An Accident
An Accident
He hoped that this was not some otherworldly version of Resident Evil. They could not extract virus antigens with the current technology.
"Of course not," said Iron Axe, making a confused face. "Humans will simply turn into corpses."
"Can we eat the flesh of the demonic beasts?"
Carter exclaimed. "Your Highness! How can you eat these beasts? They're all tainted by the touch of hell!"
Roland turned to Iron Axe, who nodded. "Your knight is right. Once I tried to cut off a piece of flesh from the beasts and feed it to a hound, but it died soon after."
"Is that so? What a pity." Roland sighed. Food was so scarce in this era, so if demonic beasts could be eaten, then they could have a huge harvest in the winter. Just imagine, with all the crazed beasts running from the forest to Border Town, they would not even need any hunting tools.
Once he finished patrolling the city wall, he decided to pay Nana a visit.
He had expropriated a nobleman's house, which was the closest to the city wall, and transformed it into a field hospital. Of course, it was simply a normal hospital to others. Just to be safe, the place was the most heavily guarded place except the city wall.
When the house owner escaped to Longsong Stronghold, he took all of his properties with him. Border Town was a place where one could give up at any moment. Even though the house was large, there were no frescoes, carpets, or porcelain to decorate it. If it were not neatly cleaned, it would just look like a house that has been abandoned for a long time.
Roland tore down the wooden partition on the first floor to make one large room, leaving only the hallway and entrance intact. He then placed 10 beds to form a simple hospital. There were no nurses, no doctors, and even these 10 beds were unlikely to be occupied. After all, Nana's treatment did not require bed rest. It was immediately effective.
During the day, she was on the second floor of the hospital on standby. Anna accompanied her whenever she had spare time. Tigui Pine and Brian were in charge of the first floor, with two more guards posted at the entrance. It was foolproof.
However, Roland did not expect that the first patient that the hospital received would be a worker from the North Slope Mine, rather than some soldier defending the city wall.
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Nail felt his hands shaking.
When he heard Iron Head's hoarse screams, he once again quickened his pace. He wished he could fly to his destination.
Everything was a result of his negligence, he thought. He really deserved to die. How could he forget the veteran knight's warnings?
He knew that he should not have agreed to operate the large machine alone.
Ever since the big, dark machine was installed at the entrance of the mine, work had become a lot easier.
In the first place, the most tiring job was removing the ores from the mine. When the basket was filled with ores, it would take three to four people to drag it. Usually two people pushed in the back, with the others pulling from the front. After years of mining, the uneven surface of the tunnel would become flat due to the repetitive transporting of the baskets. The iron pads under the baskets also had to be changed frequently.
A week ago, Chief Knight ordered Iron Head and his men to haul some oddly-shaped metal pieces up the mountain. After a few days, they assembled the pieces in a furnace. Nail did not expect that the furnace would come to life and start moving on its own. It was both powerful and dynamic.
The veteran knight said it was an invention by His Highness called a "steam engine".
As long as they tied the mining basket to the machine with a hemp rope and ignited a fire, the machine would let out a cry. Then it would turn the winch to pull the basket to the entrance of the mine.
It sounded incredible!
The veteran knight demonstrated it a few times, and then asked Iron Head to select a person to operate the steam engine. Nail's heart soared when he was selected. As long as he stood in front of that machine, he would never have to dig in the mine or push the basket. That was what he thought, but he had been terrified ever since the landslide accident.
He kept the veteran knight's words firmly in his mind.
Making the contraption work seemed easy. All he had to do was to lift the green rod and press the red rod down. The veteran knight said that the green rod was connected to the air intake valve, and the red rod was connected to the exhaust valve. And the steam would enter the cylinder through the pipeline. When the basket was pulled up, he would stop the machine by lifting the red rod and pressing the green rod down. Then steam would come from the side of the boiler into the tube. After each cycle, the boiler must be filled with water. Although Nail did not understand the meanings of the valve and cylinder, he promised to operate it step by step.
But the veteran knight stressed two points. Firstly, he should not mess up the order. He must start from the green then to red rod, and end with the red rod followed by the green rod. If he did this incorrectly, he would probably damage the machine. Secondly, he had to clear out the surrounding miners before emptying the exhaust, and continue shouting out to remind others what he was doing, until the red rod was completely lifted.
Nail was sure that he absolutely could not mess up the first point. As for the second, he had some problem.
Today, when he turned off the machine as usual, there was no one around. He felt like a fool calling out to an empty room, so he proceeded to pull the red rod silently. The rod was tight, and it took quite an effort for him to lift it.
He did not expect Iron Head to appear right then in front of the boiler. Nail swore that he did not see him approach, and the loud roar of the machine masked his footsteps. White steam screeched from the exhaust port and headed straight at Iron Head's face!
Nail was frozen in horror, seeing Iron Head fall to the ground. Iron head clutched his face, rolling around. The mournful screams that he let out gave Nail goose bumps.
Soon other miners gathered around. They held down Iron Head who was still rolling, and forcibly removed his hands. His face was a mess, with blood oozing from the cooked flesh of his skin. His eyes were mere white beads. Everyone there knew that it was the end for him.
Behind them, tears welled in Nail's eyes. Iron Head had always taken care of him. Considering his young age, Iron Head assigned him less work than others, but never reduced his pay. But now this happened because of his negligence.
Caught in his grief and anxiety, Nail recalled what the veteran knight had said. If someone was accidentally injured in the mining area, they could bring them to the new medical hospital near the city wall.
He knew that there was little hope to mend such a serious injury. The wound was too serious and herbs would do little to help. Iron Head's skin would continue to rot, and he would soon fall into a coma because of his fever. Nonetheless, Nail put Iron Head on his back. Clenching his teeth, he ran, ignoring the surprise of the people around him.
He knew if he did nothing and simply watched Iron Head die, he would not be able to forgive himself in this lifetime.