Goddess Kaleidoscope

But now the place has completely changed. A large number of dwarves are busy building a camp. They have a clear division of labor: some are setting up tents, some are sweeping the streets, and some are carrying silver-white metal buckets, pressing a metal rod with their left hand and holding a nozzle with their right hand, spraying a light blue mist that emits a faint fragrance.

Just then, Abadon saw a figure dressed in white in the distance, constantly directing the dwarves to work. Judging from his build, he appeared to be human. The dwarf warrior in charge of escorting them led them to this person and said very respectfully.

"Master, I have brought all the people you requested."

"Well done. Go and rest for a while. From now on, the security of the entire quarantine area will depend on you all."

"By the Three Gods above, it is my honor to serve you."

Realizing that the person before him must be an important figure, Abadon knelt down without being asked. Seeing the other person looking at him, he forced a fawning smile. In contrast, the skinny monkey beside him had much more backbone, still standing like a stick. But the price of his backbone was that he took another blow from a dwarf's ordinary punch, and curled up like a shrimp.

Fortunately, the important figure stopped the dwarf in time, preventing the skinny monkey from being beaten to death. The other party's words also gave Abadon a glimmer of hope.

"Alright! This guy is still useful, don't kill him."

"My lord, I know I was wrong. You are so magnanimous, I am willing to serve you like a slave!"

Abadong was familiar with the survival rules of the lower class: to survive, one had to make oneself useful, because useless people usually didn't live long.

It seemed that his statement had piqued the interest of the important figure before him, who turned and scrutinized him with great interest. Although the other person was wearing a white "mask," a smile could still be faintly seen on their face.

"Judging by your size, you must be Fat Snake Abadong?"

"Yes, it is indeed a petty person."

"How did you recover after you contracted the disease? How long did it take? Did you eat anything unusual during that time? If you want to live, tell the truth."

"me……"

Faced with a barrage of questions, Abadon was somewhat bewildered, because he himself didn't really know how he had recovered. But he keenly realized that the reason this important figure had sent people to capture him alive was probably related to his recovery. Just as he was thinking about how to use this to buy himself a way out, he heard the important figure continue.

"Never mind, don't rush to ask about that. Just sign the contract first."

"Ah! A contract? What contract?"

A bewildered Abadon looked up and saw the important man wave his hand. A woman walked over and placed a papyrus scroll covered in writing in front of him.

End of this chapter

Looking at the document in front of him, Abadon looked troubled.

Lude realized that he was illiterate, so he had Aina read the contents of the contract to the thugs present.

Abadon and Dilis then realized that the important figure in front of them was not making them sign a contract of servitude, but a contract even more outrageous than that.

The full name of this contract is the "Medical Experiment Volunteer Agreement". The signatory is referred to as Party B, while the experimenter is referred to as Party A.

The second party, upon signing this contract, will "voluntarily" cooperate with the first party in all medical-related human experiments, unconditionally obey any instructions from the first party, and bear all risks that may arise from the medical experiments. If the second party refuses to cooperate during the experiment, the first party will have the right to force the second party to comply in accordance with this agreement. The agreement also emphasizes at the end that the final interpretation of this agreement rests with the first party.

Even the most uneducated thugs realized something was wrong and were terrified. However, surrounded by a group of fierce-looking dwarf soldiers, these cowardly bullies were too scared to even lift a finger.

In the end, it was Abadon who took the lead. He could tell from the eyes of the dwarves around him that if he signed the contract, he might die, but if he didn't sign it, he would definitely die immediately!

This coward had no backbone and obediently pressed his fingerprint on the agreement. With him leading the way, the other henchmen also compromised, even a resentful, skinny guy named Dilis pressed his fingerprint on it.

Looking at these dejected thugs, Lude's lips, hidden beneath his mask, curled slightly upward, revealing a disdainful smile.

As the old saying goes, evil people will always be punished by evil people. Although he didn't really intend to do any heinous human experiments on them, that didn't stop him from making such a "contract of servitude" to give these scumbags a good scare.

Therefore, this contract can be said to be tailor-made for them. After all, under normal circumstances, no good person would force another good person to sign such an unequal "blessing agreement"!

"There's no need to be so afraid. Not all experiments are fatal. After all, I'm not some kind of demon. Once this is over, I'll perform a minor surgery on you all, and then you can all debut as idols."

Completely unaware of what an "idol" was, the bewildered Abadon and his companions were forcibly dragged away by the dwarf soldiers. What awaited them was a "forced purification" that was no less brutal than the process of slaughtering a pig and removing its hair, followed by being placed in a separate dark room.

Lud wasn't in a hurry to experiment on them; everything in the quarantine zone was just getting started, and there were many more important things for him to deal with.

Following Lud's plan, three hundred dwarf volunteers and all medical students entered the quarantine zone. By enticing everyone with the promise of capturing villains and providing free ultimate food, Lud quickly gathered all the surviving patients in the quarantine zone, registering and categorizing them.

