Chapter 210
With Ottofis's call, Kono's rigid skin crest stood still for a moment before suddenly retracting, obediently folding back against its head. It wasn't just Kono; the other Earth Dragons, which had been in a state of chaos, settled down just as quickly.
The knights of the guard, who had been preparing to suppress the unrest with a fight, were momentarily stunned, staring in disbelief at the scene unfolding before them.
The twenty Earth Dragons fell silent, even quieter than before, as if the recent events had been nothing but an illusion.
After a moment, the captain of the guard finally reacted. He glanced at the donkey standing on Kono's back, then turned to look at Ye Bai, his face clearly displaying the question, "What just happened?"
In response, Ye Bai could only maintain a blank expression and explain, "…It’s my mount, a… um, magical donkey."
Magical donkey?
The guards mulled over the term, casting another glance at the donkey, which seemed to have been fully accepted by the Earth Dragons.
—Though it sounded absurd, it certainly felt "magical."
In the end, Ottofis merely played curiously on the back of the Earth Dragon for a while before obediently returning to serve as Ye Bai's mount.
The Earth Dragons were incredibly fast, and in terms of opening trade routes, they were fundamentally different from other transport teams.
Other transport teams, including the antelope transport team, still relied on "walking" to establish trade routes, while the Earth Dragons blazed a trail like an unstoppable tank brigade, crushing everything in a straight line as long as there were no lakes or mountains ahead.
This efficiency surpassed any previous attempts Ye Bai had made at opening trade routes.
Even though the distance between Landu City and Baiye Town was the farthest among the three main cities, the Earth Dragons, moving faster than the antelopes and able to travel at night in a straight line, covered the distance in just a day and a half. Soon, Ye Bai spotted a dark shape in the distance.
That was the wall of Baiye Town.
……
Outside the walls of Baiye Town, Felix led a fully armed group of warriors stationed by the city gate. All the warriors, including Felix, had bloodshot eyes, appearing extremely fatigued yet forcing themselves to stay alert.
Beside them, an apprentice from the herbalist's shop assisted in their work.
Every person and item entering the inner city had to undergo strict inspections and be fumigated with special herbs before being allowed to pass.
At this moment, Baiye Town was divided into two areas by the walls and the city gate.
Many tasks that needed to be done outside the walls had been minimized, and the residents working in the inner city displayed a scene of desolation, with many infected residents resting at home, taking herbs.
Meanwhile, the refugee camp outside the city gate was filled with the scent of herbs.
An outbreak of plague had infected the entire camp, with over three hundred refugees afflicted. The only distinction was between those with mild symptoms who could still move and those with severe symptoms confined to their beds.
The refugee camp, which was meant to temporarily accommodate people, was now completely overloaded, housing more than three hundred infected refugees. Many patients had no space left and had to rest on the ground, piled with straw.
The players who had once roamed Baiye Town had mostly vanished.
The plague in Baiye Town had come swiftly and violently, erupting during the second wave of refugee intake.
It was Lucy's decisive action to close the city gates and strictly control entry and exit that barely contained the plague, which had already infiltrated the residential areas of Baiye Town, allowing essential infrastructure within the territory to continue functioning.
However, outside the city gates, the speed of the plague's spread among the refugees in the camp was alarming, causing a rapid outbreak across the entire area within a single day.
In this situation, the players active in Baiye Town were cleared out—players could also be infected by the plague. Like NPCs, players who contracted the plague would suffer from a persistent negative status that drained their health until death.
The difference was that players, as bloodline inheritors, had excellent physical resilience and could easily cure the plague by taking the appropriate herbs, as long as they weren't reinfected; or they could die from the plague, and upon respawning, the disease would vanish.
In contrast, NPCs below level 10, once infected, had a much lower treatment efficiency and required time to recover. If they died from the disease, it was permanent.
However, no one wanted to lose health or search for herbs without reason. After the outbreak and the closure of Baiye Town to outsiders, the players who had previously been active here had largely disappeared, relocating to other towns. Only a few players, due to tasks from the civilized faction, came by daily to check on the situation from a distance.
The absence of player activity only affected income and personal interests; it did not significantly impact the operation of Baiye Town.
The real problem was that after the outbreak, merchants who had planned to trade here turned back upon hearing the news, leaving Baiye Town isolated like an "island." The territory's stock of herbs was rapidly depleting, and without strong replenishment channels, it was in a state of emergency.
All industries in Baiye Town were operating in crisis mode, with the medical sector being the busiest.
Among the last batch of special talents, two suitable for medical professions had been assigned by Ye Bai to work in the herbalist's shop.
In addition to the highest-level herbalist's shop where Lucy worked, two new herbalist's shops had been built, with staff working at full capacity of six, four, and four.
But in the face of the plague, even with full staffing, the number of physicians was still insufficient.
After all, even though Ye Bai had made emergency plans before changing jobs, she had not anticipated being unable to log in for over a month.
"Ah..."
"Woo..."
In the refugee camp, shrouded in the heavy scent of herbs, the lamentations of the patients echoed.
Fully equipped with gloves and masks, Lucy walked through the area, having just pulled a critically ill patient back from the brink of death. She approached a nearby basin to wash her hands carefully, when suddenly, her vision blurred, and she collapsed straight to the ground.
"Teacher!" The herbalist apprentice nearby rushed over, quickly helping Lucy up.
Turning the gifted herbalist over, the apprentice saw through the gaps in her mask that Lucy's skin was flushed. Even before touching her, the apprentice could feel the heat radiating from her skin and breath.
"Teacher has been infected too… I need to report this to Lords Kali, Dilina, and Blaise."
The apprentice hoisted Lucy onto her back and hurried toward the city gate.
Felix caught sight of the herbalist apprentice and, upon seeing who she was carrying, his expression changed dramatically. "Sister Lucy has been infected too?"
"Yes, I need to take her for treatment and quickly inform the lords in the city!" the apprentice said anxiously.
Seeing this, the nearby soldiers wasted no time and immediately turned to enter the inner city.
"Stay back, so you don't get infected," the apprentice quickly warned Felix, who was approaching.
But Felix shook his head, resolutely saying, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. My constitution is strong right now."
"Who says a strong constitution can't get infected…"
"Lida, put me down. I can't go in." At that moment, Lucy's voice interrupted their conversation.
The apprentice exclaimed, "Teacher, you've been infected!"
Lucy, somewhat weak, lifted her head from the apprentice named Lida's back. "It's precisely because I've been infected that I can't go back. The plague in the city has been contained; I'm a new patient, and going in poses a risk of spreading it to others."
"But Sister Lucy, you're our territory's most skilled herbalist…"
Felix wanted to step forward to support Lucy, but she waved him off. "I understand. I will do my best to treat myself… Felix, don't come close. Even if you won't get infected by me, the plague can still spread to others through your contact. There are already few warriors left who haven't been infected."
"Lida, let's go back."
"Yes…" The apprentice, taller than Lucy by half a head, sighed and helped Lucy back to the refugee camp.
Meanwhile, not far behind the city wall, near the mayor's office and the watchtower, Kali and Blaise had received the news of Lucy's infection from the warriors. Soon after, Dilina, her hair somewhat disheveled compared to usual, hurried over from the direction of the tailor shop.
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