Chapter 49 - Denialism kills

Back in Hefei, Bai Chongye is being put under pressure by his Health counselors. The number of new infections is consistently higher day after day. Despite Bai Chongye completely neglecting the epidemic, his staff was actually working hard to find a solution. They have gathered far more data than Zhejiang and Huangshan combined, and are trying dozens of different medicines and treatments concurrently. 
Hefei has a very large and important university that performs a lot of research. They do report the ongoing projects to a board, that reports it to the emperor. But this time, due to the fact that Bai Chongye has chosen a very dangerous path, the students are experimenting in secret. 
They so far discovered critical details of the disease, like the wild spread rate and the exact duration of the pre-symptomatic phase. It is very hard for them to develop a medicine capable of targeting the disease alone, as Bai Chongye would cut any funding immediately, so they are limited to cheaper and more traditional techniques. Bai Chongye was convinced that Zinc alone would do the job and ordered everyone in the city to take it, but the number of deaths kept rising as if no medicine was used. 
One of the students, Mo Yang, was particularly concerned. He is the best performing student in the college and has lead research in many new medicines that are currently being used in many empires and saving thousands every year.
Mo Yang was not very happy with Bai Chongye's position and asked for a meeting. He brought with him other students at a similar level and a group of specialists from the college. Bai Chongye accepted the meeting in the palace, and in the noon, the students gathered in front of the heavy door. Bai Chongye allowed them to get inside, as they do, they bow to him:

-You all can rise. What do you want?

Mo Yang moves closer to Bai Chongye than the others:

-Majesty, we are here to give advice.
-Advice??? You are a bunch of students, I am the emperor, I should give, not receive any advice.
-We understand, but we have absolute proof that the medicines you have chosen as treatment are not helping.
-Who cares? They do help, would you be that bold and say his highness lied?
-I'm not saying that, I'm saying that our research has demonstrated no benefit at all. We are currently developing better options, and we want your majesty to consider them instead.
-I have already made up my mind. We will not change our protocols, this disease is gonna burn itself out anyway.

Mo Yang moves a step further, showing a document:

-Your Majesty, please. We are bringing new information that you must understand, so we can solve this issue faster.

Bai Chongye gets up from his throne and walks down. When he gets closer to Mo Yang, he takes the document. After Mo Yang has handed it to him, he pulls his fan, opens it, and strikes Mo Yang in the neck, cutting it. He then kicks Mo Yang towards the students. Blood from the cut spreads quickly, and the students try to animate Mo Yang, but he faints:

-Mo Yang... MO YANG!!! - They scream.

Bai Chongye smiles at them and torn apart the document Mo Yang has handed:

-This is what all of you want to? Get out of my palace, and stop this research immediately, or do you want to die too?

The students grab the corpse of Mo Yang with them, and the gatekeepers shut the door:

-Mo Yang... Please, Mo Yang, don't leave us!!!

The injury Bai Chongye made was fatal, and Mo Yang slowly dies in front of his colleagues. Soldiers nearby threaten the students, and they are forced to move away. A carriage arrives, and Mo Yang's corpse is put on it to be discarded somewhere. 
The students are both shocked and mad, and chat with each other:

-This is not acceptable... Bai Chongye is not a good emperor, we must fight!
-Yes, certainly! 
-But what can we do? We would be killed right there! There's not so much we can do...
-We must revenge Mo Yang's murder... He was a brilliant student, he was the best mind we had!!!
-Bai Chongye is a cruel leader! 
-As I said, there's nothing we can do alone! We must regret this coward action, we must cry, we must... we must try to overcome this loss somehow...

-How many will die before the emperor realizes he is on the wrong side?

-We must persist in studying this matter, even in secret. We can even move out of the city and be welcomed elsewhere in the empire... But Bai Chongye will go after us...

The students don't know exactly how they will overcome the loss of Mo Yang. They are, indeed, absolutely certain that Bai Chongye will pay in some way for all the dreams he keeps destroying every single day. 

 ...

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