Chapter 481: Overloading the Tower Spirit with an Epidemic Simulation

Garrett rested his chin on his hand and sighed.

The outbreak of diseases, primarily due to poor environmental conditions, is somewhat true—cleaning up the environment certainly has its benefits. But to say that ensuring environmental sanitation and clean air will eradicate diseases, while vaccination does not work…

Ah, humanity has indeed taken many, many detours in the journey of medical research.

He was still organizing his thoughts when someone in the back row raised their hand impatiently. After getting permission from the moderator, the person stood up, leaning on the back of the chair, and asked:

"What should I call you, sir?"

Garrett slightly turned his head and saw that the speaker was about thirty-something, burly, wearing a white robe with a small silver shield-shaped badge on the chest, about half a finger long—okay, a Priest of the God of War.

Looking at the person in front, thin and scholarly, his tortoiseshell glasses barely staying on his nose. Clearly a civilian route, either a caster or a scholar.

However, in this setting, without a mage or priest badge on the chest, then he’s a scholar? It makes sense that the Priest of the God of War wouldn’t recognize a scholar...

Just thinking about it, the person who initially claimed that "vaccines are useless" pushed up the edge of his glasses and proudly answered:

"Charles Clayton. My views on diseases are discussed in detail in my modest work, ’On Epidemics.’ As for vaccines, I have just completed writing ’Studies on the Smallpox Vaccine,’ which has not yet been published but addresses this issue."

As he spoke, he pushed forward a stack of pamphlets. The conference hall attendant quickly approached to collect and distribute them. The Priest of the God of War glanced through rapidly and then looked up:

"Mr. Clayton. You just said that the outbreak of diseases is mainly due to poor environments. But a few years ago, Mage Nordmark’s ’Study on Pathogenic Bacteria of Various Epidemics’ has already proven that outbreaks are mainly due to the massive reproduction of pathogenic bacteria. Mr. Clayton, how would you explain that?"

Garrett silently lowered his head, pretending he didn’t exist. It’s somewhat embarrassing to be suddenly called out like this in public...

If he were that Priest of the God of War, he definitely wouldn’t use the bacterial theory as his point. Indeed, Mr. Clayton then declared:

"Poor environments and pathogenic bacteria are not mutually exclusive. The dirtier the environment, the more it breeds pathogenic bacteria. But conversely, the bacterial theory does not explain all plagues—what is the pathogen of smallpox?"

"Uh..."

The Priest of the God of War was at a loss for words. From the row in front, Archmage Grom sent a telepathic message to Garrett, secretly asking:

"What is it?"

Garrett pursed his lips and shook his head silently. Smallpox virus, not bacteria, that thing is hundreds of times smaller than bacteria—how am I supposed to explain the concept of "virus" to you?

Either bring me an electron microscope, or at the very least, invent a bacterial filter!

Only if it can still infect after filtering bacteria, can we prove that "there is a pathogen much smaller than bacteria but can still cause disease" exists!

Clearly knowing the answer, but unable to explain, feels so frustrating!

—Oh, wait, in this world, we still need to prove that diseases are caused by pathogens, not some kind of magic...

Fortunately, in the following verbal duel, the Priest of the God of War had a slight advantage. He brandished the thick medical records from Garrett’s side, "records of vaccination against cowpox that prevent smallpox," and successfully rebutted the "vaccination is useless" argument.

He pushed Mr. Clayton into a corner, forcing him to change the subject:

"So, the vaccine harms the body and increases the risk of contracting syphilis, how do you explain that?"

"This..."

The Priest of the God of War hesitated. Vaccines, after all, are supposed to make people sick first. As for syphilis...

He hadn’t heard of that!

Garrett cleared his throat and took over:

"According to our research, contracting syphilis is not because of the cowpox vaccine, but because the needle carries one person’s blood, and is not sufficiently sterilized before being jabbed into another person’s skin."

He spoke clearly, looking around:

"So during the vaccination process, we always strictly control it, one needle per person, never sharing needles. All injection equipment must be collected back, sterilized at high temperatures, and then reused."

As soon as the words fell, a gentle murmur rose in the hall. In the back, gentlemen who had paid ten gold coins or one gold coin

for vaccination nodded to each other and whispered:

"True, the syringe used on me was immediately put into a box, never taken out again."

"Mine too."

"My needle as well—"

Garrett smiled slightly, raising his voice:

"So, Mr. Clayton, do you have any examples of contracting other diseases simply because of cowpox vaccination?"

