Shen Hao remembered the man who died—he was a personal guard at the Thousand Households Station, at the third level of Qi Refining. He’d been staying near Shen Hao, taking orders. Shen Hao couldn’t recall his name, but his face was familiar.

How did this man come into contact with the source of the plague? Why didn’t anyone else get sick? Even the wounded who were brought back after being poisoned were recovering, and none had died.

He questioned the other soldiers who’d been with the deceased the whole time, but none noticed any odd behavior or injury before his death.

"He was very careful—he kept up his True Qi Shield all night long. No poisonous insects could bite him."

"During the day, he stayed in the middle, following orders, and rarely joined the search teams. So as far as we know, he didn’t encounter any danger."

"He was always fine, then suddenly dropped dead."

It couldn’t have been the plague source at night. Everyone had been on high alert all night, and those with True Qi Shields wouldn’t have been touched by poisonous creatures. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the only one infected.

Besides, the Xu Family in Xiushan Village was just an ordinary family. At best, someone had been a junior official in the army long ago. Later, none of Xu Tianwu’s descendants became cultivators. After entering that special land, they couldn’t have withstood the poisonous insects at night; the Xu family could only go in during the daytime, so they must have been infected by plague in daylight.

But there weren’t clouds of bugs in the daytime. So, the plague source isn’t the insects?

Shen Hao carefully recalled everything he’d seen and heard, and replayed the scenes of the deceased circling near him. Suddenly, an image flashed in his mind: the morning after that rocky place was attacked by insects at night, Shen Hao vaguely remembered seeing the dead man smack and kill a pea-sized insect on his neck.

He hurried to check the corpse. Using a long stick, he tilted the head aside and clearly saw, on the right side of the dead man’s neck, a distinct ulcer—a tiny one, hidden among darker spots on the skin, easy to miss, but not from Shen Hao’s eyes.

That’s the spot! Shen Hao was certain the place he’d seen the man smack the bug was where the ulcer was now.

Could such an inconspicuous little bug be the plague source? And those bugs were around during daytime. The thought that the source of such a terrifying plague could be just a common, harmless insect—something killed with a slap like a mosquito—sent chills down Shen Hao’s spine.

He gathered several personal guards from the Thousand Households Station, explained his reasoning, and told them to re-enter that special land. They didn’t have to go deep—just to where those Ghost Head Pear trees had been found. They were to carefully search for bugs in the woods, especially those pea-sized ones. Bring sheepskin gloves, jade bottles—head out at once.

Just as he’d sent people out to verify the source of the plague, Wang Yiming hurriedly arrived with an order from the Governor’s Office.

"Sir, an urgent order from Lord Jiang!"

Jiang Cheng had bypassed Wu Changhe and given the order directly to him? What’s so urgent?

Shen Hao took the order and waved Wang Yiming away. He had a guess—it was probably about that special land. After all, many who went along weren’t his direct subordinates; it was understandable some might want to grab credit, but he hadn’t expected it to be brought to Jiang Cheng so quickly. Who knows how long Wu Changhe will take to erase Jiang Cheng’s influence in Fengri City?

He opened the order—as expected, it was about that special land. The wording was urgent: Shen Hao was to report the details directly, and before he received orders to withdraw, the Wan River to the special land corridor could not be ceded to anyone; it must be held firm.

Jiang Cheng was not a rash man. Would he really override Wu Changhe’s command of the Black Banner Battalion in Fengri City for some so-called "treasure land"? And to specify that no one else was to interfere with the Wan River line—this was provoking a power struggle with the local government office.

Could such resources alone really make Jiang Cheng behave so shamelessly? At least, based on what Shen Hao knew of him, he didn’t believe it.

Shen Hao sensed something unusual in the air.

Sure enough, over the next two days, just as the Wan River line was being cleared and restored, new trouble broke out. Wu Changhe sent an order hinting that Shen Hao could withdraw and turn over finishing up to the local government office, but Shen Hao declined on the grounds that the source of the plague hadn’t been found.

Soon after, the Jingxi Army sent paperwork too, saying that since the plague was not yet fully resolved and the Xuanqing Guard lacked manpower, they’d help share the pressure and should be given control of the Wan River line defense.

The local government office from Fengri City was the most aggressive—they camped outside Shen Hao’s temporary public office, refusing to leave and almost cursing him to his face. Their meaning, blunt in every word: the Xuanqing Guard is abusing its authority!

Shen Hao knew perfectly well he was overstepping his authority, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t ignore Jiang Cheng’s order—unless he wanted his position in the Xuanqing Guard to end.

Fortunately, the third group of scouts returning from the mountains brought back some exciting news: they’d caught some bugs.

The scouts had lost weight from the ordeal, nearly frightened out of their wits just catching bugs.

They’d used up all the jade bottles they’d brought. They’d trekked back and forth between the mountains and the special land, catching thirty-eight kinds of pea-sized bugs in all. Now, Shen Hao had them lined up before him, all alive inside the jade bottles.

Shen Hao looked through them. He couldn’t remember the exact appearance of the bug the dead man killed—only its size. But the rules here weren’t stringent; Shen Hao had plenty of leeway to act, even if it was a bit ruthless.

"Find someone to sketch these bugs, then gather plenty of condemned prisoners for tests. One by one, slap each bug on a prisoner’s neck and see who gets sick with the plague the next day. Once it’s confirmed, we’ll put it in the dossier and report it. Move fast."

There was no shortage of condemned prisoners. Wang Yiming nodded and left—there were plenty of local officials in the dungeon already, imprisoned for dereliction of duty and concealing reports. They could now make themselves useful; better than being beheaded.

This time, Shen Hao didn’t have to wait long. Soon, results came back. Wang Yiming returned with a death report and a sketch of the bug. Awe was written all over his face—none had expected Shen Hao to really find the source of the plague.

"Name it the Black-Spotted Plague Beetle. Revise the dossier accordingly. When it’s sorted, show me. We’ll try to report to the Thousand Households Station by the end of the day."

"Yes, sir. By the way, a Hundred Households Officer is here from the Governor’s Office—a Chen, said he’s an old acquaintance of yours. He’s been waiting a while."

Shen Hao hurried to greet him, only to find it was Chen Sheng, whom he hadn’t seen in ages. Once a Trial Hundred Households, Chen was now officially a Hundred Households, having followed Jiang Cheng to the Governor’s Office, where he now served as Jiang Cheng’s personal guard captain.