Chapter 143: The Household-Eliminating Mosquito

Chu Er's carriage entered Lan Yang Village, and Ma Wu personally greeted him at Meng Chun Garden.

He opened a bottle of red wine, and the two drank a toast; Chu Er handed the newspaper to Ma Junyang.

Lan Yang Village was remote, and the newspaper arrived late; Ma Wu was startled when he read the headline.

"Is Lu Dongliang of Qian Yue Tower an impostor pretending to be Lu Dongjun?" Ma Wu found it hard to believe. "Is this news reliable?"

"Don't care if it's reliable—Lu Family is already in chaos. Didn't you always want the Bai Le Men? This is the perfect opportunity."

Ma Wu let out a bitter laugh. "Even if there's an opportunity, I can't grasp it. Right now, where's my capital?"

"You don't have it—I do. I provide the money, you provide the muscle. Let's take over the Bai Le Men together. Calculate what price would be fair."

When it came to business, Ma Wu was sharper than anyone.

You provide the money, I provide the muscle?

After I've done all the work, whose business is this?

Isn't it still yours?

In the end, you're just tricking me into being your laborer.

Ma Wu had no interest in doing someone else's dirty work. He politely declined: "You're too kind to me—I'm already exhausted managing just one village. How could I dare meddle in such a big business?"

Chu Er lowered her chin slightly, looked up at Ma Wu, and said: "Young Master Wu, I'm sincerely inviting you to join me."

You know what? She looked terrifying like that.

Ma Wu lit a cigarette to calm himself. "Miss Chu, I truly believe I'm not up to it."

The room fell silent.

Wen Hongyan licked her forearm, preparing to use force.

This was the plan she and Chu Er had agreed on—if Ma Wu refused, they'd take him by force.

Knock knock!

A knock came from outside the private room.

Yang Yanzheng froze, glancing toward the door.

He sensed danger.

Ma Wu called out: "Come in."

Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida entered with two bottles of wine and several dishes.

"Young Master Wu, your wine and dishes are ready. We saw the waiter trembling, afraid he'd spill them, so we brought them in ourselves."

Ma Wu quickly gestured: "Thank you both—please sit and join us."

They happily agreed but didn't sit down.

Ma Wu opened another bottle of wine and said to Chu Er: "Miss Chu, shall we drink another toast?"

Chu Er's face remained grim. "Settle the matter first. Then we'll drink. Will you come with me or not?"

Ma Wu shook his head. "I truly lack the ability."

Wen Hongyan glared. "You refuse the wine, so you'll take the punishment! Ma Wu, today you're coming whether you want to or not!"

"That's not how it works!" Zuo Wugang walked in from outside. "Guests follow the host's lead. Young Master Wu is the host—whether he leaves or not is his decision, not yours."

Seeing Zuo Wugang, Wen Hongyan immediately stepped in front of Chu Er.

This was the reaction of a martial cultivator facing a superior.

"Old Zuo, switched masters so quickly? Did you embarrass yourself enough in the Lu Family, now come to the Ma Family to show off?" Wen Hongyan taunted.

Zuo Wugang didn't get angry. "Bad luck struck me—I did lose face in the Lu Family. But Young Master Wu didn't reject me. I know this debt. Whoever harms Young Master Wu, I won't allow it."

Ma Wu urged: "Old Zuo, no need for this. I'm just chatting with Miss Chu. Please sit and have a drink."

Zuo Wugang smiled. "Thank you, Young Master Wu. I've been sitting all day—I'm stiff. I'd like to stretch my limbs."

He didn't sit. He stood cheerfully beside Ma Wu.

It was a warning to Wen Hongyan and Yang Yanzheng: if they wanted to fight, he was ready.

Would they really fight?

Wen Hongyan likely couldn't beat Zuo Wugang. Zeng Jincheng and Cao Zhida could hold off Yang Yanzheng.

This was Ma Wu's territory. The longer they stalled, the worse it would be for Chu Er.

Chu Er was reckless, but not foolish. She knew she couldn't fight here.

After a long stalemate, Chu Er's face turned pale. She stood up and called to Wen Hongyan: "Let's go."

Everyone boarded the carriage and left Lan Yang Village. Ma Wu summoned Xiao Chuanzi: "Go to Lv Shui City. Find out what's happening with the Lu Family."

