A hostage in a foreign land wanting to hire a killer faced enormous difficulty—but obviously, the hostage from Taowuan Kingdom was the exception.
Sena was in Liang; being there was hardly different from being in his homeland, and one could even say he was more at ease.
“Hire a killer… that’s up to him,” Wu Youren nodded slightly. “Senior, what do you mean by that?”
“I mean, you need to guard against thieves for a thousand days! Why not be a thief for a thousand days, just go directly to his doorstep and finish that bastard off?”
The youth fell silent, and after a long while shook his head. “Forget it. Let him come.”
“I just don’t get your approach,” Chen Quanxu said truthfully. “You have to keep toughing it out?”
The youth smiled indifferently. “Nothing more than changing locations often, showing weakness to the enemy. Isn’t that perfectly normal?”
“You’ve definitely got a trick up your sleeve!” Jiao Xiao no longer paid him any mind. “Cooking up something bad, huh? Really not going to his door?”
“Let’s see what they do,” Wu Youren shook his head. Misfortune and fortune have no doors; they are invited by people themselves.
He couldn’t muster much interest in this topic. “How’s the Kelvin situation going?”
“He’s very cautious,” Chen Quanxu sighed. “I was just going to tell you—it might be delayed. Half a month might not be enough.”
“Then delay it,” the youth nodded, indicating without hesitation, “Safety first.”
“Safety… him?” Jiao Xiao snorted dismissively, feeling as though he’d been gravely insulted.
He was thinking of this small collective. “I’m watching him because I want to dig up more wealth. How simple is killing?”
Wu Youren’s eyes lit up at these words. “Killing is simple, so why not frame someone while we’re at it?”
“Me, coarse?” Chen Quanxu was stunned. “Besides solving the problem, it can be done like that?”
“Isn’t that perfectly normal?” The youth looked at him with clear eyes.
“We can’t eat his corpse, after all. Why not make use of him in other ways? Isn’t it a waste otherwise?”
“I thought burning him would do,” Chen Quanxu couldn’t help muttering softly.
“Little Wu, everyone says you’re ruthless. I thought it was just a curse, but I never expected… where did you learn all this?”
Am I ruthless? Wu Youren thought about it and felt it wasn’t that bad. Not to mention using one fish for multiple meals—who doesn’t stew some spare ribs for the New Year?
“He could have been done in by Sena, right?”
“Damn it…” Jiao Xiao couldn’t help muttering softly, “The mission just got heavier.”
Meanwhile, inside a house in Tianjing, seven or eight people were conspiring.
“Sena is mad—he’s pushing his luck too far. Why not… manufacture an accident?”
“Can’t rush. He’s been pushed out front. If we manufacture an accident, the other side will have something to work with.”
“But there has to be a reaction. A few New Army guys can barely hold back anymore… who can put up with this?”
“Is there any other influence we can borrow? The nouveaux riches will do too—for example, Marquis Tanyong.”
Not all nobles were of the old guard; nothing in the world was so absolute.
Marquis Tanyong had been promoted single-handedly by the Current King, and this title carried strong personal colors; he was the Current King’s absolute favorite minister.
Commander Jeff was not at all polite when dealing with the Marquis’s subordinates, precisely for this reason.
“That one’s still a no. You really think he’s all brawn and no brains? Take a look at who his children marry.”
“That doesn’t prove anything, does it? A marquis, surely his marriages consider social equivalence?”
“At least he has smart people around him?”
“Don’t mention these old fogies,” a clear voice spoke.
The speaker hid in the shadows, face indistinct. “Have you led them toward Red Pine?”
“Reporting to the Commandery Princess, I’ve already arranged for people around Sena to hint that this suggestion came from Jin.”
“Hmm.” She snorted softly, leaning forward slightly, her face emerging—Ailin, if not her, who else?
She pondered for a few seconds then spoke again, “Also hint to the mole in Hostage Manor. Let both sides… fight it out, that’ll be more entertaining.”
“Arranged, though Jin’s attitude is quite clear—they seem unwilling to meddle in Liang’s internal affairs.”
“They’re waiting for Liang to make a mistake on its own,” Commandery Princess Ailin narrowed her phoenix eyes, and on her cold face, a cold smile actually appeared.
“If chaos is to break out, let it break out together. Under heaven, where is there such a cheap bargain?”
The others fell silent at these words, secretly wondering in their hearts whether the Commandery Princess, so deeply preoccupied, had turned love into hatred?
Wu Youren thought that although Sena had unusual ideas, he couldn’t be so eccentric as to abandon the main contradiction and come look for him, right?
He truly hadn’t expected that someone else was fanning the flames behind the scenes.
He had serious business to do, analyzing with Chen Quanxu what the appearance of this parasitic Guizu meant.
First he had to confirm whether the information was accurate.
By rights, as Guard Captain, he couldn’t lie about such matters, but still the saying went: those who play politics… are all dirty!
Wu Youren had contacted the Burning Blood instructor. Asking Hong Da about this seemed inappropriate.
The discipline inspector didn’t know what they were busy with; after nearly an hour, they replied with one sentence: “So you’ve chosen to get involved?”
