Chapter 255: Chapter 212 Symptoms (4K)_2
"It’s like this."
You Xiao took a deep breath and said softly, "A few days ago, one of my sisters from Pingkang Square came to me and said that a strange disease has begun to spread there. Those who contract the disease develop red spots on their body, suffer from headaches, fever, and drowsiness. In severe cases, their skin ulcerates in patches until they die..."
"A venereal disease?"
Li Ang narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t surprising for those who frequented brothels to contract various diseases. The *Book of Etiologies and Syndromes of Diseases* by Chao Yuanfang of the Former Sui Dynasty described it thus: "Rheumatism invades the skin and contends with the blood and vital energy, causing the flesh to protrude like a blooming flower. Initially, they appear like grains of rice. When broken, blood emerges. Malignant flesh takes root; when this flesh protrudes, it scatters like a flower. All chronic, non-healing sores behave similarly." Indeed, there were myriad strange symptoms, such as genital ulcerations, spots near the eyes, and sores on the back.
"Mm..."
You Xiao nodded with difficulty and said softly, "Risheng, you’re busy with your studies and have many concerns. I really shouldn’t have bothered you with these things. But their condition... it’s just too dreadful..." A sorrowful look crossed You Xiao’s face. She had indeed escaped the inferno of Pingkang Square, but the sisters she had known from before remained trapped within. When they came begging for help, shrouded in thick veils and under the cover of night, You Xiao simply couldn’t harden her heart to refuse them.
Li Ang shook his head. "It’s no bother." He understood the reason for the troubled look on You Xiao’s face and sighed inwardly. Ultimately, their statuses were different now. As his standing in the Yu Country rose, even Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao had become somewhat apprehensive around him. They feared he might consider Pingkang Square a vile place and resent their pleas for help.
"I have no prejudice against Pingkang Square; they are just ordinary people trying to survive. Besides, saving lives and curing illnesses is the inherent duty of a Doctor." Li Ang spoke earnestly. If anyone deserved moral condemnation, it wasn’t the women exploited in Pingkang Square, but the scholars. Absolute freedom only meant the unlimited exploitation of the weak by the strong.
"I will take on this medical case. We should not delay; let’s set out right now."
Li Ang stood up, asked Chai Chai to bring the medical box, and left the residence with Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao.
On the way, he learned more from You Xiao: the disease had been spreading for some time, infecting a significant number of women. The most severely afflicted had been taken away by the Steward and never returned. The more he heard, the grimmer Li Ang’s expression became.
CREAK—
The carriage stopped beside a section of wall outside Pingkang Square, where attendants were already waiting to receive them. Li Ang took masks out of the medical box, gave one to everyone to wear, then followed an attendant through a bamboo grove, arriving before a pavilion within the district.
"There are too many sick individuals, and the Stewards of Pingkang Square, fearing for their business, have imposed a gag order," You Xiao whispered, explaining their need for secrecy as they walked down the building’s dim corridor. "They have confined the sick women to their rooms and forbid outside Doctors from coming and going freely, allowing only the head Steward to summon Doctors."
Ahead lay the Zuifang Building of Pingkang Square, a brothel among brothels. Despite being separated by a bamboo grove, the music of strings and bamboo, and the clinking of cups could still be heard from inside. However, the building they were in was unusually quiet. The air was thick with the scent of medicinal herbs, and from behind the closed doors, an occasional raspy cough could be heard. This instantly reminded Li Ang of the sick houses he had seen upon his first arrival in Chang’an: Despair, helplessness, waiting for death.
"Open the door," Li Ang said in a low voice, instructing an attendant to open one of the doors.
CREAK—
As the wooden door swung open, a strong medicinal smell wafted out. Li Ang pursed his lips and used Telekinesis to fling open a window, allowing light to flood in and air to circulate.
This was a woman’s bedroom, decorated in a simple yet elegant style, with a vase on the table, though the flowers in it had long since withered from neglect. A medicine pot sat in a corner, and on the bed lay a woman dressed in plain clothes. Her face was sallow, her body emaciated. More terrifying still were the dark red, ulcerous scars on her face and hands.
