Knight and Wand

Chapter 367 Respiratory Disease

In the brightly lit cabin of the airship, in a relatively safe place, Leon, who had relaxed a little, felt even more tired.

If being in this world is like being in deep water and having difficulty breathing, then the consumption of the lightning gun that previously shot down the helicopter has exacerbated this feeling.

He was almost feeling overwhelmed with fatigue and had to look around the cabin to distract himself.

The local soldiers in brown bulletproof armor were secretly looking at themselves and Olivia, but the language barrier made it difficult for them to communicate.

Leon made an eating gesture to the commander of the previous soldier.

The man was stunned for a moment, then he fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out a few bags of vacuum-packed food and handed them to Leon.

Leon opened the bag and ate some military rations. He gave some to Olivia and asked the old man who understood Lorelit on the other side of the communicator while eating:

"It's safe enough now. Tell me, where are you taking me? To your city?"

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the communicator.

"I wish we still had cities, too."

"What do you mean?" Leon paused chewing.

"Our civilization is dying out. Even the few remaining capitals on earth no longer belong to us. As you can see, the world has become a dead place without vitality. We are the last survivors."

Leon quickly swallowed the food in his mouth, and couldn't help but feel deeply confused about the doomsday situation he described.

"You mean, you are on the brink of extinction? Can you tell me what happened here? To be honest, I don't think those zombies wandering the land can threaten your civilization."

The humans in this world have a technological level that is comparable to that of their homeland, Earth.

The zombies that he had seen wandering the land before were nothing but a pile of rotten meat in front of guns, planes, and cannons. Especially locally, he had not seen any undead spirits that could take shape so far. Logically speaking, the zombies alone could not cause any substantial damage to a civilization of this level.

"You misunderstood. Those zombies are just the result of the destruction of our civilization, not the cause."

Leon frowned and tried to guess: "Could it be the 'vampires'? I mean, were those blood-sucking monsters with fangs that destroyed your civilization?"

The old man on the other side of the headset sighed when he heard this.

"What is really driving this world to destruction is an untreatable disease. Perhaps this is also the work of the 'blood clan' that has revived from ancient legends. I don't know. I never believed in those legends about gods in the past, but the dark clouds covering the planet like ancient myths are indeed not something I can understand. This doomsday may indeed be the work of the ancient blood god worshipped by the blood clan."

"Disease? Blood God?" For the latter title, Leon could only think of the blood demon from the spiritual world that attacked the two of them and brought them to this world.

The old man continued to answer his doubts: "We call that disease 'respiratory disease'. It is like the curse of the blood god. It and the dark clouds covering the sky and the sun came three years ago."

Leon listened carefully.

".A large-scale disease and death event swept across the entire world as dark clouds covered the sky. Regardless of gender, age, status, city or country, large numbers of lives died in large numbers. In just three years, out of the original population of billions, less than one in ten thousand is still alive. Almost all animals and plants in the world have become extinct due to the disaster of respiratory diseases." The old man's voice became more desperate and bitter.

"You are right. Those resurrected zombies cannot threaten us, but our guns, cannons and missiles cannot be aimed at the illusory 'Nature'. Within a year of the beginning of the apocalypse, governments and armies of countries around the world collapsed, and order completely collapsed. Any tragic war recorded in history is not even one ten-thousandth as efficient as this 'massacre'."

Leon was surprised by the horrific extent of the disease the old man described: "If the mortality rate of respiratory diseases is so high, why is the transmission efficiency so fast?"

"No, it doesn't need to spread at all. Respiratory disease is not some kind of infectious disease. This nightmare has covered the entire world since its advent. Large-scale disease deaths, extinction of birds, animals and plants, occurred almost simultaneously in every corner and in every country."

After hearing this, Leon touched his breastplate and was secretly shocked.

I felt so uncomfortable, could it be that it was not just because I was not used to the climate in this different world? Or was it because I had contracted some kind of "respiratory disease"?

He glanced worriedly at Olivia, who didn't seem to be showing much discomfort, and hurriedly continued to question the old man.

"What causes respiratory diseases? Don't you have any way to prevent or treat them?"

"No. This horrible disease did not give us any opportunity or time to study and fight it. Our great scholars and doctors almost died out in the first year after the respiratory disease appeared."

The old man's words made Leon, an outsider, feel a chill down his spine.

An unstoppable "disease" destroyed a brilliant civilization that was no less powerful than the Earth's. This doomsday disaster was more dangerous than any other type of calamity.

Even if we have airplanes, cannons, and nuclear weapons, how can we use these things to fight against invisible and intangible enemies?

The old man continued to answer in an increasingly sad voice: "Politicians, scholars, soldiers. The essence of our society has all died. I am one of the leaders of the survivors, but in fact, three years before the doomsday, I was just a folk culture scholar in a remote town. Even the few warriors in front of you. Most of them were just students, shop assistants, and factory workers.
How can we pick up those profound knowledge that we cannot even understand, research and analyze the antidote, and fight against this doomsday disease?"

Leon was silent, but suddenly reacted.

"Wait a minute, since you said that the respiratory disease would kill everyone indiscriminately, then how did you and these people survive? They don't seem to be sick."

The person on the other end of the headset paused for a moment, as if trying to organize his words, before continuing, "We are the lucky one in a million in the entire world. We have survived the pain brought by respiratory diseases, and our bodies have undergone some kind of mutation. We are the only ones immune to respiratory diseases. But our numbers are simply not enough to save the situation."

".One in a million?"

Leon recalled the population information the other party had given him. Doesn't this mean that there are only a few thousand people in this world who have survived respiratory diseases like those before him?

