Su Muqing stared at the body scan on the space probe for a moment. Then, without changing her expression, she continued to staunch Lin Rongrong's bleeding.
To her surprise, halfway through, Lin Rongrong's eyes suddenly bulged, and bloody, foul-smelling black blood flowed from all seven orifices. Her face seemed to undergo subtle changes.
Before long, her breathing also stopped, and her body began to rapidly turn black and cold. In just a few dozen seconds, a vibrant young girl turned into a desiccated corpse.
The space probe screen flickered a few times, indicating that Lin Rongrong not only had an injury at the back of her head but also contained a potent poison in her blood.
Most bizarrely, this poison showed no prior signs. It would only manifest after a certain period, which had fooled even the probe moments ago.
At this moment, 217 also issued an alarm. "Warning, warning! Host is in contact with a contagious, potent toxic substance! The system will conduct a comprehensive physical disinfection on the host! Please close your mouth and eyes! Be careful not to touch the body's blood."
The instant 217 finished speaking, Su Muqing quickly retreated. A white mist, like dry ice, appeared out of nowhere and then poured down on Su Muqing from above, catching her completely off guard.
Everything happened so fast that no one saw how it happened; Su Muqing was already enveloped in smoke.
Those present watched, dumbfounded. Was she so desperate to save someone that she had gone mad? Why was smoke suddenly billowing from her entire body!
Lu Yuzhi and Su Cuiping, who were nearby, were startled! They quickly reached out to pull her. "Muqing, what's wrong?"
"Don't come over! Anyone who touched Rongrong's blood, stay behind. Everyone else who didn't, get out! Brother Lu, quickly carry him out, and remember to protect him!" Su Muqing shouted, stopping his movement. She covered her mouth with one hand and, from memory, pointed at the man who had had his throat slit. She spoke somewhat unclearly to Lu Yuzhi.
Lu Yuzhi quickly obeyed, grabbed the man, and carried him out. He then ushered out those who were still unclear about the situation and wanted to watch the commotion from the wooden house.
Finally, Leng Ren and Leng Nuo stayed behind, as they had both come into contact with Lin Rongrong's poisoned blood. They didn't know what Su Muqing intended to do. Obediently, they washed the bloodstains on their hands.
It was Leng Ren who had carried Lin Rongrong in, possibly accidentally touching the bloodstains. He then noticed that his palm, for some unknown reason, had turned completely black.
Leng Nuo's situation was even worse. He had held Lin Rongrong's wound the entire way, so he had more contact. Now, black lines representing the poison had spread to his left arm.
This poison was extremely insidious and cunning. Besides having a latency period, it did not cause visible changes on the body's surface like other potent poisons.
Those who came into contact with it would be poisoned unknowingly. By the time it was discovered, it was usually too late, with the poison having deeply infiltrated the vital organs.
If 217 hadn't warned Su Muqing, even if she had known Lin Rongrong's blood was poisoned, she wouldn't have thought the toxicity could be contagious. By the time the poison took effect, they still wouldn't have known what was happening.
After being physically disinfected, Su Muqing first retrieved three drops of spirit spring water, and the three of them each took a drop. She then took out disinfection tools and sprayed them all over their bodies and the air.
After doing all this, she had 217 scan again, and only then was she certain that there were no more toxins on their bodies. However, this small wooden house could no longer be kept; it had to be burned.
Leng Nuo wanted to step forward to retrieve Lin Rongrong's body. Su Muqing grabbed him. "What are you doing? She's a toxic body now; touching her will kill people."
Leng Nuo looked at Su Muqing with red-rimmed eyes. "But..."
"There's no 'but.' You two, get out quickly. Hurry!" Su Muqing pushed the two of them out of the wooden house, took out a barrel of diesel, and poured it on the ground. Then, she walked out.
After exiting the wooden house, she brought everyone to a safe location. She took the torch handed to her by Lu Yuzhi and threw it forcefully into the small window of the wooden house. The flames met the diesel, and instantly, a fierce blaze erupted.
Watching the growing inferno, Su Cuiping covered her mouth and sobbed uncontrollably on the ground. After months of living together, they had long become a family.
Leng Nuo sank to his knees on the ground. He used to love teasing Lin Rongrong the most. Now that she was gone... Leng Ren and the others, thinking of the shriveled young girl inside and the time they had spent together, also felt a pang of grief.
The others didn't know how things had escalated to this point. However, since the culprit had met their just desserts, they couldn't pursue it further.
Seeing Su Cuiping cry like a heartbroken woman, Su Muqing walked over expressionlessly, helped her up, and whispered in her ear, "Don't cry, that wasn't Rongrong."
