Chapter 142: Absolute Sterilizing Mosquito

Chu Er's carriage entered Lanyang Village, and Ma Wu personally welcomed him into Mengchun Garden.

They opened a bottle of red wine and drank a toast. Chu Er handed Ma Junyang the newspaper.

Lanyang Village was remote, so newspapers arrived late. Ma Wu was quite surprised after reading the headline.

"Lu Dongliang of Qianyue Tower is Lu Dongjun in disguise?" Ma Wu sounded disbelieving. "Is this news reliable?"

"Reliable or not, the Lu family is already in chaos. Haven't you always wanted Baile Gate? Now is the perfect opportunity."

Ma Wu smiled wryly. "Even if there's an opportunity, I can't seize it. Where would I get the capital now?"

"You don't have it, but I do. I'll put up the money, you put in the effort. Let's acquire Baile Gate. You help me figure out a suitable price."

When it came to business, Ma Wu was clearer-headed than anyone.

*You put up the money, I put in the effort?**After I've put in the effort, whose business will this be?**Isn't it still yours?**In the end, you're just tricking me into doing hard labor for you.*

Ma Wu wasn't in the mood to work for someone else's benefit. He politely declined, "You truly think highly of me, but managing a village already overwhelms me. How could I dare meddle in such a large business?"

Chu Er slightly tucked in her chin, her eyes rolling upward as she looked at Ma Wu. "Fifth Master, I'm sincerely inviting you to join forces with me."

Honestly, her expression was quite intimidating.

Ma Wu lit a cigarette to calm his nerves. "Miss Chu Er, I honestly don't think I'm capable."

The room fell silent.

Wen Hongyan licked her forearm, preparing to use force. This was the strategy she and Chu Er had agreed upon: if Ma Wu didn't comply, they would resort to direct force.

Knock, knock!

A knock came from outside the private room.

Yang Yanzheng froze, his eyes darting towards the door. He sensed danger.

Ma Wu called out, "Come in."

Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida entered the room, carrying two bottles of wine and several dishes.

"Fifth Master, the wine and dishes you requested are ready. We saw the waiter delivering them was nervous and shaky, so we brothers brought them in for fear he might spill them."

Ma Wu quickly extended his hand. "Thank you both for your trouble. Please, sit and eat with us."

The two happily agreed but didn't sit down.

Ma Wu opened another bottle of wine and said to Chu Er, "Miss Chu Er, shall we have another drink?"

Chu Er's face hardened. "Let's settle the matter first. It's not too late to drink after that. Are you coming with me or not?"

Ma Wu shook his head. "I truly don't have that capability."

Wen Hongyan glared. "You're refusing the easy way, so we'll do it the hard way, Ma Wu. Today, whether you want to go or not, you're going!"

"That's not how you talk!" Zuo Wugang walked in from outside the door. "It's said that a guest follows the host's convenience. Our Fifth Master is the host, and whether he wants to leave or not is not for others to decide."

Seeing Zuo Wugang, Wen Hongyan immediately moved in front of Chu Er. This was the reaction of a martial artist confronting a stronger presence.

"Old Zuo, you've changed masters again so quickly? You've disgraced yourself enough at the Lu family, now you've come to make a spectacle of yourself at the Ma family?" Wen Hongyan taunted.

Zuo Wugang didn't get angry. "Due to unfortunate circumstances, I did indeed lose face at the Lu family. But Fifth Master doesn't mind me. I recognize this kindness, and I won't allow anyone to harm Fifth Master."

Ma Wu advised, "Head Zuo, it's not that serious. Miss Chu Er and I are just chatting. Please, sit here and have a drink."

Zuo Wugang chuckled. "Thank you, Fifth Master. I've been sitting all day, and I'm tired. I was just looking to stretch my muscles."

He didn't sit, but instead stood cheerfully beside Ma Wu. This was a warning to Wen Hongyan and Yang Yanzheng that if they wanted to fight, he was ready at any time.

Would they really fight?

Wen Hongyan would most likely not be able to defeat Zuo Wugang, and Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida could also hold off Yang Yanzheng. This was Ma Wu's territory. If they dragged it out, Chu Er would be at a disadvantage.

Chu Er was a bit reckless, but she wasn't stupid. This wasn't the place to start a fight.

After a long standoff, Chu Er's face turned pale. She stood up and called out to Wen Hongyan, "Let's go."

The group got into their carriage and left Lanyang Village. Ma Wu called Xiaochuanzi. "Go to Lushui City and inquire about news from the Lu family."

