The non-essential personnel at the Maiden's Day Ball in the Red Keep had been cleared out, leaving only Jacaerys and his direct family members.
A crisp high valyrian chant rang out, and the air near Nymeria's head, lying in a pool of blood, began to twist and vibrate.
'Her' incomparably sweet face, like shedding skin, was slowly peeled away by the vibration of the air.
At the same time, 'her' fair body, whose clothes had been cut open, also began to masculinize.
In less than half a minute, Nymeria transformed from a slender, sweet girl into a burly, ugly big man.
This was the Faceless One's disguise magic!
Baela, Lucerys, Joffrey, and others were seeing such a fantastical scene for the first time.
They immediately exclaimed in admiration, and if Jacaerys hadn't shouted to stop them, they would have already reached out to pick up the human skin mask that had fallen off the man.
Ela had no interest in participating in the Maiden's Day Ball before, so she had been conducting her own magic research.
Now, Jacaerys had specifically invited her over to break magic with magic.
"Your Majesty, as you expected, he is indeed a Faceless One."
She first nodded to Jacaerys to confirm, then expressionlessly glanced at the ugly big man's exposed left thigh and continued,
"Greyscale, although merely a byproduct of that divine wrath, poses a threat that absolutely cannot be ignored."
"Therefore, I suggest gathering everyone who came into contact with this Faceless One and having a Dragon breathe Dracarys to burn them all together."
"That divine wrath? Are you saying that Greyscale is not just an ordinary disease, but a product of a deity, or rather, magic?"
Jacaerys immediately caught the key point in Ela's words and asked.
In the TV series of his previous life, the descriptions of Greyscale all came from ordinary people; Ela, an extraordinary person from Asshai, clearly knew more hidden secrets.
Hearing the question, Ela did not hide anything and answered directly: "More than eight hundred years ago, the Fire King of Valyria led his army to attack the Sorrowful Land."
"Hmm, the former name of the Sorrowful Land was Chroyane, a great city built by the Rhoynar."
"Prince Garin of Chroyane initially won repeatedly, but with the arrival of hundreds of Dragons in Chroyane, the war ended immediately."
"To retaliate against Prince Garin for the defeat he had caused, the Fire King hung him in a golden cage and immersed him in the River Mother Loyne, the deity worshipped by the Rhoynar."
"Legend says that Prince Garin, at the cost of his own life and the lives of the surviving Rhoynar of Chroyane, prayed to the River Mother Loyne to curse his enemies."
"The Fire King loudly mocked Prince Garin at the time, dismissing his curse."
"But in the deep night, the River Mother Loyne unleashed divine wrath!"
"Without any rain, the entire Loyne River surged, completely flooding Chroyane."
"When the flood receded, the captive Rhoynar, as well as tens of thousands of Valyrian soldiers, including the Fire King and his Dragons, vanished without a trace."
"Dragons were actually swept away by a flood? That is indeed very bizarre!"
Jacaerys listened to the story from Ela, which he wasn't sure was real history or legend, and couldn't help but interject.
"Yes, there are also some legends that say the Fire King and his Dragons are still trapped at the bottom of the Loyne River."
"Their bodies and minds turned to stone, and their cold breaths rise from the riverbed to form mist."
"If ordinary people get lost in these mists, they will contract this Greyscale and become one of the mad, hungry Stone Men."
"Ela, what you're saying mixes truth and falsehood, making it impossible to judge."
"Just tell me directly, what is your understanding of this Greyscale!"
Hearing Jacaerys's last sentence, Ela's eyes darted left and right, and she answered evasively: "Your Majesty, I have made some breakthroughs in my recent research."
"But the Dragon materials are being consumed too quickly..."
"I will have someone give you another batch, stop teasing!"
Jacaerys understood the implication and immediately interrupted her veiled request for payment.
Hearing this, a brilliant smile appeared on Ela's face, and she quickly revealed the secret information about Greyscale.
"Over these past few hundred years, many extraordinary people have gone to the Sorrowful Land, trying to uncover this unknown history, as well as potential treasures and resources."
"They did make some discoveries, for example, there is a high probability that the flood was a divine grace ritual triggered by Prince Garin through sacrifice."
"And the Fire King, accompanied by a large number of Dragons and Blood Wizards, could not have been swept into the flood so easily."
"The two sides engaged in an extraordinary battle capable of destroying an entire city!"
"The outcome was obvious, the Fire King's side was completely annihilated."
"As for Prince Garin's side, it is very likely that they perished together, and even if they won, it must have been a Pyrrhic victory."
"Some top extraordinary people have captured some Stone Men from the Sorrowful Land for research and found that they also have levels."
"Stone Men, also known as Greyscale infected individuals."
"They can infect ordinary people through skin contact. These Stone Men will slowly lose their minds over time, becoming madmen who only know hunger."
