Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology
Chapter 966: Moroi’s Fiend 5

Chapter 966: Moroi’s Fiend 5

Kabul wasn’t the only place that welcomed the blockade of the military and the mandatory health checks of the medical professionals; other cities on the border like Kandahar, Zabol, and Chabahar were also among them.

As far as the reactions of the border dwellers went, without any surprise, they were extremely unhappy with the military’s actions. After all, their livelihood, primarily tied to the Bharat-Russia Economic Corridor, had come to a halt, making their survival uncertain. The border regions were barren, lacking vegetation, so farming offered no real alternative for sustenance as well. To make matters worse, there was a constant outcry from the hundreds of thousands of Bharatiya workers stranded on the other side of the border for over a week.

Unfortunately, despite the dissatisfaction and annoyance of the people, the military did not take a step back and did not stop their actions. They dutifully blocked off the border and completely isolated villages and cities, and when they lacked in personnel, they even added more soldiers from other regiments, filling up the gaps and not leaving any loopholes in the border.

For the Bharatiya Empire, the plague appeared at a very bad time. The empire was in a period of rapid industrial mechanisation brought by the Kesari K1 steam engine, and the economy was recovering at a rapid rate after a collapse. But declaring a national emergency was like adding a speed breaker on the Autobahn, which ended up dampening the momentum and made the empire miss a rare chance of full recovery before the end of the month.

All over the empire, the trade has been reduced by a lot, and despite the newspapers not mentioning anything about the plague, people began to notice the odd situation happening around them, like the top medical professionals in their cities inadvertently disappearing, or the increase of the prices of some medicines, or even the sudden public workshops by the Ministry of Health on how to fight a plague.

Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial capital

"Has there been a breach?" Vijay asked, massaging his temples, his eyes bloodshot. He hadn’t had proper sleep in nearly three days.

Lokesh, who was suffering from a terrible headache, nodded with worry written all over his face. "We have found over 23 cases at the border, Your Majesty, and we made sure to quarantine everyone they had come into contact with, as well as isolate all the places they visited. We did our best to leave no loose ends, and thanks to that, there hasn’t been an outbreak like in the Ottoman Empire, or in some parts of Persia and Lalishtan."

"But Your Majesty..."

The worry on his face increased.

"We still don’t know how this plague is spreading, and unless we know the specific conditions required for its spread, we are not able to take precise actions."

Vijay nodded in understanding, but for the complaint of Lokesh, he was helpless; he too did not know the characteristics of the Moroi’s Fiend, which is unlike any disease he had seen in his past life.

Unfortunately, he was not a medical professional, nor did he have the experience of a medical scientist or researcher to directly step into a laboratory and figure things out. Even if he wanted to rely on his superior intellect to learn everything from scratch, the medical field was an entirely different discipline from the engineering background he was familiar with. Even by a conservative estimate, it would take him at least half a year—or more—to master the theoretical knowledge and accumulate enough practical experience.

In the end, realising the unreliability of that idea, he can only rely on the professionals he and Lokesh had gathered.

"All right, keep up the good work and get yourself some sleep",

"Thank you, sire. Then I’ll take my leave."

Sleep? Lokesh couldn’t help but shake his head in his heart. Ever since he had learned how gruesome the deaths caused by the Moroi’s Fiend were, and how contagious the disease truly was, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly. He would be lucky to get even three or four hours of rest a day.

After seeing Lokesh off, Vijay met with Gangadhar, the Marshal of the Empire, as well as Kiran Poojari, the Minister of Defence.

"How’s the situation in Khalsa Nagari?"

As soon as Vijay asked the question, both Gangadhar and Kiran Poojari exchanged an awkward glance.

"This..."

----

A few days ago...

Ambarpura, Khalsa Nagari

Harman Singh wiped his sweat that was practically pouring from his pores and tried his best to appease the angry locals.

"Please, everyone, calm down. Try to understand the situation. The plague, which is on the rise, is not a normal one. Thousands of people have already died in the Persian Kingdom and Lalishtan. Even in our state, over a hundred people have been found dead."

"And in order to curb this plague, it is our superiors’ orders to completely isolate the city, so that no one in the city will inadvertently contract the disease and bring disaster to the rest of us."

Despite sweating profusely, His words were calm and composed, but unfortunately, the locals were not so reasonable.

"Inspector, you said the same thing over a week ago, and we all followed your orders without hesitation. But it is unreasonable to hold our whole city hostage like this for such a long time. Many of us have families in the empire. The majority of us are even labourers working for the construction project. We are feeling homesick. We have to go home. In such a situation, is it reasonable for you to continue to stop us?"

A middle-aged man stood out and responded with indignation written all over his face.

