Aiden crouched down, put on his most amiable smile, and asked the cute little girl, "Alice, who is your mother?"
Alice stretched out her small hand, pointing to a woman not far away who was looking at her with encouragement.
She was carrying a fruit basket filled with apples. Seeing Aiden look over, she bowed slightly to him with gratitude and humility.
Aiden saw that several workers nearby were also eating apples, and guessed that this beautiful woman must be from among the refugees.
So he nodded to Alice's mother from afar to express his gratitude, and then took the red apple from Alice's hand.
"Thank you, Alice, and thank you, your mother!" Aiden said with a smile.
Then he rummaged through his pocket, and there seemed to be a few candies inside, which were Lux's usual snacks. He took them all out and put them in Alice's palm, "This is a gift for you!"
Alice took the candy, smiled happily, revealing two small dimples, extremely cute: "Thank you, Lord Commander!"
"Just call me lord."
Alice unwrapped one and put it in her mouth: "What delicious candy! Uncle, why don't you eat the apple? It's very delicious, grown in our own family's orchard."
"I'll eat it now, I'll eat it now." Aiden picked up the apple and was about to take a bite when the angel Ophiel came over and whispered a reminder: "Commander, this apple has not been inspected yet."
"It's Alright, if others can eat it, so can I!" Aiden took a bite without hesitation.
Alice's mother called her softly, and Alice politely said goodbye to him, then hopped back to her mother's side, continuing to take the apples her mother gave her and giving them to the workers resting nearby. The mother and daughter seemed very popular.
"What a harmonious scene." Aiden sighed.
After strolling around, he walked back contentedly, wondering what was up with Singed's return.
This apple tasted pretty good. He thought as he ate.
After returning, he indeed saw Singed's familiar face. Kayle seemed unwilling to be alone with this guy, so she nodded to Aiden outside to greet him, and let Aiden go in alone.
The alchemist showed a creepy smile on his face: "Commander!"
"Welcome back, Singed!" Aiden greeted him warmly.
Now this person is an important chemical expert, a high-end technical talent, and a key researcher in overcoming the plague. Aiden must give him enough courtesy, even though his behavior does seem very crazy.
"Commander, our experiments in Stratholme have encountered difficulties." Singed succinctly described their work.
When Aiden heard that they had already created an antidote targeting the poison part, and were now only troubled by finding a neutralizer that could neutralize the strong repulsive nature of holy water, or finding a substitute for holy water, the threat of the plague could be perfectly resolved.
"This is already encouraging news. I believe we will defeat the plague soon!" Aiden felt that it seemed inappropriate to discuss official business while eating an apple, so he put the half-eaten apple in his hand on the plate. "Let me think, what can replace holy water..."
Singed glanced at the apple, then picked it up and smelled it, then took a bite. Under Aiden's surprised gaze, he showed a strange smile:
"Summoner, I have another good news and a bad news to tell you. Which one are you prepared to hear first?"
Aiden realized for the first time that alchemy could be so "mischievous": "The bad one."
"The bad news is: Congratulations, Commander, this apple is poisonous!"
Aiden's heart sank, a little flustered. The first reaction of ordinary people when being told they were poisoned by a poison master would definitely be like this.
He asked nervously, "Then what's the good news? Do you have an antidote?"
"Unfortunately," Singed's words stunned Aiden, and then he made an unusually serious expression, "You guessed it!"
"You scared me to death!" Aiden exclaimed.
He thought of the mother and child who had just given him the apple, completely unable to imagine that such kind people would harbor such ulterior motives. "There are still many people on the construction site who have eaten apples, how much antidote did you bring?"
"If it's for someone like you, enough for ten people." Singed didn't use a teasing tone this time, but answered seriously.
Aiden frowned slightly. There were definitely twenty or thirty apples in that woman's basket. If each one was poisonous, someone would inevitably die.
"Kayle, come in quickly!" Aiden called out to the outer room, and then Kayle came in obediently. Her ears were sensitive enough to hear their conversation just now outside.
"Have Captain Chris of the police team bring all the people who have eaten the apples here, and then trouble you to see if the mother and child are still here."
"Alright, Summoner." Kayle took the order and left. But in fact, before Aiden issued the order, she had already ordered Ophiel and Pamyel to do these things. Kayle was a little dissatisfied. She didn't expect such a thing to happen just a moment after she left Aiden. It seemed that her two right-hand men were somewhat derelict in their duties.
Singed then took out the antidote from his body, which was pre-loaded in a test tube. Aiden immediately thought: "Could it be that the poison in the apple..."
"That's right, it's the poisonous part of the plague virus." Singed confirmed his guess. "A complete plague venom would have a slightly sweet and fishy smell, which is easily detected by sensitive people, while the pure poisonous part is almost impossible to detect. Moreover, it has an onset time of more than three hours, making it perfect for poisoning!"