"If they cannot survive the final outbreak stage of Greyscale, these Stone Men will die because their internal organs turn to stone."
"But a very small number of Stone Men who survive are covered in scales, possess immense strength, and even regain a certain degree of sanity."
"This kind of Stone Man is already considered to have barely touched the extraordinary realm and can be called an Extraordinary Stone Man."
"I heard that a force of Extraordinary Stone Men has always been hidden in the Sorrowful Land, and their leader is called the King of the Shrouds."
"Some people say that the King of the Shrouds is Prince Garin!"
"Hmm? This Greyscale sounds like it's being used to raise Gu using ordinary people!"
Jacaerys first muttered to himself in a low voice upon hearing this, then suddenly turned to Ela and said,
"Wait, there's something wrong with what you said!"
"Greyscale has been in Westeros for at least a few hundred years."
"According to you, even if the probability is small, a small portion of the tens of thousands of Greyscale infected individuals in Westeros would surely survive."
"But there are no records of Extraordinary Stone Men in the history of the Seven Kingdoms."
"Your Majesty is truly remarkable, even such a small issue can be discovered by you."
"That top extraordinary person who studied Stone Men once wanted to cultivate Extraordinary Stone Men in large quantities."
"So he secretly infected tens of thousands of ordinary people in a small city with Greyscale."
"But none of these Stone Men cultivated outside the Sorrowful Land survived the final outbreak stage."
"Perhaps this is why the Stone Men of Essos eventually go to the Sorrowful Land."
"The Sorrowful Land has some kind of power attracting them and allowing them to potentially become Extraordinary Stone Men!"
As soon as Ela finished speaking, Jacaerys immediately interjected: "Did that top extraordinary person not go to the Sorrowful Land to explore that mysterious power?"
"He went, but no one knows exactly what happened."
"But since then, Volantis, to which he belongs, sends ships three times a year to provide food supplies to the Stone Men there."
"In fact, some people also speculate that the Stone Men might be related to the missing Dragons of the Valyrians."
"After all, the scaled skin of Extraordinary Stone Men, whether in terms of defense or appearance, is very similar to Dragon scales."
After Ela revealed all the secrets she knew, as if afraid that Jacaerys might get the idea of going to the Sorrowful Land, she immediately added,
"Oh, and my teacher once warned me that besides the ruins of the Valyrian peninsula, the most dangerous place in Essos is the Sorrowful Land."
"Therefore, before I am promoted to a top extraordinary person, I will absolutely not go to these dangerous places!"
"Understood, I will not land in Essos until I am fully prepared."
"Alright, Ela, you can go and get busy!"
"I will send someone to deliver that batch of Dragon materials to your magic laboratory."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Ela immediately turned and left happily upon hearing this.
However, as she left, she used air magic to take the human skin mask that the Faceless One had dropped on the ground.
Jacaerys's mouth twitched upon seeing this, but he did not speak to stop her.
Ela was probably the only one in the entire Red Keep who dared to research this thing.
If she could use this to find a weakness in the Faceless One's disguise magic, that would be for the best.
But this time, Jacaerys could no longer sit on the Iron Throne and be a hands-off ruler.
After instructing Baela and Lucerys to stay in the Red Keep, he mounted a Dragon and flew out.
Thud thud thud!
Ah!!!
In Flea Bottom, King's Landing, teams of Unsullied wearing gloves and face masks quickly sealed off the exits of Flea Bottom.
The poor residents of Flea Bottom, who had been massacred by them before, immediately screamed and fled in all directions upon seeing this.
Rudy led a strong man, who was securely tied with ropes, into the area, having him point out where his companions were.
He was one of the thuggish strong men who had intended to rob 'Nymeria' but was instead beaten black and blue.
At this moment, the clothes on his back were completely torn, revealing horrifying skin covered in dark grey scales.
Korman's intelligence work was excellent; the whereabouts of this group of foreign beauties were basically under his control.
So, besides their residence, Rudy immediately led his team to seal off and isolate Flea Bottom.
By the time Jacaerys arrived at the scene on a Dragon, the thuggish strong men had all been captured and interrogated by Rudy.
After confirming that they were all infected with Greyscale, Jacaerys directly had Womax breathe Dracarys to burn them to ash.
But after learning the specific situation from Rudy, he knew that the situation in King's Landing was somewhat grim.
Mainly because it was discovered too late!
Seven days ago, 'Nymeria' had forcibly inserted a scale into the backs of these thuggish strong men.
If these few people were the deliberate source of infection created by 'Nymeria', then in these seven days, the hundreds of people they had come into contact with were secondary sources of infection.
And these hundreds of secondary sources of infection had come into contact with at least a thousand tertiary sources of infection.
Therefore, city-wide epidemic prevention was imperative!
