City Lockdown

After stepping outside, they got into the car.

Li Wenxing and the two others soon arrived at a hospital that had been sealed off.

Not only was the hospital under lockdown, but the surrounding streets were also cordoned off with barricades and heavily guarded by soldiers. All vehicles had to take a detour.

To enter the hospital, a permit was required --- even Li Wenxing himself was no exception.

“Doctors, this hospital houses a large number of plague patients. To avoid any accidents, I strongly suggest you wear protective masks.”

Before entering, Li Wenxing thoughtfully handed out gas masks.

Naturally, he went further than just the mask --- he also donned a full hazmat suit, appearing even more cautious.

After all, he had been weak and sickly since childhood. If he got infected, there was a good chance he’d die.

Zhong Xiang and Fang He didn’t refuse. They put on the gas masks without complaint and followed Li Wenxing into the hospital.

The hospital had been nearly cleared out. Aside from stationed soldiers, only a few medical staff remained, all wearing gas masks.

As for the plague patients, they were arranged across different floors and wards depending on the severity of their symptoms.

Li Wenxing took them directly to the 18th floor by elevator.

Here, several critical patients were hanging on by just a thread.

Aside from two soldiers at the entrance, only one nurse was inside, looking after the severely ill.

And “looking after” just meant giving them occasional injections to ease their pain.

“Doctors, I won’t go in. Please go in and examine them yourselves.”

Li Wenxing stopped at the doorway and signaled the nurse to take Zhong Xiang and Fang He inside, while he waited outside.

Given his status, bringing them here in person already showed enough respect.

Neither Li Guanglong nor Li Juntang would have gone this far.

Zhong Xiang and Fang He remained inside for quite some time.

Li Wenxing paced back and forth outside the door, occasionally peeking through the window.

After nearly half an hour, they finally came out.

“Doctors, how are the patients? Can they still be saved?” Li Wenxing asked urgently.

He had never cared this much about the lives of ordinary people.

Because their survival would determine whether this plague could be brought under control.

“Your Highness, the situation is even worse than we expected.”

Zhong Xiang was the first to speak. “This plague is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Judging by the condition of the patients, they may not survive the night.”

“What about you, Doctor Fang? You’re skilled in pharmacology and detoxification --- can’t you do something about this plague?” Li Wenxing turned to Fang He, hopeful.

“To be honest, Your Highness, at my current level, I can’t cure this plague,” Fang He said with a grave expression. “And I’m convinced this isn’t a natural disaster. It’s man-made!”

“What makes you say that?” Li Wenxing raised a brow.

“I examined the patients. The virus is highly contagious and appears to be a compound of multiple viral strains. I’ve never encountered anything like it. Unless someone deliberately engineered it, I can’t think of another explanation,” Fang He replied.

“I’ll have that thoroughly investigated. But the priority now is developing an antidote. If we don’t, all the infected will die --- and that would look terrible in the eyes of the Imperial Court. I’m counting on both of you,” Li Wenxing said sincerely.

“Please allow us some time, Your Highness. We’ll do our best to come up with a solution and minimize the casualties,” Zhong Xiang said.

“Of course. Whatever you need, just say the word --- I’ll provide full support,” Li Wenxing promised.

“Your Highness has a kind and noble heart. We won’t let you down,” Fang He assured him.

After a brief exchange of courtesies, the two doctors got straight to work.

Zhong Xiang dove into ancient medical texts; Fang He began preparing herbal compounds.

The severely ill patients in those hospital rooms had now become their test subjects.

Under normal circumstances, they would never do something like this.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

To save more lives and develop a cure quickly, they had no other choice.

…

Meanwhile, in Lincheng.

Li Guanglong wasn’t faring much better.

After arriving last night, he discovered dozens of plague cases already present in the city.

Worse yet, by morning the number had grown to two or three hundred.

The local doctors were completely ineffective. He had no choice but to request reinforcements from Stonia.

The call had been made, but even by plane, the journey from Stonia to Lincheng took most of a day. All he could do now was wait.

If he had known things would get this bad, he would’ve brought a medical team with him last night --- at least to stabilize the situation.

“Your Highness!”

Just then, Wan Zhong entered and reported in a low voice, “The number of infected keeps rising. People in nearby towns heard about the plague in Lincheng and are fleeing. Half the city is in chaos now.”

“I told you to suppress the news. How did it turn out like this?” Li Guanglong scowled.

“We came too suddenly, and we’re short on capable personnel. The local officials are only cooperating on the surface. In reality, they’ve been slack and assumed this was just seasonal flu. That’s why things spiraled out of control,” Wan Zhong explained.

“Those useless drunkards! They rush to collect bribes, but when something serious happens, they do nothing. Once this plague is under control, I’ll make sure to punish every last one of them!” Li Guanglong snapped.

“Your Highness, now’s not the time to assign blame. We need to stop the spread of the plague, or the consequences will be disastrous!” Wan Zhong said urgently.

“There’s no other option left. If we want to contain the outbreak, we have to do one thing --- lock down the city!” Li Guanglong said grimly.

He didn’t want to go to such extremes, but the news of the plague was already out, and Lincheng was on the verge of panic.

The only way to minimize the damage was to seal the city off. - Ton

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