Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1457 Rapid Response

The pharmacist and Veronica had barely gathered half the information when Vanessa asked for help.

Although the apothecary had given both of them combat training against monsters, Vanessa wasn't afraid of a blood-covered person charging at her. However, not being afraid didn't mean she wouldn't be startled. Upon suddenly seeing such a person rushing towards her, she instinctively threw a punch. With the force of her arm, she couldn't stop herself and nearly killed the person. She quickly found someone to drag him away for help.

Of course, Vanessa didn't forget to check what had happened inside the house the man had rushed out of.

“This guy bit his wife and children to death,” Vanessa said, looking at the man she had knocked unconscious. “Even if you heal him, his life is probably over.”

The pharmacist had some belts used to restrain the people, then examined them for a while. He then had Veronica continue registering the people, while he went with Vanessa to the crime scene to investigate.

This person is clearly showing symptoms of an outbreak, which is when a plague truly begins to show its harm. The duration of this outbreak is not fixed, and some plagues may even break out multiple times.

The guards had already arrived at the crime scene to investigate, but due to the presence of church insignia, the apothecary and Vanessa were able to enter without incident. The guard captain, clearly an expert, noticed the church members and Vanessa's insignia and asked, "Gentlemen, could this be the plague?"

“Sir, you have a good eye. We are members of the church and have come here specifically to investigate this matter,” the pharmacist said with a smile. “This is Vanessa. She discovered the beginnings of this plague yesterday, but it has been too short for us to complete our systematic investigation.”

The captain looked at Vanessa in surprise: "I can't believe how young you are, you're already capable of conducting investigations. I'm Robinson, the garrison captain in charge of these blocks. Since it's a plague, that's your area of ​​expertise. But please allow me to accompany you and observe for a while."

“Of course, the issue of public security cannot be ignored, especially regarding the garrison.” The pharmacist nodded and said, “Would Mr. Robinson be willing to describe the scene to us?”

"There were two victims: the woman who lived here, 35 years old, and her son, 10 years old. The cause of death for both was bitten in the throat, resulting in massive bleeding. The son died first, killed in the living room, followed by the woman, who must have heard her son's cries and ran out, only to be killed as well," Robinson said.

"Were there any other injuries on the deceased?" the pharmacist asked.

Robinson shrugged: "Some scratch marks, obviously left from a struggle, but the marks are shallow and not likely to be fatal."

The pharmacist shook his head: "That's not what I meant... Oh."

The three of them had already entered the living room, which was in complete disarray. The bodies had not yet been removed, and the scene looked extremely tragic.

The pharmacist was completely unaffected by this, only Vanessa showed a hint of reluctance on her face.

After searching for a while, the pharmacist bent down and looked at the floor under the table and chairs. He noticed something under the table and reached in to pull it out.

A small roll of bandage.

The pharmacist looked thoughtfully at the corpse, then at the bandage in his hand, and sighed, "Well... I think I have a pretty good idea of ​​what happened. Plague Apostles always use such tasteless things."

Robinson asked hurriedly, "Do you know what happened?"

"Looking at the body's hands, I estimate that one hand had a cut. When I looked under the table earlier, I noticed that the table was old, with some of the wood cracked and some splinters sticking out."

Robinson quickly put on gloves and went over to examine the corpse's hands. Sure enough, he found a bloody gash on the right hand.

"The male homeowner here probably saw that the child's finger was pricked, so he took a bandage to bandage it. This homeowner was already infected with the plague, but he probably didn't know it. And when he tried to disinfect it before bandaging, he triggered the outbreak of the plague."

As the pharmacist spoke, he held up one finger and gestured.

Robinson suddenly realized: "He drank blood?"

