It might be poisonous, eh?

Yes, so its better to be safe than sorry.

Look at how they are dressed. Lu Xiufeng pointed at the men on the ground.

Yeah, they are people from the Valley of Thousands of Medicine.

They were wearing coarsely woven clothing, which made them easily recognizable.

It seems like it!

The nearby area was placed in lockdown. The dead body and injured survivor were taken to the hospital and isolated. The doctors were easily able to found poisons on the injured person. The tests were done quickly, and the samples were sent to Jing for further testing.

Yang Guanfeng and Lu Xiufeng drank and smoked at a restaurant. Both men were frowning hard. Lu Xiufeng did not look at ease.

People from Valley of Thousands of Medicine, huh?

At least that was what we were able to tell from their clothing.

Hell, are they insane? Yang Guanfeng asked. He was unable to understand any of it. What were those people thinking? Why then of all times? Why risk doing something like that when everyone was so highly guarded?

No matter how you look at it, it seems like a setup.

Just look it up, and well be able to tell soon. Didnt the county just do a population survey or something? One of the key points was done on the valley. We just need to compare the data to find out.

Yeah.

Both men had identity cards on them.

The identities of both men were discovered that very day. Both of them were from the Valley of Thousands of Medicine and had the surname Miao.

Boy, it turns out it is related to the case!

What about the dozen or so people?

There are six dead now. All the others are in critical condition.

Damn. We need to figure out something fast, Lu Xiufeng said. If the rest end up dead as well, things will get much worse.

They were all very anxious. The Qushan County person in charge constantly maintained an expression like that of a person who had just been set on fire. The leaders in both the city and county were also very frustrated.

No one knew what was going on. Nearly 30 people were dead in such a short time. That fact alone spoke volumes about the severity of the cases.

In the Valley of Thousands of Medicine, hundreds of miles away, Miao Xihe seemed surprised when he received the news.

Chief.

Its Miao Tianchuans handiwork, Miao Xihe said with a sigh. Ive really underestimated him. Theres no line that he wont cross. He is willing to do anything to take his revenge!

What should we do now?

Just wait for a bit. Im sure Yang Guanfeng and the others will be contacting us soon enough, Miao Xihe replied.

What about Xiao He? he asked.

He looks stable, so we are churning up the dosage.

Very well. Stability comes first, so keep that in mind, Miao Xihe said.

Yes, Chief.

Miao Tianchuan was one hell of a prodigy. Miao Xihe sighed. It really is a pity.

Outside of the mountain in Qushan County

Have you contacted the ones in the valley? Yang Guanfeng asked.

Yes, Ive contacted them. They should be on the way as we speak, Lu Xiufeng replied.

Yeah, its best to contact them first before doing anything else.

Regardless of who the culprit was, what was most important was to ensure that the remaining dozen or so victims stayed alive to prevent the situation from getting worse.

The people from the valley quickly arrived. Miao Qingfeng brought Miao Changhong and another old man, who was in his 60s to Qushan County. After both parties met up, they silently went to the city to check on the dozen people who were still in critical condition.

The people from the valley had brought medicine. After checking on them, Miao Changhong and the old man treated the patients on the spot. It took less than an hour for the medicine to take effect. It stabilized the victims life signs.

The medical staff present were relieved. They were under intense pressure since there were already three dead in their hospital. If the number of dead people continued to rise, they would have been deemed the ones responsible. With all of the victims still alive, the leaders, who were closely following the case, were relieved when they received the news. At the very least, it meant that the number of people dying would not increase. It helped keep the situation from getting worse.

Now, the main focus was to dedicate all of their efforts in solving the case. They had to find the one behind the incident, be it an individual or an organization. That entity was deemed extremely unhinged for causing so many continuous severe cases in such a short time. They had killed many people along the way.

To express their gratitude, Lu Xiufeng and Yang Guanfeng treated Miao Qingfeng and his companion to a meal.

Thank you for your help in preventing things from getting worse, as well as for saving those people.

Youre too kind, Captain Yang, Miao Qingfeng said. I know that, so far, all fingers are pointed at us, but this has nothing to do with us.

What about those two?

They are people from our village, Miao Qingfeng admitted.

They went to see the duoone dead and one injuredbefore they treated the victims. Miao Qingfeng had instantly confirmed that both were from their village.

Didnt you say that people from your village seldom come out? Why were those two out here? And, why were they at the same place?

Truth to be told, they were both assigned to look into the recent happenings, Miao Qingfeng said, especially anything regarding Miao Qingshan and Miao Chengtang.

Miao Chengtang? Who is he? Lu Xiufeng asked. That question was a deliberate one. Miao Chengtang had been keeping contact with them for some time.

The one who recently escaped from the village, Miao Qingfeng replied.

Escaped? Why would he need to escape? Yang Guanfeng asked.

He violated a village rule and took something that he shouldnt have taken with him, Miao Qingfeng said.

What was that?

Herbs from the village that capable of either curing illnesses and saving people or harming and killing people, Miao Qingfeng replied.

Are there poisons like that?

Yes, Miao Qingfeng replied.

Lu Xiufeng and Yang Guanfeng looked at each other when they heard that. The case was getting more complex.

Why would he have done that?

Im not quite sure about that myself. Miao Qingfeng shook his head.

He probably has a grudge against the village.

Would it be a grudge against the chief? Lu Xiufeng asked as he ate.

Miao Qingfeng stayed silent for a moment.

Probably.

Hell, what is going on with your village, eh? Lu Xiufeng asked. Regardless of who the one behind all this is, Im sure they have a lot to do with your village. I take it you cant deny that much.

We cant, Miao Qingfeng answered.

Miao Xihe had specifically told Miao Qingfeng to keep several things in mind before he came. The relationship between the case at hand, or possibly what happened even earlier with the valley, was obviously undeniable. Instead of finding whatever kind of excuses to say that it had nothing to do with them, it was better to just admit that much.

Tsk, just who the hell could the culprit be? What are they after? Could you guys analyze it for us a bit?

Our suspects, so far, are Miao Qingshan, Miao Chengtang, and Miao Tianchuan. All three of them are the most likely ones to have caused all that. It is extremely possible that they are a gang. They had a lot of enmity and hostility toward the village, yet they were unable to immediately exact their revenge. Perhaps they thought of setting us up instead.

Well, that seems like a sound analysis. Lu Xiufeng nodded. He was leaning toward the same speculation. As the cases continued to evolve, things were spiraling out of control. At the same time, it was getting increasingly clear that all those cases had something to do with the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. That much was true. Miao Xihe lacked any motives for pulling any of that. On the other hand, the ones who held grudges against him had plenty of motives for creating this situation. It could have all been done just to set him up, which included forcing the authorities to keep an eye on that village hidden deep in the mountains and Miao Xihe. The next step would have been to make him a prime suspect so he took the fall for them. Then again, it remained unknown what had made those men so hostile against the valley.

The moves were sensible in terms of playing chess, but the culprit was getting out of hand by making light of peoples lives. He had no qualms about killing people. It was as if he considered them ants. Such people deserved the worst punishment possible.

Those people were saved, but this is far from over, Yang Guanfeng said. Tell your chief that we require full cooperation from you people to take down the culprit. His tone was cold when he spoke. It lacked any suggestion of things being negotiable.

Yes, the chief told us to give you our full cooperation, Miao Qingfeng said. Well do our best to help you take down the culprit as soon as possible. We want to prevent them from continuing doing bad things and to our village of all that dirt piled on us.

Very well. We thank you for that in advance.