The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

Chapter 9: The Black Death



Lihua stared at the bustling streets of Kolosten, deep in thought.

Where should she go now?

Schicksal's severance package was quite generous, enough to buy a row of houses in the most prosperous part of the city. It was way more than she'd expected.

She had thought Schicksal's higher-ups were so stingy they wouldn't even give her two gold coins. The amount they gave her had far exceeded her expectations.

When she first learned she would be kicked out of Schicksal, Lihua considered going back to the Kaslana family as a live-in maid for Kallen. That would keep her from starving and give her a chance to farm some more energy.

But now that she had money, she had more options.

Should she stay in Kolosten and do some business while occasionally grinding some energy from Kallen? Or should she take this money and travel across Eurasia to farm Fu Hua's favorability in Shenzhou?

Back at Schicksal Headquarters, the only things Lihua needed to think about were how to extract energy and farm favorability. That peaceful life had fit her like a glove.

Now that she was kicked out, Lihua had no idea what to do with herself.

"Please, my mother really needs this medicine..."

"Get lost! Get out of here!"

As Lihua was still racking her brain, a commotion at the corner of the street caught her attention.

In front of a shabby clinic, a girl in thin clothes was being ruthlessly chased away by the doctor. The girl had already knelt on the ground, her face covered in tears. The doctor was still incredibly rude, like he was chasing away some nasty source of infection.

Ah, here it comes. The classic scene of saving a poor, downtrodden girl from a greedy doctor!

Looks like I'm a main character, after all.

Thinking that, Lihua strolled over. While she didn't think of herself as a good person, she didn't mind doing something good if it was this easy.

"What's going on?"

The doctor, who was chasing the girl away, turned around and saw a gray-haired girl in a Schicksal uniform. He immediately shuddered in fear. "M-madam, I didn't do anything! I pay my dues every month!"

Wow, Schicksal is definitely the best at oppression. They haven't even started selling indulgences yet and they already have such authority!

"What's the matter with this child?" Even though she had been kicked out of Schicksal, Lihua didn't mind flexing her old authority.

"This..." The doctor glanced at the girl, who was still kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down her face. But because she was afraid of Schicksal, she didn't dare make a sound. "She wants medicine but has no money."

So it's that kind of situation. How many times have I seen this scene in different novels? I'm getting a little tired of it.

"How much is the medicine she needs? I'll pay for it," Lihua confidently said. She was a super-rich lady now!

But the doctor's answer surprised her.

"Madam, it's, it's not about the money..."

The doctor was getting anxious. He glanced left and right before lowering his voice. "Her mother has the Black Death. How can a small clinic like mine have medicine for that!"

"The Black Death?" Lihua frowned.

Even though she had been inside Schicksal Headquarters, Lihua had heard of the Black Death that was sweeping all over Europe.

If she were in her original world, the Black Death would be a terrible disease but not necessarily a terminal one. It was just the bubonic plague. Some penicillin or other antibiotics would take care of it. If they had the right medicine and knew how the virus spread, Schicksal could probably eliminate it without much trouble.

Lihua had even thought about creating penicillin so she could become a hero and get a bunch of favorability points from all over Europe. That way, she'd have many people mourning her when she died.

But after doing some research and talking with Otto, Lihua realized it wasn't as simple as she had thought.

The most important problem was that the Black Death in this century wasn't the bubonic plague. It was a Honkai disease caused by Honkai energy infecting and destroying the body.

Antibiotics that treated ordinary diseases were useless, and a cure hadn't been developed.

However, she had heard recently that some effective medicine had appeared in the black market, but it was incredibly expensive and only available at large hospitals and clinics. The poor couldn't afford it.

I remember Otto developed a cure for the Black Death, right?

Lihua desperately tried to recall what her friends had told her about the Honkai storyline. She was annoyed--if I had known my character would be sent to the Honkai world, I would've watched the show first!

Then she wouldn't be so confused now.

"Madam, Madam?"

The doctor carefully called out as he watched Lihua stare into space. "I know, you Valkyries from Schicksal are really strong, but we ordinary people can't get close to such things. Once you get infected by the Black Death, you're guaranteed to die. I didn't mean to bully this girl, I just don't have a choice!"

"So, you see..."

"I understand the situation, you can go back to your clinic."

Lihua waved her hand at the doctor. She understood his difficulties and didn't want to give him a hard time. "I'll take care of this."

As the grateful doctor returned to his clinic, Lihua turned to face the girl who was still kneeling on the ground, quietly sobbing.

"What's your name?"

The girl was scared to refuse an important Schicksal figure. She wiped away her tears and answered timidly, "E-Eleanor..."

"Eleanor, huh? That's a nice name."

Lihua nodded, crouched down, and looked at her kindly. "Can you take me to see your mother? Maybe we can do something about it."

Do something?

Is this important Schicksal person going to save my mother?

Eleanor carefully looked at Lihua. She didn't know whether to trust her or not. Many people in the slums had been taken by Schicksal for "treatment" after being infected, but no one had ever returned...

Being taken by Schicksal was dangerous, but her mother would certainly die without treatment.

After hesitating, Eleanor decided. She gave a serious nod to Lihua.

She had no choice.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.