys can go home. There is nothing to worry about. These are simple black spots and don't do any harm to the person at all. They will also slowly disappear in a month. You can rest assured."
"Also, please relay the same information to anyone panicking. They have nothing to worry about," Ning said.
The people didn't know what to do. They knew he was a volunteer, but having a physician's word was much better. The first elder saw the atmosphere and immediately spoke, "Volunteer Ning is an excellent doctor. You can take his words as the truths."
The people were finally relieved and left the room. The First Elder turned towards him and asked, "Was that true, or did you lie to make them feel safe for now."
"That was the truth. There is nothing to worry about," Ning said.
"Can you explain why?" The First Elder asked.
"Umm… I think it will be better if I explained to everyone at once," Ning said.
"True. Mikaela, go and tell the other physicians to relay the same information as what Volunteer Ning just said," The First Elder said.
Mikaela was a little surprised at how quickly her master came to accept the words of a volunteer that hadn't even told them anything. "Are you sure, master? Volunteer Ning may know what is happening, but on the off chance, shouldn't we—"
"It doesn't matter right now. Even if Volunteer Ning is completely wrong in his analysis, we still need to control the panicking crowd. Just go and relay the information for now, and tell every Volunteer and Physician to meet in the Learning Hall," the First Elder said.
"Yes, Master." Mikaela quickly said and relayed the information. The loud noises in the Physician's hall were finally silenced once the people started to get relieved and left.
Ning and the First Elder made their way to the Learning Hall. "I really hope you know what you are doing Volunteer Ning. A lot of people's lives are at risk," The First Elder said.
"Don't worry, First Elder. I wouldn't make such a mistake with my own life at risk," he said as he showed the first elder his hands with black spots all over it.
"I see," the First elder seemed to be a little more relieved.
Soon, people started gathering in the lecture place of the Learning Hall, and Ning stood on top of the stage. He took a look at the hundreds of people standing in front of him and remembered the times when he taught the villagers in Klavis how to read and write.
'I hope I can see them again. Hopefully, most of them are alive,' he thought. However, he quickly pushed away from the thought as now was not the time.
The top Physicians were all on the stage, waiting for Ning's explanation, while the others were all sitting in chairs in the audience.
"Volunteer Ning, now that everyone is here, maybe you should start explaining to us what is happening. As far as I know, not a single physician or volunteer here knows what is going on," the First Elder said.
"Yes," Ning said and started explaining.
"These black spots are not an infection, or disease or simple illnesses. They are instead bugs," Ning said.
"What? Bugs?"
"Did he say bug?"
"How did bugs get inside my skin?"
"I have never heard of such bugs."
Please immediately started to talk amongst themselves.
"Yes, They are bugs. They are called the Yang Festering bugs. They are incredibly small. So small that multiple of them can go into your body through a single pore in your skin."
"They get into your body and start eating the Yang energy inside of your body. Once they are full after eating, they reproduce and give birth to more Yang Festering bugs, while the ones that got full themselves die."
"Those dead bugs are what you see on the skin as the black spots. In fact, if you were to cut open my hands right now, you will see the black spot all the way to my bones and organs," Ning said.
The volunteers and even the veteran physicians were surprised at the explanation. Not a single one of them had heard about the yang Festering Bugs ever. They didn't know whether Ning was telling the truth or making stuff up.
Kaezir stood up and asked, "Volunteer Ning, are you saying that all of this panic was caused by bugs?"
"Yes," Ning said.
"Hmm, I don't think there is a single book in the library that talks about these Bugs. Can you tell me where you learned about them?" Kaezir asked.
