The troubles Wang Qingchun faced were the furthest things from Qi Yue’s mind; in fact, she couldn't possibly care less.

What occupied her thoughts was the immediate problem she faced.

Convincing the owner of the pig farm to let her examine the swine.

“Which pig farmer doesn’t lose a few pigs now and then? In Yongqing Prefecture, we aren’t the only ones raising pigs. Why do you claim our pigs are the ones spreading the disease?” the young woman cried out, her face flushed with anger, though the flicker of fear in her eyes did not escape Qi Yue.

It seemed less that she refused to believe her pigs could be harmful, and more that she dared not believe the supposed pestilence originated from her stock.

“That’s right, young woman, how can you speak such nonsense without evidence and claim someone’s pigs are the source of this plague? No one in our village is sick,” an elder from the village stepped forward to arbitrate, his voice deep and steady.

“No, no, not being ill doesn't mean you aren't infected. And I am not speaking without proof. In fact, I’ve come precisely to find evidence,” Qi Yue looked at him and nodded.

Everyone present froze for a beat.

“I only suspect it for now, so I must conduct experiments to verify if these pigs carry the Bacillus anthracis,” she continued. “So, I ask for your cooperation so I can find the proof—either confirming what I say and ensuring everyone’s safety, or proving me wrong and clearing your name.”

The logic was sound; hearing this, the villagers hesitated.

“Perhaps we should listen to her. If it’s true, it concerns the whole village…” someone murmured low enough to be almost unheard.

Hearing this, the clan elder stepped forward and thumped his staff on the ground.

“Fine, family of Hua Po, you will do as she says,” he commanded. “I want to see how you intend to prove it.”

With the elder’s word given, the family had no choice but to comply, however unwilling they were.

“If our pigs turn out to be fine, you must compensate us!” the woman said, a note of grievance in her tone. “If this gets out, our business will suffer.”

Qi Yue nodded.

“Naturally,” she said with a smile.

Seeing how amenable the woman appeared, she let out a breath of relief, already calculating the compensation amount in her head.

“However, if your pigs are the problem, you must listen to me,” Qi Yue turned back once before walking away.

The woman stiffened.

Listen how?

The pigs here were not kept in modern pens but roamed freely across the mountainside. Qi Yue and her disciples chased them through the hills and valleys.

“It’s no use, Master, none of these pigs seem sick,” the disciples reported, sweating profusely inside their protective suits in the summer heat, holding their waists and panting.

Qi Yue was even worse off, too exhausted to speak.

“So, my pigs are fine, right? They might have eaten or run off somewhere,” the woman said with a light laugh.

The villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle couldn't help but chuckle as well.

These people were truly amusing, running after pigs in such heat, dressed like that.

“Pigs have the strongest resistance to anthrax; it’s usually chronic, showing almost no symptoms while alive. It’s mostly discovered during slaughter and hygiene inspection,” Qi Yue explained. “This is not strange, nor does it mean we are wrong.”

“Should we dissect them?” a disciple asked.

“No, no, absolutely not,” Qi Yue shook her head. “If it is anthrax, dissection is extremely dangerous.”

The disciples nodded.

“You must have had some dead pigs during this period, right?” Qi Yue inquired.

The woman’s expression soured slightly.

“Pigs die sometimes, it’s normal,” she replied.

“Did you sell all the dead ones?” Qi Yue ignored her retort and pressed on.

The woman grew even more displeased.

“Those… those weren’t sick… only two or three died, and I buried them…” she said loudly.

She thought to herself that if this woman kept blaming the villagers for spreading disease, she’d be done with her! She’d drive them out immediately!

“That’s excellent,” Qi Yue said, lifting her foot. “Take me to see them.”

Excellent? What was excellent? The woman was stunned again; this woman’s words were never what one expected…

But having said as much, she had no choice but to lead the way.

“You all keep searching. Infected pigs show swelling in the throat and restricted neck movement…” Qi Yue instructed as she walked.

The disciples responded with a clear ‘Yes, Master,’ took a brief rest, and resumed checking the pigs one by one.

When Physician An arrived, Qi Yue and her team had already located both sick and healthy live pigs and were preparing to run experiments.

“How can you prove these pigs are contagious?” he asked excitedly.

Qi Yue was startled to see him.

“Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here,” she said, pointing to the lime powder scattered by her disciples on the ground. “Do not cross this line.”

She lacked manpower and could only ask the villagers to keep watch, but the villagers were neither attentive nor taking it seriously, making the lime line merely a token gesture.

“Master, such an unprecedented event—how could I not come?” Physician An said with a smile.

Qi Yue sighed in resignation.

“Help Physician An put on a protective suit,” she told a disciple.

By the time Physician An had sterilized and donned his suit, Qi Yue was already drawing blood from the two pigs simultaneously.

“This is the blood from the healthy pig, and this is from the sick one,” she said, handing the blood collected in individual porcelain test tubes to a disciple.

The disciple carefully took them, labeled each one sequentially, and placed them in the test tube rack. Soon, the wooden frame was full.

Physician An watched intently, asking no questions.

“First, I need to obtain serum from both the sick and healthy pigs,” Qi Yue took the initiative to explain. “Since we don't have a centrifuge, we must rely on natural coagulation.”