Harman Singh did not know how to respond to this question, because even he wanted to go back to the empire to see how his wife and kids were doing. But thankfully, he still knew the condition outside, where several cities have already experienced cases of death due to Moroi’s Fiend, and hundreds of people have already been infected. He knew that going out now would simply be risking his life. Instead, he could simply stay back in the city with the relief that the border of the empire was even more tightly guarded.

Seeing as how the police inspector did not continue to talk with them anymore, the middle-aged man and the people behind him angrily took up their luggage and prepared to leave.

Harman Singh did not stop them. Instead, he looked in the direction where the people had left and stood silently, as if he were waiting for something.

And as expected, a gunshot later, all the people came back with dejected and scared expressions on their faces.

Harman Singh shook his head and simply left. Did these people really think that the empire would use him, a small police inspector, to tie down the whole city? Couldn’t they have realised that the military had cordoned off all the paths to the city a kilometre away?

However, what he did not notice was the resentment and the anger among the young men of the people.

That night, it was time for the soldiers to switch shifts. The change of shift is done in two stages so that there would be someone watching the surroundings at all times, and a loophole would not be available for someone to take advantage of.

However, despite the alertness, the time during which the shift changes is still a weak moment in the defence.

A group of young men, over 30 to 40 of them, cautiously sneaked towards the perimeter. Usually, they would be caught because they are not as professional as the army when it comes to covert movements, but they had the advantage of terrain, which they were much more familiar with.

’These idiots only set up the sentry on top of the hill but completely forgot to consider that there is a ditch here,’ a young boy with a sharp mind thought, as he had a smirk at the corner of his lips.

At his gesture, all the young boys, who had crawled through a small ditch not more than 2 feet wide, threw the oil bottles they were carrying with them onto the main road that the military had blocked off.

The military was shocked when bottles of oil suddenly began to fall on them. They reacted quickly, some trying to get away from the place and wipe away the oil on their bodies, while others tried to advance and stop the enemy who was attacking them. But it was already too late. Sticks lit in flames fell on them, causing the oil to immediately catch fire.

"Ahh!"

Screams were heard from above, while the young boys covered in mud celebrated, clenching their fists in victorious pride.

"The Night Protectors strike again!"

The leader of the group raised his hand and declared,

"Come on, let’s go."

---

The present day

"Bham!"

Vijay slammed the table in anger. At first, when Khalsa Nagari was formed, it was he who allowed teenagers to form their own group in order to protect their neighborhood from theft, attacks, and other things because there were not enough police officers to completely bring the region under control, which had just suffered from the war, not to mention he feels like using the military to do civilian affairs was not proper either. But now these teenagers actually dared to attack the military and turned into hooligans?

If he is being honest, Vijay knew something would happen because he knew how hooligans and gangsters are formed. But his idea was to curb the existence of such gangs of teenagers after enough police officers are employed, and until then, they could act as replacements. But the situation is unfortunate because the plague seems to have made them grow up all of a sudden.

"What happened to these guys then? Are they apprehended?"

Gangadhar nodded and responded, "After their attack, they took their parents and escaped from the isolation."

"However, after they ran out, they ran into a village that was infected due to it being on the main road leading to Persia. In the end, they were found by a few passing soldiers and were finally apprehended. But unfortunately, a few of them are already showing signs of the disease."

"Damn it!"

Vijay cursed, not out of pity for the infected, but because each new case meant another possible chain of transmission. He knew for a fact that they hadn’t all taken the same route while escaping; they must have scattered. Who knew how many places they had passed through along the way?

Eventually, Vijay made a decision in his heart, and his eyes turned sharp. Given that his eyes were already a little bloodshot, his change of expression immediately startled the admiral and the Minister of Defence.

"For the state of Khalsa Nagari alone, switch it to a military state. I give no more choices, either follow the orders or bear the consequences."

"All the private companies will be taken over by the military. Logistics will be taken over by the military. Medical staff will be taken over by the military. Education, law, public security, private companies, and even public infrastructure will all be taken over by the military."

" Even if a dog wants to enter the main cities of Khalsa Nagari, it should go past the military."

" Mobilise the reserve army and send them all to Khalsa Nagari and the western border cities."

" In order to make sure a similar situation does not happen again, take all the teenagers affiliated with militia groups like the Night Protectors into custody, whether they did anything wrong or not, and only let the teenagers go after the whole ordeal ends."

" If their parents make trouble, take them into custody as well."

" As for the Night Protectors and their family members, those who are infected, quickly eliminate them and burn their bodies. For those who are not, imprison them until they can receive their punishment."

" As for the main leader of the group and his cronies, responsible for the deaths of several soldiers, it is unacceptable for him to live any longer. Simply execute them."

" Being young shouldn’t be a reason for anyone to take anyone’s life. If their parents complain, let them complain. Even give them a chance to play some tricks. If they are caught, even better, send them to the afterlife together. But if they are sensible, after the plague ends, kick them off to Africa or Madagascar."

P.S. Man, this took so long to edit. Hope it’s acceptable.