It turned out that quite a few people in the village had bought these laser weapons, and word was that Qin Sang had recommended them.
Hearing this rumor, Qin Sang was full of question marks. Which idiot had started this rumor, trying to pin this stinking mess on her?
“Nobody in my family bought these laser weapons—how did it get out that I recommended them?”
The investigator who came to look into the matter was a staff member from the management bureau responsible for this area. He laid out the situation directly, and Qin Sang was dumbfounded. Fortunately, it was the information age, and she was able to find some relevant posts online fairly quickly. But one thing was strange: the source of the rumor couldn’t be traced to any single first person. It seemed to have spread entirely by word of mouth, without using any communication devices.
That felt deliberate—like whoever started it was purposely avoiding digital tools, knowing she had the means to track things down online.
After seeing off the investigator, Qin Sang spotted Qu Meijing waiting at the door.
Ever since the mutant insect attack had shattered the glass in her home, Qu Meijing had moved into the village office basement. This was the first time she’d come over.
“What’s wrong?”
Qu Meijing watched the departing bureau staff member, then hesitated before speaking. “I don’t know about other places, but the people in the village who bought those secondhand laser weapons—they bought them because of what I said.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang furrowed her brow. She wondered if Qu Meijing had actually orchestrated this whole mess.
Qu Meijing truly did feel that she had to take some of the blame. She wasn’t exactly a good person, but since everyone in the village knew she was the one who started it, she’d made a special trip to apologize to Qin Sang.
After all, Qin Sang’s combat prowess was well known in the area. Offending her would do Qu Meijing no good whatsoever.
So Qu Meijing had come to admit fault and apologize.
“I’m really sorry. I was admiring my laser weapon at my place, and some villagers saw it. When they asked, I told them I bought it at the market.”
Qin Sang: “And what does that have to do with me?”
Qu Meijing’s gaze flickered for a moment, then she gritted her teeth and said, “Everyone admires your combat ability. I used you as an example and kind of… promoted things a little…”
Qin Sang understood immediately.
“How much commission did you get from those secondhand laser weapon sellers?”
Yes, judging by how hesitant Qu Meijing was, there was no doubt she’d been hyping up those refurbished laser weapons to earn points. To make the villagers believe her, she’d even invoked Qin Sang’s name.
This was just…
“And what about everyone else outside the village? It’s not just our village—quite a few people in Huhuashan City got scammed…”
“That’s got nothing to do with me!” Qu Meijing cut her off anxiously. She was only making a little commission; she didn’t associate with people in the city, so the scams there had nothing to do with her.
Qin Sang believed her on that. But the investigator had also said that people in other parts of the city had traded with that secondhand laser weapon seller because of rumors involving her.
One of the rumors was that Qin Sang’s amazing monster-killing ability came from using their laser weapons. Another was that the sellers were Qin Sang’s own family and friends.
Yes, this scam was truly bizarre.
According to reports, the sellers were a middle-aged couple and a young man—which conveniently matched her parents and Xu Lin.
All of this was enough to prove that someone was deliberately targeting her, using her as a scapegoat.
And these rumors were so obviously fabricated—yet somehow, people actually believed them.
“Go turn yourself in at the management bureau.”
Qin Sang looked at Qu Meijing, who was still apologizing: “I accept your apology. But this situation started because of you. You need to go to the bureau and explain everything clearly.”
At the words “turn yourself in,” Qu Meijing’s face turned green.
She’d barely made a bit of commission. If she actually turned herself in, she’d probably end up losing points—the bureau’s fines were notoriously steep.
Thinking this over, Qu Meijing immediately regretted it.
But Qin Sang wasn’t going to give her a chance to back out.
“Go today. If you delay even one day, I’ll report your deeds myself.”
“Fine, fine, fine…”
Qu Meijing staggered off, heading in the direction of the management bureau.
It was then that Qin’s mother suddenly said, “Sang Sang, you’re too famous.”
Being famous was exactly why someone would use her name as a front for a scam.
Qin Sang: She really hadn’t realized she was that popular. Being famous in the apocalypse wasn’t a good thing—it meant that whenever something happened, people would call on her for help. And now, scammers were even exploiting her reputation.
What’s more, this was clearly directed at her personally.
Whoever did this knew her family well and harbored deep malice toward her. Thinking back to everyone she’d ever offended, Qin Sang quickly narrowed down the suspects and sent her suspicions and a list of possible perpetrators to Xu Lin, asking him to look into it.
With clear suspects to work with, Xu Lin’s efficiency was top-notch.
Sure enough, that very evening, shortly after Qin Sang had finished dinner, Xu Lin came rushing back in high spirits.
“Found anything?”
Xu Lin nodded, first pulling a bottle of water from his spatial realm and taking several big gulps.
