As I thought, the evidence I provided didn't seem convincing enough to Zhu Men to fully close the Serpent execution case. Nevertheless, I handed samples of the real and fake poisons to the senator's experts and pointed out exactly what to focus on. After four hours of research under my guidance, they finally confirmed to their boss that I wasn't lying.
Only then did Zhu Men, though not closing the case, grant significant leniencies and privileges. After all, he trusted his people, if not unquestioningly. So, briefing him on our plan to catch the real culprit, we roped in the senator and his team for our operation.
The plan was this: while I research the antidote and heal the poisoned people, Wu Pin Jin and Zhu Men patrol the city with their teams. Seemingly, where's the flaw in such a solid plan? But there is one—Lo Mian's joining the tracking team.
Since we had no evidence pointing to him, we couldn't forbid his participation. Well, I'll hope for the competence of the high officials, as funny as that sounds. Four High-level mages should be able to avoid being fooled by one, right? Sigh, who am I kidding? I hope these three days fly by.
Fully immersed in antidote research and healing people, I shut out the outside world, accepting no visitors except Tang Yue reporting on the operation's progress and doctors passing on patient info. And it wasn't optimistic.
Yes, I could heal people one by one, ignoring antidote synthesis. After all, I'm a poison element mage: expelling poison from one person or even a small group is no issue for me. The problem is how many are poisoned now and how many keep arriving for treatment. People aren't just lying stable in bed. Though the poison's lethality is minimized, it's not eliminated, and patients gradually worsen. And to fully crack someone else's poison, I need time.
As for the steady stream of new hospital patients, as I thought, you can't rely on officials. They failed to catch the unknown poison element mage. Worse, they didn't even confirm he exists.
According to Tang Yue, Lo Mian, Zhu Men, and Wu Pin Jin divided the city into three sectors, each patrolling their territory and periodically swapping areas. So, while crowd hotspots were under constant watch, vast low-population areas remained uncovered—Hangzhou's a big city; you can't cover it fully with our handful of mages.
In the end, every hour, steadily several dozen people were found poisoned, almost always on the outskirts of Wu Pin Jin's and Zhu Men's patrol zones, pinning the blame for failing to catch the culprit on them. Meanwhile, that border adjoined Lo Mian's territory but wasn't part of it. I think even an idiot can see what tactic the local senator chose. He even said a couple times he almost caught the culprit himself and it was definitely not human, but a serpentine monster…
Damn Zhu Men with his obsession for ironclad, irrefutable proof. In normal circumstances, these suspicions alone would suffice to at least temporarily sideline Lo Mian from command, but Zhu Men dug in like a ram and won't accuse his colleague without solid cause. That's why things are so bad now. Luckily, just one day left until the three-day deadline, and enough Plague Rats are nearly gathered. With the Serpent back at full strength, any intrigues won't matter.
"Mu Bai, it's really bad!" Tang Yue burst into the ward where I was working on the antidote, worried and disheveled. It was almost done, just over four hours left to finalize the correct formula.
"What happened? Did Zhu Men finally tire of his constant failures to catch the culprit and revert to the previous policy on the Serpent, believing Lo Mian's shouts and ignoring my evidence?" I assumed the worst-case scenario.
"Worse! The culprit poisoned the city's water reserves, and tens of thousands of citizens are down with poisoning! Mass panic started, and unknowns are spreading slander among them that the Totem Serpent is to blame! Thousands already believe it and rallied outside the Magical Court building! They're demanding his execution!" Tears streamed from the girl's eyes; she was that agitated and upset.
"What?! Has Lo Mian gone completely mad?! How does he plan to cure this horde—I haven't finished the antidote yet?! If so many die and his involvement comes out, they'll call him nothing less than a hidden red cardinal of the Black Church!" I exclaimed in bewilderment. Has this old man finally lost his mind to his thirst for power and thwarted plans?
"Well… about the antidote…" Tang Yue hesitated awkwardly, even forgetting her panic.
"What? Did Lo Mian pull it out from under the table, claiming his experts synthesized it? Then let's hold that speculator accountable right away. I've already publicly proven his experts' skills are total crap. If even I haven't finished the antidote yet, how could those dimwits manage? Everything points to him having it prepared in advance!" I started feverishly thinking how to convey this to Zhu Men properly. He's a total soldier, but he'll spot such obvious inconsistencies instantly. No problem pulling him to our side. It might even work in our favor…
"No… he doesn't have an antidote…" Tang Yue bowed her head even more awkwardly.
"…Has he really gone insane?" I started considering secretly eliminating this mad old man.
Yes, his death would draw attention, but it's better than direct confrontation with three High-level mages. At least it'd be two-on-two, plus me. If I help Tan Zhong, we could hold Zhu Men briefly, and then Wu Pin Jin, beating his opponent, would arrive. He has a stronger seed in his element and two at High, while Zhu Men's deputy just broke through. Good odds for us.
"… No, I told everyone your antidote will be ready soon," Tang Yue confessed, hunching her shoulders.
"Why?" I asked in a daze. I personally asked her to keep the antidote completion deadline secret from everyone to avoid provoking Lo Mian into rash actions, like killing the boy in the canon. Not without reason, but my closest ally apparently proved too dense to get it, even after my explanations.
"I didn't think he'd react like this! I thought realizing the futility of blackening the Totem Serpent and with the poisoning situation resolving soon, he'd give up and stop sending his pet poison element mage to attack civilians! Enough have suffered already…" Squeezing her fists until they bled and biting her lip, Tang Yue confessed through tears. Now she realized what a huge mistake she'd made. As they say: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." She thought, damn it! The turkey thought too… Alright, Mu Bai, breathe in and out. It hasn't hit total fuck-up territory yet; you can handle this yourself.
Bang! "Chinese swear words"
What was that? I heard a sound like someone crashing onto the roof of the building I'm in. Activating my spatial senses, I paled sharply and ran outside, with Tang Yue following. There we saw a cursing soldier with broken legs—apparently from a patrol team—and a White Eagle flying over him, thrashing madly in the air like fighting an invisible enemy. Don't tell me…
Scanning around with my enhanced vision, I spotted several similar situations within direct sight. White Eagles throwing off their riders and going berserk… No, rebelling! Damn, does the fake Totem Serpent poison smell have the same effect on White Eagles as the Plague Rats' blood swing?!
In canon, because many people fell ill with rat plague and began emitting a characteristic odor, a flock of wild White Eagles led by the Warlord was drawn to the city, as Plague Rats were their favorite delicacy. Because of this, I took precautions and asked to catch Plague Rats for feeding the serpent mainly alive, or if that's not possible, immediately hide the bodies in the Refrigerator.
But who could have thought that the smell of the fake poison would also attract these birds?! Although both the blood of Plague Rats and the fake poison are very similar in composition to the blood and venom of the Totem Serpent itself, which is why eating the rats can accelerate its shedding. Damn, why didn't I think of this earlier?! Yes, the poison smells much less, and the eagles wouldn't have been drawn by a small group of infected, but Luo Mian recently poisoned tens, or possibly hundreds of thousands of city citizens! This far exceeds the number of rat plague infected in canon!
The smell from such a massive number of poisoned people can definitely attract the attention of the White Eagles' Warlord – Silver Sky Sovereign! Damn, and judging by the tamed White Eagles going berserk, it already has: they sense the bloodline suppression from the Warlord approaching the city! We have little time!