"For minor injuries, saliva is used to kill bacteria; even without understanding the underlying principles, most people would do this out of common sense. However, the core trigger for this plague is probably the taste of human blood. This triggers the outbreak, which we'll call a blood-thirsty symptom. The person will frantically crave flesh and blood, and might not even recognize the person in front of them. Oh, it's very likely that only the blood of a living person has such an attraction. Since the bite had already killed the child, the blood lost its appeal, so the person switched targets. This also explains why the two only had their throats ripped open, losing enough blood to kill them, but weren't drained or their bodies destroyed," the pharmacist said calmly. "Mr. Robinson, the plague apostles always use plagues like this, harming civilians and even torturing them mentally, even with such despicable methods… I think the garrison or the city hall should be able to file a case against this plague."

"Of course, this is far more evil than the plague we discovered before. To think that a person could kill their own family—these damned bastards should be hanged immediately!" Robinson sneered. "Rest assured, we will expedite the filing of a case as quickly as possible. As for the plague containment—"

"Please rest assured, our report is basically complete. Once it is submitted, the Salvation Council will mobilize immediately." The apothecary nodded.

After they reached an agreement, they immediately went their separate ways to do their own things. Vanessa still had a question: "Pharmacist, this doesn't seem to be the kind of plague I've been afflicted with. You said it was a combined plague attack, but just now it was only..."

“That’s a little trick, Vanessa,” the pharmacist chuckled. “If a plague is too difficult to investigate and can’t be treated as a separate case, then we can start with another simpler one and investigate it together later. Anyway, we can eventually distinguish between them.”

When they returned to the quarantine area, Veronica had almost finished compiling the statistics. The pharmacist glanced at them and was quite satisfied with the results, then had Vanessa help her with the last part of the recording. "All done."

"Huh? But... the infectivity and transmission routes haven't been determined yet," Veronica said in surprise.

“We need this empirical evidence to draw conclusions. In this urgent situation, we can’t wait.” The pharmacist patted the paper in his hand. “Act immediately. Soon you will know that the plague in a place like Violet City is not as terrifying as it is in the countryside.”

The churches and garrisons here have considerable experience in dealing with plagues, though they may lack experience with severe, large-scale plagues, but this one is by no means one of them.

The knights took the infected person back to quarantine, while the pharmacist had Vanessa, the first person to discover the infection, submit the report. Vanessa was puzzled at first, but soon understood why—the first person to discover the infection had a responsibility to lead the team.

It's obvious that the pharmacist didn't want to take on this mess himself, and the church's mechanisms could fully guarantee that the first person to discover it would have sufficient control.

Specifically, on the very evening Vanessa submitted her report, she was summoned by the local church's Sunday priest. When she returned, she was carrying several signed temporary mobilization orders and travel documents. Simultaneously, various departments within the church's Sacred Heart were activated. First, streets were sealed off, and a wide-ranging investigation was launched based on known symptoms. The garrison was also notified to impose martial law on adjacent streets. The Heart Release and Warning Hearts were also mobilized. One conducted psychological testing on participating members within the church to confirm that no infected individuals had infiltrated, while the other investigated all individuals identified externally, tracing their recent movements to determine the route of infection and completing testing and treatment.

After a day of extensive lockdown, quarantine, and inspection, the pharmacologists of the Sacred Heart began to intensify their research into corresponding treatments. The plague was officially named "The Gourmet," a name confirmed through divine magic. Subsequently, the analysis results of the plague were quickly released. Based on the extent of the plague's spread, its prototype was also unearthed by the Sacred Heart's monks from a tavern's cellar—a moldy brick.

This brick essentially contaminated all the alcohol here, and the tavern's regulars were among the first to be infected. The "Gourmet's" infection spreads through food, but the infectivity disappears once the plates are washed, so transmission usually occurs when several people share a meal. The incubation period is short, only a few hours, followed by a symptom phase. During this period, the individual can only tolerate increasingly strong food flavors; otherwise, they cannot taste anything. If they taste human flesh or blood in any way during the symptom phase, they immediately enter the outbreak phase, believing human flesh and blood to be the ultimate delicacy. They will crave human flesh and blood at any cost, and during the outbreak phase, they are prone to harming others. They will refuse to eat anything other than living people until their bodies collapse and they die.

