A Race Against Time

What was bound to come could not be avoided after all.

Through Lynch's high-stakes maneuvering, the small town had enjoyed two days of calm, but just as dawn was about to break, the plague ultimately spread after all.

And it came without any warning.

Seeing Knight Terry's grim expression and rising panic, Lynch simply took charge and issued orders directly.

Officer Natalie was to protect Dr. Sven and remain behind at the fortress, staying fully focused on synthesizing the healing medicine and striving to produce results as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the other three would head to the scene with Knight Terry to figure out what had happened and why the plague had suddenly spread.

Had the mastermind behind the scenes struck again? Was there a flaw in their previously airtight defense, or had an infected individual slipped through the net?

Lynch couldn't be sure at the moment, but he didn't panic. His string of proactive moves had given him the upper hand, and the development of the medicine was already underway.

As long as they held out until the medicine was created, everything would turn out fine—just like the situation in the real world outside.

After several days together, the rugged knight had come to admire Lynch immensely, obeying his orders almost unconditionally. The moment Lynch spoke, Terry immediately complied. Dr. Sven naturally had no objections either, so a few minutes later, the group split into two teams. Lynch and his two companions followed Knight Terry straight toward the west of the city.

Only after setting off did the group have time to ask for the detailed situation.

A family of three—parents and a young girl—had fallen ill at an unknown time. At noon, they suddenly rushed out of their house, chasing and biting people in the street. After they killed two people on the spot and bit seven or eight others, the soldiers Terry had deployed for continuous patrols finally rushed over and temporarily brought the situation under control.

Based on past experience, the three madmen should have been executed on the spot, but the soldiers hadn't killed them, opting instead to merely restrain them.

“Why didn't they execute them? Any mercy will come at a terrible price.”

However, before the soldier could answer, a clamor of noisy voices drifted over from the distance.

They had arrived in the west of the city.

Terry asked no further questions and strode over. Yet as soon as he entered the scene, the knight froze on the spot.

Lynch followed close behind. The first things to catch his eye were two middle-aged adults in their forties and a young girl around ten years old, all in a state of extreme frenzy. Their eyes were bloodshot, and veins bulged across their faces—exhibiting the exact same symptoms as those mad soldiers before.

“It's them...”

“Hm?”

“Bru's family,” Knight Terry said in a heavy voice. “Bru was one of the four guards at the South Gate. Why have they fallen ill as well?”

Lynch didn't answer, instead scanning the surroundings together with Diana and Judy.

The scene was horrific, drenched in blood. The corpses of two victims lay to one side, covered in gnaw marks across their faces and necks, giving off a sickening metallic stench of blood.

There were also eight injured people whose wounds were relatively light—nothing more than a few bite marks on their hands and legs.

At this moment, several soldiers had detained them under the pretext of fetching Dr. Sven to bandage and treat their wounds. As these people waited for the doctor to arrive, they complained about why their neighbors had suddenly gone mad, entirely oblivious that their fates were already sealed.

Watching this, Lynch nodded approvingly. As expected of the Dark Age—even regular soldiers in a border town were sharp on duty. Their ability to adapt on the fly was far superior to many people from his past life.

But this still wasn't enough.

Lynch whispered with Miss Diana for a moment before dropping his head into deep thought. After pondering for a bit, he looked up, only to find a huge face shoved right up against his own, making him almost punch it out of reflex.

Seeing him lost in thought, Knight Terry had been staring at him with an expectant look, waiting for him to offer a crucial opinion.

“Tend to them first,” Lynch ignored the armored knight's eager anticipation. “Diana, help these injured people stop their bleeding. Don't fully heal them—just stopping the bleeding is enough.”

He then turned to Judy and said, “Translate for Terry alone: tell him to find a pretext to bring all these treated victims back to the fortress for mandatory isolation. They are all infected and must not be allowed to run around outside under any circumstances. In addition, have him instruct his soldiers to double-check with the eyewitnesses whether anyone injured fled before the soldiers arrived. If there are any, they must do everything in their power to find them.”

