After reading the letter, Anderson’s face turned completely black.
No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t figure out how Ainola—who had been tied up tighter than a zongzi—had escaped.
They say cats are fluid, but Anderson had never heard of humans being fluid either.
But the main point wasn’t that she had escaped from here.
It was that her friend had caught this Blackwater Plague?
Wasn’t that extremely dangerous?!
Anderson had seen the terror of the Blackwater Plague firsthand. Not only could it spread through the air, but even just getting close to it could infect you.
Once you touched it, death was certain.
The few subordinates of his who had come into contact with the Blackwater had basically melted on the spot, turning into that unknown substance.
Even worse, this Blackwater also gave birth to undying monsters. All of Anderson’s attacks against those monsters had zero effect.
So if this plague broke out inside the city, the consequences were easy to imagine.
Thinking this, Anderson didn’t hesitate to pull the highest-level alarm for the Temple Knights.
“Notify all Knight members! Search all of Wording City! Spare no expense, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground—find Red Sparrow the Killer!”
Anderson knew well how terrifying the plague was, so this time, finding Ainola wasn’t about capturing her—it was about saving her.
Once Anderson gave the order, the entire Temple Knights mobilized.
After they were deployed, they also notified the city guards and police.
This was arguably the largest-scale search in Wording City’s history—not just to find Red Sparrow, but also to find the person infected with the Blackwater Plague.
After finishing all the notifications, Anderson sat down on the sofa, rubbed his temples, and said.
“Where does this Blackwater disease even come from? Is there a way to cure it?”
Anderson didn’t know.
After resting on the sofa for a while, he joined the search himself.
***
On the other side, Ainola watched the commotion of police and guards through the city and couldn’t help clicking her tongue.
“Whoa, to catch me, they’re making this big a fuss?”
“They might not be after you. They could also be looking for the contact infected with the Blackwater disease.”
Faced with a plague he’d never heard of, it was normal for Anderson to take it seriously.
And Ainola understood that Anderson could tell what mattered most.
Still, seeing how impossible it was to move around, she couldn’t help complaining a little inside.
“First, let’s check on the contact. Spark, where did you hide her?”
“She’s in the basement of that Moon Shadow Tavern we used before. I gave her some emergency treatment, but the results weren’t great.”
After hearing Spark’s words, Ainola looked at her location and said with relief.
“Good thing it’s not far from here. Let’s go through the sewers.”
Ainola lifted a manhole cover and climbed down inside.
But no sooner had she landed than she noticed something wrong.
“Is the sewer water… usually this black?”
Ainola walked along the side steps of the sewer, looking at the dirty water in the middle, a bit puzzled.
“It is pretty strange… Better hurry up. Your magic barrier has a time limit, don’t stay here too long.”
To be safe, Spark had put a magic barrier on Ainola before they entered the sewer.
As it turned out, that preparation was necessary.
Following the sewer, Ainola didn’t have to go far before she reached the area under the Moon Shadow Tavern.
She pushed open the manhole cover, poked her little head out to look around, and only came out after confirming there were no patrol guards.
“Over here.”
Spark walked ahead, and soon Ainola reached the basement.
As soon as she stepped inside, she saw Winona lying on a sickbed.
On the bed sheets, there were several dark stains.
Without a doubt, it was the Blackwater that Winona had coughed up.
“Cough, cough, cough!!”
With violent coughing, Winona woke up again from her coma.
She struggled to turn over, spit the Blackwater in her mouth onto the floor, then didn’t even have the strength to turn back, so she just lay there on the bed.
Seeing this, Ainola quickly went over and helped her turn back, asking the groggy Winona.
“How are you feeling now?”
“Not… so good…”
Winona said weakly.
“My head feels heavy and fuzzy… cough, cough, cough!!”
Winona couldn’t finish her sentence, but Ainola knew that her condition looked like it was hopeless.
Already severely injured from being stabbed in the back, and now infected with this strange Blackwater, there was no saving her—even a god would struggle.
While Winona was still conscious, Ainola tried to see if she could get any useful information.
“Winona, you said earlier that you were going to the ruins to find a cure for the plague. You meant this plague?”
“Yes…”
Winona spoke with her breath fading.
“George… he… cough… seemed to have gone into some unknown ruins, and when he came back… he caught this Blackwater disease.”
Hearing this, Ainola recalled the situation back then.
That little boy George had gone into some ruins to play, and when he came back, he had a persistent high fever.
Later, he started coughing up this Blackwater occasionally.
But that was already a month ago.
Although George’s condition never improved, at least it had stabilized.
If he hadn’t been captured by the Moon Shadow Society and had been resting in bed, he would never have died in that shack outside the city.
“Don’t talk anymore. Let me think of something for you.”
Seeing Winona like this, Ainola’s mind began to race.
Soon, she thought of something and pulled the Eye of White out of her pocket, saying.
“If there’s an antidote in the ruins, I’ll go there.”
“Then… inside… it’s very dangerous… I’ll… go too.”
Winona tried to prop herself up, but Ainola pressed her down and replied.
“Alright, alright. You know my strength. Just leave it to me. Wait here. I’ll notify the little ones from the orphanage to come take care of you.”
With that, Ainola left the place.
Winona closed her eyes, and in her daze, she felt someone shaking her body.
“Little Moon?”
She thought it was one of the orphanage kids, but when she opened her eyes, she saw a handsome young man standing before her.
That person was none other than Anderson.
“So you’re the infected one Ainola mentioned.”
“Damn it…”
Winona instinctively reached for the head of the bed, but Anderson grabbed her hand and said.
“Relax. We’ll send professional physicians to look after your condition. In exchange, tell me where Red Sparrow went.”
“I… can’t say…”
Faced with Anderson’s interrogation, Winona bit her lips and said nothing.
But the former seemed to understand something and said to Lewis behind him.
“Forget it. Take her to the isolation ward. I think I know where Red Sparrow went.”
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