boyutpedia Chapter 81 Human Culture Dishes
Chapter 81 Human Culture Dishes
The emergency department of the city's central hospital was now eerily silent.
There was no chaos or screaming as I had imagined; instead, it was eerily quiet.
The lights in the corridor flickered, and the air was filled with a cloying, fishy smell, like a mixture of rotten fruit and rust.
When Wang Minyu and his "eccentric doctor squad" arrived, Liu Jianbang, the director of the emergency department, was slumped behind the triage desk, holding the phone and trembling as he tried to call the police, but there was no signal.
"What's going on?" Wang Minyu kicked open the sensor door.
Liu Jianbang looked up and saw Wang Minyu, and it was like seeing his own father. He scrambled over to him, crying, "Dr. Wang... Dr. Wang! You've finally come! This... this isn't an illness, this is a monster!"
"Stop talking nonsense, where's the patient?"
"In the emergency room... it's sealed off..." Liu Jianbang pointed to the end of the corridor, "They brought in a homeless man who said he had a stomachache. He just had a CT scan, and then... his stomach started moving!"
Wang Minyu ignored him and went straight to the emergency room.
Through the thick glass window, the scene inside made even Su Qing, who was used to seeing corpses, gasp in horror.
A person, or rather, a physical body, lies on the operating table.
His abdomen was swollen high, like a woman ten months pregnant, but the skin was translucent, and you could clearly see that what was inside were not internal organs, but clumps of dark red, thread-like things tangled together.
Those thread-like things were wriggling wildly, as if trying to break through the belly and crawl out.
"Nematodes?" Li Siyuan's face turned pale. "There are far too many!"
"This isn't an ordinary nematode." Wang Minyu activated [Aura Observation].
In their field of vision, the insects emitted a blinding red light, which was in sync with the chip signal inside the "pickled cabbage" from before.
This is the complete form of the "seed"—a genetically edited parasitic organism that uses the human body as a petri dish and is rapidly reproducing by devouring the host's flesh and blood.
"Level S biological hazard." Wang Minyu quickly made the assessment. "Su Qing, seal off the ventilation shafts. Guan Shan, guard the entrance; don't let a single fly out."
"Master, how do we treat this? Should we operate?" Zhao Na took out a scalpel.
"Surgery?" Wang Minyu sneered. "If you make that cut, this stomach will burst like a balloon, and thousands upon thousands of worms will spray everywhere. At that point, everyone in the hospital will become a host."
"What should we do then?"
"Fishing." Wang Minyu took out a jar of dark, ointment-like substance from his first-aid kit.
That was a "bait" made from the juice of elderberry, high-concentration honey, and red arsenic (a highly toxic arsenic extract) obtained from the system.
"These insects are greedy, bloodthirsty, and have no resistance to high-energy substances."
Wang Minyu put on protective clothing and pushed open the door to enter the emergency room.
He walked to the operating table. The homeless man was already unconscious, only his belly was still heaving violently.
Wang Minyu did not touch the patient directly, but instead lit an alcohol lamp and put the can of "bait" on the fire to heat it.
As the temperature rose, a strange, sweet aroma spread throughout the enclosed space.
That's the scent of death.
The worms that had been scurrying around in my stomach suddenly stopped, as if they had smelled some incredibly delicious food.
Immediately afterwards, they began to frantically gather towards the esophagus.
"Su Qing, prepare the negative pressure suction device, at maximum power!"
Wang Minyu grabbed the patient's chin and forcibly opened his mouth.
The next second, something chilling happened.
Countless tiny red worms surged out of the patient's throat like a fountain.
They swarmed and hissed (if insects could make sounds) as they lunged at the jar of poisoned bait placed to their mouths.
"suck!"
Su Qing reacted quickly and pushed the negative pressure tube in.
"Sizzle sizzle—"
Accompanied by a nauseating sucking sound, a large number of insects were sucked into the glass bottle.
The bottle was instantly filled with red, wriggling creatures.
It lasted for a full five minutes, until the homeless man's stomach deflated, leaving only skin and bones, and no more worms crawled out.
"Guanshan, realgar powder!"
Guan Shan rushed in carrying a bag of realgar powder and poured it directly into the glass bottle full of insects.
The moment the insects touched the realgar, they struggled violently, their bodies emitting yellow smoke, and after a moment they turned into a pool of red pus.
"Done." Wang Minyu took off his protective suit, which was already soaked with sweat.
He took the homeless man's pulse. It was weak, but he was still alive.
"Give him two bowls of mutated mint water to repair his damaged mucous membranes," Wang Minyu instructed.
Just then, the door to the emergency room was suddenly kicked open.
A group of people dressed in black special forces uniforms and wearing gas masks rushed in, carrying guns.
The leader removed his mask, revealing a sinister face.
It was Raymond Lam, the same guy who had been bitten by the goose before.
"Dr. Wang, impressive skill." Lin Feng looked at the bottle of worms that had turned into pus, a hint of heartache flashing in his eyes. "This is our most precious 'prototype' from the pinnacle of biology, and you just ruined it like that?"
"The prototype?" Wang Minyu wiped his hands, his eyes icy. "Using living people as insect nests, is this what you call biotechnology?"
"Sacrifice is necessary for evolution." Lin Feng waved his hand. "Take the patient and Dr. Wang with you. Since you refuse to cooperate, let's talk somewhere else."
The men in black surrounded them.
Guan Shan roared and was about to make a move when he saw more gun barrels pointed at Li Siyuan and Zhao Na.
"Don't move," Wang Minyu stopped Guan Shan.
He looked at Lin Feng and suddenly smiled.
"Manager Lin, have you forgotten something?"
"What?"
"As I just said, these insects are greedy and bloodthirsty." Wang Minyu pointed to the bottle of pus. "Although the mother is dead, the air here... is full of insect eggs."
Lin Feng's expression changed drastically.
"I deliberately raised the room temperature to lure the bugs out and speed up the evaporation of the eggs," Wang Minyu said, glancing at his watch. "Since you rushed in, you've probably inhaled over a hundred breaths, haven't you?"
Before he could finish speaking, a man in black suddenly clutched his throat, collapsed to the ground in pain, and began to gag.
Then came the second, the third...
Lin Feng felt an unusual itch in his throat, as if something was hatching.
"You...you're insane! You've taken it yourself!" Lin Feng shouted in terror.
"Me?" Wang Minyu pulled a mint leaf from his pocket, chewed it, and said, "Sorry, I have the antidote. Besides, I'm a doctor; I know how to perform lung lavage. As for you..."
His eyes turned cold.
"Enjoy the hatching process slowly. This is a mess you created yourself."
"Retreat! Retreat quickly! Get your stomachs pumped!" Lin Feng was terrified and, without bothering to capture anyone, led his men in a chaotic escape.
Watching the group of people disappear at the end of the corridor, Li Siyuan's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Master...did we really suck up the insect eggs?" he asked, his voice trembling with tears.
"They're just kidding." Wang Minyu rolled his eyes. "Those kinds of insects can't survive more than three seconds after leaving the mother's body, so there's no way the eggs would evaporate. It's just that I sprinkled too much realgar powder earlier, and it's a bit irritating to my throat."
Everyone: "..."
Wang Minyu walked to the window and looked at the dark night outside.
This time they scared them away, but what about next time?
The "S" organization is no longer hiding its true nature. This war over "life" has only just begun.
"Back to the pharmacy." Wang Minyu put on his white coat, his back looking somewhat desolate. "Guan Shan, go back and scrub that vat again. I think we'll have to pickle quite a few more people in the future."