The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

"That's a matter for later—so I don't think anyone else would have any objections, right?"

"Excuse me, may I ask a question?"

Now that opposition leader Oleg has suddenly fallen silent, Qiao Yelan will definitely have to step up himself.

"Does anyone here truly understand the development process of Oripathy, or the composition of those infected?"

Silence fell, except for one person who raised their hand.

"I know a little about it."

Yegor's face still wore that honest, ingratiating expression.

Qiao Yelan gave him a deep look, making sure he remembered the Minister of Labor, before speaking again.

"Unlike any other disease, Oripathy is an almost unpredictable disease. Some infected people may die within hours of infection, while others may die of old age. Some people may die because of excessively high concentrations of Oripathy in their blood, while others die with concentrations only slightly higher than normal."

"Therefore, we are unable to accurately define the so-called late stage of Originium disease. The current definition standard can cover about 80% of cases, but it still cannot completely identify it."

"Please don't waste your time, Mr. Qiao Yelan."

Anatoly offered a reminder.

"Okay—what I want to say is that although you may not know about other things, you must know about the situation when late-stage infected people die naturally. Their entire body will be rapidly corroded by Originium, and then it will collapse. The active Originium dust will be carried away by the wind. This is also one of the main reasons for the spread of Originium disease."

“If we, like Mr. Anatoly, drive these people out and then leave them alone, how are we going to deal with these natural sources of infection? Yes, they leave the city, but as soon as the wind blows, they come back, and we will face a new batch of infected people.”

Qiao Yelan raised her head and looked at Anatoly, waiting for his answer.

"I can corroborate that what Mr. Qiao Yelan said about Oripathy is true."

Yegor spoke cautiously, but his voice was clear enough for anyone to hear him.

"We will ensure that they are driven to a place far enough away."

Anatoly's face twitched, then he forced a smile and answered.

"I'll assume that this can be done domestically, but I'd like to ask, where are the infected people in the East Kasimir Governorate to be relocated? We don't even have enough space for our own housing."

Valentin finally revealed his fangs.

"Or are you saying that your army and nobles are willing to take pity on those infected bearing the name of Kazimierz and allow them to cross the land of Ursus in droves to the 'far enough place' you mentioned, and are even willing to deal with the infected pathogens that die along the way?"

Anatoly's smile vanished.

"Uh, yes, there's another problem. That is, according to the statistics from the Imperial Ministry of Labor, there are more than 60,000 infected people working in national factories across the country alone."

Yegor unexpectedly joined in the questioning.

"It's not just these; there are many jobs in high-risk industries where the risk of contracting Oripathy is extremely high. Even with strict protective measures in place, almost no one is willing to apply except for those already infected. I have data here..."

He clumsily pulled a few sheets of paper from his briefcase.

"Whether in East Kazimir or within the Empire itself, the Empire still faces a severe labor shortage. The Ministry of Labor has many deficits to fill every day because the number of free citizens who sign up to become laborers is still quite insufficient. Whether it's construction teams or road repair teams, the proportion of infected people is—"

"We are discussing how to deal with infected people, which has nothing to do with labor issues."

Anatoly's tone finally lost that composed, smiling quality.

“I don’t think these two issues are unrelated. Your plan has been pushed too fast, from the law to the actual operation, from the aftermath to the labor shortage, and even the issues on the noble side—Judge Oleg asked His Excellency the Chancellor about his privileges before, and now it’s my turn to ask the second question.”

Qiao Yelan's gentle tone carried an aggressive undertone.

"Mr. Igor, if there were infected people among your family's serfs, how would you expel them?"

The fat man opened his mouth, speechless at Qiao Yelan's question, and could only look at Anatoly again.

“Oh, well, Lieutenant General Anatoly can certainly explain it with the new ‘privileges,’ but does that mean officers and nobles should enjoy the same privileges as serfs under this policy?”

The man bluntly continued to escalate the problem.

"Furthermore, even if we drive the infected into the depths of the wilderness as you suggested, people's will to survive is much stronger than you think. In places where we don't even know the specifics of the environment, there may be ways for them to survive—the Sami people are a living example."

“They survived there, formed settlements, and even slowly spread—allowing a group of infected people, driven out of the Empire and harboring resentment towards us, to support each other and survive in places we cannot see. You are sowing the seeds of destruction within our own country!”

Qiao Yelan's words were resounding.

"Imagine, do you really think an infected person would refuse to infect healthy people through self-destruction out of fear of death? Would they do it willingly! The military, civilians, nobles—who wouldn't be on their revenge list? Do you really think you'd sacrifice that for temporary peace—"

"They pose no threat! We will not allow them to carry sufficient survival supplies, and all those in the late or near-late stages of infection will be subject to the 'Final Plan.' We will ensure that their deaths do not affect ordinary citizens! Everyone else will be strictly managed by the military, earning their lives through labor!"