Li Ang instinctively clenched his fists; his Memory Palace had almost instantly identified the cause matching these symptoms. Syphilis.
"Nobody else come in." Li Ang’s voice was low and raspy as he raised his hand, instructing Song Shaoyuan and the others to stay outside. He stepped into the room to briefly examine the patient’s condition.
Macular rashes on the skin, annular papules. Mucous patches on the lips and in the oral cavity, with exudate. Hair sparse and falling out...
Li Ang silently lowered the patient’s arm and stepped out of the bedroom. He gestured to You Xiao and the others, and the group moved to a more secluded spot.
Song Shaoyuan hesitated and asked, "Risheng, this illness..."
"It’s very, very difficult to treat," Li Ang stated bluntly. "If I’m not mistaken, the patient’s initial symptoms included small, hard lumps on the skin, especially around the genitals, which oozed pus continuously.
"Most patients, at first, recover without treatment, believing the condition to have healed itself.
"However, after some time, the lumps reappear, spreading across the skin, forming red macular rashes that cover the entire body within days.
"Just as the condition seems about to worsen, the rashes might suddenly fade, only to return with a vengeance weeks or months later, again and again."
"Yes, that’s correct." The attendant nodded, his gaze flickering as he looked at Li Ang. "Just now, this gentleman addressed you as Risheng. Could you be the Li Ang from the Academic Palace...?"
"That’s me," Li Ang nodded. "What’s your name? How much do you know about what’s happening here?"
"By the Little Medicine King God!" the attendant exclaimed, bowing hastily. "This humble one is called Xiao Liu. The Steward of the Zuifang Building sent me to look after the young women."
The Steward of the Zuifang Building had issued a gag order, forbidding outside Doctors from entering, yet this attendant had brought them here. Clearly, there was more to this situation. However, Li Ang didn’t have time to delve into it and prompted Xiao Liu to share the important details.
"The first women fell ill about a year and a half ago," Xiao Liu explained. "Just as you described, sir, at first, it was just small, hard lumps oozing pus. They healed quickly on their own, so no one thought much of it.
"Later, the patients’ conditions relapsed repeatedly, and other women in the district began showing similar symptoms. This continued until three months ago, when the illness erupted on a large scale, and more than forty women fell gravely ill.
"The most severely afflicted... she already died. Before her death, her entire nose fell off, and her facial features became sunken and deformed. It was horrifying beyond words."
Over forty people... Li Ang looked back at the dimly lit corridor, an indescribable emotion welling up inside him.
Syphilis is a chronic, systemic sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum, chiefly spread through sexual contact. Clinically, it can be divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary syphilis, as well as latent and congenital syphilis.
The Treponema pallidum spirochete is a relatively fragile pathogen: it’s not resistant to heat, cold, or dryness. It dies almost immediately outside the human body, which is why over 95% of infections are transmitted sexually. However, once Treponema pallidum enters the human body, the situation can quickly become uncontrollable.
It can adhere to tissues rich in mucopolysaccharides, a crucial component of the body’s connective tissue, which is present everywhere. This means Treponema pallidum can hide in any part of the body, launching successive waves of attacks. If the body’s immune system fails to eliminate it after several such onslaughts, the spirochete can develop a capsule to better resist white blood cells. It also produces mucopolysaccharidase, an enzyme that breaks down the body’s mucopolysaccharides. Mucopolysaccharides are a component of human connective tissue. When this enzyme decomposes them, the tissue gives way and collapses, forming gummas, pits, and scars.
Most terrifyingly, because Treponema pallidum can be distributed throughout the body, the sites of its attacks vary. If it attacks the nose, the entire nose can collapse and fall off. If the eyes, blindness. If the ears, deafness. If it attacks the brain, it can manifest as seizures, madness, or paranoia. Even bones are not spared, becoming riddled with holes. Ultimately leading to death.
Even in the Otherworld, with its highly advanced medicine, twelve million new cases still appeared each year.
He turned to look down the dim corridor. And... if this disease was introduced from another country, and the first cases in Chang’an City appeared a year and a half ago... then in that year and a half, how many more people have been silently infected?