Is the well water blue?

The man who received Garrett and his group bowed slightly, staring at the glass in Garrett’s hand, his expression extremely troubled. He knew the water was blue…

Of course, if he really didn’t know, he wouldn’t have sent someone all the way to fetch water from 20 miles away.

But the real question is, so what if the well water is blue? Whether there is something wrong with the well water or not, those poor folks still have to drink it, right?

And who can prove that their strange illness is definitely due to the water being problematic?

Internally grumbling, he didn’t dare say this aloud. Not only did he not dare to speak his mind, but his back even bent a little more as he forced a smile:

"These are just rough folks here, following the lord’s orders to manage some industries. Sometimes the well water does turn a bit blue, it’s true, but that’s just how it is. As to why it turns blue, we don’t know…"

You don’t hit a man who’s smiling at you, so Garrett really had no choice. Elder Elwin sighed:

"Garrett, first let’s see to these villagers."

The villagers soon arrived in front of them. Not many, only seventeen or eighteen, mostly elderly and children. At this time, the younger men and women were mostly out working in fields, mines, or workshops and couldn’t come to see the doctor.

These elderly seemed to recognize Elder Elwin and surged towards him. After Elder Elwin repeated himself a few times, two elderly men with children shakily approached Garrett. They first bowed deeply:

"Mr. Priest…"

"Please sit, please sit."

Garrett quickly got up to help them. Carefully supporting the foremost old woman by her forearm, he helped her to a seat. Then he took out paper and pen to start the questioning:

"How may I address you? How old are you?"

The woman in front of him had snow-white hair and a frail figure, looking to be in her seventies or eighties. Garrett was careful not to grip too hard, afraid of crushing her radius and ulna bones.

Despite his caution, he saw the old woman shiver slightly, whether from fear or pain was unclear. She cautiously sat on the stool, her body naturally bending forward, her back hunching significantly. After catching her breath, she softly answered:

"My name is Annie, and I am… 48 years old…"

Miss Silver Dragon behind Garrett gasped in shock.

However, Garrett showed no surprise. Poverty and hardship can leave such marks on a person. He patiently continued:

"Where do you feel uncomfortable?"

"Pain…"

"Where does it hurt? How long has it been?"

"My whole body hurts… My head, my stomach, everywhere hurts… I feel dizzy and nauseous… It’s been a couple of years now…"

Garrett frowned slightly. He quickly ran through his medical knowledge, analyzing step by step. As a newcomer, everything was still unclear, and he could only rely on standard medical diagnostic procedures:

First was visual inspection. The old woman’s face was pale, her lips colorless, and she was lethargic. It seemed like anemia, but whether it was due to malnutrition or some other cause, he couldn’t be sure;

Her body was bent, looking like a hunchback, but again, whether it was due to old age, spinal deformation, vitamin D deficiency, ankylosing spondylitis, or something else, he couldn’t tell;

Her teeth were rotten and visibly black…

If the entire village was afflicted with this strange disease, then what could be the influencing factor? Groundwater? Mining? Water pollution?

If this were his former world, Garrett would immediately arrange a blood test. But here, there were no laboratories, no reagents, nothing. The only available method was—

He turned and grabbed the glass of well water. The water in the glass shimmered slightly blue, looking ominously. Garrett pondered for a moment, then cast a detection spell:

"Lead in the water?"

He looked at the old woman again. Lead poisoning could affect the nervous system, the digestive tract, and also the circulatory system. So, the dizziness, nausea, and anemia could indeed be symptoms of lead poisoning. Of course, he needed to examine more closely:

"Madam, open your mouth, let me see—don’t open it too wide, just close your teeth, let me see your gums…"

At her age, the villagers’ dental health was very poor, and their oral hygiene was troubling. After a long examination and casting a cleansing spell into her mouth, Garrett could barely confirm that there indeed was a bluish-grey line on the old lady’s gums—

A lead line on the gums.

A visible sign of lead poisoning, though mercury poisoning could show similar signs.

"Teacher, are these villagers suffering from

lead poisoning?"

"You see it too?" Elder Elwin turned around from a nearby table, nodding at him. His hands emitted a stream of light that flowed from the top of a villager’s head down to their feet.

The light passed, and the villager belched, releasing a foul gas, and seemed a bit more relaxed.

"Really lead poisoning?"

