After eliminating the largest known source of infection at the Mealworm Farm, the spread of the epidemic in [Xinyangcheng] seems to have finally been suppressed.
Of course, this may also be related to the implementation of a series of more stringent measures by Chao**.
Nowadays, once a sick person is discovered, regardless of class, they are all thrown into an isolation area with an extremely high mortality rate to fend for themselves. The measures are so simple that they are almost cruel.
After discovering that the humidity in the farm was very high, and it seemed that this fungus particularly liked high-humidity environments, the protagonist ordered fires to be lit in each nest chamber from time to time to reduce the ambient humidity.
Because the volume and ventilation conditions of these nests are not suitable for lighting large fires, only larger torches can be lit. These torches must contain grease to be flame-resistant, and torches made of pure wood or hay will burn out just like a struck match. For this reason, the nest's fat reserves are exhausted.
The protagonist even plans to modify the flue of the combustion chamber so that it can cover a larger space and use the heat of the combustion exhaust gas to automatically dry the nest. However, the workload of this project is too large, and too many ant resources have been allocated for epidemic prevention. It is really impossible to spare ant hands to start work, so it can only be abandoned. After the epidemic ended, this project was finally launched to solve the nest's moisture problem once and for all.
As the recent floods have receded slightly, although it is still in the flood season, the river has safely passed its maximum flood peak, and the water level of the groundwater has also dropped. The reduction in humidity in the nest is also partly due to natural factors.
Due to multiple factors, the humidity in [Xinyang City] finally dropped significantly. Through multi-pronged measures, the number of sick people has gradually been controlled to double digits a day. Although the infection has not been eliminated, the momentum of the epidemic can be felt to be diminishing.
What makes the protagonist's head big and distressed now is how to treat the ants in the quarantine area. There are now a large number of ants in it, including legion commanders like the Katy leopard, and a large number of veterans who have followed the protagonist in the north and south. They are all extremely Precious ant talent.
In the quarantine area, the protagonist can do almost nothing except supply water and can only let the ants inside to fend for themselves.
The mortality rate of infected ants is extremely high. Hundreds of ants die every day. Other ants can only pile up the corpses in a corner of the isolation area and bury them. When a nest is filled with corpses, they are completely buried. Then dig a new nest room to bury the corpse.
The protagonist was very happy when he discovered that there was no case of epidemic in the fly maggot farm next door to the mealworm farm. He knew that flies and maggots had extremely strong immunity. Even if they lived on corpses and ate various carrion and other foods, they would not get sick.
He thought he had found a specific medicine to fight the plague, so he hurriedly provided a large number of fly maggots to the quarantine area, and let the ants inside smear the secretions and eat the fly maggots raw, thus fighting the plague.
What? Do an experiment in advance to verify the efficacy of fly maggot secretions or meat?
The protagonist has no time to do these things. Faced with hundreds of losses every day, [Xinyang City], with a total population of just over 10,000, simply cannot wait and cannot afford the losses.
The protagonist has the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living horse doctor, so he provides maggots to the quarantine area. Whether it can be effective depends on God's will.
Fortunately, the number of deaths in the quarantine area has indeed dropped since then, but the number of patients sent to the quarantine area every day has also decreased. Whether it is the maggots that are effective or the epidemic is naturally receding, the protagonist is not sure.
The plague finally ended in late June. After three consecutive days with no new patients or deaths, the protagonist breathed a sigh of relief.
The quarantine area will remain in place for seven days, at which time the few surviving ants inside will be allowed to come out. At that time, the isolation area will be thoroughly baked and disinfected, and then completely filled and sealed.
This area will never be rediscovered. Even if [New Yangcheng] needs to be expanded in the future, it will never be expanded to this area. This area will become a restricted area like Xiaotangshan Hospital after SARS.
This plague brought great losses to [Xin Yangcheng] and the Divine Envoy King's army. 3800
The first is the damage to the ant colony. More than 3,000 ants were successively sent to the quarantine area, accounting for one-third of the total number of ant colonies in [Xinyang City] - this also shows how contagious the plague is.
In the end, less than a thousand ants survived, and more than two thousand ants died, filling more than a dozen nests with their corpses.
The highest-ranking legion commander in the quarantine zone, Katythus Leopard, also failed to survive. Many of the dead were elite warriors, agile sailors, and craftsmen who knew a certain skill.
This plague has taken away too many valuable lives.
In addition to the damage to the ant colony, there are also countless material losses.
Many material warehouses are almost empty. For example, the grease used for epidemic prevention is completely exhausted, and a lot of ant silk, fiber, and wood are also consumed.
Of course, the most consumed material is food.
The two major breeding farms in [Xinyangcheng] were already empty of insects. Mealworm molitor was the source of infection. They were all killed and their bodies were thrown into the river. The fly larvae, which may be a special medicine to suppress the disease, were all eaten up, leaving only one, which is the mount that the protagonist plans to breed for himself - Xiaoqing's descendant Xiaoqing III.
His previous mount, Xiaoqing II, was taken to the swamp area by other flying knights, and he can't hope for it now.
The planned farmland on the ground has not been built, and in order to prevent the epidemic, the number of ants sent out to collect food has also been decreasing.
This makes [Xinyang City] rely heavily on the previously stored food to survive, but many ants have to eat. Once hungry, their resistance decreases and they are more likely to be infected on a large scale.
When the epidemic is over, the granary will be empty.
While assigning ants to do the aftermath of the plague, the protagonist can only send more ants to search for food.
The mealworm farm cannot be restored for the time being. Although there are still some mealworm eggs in the warehouse, the protagonist decided to introduce the flue near the farm. Before this work is completed, there is no plan to re-breed the insects to avoid another outbreak.
Although fly larvae are not afraid of the plague, considering that too much construction noise will disturb the breeding farm, it can only be postponed.
The farmland on the ground is no longer under construction for the time being. The harvest cycle of the crops grown is too long, and the water from far away cannot quench the thirst of nearby people.
Therefore, most of the ants were sent to collect and hunt. The protagonist thought with self-deprecation: A plague caused the Angel King's army to degenerate from an agricultural civilization into a gathering and hunting civilization.
Fortunately, after the flood receded a little, what was left on the beach was not only the eye-catching golden sand, but also a lot of snails, shells, shrimps, algae and other food.
Relying on water to drink, even if you only collect food on the beach in a short period of time, you will not be hungry.
[Xinyangcheng] Just licking the wounds silently, waiting for the vitality to recover!