That was strange, but obviously the other side knew something. The reply was: “I’m just worried about it spreading.”
Burning Blood quickly replied, “Does worrying help?”
“Understood,” Wu Youren replied, then closed his wristwatch and furrowed his brow in distress. “The situation is real.”
“Then you really need to be careful,” Jiao Xiao said thoughtfully. “I suggest you go back to Red Pine to transport supplies—move out as much as you can.”
“You’ve experienced this?” the youth asked in surprise.
Chen Quanxu knew he didn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation, and could only explain briefly.
The parasitic Guizu excelled at possession. Once it became a complete body, it could silently replace a human.
Then it would spread through human society.
Although Wu Youren also understood this, Chen Quanxu felt the youth couldn’t imagine how terrible it could be.
“A village or even a town could be silently wiped out… it’s happened in Liang, and in Jin.”
“Once out of control, the entire town will be sealed off and isolated by the authorities, finally becoming a Guizu domain, and then destroyed by humans.”
Wu Youren was silent for a long time before speaking. “Similar to a plague?”
“Mm,” Jiao Xiao nodded. “With a plague, someone can survive. With a parasitic Guizu, no one escapes.”
The youth nodded slightly. “We can only hope for strict prevention in the early stages… but it’s hard to prevent.”
“Of course someone can prevent it,” Chen Quanxu answered without hesitation. “Can’t our Highness prevent it too?”
Wu Youren slowly shook his head. “If discovered early, it can be prevented, but can you keep preventing it forever?”
“That’s impossible,” Jiao Xiao shook his head as well. “The cost is too high; ordinary people can’t bear it.”
“Cost…” The youth fell into silence.
He wasn’t the type to care for all under heaven, but the world was indeed somewhat unfair.
After a long while, he spoke. “Can it be treated in the early stage?”
“Mm,” Chen Quanxu answered casually. “Don’t you know the characteristics of parasitic Guizu?”
Wu Youren did know: after a parasitic Guizu possessed a body, a second one could not possess the same body.
Before the first one deeply possessed the host, using this trait to save them was possible to some extent.
But controlling another parasitic Guizu… that difficulty—yes, the cost was indeed high.
Then he suddenly had an idea: “Can other types of Guizu be used, for example a substitute Guizu, to save them?”
“In theory, there’s a certain possibility,” Chen Quanxu answered thoughtfully.
“But controlling a substitute Guizu… I can’t do that,”
The youth seized on the key point. “Can you control parasitic Guizu?”
“It’s also very difficult, but we can try,” Jiao Xiao replied. “This is probably also why Guard Captain sought me out…”
Chen Quanxu could control animals.
So, find an animal that had been possessed, control it, approach Lei Lixing, and a series of attempts could be made.
Wu Youren thought for a moment and said, “Will you be possessed? I mean, the potential risk.”
“Ability masters have much less risk,” Jiao Xiao didn’t take this too seriously.
“Awakened ones are hard to hit, unless they’re off guard… for ability masters, with assistance, the parasitic Guizu inside the body can be driven away.”
The gap between ability masters and ordinary people was ultimately enormous.
The youth thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll just be careful. Gathering supplies is too conspicuous.”
But whatever needed arranging still had to be arranged.
That evening, he contacted Liu Jingming, saying his supplies were running low and hoping Liu could send some over.
Jiao Xiao watched coldly from the side, finally letting out a soft sigh. “You’re still not ruthless enough.”
“Incidental matter,” the youth answered indifferently.
Liu Jingming received this news and was also a bit surprised, thinking: Procurement and transport of supplies—you want my help?
This guy was on good terms with so many instructors; weren’t the instructors’ abilities stronger than his own?
In fact, his own trip out of Red Pine was no small difficulty.
Anyway, he didn’t have much money, so he gritted his teeth and contacted Manna, asking to borrow a car and money.
Manna herself didn’t have a car, so she contacted Daiqisi, asking to borrow her newly bought car, and explained the situation.
At noon on the third day, a large off-road vehicle arrived at the camp.
Besides Liu Jingming, there were Manna, Daiqisi, Kenpa, and the male archer in the vehicle.
They brought a lot of supplies, over two thousand jin.
No need to settle the account—Manna already owed Wu Youren some from last time, and she hadn’t paid him for that Guizu relic either.
The youth produced another crystal, saying this was a recent harvest, and they could discuss among themselves who wanted it.
The money obtained would continue to be exchanged for supplies, with a little left for Liu Jingming to live on.
“You might as well say what happened,” the male archer hadn’t had much recent contact with Wu Youren, but his attitude was good.
And his thinking was quick: “You asking this Jin native to deliver goods seems a bit unreasonable… need help?”
The youth thought for a moment, then sighed. “You’ve probably heard—a parasitic Guizu has appeared. I wanted to tip him off.”
He could inquire about related news through Burning Blood, being a bit vague.
But informing Liu Jingming via wristwatch wasn’t appropriate.
The hostages’ wristwatches were monitored quite strictly, and the three words “parasitic Guizu” were probably sensitive too. Better to say it in person.
“Parasitic Guizu?” Kenpa’s face changed instantly. “Where?”
Chapter 221