FINAL STEP

Rumilie was really frustrated. Xie Wang and Wan Ya left him, the poison he forced De Ta to drink instead saved the Daoist Priest's life, Zhu Su reunited with Hu Nayin and his strategy of sowing discord failed completely. Not to mention that three senior people on his team had betrayed him. How could he not be depressed? He even almost went crazy. Rumilie's brain was almost in tumult. So many chaotic ideas floated around his brain, made him confused about his own thoughts.

Rumilie removed his hand from Suo Junhuan's shoulder, turned around, and said gravely, "This is the last war. Our life and death in overthrowing the wretched government was staked at this moment. I am ready to die if I am destined to die. May Heaven and Buddhas bless our way."

"I am ready to die if I am destined to die. May Heaven and Buddhas bless our way..."

Suo Junhuan's brain rang. That was the sentence his grandfather spoke at the end of his death. Now, Rumilie repeated it again. It was as if he could hear his grandfather came back to life and said so to him. His hands clenched tightly. His blood was boiling. His eagerness rose.

The eagerness to win this holy war.

He bowed to the sky, his bow was the salute of respect towards the path of death. "I am ready to die! For the sake of overthrowing the condemned, despotic government!"

"We are also ready for fight! And ready to die!"

On the slopes of the hills, the combatants hailed hilariously. They had been infected with the deathly disease and it had reached the end-stage. Their breath was panting, unnatural sweat soaked all over their bodies, and they were shivering with chills, however, even though they felt as if their bones were almost dislodged from their bodies, they were still trying hard to hail their ardor.

Rumilie smiled evilly. This was indeed his final plan. He was going to fight a suicide war. His army consisted of those who caught the disease and were terminally ill. Thereby, they would pass the disease on to the royal army. If they avoided the disease then they had to cover themselves in armor which would make them difficult to move, they would die from being attacked nonetheless. Rumilie wanted to force his enemy trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. Even if the royal army won, they would get infected, and they would eventually spread the disease all over Kaifeng. Then Kaifeng people would pass it on to another area - and eventually, the entire Ming would be destroyed by that artificial contagious disease.

"Hahahahahaha!" Rumilie was hilarious. His eyes widened, he screamed like a madman. "We will win, we will win! I believe we will win! Go, Holy Army! Destroy the damned Ming government to the bottom of the earth!"

***

Nobody thought of Rumilie's suicidal strategy that could make the hair stand on end, neither Zhu Su nor did the Team of Wellbeing members. Zhu Su was focused on processing Xiangzishu since only the processing of this plant remained unsolved, and once it was done, he would be able to publicize his project to all Kaifeng. But boiling Xiangzishu so many times until the boiling water got tasteless required much patience. Zhu Su boiled Xiangzishu and changed its boiling water up to fifteen times. According to Li Heng, ten times should be enough, but Zhu Su did not want to see his test subjects poisoned and died again. "If ten times is enough, then doing it for 15 times will make it much safer!" Finally, Xiangzishu was boiled for fifteen times, and it was ready to be tested on the monkey.

"There's only one plant left, after that, your project will be done." Hu Nayin watched in tension. Standing in the palace courtyard, they were watching Liu Ku fed a monkey with Xiangzishu. The monkey started to chew it.

The monkey chewed, and kept chewing. Finally, it swallowed the plant.

The sun was shining hot. The sweat droplets on the skins began to run down the faces and limbs. Zhu Su rubbed his forehead. Seeing her husband tensed up, Hu Nayin hastily wiped his sweaty forehead with her handkerchief.

"It's been a long time, but nothing happens. That means, this processed Xiangzishu is not poisonous," She said.

Zhu Su remained tense. "No, we should wait a little longer. We should observe further."

Few minutes passed again. The monkey showed no expression of poisoning, it just kept looking at Zhu Su and the others with a typical monkey look.

"It has passed the effective time of poison, Your Highness!" Li Heng exclaimed. "And nothing happens. Then it means, this time your procession is successful!"

The courtyard began to be uproarious. "Long live Your Highness! Your Highness has succeeded! Long live Your Highness, May Heaven bless you forever!"

"It's safe for the monkey to consume it, then we can try it on humans."

When Liu Ku expressed his opinion, the atmosphere turned silent.

"Well, we still have to try it on humans..." Zhu Su sighed. His work was still uncompleted.

"Your Highness! Let us be the test subjects!" The Team of Wellbeing members soon volunteered themselves.

Zhu Su swallowed hard. "But..."

"Liu Ku said, the body structure of monkeys are similar to humans. If it has been tested on monkeys successfully, then it must be safe when tested on us!" Rui said firmly.

"Besides, if it hasn't been tested on humans then your project is still not perfect. We have to perfect it!" Xiong chimed in.

Zhu Su took another breath.

"Very well... then... But you have to be careful."

Thus. The members of Team of Wellbeing, together with the court ladies and eunuchs, soon consumed the processed plants. Together, they all chewed on them.

And waited.

A few minutes passed. And now, an hour had passed.

Nothing happened.

"Your Highness! Everything is fine!" Payloth exclaimed. "We're still in good health!"

Di Na also said happily, "It means that His Highness has processed the plants very well! No poison, all these plants are edible!"

The silence turned into boisterousness. "Long live Your Highness! Long live The Great Ming!"

Zhu Su flickered. It was still hard for him to believe this. But it was real. This success was real. The test subjects were not only very healthy, they were also dancing with joy. They started hugging each other. Of course, this experiment was completely perfect because it had been tested directly on humans, and thereby, all of Zhu Su's research plants had been proven to be successfully processed and safe for consumption, worthy of publication. This project, had already achieved its end result.

"Congratulations, Your Highness!" The members of the Team of Wellbeing were complimenting Zhu Su.

Bian Tong said, "You can publicize this book all over Kaifeng. However, by the way, what will you name this project, Your Highness?"

"What will I name it?" Zhu Su did not expect to get such that question. He never thought about this before. But Bian Tong was correct. Xiu Zhen Fang, Pu Ji Fang, Bao Sheng Yu Lu, he gave all of his works a good name, then how come he did not give this work a name?

"I never thought of this question before. Being suddenly asked like this makes me confused. What do you think to be the best name for this work?"

But Zhu Su did not have time to think about it. A gatekeeper came forward hastily, and was short of breath as he knelt to report.

"Your Highness... this is bad! The people from Shuizhen and Shuanghu District are attacking us!"