Seraina frowned from the side, helping an elder and soothing a child. Seeing Garrett start casting spells, she immediately leaned in:

"So, we just need a detoxification spell?"

"Uh…"

Garrett vaguely responded. It seemed like lead poisoning, but not exactly…

Before he could explain, Seraina had already joyfully dashed out, her healing spell twinkling as she touched each villager in turn:

"Detoxify! Detoxify! Keep detoxifying!"

Miss Silver Dragon, charming and cute, was more proficient in casting spells than even Elder Elwin. The detoxification spells fell swiftly, each villager receiving a share, none missed.

A chorus of gratitude rose. Elders and children alike seemed more relieved. Seraina raised a happy smile:

"Hehe… see? All better now, right?"

"…It’s not that simple." Garrett and Elder Elwin exchanged a glance, both slowly shaking their heads. At least, lead contamination wouldn’t turn groundwater blue, and if it were just lead poisoning, it wouldn’t cause pain throughout the villagers’ bodies.

The lord had previously mentioned that they were afflicted by a strange disease, causing pain everywhere…

Garrett turned back to the old woman with a smile. He gently stopped her from standing up:

"Madam, please sit comfortably, let me look again… Hmm…"

The Endless Ink Pen quietly moved behind the old woman. Garrett activated his X-ray magic, scanning her, and immediately felt something was off.

Her bones looked… odd. On closer inspection, the ribs, especially at the ends, showed significantly lower bone density. Looking at the long bones of the limbs, the structure was generally porous, the cortical bone thinned, the medullary cavity widened, and the trabeculae were sparse.

The ends of the long bones had strip-like dense shadows, caused by lead poisoning. But the decreased bone density and such didn’t quite fit with lead poisoning.

"…Teacher, besides a lead mine, what else is mined here?"

The lord had told him there was a silver mine here, though its output was already small. There were also other minerals, which had been leased to others, who had opened several workshops here. The specifics, he wasn’t too clear…

Anyway, the entire valley, including the surrounding mountains, was all leased out. Opening a mine, a few workshops, could indeed employ some villagers, adding a little to their income, right?

"I’m not really sure either." Elder Elwin shook his head slightly. "Although the detection spell tells me it’s a lead issue, the detoxification spells released don’t fully resolve their ailments… Should we go up there and look?"

Garrett stood with him. After discussing briefly with Apa, the Silver Moon Deer knelt on all fours, allowing him to climb onto its back. Together, they headed towards the mining area on the ridge, the other three walking beside him, their steps even lighter and more agile than his.

The further they climbed, the graver Elder Elwin’s expression became. Garrett too felt heavy-hearted:

The lush mountains, like open wounds, exposed several mountaintops. The greenery was gone, the trees were no more, and the various minerals gleamed with a gray-black metallic luster, covering the entire mountain.

At the mountain’s base, a stream meandered, flowing toward the village. At the stream’s edge, ant-like crowds busily dragged baskets of stones to the water, then carried the stones away from the stream. With Garrett’s limited knowledge of smelting, they seemed to be washing ore?

"That’s how the pollution comes about." Elder Elwin spoke softly. Garrett nodded solemnly, silently:

From the ore to the stream, from the stream to the groundwater. It then spread to the surrounding soil, absorbed by plants, and concentrated in plants, animals, and humans. That’s why Elder Elwin said the whole nature was sick.

They walked further, and suddenly a puff of yellow smoke billowed up to the sky. A gust of wind blew, and Seraina wrinkled her nose, sneezing forcefully:

"Achoo! What… what’s this smell!"

A foul odor of acid mixed with the stench of rotten eggs made their eyes water. Garrett quickly cast a bubble spell on himself, Apa, and Bernard, frowning deeply:

That’s the smell of sulfides. Many minerals require sulfides for refining… There are many kinds, and he couldn’t say which ones would pollute the land, but just the sulfides themselves were troublesome enough…

They crossed mountains and valleys, rushing to the mine entrance. The entrance was narrow and dark, only

allowing one or two people to carry ore in and out, their faces dark and grimy, nearly crawling on the ground. Garrett rushed forward, quickly casting a detection spell—

"Galena, sphalerite, quartz, calcite…"

These minerals, their specific components, and molecular formulas, Garrett still had to think hard about; but two elements were definitely present—

"This is a lead-zinc mine! In a lead-zinc mine, the most likely accompanying and most likely to cause widespread pollution, harming human health, is, is…"

That’s it!

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