Father Porter told little Pansy that if she felt uncomfortable, she must go to him.
However, the day after he treated little Pansy's parents, Father Porter never waited for little Pansy.
He knelt in front of the statue of Jesus with an extremely pious expression and prayed day after day.
He hoped that it was just his unfounded worries.
But……
Until dusk, little Pansy didn't come.
Is it because little Pansy is not sick, or...
The embarrassed Father Potter finally decided to go to Pansy's house to see what was going on.
He knocked on the door, but no one answered.
"Little Pansy?"
"I am Father Potter, please open the door!"
"Little Pansy?"
Inside the house, there was dead silence.
This made Father Potter feel a little panic in his heart.
He subconsciously picked up the wooden stick next to him and violently knocked the door open.
His movement attracted the attention of some other villagers.
"Father Potter, what's wrong with you?"
However, at this time, Father Porter seemed to have seen something, trembling all over, and ignored their questions.
These people seemed to have noticed something was wrong and walked over cautiously.
What came into view was the corpses of little Pansy's parents!
The bodies of little Pansy's parents already smelled bad, and there were more and more ulcers on their bodies!
Little Pansy was lying on the ground, breathless, with a strange blush on his face due to the high fever.
"Don't come in!" Father Potter immediately stopped everyone and quickly ran into the house of little Pansy's family.
"Potter...Father Potter..."
Little Pansy was held in the arms of the priest, showing an expression of extreme pain.
"I...I feel so uncomfortable...ahem...I...I don't have the strength...to find you..."
Father Porter immediately comforted him:
"Little Pansy, don't be afraid!"
"The priest will cure you!"
With that said, Father Potter rushed out of the room holding little Pansy's body, and immediately said to everyone:
"Everyone, please stay away from this house!"
"Also, use alcohol to disinfect your hands!"
The villagers were frightened by Father Porter's attitude, and they all panicked:
"Father Potter...what...what happened?"
Father Potter shook his head and said nothing, but hurriedly brought little Pansy back to the church.
He took out all the herbs and began to mix them according to his own knowledge.
suddenly:
"Zhizhi..."
A rat with a foul smell suddenly appeared in the church, which stunned Father Porter.
This church has always been kept very clean, and there have never been mice.
Why today...
If you think about it carefully, there seem to be too many rats appearing now!
In an instant, Father Potter suddenly had a very ridiculous idea.
That is... could this rat be the culprit of this inexplicable disease?
He hurriedly drove the rats out and put some rat-killing medicine around.
He placed little Pansy in a room on the second floor of the church and began to wipe little Pansy's body with alcohol and potions.
Little Pansy opened her eyes with difficulty, with a hint of prayer and fear:
"Father Potter...am I...dying..."
Father Potter took a deep breath and forced out a smile:
"No, don't worry, little Pansy!"
…
However, what Father Potter feared most happened, and the same symptoms began to appear more and more in the small village.
For a moment, everyone was extremely scared.
Human beings' perception of danger is almost instinctive.
Even without Father Potter saying anything, they had already guessed whether this was some unknown infectious disease.
As a result, the village began to become uneasy.
At first, when patients appeared, Father Porter just asked everyone to send them to the church and he would take care of them personally.
But soon, the church room could no longer accommodate patients.
We had no choice but to turn the prayer place into a temporary place for patients.
In the huge church, Father Porter wipes the surrounding area with alcohol every day.
As for feeding and caring for the sick, apart from Father Porter, only the family members of those who were sick were willing to help.
But over time, the family members of these sick people also began to get sick!
As a result, the people in the village who were still intact were completely frightened!
On this day, the old village chief knocked on the church door cautiously, and then hurriedly backed away as if he had seen Satan.
Father Potter opened the door.
His face also looked haggard.
Of course, he did not contract the disease.
Just because he had to take care of patients every day, his body was almost at its limit.
"village head……"
The old village chief said in horror:
"You...just stand there!"
Father Potter was stunned for a moment, then showed a wry smile.
The old village chief took a deep breath and said solemnly: "Father Potter, you don't have to hide it from us now!"
"This disease is contagious, right?"
"Besides, you can't cure it either!"
"Villages often see you digging a pit in the church's back garden!"
Father Potter fell silent.
What the old village chief said was indeed correct.
He tried almost every method he knew, but couldn't even relieve the symptoms.
Many people will become ill and die almost within a few days.
Moreover, Father Porter was horrified to discover that when obvious symptoms of this infectious disease appear on the body, the person is almost ready to die.
In other words, without everyone knowing, there is still a long incubation period!
However, this cannot be said.
It was obvious that the village chief and others were very nervous.
If all these things are told again, maybe... the village will completely fall into violence.
However, what the village chief said next made Father Porter's expression change:
"Father Potter, let's go, get out of here!"
Father Potter was stunned:
"Village chief, you...what do you mean?"
