Chapter 178: Is this okay? |
In the Rune Mining Area, there were also churches.
Although the Holy Lord Church had been brought under the control of the Puritan Sect following the Empire's strict crackdowns, there still had to be at least a couple of churches left. After all, what kind of religion would it be if it didn't even have a church?
Naturally, in the upper levels of the Rune Mining Area, there was a church situated within a cavern. But unlike those in other places, because it was built inside a cave, the entire church was shrouded in darkness. Only burning torches and braziers illuminated this massive holy temple.
Behind the church, Levi stood watching Sister Elizabeth ahead of him.
She was still wearing her jet-black nun's habit, her hands gripping the All-Seeing Eye tightly as she knelt on the ground with her eyes closed. Before her stood a stout, heavy-set father who looked as though he could barely walk from overeating. Even the crimson robe he wore clung tightly to his frame.
Right now, he was holding his hands high, muttering under his breath before the altar, then picking up the incense and candles beside him to wave them in continuous circles.
"Great and all-knowing Holy Lord, I beseech Your grace here, longing for Your benevolence. Please send down Your infinite and mighty power to purify our souls and bodies..."
As he spoke, the father swung the incense and candles, praying in a low voice. Sister Elizabeth merely knelt behind him, whispering to herself, though it was impossible to tell what she was saying.
After a short while, the father set down the incense and candles, let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and nodded to Sister Elizabeth.
"Thank you, Father."
Sister Elizabeth stood up and performed a religious salute to the priest.
"You are welcome, it is my duty. It is just..."
At that point, the father could not help but look back at the altar.
"Will this really work?"
"All we can do now is pray for the Holy Lord's guidance."
Sister Elizabeth did not answer his question directly. She simply spoke quietly, walked to the altar, picked up the items placed there, and walked back to Levi's side.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Levi."
"No, it is fine. It is my first time seeing a blessing ceremony, and it is rather interesting."
"You heard the father's question. Are you certain this will actually work?"
"If my deduction is correct, and if that priest himself is indeed a qualified clergyman..."
Levi glanced at the beer-bellied father not far away.
"Yes, I think it should be effective. Probably."
"..."
Sister Elizabeth looked down at the tray in her hands and the medicine vials resting on it. Frankly, even as a nun, she had never expected such a proposal from Levi. Or rather, she had never considered that things could be done this way. But regardless, they had to give it a try now.
Carrying the vials, Sister Elizabeth arrived at the hospital, which was naturally overcrowded by now. Coughs and groans of agony could be heard from time to time, and even the doctors and nurses looked sallow and gaunt, appearing no different from the patients they cared for.
"Sister Elizabeth!"
Seeing Sister Elizabeth appear, a doctor hurriedly ran over.
"How is the situation? We need a massive amount of supplies, and regarding the treatment..."
"Regarding the treatment... well..."
Hearing the doctor's inquiry, Sister Elizabeth's expression turned complex, and she lowered her head.
"We have just discovered a new treatment and want to try it out to see if it is effective."
"A new treatment? Is it a new medicine?"
As he spoke, the doctor peered toward the liquid on the tray in her hands, while the latter subtly shifted her gaze away.
"Something like that. In short, let us proceed as usual and have those in critical condition try it first."
"Alright, I will go prepare immediately."
The doctor failed to notice Sister Elizabeth's evasiveness and ran off excitedly to make preparations. Sister Elizabeth sighed and walked into the adjacent ward.
Soon, a patient was quickly wheeled inside. The man's face was flushed crimson, his eyes listless, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
"This is a patient whose condition deteriorated rapidly today. His high fever will not recede, his consciousness is completely incoherent, and his current diagnosis indicates he has reached the final stage."
Although the report made it sound straightforward, Sister Elizabeth knew that if left alone, the patient would stop breathing within a few hours and transform into a Risen Dead. Therefore, if they wanted to save him, there was only one way.
"Give me a syringe."
"Yes, Sister."
A nearby nurse quickly handed the syringe to Sister Elizabeth. The nun took it, drew the liquid from the vial into the chamber, and approached the patient.
"Ugh... ah... ah..."
By now, the patient's eyes were rolling back as he groaned continuously. Sister Elizabeth closed her eyes, let out a soft sigh, and then firmly drove the needle into the patient's arm, depressing the plunger to inject the liquid inside.
Once the injection was complete, Sister Elizabeth withdrew the needle and stared intently at the patient.
"Ugh... ah... ah..."
At first, there seemed to be no change in the patient, but very quickly, his entire body began to convulse violently.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The patient's body thrashed wildly like a fish on dry land. Seeing this, the doctors and nurses did not dare to step forward at all.
Then, fresh blood began to seep from the patient's nostrils, ears, and mouth, while his struggles grew increasingly violent.
Is it really a failure after all?
Witnessing this, Sister Elizabeth sighed silently in her heart. To treat the plague, they had already tried various methods, including injecting patients with elements highly famous in the current medical world like radium and thorium, and even radon gas, but all had yielded negligible results. Now it seemed that even Mr. Levi's whimsical idea...
"Blargh!"
However, just as Sister Elizabeth was lost in thought, the patient suddenly wrenched his head to the side and began to vomit copiously. An unparalleled stench wafted through the room, causing a wave of dizziness even through their medical masks. This prompted the others to scramble out of the treatment room, not daring to spare another glance.
Before long, the patient seemed to finish vomiting and collapsed onto the bed, motionless. Just as everyone was considering whether they should prepare a body bag, the man slowly raised his head.
