Red-backed centipede (5)
"Here is your physical examination report and mimicry identification results. You can take a look." Zhuang Mingyue did not introduce the drowsy boy sitting next to her, but directly handed a document to Shi Jianxia.
Shi Jianxia was also a little curious about the original owner's physical condition, so he opened the file.
A long string of bright red unqualified results almost dazzled her. After a closer look, she found that they were various physical indicators. The final examination result showed that the patient was severely malnourished, but did not suffer from any special diseases.
Shi Jianxia was not surprised at all by the results of the physical examination.
The original owner's father disappeared, and his status in the family plummeted. He was thrown into a branch family and was bullied from childhood to adulthood, and he never had enough to eat.
She sneaked out later. She had to use half of the 600 star coins in relief money every month to pay rent. Because she was a minor and had no education, she could not find a formal job. She could only work as various temporary jobs and make a living by tightening her belt.
She always waits for supermarkets to have discounts on nutrient solutions that are about to expire, and then stocks up a lot. She will drink them even after they expire. Over time, it would be strange if she could stay healthy.
Thinking of this, Shi Jianxia's stomach suddenly growled twice. Xixi, who was squatting on the table, heard it clearly and immediately poked her little head out to look at her stomach.
Shi Jianxia: "..."
It wasn't that embarrassing at first, but after it looked at it like that, the Forbidden City was about to be dug out.
But this little thing was still wagging its big furry tail, looking at Gongye Jiwang who was rubbing his eyes and yawning, and stretching out its fleshy front paws to pad.
Shi Jianxia: "..."
She quickly pulled back Xixi's little paw and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I didn't eat anything this morning, so I'm a little hungry."
If she hadn't thought that bringing this little guy along would ease the atmosphere, she would have definitely stuffed it into the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" right away.
Zhuang Mingyue smiled and said, "I didn't think it through."
She motioned for her assistant to get some food.
Gongye Jiwang also became a little more sober.
Facing Xixi's eager gaze, he chuckled and handed her a bug crystal the size of a pigeon egg.
朏朏's eyes lit up instantly, and she raised her little head and looked up at Shi Jianxia who was still holding her two front legs, and her furry little ears moved.
Shi Jianxia: "..."
Does this little bastard even know that if you take someone else's money, you will be grateful for what you have received? What you eat now, you may have to spit out at any time in the future.
Gongye Jiwang seemed to see through her concerns, and with one hand on his side, he smiled and said, "It's not a valuable thing. The little guy is very cute."
Having said that, Shi Jianxia didn't want to be too distant, so he had to let go of her.
The freed little guy wagged his big tail happily and took the insect crystal handed to him by Gongye Jiwang.
Shi Jianxia pressed his brows in pain, determined to teach this little thing a lesson when he returned, so that it wouldn't be unable to move its legs when it saw food. But he saw it holding the insect crystal and presenting it to him.
She was stunned for a moment.
Seeing that she didn't take it, 朏朏 sent it off again.
Zhuang Mingyue raised her eyebrows slightly, "This little guy is really smart."
朏朏 seemed to know that she was praising herself, and her little tail wagged even more happily. She even jumped into Shi Jianxia's arms and stuffed the insect crystal into her hands.
Shi Jianxia touched its little head and stuffed the insect crystal into its mouth.
朏朏 blinked, bit the insect crystal and rubbed it in her palm, so cute that people wanted to pick it up and give it a big kiss.
This little episode passed quickly. After Shi Jianxia filled his stomach, he began to look through the mimicry identification results.
When identifying mimicry, the doctor simply asked her to put the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" into a certain instrument for scanning, just like a CT scan. Shi Jianxia was not quite sure what the identification method was, and the identification result was only a thin page of paper with very little content.
[Mimetic name: Shan Hai Jing]
[Potential rating: C]
[Mimetic classification: Summoning mimicry]
[Mimicry ability: Can summon any named creature or non-living thing in the book as a second-level mimicry]
【Battle Level: Level 1】
Shi Jianxia calmly looked at the mimicry appraisal which was not quite the same as the content on the title page of "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and turned his inquiring gaze to Zhuang Mingyue.