I bet you don’t!

Indeed Mr. Clayton fell silent and sat down. Garrett just breathed a sigh of relief when another person stood up across from him, speaking passionately:

"Nevis is a free city! Forcing everyone to get vaccinated deprives free citizens of the right to manage their own bodies, causing them to lose the civil rights they enjoy in a free country!"

What nonsense?

Garrett, born under the red flag in his previous life, had to think for a moment to understand the twists and turns involved. What a joke, vaccines have always been mandatory!

From the BCG and hepatitis vaccines given 24 hours after birth, to the polio and DPT vaccines given at two to three months old, to the meningitis, measles, and Japanese encephalitis vaccines given at six to eight months old. Right after a baby is born, parents receive a booklet reminding them to get their child vaccinated on time—

Not vaccinated?

No one will force a fine or jail you for not paying a fine, but if your child wants to attend kindergarten or primary school without a record of vaccination, they need to get vaccinated first!

Freedom of vaccination?

Thinking you can just choose not to be vaccinated?

That doesn’t exist, thinking it’s like those foreigners, foolish enough to mess up on vaccines—oh, I forgot, this is indeed a group of foreigners.

Idiots, all the same!

Garrett sighed deeply, too lazy to argue with them. Leaning his head and resting his chin on his hand, he listened as the man with the red beard went on and on:

"Only by following one’s inner desires and acting freely can society progress! Clearly, so far, what the state has done is what individuals can achieve; interfering with this will restrict and hinder personal development, affecting social progress!"

"The vaccination law, tramples on the people’s hope to be free from disease, and completely acts counterproductively!"

"Compulsory vaccination is the tyranny of the government trying to dominate individual bodies! It infringes on everyone’s freedom!"

Freedom, freedom, freedom. Letting everyone run free, just like the chaos seen in Western countries during the COVID pandemic—Garrett finally couldn’t stand it anymore:

"Sir, do you think this thing called freedom has no boundaries?"

The red-bearded man was stunned. Garrett didn’t know him, but judging by his attire and the coherence of his speech, he was likely a scholar. Since he was a scholar, he couldn’t blatantly lie in public. He hesitated for a moment:

"Of course not entirely. One person’s freedom, at the very least, should not harm others..."

"But the freedom not to vaccinate is infringing on others." Garrett stood up, bowed slightly to the moderator, then to the audience on three sides:

"Ladies and gentlemen, regarding the process and speed of epidemic transmission, I have a piece of evidence here, requesting to present it to the hearing."

The audience stirred again. Seeing several representatives from the temple and nobility nodding slightly, the moderator immediately banged the gavel:

"Permission granted!"

Garrett slapped his spatial bag, pulled out a two-foot-long, one-foot-wide, three-inch-deep square wooden tray, and placed it on the long table, then took out a bag of one-inch-diameter white balls and poured them out:

"Look, these balls represent healthy, normal people. Now, some people have contracted smallpox, and we all know smallpox is contagious—"

Garrett grabbed a few white balls, rolled them in charcoal powder beside him, and threw them back into the tray. The white balls rolled around, quickly staining the nearby balls black. Of course, his right hand also got a layer of charcoal dust, forcing him to cast a cleaning spell to clean it.

Someone behind him chuckled softly.

"So clumsy... If he’s a mage, he should have used a more elegant method..."

Garrett tried his best to ignore it and not engage. Elegant? I’d also like to be elegant, but I can’t be!

In fact, when he was designing this demonstration scheme and seeking Archmage Grom’s help, he encountered the same skepticism:

"Can’t you use magic?"

"Uh, I’d like to try using magic..." Garrett smiled, applying for a Tower Spirit’s time:

"Let’s not ask Mr. Hermunculus. Is there a spare Tower Spirit not currently installed in the tower that we can call for help?"

"Why all the trouble! A small issue like this, if you don’t want to find a Tower Spirit from the Tower of Heaven, just use one from the Black Crow Swamp!"

"Better to be

cautious..."

Garrett and the Archmage went back and forth, finally prevailing. Archmage Grom pulled some strings and borrowed a spare Tower Spirit. Archmage Grom still muttered beside him:

"Are you afraid you’ll break the Tower Spirit? If you really can break it, I’ll pay for the Tower Spirit!"

Garrett: →_→ If I weren’t afraid of accidents, I’d randomly throw a barber paradox at it and blow it up for you to see!