"What will these patients do if I leave?"
The village chief's expression was a little twisted.
But it was obvious that he had already discussed this idea with the other villagers before coming here.
"Others, let them stay in the church and let them fend for themselves!"
Father Potter turned pale:
"Village chief, you can't!"
"Doing this is equivalent to letting them die, isn't it?!"
The village chief was angry:
"Is there any difference between this situation and letting them wait for death?!"
"It's death anyway!"
"Besides, the village needs to send you food every day!"
"If this continues, more and more people will be infected!"
"I heard that the village next door is almost dead!"
"We absolutely don't want this to happen!"
Father Potter stubbornly shook his head and said angrily:
"no!"
"Absolutely not!"
"I don't agree!"
…
In the end, Father Porter's negotiations with the village chief were naturally unsuccessful.
That night, Father Porter came to little Pansy's room.
At this time, little Pansy also began to have festering wounds on her body.
"Father Potter... I... ahem... am I... going to die?"
The weak murmur made Father Potter wipe the wound on little Pansy's body distressedly.
"Don't worry, little Pansy...will definitely be able to survive!"
Father Porter comforted little Pansy, but suddenly he felt that there seemed to be fire outside the window.
He walked to the bed, took a closer look, and suddenly his expression changed.
The people in the village came over one by one with torches and evil expressions on their faces!
Father Porter immediately rushed out of the room and came to the front of the church.
In front of them, the village chief and the remaining villagers all had ferocious expressions.
"Village Chief, you... what are you doing!" Father Porter's voice was trembling.
The village chief's eyes were extremely dark:
"Father Potter, there is nothing we can do!"
"But... if the infection continues like this, the entire village will be wiped out!"
"This is absolutely not okay!"
"You are a good person. We originally planned to let you go."
"But since you don't want to leave, then you can't blame us!"
The village chief didn't intend to talk nonsense with Father Potter.
Everyone has been suppressed by the pressure of survival and can't breathe.
They don't want to die, let alone die in such a miserable way.
So, even if they knew that the people in the church were neighbors with whom they had a good relationship, and even if there were family members or friends among them, everyone threw the torches out without hesitation!
The church's wood was instantly ignited by the flames.
Father Porter bore the brunt and was hit by a torch.
The flames engulfed his clothes and flesh, and the pain made him scream in agony.
Soon, the flames began to spread throughout the church.
Screams came one after another. Father Porter tore open the burning clothes and finally escaped from the flames, but many hideous scars appeared on his body.
He gasped and wanted to rush out of the church.
However, the flames were already too fast.
At this moment, the second floor also started to catch fire!
"Little Pansy!" Father Potter, who was covered in burns, stumbled up to the second floor.
However, what responded to him was little Pansy's scream.
"Father Potter...Father Potter...help me..."
The screams and cries for help kept pouring into Father Potter's mind.
However, at this moment, screams were heard outside.
In front of the window, I saw that the villagers holding torches were being killed by the officers and soldiers who came over.
Their method was unexpectedly the same - burning with fire!
"Wait a minute, we're not infected!"
"We are all healthy!"
"Please, spare us!"
For a moment, the shrill screams were exactly the same as those in the church.
Father Porter opened his mouth and looked at the officers and soldiers, whose expressions were exactly the same as those of the villagers just now.
Panic, fear, ferociousness, evil...
"It turns out...it turns out they are all the same..."
Father Potter gave a nervous smile.
He suddenly felt, is it really useful to believe in Jesus?
This world does not bless pious people.
At this time, the flames burned his body again.
However, he seemed to have no pain.
His eyes began to look ferocious and twisted, and step by step, he came to the gorgeous cross.
"Jesus……"
"hey-hey……"
With a nervous laugh, the priest destroyed the cross!
Immediately afterwards, the sky-high fire engulfed Father Potter, and at the same time, the reflected shadow began to twist, like a living thing.
And then little by little... it spread all over Father Potter's body!
The flames were extinguished and the wounds on his body began to heal.
The shadow caused Father Potter to put on thick leather clothes and a strange beak mask.
In his hand, he held a lantern.
But the lights are like the ghostly flames produced by burning corpses.
"call……"
He breathed out gently, and the gas was like the plague.
"Save people...I still want to...save people..."
As Father Porter muttered, the church was completely burned to ashes.
When the Italian officers and soldiers saw a slightly stooped man wearing a strange mask standing among the ruins, they all showed fear!
There are no scars on his body. Every step he takes, he is surrounded by strange crows, as if reminding you all the time that someone is going to die.
At this point, he lost his name.
He only remembered...that he was called...Father!
[Author's digression]: Today I recommend a novel, "The Last Battle of the Guardians". This work continues the world view of "The Guardians" and is a sequel. The content is logically smooth and the rhythm is very compact. It can be said that