Su Cuiping's mouth gaped open as she looked at her. "Not Rongrong? How is that possible?"
Su Muqing offered no further explanation, pulling her hand and leading her directly towards another wooden house. Lu Yuzhi also quickly followed. The person inside wasn't Lin Rongrong? Could it be a disguise?
Leng Nuo sprang up from the ground and grabbed Leng Ren's clothes, asking him, "What did the girl just say? The one inside, wasn't, wasn't Rongrong? Then who...?"
Without waiting for Leng Ren's reply, Leng Nuo dashed after Su Muqing. It didn't matter who was inside; as long as it wasn't Rongrong or any of them, that was enough.
Everyone was confused about what Su Muqing was doing. "Why did she leave? Where is she going?"
"I don't know. Could she have lost her mind from anger?"
"Let's go, let's go, quickly follow and see!"
Su Muqing and Su Cuiping went directly to Chu Ruoqiao's resting place. The third child and his three companions, holding machine guns, surrounded the small wooden house from all sides.
The third child saw them approaching and, noticing the tear streaks on Su Cuiping's face, asked with concern, "Miss, why did that house catch fire? How is Little Rong?"
"Dead! Are there any movements inside the house?" Su Muqing's tone was devoid of emotion, but those familiar with her could detect a bone-chilling coldness in her words.
Leng Feng replied, "No, we've been guarding here since we received your orders. And Senior Tianji, as per your instructions, along with the people from the Three Saints Palace, secured the surroundings immediately."
Su Muqing looked at the two dots on the space probe inside the wooden house: one was circular, and the other was a five-pointed star.
Seeing the five-pointed star on the screen, a smile touched Su Muqing's lips. Thank goodness! She still had her data. At least it meant the person was alive!
"Chu Ruoqiao! Are you still not coming out?" Su Muqing spread her palms open. The people around could clearly see the two powerful currents gathering in her palms.
Su Muqing directed the surging currents towards the sky above the small wooden house. Instantly, the wind and clouds changed. The previously hazy sky was illuminated by the intense light of the currents, as bright as daylight.
Hearing the massive commotion from this side, Elder Tianji and Gongsun Zan hurried over.
Huo Qixiao also emerged from the wooden house. Seeing Su Muqing tampering with the wooden house where Chu Ruoqiao resided, he leaped forward to stop her. However, Leng Ren and the others jumped out to intercept him.
At this moment, Su Muqing controlled the fine currents with her hands. With a "crack," she tore the small wooden house apart from the middle. Huo Qixiao and the others also stopped fighting, watching as the small wooden house was ripped into two halves.
As the small wooden house slowly collapsed, everyone saw Chu Ruoqiao supporting her maid, a hateful expression on her face. Her tone, unlike her usual dignified and generous demeanor, was now laced with an evil aura. "In what way have we, mistress and servant, offended Miss Su to warrant such aggressive pursuit?"
Huo Qixiao looked at this Chu Ruoqiao and felt an inexplicable sense of incongruity. Elder Tianji also frowned. Why did this Ruoqiao feel so strange?
Su Muqing looked at the woman who was both outwardly graceful and inwardly menacing. "Stop pretending, you are not Chu Ruoqiao at all!"
Elder Tianji and Huo Qixiao were startled by Su Muqing's words. What did she mean? Was this woman a fake Chu Ruoqiao? How was that possible?
To their surprise, Chu Ruoqiao did not deny it. "Hahaha! So what if I am? So what if I'm not? Now that your person is in my hands, if I just move a little..."
As Chu Ruoqiao spoke, she quickly pinched the maid's neck with one hand and tore off the human skin mask from her face with the other.
Only then did everyone realize that this maid was actually the missing Lin Rongrong. Her eyes were vacant, her expression dull, as if her mind had been bewitched. This suggested that the one who had just died was Chu Ruoqiao's maid.
Su Cuiping excitedly shook Leng Nuo's arm. "It's Rongrong, it's Rongrong. She's not dead, she's alive."
Leng Nuo was also overjoyed. "Mhm! That's great."
Elder Tianji was bewildered and quickly asked Su Muqing, "What is going on here?"
Su Muqing looked at Chu Ruoqiao and analyzed, "If I'm not mistaken, you kidnapped Rongrong and then split into two groups. You had your maid disguise herself as Rongrong and flee outside at night. It was probably meant to create the impression that she killed someone and then fled in fear of punishment."
