Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 158

Chapter 158
Hwa-eun had initially concurred with my suspicion regarding the O-dok Clan, primarily for geographical reasons.
Assuming they were responsible was logical. One could imagine releasing a few bedbugs onto the numerous vessels traveling the Yangtze River under cover of darkness; they would swiftly proliferate across the entire Central Plains.
‘Employing boats to transport bedbugs throughout the Central Plains… seems a feasible tactic. Ultimately, vessels are a primary vector for the spread of pests or disease.’
Even from the viewpoint of my past life, boats were among the most effective means of dispersing such threats, making the theory sound.
However, my own suspicion of the O-dok Clan stemmed from a completely different line of reasoning.
As I was organizing my thoughts, I heard Seol—who had just agreed with Hwa-eun—suddenly cry out in astonishment.
“Wait, truly!? Then we must report this to the Tang Clan or the Martial Alliance at once!”
“Hold on, we require concrete proof first,” Hwa-eun cut in. “But why do you suspect the O-dok Clan? Explain yourself, quickly!”
Seol pressed me to elaborate on my suspicions. I urged her to be calm before I began.
“Seol, please, settle down. Let me clarify my reasoning. First, the common pest we’re familiar with is a bloodsucker that originally parasitized flying squirrels—bats.”
“Flying squirrels? The flying ones? Like those we saw in the cave?”
“Yes, precisely. However, when humans began inhabiting caves or consuming bats, these pests transitioned to feed on the blood of larger hosts, like people.”
The bedbug, belonging to the Cimicidae family, is a blood-feeding insect. Most people, however, specifically mean *Cimex lectularius* when they use the term.
Their origin, as I told Seol, leads back to bats. Scholars believe that, as I described, they migrated from bats to humans, flourishing on this new, abundant host.
They subsist solely on blood, making humans, with their significantly greater size and blood volume, a far superior food source.
“Hmmm… That is logical. It is undoubtedly preferable to live among humans, with their larger bodies and greater blood supply, than with bats.”
“Exactly. As Seol says, that is the reason. These insects consume only blood, and humans are vastly more appealing than bats. They may occasionally feed on other creatures, but people are their primary target.”
“So, these pests feed mostly on human blood? They seem so small and insignificant; our family never studied them deeply, but I should make a note of this.”
Unlike before, Seol now listened with keen interest as I continued.
After a glance at the large, dead bedbugs scattered through the village, I redirected my focus and pressed on.
“Now, these enlarged pests are fundamentally identical to the small ones found in homes. Essentially, they are the same creature.”
“What? Truly? You claim they are the same?”
“Yes, almost certainly.”
“Wait, how can they be the same when their size is so different?” Hwa-eun and Seol exchanged looks of disbelief.
They found it difficult to accept that the same insect could exhibit such a drastic size difference. Yet my examination had been thorough, revealing virtually no distinctions.
The only variations were in antenna length, overall body size, and individual differences. Their proportions and physical characteristics were nearly exact copies.
“They are merely larger, but the same creature. Consequently, their sustenance is blood. Human blood.”
“We know that much, since we watched them crawl forth to suck blood at night…” Seol, still confused, failed to see the peculiarity.
I asked again, “Consider this. Have you ever seen or heard of bedbugs of this magnitude before?”
“No, never,” they both answered, shaking their heads.
I smiled and pressed my point. “Then how could they have persisted until now if such large specimens have always existed in the Central Plains? Why have we never come across them?”
“Oh!”
“Ah! Now I understand!”
When the implication of my words finally dawned on them, they nodded in realization. I seized the moment to elaborate further.
“To expand on that…”
The reason these creatures could not have arisen naturally, as I had outlined, is that bedbugs are parasitic and feed exclusively on blood. While they might sometimes take animal blood, their primary source is human. If pests of this size were natural, they would have been common knowledge long ago.
A parasite capable of endangering human life would certainly have been noted.
Naturally, not every individual might have known. In an era with limited entomological knowledge, some might have remained ignorant.
But at least one among us should have recognized them.
After all, who are we?
I am the walking encyclopedia of toxins, Spicy Fabre. Seol hails from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, and Hwa-eun is from the Tang Clan, among the most expert societies in venom and poisons.
It was inconceivable that none of us were familiar with these insects.
Had bedbugs naturally grown to this size, human blood alone would be insufficient to sustain them. They would have needed to prey on beasts as well—something Seol should have known about—and their potent paralytic venom would surely have been within Hwa-eun’s expertise.
But that was not all.
There was another anomaly.
Even if large bedbugs did exist, their size was utterly unnatural.
It wasn’t merely that they were too big.
Setting aside genetics or biology—bedbugs are bloodsuckers. But if a parasite grows so large that it can kill its host, what does that signify?
From an evolutionary perspective, parasites are meant to feed on their hosts without causing death, ensuring their own survival and reproduction. A parasite that kills its host defeats its own purpose.
Therefore, a bedbug of such immense proportions could not have developed naturally.
“This is why I am convinced external manipulation is involved, and the only faction in the Central Plains capable of such a thing is…”
I casually proposed the theory, and the answer emerged effortlessly.
“The O-dok Clan.”
“Naturally, it’s those O-dok Clan villains.”
