Chapter 121

A parasitic caterpillar had just been captured by the Police Inspector’s office, and the Su clan patriarch already knew.

This new type of insect immediately drew the Su patriarch’s attention; he rushed to the Police Inspector’s office to meet with Director Bao Junyi. The Su patriarch discussed with Bao Junyi the need for the Su clan to launch another large-scale search, and strongly requested that the Police Inspector’s elite assist in the search.

If the Police Inspector’s office agreed to help, the Su clan would offer a substantial reward.

Bao Junyi also took this matter very seriously. He immediately assembled elite personnel to launch an investigation and cooperated with the Su patriarch to swiftly restart the full-scale search of the Su clan’s territory.

After investigation by the Police Inspector’s office, the little boy had entered the Su clan’s territory under the pretense of visiting relatives.

And he had only just checked into his relative’s home the night before.

If it had successfully consumed Su Jin, it would have immediately begun feeding on and spreading its offspring among the Su clan members.

Of course, by targeting Su Jin, even if it ate her brain, it likely wouldn’t survive.

Xue Chiluo wouldn’t let it go!

But Bao Junyi didn’t place all hope of eliminating this insect on Xue Chiluo.

At most, he’d let Xue Chiluo search outside the city for another nest.

Cough cough, because Xue Chiluo had only found one nest inside the city.

If there had been a second, Xue Chiluo certainly wouldn’t have stayed silent. (Are you certain Xue Chiluo hadn’t considered waiting until it grew larger, then devouring the second nest itself?)

In short, the Su clan’s large-scale search was timely and effective.

Having cleared the hidden threats within their territory, they only needed to tighten control over outsiders entering the Su clan lands from now on.

Yet even though the Su family acted swiftly, it didn’t mean the entire Xiancheng was safe.

On the contrary, the entire Xiancheng now faced the threat of parasitic humans.

No one knew how many parasitic caterpillars were still active and spreading throughout Xiancheng and its surroundings.

Trouble had become immense.

Zhan Xiongying had heard of his junior brother’s dire predicament; when he arrived, his junior brother had just seen off the Su patriarch.

The Su patriarch had not only delivered the promised reward but also offered, should Bao Junyi require it, to mobilize the entire clan’s able-bodied youths Wuchang to assist.

With such humble and enthusiastic attitude, even Bao Junyi couldn’t refuse—and Zhan Xiongying admitted he himself would find it hard to say no.

“Senior Brother Zhan, why did you come here?”

“I heard about the new white caterpillar and feared something might happen to you, so I rushed back immediately.”

“Did you find Feng San during your investigation outside the city?”

“I didn’t find Feng San, but I found Feng Qi.”

This fellow is young and seems a bit reckless. He runs a carriage service outside the city but constantly quarrels with potential passengers, ruining his business.

Yet he continues acting exactly as he pleases!!

Precisely because he acts so independently and uses a name similar to Feng San, I took notice of him.

I followed him for several days, and finally caught Feng Qi in the act.

Feng Qi lives alone, but every night he disappears for a while.

My intuition is sharp—Feng Qi may not be Feng San himself, but he must be connected to him.”

Bao Junyi sighed. “What a troubled time.”

“Is this caterpillar really that troublesome?” Zhan Xiongying saw the expression on Bao Junyi’s face and knew he was struggling.

“We know too little about this new species of caterpillar.”

We don’t know how they feed, nor how they reproduce or spread. I want to launch a full-scale search, but I fear it will alarm them and plunge Xiancheng into chaos. This is Xiancheng—a population rivaling a small human nation.

If unrest breaks out, who knows how many lives will be lost before it ends.”

“I suggest you first have each clan conduct private internal investigations. Once they’ve cleared their own clans, have them assist in clearing the inner city. After the inner city is clean, divide the outer city into zones and assign each clan a fixed area to clean.”

Speed is the priority!

Once the outer city is cleared, even if parasitic humans riot in the chaotic outskirts, you can mobilize them to defend themselves first. Then, when you’ve swept the outer districts, lead your forces into the outskirts and purge the infected neighborhoods entirely.”

That way, the entire city will be cleansed.

Even if there are losses, as long as they’re not in the core areas of inner or outer city, it doesn’t matter.

The sect won’t blame you.

After all, given our current situation, eliminating the new insect with zero losses is nearly impossible.”

Bao Junyi thought it over, then made his decision.

…

After returning from Bao Junyi, the Su patriarch began organizing his clan to clear the outer city districts belonging to the Su family.

He couldn’t rest easy otherwise.

What if that strange insect began massively parasitizing the Su clan’s commoners in the outer city?

The Su clan had many cultivators, but far more commoners—and commoners were the true foundation of the Su clan.

As long as the commoners weren’t wiped out, restoring the clan’s cultivator numbers wouldn’t be so hard. In roughly thirty to forty years, the clan’s cultivator population could recover.

But if only cultivators remained, it would be over—without one or two centuries, the Su clan’s total cultivator count could never return to its former level.

There was no way around it: cultivators bore few children, and with long intervals between births.

But the Su clan’s commoners, if properly subsidized, would gladly have a child every year—truthfully, they’d be happy to.

The Su clan’s commoner population already vastly outnumbered its cultivators. If they reproduced without restriction, in thirty to forty years, that’s two or three generations. With such a massive population base, it would be strange if they didn’t produce many cultivators.

The Su patriarch acted with exceptional speed: in the morning he cleared the inner clan territory, and by afternoon he was sweeping the outer city districts where Su commoners lived.

He swept the area three times like a net, then reorganized large numbers of clan patrol teams to strictly control all entrances and exits across the outer city neighborhoods.

By the time other clans were summoned by Bao Junyi to plan their operations, the Su clan had already cleared all its outer city neighborhoods.

Over a hundred neighborhoods yielded over a hundred parasitic humans.

It completely shattered the Su patriarch’s previous understanding.

After clearing the outer city neighborhoods, the Su patriarch turned his gaze to the Su clan’s settlements beyond Xiancheng.

To clear them would require working through the night.

Outside the city was different from within—it had no walls separating neighborhoods.

Even if you swept the area multiple times, as soon as you left, people would flow back in, and the neighborhoods would continue to decay, breeding more parasitic humans.