The Black Death
Ouyang Qiangang and Du Jin-seong's peaceful journey entered its third day.
They had just turned onto a nameless, narrow mountain path that lay a hundred and fifty li short of the Ouyang Clan Manor.
With a rustle of undergrowth, a boy in ragged clothes stumbled out of the forest a dozen jang ahead of them.
Ouyang Qiangang's expression hardened.
The boy's condition was simply too wretched.
The child's skin had turned an unnatural black, as though eaten by decay, and his terrified eyes wandered aimlessly through empty air.
"Sa…ve……."
The boy stretched his hands toward them in desperate pleading, ran a few steps, and then, some ten jang away, abruptly collapsed.
Thud.
Before the boy's body even touched the ground, Ouyang Qiangang had already registered that his breath had stopped.
Startled, he was about to kick his horse into a gallop toward the boy—
Kkieeeek!
Geum Wang, perched on his shoulder, bristled every hair on his body and let out a piercing shriek.
Then he leapt swiftly from Ouyang Qiangang's shoulder down over the horse's head, spread both arms wide, and blocked his path.
"……!"
Ouyang Qiangang knew perfectly well that Geum Wang would never block him without a reason.
"Geum Wang, you're telling me not to go near that boy?"
Geum Wang nodded his head vigorously.
Ouyang Qiangang halted, dismounted, and stopped Du Jin-seong with an outstretched hand before the youth could rush toward the boy.
"Brother Du, stop. Don't go near him."
The Ouyang Clan Manor and the Du Clan Manor had restored their relationship as main family and vassal house, yet Ouyang Qiangang still spoke to Du Jin-seong with polite formality.
It made clear that the two families stood not as lord and servant but as allies — and besides, Du Jin-seong was a year older than he was.
'Akasha, Geum Wang's behavior is completely unlike his usual self. He seems to sense something dangerous about that boy… Give me a precise scan of the child's body.'
[Understood, Doctor.]
Akasha deployed a group of nanobots into the boy's corpse and examined it in minute detail.
A moment later, an urgency she had never shown before tinged her voice.
[Doctor, we must leave this area immediately. Yersinia pestis bacteria have been detected in the subject's blood and tissue. What killed that boy was septicemic plague.]
"The Black Death……."
Ouyang Qiangang's face changed drastically.
He had never studied medicine, but he knew all too well how terrifying a pandemic the plague had been throughout human history.
Even the Records of Life and Death described it under the name of yeokjil — pestilence — as a catastrophe that, once loosed, could swallow an entire nation.
'Septicemic plague… as long as it doesn't mutate into the pneumonic form, it won't spread through the air. But…….'
His gaze turned toward the dark forest path from which the boy had come running.
'Beyond that forest… what in the world is happening over there?'
A chill ran down his entire body as the realization struck him: he was facing the very plague that had been called humanity's worst calamity.
'Akasha, execute preventive measures now.'
[Understood, Doctor. I will now release nanobots around your and Du Jin-seong's bodies to form a 'nano-aerosol filter.']
Akasha's voice echoed through his mind.
[This filter will physically block any airborne pathogens, as well as infected carriers such as fleas, from coming within a one-meter radius. Note that maintaining the filter will continuously drain your internal energy.]
The moment Akasha finished speaking, Ouyang Qiangang felt a steady trickle of internal energy, thin as strands of hair, draining out from his dantian.
Hundreds of nanobots had been released and were now forming and sustaining an invisible barrier.
Ouyang Qiangang spoke to Du Jin-seong, who was staring at him with a bewildered expression.
"Brother Du, that boy is already dead. And he's carried a horrific pestilence — under no circumstances are you to go near him."
"Pestilence…?!"
Shock and confusion warred across Du Jin-seong's face.
He could not begin to understand how Ouyang Qiangang, standing a full ten jang away, had known the boy was already dead — and how, without ever taking his pulse, he had even known he was infected.
Utterly oblivious to his bewilderment, Ouyang Qiangang went on.
"Brother Du, go gather some dry branches."
And he himself began collecting the dry branches scattered around them.
Du Jin-seong had no idea what was going on, but he followed the instruction at once.
His martial skill barely scraped the threshold of First-rate, yet he was still far stronger and faster than an ordinary man.
In less than half a quarter-hour, a pile of branches as tall as a man had been gathered.
Only then did Ouyang Qiangang slowly approach the boy's corpse.
Realizing what he intended, Du Jin-seong asked anxiously.
"Young Master, didn't you say it was pestilence? It's dangerous to approach."
"I've taken preventive measures. It's fine."
Du Jin-seong could not fathom what preventive measures he might possibly have taken, and an anxiety rose in his chest so thick it was suffocating.
Utterly oblivious, Ouyang Qiangang kept walking toward the boy.
Suppressing a sigh, Du Jin-seong asked.
"You mean to cremate him? The child must have family. Shouldn't we bury him first and inform them?"
Ouyang Qiangang looked back at him.
"Brother Du, the poisonous miasma of this pestilence lingers in the corpse. It will contaminate the soil and can readily pass to others through rats and small vermin."
His voice was calm as he continued.
"With this era's notions of hygiene, we can hardly expect a safe burial. Purifying everything with high heat to prevent further victims is the best course — and the final courtesy — for the sake of that child and of us who are still alive."
Du Jin-seong found himself at a loss for words at the explanation.
'He diagnosed the disease without taking a pulse, and now he predicts contagion through soil and vermin. The Young Master's conduct lies entirely outside the common sense of the martial world. And yet there isn't a single thread of hesitation or wavering in his eyes. How is this possible……?'