Hwa-eun and Seol, their eyes alight with admiration for my deduction, praised me.
“Just as one would expect, So-ryong!”
“So-ryong, you’re incredible! At times, I think you are not merely a prodigy, but an outright genius!”
‘Genius? If I combine my previous life, I’d be a genius with the physical age of forty. But is that accurate? And currently, I am still in my growth period… fifteen years old… Wait. Growth? Heh!’
Just as I was smiling awkwardly at their compliments, a specific fact surfaced in my mind.
It hinted at something unthinkable, so I adopted a grave expression.
“However, if this is the O-dok Clan’s doing, it is possible something even more terrible has transpired than we initially believed.”
“Something terrible? What do you mean, So-ryong?”
“Something terrible? Has it already occurred? Beyond these pests swarming here?”
Both of them asked, their eyes wide with alarm at my ominous tone.
I nodded in response to their questions.
“Yesterday, were not all the pests that swarmed here adults?”
“They were all adults? But…? What connection does that have to something dreadful?”
“Adults? So-ryong?”
Seol’s persistent questioning about why their adulthood was significant continued, but I had a concrete reason for my dread.
“You see, the adults of these pests…”
Upon hatching, bedbugs can begin feeding on blood immediately, though they will not perish if they do not feed.
The nymphs of insects with incomplete metamorphosis, like bedbugs, can survive for several months without a meal. Adults, however, can live for up to a year without feeding.
The crucial point is that bedbugs must molt five times to reach adulthood. Each molt requires a blood meal.
If they do not feed after a molt, they cannot progress to the next stage of development.
This is why the fact that yesterday’s invaders were all adults means they must have fed on blood at least five times. This implies there may have been mass killings of either people or animals to support their growth to maturity.
Considering the quantity they consumed yesterday and their vast numbers, the required amount of blood would be enormous, far beyond a few individuals.
“…To nurture those pests to adulthood, a massive quantity of blood, from humans or animals, must have been sacrificed. And that signifies…”
As my voice faded, unable to voice the horrifying conclusion, Hwa-eun and Seol’s faces grew somber.
They both nodded, their expressions grimly accepting my inference.
“If it is the O-dok Clan, they would absolutely commit such an act.”
“Given all we’ve learned, it would be consistent.”
Then Hwa-eun posed another question.
“Incidentally, where did they originate? It does not appear they were bred and released from somewhere close by.”
“Hmm… I am uncertain. Behind us lies the mountain, and before us, the river. There do not seem to be any villages in this immediate area.”
As we contemplated the pests’ origin and the potential source of the blood, a hesitant voice called to me from nearby.
“Pardon me, So-ryong?”
I turned to see Lee Tae approaching cautiously, his expression anxious.
“What is it? You have something to say?”
“Ah, well… I did not mean to eavesdrop…”
Lee Tae faltered, but Seol, losing patience, snapped at him.
“Well! Out with it! We are listening!”
Startled, Lee Tae stammered and continued, “Yes, well, we mentioned we are part of the Yangtze River Waterway Guild, correct?”
“I recall that.”
“Yes, well, the heroes of the Central Plains…”
“Heroes? You mean the bandits…?”
Seol retorted sharply when he called them ‘heroes,’ making Lee Tae frown in embarrassment.
He sulked and went on, “Yes… well… the bandit groups can be broadly categorized into three: the Dongjing Eighteen Villages around Dongjing Lake, our Yangtze River Waterway Guild, and the Lulin Seventy-Two Villages.”
‘Wait, are there truly so many bandits? Is the realm so vast, or are outlaws simply that numerous?’
I was taken aback to learn of ninety bandit leaders, and that wasn’t even including the Yangtze River Waterway Guild.
This was scarcely typical for the Central Plains.
“So, what is your point?”
“Well, past the mountain behind us, beyond the smaller hill the bedbugs descended from, stands a larger mountain named Seokhwang Mountain. Past that, a narrow river leads to Guandao. A group of bandits operates there, one of the Lulin Seventy-Two Villages.”
I nodded slowly as Lee Tae relayed this seemingly tangential information, while Seol’s eyes flashed with irritation.
“Tch!”
Her click of frustration prompted Lee Tae to speak more hurriedly.
“Yes, that is Seokhwang Mountain, home to one of the Lulin Seventy-Two Villages. Crossing another mountain and a narrow stream will bring you to Guandao. That particular group consists of roughly three hundred bandits.”
Given the number of bedbugs that attacked yesterday, three hundred people seemed an insufficient source, but it was nevertheless clear that a settlement of people existed in that direction.
“It seems an investigation is necessary,” I murmured to myself.
Seol responded with a gloomy expression. “Where would we go? We must deal with the ones coming tonight first… Ugh, I dread the thought.”
Despite her worry about another nightly assault, I believed today would be quieter.
“You need not fret overly about tonight, Seol.”
“Why!? Do you have a plan?”
Seol’s face brightened with hopeful expectation.
I smiled and answered, “They cannot swim. Bedbugs are incapable of crossing water.”
Our position was on a protrusion of land. Using that advantage, I intended to establish a defensive moat before the bedbugs’ return.
Furthermore, we possessed a natural insecticide.
“Let us observe what occurs when we douse them with that murky water from Hyang. I am curious to see the bedbugs’ reaction.”