At night, a solitary moon hung high, and the cold evening wind blew across the vast yellow sand wilderness. Under the dark wind and night, what was revealed was a boundless desolation, and in this endless dark desolation, only a few points of light dotted the earth, showing signs of life.
This is Mont, one of the large cities in North Wu Adus. Mont is the most important transportation hub in the northern region of Adus. Almost all the railways in the entire northern region of Adus converge here, and the railway entering Adus from Kankdar will definitely lead here. Therefore, it has also become a place that the Church delegation will definitely visit after entering Adus.
At night, just as the entire Mont was gradually falling into Silence, the scene at the Mont train station was bustling with people at this time. Soldiers in standard uniforms were lined up, and people in various clothes were celebrating. Amidst the expectations of countless people, the huge steel train slowly stopped at the platform after decelerating.
As the carriage door opened, the lined-up guards uniformly held their guns and saluted at the command. Amidst a burst of cheers, Sister Vanya, dressed in white, walked out of the carriage door under the escort of her attendants, stepping onto the pre-laid carpet, moving forward step by step slowly amidst the steam diffusing on the ground.
Maintaining her usual smile, Vanya walked forward while responding to the welcoming crowd on both sides. During this time, she was also looking at the station she had visited more than half a year ago. Compared with the scene in her memory, this place seemed to have been completely renovated. The broken floor had been replaced, the bullet holes that could be seen everywhere had disappeared, and various damages caused by the war had been almost completely repaired. Many ordinary people who were not seen on the platform before now appeared, and even the Revolutionary Army soldiers who were originally poorly dressed and unkempt had become neat and tall, with tidy clothes.
Amidst the etiquette of the two rows of guards beside her, Vanya stepped through the steam and cheers, and walked all the way to the end of the carpet. At this time, she saw a familiar figure there. The young man in a senior military officer's uniform waited with a smile for Vanya to walk in front of him, then stretched out his hand and said.
"Long time no see, Sister Vanya, welcome to Adus again."
"Thank you for personally welcoming me, General," Vanya said, and then, under the illumination of a flash of Light, she also extended her hand and shook hands with Shadi.
...
After the delegation represented by Vanya arrived in Mont again, they were personally welcomed by Shadi, the current actual ruler of Adus and the General of the Adus Revolutionary Army. After learning about the itinerary of the Church delegation, he had arranged the welcoming plan early and personally rushed from Adis to Mont to welcome the Church delegation again with the highest level of attention.
After the change of the Lei Judgement, Shadi had almost completely controlled the entire country of Adus after months of suppressing the rebellion, bringing long-lost peace to this war-torn country. In the past stable half year, Adus has finally begun a steady path of reconstruction and has achieved visible and significant results.
During this period of steady reconstruction in Adus, other countries have successively begun to contact the current government of Adus, trying to restore diplomatic relations with it. Some have sent special envoys, but their level is not high, and their efforts are not great. Vanya's visit this time can be regarded as the highest level of diplomatic visit that has occurred since the situation in Adus stabilized.
After all, her identity was not as high as it is now when she came last time. Although the current Vanya has not completely been promoted to Scarlet, her etiquette level within the Church is already close to that of an Archbishop, so Shadi did not dare to neglect her and personally came to Mont to welcome her.
After welcoming Vanya at the station, Shadi led the main members of the delegation to the hotel where a banquet had been set up for dinner. At the end of this brief and solemn banquet, after exchanging pleasantries, the two sides finally began to discuss some practical matters.
"So, Sister Vanya, you don't plan to stay in Adus for a long time this time?"
In the solemn and spacious hall, Shadi sat on an exquisite chair and asked Vanya, who was sitting opposite him at a small table, with curiosity. Vanya, who was sitting upright, also nodded slightly in reply.
"That's right. Although we also have a plan to make a pilgrimage in Adus, that will have to wait until we return from Buserite. Therefore, after a short rest in Mont, we will go directly to Buserite, and after returning from Buserite, we will go to Adis. It is said that there is no usable railway within Buserite, so please ask the General to prepare transportation supplies for us."
