Chapter 17, Cat Purgatory (Part 1)
It's dark...cold and damp...it seems...and there's an indescribable stench?
In the narrow space, the air is humid and stuffy, giving people an especially unpleasant feeling.
The dim lights also flickered a bit, making people feel dizzy.
A swarm of buzzing flies fluttered around the dim oil lamp overhead, as if dining around rotten pieces of meat.
In this gloomy tomb-like place, Knight Levi, wearing only a shirt, was leaning against the dirty wall in a daze.
"...Um...ah...where am I..."
After barely getting rid of the waves of dizziness and stinging pain in his head, he opened his cloudy eyes. Knight Levi looked numbly at the walls of this dark and damp dungeon, which were covered with all kinds of sticky and inexplicable objects. There was also the crack in the door, the only one outside the fence that let light in, and I felt a trace of uneasiness. Immediately afterwards, he subconsciously tried to straighten his body, but immediately almost tripped.
——Crash!
As if a naughty piece of music was playing, there was a series of sounds of chains and shackles hitting each other.
"...Huh? Huh??? What's going on? Aren't I here to handle the inheritance and title inheritance procedures?"
Levi looked at the iron chains tightly locked on his wrists and legs in surprise. His brain seemed to have just reacted and began to seriously think about this serious issue. At the same time, he finally recalled in his chaotic mind What happened after entering the city yesterday:
After holding his nose and walking through the streets strewn with corpses and filled with putrid odor, he had just dismounted and walked into the city hall. A senior priest whom he knew in the past came over and announced that a royal ceremonial official of noble blood came from Paris to inspect and requested He took off his sword and went in with the others to see him.
Because this senior priest was an acquaintance of Livy who often had contact with Livy in the past, Knight Livy took off his sword and walked in without thinking much. Unexpectedly, the person waiting for him in the room was not someone from Paris. Not a big noble, but a large group of crazy men in black with red eyes!
Li Wei happened to know the leading guy among them - he was the head of the Inquisition in Marseille! ! !
Seeing this strange scene, Knight Levi was immediately stunned. Then, before he could react, these men in black swarmed up and pushed him to the floor while using daggers and axes to mark Levi's body. neck, while forcing him to admit all kinds of unbelievable crimes, such as worshiping cults, worshiping demons, and spreading plagues. Looking at his posture, he actually wanted to pin the source of the Black Death on his head!
Such a ridiculous charge was full of malice at first glance. Of course, Levi refused to admit it until death, but he was immediately beaten severely by the men in black, and his eye sockets were swollen by the fists. In order for a good man not to suffer any immediate losses, he had no choice but to press his fingerprints on the paper - God knows if he persisted, those thugs would just cut off his fingers and use them as seals! Then, before Levi could breathe a sigh of relief, he was hit in the back of the head with a stick and passed out... When he woke up, he was already in this dungeon.
"...What the hell! It's come to this, and the guys from the Inquisition are still so motivated to work?"
Knight Levi, who was beaten into a panda, grinned and rubbed the bruises and redness on his chest while muttering in confusion, "...How many days do they think they have to live? Even after the Black Death broke out. Did you not forget to bury spies in my manor? Oh my God..."
In fact, Livy naturally considered whether the promotion of modern medical technology and raising cats to eliminate rats in the ignorant and superstitious medieval Europe would be misunderstood by some foolish men and women as witchcraft and heresy: those who were burned by the church He had read the stories of the dead scientific sages and the fate of Joan of Arc in his enlightenment textbooks. After traveling to this world, he also saw people from the Inquisition burning "witches" several times.
However, according to Levi's opinion, the problem is not serious yet. First of all, at least in his own territory of Jihad Manor, he is still confident that he can make the decision - the senior reincarnations have already tinkered with many new things here in the years before "GAME-OVER". The people in the manor gradually got used to it. To put it another way, even if his subordinates really did something strange, he would be able to detect it immediately.
Secondly, although the power of the church was rampant in the Middle Ages, it was now the critical moment of the outbreak of the Black Death. At least half of the citizens of Marseille had died, the city's operation had been completely paralyzed, and all the dignitaries in power in the city were dead. If they want to die, they can escape, otherwise they will just stay in their villa and be a homebody. Their servants and thugs are almost dead, so how can they care about witchcraft and heresy?
Therefore, in Levi's view, at least before he started promoting drugs on a large scale to make profits and gather people's hearts, it was unlikely that either the church or the city hall would be so well-informed about his affairs, and even if they were News, they won't take any violent action against him, they will only try to win over him - at this time when everyone is in danger, who dares to murder the only savior who can cure the disease?
Unfortunately, it turned out that the church was far more sensitive to cases of heresy and witchcraft than he had imagined. And the speed at which news leaked out of the manor exceeded his expectations. What's even more incredible is that these guys who knew the information didn't take their own life or death and that of their family at all. Instead of trying to please him as a life-saving straw, they acted so rudely!
Alas, I really shouldn’t have left the base so rashly and entered the city ignorantly, throwing myself into a trap! Knight Levi sighed with great regret.
