Chapter 581 The Smell of Mustard Seeds

“Of course, it can, but sister, how do you know the Venomous Armored Insect? It’s used to punish the traitors in the southern tribes. My uncle saw it once. It’s very evil.”

Xiu said with undisguised disgust in her clear eyes.

The Venomous Armored Insect must be so evil that even the members of the Dongfang Family couldn’t stand it.

However, if there was really someone among them using the Venomous Armored Insects, even if she couldn’t tell it, the one could definitely not hide it from her teacher.

In this case, there was only one possibility.

Among these people, there might be someone who had touched the Venomous Armored Insects or mustard seeds.

Thinking of this, Lin Mengya thought it the most possible answer.

“Brother Li Jia, please ask His Highness to come here.”

She lifted the curtain and talked to a highly trained guard protecting her along the way.

This man was one of Long Tianyu’s right-hand men. Although he didn’t talk much, he was very steady and capable.

Hearing Lin Mengya’s order, Li Jia answered in a low voice and went forward on his horse.

It didn’t take long for Long Tianyu to come. He lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked at her nervously with his slanted eyes.

Nevertheless, when he saw Lin Mengya’s ruddy face, he gradually calmed down.

“Is there anything wrong with you?”

Lin Mengya was a little speechless. She didn’t know why Long Tianyu had always treated her as a fragile paper doll since she was injured.

“I’m not so fragile. I ask you to come here because Xiu found something and I want to talk it over with you.”

Lin Mengya smiled and then asked Xiu to tell Long Tianyu about the connection between mustard seeds and the Venomous Armored Insect.

After hearing Xiu’s words, Long Tianyu frowned tightly.

He must be doing the same as Lin Mengya, thinking who was most likely to be the one.

“I think it’s not necessarily related to the spies. Just now Xiu also said that those who touch the mustard seeds by accident will also have the smell. Among these people, there may be some who came back from the epidemic area in Yunzhou.”

Lin Mengya said slowly. Long Tianyu took a deep look at her and nodded in agreement.

“There are about four or five people returning from the epidemic area. However, they all stayed in the rear for passing messages and have never been to the depths of the epidemic area. Does it mean that the one controlling the Venomous Armored Insects is likely to be hiding in the rear?”

These words provided evidence of Lin Mengya’s point of view. The plague was caused by poison.

Otherwise, why was the most important element of the poison being the powder of the Venomous Armored Insects?

Now, why did they discover the mustard seeds which could control the Venomous Armored Insects?

All of these made quite an odd coincidence.

“That may not be the case. After all, most of the cities in Yunzhou are empty now. The surrounding prefectures don’t dare to send people there to help. If this person intended to spread the poison to other places, he could hide among the refugees and move to other places to avoid attracting attention.”

Lin Mengya’s speculation made sense.

If the plague was caused by poison, it could only be spread in a limited area.

In particular, only a certain amount of this kind of poison could cause death.

That was to say, this person hid among the refugees and almost went all over Yunzhou.

This person was quite scheming and cruel.

“I’ll go to make some arrangements immediately.”

Long Tianyu understood the severe situation, so he immediately went to give the order to help the refugees settle down.

In the carriage, Xiu rolled her big eyes, at a loss what to do in such a serious atmosphere.

“Don’t be afraid. Your sensitive nose helped us today.”

Lin Mengya thought that she scared Xiu, so she involuntarily lowered her voice to comfort Xiu.

However, Xiu shook her head and somehow looked grim.

“Sister, you misunderstand. I’m not scared. It’s just that you seem to suggest that someone has been using the Venomous Armored Insects. But five years ago, the tribe has been exterminated. The porter of our Dongfang Family went to have a look and said that there was no one in the stockaded village and the mustard seeds in the surrounding forests were gone along with them. Could the one using the Venomous Armored Insects be a ghost?”

Hearing Xiu’s words, Lin Mengya froze slightly.

“They disappeared five years ago. Maybe they moved somewhere else.”

However, Xiu shook her head desperately and said.

“No, it’s impossible. The mustard seeds can only be planted on that mountain and can’t survive in other places by any means. Their tribe makes a living by controlling the venomous insects. Therefore, they can’t leave without mustard seeds. Otherwise, those venomous insects will bite them.”

At this moment, Lin Mengya, who had just cleared up her thoughts, became confused again.

The members of the only tribe, that could control the Venomous Armored Insects with mustard seeds, had all disappeared five years ago.

Lin Mengya thought it must have something to do with the Candle Dragon Cult.

Lin Mengya felt her heart sank. Besides the Xin family which made poisons for generations, now even a tribe controlling the venomous insects got involved in it.

What exactly did the Candle Dragon Cult want to do?

