"W-what? Half a dose was used?"
Zhai Le's voice rose so high it nearly alerted the guards outside the tent.
"What do you mean, half a dose was used? Can this stuff even be used? No, wait, no, no—" Zhai Le realized what he'd said and tried to lower his voice as much as possible. "Didn't Shen Youli say that if this stuff spread, the infected would turn into living corpses? How come I've never heard about it?"
"It's a little complicated."
"I have plenty of time to hear the whole story from you, Gui Long."
Yu Hai picked and chose what he could tell him, then conveniently shifted the blame. "What Shen Youli said should be true, but it's also true that I saw half the toxin had been used back then. As for why it didn't spread, you'll have to ask those people from the Inner Branch."
Anyway, hadn't everyone in the Inner Branch been dead for years?
They could take the blame for anything.
Did Zhai Xiaofang think he could chase them down to the underworld and ask them to confirm it?
Things turned out exactly as Yu Hai had expected.
The young ruler didn't doubt his explanation, but his face grew troubled, and the roguish charm in his peach-blossom eyes faded by a third. Yu Hai knew what was weighing on him. A military general's duty was to fight—to draw his sword and kill the enemy, to clash blade against blade. Whoever survived was the victor. The rules were simple and clear, and even when schemes were involved, they were on a battlefield the generals knew. But once a plague was involved, things became troublesome. No matter how carefully Qu guarded its borders, it couldn't stop the enemy from poisoning people everywhere. It was like getting