Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The group arrived at the camp and walked past the sick people that were placed in quarantine.

The patients seemed fairly normal after a rough glance, but their noses would not stop running. It was similar to common influenza across the world, and before knowing that it was some deadly disease, no one treated it seriously. The people did not even feel it was strange when many were showing the same symptoms.

The local authority and the experts in the medical field did not realize there was a plague in because its symptom was just too similar to common flu. As a result, many Croatians had fallen victim to it.

No one knew how the disease spread, so the medical team had to wear hazmat suits when in direct contact with the patients. As many patients were diagnosed and quarantined, all of Kakka City, which had the highest number of victims, was immersed in terror.

Unfortunately, the authorities of Kakka City did not treat the plague seriously enough and seal the city decisively. As a result, the nearby cities were struck by the disease, too. The people were even more terrified knowing that more cities had fallen victim to the plague.

The local authorities were utterly clueless about what to do with the plague. Even the Magic Association was helpless, so they could only ask the Parthenon Temple for help. However, a Servant that had been sent here had contracted the disease, too. The seriousness of the plague immediately escalated.

The whole city was troubled by the plague, and the local government was tied up with the media. Other countries were keen to help, too, but before they knew how the disease spread, no one would come here just to die!

Therefore, it was quite scary considering how Xinxia was assigned to resolve the plague. If she contracted the disease when there was no viable treatment to it, she would end up waiting for her death, just like the others that were quarantined.

Fortunately, even when someone contracted the disease, it did not kill them within a short period, except those that were already suffering from other diseases. Most people that contracted the disease were still alive.

"Even though we have yet to see a whole lot of people dying to the plague, it's only a matter of time judging from how weak these people seem. If a huge bunch of them die, the situation is only going to worsen, and even the quarantine zone is going to be affected!" Lingling observed.

Once people started to die to the plague before the government found a cure for it, the people would start to lose hope and would choose to flee for their lives. They would even oppose the government that tried to quarantine them. Once that happened, sick people could do anything. They would flee in large numbers to random places and spread the disease to more people. Croatia was not a big country, and a few cities had already fallen to the plague. Soon, everybody in the country would contract the disease!

"I don't understand, the situation is already this bad, yet the Parthenon Temple didn't seem to care too much about it. Are they seriously just going to stand and watch these people die?" Mo Fan snapped furiously.

"That's not it, but they want to investigate the source of the plague before sending more people here. Otherwise, they would only join the sick," Xinxia explained.

"In the past, graverobbers would bring a duck with them and put the duck into the tombs to check if there was oxygen or poison inside them. You are like the duck that was used to test for poison!" Mo Fan tapped Xinxia on her nose. He was utterly speechless by how naive she was.

However, since they were already here, they had no choice but to resolve the matter!

Mo Fan glanced at Lingling, trying to see if the girl had found any useful traces.

"I've done some homework before coming here, and I've asked someone in the Hunter Union to collect any related information for me. I've briefly organized the findings on the flight here. Since the symptoms are too similar to common flu, it's going to be tricky to find the first victim of the disease. That being said, I assume everyone that has the flu will buy some medicine if their noses kept running, so I've asked the Magic Association to list the names that have bought flu medicine recently. It's quite fortunate that the people in this country are required to present their medical card when buying medicine!" Lingling remarked.

"How are you going to find the first batch of people that contracted the disease within such a huge pile of data?" Mo Fan said.

"We know that Kakka City is the source of the plague for sure, and there aren't many chemists in the city. If we shrink the area further according to the symptoms...there aren't really that many people that bought the medicine," Lingling said.

"What's the point of gathering data like this!? We can't afford to waste any time further on it," Fiona said crossly.

"Fiona, be patient. Our healing only works if we could learn more about the disease. The Pistil Drops we brought to Croatia are working; at least they can slow down the pace of worsening of the patients," Xinxia explained to Fiona.

Lingling simply ignored the blunt young woman. She glanced at a figure that was approaching them rapidly.

"Zhang Xiaohou is back," Mo Fan followed her gaze and realized Zhang Xiaohou had disappeared for a while after they came out from the camp.

Zhang Xiaohou's cultivation had significantly improved. He was a few thousand meters away a few seconds ago, but he was already right in front of them. He said with a hint of joy, "Lingling, I've checked the places that you told me to!"