The entire isolation area has a total of 1877 infected people, who are divided into five categories according to the severity of their symptoms: mild, severe, critical, under observation (recovered), and special. They are placed in different isolated areas and receive targeted treatment.

Patients with milder symptoms and those who had recovered on their own were first required to undergo purification. The dwarves had already used readily available materials to convert several suitable houses into bathrooms. Instead of explaining to these patients why they needed to bathe, Rudd told them that if they didn't clean themselves up, they wouldn't be able to receive the pork bone and potato soup that was simmering in the large pot.

Faced with the temptation of food, no one chooses to refuse.

Patients with more serious and critical conditions can receive priority treatment from Ludl to save their lives.

There were more than two hundred critically ill patients, housed in medical tents along both sides of the street. It was early spring, and Oyster Harbor was located on the northern coast, where the temperature was still quite cold, dropping below zero at night. However, these tents were specially made by the dwarves, with double-layered rock wool felt, providing excellent insulation and making them warmer than those dilapidated huts that let in drafts from all sides.

When Luther arrived at the ward, his medical students were using their knowledge to diagnose these critically ill patients.

"Teacher, you've arrived!"

How are the patients?

"The most seriously ill patients are concentrated in wards one through four. Most of them are already confused and are generally very weak due to long-term malnutrition. If they are not rescued in time, they will most likely not make it to nightfall."

"Okay, I understand the situation. Leave it to me!"

Patting his student on the shoulder, Lu De looked around. Ward number one was packed with twenty critically ill patients, most of whom were poor people with gaunt faces, so thin that they looked like skin and bones. If it weren't for their faint breathing, they would look like mummies.

It's clear that a grown person becoming this horribly thin is not something that can be achieved simply by starving for a few days; it's likely that they had been in a sub-healthy state for a long time before being infected.

"Goddess! These suffering people need your mercy."

After whispering a prayer, Rudd began to cast a spell. However, instead of using a purification spell that could instantly cure the illness, he used a group buff to enhance the patients' vitality. The entire process lasted about ten minutes. The patients did not recover immediately, but their complexions improved significantly, and their previously dry skin began to show a healthy glow.

Nanding, who was watching Lude save people from the sidelines, couldn't help but nod in approval. He had thought that with so many critically ill patients, Lude couldn't possibly save them all. After all, divine spells are limited in number of uses; an ordinary priest might use one two or three times a day at most, and even if Lude tried to steal more, he couldn't possibly cast over a hundred spells in a row.

Lude, however, took a different approach. Instead of using a purification spell that could only save one person at a time, he used a group buff spell that was weaker on a single target but could be used on multiple people simultaneously, thus alleviating the symptoms of twenty patients at once.

At this time, Nan Ding did not know that Lu De was actually fully capable of treating hundreds of people in a row, but doing so would be too shocking, and he hoped that the patients could rely on their own immune systems to fight off the virus.

Because the healing magic has a rather fatal flaw: the person being cured does not develop antibodies like someone who heals themselves, and may very well be infected again as soon as they are cured.

Similar situations have occurred more than once in Oyster Harbour. Some wealthy people with weak awareness of prevention have been infected again and again. Relying on their wealth, they can always afford to hire priests to cure their illnesses, resulting in a further waste of the already scarce resources of divine arts.

Therefore, what Lude needs to do is not to use divine magic to eliminate the viruses that are rampant in the bodies of the infected, but to use divine magic as an aid to help the patient's own immune system overcome the disease!

End of this chapter

Several kilometers away from the East Street isolation zone, this is a completely different affluent neighborhood. The grand temple of the Four Seasons Goddess Cult stands here, with its colorful brick walls composed of four colors: blue, green, yellow, and white. The regularly arranged bricks of the four colors symbolize the most important position of the Four Seasons Goddess—the changing of the seasons.

Bishop Evanrus, who usually slept until he naturally woke up, didn't open his eyes until midday when the sun was high in the sky. The large, white-skinned man got up and looked around the bed. The two nuns who had served him the night before had already left, and he was alone in the luxurious bedroom.

Evanrus didn't rush to call the nuns who had been waiting outside to help him change and wash. Instead, he walked naked to the window. The stained-glass window, made up of countless pieces of colored glass, allowed him to see the scenery outside, while those outside couldn't see him inside.

Evan Ruth really enjoyed this one-way display; it gave him a strange sense of pleasure.

"Ah! What a beautiful day! Desperate fools, pray to the gods for forgiveness! Your faith will pave a path to my ascension!"

Like someone with a delusional disorder, Evanrus muttered words that ordinary people could not understand.

Those who understand these words will understand, and those who don't won't care!

Born into a religious family, Evenus learned and grew up in a church environment from a young age. His family served the goddess of the four seasons for nearly five hundred years, dating back to before the Wars of the Gods. As a result, Evenus' ancestors included three popes, and countless archbishops and bishops.