As a saying from his previous life goes, all fear stems from the unknown.
Combining the knowledge from both his lives, Jacaerys now had a general understanding of Greyscale.
He also had full confidence in completely controlling the Greyscale before it destroyed King's Landing.
After all, having experienced the pandemic of his previous life, Greyscale, which spreads through skin contact, could absolutely not be more severe than the new crown virus, which spreads through air and droplets!
To implement city-wide epidemic prevention, relying solely on the The Unsullied Legion was definitely not enough.
So he gathered the Gold Cloaks, most of the soldiers from the Conqueror Fleet, and the household soldiers of the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms.
He also forcibly requisitioned items in King's Landing that could sterilize and disinfect, such as lime, sulfur, and strong liquor.
Then, using the Red Keep, the residence of the foreign beauties, and Flea Bottom as centers, he divided King's Landing into thirty quarantine zones.
The first three areas were high-risk zones, the nine areas connected to these three areas were medium-risk zones, and the remaining eighteen areas were low-risk zones.
In this time of crisis, Jacaerys naturally used thunderous measures.
He ordered all his soldiers that anyone who dared to defy orders and leave the quarantine zones to wander around could be killed without reason!
If they cooperated with the quarantine work, people within the quarantine zones could receive a meager portion of grain daily.
It was also fortunate that there were grain supplies plundered from Dorne before, otherwise, it would truly not be enough to cope with this biochemical crisis.
Jacaerys then temporarily trained several disinfection teams, instructing them to start spraying lime, sulfur, strong liquor, and other items from the high-risk zones to disinfect the environment within the quarantine areas.
Moreover, regardless of the risk level of the quarantine area, all men and women must undergo a physical examination once a day.
Of course, Jacaerys humanized the process by setting up two tents in each quarantine area and conducting examinations separately for men and women.
Men were examined by the Gold Cloaks, while women were examined by the Unsullied.
The The Unsullied Legion was famous in King's Landing as a eunuch army, so most female commoners could accept this.
Even if they couldn't accept it, they didn't dare to say a single word.
Human rights? What is that?
There is no such thing in this world!
As for the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms, they naturally had dedicated male and female servants to conduct the examinations.
Although Jacaerys gave them special treatment, the examinations were equally strict.
And as long as Greyscale infection was discovered, their fate was the same as the commoners... burned to ash by Womax's Dracarys!
Jacaerys actually knew that contracting Greyscale did not necessarily mean death.
In the TV series of his previous life, Samwell Tarly had cured 'the Bear' Jorah Mormont.
But that was a TV series after all!
How to cure it in reality, and whether it would relapse after being cured, were all questions.
Instead of wasting time on such troublesome issues, it was better to just breathe a mouthful of Dracarys and burn it clean.
Under Jacaerys's almost cruel epidemic prevention measures, one Greyscale infected person after another was detected.
In the first four or five days, one to two thousand Greyscale infected people were burned into Womax's ash every day.
As time passed, the number of Greyscale infected people became fewer and fewer.
When no Greyscale infected individuals were detected in the low-risk zones for several consecutive days, Jacaerys directly lifted their quarantine.
These commoners who regained their freedom were not foolish and did not venture into the medium and high-risk zones on their own.
They continued their previous lives, allowing King's Landing, which had been locked down for nearly ten days, to regain vitality.
After that, just like the epidemic prevention work in his previous life, the medium and high-risk zones successively became low-risk zones and were subsequently lifted from quarantine.
This Greyscale outbreak was an unprecedented disaster for the native inhabitants of Westeros.
If not handled properly, the entire city of King's Landing could have been destroyed by this terrifying infectious disease.
But Jacaerys took less than a month to resolve it at its root.
After the Greyscale epidemic passed, Jacaerys's concubine selection assembly continued.
However, the previous group of foreign beauties was the hardest-hit area for Greyscale infection, and almost the entire group was wiped out.
Ela, who occasionally came out to get some air, reminded Jacaerys after learning about this matter.
Although these foreign beauties were all considered tools for political marriage, they were all from noble families.
For example, Nymeria, who was replaced by a Faceless One, had ancestors who were the most famous Sea King of Braavos, Uthero Zalyne.
Although hundreds of years had passed and the influence of the Zalyne family was not what it used to be, their family's power absolutely could not be ignored by anyone.
They probably wouldn't believe the explanation that a Faceless One used Greyscale for assassination and would believe that Jacaerys was responsible for the deaths of the foreign beauty group.
These foreign Lords were particularly concerned about their reputation and would definitely try every means to regain the face they had lost from Jacaerys, or rather, from the Seven Kingdoms.
It could be said that now, including Pentos and Braavos, the entire Essos was already Jacaerys's enemy.
But this was exactly what he wanted; the more everyone was his enemy, the easier it would be to harvest Trait Points!