Chapter 152: “Know Your Place (3)”
“I have prepared the antidote, we do not have the exact numbers of people poisoned, hence I prepared enough for everyone. After all the Rui Lin Army soldiers have taken the antidote, get them to deliver it into the hands of everyone.”
The poison spread over a very wide area, and Jun Wu Xie was unable to provide a diagnosis for everyone, so it was decided to have everyone take the antidote, which would be more efficient.
“Consider it done.”
“I assume I do not have to tell you how to do it?” the cold eyes looked at Long Qi expectantly.
“I will not disappoint you!” Long Qi replied resolutely.
On the day after the exploding bodies, more people fell sick. With the physicians clueless on where to start, the people started to panick.
On that same afternoon, a notice was put up all over the city. The people who read it were furious and the news spread like wildfire to all corners of the city.
The culprits who have been hiding in the city have not given up the fight and have used poison to spread fear in the Imperial City. The fifty exploding bodies the day before was caused by the poison that they used.
Within moments, the people were cursing and swearing everywhere in the city and people with family members taken ill from the poison were sobbing with worry.
While panic ran high among the people, the Crown Prince Mo Qian Yuan brought the Rui Lin Army out, and handed out the antidote to the masses, a concoction in a tiny bottle, that neutralises the poison in their bodies.
Eighty thousand of the Rui Lin Army were deployed, incessantly handing the antidote into the hands of the people. Those afflicted with the poison saw instant improvements after they consumed the antidote and in half a day, word of Mo Qian Yuan’s gesture of kindness was on the lips of everyone, singing his praises in deep gratitude. On this day, the Crown Prince’s standing and popularity shot high beyond the clouds, support for him even overshadowing the current sitting Emperor.
A state of emergency was again declared, and those who were resistant to the initial lock down of the city had by now hated the perpetrators to the core and became fully supportive of the Rui Lin Army.
The people were in a fervour, not only the Crown Prince had his reputation drastically raised, but the Rui Lin Army were now embraced as the protectors of the people.
The scheme that could have annihilated the whole of the Imperial City was foiled cauldron by cauldron, with Jun Wu Xie’s antidote that the Rui Lin Army distributed bottle by bottle into the hands of the people that neutralised the poison in their bodies, totally eradicating this threat to the Imperial City.
The speed at which this was carried out did not allow time for the news to reach the Imperial Palace. Besides the initial fifty deaths on the first day, there were no other casualties from the poison.
In order to identify the culprits’ hideout, the Rui Lin Army investigated into the identities of the fifty dead. They were blown to bits and it was impossible to investigate based on their looks. They started to investigate on families with missing persons.
In the Lin Palace, Jun Qing looked on as Jun Wu Xie busied herself with her pills, his expression thoughtful.
“You had Long Qi declare that the people responsible for the poison were the same culprits still hidden within the Imperial City, what was the purpose of that?” Jun Qing was unable to fathom the intentions of his own niece. With the uproar on the poison, it had given the Rui Lin Army a stronger reason to maintain control in the Imperial City, but Jun Wu Xie did not intend to end the issue here, how far does she intend to bring this?
Jun Wu Xie was still busying herself with the pills as she replied: “Things that have been hidden, naturally must be uncovered.”
Jun Qing thought to himself, Jun Wu Xie got the Rui Lin Army to investigate into the identities of the fifty dead with the people. But with the way they died, it was an impossible task. With such a big number of citizens in the city, it will not be easy to find that out, even as missing persons.
“Under normal circumstances, it would have been tough to find out their identities. It is different now. With the people worried about the poison, the people will look into the safety of all their family members, including those members who have been conscripted into public service.” Jun Wu Xie explained, a bunch of herbs in her hands.