Evanrus's extensive family education allowed him access to many "religious secrets" unknown to ordinary people. However, knowing the truth did not cause Evanrus's faith to collapse; instead, he felt ecstatic.

Gods are not without desires or omnipotent; like earthly kings, they are full of desires and adept at deceiving the masses. Such gods might disappoint many believers with unrealistic fantasies, but Evanrus thought they were simply wonderful!

Because he knew what the gods desired, he could cater to their whims, while the masses were so foolish and easily deceived. Evanrus knew very well which side he should stand on!

To many, the plague in Oyster Harbor might seem like a terrible disaster, with many dying from the disease. But Evanrus knew that while many would indeed die from the plague, it would be the common people, their lives as worthless as weeds, who would simply perish.

Anyway, the human race doesn't have any other special talent, except for its ability to reproduce! Even if hundreds of thousands of people die in the entire Oyster Harbor, the population can be replenished from other places.

As for whether the high death toll during the pandemic might lead to public disillusionment with the gods, Evanlus didn't think it was a big problem. He believed that no matter how severe the pandemic was, as long as the priests were there, some people would eventually survive, and these survivors would gratefully tell others about the gods' mercy.

Evanrus felt that what he really needed to do was to make good use of the "surplus value" of those who were dying to pave the way for his own promotion.

Because he understood the principles behind the formation of faith, Evanlus knew that people would have a strong will to survive in the face of a major crisis, and that he only needed to guide them to pray to the gods to generate a large amount of faith.

Offering sacrifices to living beings is the highest form of offering among all religious rituals, and the faith it generates far surpasses that of ordinary prayers.

Before the outbreak of the war of gods, human sacrifice was a common religious ritual used by various sects. However, as times changed, this ancient ritual was criticized for its barbarity and was no longer used frequently.

But Evanrus wanted to restore the "ancient methods" in Oyster Harbor, and not in a small-scale operation involving just one or two people, but in a large-scale sacrifice of a hundred people, including the lord's two children.

If he were to successfully conduct this ritual, the resulting faith would be enough to attract the attention of the goddesses of the seasons and bring him to the notice of the high and mighty gods. Coupled with the high-level connections he had already cultivated, he could rise rapidly through the ranks, leaving the Turan diocese to work for the pope at the main temple.

As for how Oyster Harbor will be rebuilt after the disaster, and whether it will never recover, that is not something Evanlus needs to worry about.

Just as he was happily daydreaming, there was a knock at the door, followed by a young and beautiful nun who walked in. Evanrus didn't need to turn around to know that there was only one person in the entire temple who would dare to enter his bedroom without his permission, and that was his "disciple," Iria.

"Your Excellency, you're awake."

"Hmm, I just woke up. Is there anything you need to report to me?"

"There are indeed a few things I need to report to you, and they are all related to the Medicine God Cult that arrived in Oyster Harbor last night."

"Oh! What did they all do?"

"This morning, they unloaded a lot of supplies at the dock and put them into the quarantine zone on East Street. During this time, the Lake God Cult members tried to stir up some poor people to intercept the convoy, but they failed."

"Hmph! They actually went to save those lowly people, how utterly laughable!"

Upon hearing Iria's report that the newly arrived Medicine God Cult was indeed making grand preparations to treat the nearly two thousand abandoned and impoverished patients in the quarantine zone, Evanlus gave a disdainful sneer.

"Foolish! Hypocritical! Does he really think he's a saint? The world is full of lowly people, and they are the least deserving of being saved! You give them benefits and bestow favors, and they will only express their gratitude verbally, but what they are thinking about is how to get more from you. So they only deserve lies!"

In front of Iria, Evanrus, who always presented himself as a "great philanthropist" to outsiders, used extremely vicious words to ridicule and curse those devout believers.

The mountain of flesh-like bishop spoke as he circled behind his female disciple, groping the young girl. Iria, however, remained calm, allowing the bishop to take liberties with her; clearly, this wasn't the first time between them.

Evanlus licked the girl's slender neck and whispered in her ear.

"We lie, we cheat, we steal! My family even had a course taught to me by my father himself when I was very young. This is the secret to the continued growth and expansion of the Church of the Four Seasons! My good disciple, it seems I still have a good lesson to teach you!"

"So, does Master mean... we don't need to pay attention to the Medicine God Cult, which is doing useless work?"

"Hehe! There are too many people and too many eyes in the city now. If we really make a move, we will inevitably give others a handle to use against us. But as you just said, those guys from the Lake God Cult have some ideas. Let's just sit back and watch these third-rate characters fight like dogs."

Based on his years of common sense and experience, Evanlus knew that Ludd's actions were bound to fail.

Because Evanrus knew all too well the nature of those commoners; they were foolish and selfish, and because they were destitute, they were insatiable.

Even if the supplies brought by your Medicine God Cult are enough to feed the entire city's hundreds of thousands of people and cure all the patients, there will still be people who jump out and criticize their benefactors for receiving less than others.

This is the lower class, a lowly race that has remained unchanged for thousands of years!