"Hmm, I understand. I will arrange it," Shadi nodded in response to Vanya's words, and then after a slight pause, he spoke to Vanya again.
"I am really happy to see that there are kind people like Sister Vanya in this world who care about the people of North Wu. Your visit to Adus last year brought peace to this war-torn country. This year, you are going to bring relief to Buserite, which has long suffered from chaos. We marginal countries outside the Main Continent have never received enough attention from the international community. You are one of the very few who think about us and take action. On behalf of the people of North Wu, I express my gratitude to you."
"General, you are too kind... Under the Glory of the Lord, these are what I should do. This gratitude should belong to the 'Lord', and I am merely an executor of the Lord's will. I have seen that all parts of Adus are actively being rebuilt along the way, and I think the Lord will also be pleased with the renewed vitality of this country..." Placing her hand on her chest, Vanya said in a pious and polite tone, and Shadi also nodded in reply.
"We will naturally not fail the Lord's expectations and continue to work hard to revitalize the country..." Shadi said, and then he changed the subject and spoke again.
"It is naturally a good thing that Sister Vanya is going to Buserite to provide relief, but I also want to remind you here that Buserite is not a safe place. It has always been chaotic and full of dangers, and the degree of chaos and danger has deepened a lot recently due to the plague. You must be careful at all times when you get there," Shadi warned in a serious tone. Hearing Shadi's words, Vanya turned her face and said curiously.
"I have also heard about the plague in Buserite recently, but I don't know the details. Buserite is very close to Adus, so I think you should know more about the relevant situation. Can you give me a specific introduction?"
Vanya asked Shadi as she did, and hearing her words, Shadi pondered for a while, then spoke with a serious expression.
"As far as I know, the plague in Buserite has been going on for some time, and the situation is probably very grim."
"Due to the chaotic situation in Buserite, many bandit groups use Buserite as their base camp and raid other North Wu countries in the surrounding area. Adus has long been harassed by bandits from Buserite, especially during the civil war, which was extremely serious. After initially stabilizing the domestic situation, I immediately set about dealing with the bandit problem from Buserite, organizing patrol teams to guard the border area to prevent bandit intrusion."
"In the beginning, my patrol teams often exchanged fire with bandits who infiltrated from Buserite. The combat effectiveness of those bandits was not weak, and the strength of the patrol teams I sent before was difficult to completely suppress them, so I planned to send more people to support, but who would have thought that before these people were sent, the bandit problem there suddenly stopped, and instead, countless refugees poured towards us."
"According to them, a very serious plague is raging in Buserite, and people in many tribes and settlements have been infected and fallen ill. Even those bandits who were usually rampant are too sick to hold guns. I didn't expect those border bandits to be solved by a plague," Shadi seriously recounted his observations to Vanya, and after hearing Shadi's words, Vanya couldn't help but frown slightly and said.
"Do you know when these plagues started to rage?"
"The specific time is not clear, but it won't be too long. Refugees started appearing in the Adus border area half a month ago, and a week ago, refugees with obvious symptoms of illness appeared in the refugee teams. Recently, I have been trying my best to send people to the border to intercept and accommodate refugees from Buserite to prevent them from entering Adus and causing the plague to spread, but the spread of this plague seems very strong, and the troops I sent out and some villages on the border have already shown signs of infection. I am doing my best to avoid the expansion of the infection scale."
Shadi said to Vanya with a serious expression. Hearing Shadi's words, Vanya then asked seriously.
"What are the symptoms of this plague?"
"According to the report from the border, those infected with this plague have symptoms such as fatigue, pain, nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, loss of appetite, etc. The symptoms are very mild when first infected, but over time these symptoms will become more and more severe, until finally they will almost completely lose the ability to move, only able to lie down and groan in pain, unable to do anything. Among the first batch of sick people who fled, many have already reached this stage."
