Plague Mosquito

Chu Er's carriage entered Blue Poplar Village, Ma Wu personally welcomed him into Dream Spring Garden.

They opened a bottle of red wine, drank a glass together, and Chu Er handed the newspaper to Ma Junyang.

Blue Poplar Village is remote, and the newspapers arrive late. Ma Wu was surprised when he read the headline.

"Is Lu Dongliang of the Thousand Delights Pavilion actually Lu Dongjun in disguise?" Ma Wu was a little skeptical. "Is this information reliable?"

"Never mind whether it's reliable or not, the Lu Family is already in chaos. Didn't you always want the Bai Le Men? Now is the perfect opportunity."

Ma Wu gave a wry smile and said, "Even if I had the chance, I wouldn't have been able to seize it. Right now, where would I find the resources?"

"You don't have it, but I do. I'll provide the money, and you provide the labor. Let's take over the Bai Le Men. You help me calculate what price would be appropriate."

When it comes to business, Ma Wu is more clear-headed than anyone else.

You provide the money, I provide the labor?

After all the effort has been put in, who gets the money for this business?

Isn't it still your business?

In the end, you tricked me into doing hard labor for you.

Ma Wu had no interest in doing someone else's bidding and politely declined, saying, "You really think too highly of me. I'm already exhausted from managing a village, how could I dare to get involved in such a big business?"

Chu Er slightly tucked his chin, rolled his eyes, and looked at Ma Wu, saying, "Fifth Young Master, I have come here sincerely to invite you to join us."

You know what, she looks really scary.

Ma Wu lit a cigarette to calm himself down. "Second Miss, I truly believe I'm not up to the task."

The room fell silent.

Wen Hongyan licked her forearm, preparing to use force.

This was a plan she and Chu Er had discussed; if Ma Wu didn't obey, they would resort to force.

Knock knock!

There was a knock on the door of the private room.

Yang Yanzheng was taken aback and glanced sideways at the doorway.

He sensed danger.

Ma Wu called out, "Come in."

Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida, carrying two bottles of wine and several dishes, pushed open the door and entered the house.

"Fifth Master, your food and drinks are ready. We saw the waiter carrying the dishes was flustered and his hands were shaking, so we brought them in ourselves to prevent him from spilling them."

Ma Wu quickly extended his hand and said, "Please, both of you, sit down and eat with us."

The two happily agreed, but neither of them sat down.

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

Chu Er said with a stern face, "Let's settle things first. We can drink after that. Are you coming with me or not?"

Ma Wu shook his head and said, "I really don't have that ability."

Wen Hongyan glared at him. "You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences! Ma Wu, you're leaving today whether you like it or not!"

"That's not how it works!" Zuo Wugang outside. "As the saying goes, guests should follow the host's lead. Our Fifth Master is the host. Whether he wants to leave or not is not up to others to decide."

Upon seeing Zuo Wugang, Wen Hongyan immediately stood in front of Chu Er.

This is how people in the martial arts world react when they see a powerful figure.

"Lao Zuo, you've changed hands again so quickly? You've made a fool of yourself in the Lu Family, now you're here to embarrass yourself in the Ma family?" Wen Hongyan provocatively remarked.

Zuo Wugang wasn't angry. "I've had bad luck and my status in the Lu Family has indeed been lowered, but Fifth Master doesn't look down on me. I know this kindness. I won't stand for anyone who tries to harm Fifth Master."

Ma Wu advised, "Left Head, it's not that serious. Miss and I were just chatting. Why don't you sit here and have a drink?"

Zuo Wugang laughed and said, "Fifth Master, Fifth Master. I've been sitting all day and I'm tired. I was just thinking of stretching my muscles."

He didn't sit down, but stood happily next to Ma Wu.

This was a warning to Wen Hongyan and Yang Yanzheng: if they wanted to take action, he was ready to fight at any time.

Are they really going to fight?

Wen Hongyan is unlikely to defeat Zuo Wugang, while Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida can hold off Yang Yanzheng.

This is Ma Wu's territory. If this drags on, Chu Er will be the one who suffers.

Chu Er is a bit crazy, but she's not stupid; she can't make a move here.

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

The group boarded the carriage and left Blue Poplar Village. Ma Wu then called Little Chuanzi over, "Go to Green Water City and find out about the Lu Family."

The next afternoon, Little Chuanzi returned. "Fifth Master, something really happened to the Lu Family. Everything's in chaos. The Lu Family patriarch, Lu Mao, beat up Lu Dongjun Lu Maoxian."

