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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 167: A Corrosive Liquid More Terrifying than King Water
All along, I had thought that Qin Jian was a refined person who rarely lost his temper. Just half an hour ago, he had yelled at me in Zhou Mengyao's grocery store, and now he was getting angry with me again after having eaten.
I ignored him and continued to rest my eyes.
The roads in the big city were quite smooth; any bumps were merely caused by speed bumps.
After a while, I sensed that the car had stopped, and I opened my eyes to see that everyone inside had already gotten out, looking flustered and anxious. I tilted my head to see outside, and it seemed like something was wrong.
Then Qin Jian rushed over to call me. I quickly closed my eyes, pretending to be deeply asleep. "Ma Qi, get out of the car. What's wrong with you? You can sleep anywhere."
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and asked, "What’s going on?"
"There's a problem. Come take a look." I followed Qin Jian to the Coroner's Van and was met with a horrifying sight.
On the stretcher lay a bloodied skeleton—wasn't that Zhou Mengyao, who had just been carried out from the house? In just over ten minutes, how could it have changed so drastically? I had heard about King Water's ability to decompose corpses but had never seen it firsthand. Yet here was a body that was already decaying but still had some muscle tissue intact, now reduced to a bloodied corpse as if something had gnawed at it. I was stunned by the gruesome reality before me.
Forensic expert Zhang Ke said, "Earlier, I extracted an unidentified liquid from the surface of the deceased's skin and found it strange. This type of liquid shouldn't be present on the body; it should be acidic bacteria from digestive organs with corrosive properties, but this level of corrosion is too extreme."
"Forget everything else; we need to rush back to the station and re-examine the corpse. We must determine the properties of this liquid," Qin Jian's superior ordered. Everyone hurried back into the vehicle, and I quickly followed suit. The atmosphere turned somber as everyone pondered over the horrific scene we had just witnessed.
This was far more terrifying than watching a horror movie.
What should have only existed in films was happening in real life right before our eyes—in that van, a complete corpse was undergoing an unbelievable transformation. The tissue was spontaneously separating from the corpse; the detached muscle turned into pools of blood that stained the covering cloth and flowed across the floor. Thankfully, they had foreseen this and placed thick absorbent foam under the stretcher; otherwise, the stench would have filled the entire vehicle.
I imagined that this time, the driver of the Coroner's Van would surely have nightmares.
During our trip back to the station, Fatty contacted me about Chi Xinrong's uncle looking for me.
I quickly dialed Chi Ruiqiang's number.
On the other end of the line, his voice sounded weak and hoarse with a cough. He mentioned that Chi Xinrong had not yet woken up and hoped I could come take a look.
I told him that it wasn't possible right now; we still needed to go to the station.
Chi Ruiqiang reluctantly agreed with a murmur and then fell silent. In the end, I had to ask him several questions, and he responded with vague affirmations. Once that matter was settled, I intended to check on things, but he suddenly uttered a line: "Will Chi Xinrong never wake up?"
To be honest, I was also worried about this.
It was Ghost Month, the day when the Ghost Gate was wide open. Who could predict what might happen? Besides, I wasn't a deity and lacked the ability to foresee the future. If my grandfather were here, perhaps he could have divined the outcome.
After hanging up with Chi Ruiqiang, I found myself at the entrance of the Station.
Here, ordinary people were filled with awe and could only gaze from a distance. As our vehicle approached the entrance, a bold individual glanced at the car window and happened to see me; their expression turned to one of disgust and hatred.
People fear evil but lack the courage to confront it, expressing their views through hatred instead.
I couldn't recall how many times I had entered and exited the Station. Contrary to their assumptions about criminals, I had established a tacit understanding with the Station after my step-grandfather. I symbolically received compensation while spending considerable time assisting them in uncovering the truth behind deaths.
The doors of the Station were open to everyone. However, entry wasn't casual; just as I was about to get out of the car, Qin Jian stopped me from going elsewhere.
The vehicle then dropped off some unimportant individuals and took me along with Zhang Ke and Qin Jian to the funeral home. There, they carefully brought out Zhou Mengyao's body, which had become unrecognizable. As someone who once had an affair with her, I felt particularly affected.
I found it hard to face this severely mutilated corpse. Despite her beauty in life, her current state was truly unbearable to look at. I didn't understand why they had initially planned to take this corpse to the Station for examination but changed their minds halfway to send it to the funeral home instead. Later, Qin Jian explained that due to the bizarre circumstances surrounding her death and the inconsistency between the time of death and decomposition, along with further severe deformation of the corpse—where all muscle tissue had turned into a pool of blood that stained the covering cloth—the Station deemed the situation abnormal and ordered the body sent to the funeral home.
The funeral home was equipped with various tools and had developed a sophisticated system for preventing viral infections due to long-term exposure to deceased individuals. With assistance from the funeral home staff, including our driver, we donned special clothing before entering the Morgue.
The skeletal remains lacked muscle filling and had become a true skeleton. The only remnants were dried blood clots on the corpse and clothing stained by corrosive fluids that confirmed this was indeed Zhou Mengyao's body; everything else was irrelevant.
After a series of professional examinations conducted by Zhang Ke, the final result emerged: The body had been corroded by some kind of caustic liquid and seemed to have experienced a terrifying ordeal before death.
Upon hearing this, my hair stood on end. "What do you mean?"
Zhang Ke adjusted his glasses, his sharp eyes behind the lenses fixed on me. "She was consumed by something very terrifying and then expelled; that's why her face bore such a horrific expression before death, along with her contorted appearance at that moment."
Listening to Zhang Ke's analysis made me feel utterly unwell.
Qin Jian argued that no monster could possibly swallow a living person; he debated with Zhang Ke while I felt cold all over, my limbs weak and spinning around until I finally collapsed with a gasp.
In that moment, I was still myself, only I had fallen into an incredibly dark abyss, plummeting downward.
My consciousness was clear, as if I could see a colorful giant python coiling somewhere. Its gaping maw was slowly devouring its prey. This was no ordinary prey; it was a human, struggling desperately with two legs, two arms, a nose, and eyes.
The python's head contorted as it swallowed, its green eyes gleaming with greed and a cruel jealousy.
It was the Spirit Snake that had consumed Zhou Mengyao.
It had tracked me down, aware of my connection to Zhou Mengyao. Indeed, she was pregnant. The Spirit Snake had swallowed her but regurgitated her lifeless body, devouring the unborn child within her.
Something trickled down the corner of my eye, warm at first but quickly turning cold, flowing to my lips where I tasted the saltiness.
A voice echoed in my ear, questioning: "He's crying. Why is he crying?"
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