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Gu Jiao was yet to know the whereabouts of the assassin, so for now, addressing the plague was the immediate priority.
On the way to Lingguan City, the two people rode their horses through the snow. Suddenly, Gu Changqing turned his head to look at her and said, "Your riding skills have improved."
Back in the capital, Gu Jiao wasn't this good at riding horses.
"Riding a horse all the way from the capital to here, I became skilled at it." She replied.
Her equestrian skills were, to be frank, not exceptional. But her horse was excellent, requiring her not to exert too much skill to control it. The horse ran quite happily on its own.
Even so, her little sister’s progress, however small, was still significant.
Gu Changqing felt proud, his gaze towards Gu Jiao shining.
"By the way." Remembering their purpose in heading to Lingguan City, he inquired, "How did you know about the plague in Lingguan City?"
Gu Jiao responded without changing expressions, "I visited Lingguan City last time and even went to the Prefect’s Mansion there, the current headquarters of the remnants of the previous dynasty."
Though the information about the plague was unrelated to my visit to Lingguan City.
She added silently in her heart.
However, Gu Changqing naturally assumed she hadn’t disclosed all the details and made up for what she didn’t say–– Gu Jiao, upon going to the Prefect’s Mansion, possibly overheard the remnants of the previous dynasty's plans.
It had to be said that the Gu Family’s father and son’s adeptness at mental filling-in-the-blanks was quite something.
The news of the Gu Family Army wiping out the State of Chen's twenty thousand troops had spread rapidly, and the defenses in Lingguan City had tightened. However, unlike the capital, the border cities weren't entirely enclosed by walls. Lingguan City only had a few checkpoints along crucial routes.
For the two people, passing these checkpoints posed no challenge. They hid their horses in nearby woods, and then Gu Changqing, utilizing his qinggong skills, circumvented the area with Gu Jiao.
The plague-afflicted, this kind of terrible danger, naturally wouldn't be placed within the Prefect’s Mansion. The remnants of the previous dynasty had secluded the infected in a stockaded small village northwest of Lingguan City.
Upon entering the city, they made their way straight to the small village.
The village was located at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing a river on one side.
Access to the village was across a wooden bridge on the river.
Taking cover behind bushes, the two people observed the activities within the village.
The village was very small, with only a dozen or so huts made of mud and grass. All the huts had tightly shut doors and windows, occasionally letting out a few suppressed coughs from inside.
Both of them observed for a long time. Then Gu Changqing whispered, "Strange, no one's guarding."
"The doors aren't even locked." Gu Jiao also noted.
Gu Changqing nodded. It was indeed a significant inconsistency.
The plague-infected individuals were gathered here. Although they were meant to be used against the Gu Family Army, the Gu Family Army hadn't reached Lingguan City yet. The ones looking after this place were the remnants of the previous dynasty.
The nearby roads outside the village were filled with the remnants of the previous dynasty’s soldiers.
Were they not concerned that these infected individuals might go out of the village and inadvertently infect their own forces?
Gu Jiao found it equally puzzling. In her dream, she only saw the outcome without seeing the process. Therefore, she couldn't grasp what medicine the remnants of the previous dynasty were selling before releasing these infected people.
"Someone's coming!" Gu Changqing shielded Gu Jiao's head with his hand, both of them crouching further into the bushes.
Two remnants of the previous dynasty soldiers approached, each carrying a large food container, trudging through the snow.
Gu Changqing had used qinggong to bring Gu Jiao here, leaving no footprints in the snow. The soldiers passed by without noticing their presence.
The soldiers entered the village, placing the food containers in an open space before leaving.
"Seems like food delivery?" Gu Jiao observed.
"Looks like it's time for lunch. Are you hungry?" Gu Changqing’s focus went off track all of a sudden.
Before Gu Jiao could respond that she wasn’t hungry, Gu Changqing took out something wrapped in parchment paper from his pocket. Upon unwrapping it, she discovered it was a packet of dried meat.
Gu Jiao: “...”
Gu Jiao hadn’t even had time to eat when a movement arose in one of the huts in the village.
The wooden door creaked open, and a tall, burly man came out slowly.
He was wrapped in a thick quilt and held an empty bowl. His steps were deliberate and weighty.
His presence felt familiar to Gu Jiao. She used her finger to write two words in the snow, "Death warrior."
Gu Changqing's brow furrowed in concern.
He took her ice-cold fingertips into his hands to warm them.
They continued observing the activities inside the village.
The death warrior's appearance and condition were alarming. He was, seemingly, also a plague victim.
He approached the open space in the village, opened the food box on the left and slowly took out a pancake and a steamed bun. Then he opened the box on the right and picked up a bowl of dark broth.
After finishing his meal, he returned inside. His movements seemed strained, indicating the disease had taken hold.
Only after he closed the door did the other huts begin to open one after another, revealing non-combatant villagers, aged between twenty and forty, constituting the age group generally in good physical condition during one's lifetime.
Gu Changqing felt a weight in his chest at the realization that these people seemed to have been carefully selected.
There were two villagers in each hut, totaling fourteen. Much like the death warrior, they took rations and medicine soup.
"Can you detect what medicine that is?" Gu Changqing unsheathed his dagger and wrote a line in the snow, then he handed the dagger to Gu Jiao after.
Gu Jiao wrote back, "A plague remedy."
"Can it be cured?" Gu Changqing continued to write.
Gu Jiao shook her head.
It couldn’t be cured.
If it was really bubonic plague, it required antibiotics like streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, or sulfonamide drugs. The medicine the villagers took would only alleviate symptoms to some extent, prolonging lives by a few days, but the disease would ultimately claim their lives.
Gu Changqing fell into deep contemplation.
After crouching behind the bushes for some time, the door of the easternmost hut swung open, and a young man in his early twenties emerged, acting somewhat suspiciously.
Gu Jiao had noticed him earlier when he fetched his meal.
As a physician, she recognized the severity of the symptoms. However, this young man's condition was milder, prompting her to pay more attention to him.
The young man was probably trying to escape. He stealthily crossed the open space and headed toward the wooden bridge.
However, before he could set foot on the bridge, a tremendous force overturned him, sending him crashing onto the snowy ground, blood streaming from his nose.
"If there's a next time, I'll chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs!"
It was the voice of that death warrior.
At that moment, Gu Jiao and Gu Changqing finally understood why no one was guarding this place.
With that formidable death warrior around, not a single villager could escape. Furthermore, it reduced the risk of soldiers getting infected.
The young man, blood still flowing from his nose, resignedly crawled back to his small hut.
Gu Changqing's eyes turned icy.
He understood the intentions of the remnants of the previous dynasty.
There would be a final battle in Lingguan City. If the Gu Family Army lost and Lingguan City fell to the remnants of the previous dynasty, these plague patients would be executed on the spot.
However, if the Gu Family Army won, these plague patients would be released to infect the people of the city and the Gu Family Army.
The concept seemed to be "if we can't have it, destroy it."
As for why they didn't directly drive these patients to Yuegu City, one reason was that their illness prevented them from traveling that far. Another reason was the potential for accidents during the process of driving them away.
If one escaped or accidentally came into contact with their soldiers, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Gu Changqing's gaze turned so sharp that he didn't even need a dagger. He stood up directly and said, "I'll go kill that death warrior."
But Gu Jiao held his hand back, saying, "I’ll do it."
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