Shadi continued to describe the situation on the Adus border to Vanya. The more Vanya listened, the more her brows furrowed, and then she continued to ask.
"Then can you confirm the transmission route of this plague?"
"We have only been exposed to this plague for less than half a month, and there are still many unclear areas regarding it. The issue of transmission routes is currently under investigation. Adus is very short of experienced medical personnel, let alone senior medical scientists. It is very difficult for us to figure out this disease on our own in a short period of time..."
Shadi spread his hands slightly to both sides and said somewhat helplessly. After saying this, he paused slightly, and then seemed to remember something and spoke again.
"Although we don't know much about this plague at the moment, the only thing we can confirm is that it spreads very quickly and appears very suddenly, which feels a bit strange."
"By the way, according to some intelligence... we can confirm that the Savior Descends Faction should have a relatively wide range of influence in Buserite, and they also have some Extraordinary who practice the Holy Mother's Path, but if they act quickly, the plague shouldn't spread so quickly. Generally speaking, the people of the Savior Descends Faction should not give up such a good opportunity for missionary work as an abnormal plague, but strangely, this plague has still spread on such a large scale."
Shadi continued to say to Vanya. Hearing Shadi's description, Vanya couldn't help but think deeply and said.
"Indeed... If it were a common ordinary epidemic, with the ability of the Holy Mother's Path, as long as the source of transmission can be locked, it should be suppressed and eliminated within a short time, and it would not expand to this extent... Is the current situation due to the lack of manpower among those otherworld people? Or for some other reason?"
Vanya said with a look of unease, as if she had thought of some not-so-good possibilities in her heart. Hearing her words, Shadi paused slightly, then continued to respond seriously and solemnly.
"Regardless of the reason, the situation in Buserite is now more dangerous and chaotic than before. Although I know that Sister Vanya, you are fully prepared, you still need to be more careful... I feel that there may already be a significant force involved in the current Buserite."
"If it is not necessary, you can actually choose not to go to Buserite as your place of relief..."
Shadi reminded Vanya seriously. Hearing the other party's words, Vanya paused slightly, then spoke seriously.
"I understand. Thank you for your reminder, General. But I will not change my mind. Although Buserite is more dangerous now than in the past, it also needs relief more than in the past. At this time, the Lord will not allow me to shrink back."
Vanya said solemnly in the end. Hearing her words, Shadi first let out a long sigh of relief, then nodded silently.
...
Time flew by, and soon, the banquet arranged by Shadi to welcome the Church delegation ended with some meaningless etiquette and pleasantries. After having a truly meaningful conversation with Vanya, Shadi arranged for people to send the members of the delegation, including Vanya, back to their residences to rest, and then he also returned to his residence in Mont.
After returning to his residence, Shadi did not go to sleep immediately, but stayed in his room silently reading until late at night. After the entire city had almost fallen into true darkness and Silence, he put down the book and walked out of the room alone.
Without any guards, Shadi left his residence alone and came to the empty streets of Mont. The young ruler of Adus walked quietly and unnoticed through the streets of his country's city, all the way to a tall clock tower, and then walked in without much hesitation. After climbing for a while without rushing, he finally reached the top of the clock tower, where he saw a familiar figure waiting for him.
"You're finally here, General. It's been a long time since we last met in Kanak. You look even more like a commander now."
A man with deep-set eyes, a high nose, a trench coat, a top hat, and slightly pale skin stood on top of the clock tower, looking at Shadi walking up and smilingly taking off his hat and saluting. Shadi also spoke to the person in front of him.
"It's you again, Ney. Is it possible that your Church specifically designated you to contact me?"
"It's not that I'm more familiar with you, General... We attach great importance to this meeting with you, so we specifically sent me here."
"After all... the information you have about Heopolis is quite important to us," the man who called himself Ney said to Shadi, and Shadi and the ancient soul that was attached to his body listened to his words silently.