Chapter 152 Lingguang City
Upon entering Lingguang City, Wu Xuan and his companions were not greeted by a desolate scene, but rather by a bustling and prosperous one. The streets were teeming with people, suggesting no major illness or disaster had occurred.
"What's going on?" Yao Haoxuan asked Wu Xuan and Ma Xiaotao, puzzled.
"I can't figure it out either. Let's wander around and look for clues," Wu Xuan said, shaking his head.
"Okay!" Yao Haoxuan nodded in agreement, and the three of them began to explore Lingguang City.
As a major city near the border, with its wide streets, thick city walls, bustling crowds, and a somber atmosphere, coupled with the overwhelming cries of vendors, Lingguang City possessed a unique charm.
"Have you noticed anything amiss?" Wu Xuan asked, staring at a rather luxurious hotel ahead after walking from the south to the north of the city.
The two shook their heads in unison.
"Such a large city, yet we don't see any caravans coming and going, and even the hotels meant for caravans are empty," Wu Xuan frowned.
Upon hearing this, Ma Xiaotao and the other woman immediately understood. "You mean the Governor's Mansion might have ordered the trade routes to be blocked, preventing caravans from entering the city?"
"Maybe! Whether it is or not, we'll find out by going to see." With that, Wu Xuan led the way towards the hotel.
The three entered the hotel, and the lobby was quite deserted. Several waiters sat to one side, yawning and looking drowsy.
Wu Xuan coughed twice, and the waiters instantly woke up, quickly standing up and running over. "Would you like to rest or have a meal, sir?"
Wu Xuan waved his hand, and a bag of gold soul coins landed in the waiter's hand.
The waiter subconsciously reached out and took it, looking at the heavy bag of money in his hand with a puzzled expression.
"Bring us all the hotel's specialties, and also give us three rooms." Wu Xuan said calmly.
The waiter nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, please sit here, sir. The dishes will be served shortly."
"Okay!" The three of them sat down. While the dishes were being served, the three of them began to subtly inquire about the origins of the strange illness that had broken out in Lingguang City.
The waiter's answer was largely consistent with the intelligence in the mission. However, there were also some details not mentioned in the mission intelligence, which was still a small gain.
"Alas, to be honest, this strange disease seems to be getting worse lately. Every few days, nearly a hundred people are infected for no apparent reason," the waiter said, shaking his head.
"Isn't it said that this disease isn't contagious? Why do you make it sound so infectious?" Yao Haoxuan frowned.
"You're right, it's indeed not contagious, but the number of people getting sick keeps increasing," the waiter said.
"And to prevent the news from reaching the Sun Moon Empire, the Governor's Office has ordered the closure of trade routes, preventing merchants from traveling to and from the Sun Moon Empire. Alas! This is really bad for us high-end hotels."
"Yes! I don't know when this strange disease will end. If the Governor's Office doesn't reopen the trade routes, we'll all lose our jobs," another waiter sighed.
"Will the people who get sick die?" Ma Xiaotao asked curiously.
"No one died at first, but most of those who fell ill were ordinary people who were working while they were weak. Now, I'm afraid nearly a hundred people have died."
Wu Xuan frowned and fell into thought.
After lunch, the three gathered again.
"Senior Sister Xiaotao, Senior Brother Yao, now that we have a general understanding of the situation regarding this strange illness, I'll be assigning tasks," Wu Xuan said solemnly.
Since it had been decided that Wu Xuan would take the lead, Yao Haoxuan naturally had no complaints.
"Senior Sister, this afternoon, as a Shrek Academy inspector, you will formally take over the investigation of this strange illness from the Governor of Lingguang City. Pack up all the information they have collected and bring it back, organize and summarize it. Also, I hope the Governor's Mansion can open the trade route to the Sun Moon Empire within two days."
"Okay! I will contact them as soon as possible."
"Senior Brother Yao, you will go to the various civilian districts to investigate and count which areas the sick civilians frequently frequent."
"Okay! Don't worry, Junior."
"As for me, I will try my best to visit all the nobles and Soul Masters of all classes in Starlight City. In the end, I want to see where the problem really lies." Wu Xuan's words became increasingly cold as he finished speaking.
Ma Xiaotao's pink phoenix eyes looked at Wu Xuan, who was clearly assigning tasks, and she couldn't help but admire him even more.
The search continued. For three or four days, Wu Xuan and his two companions split up and searched almost the entire Lingguang City. The investigation finally yielded some results.
Wu Xuan took out a map of Lingguang City borrowed from the Governor's Mansion and circled a key area on it.
He said in a deep voice, "According to the investigation results of Senior Yao and me over the past few days, whether it's the infected noble soul masters or ordinary commoners, they have all been to the brothels in this area."
"Junior Brother, are you saying the root of the problem lies here?" Yao Haoxuan looked at the area circled by Wu Xuan with slight surprise.
"Pretty much. Aside from those rats in the gutter hiding in the shadows, secretly sucking blood to cultivate, how could such brothels cause insufficient blood and qi?" Wu Xuan said coldly. "Junior Brother Wu is right. I think it's most likely the work of those evil soul masters, those beasts. Sucking human blood to cultivate—besides those beasts, I really can't think of anyone else." Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth, slammed her hand on the table, and cursed angrily.
"But this place of pleasure is just too big. For the three of us to find that evil spirit master is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Yao Haoxuan said, sounding exhausted.
"There's no other way. The energy here is too mixed and dense, and that evil spirit master is too good at hiding. My aura sensing can't pinpoint him at all. We can only eliminate them one by one," Wu Xuan sighed, standing up and instructing.
"But isn't it a bit too embarrassing for us to investigate an evil spirit master in a place like this?" Yao Haoxuan asked, his expression somewhat unnatural.
Hearing this, Ma Xiaotao raised a phoenix eyebrow, looking at Yao Haoxuan's somewhat awkward figure with a half-smile, teasingly saying, "Yao Haoxuan, I didn't realize you were so innocent at your age! Were all those romantic tales you and Dai Yueheng talked about before just lies?"
"Really! Of course they're real. How could I be afraid to go to a place like this?" Yao Haoxuan immediately became anxious and quickly defended himself.
Wu Xuan couldn't help but laugh and stepped forward, saying, "Alright, Senior Sister Xiao Tao, we don't necessarily have to go inside these kinds of brothels to investigate evil spirit masters. We can do it from the outside."
Yao Haoxuan breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
"Let's stake out the North District tonight! As long as that evil spirit master continues to cultivate, he'll come back to suck our blood sooner or later." Putting away the map, Wu Xuan immediately set their target for the night.
"Okay!!"
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(End of Chapter)