Within two days, the extent of the "gourmet's" infection was roughly determined. One or two who escaped were handed over to the garrison for investigation, while the church began to focus on dealing with the infected. Since it only lacked flavor, as long as it didn't enter its outbreak phase, the plague was unlikely to cause much harm, so people remained relatively calm.

Vanessa has been exhausted these past few days, even with Veronica's help, she still can't keep up. Although most of the work is handled by the various departments of the church, she still has to write the final report, so she has to ask about everything. Even if everyone cooperates, Vanessa is running around all day and didn't even know that Father Thorne had returned.

Father Thorne hadn't expected that Vanessa would manage such a major event while he was away for a few days. Although he was somewhat surprised, he was still pleased. Members of the Sacred Heart didn't have many opportunities to formally oversee a plague case like this. Vanessa had now accumulated considerable experience, enough to secure a formal position within the church even though she was still underage.

He approached the pharmacist to express his gratitude. The pharmacist, however, seemed unimpressed: "Vanessa discovered this in the first place, it's not like I gave it to her. I wouldn't expect to claim all the credit just because I gave her a few pointers. But you, Father Thorne, I'm curious about the conditions you negotiated with the Church?"

Father Thorne laughed and said, "A complete reorganization was almost expected."

"Well, I'll make a guess then, you must have sold these people for a good price," the pharmacist said.

This left Father Thorne somewhat helpless: "Your Excellency, you always speak so frankly. I've arranged good enough places for these people, isn't that good enough? Even if I did exchange them for some benefits, I haven't treated them unfairly, have I?"

"If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have come here with you. Just tell me, what did you get in return?"

"In the Clock River district in the south, the Sunday priest of Minute Church was recently transferred. That place has not formed a parish, there is only one church, which is not very big. But I can go there and become the Sunday priest directly. Veronica, Vanessa and Knight Gael can all be taken there. Of course, if you are interested, you can also use it as a base."

Where are the fishmen?

“We can keep five of them; the rest must follow the Church’s arrangements. Some will even have to leave Violet City for the Imperial Capital. The Papal Office must be involved in such cases. I’ve spoken with Löda, and they don’t seem to care, as long as their lives are better than before.”

"A position as a Sunday priest, if it's in a cathedral, that's fine, but in a small church, I'm afraid you might have some other advantages?" the pharmacist asked again.

“Just some spellbooks and scriptures,” Father Thorne said with a smile. “This batch is just farmers and craftsmen; I hope the next batch will be more skilled.”

The pharmacist declined to comment; after all, they were just business partners, and she didn't need to say more. Besides, Violet City was a place she needed to inspect, so having a place to live long-term would be good.

=
"The gourmet has been dealt with."

Rosemaryda spoke to Blue Cobalt, sitting in Blue Cobalt's large living room overlooking the street, holding a freshly brewed cup of black tea, her tone completely indifferent.

"That's perfectly normal. The symptoms are obvious, the lethality is weak, and the infectivity is low. This kind of plague is just a gift to you, Miss Rosemerada. I believe it is very suitable for your experiment."

“It could be considered one, but it was discovered too quickly. Even with the ‘Fluorescent’ protection, it wasn’t enough. If I hadn’t been cautious and prevented the ‘Fluorescent’ from spreading widely, both of them would probably have been dealt with together. Sigh… Even so, the Church has already set its sights on the ‘Fluorescent’, and I won’t easily activate this plague again.” Rosemerada took a sip of her black tea. “However, before unleashing our true power, shouldn’t we observe their actions? Blue Cobalt, you said you’d handle this.”

“Yes… Pan De’ang obviously didn’t intend to really lead those useless apostles; he just gave them some advice. These brain-dead bastards are clearly planning to form a group and cause some big trouble in the city. I don’t understand why we let these people show their presence. No matter how much trouble they cause, in the end, the martial law in Violet City will only cause us more trouble,” Blue Cobalt said, seemingly worried.

"Come on, I think that old man just wants to use these good-for-nothings," Rosemerada said mercilessly.