Of course, business matters now. Garrett watched the Archmage manipulate the Tower Spirit, temporarily connecting to the magic tower’s power pool, thought for a moment, then started directing:

"First, project a screen, a grid of 1000 by 800 will do."

"Alright." The Tower Spirit, not overwritten with a personality template, still in its initial settings, agreed and wove a screen in the void. Garrett issued the next command:

"Generate 100 balls, random locations..."

"What does random mean?"

"Uh..."

Garrett began to pull his hair. What does random mean, that’s a good question, especially when you need to explain it clearly to a Tower Spirit—or say, an artificial intelligence...

"Use coordinates to confirm the positions of the balls—randomly pick a number between 1 and 1000 for the horizontal direction, and a number between 1 and 800 for the vertical direction, to set as the position for ball number 1. Do the same for the remaining balls, if it overlaps with a previous ball, discard that value and try again..."

The screen flickered, flickered again, and soon the first ball appeared. Then, balls number 2, 3, 4... appeared one after another, scattered chaotically across the entire screen within a few breaths.

"Alright—now, mark balls 1 to 5 as black, let all the balls randomly roll and collide, as if a hand is shaking them in the dish—balls that collide with a black ball turn black, then blacken more balls..."

"How do you randomly roll? How do they bounce on collision?"

"Randomly rolling—you divide a circle into 360 degrees, let’s make it 36 degrees, randomly pick a direction, then let the balls roll at a random speed of 1 to 10 squares per second. After collision, the manner of bouncing back, well, assume it’s an elastic collision, meaning, both don’t lose kinetic energy, then, the speed and direction they scatter after colliding should be..."

Garrett started to write formulas. Fortunately, he remembered the formulas from his medical physics class...

The screen gently flickered, as if the Tower Spirit was also trying hard to learn, understand, and apply Garrett’s formulas. After a while, 5 black balls and 95 white balls wildly jumped around, and soon, a creaking noise came from within the Tower Spirit, and a wisp of black smoke started to rise.

Garrett quickly activated a shield spell.

Uh... Random rolling and collisions seem too hard for the Tower Spirit... Even if you don’t consider friction, the calculation load is too large for handling 100 balls’ movement and collisions...

Or is my programming ability too poor? In my previous life, there were experts who wrote programs and created more complex demonstration animations. They also had to consider different R0 values, different incubation periods, symptomatic periods, and death times...

Having played with a spare Tower Spirit until it blew up, Garrett hadn’t managed to get the main Tower Spirit from Black Crow Swamp or even the Tower Spirit from the Tower of Heaven for a simulation demonstration. So now, he could only stretch out his hands, each holding one side of the wooden tray, and shake it vigorously:

"Now, these people are working, living, studying, entertaining, moving around everywhere, with a high chance of contacting each other—"

The black balls dirtied the white balls, the dirty balls collided with other clean white balls, and soon blackened a whole area. Garrett shook back and forth dozens of times, his back got warm, sweat appeared on his forehead, and he finally sat back, summoning several enhanced Mage Hands to shake the wooden tray.

Before long, out of the 100 white balls in the wooden tray, seventy or eighty were covered in dirty black ash.

"Look, if everyone could get smallpox, then in a major epidemic, this many people would end up infected. Now let’s see, if some people had been vaccinated against cowpox and wouldn’t get smallpox again, what would happen?"

He picked up the dirty balls and poured down 80 clean white balls. Then he took out a smooth, transparent glass ball and held it high:

"Look, this glass ball has been processed and won’t stick to charcoal powder, we use it to simulate someone who won’t get smallpox—let’s try it again—"

Of course, the processing was very troublesome, the precision could never be achieved. In the end,

it was necessary to employ a Transmutation Mage to attach a cleansing spell to these glass balls, giving them the ability to self-remove charcoal powder, but that didn’t need to be specifically mentioned...

Garrett dropped 20 glass balls and shook the wooden tray again. Obviously, the white balls got dirty much slower.

Garrett kept reducing the white balls and adding more glass balls. When there were only 20 white balls and as many as 80 glass balls, obviously, the Mage Hands needed to shake for a long time before a white ball got dirtied by the charcoal powder.

"Very intuitive." The moderator smiled appreciatively. Garrett nodded in thanks, and the audience erupted in applause, from soft to loud.

"So, promoting universal vaccination is for each of us, for the health of our loved ones—are there any more questions?"

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