Feng Zexuan crouched down.
Inside the tattered bedding lay a tiny curled-up figure.
Its skin was covered in dense red rashes.
【System, what exactly is going on here?】
The system’s voice turned grave.
【Host, the scan results are out. They’ve been poisoned.】
【Poisoned?】
Feng Zexuan’s heart skipped a beat.
The system immediately read out the findings:
【Toxin type: Unknown alkaloid compound. Highly targeted, effective only on children under twelve years old.】
【Characteristics: Highly contagious.】
【Source of contamination: Main well by the city gate.】
【Perpetrators: A Tingxia Kingdom couple — Zhang Shan and Li Hua.】
【Motive: Revenge.】
Feng Zexuan finally let out a breath of relief. At least it wasn’t a plague.
【How many people were poisoned? And what’s their reason for revenge?】
【A total of fifteen. Fortunately, this area is sparsely populated, so the spread has been relatively slow.】
【As for the motive… their child died after being trampled by Xiongnu warhorses.】
Feng Zexuan’s face filled with confusion.
【Wait, what? Their child died under Xiongnu horses, so what does that have to do with Great Xia’s children?】
The system fell silent for a moment.
【Host, their logic is: if Great Xia hadn’t sent troops, the Xiongnu cavalry wouldn’t have passed through their home, and their child wouldn’t have died.】
【Therefore, Great Xia is the true culprit! They want to kill all Great Xia children to accompany their son in death!】
What kind of bullshit logic was that?!
The surrounding soldiers guarding the city and the kneeling, wailing civilians all heard the exchange simultaneously in their minds.
Their grief instantly froze into shock.
Shock then transformed into furious disbelief.
Some opened their mouths to curse, only to find their throats strangled by invisible hands, unable to make a sound.
They could only widen their eyes and exchange horrified glances.
【System, where are the criminals?】
【Three li outside the city. An abandoned thatched hut.】
“Marshal Feng! Prince Zhenbei!”
A general rushed out from the city, the clatter of his armor urgent and sharp.
“You’ve returned! Why didn’t you enter—”
His words abruptly stopped when he saw the dying children.
The moment the civilians heard the words “Prince Zhenbei,” they all dropped to their knees.
“Long live Prince Zhenbei!”
“Please save our children, Your Highness!”
“Prince, you must have a way, right?”
Feng Zexuan waved a hand.
“Everyone, rise.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried unquestionable authority.
“I’ll handle the children’s illness.”
Her thoughts raced.
【System, is there an antidote?】
【Host, the system store carries a special detoxification pill capable of completely curing this poison. One pill costs one hundred thousand gossip points.】
【One hundred thousand?! That expensive?!】
【Host, this poison is fatal within three days.】
【The antidote formula contains thirty-seven rare ingredients. The price is very reasonable.】
【…Save them. Buy fifteen pills.】
Watching her gossip-point balance instantly drop by 1.5 million, Feng Zexuan’s heart twitched painfully.
The next second, fifteen fragrant medicinal pills appeared out of thin air in her palm.
“Take these immediately and have the children swallow them. One pill each.”
“Yes!”
The general accepted the pills. Though he had no idea where they came from, his trust in Prince Zhenbei made him carry out the order without hesitation.
After arranging everything, Feng Zexuan swung neatly onto her horse.
“Your Highness, where are you going?” the civilians asked.
A cold glint flashed through Feng Zexuan’s eyes.
“To catch the real culprit.”
“Anyone who dares harm Great Xia’s children—no matter who they are—must pay with their life.”
She flicked the reins.
Mo Feng let out a long neigh and shot forward like a bolt of black lightning toward the outskirts.
Night gradually descended.
Three li away, a dilapidated thatched hut came into view.
The roof had collapsed, the walls were cracked.
Only the thin curl of smoke rising into the air proved it was still inhabited.
Feng Zexuan dismounted a li away, concealed her presence, and silently approached.
The moment she reached the hut, fierce arguing pierced through the walls.
“Stop already, Ah Hua! If this continues, we’ll be discovered!”
The man’s voice trembled with fear.
Then came a woman’s voice — sharp and venomous.
“Stop? This has only just begun! I want every child in Great Xia buried alongside my son!”
“But… if so many children die, what if—”
“What are you afraid of?! Have you forgotten how horribly our son died?! Are we just supposed to let it go?!”
“But those children are innocent!”
“Innocent? Was my son not innocent too?!”
The woman screamed hysterically.
Just as Feng Zexuan was about to kick down the door, the system alert suddenly sounded.
【Warning! Information fraud detected! Severe discrepancies exist between the criminals’ memories and reality!】
【Rescanning… reconstructing causal chain…】
Feng Zexuan paused.
【Host… the truth is not like this.】
【Their child did not die beneath Xiongnu warhorses.】
【Then what happened?】
【That six-year-old child accidentally witnessed his father sleeping with a widowed neighbor.】
【After Zhang Shan discovered this, he ordered the child to keep it secret. The child shook his head, and in panic, Zhang Shan kicked him in the chest, killing him instantly.】
【Holy shit! So there’s another layer to the scandal!】
【To cover up the crime, and coincidentally while Xiongnu cavalry was passing through, the man threw the child’s corpse into the road. He even personally rode over it repeatedly on horseback to fake the appearance of death by trampling.】
【Holy shit! That’s monstrous!】
【The child’s mother, Li Hua, saw the severely mutilated corpse and, under her husband’s deliberate manipulation, also came to believe Great Xia was responsible.】
【Thus, she planned this revenge scheme.】
【As for Zhang Shan, under constant fear and guilt day after day, he forcibly hypnotized himself until he too believed the lie he fabricated.】
Hearing the full story, Feng Zexuan trembled with rage.
【He killed his own son with his own hands… and then wanted Great Xia’s children buried with him…】
【This bastard is human scum among human scum!】
The argument inside continued.
“Ah Hua, enough. Let’s stop.”
“What? Have you forgotten how our son died?”
“But those children know nothing.”
“Know nothing? My son knew nothing too!”
The man fell silent.
After a long while, he finally muttered softly:
“If this keeps going, we’ll be traced eventually…”
“You’re afraid of dying?”
“…No.”
“BANG!”
A thunderous crash exploded.
The flimsy wooden door was kicked clean off its hinges by an overwhelming force.
The door spun through the air before smashing violently into the opposite wall and shattering into pieces!
Inside the hut, the couple nearly lost their souls from fright.
“Clang!”
The medicine pot slipped from the woman’s hand and crashed to the floor.
Black medicinal liquid splattered everywhere.
“Y-You… who are you?!”
The man barely forced the words out.
Feng Zexuan stepped inside, her icy gaze sweeping across the two.
The man was in his forties, his eyes darting nervously.
The woman was in her thirties, her eyes filled with malice.
“Prince Zhenbei. Feng Zexuan.”
Her voice carried not a trace of warmth.
“I’m here to arrest you two beasts… for harming children.”
The couple’s faces instantly turned deathly pale.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about…”
The man still tried to deny it.
“Don’t know?”
A mocking smile curved Feng Zexuan’s lips.
“Poisoning the well and specifically targeting children. Need me to be even clearer?”
Seeing the truth already exposed, the woman simply gave up pretending.
“It was your Great Xia that killed my child! I’m only avenging my son! What’s wrong with that?!”
“We killed him?”
Feng Zexuan’s gaze passed over her and nailed itself onto the trembling man shaking like a sieve.
Then she turned back toward the hysterical woman and enunciated each word clearly:
“Why don’t you ask your dear husband personally?”
“How exactly…”
“Did your son die?”
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