63: Chapter 63 Poison? Explosives?

Ning Zuo was furious, itching to finish off Ma Chi right then and there.

But just then, Ning You and the Envoy walked out of the house.

The Envoy said with a chuckle, "Brother Ning Zuo, cooperating with the authorities is every citizen's duty. I'm not hiding anything, so why bother giving this officer a hard time?"

Ning Zuo had no choice but to suppress his anger and step aside.

Ma Chi pointed at the man with triangular eyes, "Name, identification."

"My name is Yin Ying, a Second Lieutenant in the Feng City City Guard. Here is my identification."

Ma Chi took the identification and examined it carefully, his expression one of great surprise, "So you are an officer. Mr. Second Lieutenant, the situation is unusual, and we are just performing our official duties. I am truly sorry."

Returning the identification, he turned to complain to Ning Zuo, "Given Lord Yin's status, was it necessary to be so secretive and create such an unnecessary misunderstanding?"

Yin Ying smiled and waved his hand, "This isn't entirely his fault. I'm out here on private business, and I didn't want to draw attention to myself."

Ma Chi nodded, "I understand. However... according to the current regulations within the settlement, non-residents are required to pay a security deposit. Of course, I will personally explain your status to Lord Wei. He is a reasonable man and will certainly make an exception..."

Before he could finish, Yin Ying interrupted him directly, "There is no need for Lord Wei to make an exception for me. Just follow official procedure. How much?"

"Three thousand."

Without another word, Yin Ying took out three thousand yuan and handed it to Ma Chi.

Ma Chi didn't stand on ceremony and immediately issued a receipt to Yin Ying.

After settling all the fees, Ning Zuo opened the warehouse, and Ma Chi's men quickly moved the grain stores out and left.

Once the door closed, Ning Zuo couldn't help but grit his teeth and curse, "Corrupt official!"

Yin Ying chuckled coldly, "Isn't a corrupt official a good thing? I think it's wonderful."

Ning You was puzzled, "Lord Envoy, what do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. A petty official, no bigger than a sesame seed, dares to extort money so unscrupulously. This is enough to show how corrupt the Dongyu imperial court is. If there are corrupt officials like this everywhere, this damn court won't even need us to overthrow it; it's already walking down a dead end on its own. The more corrupt they are, the closer we are to success."

"Exactly!"

"Lord Envoy is absolutely right!"

The Ning Brothers chimed in together in agreement.

Yin Ying smiled again, "However, we still need to find time tonight to kill that corrupt official surnamed Wei. Those ill-gotten gains he's collected certainly won't be returned to the refugees, so we might as well take them. Don't you agree?"

The Ning Brothers both revealed knowing smiles.

Back at the Bounty Office, Ma Chi immediately reported to Wei Baoquan.

"Lord, besides the Ning Brothers, there is indeed another person in that house, and his status is quite sensitive—he is a Second Lieutenant in the Feng City City Guard. This person is acting suspiciously; there must be something wrong."

Wei Baoquan's expression grew increasingly grave, "To think that the Blasphemers have already infiltrated the Feng City military. An officer, even at the lowest rank, is bound to be a formidable character. If we fail to capture him and he escapes, the future consequences will be endless..."

Tang Long immediately offered encouragement, "So what if he's an officer? With you presiding, Lord..."

Wei Baoquan wasn't buying the flattery at all, and before Tang Long could finish, he had already lost his nerve.

"You don't understand these things. The graduation standard for the Military Academy is Rank 7. To receive a commission, one must be at least Rank 8, which is my level. If, as you say, Blasphemers can unleash power far stronger than others at the same rank, I might... not be his match."

Ma Chi nodded repeatedly from the side, "Since it's so dangerous, you don't need to fight personally, Lord. The Joint Defense Brigade has enough manpower now!"

Wei Baoquan still shook his head, "Once a high-level expert unleashes their power, killing those at middle or low levels is no different than slaughtering chickens. When morale collapses and we can't stop him from escaping, it will instantly become a future problem. Little Tang, do you have any other ideas?"

Tang Long touched his chin with a smile, "There are always more solutions than problems. When I proposed concentrating the grain earlier, I had already made preparations in this regard. The goal was to drug them."

"Poison them?" Wei Baoquan frowned deeply, "I'm afraid that won't be easy, right? Every Blasphemer is treacherous; wouldn't they be on guard? Military experts are even more experienced. If it's detected, it will only alert them."

Tang Long chuckled, "A simple poison is naturally easy to detect, but what if this poison requires a mixture to be triggered? If the individual components aren't toxic on their own, will they still be able to detect it?"

Wei Baoquan was somewhat incredulous, "You can concoct such an extraordinary poison?"

