280: resident Evil

Looking at Chang'an City, which was shrouded in dark clouds, Tang Ku and the others were shocked!

They hurried into the city, and after Tang Ku settled Ksitigarbha in the Du Xin Domain, he rushed into the imperial palace, travel-worn and weary.

Inside Daming Palace, the atmosphere was equally gloomy and despondent; whether it was palace maids, eunuchs, or royal relatives, over a hundred people had already fallen ill. Fortunately, thanks to the Lingque Pill refined by Li Chunfeng of the Si Tian Jian, the spread of the epidemic had been temporarily controlled.

When Tang Ku saw Li Chengqian, he simply could not believe his eyes.

Although he hadn't contracted the illness, he looked even more haggard than those who were sick, and he had become so thin that he was unrecognizable!

"Your Majesty... how did it come to this?"

Tang Ku asked in shock.

"I... I can't hold on much longer!"

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly and helplessly, "I have slept for less than three hours in these past six days. Every day, as I listen to the reports on the epidemic situation outside, I get a splitting headache, as if someone is trying to smash my skull."

"Your Majesty, do not worry. Please tell me first what exactly has happened!"

As he spoke, Tang Ku grabbed Li Chengqian's hand and slowly channeled a wisp of Buddha Power into him.

"Sigh, I am ashamed to say, ever since I ascended the throne, although I have achieved nothing, I have always kept in mind the instruction to love the people like my own children. My father also constantly reminded me of it, and I have always kept in mind the words of the Old Prime Minister Wei: 'Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.' But... but why must Heaven send down such punishment, causing the people of my Chang'an City to suffer such a disaster?"

As he spoke, Li Chengqian suddenly burst into loud sobs. His sorrowful voice moved everyone, and Tang Ku was no exception.

After crying for a long time, Li Chengqian slowly told Tang Ku what had happened in recent days.

It turned out that nine days ago, a sudden plague had swept across the entire Chang'an. The cause, surprisingly, was a sick pig.

Some of the city's commoners had bought half a side of pork from a butcher named Zhang, saying it was for a banquet to celebrate an elder's birthday.

Who could have imagined that this banquet would implicate dozens, even hundreds of families, infecting them with a strange disease, which subsequently led to the deaths of over a dozen seriously ill people one after another.

"The bodies of the infected start to rot from the skin, and then the body becomes as fragile and easily destroyed as a rag doll. Often, a light tug is enough to rip off a finger. Furthermore, their faces become terrifying, their eyeballs roll back, and they become extremely aggressive... they will bite their own family and friends, and thereby infect even more people... This is the investigation result given by the Si Tian Jian... Tracing the root cause, it is that butcher named Zhang who is the problem..."

Tang Ku frowned slightly and thought to himself, "This situation... it looks somewhat familiar!"

Li Chengqian said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "That butcher Zhang was later interrogated by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice, and he revealed the truth. It turned out that he did not slaughter this pork himself; instead, he bought the pork from a diseased pig that had died from a merchant at a low price..."

As he spoke, Li Chengqian took a piece of paper from his bosom and gently opened it. On it was a portrait of a person. Although it was slightly crude, it vividly captured the person's facial features.

He had sparse hair on his head, the looks of a thief, a sharp and thin chin, and triangular eyes. He looked rather wretched.

"We have searched the entire Chang'an, but there is no such person... I know the methods of the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple is no pushover either. I feel that this butcher named Zhang would not lie, so there must be something wrong with this person..."

Li Chengqian said in a deep voice, "Everything must have started from this person... This guy came prepared, and his goal is very clear: to exterminate the descendants of my Tang Dynasty and make us lose without a fight. Holy Monk, just when we thought war was still far away, the enemy has already struck at our home!"

Tang Ku flipped through the memorials on the table... most were reports from local officials. After reading for a long while, he finally said, "It is not too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost. Fortunately, this disaster has not spread to other prefectures, so there should still be a chance for salvation... Hmm, Your Majesty has not rested for too long; you need to have a good sleep... Uncle Zhang..."

"I am waiting here. What are your instructions, Holy Monk?"

Zhang Anan said respectfully from outside the door.

"Your Majesty is exhausted. You need to be diligent and attend to His Majesty's rest..."

Tang Ku said.

"Holy Monk, I cannot sleep..."

Li Chengqian's voice was still sobbing.

"It does not matter. With me here, you can sleep soundly. By tomorrow, everything will be restored to as it was..."

As he spoke, Tang Ku gently pressed his right hand on his forehead, and a faint, warm Qi was channeled into his body. Li Chengqian could not help but feel waves of drowsiness and fatigue wash over him. Within three breaths, he was already slumped on the desk, fast asleep.

Zhang Anan had been waiting outside the door. Hearing the movement, he walked in, only to find that the Emperor had already entered a dreamland. He could not help but finally breathe a sigh of relief and sighed, "It is fortunate that the Holy Monk returned in time; otherwise, I fear His Majesty would not have been able to hold on!"

Tang Ku smiled faintly, "You have not rested for a long time either, Uncle Zhang. Rest assured, once tonight is over, I will ferret out the culprit and find a way to cure this."

Zhang Anan nodded and carried Li Chengqian to the dragon bed to rest. Before long, snoring could be heard. Tang Ku turned to leave, but he heard a murmuring voice behind him say, "Holy Monk... do not let our efforts... go to waste!"

Tang Ku smiled, nodded, and flew towards the Si Tian Jian after leaving the palace gate.

As if he had known he would come, Yuan Tiangang was already waiting on the roof. With a serious expression, he cupped his hands at Tang Ku and said, "Holy Monk, you have finally returned... Please come with me... Brother Li is conducting experiments, and there should be results soon..."

As he spoke, he brought Tang Ku to a quiet room, where he saw Li Chunfeng wearing a large white apron and rubber gloves... This technology had been given to them by Tang Ku. Using rubber to manufacture them had made great progress in technical innovation.

Besides Li Chunfeng, there was also a corpse and half a pig's leg. At this moment, he was using a small silver knife to pick something out of the corpse's head, which looked like a parasite.

"It is this thing that is making everyone go crazy..."

Li Chunfeng seemed to know someone had arrived, turned his head, and said to Tang Ku, "This thing is a strange parasite... Although I do not know where it came from, the culprit must be this thing that is entrenched in the human brain!"

"Then what was found on this pig's leg?"

Tang Ku asked, looking at the highly decomposed pig's leg.

"Tooth marks..."

Li Chunfeng said, "Something like a rat, but not a rat... Moreover, the original state of this parasite is something like an insect egg, which is right inside these tooth marks!"

Tang Ku pursed his lips, "This is the Tang Dynasty version of Resident Evil... By the way, come with me to the Du Xin Domain. I think I have a way to cure this disease!"