"Those people in the wooden house were all killed by you, right? I examined them; apart from the one whose throat was slit, the others died from shattered vital organs. Such a cause of death would be difficult to ascertain from the surface unless an autopsy was performed. That way, everyone would think I was incompetent and caused their deaths."
"And you, being so proud of your beauty, didn't want to wear someone else's face, so you only wore Rongrong's mask. But you probably didn't expect that after killing those people, there would be a survivor. That person must have just entered from outside and discovered your evil deeds. When your throat was slit, your mask was torn off, revealing your face."
"You didn't expect us to arrive so quickly. You didn't even have time to confirm if he was completely dead before hurriedly returning to your own small wooden house."
Chu Ruoqiao stared at Su Muqing for a long time. "If what you say is true, I would only need to kill her. Why would I waste one of my maids?"
"Perhaps you wanted her to die further away to solidify the charge of Lin Rongrong killing someone and fleeing. Perhaps you injured her and left her there, deliberately waiting for us to discover her. Because you knew that if it were truly Rongrong who was injured, we would definitely try our best to treat her. Perhaps we would have unknowingly died from the poison you administered."
"Hahaha! Little girl, I must say you are quite to my liking! It's a shame to let you die in Annihilation..." The woman knew Su Muqing had definitely come into contact with the maid's poisoned blood. While saying words of pity, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.
After all, no one who had been poisoned by Annihilation had ever survived for more than three hours. Su Muqing, that wretched girl! She was definitely doomed this time!
Su Muqing raised her arm, her sleeve sliding down to reveal her fair skin. "Oh! So that poison is called Annihilation? You're disappointed again. Along with Crimson Serpent last time, I've once again deciphered your poison."
Looking at her smooth, jade-like arm, the woman's face was filled with disbelief. "How is this possible? Even those immune to all poisons have died from the potent poison of Annihilation. How could you..."
As the woman spoke, her emotions became increasingly agitated. Something seemed to be wriggling beneath the skin of her face, as if trying to break through her skin.
She pulled out two silver needles, about a dozen centimeters long, from the Fengfu and Fengchi acupoints. At this moment, her facial features began to twitch, and soon, the entire skin of her face fell off, revealing an extremely unfamiliar face.
Su Muqing looked at the woman with bizarre patterns painted on her face and said, "Release Rongrong, and I can spare your life."
After speaking, she retracted the lightning from her palms, and the abnormal energy surging in the sky also ceased its commotion, quietly hovering in mid-air.
"Release her? If I release her, can I still leave here alive? Do you think I'm stupid?" The woman felt Su Muqing's offer was an insult to her intelligence.
At this moment, Lu Yuzhi appeared to the woman's rear side. He deliberately created a slight disturbance to draw her attention.
"What do you want? Do you want to test if you're faster than me..." The woman, as expected, was momentarily distracted and turned her head to look.
Now was the time! Su Muqing controlled the Gale Twin Blades and slashed towards her shoulders. The woman realized a powerful energy was approaching when it was too late.
Her arm, which was pinching Lin Rongrong's neck, was severed from the shoulder. Now, only one arm was left holding Lin Rongrong, unable to exert any force.
Leng Ren and the others seized the opportunity to attack. The woman, unwilling to concede, endured the intense pain and tried to crush Lin Rongrong's heart. Unexpectedly, Su Muqing flicked a trace of extremely fine internal energy towards her left hand.
The woman felt a sharp pain in her chest and quickly retracted her hand. Seeing the attackers rush towards her, she had no choice but to forcefully push Lin Rongrong out, blocking their advance for a moment.
Then, while everyone was busy catching Lin Rongrong, she threw a few Thunder Pills onto the ground. With a few loud "bangs," a purple-blue dense smoke billowed up.
"Poisonous!" Su Muqing, remembering the woman's skill in poisoning, instinctively shouted a warning to Leng Ren and the others.
She then quickly retrieved the disinfection tools and sprayed them towards the smoke. Hearing that it was poisonous, everyone hurriedly dodged.
Fortunately, this was merely a highly potent soporific smoke, not the contagious, potent poison from before. By the time Su Muqing quickly dispersed the smoke, the woman had already vanished without a trace.
Strangely, even the control panel could not detect her whereabouts. Su Muqing couldn't help but click her tongue. In just a few minutes, she had fled more than a kilometer away?
However, no matter how fast she ran, it was useless. Since she liked poisoning so much, Su Muqing reciprocated by placing some poison on her.
That poison was Lu Yuzhi's blood!
His blood contained the Ice Reed Grass, known as the king of poisons in this small world. Su Muqing had directly injected it into her vital meridians, and it should be quite enough for her to deal with.