The next afternoon, Xiao Chuanzi returned: "Young Master Wu, the Lu Family really is in chaos. Old Master Lu Mao beat Lu Dongjun, 【49】 then Lu Dongjun took men to the train station and beat Monkey Qiu, seizing all his cargo!"

Lu Dongjun took men to the train station that night, beat up Monkey Qiu again, and seized a whole shipment of his goods!

"Seized all his cargo? What cargo?" Ma Wu hadn't expected things to escalate this far.

"Grain—grain bound for Hai Chi Ling. Hai Chi Ling suffered a disaster and faced famine. The Lu, Ma, He, and Chu Families all had major business there, so they shipped grain to help. 【52】 Lu Dongjun went mad—he didn't just seize Monkey Qiu's grain, he seized the others' too. He even dared interfere in this!"

Lu Dongjun had gone mad—he didn't just seize Monkey Qiu's grain, he seized goods from several other vendors too; how dare he meddle in this!

"Hai Chi Ling suffered a disaster? Was it reported?" Ma Wu found it sudden. Harvest season was long past—what disaster had struck Hai Chi Ling?

"Not reported yet, but I heard it's severe. Many have already starved to death."

Ma Wu rubbed his forehead, murmuring: "Chu Huaiyuan, if you still dare lay hands on the Bai Le Men now, you've stirred up a hornet's nest."

…

In the He Family mansion, He Yuxiu threw her shawl onto the sofa and screamed: "Lu Dongjun, you son of a bitch! How dare he seize our cargo! I'll squeeze his egg yolk out and feed it to flies!"

Last night, Monkey Qiu went to the station to deliver goods and was blocked at the gate by Lu Dongjun.

Lu Dongjun tried to kill Monkey Qiu, but Monkey Qiu had prepared an escape route. He took minor injuries and fled.

For reasons unknown, Lu Dongjun seized all the cargo ready for loading—including Lu Family's, He Family's, Ma Family's, and Chu Family's.

This cargo was grain meant to relieve the famine in Hai Chi Ling—a matter of great importance across Pu Luo Province. Lu Dongjun had meddled in it.

"He's gone mad. Truly mad," said He Haiqin, head of the He Family and father of He Jiaqing, shaking his head on the sofa. Even he couldn't understand what Lu Dongjun was doing.

He Yuxiu straightened her clothes: "I don't care if he's mad or stupid—I'm burning down his mansion right now!"

He Haiqin stopped her. "Sister, don't rush. We don't yet understand his motives. I'll send someone to investigate. Lu Dongjun isn't clever, but he's not this foolish. 【65】 Even if he didn't care about offending the great families, he wouldn't dare offend the Waizhou Society. Why could he cause trouble at the train station? We must find out."

Even if he wasn't afraid of offending the major families, he shouldn't have angered the outsiders from other provinces—why was he able to cause trouble at the train station? This matter must be investigated thoroughly.

…

That night, Lv Shui City erupted. The Ma and Chu Families prepared forces to confront Lu Dongjun.

Lu Dongjun waited in his mansion for them to come. He stirred up chaos for two days—but no one dared show up.

Why didn't they come?

First, Lu Dongjun was an eighth-layer Wu Xiu. If he prepared properly, anyone entering his mansion would die.

Second, another force remained silent—the Guan Fang Shi had not spoken.

Lu Dongjun seized goods at the train station, including grain the Guan Fang Shi had purchased for relief. His actions were a slap in the face.

Yet the Guan Fang Shi reacted not at all.

This left all the great families baffled—even Monkey Qiu couldn't fathom Lu Dongjun's intent.

At dawn, reporters arrived at Lu Dongjun's mansion. He calmly accepted the interview:

"Regarding the grain at the train station, rest assured—I will deliver every grain to Hai Chi Ling. Not only will I return it all, I'll add my own contribution—I'll double the amount."

The reporters were confused: "Mr. Lu, why did you seize the grain in the first place?"

"Because it was sent at the wrong time," Lu Dongjun explained patiently. "Hai Chi Ling suffered a pest infestation—mosquitoes are everywhere. Previous relief shipments arrived—did they help?

No!

The moment the grain touched the ground, the mosquitoes devoured it. The starving received nothing.

Sending more grain now is just feeding the pests. When real need comes, there'll be none left. That's not relief—it's folly!"