Tang Long smiled modestly, "If I didn't have a few tricks up my sleeve, I would have died at the hands of the Blasphemers long ago. You can inspect it for yourself later, Lord. I dare say you will be satisfied."

"If that's the case, it's certainly worth a try."

Wei Baoquan was tempted, but still said with concern, "High-level experts can use spirit energy to suppress the toxicity in their blood. It might be hard to kill him outright, and I'm still afraid he'll escape. Do you have a more reliable method?"

Tang Long immediately urged him again, "Lord, as the saying goes, under heavy rewards, there will be brave men!"

"As long as you offer a large sum as a bounty, and set up several lines of encirclement, the entire Joint Defense Brigade will risk their lives fighting him. He won't be able to escape. As long as the bounty is high enough, the money you have in your hands now is enough to bury him alive."

"Lord, the stronger this guy is and the higher his status, the greater your merit will be. No matter where you go for a high position in the future, this will be a glorious achievement on your resume. Spending a little money is worth it!"

Wei Baoquan hesitated for a few seconds, then finally gritted his teeth and nodded, "Fine! Spread the word in a while: whoever captures this person, dead or alive, the bounty will be... three hundred thousand!"

"Lord, you are wise!"

Tang Long gave a thumbs up, but inwardly he was cursing the bumpkin.

He had helped him earn tens of millions today, and now that it was time to get down to business, he was only willing to bleed this little bit. He was stingy to the point of absurdity.

There's a saying that dog meat can't be served at a formal banquet; it's not without reason.

Three hundred thousand is useless; it can't even buy thirty fire spirit stones.

There are plenty of desperate people among the refugees, but to make them fight a high-level Blasphemer to the death for this amount of money... I can't say no one would do it, but the number wouldn't be high, and their will to fight wouldn't be very strong.

If I were handling this, I would absolutely set a price that would make the vast majority of people lose their minds.

If three hundred thousand isn't enough, what about three million or thirty million?

Tang Long hadn't kept much money for himself; the nearly four million he got from the spoils of war had basically all been exchanged for spirit stones and spirit residue.

He couldn't get any blood spirit stone, only getting over thirty pieces of blood spirit shards. Ice spirit stones were slightly better, but the price was three to four times that of fire spirit stones, so he purchased over seventy of them. The rest were exchanged for nearly sixty fire spirit stones.

These resources could at least allow him to advance one rank in Barbarian Blood and two to three ranks in Aurora.

However, he was short on time now, barely squeezing out two or three hours, and then he would have to start figuring out how to feed the poison into the Blasphemer's stomach.

In his room, a transparent crystal appeared in his hand. He carefully chiseled the crystal into small, snowflake-like flakes, then held them up to the sunlight to examine each one closely.

At this moment, Ma Chi walked in with large strides, carrying a big bag in his left hand and holding a jar of wine in his right.

"Brother Tang, this is what you wanted. This bottle of high-proof pure brew is only available at Lord Wei's place; I had a hard time getting it. Try it and see if it's suitable. Huh? What are you doing? Ice cubes?"

"Brother Ma, don't move! Whatever you do, don't move!" Seeing Ma Chi approaching, Tang Long quickly stopped him.

Ma Chi was confused, "What's wrong? Why are you so jumpy? You better not mess up, otherwise we'll both get scolded."

"Don't rush... you'll understand once you take a look."

Tang Long grabbed an iron bowl, poured a bowl of wine into it, and then picked up a small flake of the newly chiseled crystal, carefully dropping it in.

A cluster of blue flames instantly erupted from the bowl with a roar. Under the intense heat of the flames, even the iron bowl was scorched and deformed, yet the blue flames continued to burn for a long time.

Ma Chi watched, his scalp tingling.

"Brother, what kind of poison is this? Such a small piece is terrifying."

Tang Long shook his head, inwardly lamenting.

This thing was the Blue Flame Crystal he had painstakingly farmed from killing monsters earlier. It was classified as a poison, but in reality... it should really be considered an explosive.

Although he hadn't learned any item crafting skills, in the Doomsday Era, hand-crafting similar simplified versions of items had become second nature to him. The power was certainly no match for the real thing, but... it was barely enough.

"As long as it doesn't encounter alcohol of a certain proof, it can simply be considered a type of ice; it's even safe to eat raw. Do you want to try a piece?"

Ma Chi was so scared he quickly backed away, "Stop joking. I'm going to report to Lord Wei; you be careful yourself."

As soon as Ma Chi left, Tang Long immediately opened his package and quickly found some good wood, silk thread, and some hollowed-out arrowheads.

When he saw several large bags of white powder, a smile couldn't help but appear on the corner of his mouth.