Weeks have passed since the successful surgery on the Emperor, and winter is coming on. Now that the upper physicians have taken over postsurgical care, Maomao’s daily life is both getting back to normal and getting busier.

One day, a letter arrives for Dr. Lao that makes Yo go pale. It reports a rise in patients with pustules... Maomao has a bad feeling about this, and as ever, it proves correct—there’s been a smallpox outbreak. Contagious and often deadly, survivors of smallpox are often left scarred for life. There is no known cure, and even Maomao can’t invent one out of thin air. An entire village has already been quarantined to contain the outbreak. Yet in these desperate circumstances, there’s one ray of hope...