On the fifth day, the number of people infected exploded to more than 8,000, the death toll had exceeded 400, and many more were dying. Figueras and Erestor, who were the first to fall ill, died yesterday and the day before yesterday respectively.
However, there was one thing that was good news for Alfred. Mage Rodman studied the blood of the dead beast warriors and found that his previous speculation was basically reasonable. Those who were able to survive the disease or those who were in an infectious environment but did not get sick were the blood of the several attributes he mentioned before.
The first batch of attempts to test the effect of blood fusion had already been made. Duke Weber donated some blood, and under Rodman's operation, it was injected into the bodies of ten sick ordinary people and beast warriors together with blood-melting potions. After these people received the thin blood of the Light Lion, one of them could not withstand the power of the Light Lion blood and died from the backlash of the blood. Four people did not stimulate the abilities related to the blood, so naturally they could not resist the plague. Only five people more or less obtained the positive energy attributes of the Light Lion, two of whom barely maintained the course of the disease, and three began to slowly improve.
"30%! 30% of the 70,000-man army is only 20,000!" Alfred listened to the report and tapped the names of the few who were getting better on the report. "Not enough. Still not enough."
Mage Rodman said: "Your Majesty, in the first batch of experiments, we have not yet mastered the appropriate dosage. I believe that if I am given enough time, I can slowly increase this number to 40%.
Alfred pursed his lips, put down the report in his hand and said, "But this is only for the bloodline of the Light Lion, right? If it is replaced with a griffin or some other positive energy attribute bloodline, the effect may not be as good as this, right?"
Rodman said, "Yes, Your Majesty. But it could be higher. After all, the Empire's evaluation of bloodlines comes from their combat effectiveness. Maybe some bloodlines are not strong in themselves, but they are very helpful in resisting the plague."
Master Gandas said, "Your Majesty, now the bloodlines of the Light Lion, Griffin, and Golden Dragon have all responded to our request. They are all willing to make this deal with you. The people of the Duke Weber family and the Duval family have already arrived at Blackwood Pass. However, some small families do not understand the situation and seem hesitant. They may feel that the bloodlines they are given are not good enough, or they envy the Saint-level bloodlines."
"Fools who don't know their own weight." Alfred picked up a pen from the table, dipped it in ink, and began to write down a list of small family names on the report. "Edel, these families... ask them to send all the adults in their families to Blackwood Pass. For those who come, I will give them bloodline rewards, gold coins, and fiefdoms, just as I promised before. If I don't see them at Blackwood Pass within three days, they will be exterminated."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will arrange for someone to do it right away."
Alfred stood up and shook his robe. "The young people of the Weber family should be getting impatient. Let's see if these guys have good luck enough."
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Three days later, the teleportation array of Heimu Pass lit up again, and more than a dozen men and women dressed as nobles walked out. The oldest of these people was in their sixties, and the youngest was only in their teens. Their expressions seemed nervous and confused, and they had the rustic air of country nobles.
One of the girls, a girl in her teens, wearing a simple embroidered robe, asked an old man in his sixties, "Grandpa, is this the Black Wood Pass? Have we just crossed half the empire?"
The old man was obviously a little restrained. He whispered, "Emma, don't talk too much and listen quietly. The adults will give you instructions."
Outside the teleportation array, a middle-aged wizard was watching them. He held a piece of paper in his hand and checked it. He asked, "You are the Avulto family from Avasua City in the east of the empire, right? The bloodline of the Sunbird?"
"Yes," the old man bowed slightly.
"You are lucky. If you had been one hour late, you would not have completed His Majesty's order and your entire family would have been imprisoned." The middle-aged wizard pointed at the paper in his hand, "Five more families will be in trouble."
"Sir, it's not that we don't want to cooperate with His Majesty. It's just that the place where we live is too remote. Since we received the news from His Majesty, we have been traveling day and night to reach Jiaxitu City, where there is a teleportation array that can bring us here."
"I don't care about that. What's next is whether you can cooperate with His Majesty." The wizard said, "Follow me."
"Of course, of course." The patriarch of the Avulto family called on the others to follow, and the group followed the middle-aged wizard out. When they walked outside, they found that there was a strange smell floating in the entire Black Wood Pass. The pass was empty, and there were almost no people outside except for some soldiers guarding the sentry post.
The girl noticed that some people were carrying bodies out of the house on stretchers and piling them up in an open space. The bodies were all a strange black color and piled up like puddles of black mud.
"This plague looks terrible!" she couldn't help saying, "What are all these corpses piled up for?"
"Emma, don't talk nonsense!" The patriarch wanted to stop the girl's curiosity.
"Nothing." The middle-aged wizard stared at the corpses and said, "These are the corpses that need to be purified. In the evening, the magicians will use positive energy and fire magic to deal with them."
"Ah! These, these are the people who died in one day?" Emma screamed as she looked at the pile of corpses.
"That's right, the pile there is getting higher every day. As of today, more than 6,000 people have died from this plague. That's why His Majesty wants you to come here and use your blood to save more people." Seeing that the other party was a little girl, the middle-aged wizard was willing to answer her questions.
"Was this plague really caused by the Chinese?" Emma asked again.
"Of course, who else could it be except them? Why have there been no plagues in these years, but there are plagues as soon as we go to war with them? This is obvious." said the wizard.
"They, they are so evil." said Emma.
"Who says it's not?"
A group of people walked down the hill and came to the door of a big house. There were many people waiting in line outside, and then they walked into the house one by one.
"That's where you are going. Lord Rodman is injecting blood into ordinary people there, giving them the ability to resist the plague. Although your Sunbird bloodline is not good at fighting, it should be able to resist the plague. I hope you can give more of your bloodline to save more people."
"Yeah!" Emma nodded vigorously. (To be continued)