A bitter look on his face, Ouyang Qiangang went on.
"And if that boy was reduced to this state, there is a high likelihood that his entire family — his whole village — has already been slaughtered."
Such profound knowledge, and such compassion, in a man who should have known nothing of it.
Du Jin-seong could say nothing more, and fell silent.
[Doctor, I have activated the nano-biohazard protective film. Direct contact with pathogens is now blocked at one hundred percent.]
The invisible nanobots spread a thin membrane across Ouyang Qiangang's skin and clothing.
He was now completely protected from any risk of infection, even if he touched the corpse directly.
He carefully lifted the boy's body, laid it upon the pile of branches he had prepared, and drew out his fire striker.
Sammae True Fire, the art of kindling flame through pure qi, was the exclusive domain of masters who had reached the Transcendent Realm.
Ouyang Qiangang had not yet attained that stage.
A moment later, a small flame caught on the dry branches.
Fwaaaarrr—
The fire swelled in an instant and began fiercely burning the boy's corpse along with every trace of the plague.
Du Jin-seong broke the silence.
Worry filled his voice to the brim.
"Young Master, what do you intend to do now? Shouldn't we return to the manor as quickly as possible and inform the Clan Elder about this horrific pestilence?"
His words were eminently reasonable and only natural.
But Ouyang Qiangang showed no sign of turning back. He was staring down the dark forest path from which the boy had emerged.
"There is something I must do before returning to the manor."
"Sir? What might……?"
"I must go to where that dead boy came from."
Du Jin-seong's expression turned rigid.
"Young Master, didn't you say that place must already be dead from the pestilence? Going there is far too dangerous."
Ouyang Qiangang looked back at him with level eyes and asked.
"Brother Du, do you know what matters most when facing an enemy? It is to know your enemy."
His gaze, as he continued, was as untroubled as the surface of a still lake — not a single ripple upon it.
"The same holds true for this pestilence. Right now, we know nothing about it. How it began, how fast it spreads, what weaknesses it might have. If all we do is run, it is only a matter of time before this calamity swallows Nanchang whole."
His eyes turned toward the forest once more.
"We must go to the boy's village. Once we've gathered as much information as we can there, then we'll return to the manor."
At his words, a shiver ran through Du Jin-seong.
It was not from fear.
It was awe — awe at the sight of a young master who, instead of fleeing the calamity before his eyes, meant to walk straight into its heart and confront it head-on.
Ouyang Qiangang gave Akasha his orders.
'Akasha, we're heading into wherever the boy came from. We don't know what's waiting, so deploy the nanobots and protect us.'
[Understood, Doctor.]
Ouyang Qiangang strode into the forest without a moment's hesitation.
Du Jin-seong followed behind him, his face grim.
The two pressed along the forest path, relying on Akasha's nanobot reconnaissance and protection.
Naturally, Du Jin-seong could never have imagined what awaited them.
About two hours had passed when a small village emerged through the trees beyond the forest.
Small fields carved into the mountainside, medicinal herbs hanging from the eaves of the houses — and dozens of people lying dead where they had fallen, scattered everywhere…….
A village that must once have been poor but peaceful had become a perfect space of death, without a single flicker of life remaining.
Standing at the village's entrance, Du Jin-seong was struck speechless by the desolation.
Yet what shocked him even more — what struck him as truly uncanny — was the sight of Ouyang Qiangang, a year his junior, neither grieving nor terrified, but observing the village with cold, clinical clarity.
'To keep such composure in the face of this calamity… I almost doubt the Young Master is human at all…….'
Oblivious to whatever thoughts were running through Du Jin-seong's head, Ouyang Qiangang was conversing with Akasha.
[Doctor, judging from the construction of the houses and the layout of the surrounding fields, these people were huajeon-min — mountain dwellers who burned and terraced the slopes to farm. Furthermore, judging from the large quantity of medicinal herbs and gathering tools strewn outside several of the houses, there is a high probability they also worked as herb gatherers.]
'I need a precise grasp of this plague's characteristics. Akasha, run detailed analysis on the corpses and secure the data.'
[Understood.]
At his command, the invisible nanobots penetrated the victims' bodies and began collecting data on the plague.
Before long, Akasha's voice rang through Ouyang Qiangang's mind.
[Data acquisition complete. Due to contamination risk, the units — nanobots — deployed for analysis cannot be recovered. I will now execute the self-destruct sequence, incinerating them at high heat along with every pathogen they carry.]
'Nothing to be done about it. What's the scale of the loss?'
[Fifty nanobots.]
Leaving the huajeon-min village behind, Ouyang Qiangang swept the surrounding area together with Du Jin-seong.
He wanted to determine just how far the plague had spread.
They found three more villages, spaced some twenty li apart.
The results were identical to the first village.
Total annihilation.
In Ouyang Qiangang's mind's eye, the map Akasha had analyzed appeared.
[Doctor, I have marked the locations of the four villages confirmed so far. Judging from the current path of transmission, I cannot pinpoint the outbreak site, but the plague is estimated to be spreading rapidly from the north toward the southeast.]
'How much time do we have before it reaches Nanchang?'
Akasha's answer was despair itself.
[Factoring in the current rate of transmission and Nanchang's geographic position, there is a ninety-one percent probability that the plague will reach the outskirts of Nanchang within seventy-two hours.]
Three days.
That was all the time remaining before a great city of hundreds of thousands became a hell on earth.