eunoia | bl | tgcf

Chapter 4: Part One

Chapter 4
Honglan Mountain

Part One
Disease

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Warning: Massive Timeskip!!!

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In the eastern plains, there is a mountain tall enough to pierce through the clouds. From the base to its peak, it is covered by the color red. Not a single green leaf or other colored petals can be seen, even if one explored the mountain's every crook and cranny.

The color red fills one's vision, drowning them in an expanse of vermillion that seems to encompass the entire horizon. At night, the moonlight bleeds red through the foliage, dying the whole mountain in an eerie color.

The trees' leaves are red and the only existing flowers present in the mountain... are red orchids

Thus, it is named Honglan Mountain.

Honglan Mountain formed overnight, causing nearby villages and towns to fall into ruin. Thousands of people died, staining the earth with blood. The mountain formed without rhyme nor reason. There was no warning from the earth that a mountain would arise in that area.

Many people said that Honglan Mountain's color came to be due to the number of people who died. Others said that perhaps Honglan Mountain formed due to god's wrath.

There were people filled with curiosity and questions who explored the mountain. They said that nothing appeared out of the ordinary other than its eerie and unnatural color, and how rain never seemed to fall.

They also noted that there was not a single living being in that mountain. No animals stayed in Honglan. Perhaps they passed by, played around with family, but none of them stayed during the night.

Hence, humans' curiosities won again and they investigated Honglan Mountain at night.

And they discovered something... not quite right.

The sound of chains being pulled over and over again resounded in the mountain. A voice cried into the sky, calling for a name that they couldn't understand. They heard the sound of swords piercing flesh, the sound of something heavy breaking bones, the sound of someone crying until the voice went hoarse.

The moonlight that bleeds red seemed to become blood in the eyes of those people, as if drops of blood began to fall from the sky. They appeared to seep through the trunks of trees, the orchids glowing brighter in the dark, growing eyes that pierce right through their souls.

And then——

They once again heard a desperate cry that shook their hearts, one that filled them with anxiety and desperation.

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The streets of Yiyang City are filled with many medical personnel and city guards. There are few people wandering around but the gossip from the mouth spreads from one to another, reaching the ears of every person in the city.

Even though the authorities did their best, the news about the plague spread among the people.

The infected have already been isolated in a temple built near Honglan Mountain. The numbers have already reached three digits and more are being added each day. Although the medics began investigating what caused this plague, they cannot seem to figure it out.