"This isn't some kind of curse; it's likely an unknown virus."
"Winter is the prime season for respiratory epidemics to take root."
Wu Liang shook his head.
"Respiratory? Wu Liang, if it's not a curse, then..."
"Go, pass on my orders."
Wu Liang interrupted Akomann and began giving direct instructions.
"Lock down the Wounded Soldiers Camp. No one is allowed to enter or leave freely."
"Everyone who has had contact with the sick must be isolated and observed."
"Tell everyone to stay in their own houses and minimize going outside."
"Yes."
Akomann was full of doubts, but she immediately accepted the command and left.
Wu Liang stood alone by the window, watching the Tribe become desolate amidst the wind and snow.
The current situation was clearly a typical acute respiratory infectious disease.
In his previous life, this might have just been an ordinary flu.
But in this primitive Tribe where medical standards were nearly zero, it was a plague capable of destroying the entire ethnic group.
"Alesha, this time I will give you this chance..."
Wu Liang murmured to himself.
He cast his gaze toward the living quarters of the Yuequan Tribe women.
Meanwhile, the Wounded Soldiers Camp had turned into a living hell.
Alesha's eyes were bloodshot as she constantly directed her clanspeople to boil herbal medicine.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of medicine, sweat, and a nauseating scent of decay.
Bowl after bowl of medicine was poured down, but it was like a stone sinking into the ocean.
The patients' conditions did not improve; instead, they grew increasingly severe.
Coughs and painful gasps rose and fell one after another.
"I can't go on..."
A Yuequan woman responsible for caring for the sick suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground.
Alesha's heart sank abruptly.
It was over.
She had no solution whatsoever for this sudden illness.
"Don't panic, everyone!"
Alesha forced herself to calm down.
"Support her and take her to the empty room next door, quickly!"
Soon, one after another, several more Yuequan clanspeople showed the same symptoms.
The virus began to spread throughout the Black Rock Tribe.
Inside Wei Xian's room, it was as warm as spring.
The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, yet she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
In her arms, little Wu Qi's originally rosy face was now flushed deep red, and his breathing was rapid.
His tiny body twitched slightly from the high fever, letting out weak cries.
"How could this happen... how could this happen..."
Large tears fell from Wei Xian's eyes.
She repeatedly wiped her son's forehead with a damp, soft cloth, but it did nothing to lower that terrifying temperature.
She had tried every method, but it was all in vain.
"Wei Xian!"
Eliza hurried in from outside, her expression equally solemn.
"This is bad, the people in the Tribe..."
She hadn't finished her sentence before she saw little Wu Qi's state in Wei Xian's arms, and she instantly gasped.
"Even little Wu Qi is..."
"Eliza, go find Wu Liang and bring him back quickly."
Just as Wei Xian was about to look for Wu Liang, he appeared at the doorway.
"I am here."
"Wu Liang! Something terrible has happened!"
Wei Xian lunged toward him while holding the child, her face full of panic.
Wu Liang took the burning-hot little Wu Qi from her arms, tested the child's forehead temperature, and his brow furrowed imperceptibly.
"Don't panic."
He handed his son back into Wei Xian's arms.
"He will be fine."
"Eliza."
Wu Liang turned to the High Priestess.
"Do as I say. Immediately have the women in the Weaving Workshop use the finest linen to make a batch of things that can cover the nose and mouth. Every person in the Tribe must have one."
"Cover the nose and mouth?"
Eliza was puzzled.
"Yes, like a cloth kerchief, but it must be able to hang on the ears."
Wu Liang briefly described the design of a mask.
"Tell them this can resist the invasion of the virus."
"Yes, I will see to it immediately!"
Eliza immediately took the order.
"Wu Liang, then what about Qi'er?"
Wei Xian asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, I am going to the Wounded Soldiers Camp."
Wu Liang took a deep look at his son.
With that, he turned and strode out.
The wind and snow were heavier than before, and the entire Tribe seemed shrouded in a white curtain, deathly still and oppressive.
Wu Liang walked straight toward the Wounded Soldiers Camp, which had already been cordoned off by warriors.
When the guards saw him, they immediately and respectfully cleared the way.
"Alesha, do you want to save them?"
Wu Liang arrived before Alesha.
Alesha subconsciously looked up and met those deep eyes.
Wu Liang spoke slowly.
"Do you want to save your clanspeople, save this Tribe, and save everyone being tortured by the virus?"
Alesha's pupils constricted sharply.
"You... have a way?"
"Follow me."
Wu Liang brought Alesha to a clean room.
This was something he had prepared for Alesha long ago.
In the room, the fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, making the entire space feel warm and cozy.
Alesha stood at the door, feeling a bit uneasy and restless.
"Sit."
Wu Liang pointed to a wooden chair by the fireplace.
His voice was very calm, devoid of any emotion.
She sat down obediently, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes.
Wu Liang did not look at her; instead, he walked to the table on his own, poured two cups of warm water, and handed one to her.
"Drink some water to warm your body."
Alesha took the ceramic cup blankly. The warmth of the cup's wall transferred through her fingertips, giving her cold hands a bit of sensation.
"You have worked very hard, harder than anyone else."
Wu Liang finally spoke.
Alesha's body trembled violently. She looked up and stared at him in a daze.
"However, effort without direction or based on errors is useless."
Her face turned pale. Her lips moved, but she couldn't say a single word.
"This illness is not some curse from the gods."
Wu Liang looked directly into Alesha's eyes.
"It is a thing, an invisible, unimaginably tiny 'little bug'."
"These 'little bugs' travel from one person's body to another's through breathing and saliva."
"They multiply rapidly inside a person's body, damaging it, causing fevers and coughs, and finally, death."
Wu Liang used the simplest, most direct, and even somewhat crude language to explain the concepts of 'virus' and 'contagion' to this woman.
Alesha was completely stunned.
Little bugs?
Invisible little bugs?
Spreading through breathing and saliva?
What... what kind of theory was this?
"Think about it. Why did it break out in the Wounded Soldiers Camp first? Because the people there were the weakest, making it easiest for the 'little bugs' to invade."
"Why did people throughout the Tribe start getting sick later?"
"Because you went to care for the sick, spoke with them, and touched them."
"Those 'little bugs' jumped onto you, and then you brought them to even more people."
Wu Liang's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a heavy hammer striking Alesha's heart.
She recalled everything that had happened over the past few days, detail after detail flashing through her mind.
The warriors who first fell ill had beds very close to each other... the first Yuequan woman to collapse had just cared for the most severely ill patient the night before and had been coughed on directly... later, anyone who had entered or left the Wounded Soldiers Camp gradually developed symptoms... everything was exactly as Wu Liang said!
"How... how do you know all this?"
Alesha was bewildered.
"That is not important."
Wu Liang slowly walked up to her, looking down at her from his height.
"What is important is that I can give you the power to save everyone. I can give you true knowledge."
"To make you understand what these 'little bugs' really are, to let you know how to kill them and how to stop them from spreading."
"Of course, I won't give you all this for nothing."
The corner of Wu Liang's mouth curled into a slight arc.
"I need your loyalty."