Chapter Eighty-Six: Blackheart Ant!

We had both human testimony and physical evidence. Officer Wang was the killer.

We went to the commander and reported the conclusion we had reached.

After hearing our report, the commander was deeply troubled. He smoked one cigarette after another, and at last turned to Old Lin. “Old Lin, I can’t possibly explain this to the higher-ups. Saying that Officer Wang killed the other experts is all well and good, and the evidence is ironclad, but that damned Officer Wang is still only a stand-in.”

Old Lin said, “The real Officer Wang has to be caught. But if we go looking for him ourselves, I’m afraid we won’t get any results. Better to make Officer Wang reveal himself of his own accord.”

The commander hurriedly asked if Old Lin had any good ideas.

Old Lin said, “That part is not easy. But I’ll try to come up with a complete plan by tonight.”

The commander said that, for the moment, this was all they could do.

Old Lin then asked how Old Huo and the others were doing.

The commander’s expression was grim. “Sigh. We still can’t find anything wrong with Old Huo and the others. Yet for some reason they’re frighteningly weak, and he’s running a fever several times a day. At this rate, I’m really afraid Old Huo will be burned into a vegetable.”

“Could there be corpse worms in his body?”

The commander said, “The doctors considered all the possibilities and came to that same conclusion. But we’ve tried every method we could think of, and still can’t determine the worm’s exact location.”

Li Xingchen said, “Why not just spray some insecticide and be done with it?”

The commander said, “Easy for you to say. If we actually sprayed some in there, Old Huo would probably die on the spot.”

In the end, it was I who suggested using the same old method we had used before: put in some disinfected ants. They could locate the corpse worm and even carry it out.

The commander said, “What kind of nonsense is that? What if the ants refuse to come out afterward? Then what?”

Old Lin smiled slyly. “Commander, rest assured. We’ve tried this method before. The corpse worm extracted from Officer Wang’s body was obtained exactly this way.”

The commander was beginning to believe it. “It really works?”

Old Lin said with a smile, “Of course it does. Rest assured.”

The commander nodded thoughtfully. “All right then. I’ll trust you this once. You from the Yu family, since this was your idea, you do it.”

I nodded. “Xingchen, trouble you to go get some ants again.”

Li Xingchen said with a grin that I should relax, and asked whether the black ants from last time would do.

Old Lin was clearly nursing a private grudge. “Black ants aren’t strong enough. Find something even fiercer.”

The commander personally drove us to the hospital. Old Huo and the others were still in intensive care. Though they looked fairly healthy, they were weak all over, with no strength in their bodies.

When Old Huo saw Old Lin, he instantly bristled. “Old Lin, you didn’t plagiarize my investigation results, did you?”

Old Lin said, “Why are you still not dead? With an attitude like yours, you still want to lead a team and solve cases? You might as well just die.”

“Hey, hey, what kind of thing is that to say? I’m in the hospital, and you’re cursing me to die. I can see you’re deliberately looking for trouble.”

Old Lin looked at him with contempt. “Only now did you realize I can’t stand you? Hmph.”

Old Huo was about to start cursing him back when even the commander became irritated. “Enough, enough. When are you two old men going to be able to speak to each other calmly for once? Old Huo, this time Old Lin is here to treat you. Just endure a little wounded pride with your mouth.”

Old Huo blinked. “What? He’s the one treating me?”

Old Lin smiled smugly. “Naturally.”

“No, no, no.” Old Huo immediately objected. “He can’t stand that I’m still alive, and now he wants to cure me to death. Commander, you must not fall into his trap.”

Old Lin shot him a cold look. “If I wanted you dead, I would have let you stay stuffed in that coffin until you turned into a mummy long ago.”

The commander immediately said he needn’t worry and that he would keep watch the entire time.

Old Huo hesitated, then said, “Tell me your treatment plan first. Let’s see if it’s reliable.”

When I told Old Huo my idea, he flew into a rage and even told me not to keep hanging around with Old Lin. He said I had done well to think of using ants.

At that point even the commander grew hot under the collar and said that this was an order and had to be obeyed, but Old Huo still refused to agree.

“You don’t even trust a method from the Yu family anymore?” the commander finally snapped.

That single line worked. Old Huo fell silent. But he asked if we could treat the young soldier first, because he did not want to be my guinea pig.