Relying on the authority he had accumulated earlier, the tasks were quickly assigned. The town was fortunate; no injured victims had escaped, and those left behind were the entirety of them.

This allowed Lynch to breathe a sigh of relief. The transmission of this type of plague usually grew exponentially; once it spread out of control, it would be impossible to contain. Furthermore, this plague manifested symptoms in just three to four hours—the speed was far too rapid. If left unchecked and allowed to spread freely, it would be hard to say whether there would be any living people left in the town by tomorrow noon when the medicine was synthesized.

However, even this wasn't completely safe. Lynch pulled out his pipe and lit it, bringing his mental state to its peak. He pondered in silence for a long time. Once Knight Terry had arranged everything, Lynch finally spoke:

“I have a theory as to why these three fell ill. Earlier, we discovered that the problem lay with the food—specifically, fine, high-quality food. Although the stomachs of the four South Gate guards were empty, their meals were likely similar. Could it be that the four of them did something together, were treated to this high-quality food as a reward, and Bru couldn't bear to eat it all himself, so he brought a portion back home for his family? Which led to his family becoming infected as well?”

Knight Terry froze for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.

To avoid revealing his suspicion of the city lord, Lynch refrained from mentioning the food's source altogether, focusing solely on analyzing the logic: “In that case, if it really was a rare delicacy they seldom got to enjoy, they might not have eaten it all in one go. So, there might still be some left in their house right now. Whether my guess is correct or not can be verified easily enough. Do you know where his house is?”

Of course he did. Terry immediately led the remaining soldiers and rushed to Bru's house. After a thorough search, they indeed found several special food items in the pantry cabinet.

A large slab of smoked beef, a basket of fresh fruit, several loaves of soft white bread, and a bag of snow-white flour.

There seemed to be nothing abnormal about them, yet as Lynch looked at them, he felt a subtle, rhythmic throbbing pain between his eyebrows.

Was this a reaction to mysterious essence? Were these the sources of infection?

However, Miss Diana and Miss Judy shook their heads in confusion. “The mystery reaction in those stomach contents earlier was extremely distinct, but we don't feel any mystery coming from this food at all.”

“Yet I can sense it, though it's different from the stomach contents earlier—the sensation is very faint...” Lynch mused aloud. “Strange, it couldn't be that I'm imagining things, could it?”

【It is no illusion, Lynch.】

“If it isn't an illusion, then there's only one possibility. These are the source, but they haven't met the activation conditions yet.” Under everyone's gaze, Lynch stated with absolute certainty, “As for the activation condition, it's very likely ingestion—mixing with gastric juice.”

“I can roughly picture what happened. After the four of them did whatever task together, rather than eating the food then and there, they brought it home. But since it was probably very late at the time, it wasn't until yesterday that Bru shared some of this fine food with his family, and then...”

“And then they fell ill.” Knight Terry's expression contorted as he followed the logic. “Which means this contagious plague that turns people into madmen can be concealed in any food. No one can detect it before eating it, and they can only realize they swallowed the source of the plague after going mad?”

“No, by that point, 'realizing it' doesn't matter anymore,” Lynch said with a bitter smile. “If I'm not mistaken, the situation is just as dire as you said. The plague could erupt on a massive scale at any moment. What we need to do is keep a tight grip on the situation and stop the plague's spread at all costs before Dr. Sven finishes compounding the medicine. Heh, we're racing against time, and against our opponent—we'll see whose moves are faster. As for whether we're right or wrong, bringing these items back for Dr. Sven to test will yield our answer naturally. Besides, another thought occurred to me.”

“Hm?”

“The four guards fell ill around the same time, which means they ate their food at around the same time. Now that Bru's family has fallen ill, what about the families of the other three?”

“Dammit!”

Cold sweat broke out across Terry's forehead. He kicked open the door and rushed out with his men.