"Doctor... I am so thirsty..."
What?! Hearing the patient's slurred words, Sister Elizabeth was stunned for a moment.
Then, braving the foul odor, she hurriedly walked inside, approached the patient, and observed him carefully. The patient's face was deathly pale and soaked in sweat, looking as though he had just survived a catastrophic illness. However, the high fever that had been threatening to incinerate his body had vanished completely, and even his breathing had stabilized significantly!
"The patient has regained consciousness!"
"No way, how is that possible?"
Hearing Sister Elizabeth's exclamation, the other doctors and nurses were thoroughly shocked and rushed back inside.
"Quick, measure his temperature and perform a diagnosis immediately! He appears very weak right now. Hey, quickly transfer him to an isolated ward! Place him under full quarantine observation!"
The medical staff immediately leaped into action. Although they still did not understand how he had been cured, knowing that this terrifying plague could actually be treated was more than enough for them!
"Sister Elizabeth! This is magnificent! How on earth did you manage this?"
"This..."
Looking at the ecstatic doctor before her, Sister Elizabeth opened her mouth, but in the end, she merely gripped the All-Seeing Eye against her chest.
"All of this is a blessing from the Holy Lord."
That was all she could say.
Upon learning that the liquid was effective, the entire hospital swung into action. Sister Elizabeth remained to help out for a long time, only leaving the hospital once the first batch of the liquid was entirely depleted. When she stepped out of the hospital gates, she spotted Levi standing not far away, staring down into the distance of the Rune Mining Area.
He seemed to notice her arrival. Before she could even speak, Levi inquired, "How is the situation?"
"The patients injected with the liquid have all had their fevers recede. Though their bodies are still quite weak, the plague is at least no longer a threat to them."
Sister Elizabeth walked to Levi's side, gazing at the mine complex ahead.
"I really did not expect your method to actually work. How did you ever think of it?"
"It is simple. I just thought about it logically."
Levi chuckled in response to her question. The solution he proposed was quite simple. Since this plague virus seemed to be related to that God of Disaster, he would simply fight fire with fire. If the enemy used a deity's curse, he would use a deity's healing.
The Holy Lord Church was a religious institution after all; surely they couldn't be so incompetent that they didn't know how to create holy water and perform blessings? That was obviously impossible. In fact, that liquid wasn't some advanced medicine at all; it was pure saline solution. Fortunately, saline solution existed in this world, though what left Levi speechless was that people here didn't use it for medical treatments.
Instead, they treated it like a functional energy drink similar to Red Bull. To put it bluntly, if someone didn't have time to eat, they would just hook themselves up to a bottle of saline. With a saline drip, going without food or water for a few days was no problem at all! Yes, that was how people recommended it.
Salt could be used for purification in religious rituals, and salt was often added to holy water to signify the destruction of filth and the creation of pure holy water. Therefore, a saline solution was barely acceptable as a base. The next step was simply to have a priest or bishop perform a blessing over it to turn it into holy water, and then inject it into the patients' bodies.
"I am different from you, Miss Elizabeth. I am a detective, and a detective's job is to solve problems. As for how the problem is solved, that is a different matter altogether."
Actually, Levi had only been testing a theory. Since the virus had been enhanced by an evil god, shouldn't using holy water counter it perfectly? Moreover, no matter how one looked at it, the Empire worshipped the Holy Lord. Since the deity enjoyed the incense and faith of the people, it had to show some results.
Who would have thought it would actually work? Frankly speaking, although Levi appeared calm and unbothered on the surface, he was just as astonished as Sister Elizabeth in his heart.
I just made something up on the spot, and it actually worked?
This really is entirely unscientific...
"I will contact Mist City immediately to report this matter. Having the churches back in Mist City produce a massive amount of holy water should be enough for our needs."
The Rune Mining Area only had one small church, which wouldn't be enough even if it operated twenty-four hours a day. Mist City had far more churches, making it much more convenient to conduct mass blessings of holy water.
"By the way, have those who perform the blessings write their names on the bottles. If any bottle turns out to be ineffective, we will instantly know who the heretics are."
"Uh..."
Hearing Levi's insidious suggestion, Sister Elizabeth was left momentarily speechless. Only then did she realize a critical issue.
This was not just a crisis for the Rune Mining Area; it was an existential crisis for the Empire's Holy Lord Church! In the past, everyone sang praises to the Holy Lord, and it was impossible to tell who truly possessed faith. After all, one could never know what lay hidden in a person's heart, and no one could read minds.
But now, things were simple. If you truly believed in the Holy Lord, the holy water you blessed would be effective. If you lacked faith, your blessing would naturally fail.
Sister Elizabeth could already imagine that when this news reached Mist City, the entire upper echelon of the Holy Lord Church would probably explode with chaos. In a more severe scenario, it might even trigger a massive purge and reshuffling of power.
However... what did that have to do with her? She was just a nun, after all.
"I will go make the contact now."
"Remember to request more reinforcements. The source of infection is still down below, and we need more military strength."
Levi still remembered the massive black shadow wandering at the bottom of the pit. Although he didn't know what kind of entity it was, a concentrated barrage of firepower should be enough to give it a hard time. The prerequisite was having enough men.
"Understood."
Sister Elizabeth departed quickly, leaving Levi standing in place. He stared down toward the distant bottom of the mining pit with lingering questions, then shook his head helplessly and muttered under his breath.
"This really is entirely unscientific."