"What did you find?" Lingling asked.

"It's really as you said, one of the places has a prison!" Zhang Xiaohou said.

"Why are you so happy when you've only found a prison? Couldn't you easily find it on a map?" Fiona said.

"The problem is, we aren't just trying to find a prison. Lingling only told me to check a few places, and there really was a prison among them," Zhang Xiaohou replied.

"If we want to find a cure to the plague, we need to find those that contracted the disease first. Only then we'll be able to find its source. However, even the local government has failed to find the people after so long, do you really think we can find it with just the few of us? I suggest that we report the situation to the Parthenon Temple now, so they can send more people here!" Fiona exclaimed.

"We've found it," Lingling said.

"Found it?" Xinxia was utterly surprised. She felt like Lingling had not done anything, so why did she say she had already found the source?

Mo Fan was looking at Lingling too. He had never doubted Lingling; if the girl said she had found it, she meant it. The problem was, didn't she simply crack the case a bit too quickly? Did the name of the Clearsky Hunter Agency really grant its Hunters the capabilities of Justice Bao?

{TL Note: The first two words of the Clearsky Hunter Agency in raw is 'Qingtian', which is the name of Justice Bao, a Chinese politician famous for his ability to help peasants overcome injustice and corruption.}

"The reason I asked Brother Xiaohou to look for a prison among the places is because I've discovered a prison guard among the people that first went to buy the medicine. I believe the local government failed to find the first batch of patients and the source of the disease because the people that bought the medicine aren't really the first patients. They are the prisoners in the prison. Since the prisoners are locked in the prison, they are basically quarantined, thus were simply left out by the people investigating the source. They would at most investigate the prison guard, but with so many things going on, who would bother placing much attention on him?" Lingling said.

"So you asked Zhang Xiaohou to see if there was a prison? Why don't we tell the government our findings so they can send someone over to investigate, since it might be too much for us to handle?" Mo Fan asked.

"It's not necessary, the government tried to find the source by tracking down the first batch of patients, so they were pretty loose with the criteria, meaning they had to send out more people to investigate every suspicious person. They would eventually track the source to the prison, but since we've already found the prison, it will be a lot easier for us to find the source. The activity range of the prisoners in a prison is fairly limited. Besides, it's only my speculation so far, so it's meaningless to ask the government to send someone over without any solid proof," Lingling said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go to the prison," Mo Fan said.

"If we can find the source, I am confident enough to come up with the cure! Brother Mo Fan, both you and Lingling are so impressive!" Xinxia's face was filled with joy.

"Of course, the two of us even managed to solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse!" Mo Fan agreed promptly.

-----

The prison was located by a cliff, tall and steep. Since the prisoners were mainly normal people, it did not have a magic formation protecting it. Besides, the prisoners would simply be hopeless if they tried to escape over the cliff. Below it was only reefs, and the seawater had no chance of receiving them if they jumped off the cliff!

A prison was definitely not the most pleasant place to visit. Considering that the group might contract the disease, Xinxia purposely cast a Blessing Spell on everyone before they entered the prison. It was imprinted on their skin like a seal, and would immediately form a defensive barrier when the Poison Element, Shadow Element, or any evil magic tried to harm them.

The prison was completely sealed off. Even the prison guards were trapped inside. The prison clearly had a sufficient supply of food and water, but the government was so busy that it did not have time to care about the prison.

"Strange, why did it light up?" Mo Fan suddenly mumbled to himself.

Mo Fan was surprised to see the Essence Orb lighting up when he took it out. Its brilliance was pulsating slightly, as if it was being summoned!

Mo Fan recalled that he had found the Evil Essence Orb in a prison of Mages filled with the presence of evil.

The Orb had lit up, but Mo Fan could not tell if the orb was trying to alert him that there was something it could absorb nearby.

Mo Fan had traveled halfway across the world and visited many places, but the only place he found an energy to fill up the Essence Orb was the ancient Time Liquid. As such, when he realized the Essence Orb had lit up, he was immediately excited!

Once the Essence Orb was filled up, he could finally use the power of the Demon Element without losing his cultivation. How could Mo Fan not be excited about it?

He never thought he would find something he needed when he was only keeping Xinxia company as she came to do a kind deed.

He had to search the prison closely, to see if there was anything in it that could fill up his Essence Orb!