The next afternoon, Xiaochuanzi returned. "Fifth Master, something indeed happened to the Lu family. It's in complete disarray. Old Master Lu, Lu Maoxian, first beat up Lu Dongjun. That same night, Lu Dongjun took people to the train station and gave Monkey Qiu a beating, confiscating a batch of Monkey Qiu's goods!"

"He confiscated all the goods? What kind of goods?" Ma Wu hadn't expected the situation to escalate so much.

"Grain. Grain being sent to Haichi Ridge. Haichi Ridge suffered a disaster and is experiencing a famine. The Lu, Ma, He, and Chu families all have significant businesses in Haichi Ridge. They're afraid of chaos breaking out, so they're all sending grain to Haichi Ridge. Lu Dongjun has gone mad. He not only confiscated Monkey Qiu's grain but also the goods of the other families. He even dares to meddle with this matter!"

"Haichi Ridge suffered a disaster? Has this been reported in the newspapers?" Ma Wu felt the situation came too suddenly. It was long past the autumn harvest; what disaster could Haichi Ridge have suffered?

"It hasn't been reported yet, but I heard the situation is very serious. Many people have already starved to death."

Ma Wu rubbed his forehead, murmuring, "Chu Huaiyuan, if you still dare to set your sights on Baile Gate now, you'll be stirring up a hornet's nest."

Inside the He family mansion, He Yuxiu threw her shawl onto the sofa and cursed, "That son of a bitch Lu Dongjun, how dare he confiscate our family's goods! I'll squeeze his testicles out and feed them to the flies!"

Last night, when Monkey Qiu went to the station to deliver goods, Lu Dongjun blocked him right at the entrance. Lu Dongjun wanted to kill Monkey Qiu, but Monkey Qiu had prepared an escape route at the station in advance, suffered minor injuries, and ran away.

For reasons unknown, Lu Dongjun confiscated all the goods prepared for loading, including those belonging to the Lu family, as well as the He, Ma, and Chu families. This batch of goods was grain for disaster relief in Haichi Ridge, a major affair for the entire Puro Province. Yet Lu Dongjun dared to interfere with it.

"He's crazy, truly crazy," said He Haiqin, the head of the He family and He Jiaqing's father, shaking his head repeatedly from his seat on the sofa. Even he couldn't understand what Lu Dongjun intended to do.

He Yuxiu tidied her clothes. "I don't care if he's crazy or stupid. I'm going to burn down his mansion right now!"

He Haiqin stopped He Yuxiu. "Sister, don't rush. We can't figure out his angle yet. I'll have someone investigate thoroughly in a bit. Lu Dongjun isn't a smart person, but he's not this stupid. Even if he's not afraid of offending the major families, he shouldn't offend people from other provinces. We need to find out why he was able to cause trouble at the train station."

That night, the entire Lushui City exploded. The Ma family and Chu family prepared their people, intending to demand an explanation from Lu Dongjun.

Lu Dongjun waited for them at his mansion. Despite two days of commotion, no one actually dared to come.

Why didn't they come?

One reason was that Lu Dongjun was an eighth-tier martial cultivator. If he was prepared, ordinary people entering his residence would be committing suicide.

Another reason was that there was another force that remained silent: the Security Commissioner had not made a statement. Lu Dongjun had seized the goods at the train station, and some of the disaster relief grain had been purchased by the Security Commissioner. His actions were a direct affront to the Security Commissioner. Yet, the Security Commissioner showed no reaction to this matter.

This left all the major families extremely puzzled; even Monkey Qiu couldn't discern Lu Dongjun's intentions.

In the early morning, reporters arrived at Lu Dongjun's mansion. Lu Dongjun calmly gave an interview:

"Regarding the grain at the train station, please rest assured, Lu will definitely deliver this grain to Haichi Ridge. Not only will not a single grain be missing, but I, Lu Dongjun, will also add my own contribution; I will send double the amount of grain."

The reporter was confused. "Mr. Lu, then why did you confiscate the grain?"

"Because it wasn't the right time to send it," Lu Dongjun explained patiently. "Haichi Ridge is suffering from a pestilence, with insects everywhere. Several batches of disaster relief grain were sent before, but were they effective? Useless! As soon as the grain landed, it was completely devoured by insects. The disaster victims didn't get a single bite. Sending grain now would just be feeding the insects, and then when it's truly needed, it won't be available. This is not the proper way to conduct disaster relief!"

Haichi Ridge had indeed suffered a pestilence, and a very rare one at that.