"This is truly hard to guard against." Aiden drank the antidote prepared by Singed. It was better to be early than late. Whoever painstakingly tried to poison him just happened to run into a poison expert returning from afar, bringing with him an antidote specifically to counteract this poison. "It seems I need to be more careful in the future."
At this moment, Angel Ophiel arrived with Special Police Captain Chris, with Kayle following beside them.
As soon as Ophiel entered, she knelt on one knee and said, "I'm sorry, Commander. It's all due to my negligence that led to your poisoning. I am willing to accept punishment!"
"No, no, no, you reminded me, I was too careless, it's all my fault. I will definitely listen to you from now on, please get up!" Aiden quickly pulled her up, and explained to Kayle, "Ophiel reminded me when that little girl gave me the apple, but I insisted on eating it. Don't blame her!"
Kayle nodded, taking it as acceptance.
Chris said, "Commander, my men told me that the mother and child left the city not long after you left. People nearby said that they started appearing in the city the day before yesterday, claiming to be small landlords from an orchard in the countryside. Her husband used to be a League soldier serving in Durnholde, and died in an orc raid. Out of gratitude, they brought their own fruits to give here. According to our analysis, this was a premeditated action. The Special Police team requests permission to search for and arrest them."
Aiden said, "I agree. Let the pilots of 'Screaming Serpent' outside the city help you with reconnaissance. They shouldn't have gone far yet. If they haven't been found within an hour, there's no need to continue searching, understand?"
"Yes, Commander!" Chris saluted and turned to carry out the order.
Angel Pamyel and several special police officers successively brought in other people who had eaten the apples. Singed went up to examine them and found that four other people were also poisoned, while the others were fine. This way, there was no need to worry about not having enough antidote.
"This is good news," Aiden indeed showed joy, "This shows that Vayne's intuition was correct, our old opponent is indeed hiding in some corner around us."
This was obvious, as only Kel'Thuzad had the plague virus now. And only this guy had a grudge against Aiden. He guessed that the guy in the ice block on the Frozen Throne must have revealed something to Kel'Thuzad.
Aiden carefully recalled the cute little girl who gave him the apple. She looked only five years old and so innocent. How could she be an assassin? Or rather, only her mother was the assassin, and she was just an unknowing executor?
Aiden couldn't imagine how cruel the mother was to use such a small girl as an assassin.
However, Aiden quickly realized that his thinking was too simple.
Because his poisoning was discovered too quickly, less than ten minutes after receiving the apple, the Demacian soldiers guarding the city gate told the special police officers that the mother and child had only left for less than five minutes.
Then the soldiers of the Demacian Reconnaissance Battalion acted together with the special police officers, and the Yordle pilots of the Screaming Serpent flying unit guided them from the air in helicopters. The mother and child were quickly found.
"Stop, surrender! You have nowhere to escape!" Captain Chris rode a special police motorcycle, speeding wildly in the wilderness, while other special police officers quickly surrounded them with the help of cavalry.
The mother and child ran wildly for a while, and found that human speed and endurance were completely incomparable to warhorses and motorcycles. The mother made a ruthless move: she forcefully shook off the hand of the little girl Alice, pushed her to the ground, and ran away alone with all her strength. Without this "burden", her speed did increase a lot.
Chris had no choice but to order the special police officers to shoot after finding that shouting was useless. However, shooting on a speeding motorcycle had no accuracy at all, only deterrence. A knight stayed behind, he jumped off his horse and walked towards the little girl Alice. This Barbie doll-like adorable girl was sitting on the ground crying loudly.
"What a cruel mother." The Demacian knight sighed, and reached out to the little girl, "Little girl, come to my side, be good!"
Little Alice stood up sobbing, took the knight's hand, and asked timidly, "Are we going to chase my mother?"
"No, we're going to the city, your mother will be waiting for you there," the knight replied. He wasn't wrong to say that, as the female assassin would have nowhere to escape after the air force formed an encirclement in front.
"Alright then, thank you, Uncle!" Alice smiled through her tears. The knight turned her around so her back was facing the horse's head and helped her onto the horse, then stepped on the stirrup and climbed up himself. He grabbed the reins and prepared to turn the horse back to the city when a sharp pain suddenly came from his chest, causing him to release his hand weakly.
The knight lowered his head in disbelief, watching the dagger in the little girl's hand pierce his heart: "You… you…"
Alice pushed the knight down, and then rode the warhorse in the opposite direction. She looked mockingly at the knight's corpse on the ground: "What a naive fool!"
She rode the warhorse wildly, when suddenly an abnormal shadow appeared above her head. She strained her neck to look back, and then discovered an angel in full armor pouncing down…