Qin Sang glanced at the sky outside. Though the sun had set, it seemed to have gotten even hotter over the past two days—even though the temperature hadn’t actually risen by much.
“Checked it out. Someone from inside the management bureau is behind this.”
This answer caught Qin Sang off guard, yet at the same time, it didn’t surprise her at all.
Ever since Fang Ming had repeatedly picked fights with her, she’d come to realize that she seemed to have some kind of protagonist’s curse—there was always someone out to get her.
“Do I need to handle this myself? I have a feeling the management bureau needs to purge its internal discordant elements as soon as possible.”
The feeling came out of nowhere. But Qin Sang felt that the mutant insects wouldn’t give humanity much more time. That last wave of black energy masses had been utterly terrifying.
Though nearly half a month had passed without any reappearance of the black energy masses, Qin Sang had a sinking feeling that things would only get worse.
Xu Lin understood what Qin Sang meant. His visit this time wasn’t just to see Sang Sang and her family—it was also to take the evidence directly to Director Qian of the city’s management bureau.
It was time to uproot those people entirely. In this unpredictable world, there was no room left for destabilizing elements that undermined unity and security.
So, after one night’s sleep—literally just one night’s sleep—Qin Sang woke up to learn who the mastermind behind the secondhand laser weapon scandal was, as well as their fate.
“All sent to the front lines!”
Xu Lin nodded contentedly as he slurped up his noodle soup, and Qin Sang pressed him for details.
He’d spent the entire night in meetings, dealing with all the troublemakers. It wasn’t just Huahuashan City—all five major safety zones across the country had coordinated a unified operation, netting tens of thousands of suspects.
And the masterminds behind the laser weapon scam were among them.
“The main conspirator was a deputy director in the management bureau, and the one who carried it out was the deputy captain of a bureau squad—surname Ma. You should know him.”
“Know him? I know him all too well. Every time we crossed paths, he was pulling some underhanded stunt.” If not for the presence of others, Qin Sang would have killed him on the spot.
She hadn’t expected them to be behind this again.
“But why target me specifically?” That was the part Qin Sang found most baffling. She was a model citizen—not a saint, sure, but she often helped others within her means. She’d killed countless mutant insects and helped find several mutant plants.
How did killing her even make sense? It wasn’t like she cared who was in power above her.
But then Xu Lin dropped a bombshell: “Quite a few of those arrested belong to the same organization. There are traces of foreign state involvement.”
Qin Sang: … Even in the apocalypse, they’re still playing the spy game.
Still, the fact that the authorities could strike with such lightning speed meant they’d already been planning this for some time.
Xu Lin nodded and didn’t go into the intricacies—some things were hard to explain, especially when they involved higher-level interests.
But at least justice had been served on their behalf.
Moreover, after this internal purge, the authorities had decided to eliminate all mutant insects across the five major safety zones. That was why they’d removed these destabilizing elements in one sweep.
If they’d waited longer, they might have rooted out some deeper-embedded operatives too—but time was not on their side. The mutant insects were their greatest enemy.
This purge was massive in scale, and the authorities made no attempt to hide it. They published the full story—cause and effect—on the news section of the survival app.
Naturally, many people felt that sending these conspirators to the front lines to fight mutant insects was a fitting punishment.
No one thought it was too lenient. Because the insects that had been stimulated by the black energy masses were even harder to kill now. If these people survived the front lines, they’d be contributing to the country. If they died, they had it coming.
Along with this case, the authorities also released the latest findings on mutant insect research.
The first stage was native Blue Star insects—those had long since gone extinct.
The lowest-tier insects currently were the ones that had grown larger in size but hadn’t yet evolved energy cores. These were called juvenile mutant insects—the second stage. Given enough energy, these insects could evolve into adulthood.
Adulthood—the third stage—meant the insects had energy cores in their brains and had undergone their first evolution. They were incredibly lethal, and different parts of their bodies had different abilities.
The fourth stage was insects that had absorbed the black energy masses. These were even larger than the second-stage insects, more destructive, and their energy cores held far greater power.
Based on current theories, fifth-stage, sixth-stage, and higher forms must exist—or would exist once the insects absorbed enough energy.
And the speed of their evolution was alarming.
They evolved much faster than mutant plants, mutant animals, or humans.
Therefore, the insects needed to be culled on a massive scale. If their numbers grew too large, humanity wouldn’t stand a chance.
With that, the authorities issued a nationwide insect-elimination mission.
Anyone could take on this mission—no location restrictions, no time limits. As long as you killed an insect—regardless of its evolutionary stage or species—you could bring its corpse to the nearest community center and exchange it for points.
The moment this mission was announced, the registration servers nearly crashed.
Xu Lin happened to be at home at the time. He immediately pulled out his laptop and remotely allocated backup servers, stabilizing the port for Huahuashan City.
In short, from that day onward, the entire population set out once more on the path of insect extermination.
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