He sighed slightly, wondering if these survivors had tried to reproduce to see if the next generation could continue their immune system. But now, although he sympathized with this world that might have been scourged by unknown means of the spiritual demons, Leon knew that what was more important for him was to find a way to return home.

After calming himself down, he asked, "I roughly understand your situation. Since you helped me escape from the pursuit of those vampires, I will do my best if I can help you in any way. But I want to know, how much do you know about my situation? Why do you know the 'Lorelit language'? Also, are those vampires the native race of your world? What is the so-called blood god?"

"Please allow me to answer your questions one by one.
I have never heard of the 'Lorelit language' you mentioned. What you are talking about is the ancient language used to communicate with the ancient god 'Suvil' during sacrifices in history. I mastered this ancient language through archaeological work.

As for you and that lady, I have to admit that I know very little. I just heard a mysterious voice that guided me to find the messenger sent by Him. If it were in the past, I would have thought I was crazy, but as you can see, there are too many existences beyond my cognition after the end of the world, and I began to believe that there is some hope guiding me.
Sir, now I want to know, are you the messenger sent by the ancient god Suweir to save us?"

The inky black waves beat against the rocks. There was no sign of any flying birds along the coast. The dead silent and desolate beach was reflected by the cold dim light.

The armed airship streaked through the dark clouds, its double-wing nozzles twisted vertically, and slowly landed on a rock platform hidden among the sea cliffs.

The cabin door opened again, and Leon tried not to show his increasing discomfort and weakness in front of the locals, as he and Olivia stepped out of the airship cabin.

The fully enclosed cabin made it impossible for him to tell where these survivors of the doomsday had taken him and Olivia. According to the old man behind the communicator, this was one of the only few small shelters for the survivors.

The old man will soon come here to meet me for a talk.

It was obvious that although the other party had extended a helping hand and expressed respect and kindness, he did not yet completely trust him and would not easily let him know where the last bastion of the survivors was.

This is wise, just like Leon didn't fully trust the other party.

Standing on the open sea cliff, Leon followed the soldier who led the way and walked towards the hidden entrance among the rugged rocks.

Before entering the secret passage, he turned his head and looked at the city under the sea cliff.

Uniquely styled tall buildings stretch out to the horizon in clusters, just like the skyscrapers on Earth that are common in our field of vision.

However, the reinforced concrete city under the dark clouds has now turned into a huge dead city.

According to the information obtained from the old man, in the ancient times of this world, there was a mythical legend that the ancient god Suvir, who brought the dawn, defeated the blood god Skoosh and sealed the blood god.

Those vampires who died first and were reborn later were the followers of the Blood God. They once ruled this land in the ancient times before the creation of the world.

Of course, until the current respiratory apocalypse, the world has always regarded this as just an ancient cultural story.

But now, the vampires that appeared from the legend are another more direct threat to the survivors besides respiratory diseases.

Those vampires appeared along with the end of the world, and their appearance gave a large number of people who were suffering from respiratory diseases and were about to die another choice.

The old man said that at the beginning of the disaster, no one knew where it started, and no one knew whether the vampires took the initiative to find the living, or the living who were not dead found the vampires.

Some patients who were not killed directly by respiratory diseases chose to become blood-sucking monsters in order to escape death and pain.

The first batch were mostly former high-ranking officials, wealthy people, and even military generals. Later, a large number of valuable respiratory disease patients were also converted by the vampires who no longer hid in the dark.

After respiratory diseases ravaged and killed billions of people, they appeared on television and radio, calling on the remaining survivors to embark on the path of transformation, promising them freedom from the torment of respiratory diseases and eternal life.

But the old man said that only a very small number of them became true blood descendants, and more of them became blood slaves.

Leon didn't ask how the other party knew about this.

After all, judging from the fact that the other party knew the whereabouts of both of them as soon as Olivia and I showed up, there must be spies among the vampires who are still helping the surviving humans.

There is no need to delve into such a sensitive issue.
Following the surviving soldiers through a passage covered by rocks, Leon and Olivia entered some kind of military facility inside the mountain that served as a shelter.

There were only a few healthy survivors in the shelter. The rest were respiratory patients who looked so weak that they seemed like they could collapse at any time but still insisted on doing chores.

According to the old man, these are relatively healthy patients. Many more people who are still alive are simply waiting to die in agony of illness.

Walking through the corridor filled with suppressed coughs and groans of pain, Leon and the other man were brought to the better officers' quarters inside.

Seeing that the leader of the soldiers seemed hesitant about whether to find another room for Olivia, Leon took the initiative to put his arm around the girl's shoulders, made their identities clear, and moved into the same room.

After closing the door and checking every corner inside to find no surveillance, Leon could no longer bear the surging fatigue and tiredness, and fell headfirst onto the bed.

Olivia asked in surprise, and hurried forward to remove her lover's armor, fearing that he had been injured in the battle.

"It's okay, I'm just too sleepy." Leon waved his hand and let her take off the armor. He lay on the bed with his eyelids getting heavier.

Could it be that I have some respiratory disease?
"I'll take a nap"

Leon closed his eyes.

I didn't even realize how many seconds it took before I fell into a deep sleep.

It was as if I was trapped in a void of darkness, and the suffocation and boredom in my body were relieved a little.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard a call from below.

help me.

who is it?

His body seemed to be pulled by a force, and Leon suddenly looked back in the void.

The shock of the huge monster swept through my body.

Nearby are two extremely huge, dazzling crystal bubbles of varying sizes.

The huge crystal bubble was surrounded by a purple crack that looked like a giant mouth. The flickering light was like an ominous and strange abyss, entwining and covering every refractive surface of the crystal bubble.

The other, much smaller, crystal bubble seemed to be being pulled by a string of rainbow-like light, and was slowly falling into the purple abyss of the larger crystal bubble.
(End of this chapter)