CHAPTER 658: [652] QING CHUAN CHENG WANGFEI 21 (1 MORE UPDATE)

"No, I’ll stay to help you. Beijing is not safe either. At least the garden is large and people are more spread out and fewer in number. But if zombification happens in Beijing, where people gather in large numbers, it would not be as safe as here. It is not a wise decision for the Emperor to return to the Forbidden City at this time."

However, at this moment, Yun Mi could not bring himself to tell the Emperor to come back. After all, he had just left; how could he return just because of his word?

Yet, Xiyuan made sense, and he was surprised that such a young girl could make such a judgment in such a short time. Wasn’t the fourteen-year-old girl afraid?

She even refused the suggestion to rest.

"At this time, we are short of hands. One more person means one more strength. Let’s go back and make some masks and gloves for everyone. Those who can dig will dig, those who can carry bodies will carry bodies; let’s get moving,"

Xiyuan felt that this matter especially could not be delayed, it must be done quickly, not only herself, but she must mobilize everyone capable.

"Have the concubines from the harem gone back too?"

Yun Mi hummed a response, "Now, only some palace maids, eunuchs, and guards from Yuanming Garden are left, the others have already left one after another."

"So let’s not hesitate anymore, let’s get moving. Gather everyone together, have you arranged everything? And what about those Taoists?"

When it came to the Taoists, Yun Mi felt a bout of aversion, completely failing to realize that unknowingly, Xiyuan had taken the lead.

"Since they have too many unsettling factors, they also stayed behind. Now, they are locked in their own Taoist Temple. The Emperor has ordered that they not go anywhere."

Xiyuan admonished sharply, "We can’t let them benefit for nothing. Pull them out and put them to work. If they think they can win the protection of these people, they’re dreaming!"

Yun Mi looked at his wife in amazement, his heart was shocked. In such circumstances, any woman would seek protection and wish to leave, yet she was the only one with the clearest mind, advocating that this was the safest place, and after listening to her analysis, he actually couldn’t find any point to refute.

He found that he was getting to understand less and less about his wife; she was like a book, every page turned seemed to contain new content awaiting him.

If not for the lack of time, he really wanted to have a good chat with her, to know how she managed to be so genuine. When other women were all putting on airs, she could give the most genuine response; when other women thought saving their lives was most important, she was thinking of advancing and retreating with him.

What did it matter if such a woman wasn’t beautiful?

She deserved to be treated well.

"Don’t you all have armor? If not, try to wrap your arms and wrists to avoid being bitten by those things. Once bitten, don’t hesitate too much; just kill it directly. This poison doesn’t give us much time to react, and I’ve also seen that most of the bodies on the ground have their heads chopped off, so the head must be the lethal part of these things."

Listening to her prattle on with instructions, Yun Mi found it hard to believe, "Are you really a woman? How can you talk about chopping off heads so calmly? Look at the palace maids around you; their pale faces are the real reaction, aren’t they?"

I’ve lived through many lifetimes, seen life and death, and even killed people. Naturally, speaking of bloody matters comes easily to me.

But she couldn’t say that, so she could only smile awkwardly and say, "Maybe I was born heartless?"

This isn’t heartlessness; this is recklessness and foolishness!

Yun Mi escorted Xiyuan back to Qin Garden and sent someone to deliver firewood, rice, oil, salt, pots, and pans to the garden, because nobody knew how long they would be sealed in here. It was always good to be prepared in advance. Fortunately, Yuanming Garden was so large that there were small kitchens set up all over the garden, so they didn’t have to travel far.

Actually, she had already made the worst preparations when she saw those rats. Fortunately, with Yuanming Garden’s natural forest protecting them, there was no lack of food; there were lakes, mountains, and wild vegetables, and the season was midsummer, so they wouldn’t starve. The key question was whether this disaster could end before winter. If not, and if it developed into a long-term situation, what difference would there be from an apocalypse?

Actually, Xiyuan’s heart was still very uneasy. She hurriedly gathered over twenty palace maids in Qin Garden to make masks, and brought over all usable fabrics from each garden.

Yun Mi, the only royal relative left in Yuanming Garden, naturally had the final say. He gathered people, divided them into four directions for a carpet-style search. Whenever they found a certain number of bodies, they would immediately dig pits and burn them without leaving any chance for hesitation.

By the time the sun was about to set, they had found more than two hundred bodies. Even for those who were carrying the bodies, it sent shivers down their spines.

After dark, everyone went to the outer courtyard where the Emperor had previously been; it had the thickest doors to resist any breach. As for the several gates of Yuanming Garden, they had already blocked them with stones during the day. What could be blocked, was blocked; where blocking was not possible, no one was left to guard it, because it was too dangerous at night.

After the sun set, Yuanming Garden was completely quiet. Those Walking Dead that had not been found were awakening bit by bit. The rats were running around everywhere, looking for prey, and a new round of silent hunting was brewing...

Even though these officials of Beijing did not say it aloud, they also resented Yong Zheng for causing such a terrible incident for his own self-interest.

It seemed like a snake had disrupted the whole of Beijing, but who didn’t know the deeply terrifying secret behind it?

Just looking at the speed of transmission of the corpse poison, one could sense that if the situation was not controlled, perhaps the whole Qing might perish.

Now they were all keeping their doors tightly closed, forbidding going out, everyone fearing for their own safety.

Although Yuanming Garden is outside Beijing, due to the involvement of rats, this incident became even more unimaginable. The best course of action now, would be to develop a reliable antidote, otherwise, no one knew how many more would die.

Rats inherently burrow, and for their food, they can zigzag underground, leaving those above ground no chance to react, which is far more frightening than the consequences of the plague.

Plague, at least, has a long durational stage; if you survive it, you can be cured. But this poison, within less than fifteen minutes, can turn a normal person into something abnormal. You might not even have a chance to react before becoming one of the Walking Dead.