“Mengya, they are all here.”

While she was lost in thought, Long Tianyu’s deep voice suddenly came from outside.

Lin Mengya put away her thoughts and got out of the carriage with Xiu.

In the open space in front of the carriage, five attendants in their full armor were looking at them nervously.

Lin Mengya showed a gentle smile and spoke softly.

“Don’t worry. Hearing that all of you came back from the epidemic area, I just want to give you a simple check-up in case you are infected with the plague.”

Hearing Lin Mengya’s words, the five men looked even more nervous.

They all came back from the epidemic area and had seen that kind of horrible disease with their own eyes. At the moment, the five of them were very anxious to have themselves checked carefully by Lin Mengya so that they could rest assured.

Lin Mengya gave a hint to Xiu, whose nose was very sensitive to mustard seeds.

As long as she identified the smell carefully, she could definitely discover the person who had touched the mustard seeds.

However, perhaps because it was after a long time, Xiu only locked on her target to two of them in the end.

Seeing Xiu vacillating and trying hard to find out the one, Lin Mengya had no choice but to wait patiently.

Meanwhile, the two men’s foreheads were covered with cold sweat.

They were probably praying in their hearts and wished they were not infected.

“I’m sure it’s him.”

After her attempt, Xiu finally pointed at one of them.

At the moment, they showed completely different expressions. The one Xiu didn’t point at was naturally beaming with joy and glad that it was a false alarm.

Meanwhile, the other one was grief-stricken as if bereaved of parents and almost burst into tears on the spot.

“Your Highness, please save me.”

The pale-faced attendant thought that he had been infected.

Unexpectedly, Long Tianyu waved his hand as a hint for the other four of them to leave.

Lin Mengya looked at the attendant in front of her. Although he was a little timid, no one could remain calm in front of death.

Moreover, it was such a painful way of dying. Their fear could only show that the poison was way too deadly and weird.

“Take it easy. In fact, it doesn’t mean that you are incurable. Besides, you are not infected with the plague. I just want to ask you a few questions by keeping you here.”

Lin Mengya’s gentle tone set the attendant’s mind at rest.

At this moment, he had been frightened out of his wits. Of course, he would do whatever Lin Mengya asked.

“Have you ever encountered any strange people in the epidemic area? In addition to the people we sent, did you have any close contact with anyone else?”

It was important. After all, he was sent by Long Tianyu to pass messages.

Therefore, he should not be able to come into contact with ordinary people.

Moreover, the soldiers in charge of the rescue were transferred there after the outbreak of the plague.

According to her speculation, the person, who spread the poison, should be disguised as a refugee so that he could carry out his mission easily.

The attendant tried hard to recall. After a long while, he said hesitantly.

“I was in charge of transmitting instructions., so I usually came into contact with the people from our military camp. Oh, I remember. Before I came here, I helped that doctor once. Except for him, there was no other outsider.”

“A doctor? Which doctor?”

Lin Mengya continued asking. The man thought of it and immediately answered her.

“It’s Doctor Gu. Thanks to him, those patients who were not seriously ill could recover. We all admire his benevolence, so as long as he needed help, everyone in our military camp would lend him a hand.”

It turned out to be Doctor Gu who showed up suddenly.

Lin Mengya did not expect that the person, who was most likely to control the Venomous Armored Insects, turned out to be this doctor.

“Well, what kind of person is Doctor Gu?”

The attendant seemed to be very appreciative of Doctor Gu, so he spoke a lot on Doctor Gu’s behalf.

“Doctor Gu is a nice person. At that time, none of the army doctors was willing to go deep into the epidemic area. It was Doctor Gu who asked to get into the epidemic area and carry the wounded alone. Doctor Gu has amazing medical skills. With his medicinal sachets, none of us, who came to help, was infected with the plague. But the medicinal sachets were extremely precious. Doctor Gu took them back after we were done with them.”

As soon as the attendant finished speaking, Lin Mengya and Xiu looked at each other and came to a conclusion.

“Well, thank you very much. Since you brought Doctor Gu’s medicinal sachet with you, you wouldn’t be infected with the plague.”

After expressing her gratitude, Lin Mengya returned to the carriage with Xiu.

It didn’t take long for Long Tianyu to join them.

“What do you think of it?”

Long Tianyu looked at Lin Mengya with an inquiring look, and Lin Mengya also showed the same expression.

“It seems to be him. However, the person has a great influence now. If we simply seize him, it will probably cause public anger.”

Long Tianyu naturally had his considerations. At this point, Lin Mengya had the same attitude as him.

“The medicinal sachet could keep off the plague and has been touched by that person. In this case, Doctor Gu must be the one capable of controlling the Venomous Armored Insects. But what is he up to?”