That evening, Lu Dongjun led his men to the Train Station, gave Monkey Qiu another beating, and confiscated a batch of Monkey Qiu's goods!

"You've seized all the goods? What goods?" Ma Wu hadn't expected things to escalate so much.

"Grain, grain sent to Sea Eat Ridge. Sea Eat Ridge has suffered a disaster and is experiencing a famine. The Lu Family, Ma, He Family, and Chu families all have considerable businesses in Sea Eat Ridge, and they are afraid of trouble, so they are all sending grain to Sea Eat Ridge."

Lu Dongjun has gone mad! Not only did he confiscate Monkey Qiu's grain, but he also seized the goods from several other households. He even dares to interfere in this matter!

"Sea Eat Ridge suffered a disaster? Has this been reported in the newspapers?" Ma Wu felt that things were too sudden. The autumn harvest was long over. What disaster had occurred to Sea Eat Ridge?

"It hasn't been reported in the newspapers yet, but I've heard that the situation is very serious, and many people have already starved to death."

Ma Wu rubbed his forehead and muttered, "Chu Huaiyuan, if you still dare to mess with the Bai Le Men, you'll be stirring up Wasp Nest."

Inside the He Family, He Yuxiu threw her shawl onto the sofa and cursed, "That son of a bitch Lu Dongjun, he dared to confiscate our goods! I'll make sure he squeezing his balls out to feed the flies!"

Last night, when Monkey Qiu went to the station to deliver goods, he was caught red-handed by Lu Dongjun at the entrance.

Lu Dongjun wanted to kill Monkey Qiu, but Monkey Qiu had prepared an escape route at the station beforehand. He suffered minor injuries and ran away.

For some unknown reason, Lu Dongjun detained all the goods that were about to be loaded onto the truck, including those belonging to the Lu Family, as well as the He Family, Ma, and Chu families.

This shipment of goods is grain sent to Sea Eat Ridge for disaster relief. This is a major event for the entire Pro State, and Lu Dongjun actually interfered in this matter.

"He's gone mad, he's really gone mad." He Haiqin, the head of the He Family and father of He Jiaqing, sat on the sofa and shook his head repeatedly. Even he couldn't understand what Lu Dongjun was trying to do.

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

He Haiqin stopped He Yuxiu, saying, "Big sister, don't rush. We can't figure out what's going on yet. I'll have someone investigate carefully later. Lu Dongjun isn't a smart man, but he's not stupid enough to be this foolish."

Even if he wasn't afraid of offending the major Lineage, he shouldn't have offended people from Outer State. Why was he able to cause trouble at the Train Station? This matter needs to be thoroughly investigated.

That night, the entire Green Water City was in an uproar. The Ma and Chu families prepared their men to confront Lu Dongjun and demand an explanation.

Lu Dongjun waited for them at the mansion, and after making a scene for two days, no one dared to come.

Why don't you come?

Firstly, Lu Dongjun is an eighth-level martial arts cultivator. If he is well-prepared, anyone who enters his residence is simply courting death.

Secondly, there was another force that had remained silent, Guanfang Envoy had not made a statement.

Lu Dongjun stole the items at the Train Station, and some of the relief grain was purchased with Guanfang Envoy. By doing this, he was essentially slapping the Guanfang Envoy in the face.

But the Guanfang Envoy did not react at all to this matter.

This left all the major Lineage extremely confused, and even Monkey Qiu couldn't figure out Lu Dongjun's intentions.

Early in the morning, reporters arrived at Lu Dongjun's residence, where Lu Dongjun calmly accepted the interview:

"Regarding the grain at the Train Station, please rest assured, I, Lu, will definitely deliver all the grain to Sea Eat Ridge. Not only will not a single grain be missing, but I will also add my Lu Dongjun token of appreciation. I will deliver the grain twice as much as possible."

The reporter was puzzled. "Mr. Lu, then why did you withhold the grain?"

"Because it was sent at the wrong time," Lu Dongjun patiently explained. "Sea Eat Ridge was hit by Insect Plague, with insects everywhere. Several batches of relief food were sent there before, but were they of any use?"

It's no use!

The grain was devoured by insects as soon as it hit the ground, leaving the disaster victims without a single bite.

Sending food now is like feeding insects; when the time comes to actually need food, we won't have any available. This is hardly the right way to provide disaster relief!

Sea Eat Ridge has indeed suffered from Insect Plague, and it is a very rare Insect Plague.

This insect is a type of mosquito, specifically a food-eating mosquito.