Hai Chi Ling had indeed suffered a pest infestation—a rare one.

These insects were a kind of mosquito, specialized in eating grain.

In the past, no one believed such a thing existed. Mosquitoes feed by piercing with a proboscis—they lack the anatomy to consume solid food.

But it had happened.

In Hai Chi Ling, a black-skinned, white-spotted mosquito appeared. It didn't suck blood—it ate grain.

From its egg, the larva fed on water fleas and grew to full size in a single day.

The next day, it pupated. On the third day, it emerged as an adult and began eating grain.

Take white rice: this mosquito drilled a hole into the grain, exuded an acid, liquefied the rice from within, and sucked out the pulp, leaving only an empty husk.

One mosquito could eat two grains per day—seemingly insignificant.

But on day four, newly emerged mosquitoes paired up and laid eggs immediately—one female could lay over a hundred eggs.

On day five, she laid again—over a hundred more.

With a lifespan of about ninety days, eighty of them were spent laying eggs. One mosquito could lay over eight thousand eggs in its life.

Would all eight thousand survive?

Eighty percent would.

These mosquitoes were poisonous—from egg to larva to adult, all carried deadly toxins. Birds, beasts, fish, and insects dared not eat them. With no predators, they multiplied like a snowball.

Everywhere in Hai Chi Ling, these mosquitoes swarmed. They sensed grain—rice, millet, wheat, corn—any grain, they devoured without discrimination.

Hai Chi Ling tried everything to stop them—smoke, poison, even hired poison cultivators to use techniques, killing hundreds of thousands at once.

Did it help?

Almost nothing worked.

For this kind of mosquito, the number of several hundred thousand means nothing.

In a village, even if you killed every single mosquito, the next day, countless more would fly in from outside and devour all the grain.

Some villages guarded tightly, preserving a little grain, hoping that by the twelfth month, these mosquitoes would vanish entirely.

Who could have imagined these mosquitoes were not afraid of cold? Now it was already the twelfth month, yet their numbers had hardly decreased, and the grain of Haichiling had almost been devoured by them.

This was the territory of the Food Cultivators; a Food Cultivator who went a single day without eating might lose their life.

Countless people had died across Haichiling, and these black-skinned mosquitoes were called the Family-Extinction Mosquitoes.

The reporter asked directly: "Mr. Lu, now that the Family-Extinction Mosquitoes are rampant and people are dying daily in Haichiling, are you planning to just wait like this?"

Lu Dongjun shook his head: "Of course I won't wait. I will mobilize the full strength of the Lu family to eradicate these pests completely within a month."

Click-click!

The photographer kept pressing the shutter; these words carried immense weight.

The major families of Puzhou had deployed countless resources, yet still had no solution against these mosquitoes—Lu Dongjun claimed he could wipe them out completely in a month?

The reporter grew tense: "Mr. Lu, are you currently in charge of the Lu family? Is what you just said the official stance of the entire Lu family?"

Lu Dongjun stood up: "My elder brother entrusted me with the family's heavy burdens; this is the great trust he placed in me. No matter how much these petty villains stir up trouble, his faith in me will never change."

When trouble arises in Haichiling, the Lu family will never stand idly by, nor will we merely send a few carts of grain as a token gesture and then walk away."

I must save Haichiling, save the countless suffering and starving people."

This is the duty of the Lu family—and the responsibility of Lu Dongjun!"

Click!

Lu Dongjun's resolute expression and posture were captured on film.

…

The reporter left. Lu Dongjun summoned Wan Jinxian: "Is this plan actually reliable?"

Wan Jinxian handed Lu Dongjun a glass bottle: "Master, look—none of the mosquitoes in this bottle survived."

This is the method I've spent countless efforts developing: one infected mosquito kills every other mosquito it touches, and the infection spreads layer by layer—within half a month, all mosquitoes in Haichiling will be eradicated."

When that time comes, you will be the god of Haichiling, and Haichiling will be your personal domain."

The urgent matter now is to settle your business in Lüshui City—convert everything into real gold and silver. We must relocate immediately; the chaos in Lüshui City can no longer bind you."

PS: Will Lu Dongjun's temporary withdrawal from Lüshui City be a wise move?

Sha La is pushing for Level 3 and desperately needs comments—everyone, please leave a message for Sha La, okay?

(End of Chapter)