Anatoly stared intently at Qiao Yelan, his composure and affability completely forgotten.

"From birth to death, they will be completely controlled—the dead will not need to be transported, their Oripathy will not worsen, and they will not continue to reproduce or seek revenge!"

"very good--"

Qiao Yelan sneered.

"So, who exactly is stalling for time?"

Chapter 41 Even villains feel fear

The atmosphere seemed frozen. Oleg couldn't help but turn his head to look at Qiao Yelan, who was sitting in a wheelchair, confronting Anatoli.

boom!

Alexander, the one who slammed the table this time, glared angrily.

"Anatole! Do you know what you're saying—are we here to discuss how a systematic massacre and annihilation of a segment of the Empire's population is carried out?"

"Yes, dealing with the infected is an issue, but this method should not even be considered, and His Majesty the Speaker and His Majesty would absolutely veto this method under any circumstances!"

Yefim immediately signaled to the clerk with his eyes to stop recording again.

Anatoly gave Alexander a cold look.

"Of course, they will continue to reject them, and they will continue to do so in the future."

Alexander stood up abruptly. He felt there was no need to pay any more attention to the meeting. The other party knew this would be the outcome, yet they still insisted on pushing it through. Clearly, they intended to completely break off relations.

He strode towards the door of the conference hall.

One step, two steps, three steps—

By the fourth step, he had slowed down, and when he put his hand on the door, he stopped abruptly.

What if Anatoly's words were actually what they sounded like?

If Speaker Witt really objected, why was he sent to this meeting without his knowledge?

He suddenly turned around and looked at Anatoly's expressionless face.

"They...will continue to deny it, won't they? At least...to me, and to the people..."

"We are all serving the empire, and we don't care what sins we bear for it. As long as the empire can get through this winter, any means are acceptable."

Anatole scanned everyone present with his sharp eyes.

The three military personnel naturally did not react, while Igor and the Minister of State remained silent, as if they were mute.

Alexander returned dejectedly and sat down in his seat. Oleg also closed his eyes in anguish—Anatole had indeed proven his words, so he had no reason to object.

Only Qiao Yelan calmly accepted the other party's gaze, while observing the two people sitting on either side of her. Clearly, they had lost the will to resist.

Qiao Yelan turned her head and saw Yegor, who was also looking at her. However, as soon as they made contact, Yegor immediately lowered his head, just like everyone else.

"I understand. Let's leave it at that for now. I'm all ears for your future plans."

Upon hearing Qiao Yelan's words, Yegor sighed silently, put away the documents in his hand, and like the other ministers, said no more.

You actually backed down too?

"There was no other way. I just went all out, forcing everyone to take sides, but Alexander revealed the truth: if the top three agree, then any opposition is meaningless. So they all gave up."

That's true—but it's quite rare to see you look so defeated.

Kosiché's voice carried a hint of pleasure. To her, she didn't care what mortals were doing; it was much rarer for Qiao Yelan to be forced to do something like that.

A setback?

Qiao Yelan sneered.

Didn't this silly black snake notice Anatoly's eyes, which seemed to want to devour Qiao Yelan alive?

A person brought in to make up the numbers, completely unaware of the whole affair, and with no prior contact or allies, managed to rally others to pressure Anatoli through verbal sparring, forcing him to reveal his last trump card and barely manage to suppress everyone with overwhelming force.

Where is this?

Once the warm-up phase is over, he'll have plenty of ways to mess with Anatoli.

So this is the trend, huh? I'll smash it to pieces!

Seeing that Qiao Yelan had given in, Anatoly slowly withdrew his gaze.

"Yefim, you speak."

The colonel flipped through the documents.

"All infected individuals will be screened. The military and Imperial Police will categorize them according to stage, age, and gender. Young men will be assigned to various provinces to form directly subordinate slave labor teams, managed by the Ministry of Labor."

"All the property of the infected who are [expelled] will be confiscated. This portion will be tallied and submitted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for final determination before being deposited into the treasury."

"The East Qasimir Governorate will also follow this regulation. You can dispose of the slave laborers as you see fit. After your property is confiscated, you can dispose of the remaining portion after paying taxes according to the previous year's tax rate."

"Given the geographical advantages that the Siberian sub-kingdom has in dealing with the infected, the military hopes to reach some commercial agreements with the Grand Prince of Kosiché regarding infrastructure construction and mining, and we will send some of the more 'dangerous' infected there."