The commander said that was exactly what he had planned all along. The young soldier was in far better shape than Old Huo, and even if something unexpected happened, he could still be saved.

There was no time to waste, so we began at once. Li Xingchen had already brought back the big ants.

Good heavens, this fellow clearly disliked Old Huo too. He had brought back blackheart ants; if one of those stung you, it could raise a little red welt on your skin. If they bit into a person’s internal organs, the victim would probably be in for a dreadful time.

But the more vicious the ant, the less likely it was to retreat when facing a corpse worm, and the better the effect would be.

Old Huo said the blackheart ants had to be coated with pheromones so that they would lose their aggressiveness.

We soaked all the ants in chemical agents. I placed one on my palm to test it, and sure enough, they no longer stung me. It was truly quite miraculous.

After that, we went to see the young soldier. A nurse had already injected him with a sedative, and he had fallen asleep. Once his mouth was secured with a clamp, we placed more than thirty ants inside.

I guided the little ants with a beam of light as they burrowed down into his throat, then waited with growing tension.

Less than ten minutes later, a swarm of ants crawled back out. And to my astonishment, they were carrying a small, round lump of flesh, bringing it out with them.

Old Lin immediately put both the ants and the flesh lump into an evidence bag and took them away for testing.

After waiting another thirty-odd minutes, a total of twenty ants had emerged, and the young soldier slowly woke up.

I quickly asked whether he felt any discomfort. The young soldier shook his head and said he felt perfectly fine.

I let out a breath of relief. That meant the remaining ants had already died inside his stomach.

Even so, we still did not dare perform such a procedure on Old Huo without caution. We had to observe carefully first.

We watched through the entire night, and the young soldier gradually recovered his strength. In fact, he even performed a complete set of military boxing for us on the spot.

At that point, Old Huo took the initiative and demanded that we operate on him.

Old Lin said, “I’m not treating you, you old fossil. We’ll give the young man a chance first and cure your disciple.”

Old Huo cried out anxiously, “Then cure me first! I still have important things to do!”

Old Lin smiled with satisfaction. “Trying to cut the line, are you? Fine. But then you’ll have to use the back door. Three hundred thousand. Not a penny less.”

Using the old method, I took out the small flesh lump from Old Huo’s body. After a full day of rest, his spirit and vitality gradually improved as well.

This time, the hospital could not remain calm any longer. They insisted that I give them a lecture and popularize the matter of treating disease with ants.

Could the Yu family’s secret techniques be casually shared with outsiders? Naturally I refused.

The next day, Old Huo was discharged from the hospital. He said he wanted to investigate the restaurant. But the commander called him away, probably to explain the results of our investigation over the past few days.

After that, we went to see Tian Feier.

She was remarkably broad-minded. All day long she sat in detention, demanding food and drink, and if she did not get them, she would throw a tantrum so hard that even Yu Tian wanted to shoot her on the spot.

But there was nothing to be done. Before we left, Old Lin had instructed Yu Tian to agree to all of Tian Feier’s demands.

When Tian Feier saw us, she greeted us with great enthusiasm, showing not the slightest trace of the timidity one would expect from a prisoner.

I asked her, “You’ve been arrested, and you’re happy enough to look like this?”

Tian Feier said, “Of course I’m happy. The Sacred Worm is going to summon me tonight to serve as a guardian maiden.”

“Is that so?” I said. “Are you out of your mind? What guardian maiden? To me, it looks like you’ve been brainwashed.”

Tian Feier said unhappily, “What do you know? This is faith.”

“Exactly what time tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Tian Feier eyed us with a little wariness. “The Sacred Worm doesn’t like outsiders being present, so I suggest you’d better not come. If the Sacred Worm gets angry, it will steal your souls.”

I said, “Has the Protector Cult taken the Sacred Worm as its totem?”

Tian Feier said, “What do you mean, taken it as a totem? The Sacred Worm is our Sacred Worm.”

“Then can you tell us where Officer Wang is?” I said. “With the Sacred Worm protecting him, we can’t hurt him anyway.”

Tian Feier said, “No. Officer Wang is currently preparing a very important plan, and outsiders cannot disturb him.”

Old Lin immediately asked, “What sort of important plan?”

He fell silent after that.