After sighing for a moment, Levi finally calmed down and adapted to the tense and oppressive feeling brought by the closed space. At the same time, he overcame the fear of the unknown darkness in his heart, even those suspicious bones in the corner of the cell, and those who came out to forage. He can also turn a blind eye to the red-eyed mouse - because in his opinion, since those guys just left him in The fact that the dungeon is indifferent and does not continue to inhumane torture and torture like the so-called "witches" and "wizards" in the past shows that this matter still needs to be discussed... maybe, it will be discussed later. Several lobbyists with their faces covered would come over, one trying to be a good guy and the other a bad guy, threatening and tempting him, trying to trick him out of the source of those life-saving elixirs?
No matter what, as long as there is still something to talk about. Even if the other party has no sincerity and only wants to kill people and silence them after they succeed, they can at least delay it for a while... Anyway, when Doraemon and his gang of reinforcements arrive, they will be able to teach you guys who don't know how to behave in minutes!
Thinking of this, Knight Levi felt a little more relaxed, and for the time being he squinted his eyes with peace of mind, and began to close his eyes to rest...
——What this Knight of Levi, who felt too good about himself, did not understand was that the reason why he was not tortured and tortured like the so-called "witches" and "wizards" who were arrested before was not because of the mastermind behind the scenes. Attempts to negotiate - given that famous doctors all over Europe were hamstrung by the Black Death There was nothing to be done. The Bishop of Marseille did not believe that he had a cure for the plague, and the Marseille Apothecary Guild, which reported the report, quietly concealed the truth - but because the jailers in the Inquisition who were originally responsible for torture and execution had already been under the influence of the plague. All of them died of illness, and even the torture chambers were isolated.
The few remaining guys who have not yet suffered from the plague are busy preparing the stake and pyre for executing the "dark wizard" - this is a big project, especially in the process of collecting firewood, they also vomit blood. Two unlucky guys fell down, so naturally they couldn't bear to torture him, a dying man.
As for his fate, the bishop has already given a clear warning: "... tomorrow at noon, he will be publicly executed in the square to calm people's hearts!"
Well, I hope the rescuers across time and space that Knight Levi is looking forward to can arrive in time before he is roasted to death...
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At the same time, the reinforcements that Knight Levi was hoping for were gathering at Nobita Nobita's house, unaware of his pitiable plight.
Nobita Nobita, who was seriously ill because he refused to take the vaccine because he was afraid of pain, finally began to improve significantly. At least his fever was gone and his mind was clearer. However, his limbs were still weak and his body was crawling limply. Not getting up made Doraemon very worried.
Professor Guo Jingguo, who was seriously injured due to a fall from a high altitude and suffered multiple comminuted fractures throughout his body, has basically recovered under the treatment of advanced medical technology of the 22nd century. He just personally participated in a medieval time travel operation. .
At this time, this energetic old man was using Doraemon's magical prop [Encyclopedia of the Universe] to check the historical data of the Black Death in Europe in the Middle Ages, while frowning and discussing the next action plan with Wang Qiu and the others.
"...Comrade Xiao Wang, according to the salvation plan you and Li Wei discussed before, you will first conduct drug trials in his manor to confirm the efficacy, then publicize it publicly to build a reputation, and finally find a way to obtain the church's approval. After admitting it, we will promote drugs on a large scale, right?”
"...That's about it! Levi said that if there is no actual evidence, if you rashly go out with antibiotics and boast that they can cure the Black Death, you will be regarded as a liar. Not to mention using a syringe. Injection - Medieval Europeans would have regarded it as an evil This technique has been implemented with difficulty in charity hospitals before... So we need to be cautious, step by step, fully consider the acceptance ability of medieval Europeans, and not be too impatient... Do you think there is any problem with this? "Wang Qiu blinked and asked curiously.
"...How should I put it? I feel that it is a little too safe! You must know that those victims of the Black Death can't afford to wait! I am very worried that if Li Wei continues to work slowly and slowly, he will waste time and miss the opportunity. It’s a big deal! Hey, no one will be able to save you by then!”
Professor Guo pointed to a chart displayed on the screen about the death rate of the Black Death in various parts of Europe, and said with some worry: "...Look! During this Black Death that lasted for six years, at that time A total of 25 to 35 million of the 80 million Europeans died, and the population dropped sharply by about one-third, but this was only When spread across Europe, the average number varies greatly in each place - the Black Death epidemic in some places is not so tragic, but the Black Death epidemic in other places, especially in areas with high population density and sanitary environment In harsh medieval European cities, the death rate was far more than one-third
On the bright side, Poland was lucky enough to almost completely escape the Black Death, and the Italian city of Milan also defeated the disease because of effective isolation and health measures. In Norway and Sweden, which are far away from the source of the epidemic, only about 10% to 20% of the population died, which is far lower than the average mortality rate in Europe. As for the mortality rate in England, Scotland and Ireland, it is about 30% to 40%, which is basically equivalent to the European average.
On the bad side, during this Black Death frenzy, the mortality rate of citizens in Paris and Vienna reached half. The mortality rate in various cities on the Italian peninsula, except Milan, was about 60%, which is equivalent to About twice the European average. In Sicily, where the Black Death first broke out, the mortality rate reached an astonishing 90%, and the island almost became an uninhabited island! In Eastern Europe, there is another shocking death record from Smolensk, Russia. Because this place is very close to the Ukrainian grasslands and the Crimean Peninsula, the plague can be transmitted overland. As a result, the whole city died. Five people! ”