This type of insect was a kind of mosquito, specifically grain-eating mosquitoes. In the past, no one would have believed there were grain-eating mosquitoes in the world. Mosquitoes rely on a proboscis to suck food; they simply don't have the function to eat grain. But this was indeed happening.

In Haichi Ridge, a black-skinned, white-spotted mosquito had appeared. This mosquito did not drink blood; it specialized in eating grain. From the egg, these mosquito larvae (wrigglers) fed exclusively on water fleas and could grow to maturity in a single day. On the second day, they pupated, and on the third day, they transformed into adults and began eating grain.

Taking white rice as an example, this mosquito could drill a hole in a grain of white rice, spit out an acidic liquid, turn the white rice into rice juice from the inside out, and then suck the rice into an empty husk. One mosquito could eat two grains of rice a day, which didn't sound like a large quantity.

But on the fourth day, newly matured mosquitoes could mate, and after mating, they would immediately lay eggs. One mosquito could lay over a hundred eggs. On the fifth day, the mosquito could lay more eggs, again over a hundred.

At this rate, a mosquito's lifespan was about ninety days, and for over eighty of those days, it would be laying eggs. One mosquito could lay over eight thousand eggs in its lifetime.

Could all eight thousand eggs survive? Eighty percent could survive.

This mosquito was poisonous. From eggs and larvae to adults, they were highly toxic. Birds, beasts, fish, and other insects dared not eat them. Without natural predators, these creatures could reproduce at a snowballing rate.

The entire Haichi Ridge was overrun with these mosquitoes. They could smell grain—rice, millet, wheat, corn—any grain was welcome.

Haichi Ridge tried every method to deal with these mosquitoes: smoking them out, laying poisons. Some places even invited poison cultivators to use their techniques, capable of killing hundreds of thousands at once.

Was it effective? Basically useless.

Hundreds of thousands was nothing to these mosquitoes. In one village, even if all mosquitoes were killed, the next day, large numbers of mosquitoes would fly in from outside the village and devour the grain.

Some villages maintained strict defenses, preserving a small amount of grain, hoping that by the twelfth lunar month, these mosquitoes would disappear. Who would have thought these mosquitoes were not afraid of cold? Now it was already the twelfth lunar month, and the number of these mosquitoes had hardly decreased. Haichi Ridge's grain had been almost entirely eaten by them.

This was the territory of Food Cultivators. A Food Cultivator could lose their life if they didn't eat for a day. Countless people had died across Haichi Ridge, and these black-skinned mosquitoes were known as "Extinction Mosquitoes."

The reporter directly asked, "Mr. Lu, with the Extinction Mosquitoes rampant and people dying every day in Haichi Ridge, do you plan to keep waiting like this?"

Lu Dongjun shook his head. "Of course not. I will commit all of the Lu family's strength to eliminate this pest within one month."

Click, click!

The photographer continuously pressed the shutter. The weight of this statement was immense. The major families of Puro Province had deployed countless resources, yet they had found no solution for these mosquitoes. Lu Dongjun claimed he would eliminate them within a month?

The reporter also grew tense. "Mr. Lu, are you now in charge of the Lu family? Do your words just now represent the stance of the entire Lu family?"

Lu Dongjun stood up. "My elder brother has entrusted me with the heavy responsibilities of the family. This is a profound trust he has placed in me. No matter how much those petty individuals stir up trouble, my brother's trust in me will not waver. When something happens in Haichi Ridge, my Lu family will absolutely not stand idly by, nor will we merely send a few carts of grain to show goodwill and then wash our hands of it. I must save Haichi Ridge, and save the tens of thousands of suffering and starving people. This is my Lu family's duty, and it is my personal responsibility, Lu Dongjun's commitment!"

Click!

Lu Dongjun's resolute expression and posture were captured on film.

The reporters left. Lu Dongjun called Wan Jinxian. "Is this really reliable?"

Wan Jinxian brought a glass bottle and handed it to Lu Dongjun. "Master, look. Not a single mosquito in this bottle survived. This is the method I painstakingly developed. If one mosquito gets infected, any mosquito it touches will die. Spreading layer by layer, within half a month, the mosquitoes in Haichi Ridge are bound to disappear. At that time, you will be the god of Haichi Ridge, and Haichi Ridge will be your territory alone. The urgent task now is to quickly dispose of the businesses in Lushui City and convert them all into real silver and gold. We must move. The turmoil in Lushui City must no longer hinder you."

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