It’s not just touching the corpses—even rats and crows that gnawed on the bodies could catch the plague.

So several physicians personally prepared special poisons, and began a large-scale operation to kill rats and other animals that might eat the bodies. As for whether someone might accidentally eat the poisoned bait, that was not their concern—if you died from it, too bad.

Soon, statements from the surviving people were collected. The news was encouraging, just as Shen Hao had judged: these people survived without catching the disease because they escaped early and never came into contact with any of the infected corpses.

"According to the survivors from Xiushan Village, some of them interacted with the deceased the day before the person died, but after the death, they never touched the corpse. Even so, they didn’t contract the plague. So, does this mean the infection source is only produced from the corpse after death from the disease?"

"If that’s the case, it also explains why so many people fled everywhere, yet large outbreaks didn’t occur in other places."

"Right, because death from infection happens suddenly, and even a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage can’t survive more than two days, which means the contaminated area won’t expand too quickly."

To put it bluntly—the plague has extremely poor latency, which also means the infection isn’t uncontrollably contagious. That’s the best news so far.

"But we still need to test it. Go to the dungeon and find a death-row prisoner at the Qi Refining level, then put him and a black-spotted corpse together in a box and see if he dies. At the same time, put an ordinary person in with them, but without direct contact. If it’s like we think, the cultivator will die quickly, while the non-contact ordinary person will not."

"Yes, sir, I’ll arrange it right away." Wang Yiming was getting more and more enthusiastic; he found that working for this Hundred Households of Shen was straightforward, everything was orderly and never in chaos. What’s more, he was already considered part of Shen Hao’s faction now. Back when they had just arrived at the Wan River, the investigation from Fengri City regarding the Dentist Steward had already yielded results—he’d already submitted the evidence to Shen Hao as a pledge of loyalty.

But so far, Wang Yiming’s leverage over the Dentist Steward hadn’t been put to use. There were higher priorities—the plague problem had to be resolved before tending to the brokerage’s affairs.

However, with this pledge, Shen Hao was clearly relying much more on Wang Yiming, handing over much greater authority. The more this happened, the more Shen Hao felt Wang Yiming’s ability was truly strong.

The next day, Wang Yiming brought the results of the experiment. A death-row prisoner at the Qi Refining Third Layer was locked together closely with a black-spotted corpse in a box overnight, and before dawn he was burning up and soon died. The cause of death was organ failure, congealed blood, and black spots spreading all over his body.

Meanwhile, the ordinary person locked in the same cell but without contact with the corpse was frightened half to death, but otherwise perfectly fine. He was kept isolated for further observation.

This basically confirmed Shen Hao’s assessment: the infection source was the black-spotted corpse. As long as the living never touched it, they would not contract the plague.

This terrific news was immediately reported by Shen Hao. Wu Changhe was overjoyed and issued an Order promising great rewards afterward, while urgently relaying the new findings up to the Governor’s Office. These days, Wu Changhe was at the center of attention, but also feeling the pressure—if the plague was contained, he’d be the top hero, at least on the surface. But if the plague got out of control, he’d be the scapegoat—no surprise if he ended up crushed to dust.

Now that Shen Hao had identified the root of transmission, Wu Changhe felt a heavy load finally set down, and breathed a long sigh of relief. At last, he didn’t have to worry about the plague spiraling out of control.

Still, Wu Changhe received new Orders from the Governor’s Office: he was to investigate the origin of the plague as thoroughly as possible. If this ever happened again, they might not be so lucky next time.

Of course, Wu Changhe wasn’t keen on tracing the plague’s origin—there was nothing in it for him. Besides, there were countless plagues in the world, and even if you figured out their origin, have they ever vanished for good? Isn’t it enough to know how to deal with them? Why waste the effort?

But Orders from the Governor’s Office had to be carried out even if he disagreed; all he had to do was hand it off to the front lines at Wan River, since the person truly responsible was still Shen.

Unlike Wu Changhe, the Governor’s Office’s zeal for investigating the plague’s source aligned perfectly with Shen Hao’s own intentions. He’d been obsessing over this all along, with a persistent, indescribable sense of strangeness—as if this plague had erupted too suddenly, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. Perhaps it was that half-basket of Ghost Head Pears?

Maybe it was professional habit; in any case, whenever Shen Hao ran into a puzzle, he had to get to the bottom of it, or it would gnaw at him for a long time.

"Perhaps I should start with that hunter family." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But nearly everyone in Xiushan Village was dead, and the people in neighboring villages either didn’t know the Xu family of hunters at all or had only heard rumors—that the Xu family had a junior official in the army, a lineage of martial arts passed down through the family, fighting in war for honor, and returning home as hunters when there wasn’t fighting, to support their family. As for what Shen Hao really wanted—the life trajectory of this family before their demise—people knew almost nothing.

After that came the cleanup operation, while continuing to quarantine those disaster-area residents who still hadn’t been cleared of danger.

Now that the means of infection was understood, the disaster zone was no longer a forbidden place. With thick sheepskin gloves, faces covered, arms never touching a corpse directly but using special shovels and pincers instead, plus lime to bury or burn the bodies on the spot. Life had to go on, especially in the larger towns—they couldn’t be abandoned over an epidemic. Disposing of the bodies became an urgent priority.

So, under Shen Hao’s orders, all the cities along Wan River began systematically removing corpses from both sides of the official roads. For those previously buried, the soil was thickened and more lime added. The rest—those unburied or left exposed—were burned at once.

Besides, who knew if the animals that came into contact with corpses would die right away, or if the plague would morph and keep killing? So Shen Hao ordered poison bait to be scattered across every hill and field, seeking to exterminate all animals that might have touched the bodies. Whether this meant innocent animals would also be wiped out—no one here cared. After all, people had nearly been wiped out by the plague already.

But as they gradually worked their way toward clearing Xiushan Village, there was a turn of events. It was like a cup of green tea teasing your palate—just as you’re about to give up the chase, you get a hint of sweetness.

"Sir, this was found while clearing out the Xu household, and I think it’s highly suspicious." Wang Yiming brought a very old sheepskin scroll to Shen Hao.

"This is... a map?" Shen Hao unrolled the sheepskin and found a crude map. Judging by some of the markings and directions, it seemed to depict a mountain path. Deep in the mountain path, there was a spot specially marked in red.