“What is serum?” Physician An inquired.

“You see blood as uniform, but its components differ. Serum is what remains after fibrinogen is removed from the plasma,” Qi Yue explained.

He understood none of the terminology but nodded, asking no further questions.

Amidst the pigs’ squeals, both animals were marked and released.

Qi Yue and her team retreated.

“I advise you not to cross this line. Watch your children closely at home. Here is some lime liquor; please spray it around your homes and do not go out. Wash your hands with running water, and if you have any open wounds, report immediately to Qianjintang for examination,” Qi Yue instructed.

The villagers remained noncommittal.

“We’ll wait until you produce evidence,” the clan elder stated.

Qi Yue said no more. She directed the disciples to distribute the supplies to the villagers, then retreated to an area to begin setting up a tent.

This tent had been conceptualized after a previous incident involving a farmer and the Xie family made Qi Yue realize the need for emergency field surgery setups. Hu San had been ordered to fabricate one, but due to the sheer volume of work, only a single unit was ready—though now it was proving useful.

The small, rudimentary laboratory was quickly assembled.

“I need to prepare the precipitin now. Please step back,” Qi Yue said, placing her hand on a small porcelain jar.

Even they needed to step back?

The disciples and Physician An exchanged worried glances but did not move.

“Master, let us do it,” one disciple offered. “If something happens to us, it’s nothing. But if something happens to you…”

Physician An nodded in agreement.

Qi Yue turned back and smiled at them.

“You are mistaken,” she said. “You are the future; you are the most important.”

The disciples were bewildered—they? How could they be the most important?

Qi Yue waved her hand with a smile.

“It’s fine. I already handled the most dangerous part—extracting the tissue from the dead pigs. This is just preparing the precipitin; the danger has greatly diminished,” she assured them.

This meant that if any real danger existed, she had already passed the peak of it…

The disciples’ expressions grew complex.

“This is not a time for you to learn. I will teach you this later,” Qi Yue added cheerfully. “For now, go and separate the serum exactly as I’ve written down. Just like we do in the lab—steady hands, sharp focus. There will be no problems.”

The disciples responded in unison, pushing Physician An back out.

As night fell, the villagers who had spent the day watching the spectacle dispersed after seeing nothing truly extraordinary. A light glowed brightly from Qi Yue’s tent, highly visible against the dark night sky.

“This is the one containing the antigen…” Physician An murmured, looking at the dark liquid in the test tube.

That word was utterly foreign…

“The clear liquid,” Qi Yue supplied for him.

Physician An carefully placed the test tube back on the wooden rack; his movements were clumsy due to the thick gloves.

“You can test it just like this?” Physician An asked.

Qi Yue let out a breath.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Master…” Physician An smiled somewhat helplessly at her confession.

“I’m not being modest,” Qi Yue laughed, then propped her head on her hands and gazed out at the starry sky through the tent flap. “My previous environment was completely different from this. I’ve never tried these… well, you know… where we had equipment…”

Physician An recalled the speculation Liu Pucheng had shared about the mysterious Master behind this Qi woman—a figure akin to an immortal residing outside the mortal realm.

“But before those… devices… how did you manage?” he pondered aloud.

Before?

Qi Yue looked at him.

Physician An smiled slightly as he met her gaze.

“Why did those… devices… come to be?” he asked.

“Because there was a need,” Qi Yue replied, smiling in turn. “Why does a person have a need? Because someone knew it could be done. So, initially, there were only people, no machines. Having this…”

She pointed toward her head. “…that led, step by step, to more, better, and more perfect things…”

Physician An smiled.

“We will see how the serum separation goes tomorrow,” Qi Yue waved her hand and stood up. “Physician An, this place is crude and has no place for rest. Please use this reclining chair to take a break.”

Physician An did not refuse. This was not the time for idle pleasantries. With the help of a young attendant, he lay down to rest.

Qi Yue stepped out of the tent. Two disciples guarded a box tilted at an angle.

Two small charcoal braziers were set up some distance from the box.

“We don’t have a constant temperature incubator, so we have to resort to this crude method of letting it sit at room temperature overnight,” she explained, noting that even though it was summer, the temperature could drop significantly in the deep night. “Be sure to keep the temperature from falling too low. Everyone, please endure this long night.”

The disciples acknowledged her command.

Qi Yue sat down casually, and the disciples settled around her.

“Master, why can’t the temperature be too low?” someone asked, habitually pulling out a small notebook.

Seeing this, the others quickly followed suit, taking out their own.

“Because the temperature inside the blood specimen is thirty-seven degrees. If the external room temperature drops by twenty-five degrees, thermal expansion and contraction will occur. The cell walls will rupture, resulting in hemolyzed serum, which loses the intended effect,” Qi Yue explained.

“…Blood has a temperature, Master?”

“…What is thermal expansion and contraction?”

“…What exactly is a cell? Why can’t I see it?”

“…You can’t see it with the naked eye; you need a microscope…”

“…What is a microscope?”

Inside the rudimentary tent, Physician An listened to the discussions outside and a faint smile touched his lips as he closed his eyes.