My reborn husband and son are thinking about how to kill me every day.

Exhausted from a night's work and still unable to come up with any solutions, General Yao had no time to pay attention to Fan Hongmiao.

He glanced at the group and saw that their clothes were covered in mud and had many tears, clearly from being torn by tree branches.

Without even asking, he already knew where they had been last night.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Fan Hongmiao gave an awkward laugh and apologized, "I misunderstood General Yao yesterday. We should have listened to the general and left this place quickly."

After discovering that General Yao wasn't behind it, he regretted it. Tell me, wouldn't it have been better if he hadn't opposed him, but listened to him and left quickly?

If they had listened to him and left quickly, they might not have encountered this strange event.

However, thinking about how General Yao insisted on traveling at full speed before the incident, he added, "General, if you hadn't been willing to rest and had been urging everyone to hurry on their way, wouldn't you have noticed something was wrong already?"

He observed General Yao's expression and said, "You knew something all along, didn't you?"

General Yao was so angry at his words that he laughed.

He sneered, "Even at this point, Envoy Fan still doesn't believe me? Still doubts me?"

Although Fan Hongmiao had just ruled out that General Yao was behind this incident, he still suspected that Yao might have known something all along.

Now that General Yao had so ruthlessly exposed his thoughts, he felt incredibly embarrassed.

The other civil officials also felt they had lost face.

They had been targeting General Yao all along, but now they realized that they had misunderstood him all along, and were even hoping he would live.

Fan Hongmiao said, "I have no doubts about you, General. I just wanted to ask and find out what happened."

General Yao didn't hold it against them.

Now only a few of them remain clear-headed; they should put aside their prejudices and find a way to overcome the current difficulties.

Therefore, he finally explained, "I don't know what's going on either. I didn't recommend staying here before, but I just felt that the silence along the way was strange."

From what I understand, there are several ruthless bandit gangs in this area; it's impossible for them to turn down such easy prey.

To be honest, when he changed course and took this route, he was already prepared for a fierce battle with the bandits.

General Yao's words disappointed Fan Hongmiao.

He hadn't expected such an ordinary reason, not because he knew anything beforehand.

However, his explanation clearly meant putting aside their differences and inviting them to work together to find a solution and overcome the difficulties.

He asked, "So what are General Yao's plans now? What's the story with these soldiers?"

General Yao was at a loss for what to do. He said, "We saw black, thread-like insects enter their ears. We now suspect that our being trapped here is related to the epidemic."

Upon hearing this, Fan Hongmiao and the others' expressions changed.

Fan Hongmiao felt his legs go weak and he almost lost his balance. After a long while, he said, "Really? Could it be that it's too dark and I'm seeing things?"

Shu Tianhe also subconsciously said, "How can you see clearly at night? You must have seen it wrong."

"There's no mistake, it wasn't completely dark yet. I'm not so bad as to be completely blind."

General Yao's tone was somewhat sharp, as if he had a fire burning inside him, which he was trying to suppress.

Normally, given his tone, Fan Hongmiao would have argued with him a few times.

But at this moment, he no longer had the energy to argue with General Yao.

He just wanted to know what they should do next.

He had never lost a battle of wits in the imperial court, and he was also quick-witted. If asked to negotiate, he was confident that he would not lose.

He had never encountered a situation like this before and didn't know what to do.

General Yao had been hoping they could come up with a solution together, but seeing him like this now, he suddenly felt that all his words had been wasted.

They're truly masters of intrigue and backstabbing; they're good for nothing else.

He was so angry that he didn't say a word.

Zhu Qi said, "General Yao and I both think that we can't get those insects out right now, so we can only try to get out and ask for help. General Yao said that Ji Shi is very good at dealing with these insects, and if she is there, she can definitely save everyone."

Fan Hongmiao touched his nose somewhat awkwardly and said, "We entered the forest yesterday, intending to run towards Qiongdu, but after running all night, we ended up back here. We thought we had encountered a ghost wall!"

"Could it be that it's not the plague, but something unclean?"

Like Fan Hongmiao, Shu Tianhe believed more in ghosts and gods than in the plague they had never heard of.

He said, "Look, we're surrounded by mountains. It's possible we'll encounter something evil. Why don't we try some methods to deal with ghosts? Maybe we can get out of here?"

General Yao didn't want to talk at the moment. He was already injured from traveling, and he hadn't slept all night. He was feeling dizzy and couldn't take it anymore.

Zhu Qi glanced at him with some concern and said, "We can give it a try. There's really no other way now, so we can only try anything as a last resort."

So they tried every method they knew for dealing with ghosts.

In the end, it was all for nothing, and it only exhausted me.

Fan Hongmiao and the other civil officials were already old and their bodies couldn't withstand the strain, not to mention that they had spent the previous night struggling to escape for their lives.

After all this commotion, several civil officials felt dizzy and breathless.

Fan Hongmiao sat down on the ground helplessly and sighed, "It would be better to just lie on the ground and be an unconscious person! That way I wouldn't have to scare myself and suffer this torment."

"You know they haven't been tortured? That worm entered their bodies; who knows what kind of pain they're enduring right now!"

General Yao thought of the soldiers in the camp who had been infected with the plague for too long and had not received the medicine, and the various screams they made when the insects hatched from their bodies...

A sense of sorrow rose in his heart.

He couldn't save them back then in the military camp. Now, he can't save these soldiers either.

Perhaps this is the punishment that God has given them.

They started the war, causing so many people to be displaced and unarmed civilians to die tragically...

Upon hearing his words, Fan Hongmiao felt the hairs on his body stand on end.

They spent most of the day trying to exorcise evil spirits and drive away ghosts... but it was all in vain. Now he believed General Yao's words.

He said insects had entered the soldiers' bodies, and that's probably true. It's just unclear why only a few of them were unharmed.

Fan Hongmiao couldn't understand it, and neither could General Yao and the others. Fan Hongmiao thought about it for a while, but still couldn't figure out why.

I'd rather not think about it anymore.

He said, "Why don't we pray to Heaven?"

There was no other way but to pray to God. Therefore, the others did not object.