In the past, no one would have believed that there were mosquitoes that ate food. Mosquitoes use a needle to suck up food and they don't have the ability to eat food at all.

But this really did happen.

In Sea Eat Ridge, a type of mosquito with black skin and white spots has appeared. This mosquito does not drink blood but eats grains.

These mosquito larvae hatch from eggs and feed exclusively on water fleas, growing to adulthood in just one day.

The insect pupates on the second day and transforms into an adult on the third day, where it begins to eat food.

Taking white rice as an example, this mosquito can drill a hole in the white rice, spit out a stream of acid, turn the white rice into rice juice from the inside out, and then suck the white rice into an empty shell.

A mosquito can eat two grains of rice a day, which doesn't sound like a lot.

On the fourth day, the newly transformed mosquitoes can mate and lay eggs immediately after mating. A single mosquito can lay more than a hundred eggs.

On the fifth day, the mosquitoes were still laying eggs, more than a hundred of them.

At this rate of efficiency, a mosquito's lifespan is about ninety days, and it spends more than eighty days laying eggs within those ninety days. A mosquito can lay more than eight thousand eggs in its lifetime.

Will all 8,000+ eggs survive?

There's an 80% chance they'll survive.

These mosquitoes are poisonous; from their eggs and larvae to their adults, they are highly toxic. Birds, beasts, fish, and insects dare not eat them. As creatures without natural predators, they can reproduce at a snowball rate.

The entire Sea Eat Ridge is teeming with these mosquitoes. They can smell the scent of grains—rice, millet, wheat, corn—they'll eat anything that's grain.

Sea Eat Ridge has tried every means to deal with these mosquitoes, using smoke, poison, and in some places even hiring poison masters to use their techniques, which can kill hundreds of thousands at a time.

Is it useful?

It's basically useless.

The number of hundreds of thousands is nothing for this type of mosquito.

Even if you kill all the mosquitoes in a village, the next day, swarms of mosquitoes will fly in from outside the village and devour all the food.

Some villages took strict precautions and managed to preserve some food, hoping that the mosquitoes would disappear by the twelfth lunar month.

Who would have thought that these mosquitoes are not afraid of the cold? Now it's December, and their numbers have hardly decreased. They have almost eaten all the food in Sea Eat Ridge.

This is the territory of Food Cultivator. If Food Cultivator doesn't eat for a day, he might lose his life.

Countless people died in the entire Sea Eat Ridge, and these black-skinned mosquitoes were known as the Plague Mosquito.

The reporter asked directly, "Mr. Lu, the Plague Mosquito are rampant, and people are dying every day in Sea Eat Ridge. Are you planning to continue waiting like this?"

Lu Dongjun shook his head and said, "Of course I won't wait any longer. I will use all the strength of the Lu Family to wipe out this pest within a month."

Click, click!

The phrase "the photographer kept pressing the shutter" carries significant weight.

Despite the efforts of various Lineage in Pro State, they have yet to find a way to eliminate these mosquitoes. Lu Dongjun says he wants to eradicate them within a month.

The reporter also became nervous. "Mr. Lu, are you now in charge of the Lu Family? Do your words represent the entire Lu Family's position?"

Lu Dongjun stood up and said, "My brother has entrusted me with the heavy responsibility of the family. This is a great trust he has placed in me. No matter how those petty villains stir up trouble, my brother's trust in me will not change."

When trouble strikes at Sea Eat Ridge, the Lu Family will not stand idly by, nor will we simply send a few cartloads of grain as a token of our concern and then wash our hands of the matter.

I must save Sea Eat Ridge and the thousands of suffering, starving people.

This is the duty of the Lu Family, and it is also my responsibility, Lu Dongjun!

Click!

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

After the reporter left, Lu Dongjun called Wan Jinxian over, "Is this matter reliable or not?"

Wan Jinxian brought over a glass bottle and handed it to Lu Dongjun: "Sir, look, not a single mosquito in this bottle survived."

This is a method I painstakingly devised. If one mosquito gets infected, all mosquitoes that touch it will die. The infection spreads layer by layer, and within half a month, the mosquitoes in Sea Eat Ridge will definitely be eradicated.

At that time, you will be the god of Sea Eat Ridge will be your territory alone.

The most urgent matter at hand is to quickly dispose of the business in Green Water City and convert it all into real cash. We must move to a new location; the turmoil in Green Water City cannot hold you back any longer.

PS: Is Lu Dongjun's temporary withdrawal from Green Water City a good move?

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