Diagonally opposite her, Xixi was lying on Gongye Jiwang's palm, like a little hamster, eating the insect crystals he handed to her one by one with a crunch.
Gongye Jiwang didn't feel at all that he was being taken advantage of by the robber. He touched the soft fur on the dog's back and pinched its furry little legs. It was obvious that he couldn't let go of it.
Zhuang Mingyue completely ignored the person and the other person beside her and officially began questioning, "When did you discover someone was being parasitized by the Zerg?"
Shi Jianxia replied, "This morning, the landlord knocked on my door and asked if I had seen her calico cat. I noticed bite marks from a red-backed centipede on the back of her neck. I realized something was wrong and immediately called the reporting hotline."
Zhuang Mingyue frowned slightly, and Gongye Jiwang stopped sucking the furry thing crazily.
The actions of the two clearly told her that there was something wrong with what she said.
Shi Jianxia pursed her lips. The original owner's memory of the Zerg was too limited, and she had no way of judging what was wrong with her answer.
Zhuang Mingyue didn't question her immediately, but asked, "What was her condition at the time?"
Shi Jianxia described the situation when she met Granny Liu, including the scene when she came out of the room and saw her again.
Zhuang Mingyue's fingertips tapped the tabletop intermittently. After a brief silence, she said, "When a red-backed centipede parasites a human, it immediately secretes erythrocortin, paralyzing the human brain and eroding the human spinal cord. It then grows nerve tentacles to control the human body and maintain the normal functioning of human physiological functions."
"At this point, the human's consciousness hasn't completely disappeared, but they're unaware they've been parasitized. They'll continue to repeat the things they were most obsessed with before becoming parasitic. But after five to six hours, the centipede, having sucked the spinal cord, will burst out of the body, and the parasite will die completely."
Shi Jianxia listened carefully and didn't feel that his answer was inconsistent with the situation.
Grandma Liu is an elderly person living alone and suffers from Alzheimer's disease. It is not an exaggeration to say that Xiaohua is her relative. It is not impossible that she keeps looking for Xiaohua after being parasitized.
Zhuang Mingyue knew what she was thinking and added key information, "According to our investigation, the changes in Minghua Community began in the residential building where you live. Based on the biological information retained in the community, we can determine that the changes began roughly between 6:00 and 8:00 yesterday evening."
"During this period, all residents of the residential building, except the landlord, were away from home."
"Based on the above investigation results, we can infer that the landlord you mentioned, Granny Liu, is most likely the first person in the community to be parasitized by the red-backed centipede."
"There's no way she could have remained human this morning."
Indeed, if six hours was the longest incubation period, Granny Liu would have turned into a monster long ago. How could she possibly knock on her door so early in the morning and ask her if she had seen Xiaohua?
"The incubation period is up to six hours, are there any exceptions?" Shi Jianxia asked calmly.
Zhuang Mingyue replied, "Among the 25,249 cases of red-backed centipede parasites we've discovered, 5 hours and 57 minutes is the longest incubation period, without exception."
When Shi Jianxia heard the number 25249, his pupils dilated slightly.
This means that more than 25,000 people died from being parasitized by the red-backed centipede.
Zhuang Mingyue did not question whether she was lying, but put another investigation document in front of her.
It contained the original owner's movements for the past month, detailing what she had done. At the end of the file, there was a line of text circled in red, which was the time when she returned to the rental house last night.
"You returned to the community around nine o'clock last night. Please tell me whether you had awakened your mimicry at that time?" Zhuang Mingyue continued to ask.
The Zerg can parasitize ordinary people unscrupulously, but they cannot parasitize those with mimicry abilities.
Shi Jianxia was basically certain that the original owner died after being parasitized by the Zerg, and she traveled through time after the original owner's death and awakened her mimicry, and escaped because of the nine-tailed fox's mimicry talent.
Zhuang Mingyue was able to investigate the original owner's movements over the past month in such detail, so he must have known that the original owner did not have the ability of mimicry before, and the time period for awakening mimicry could only be from yesterday to this morning.
The reason she asked this question...
Shi Jianxia placed the documents on the table and took the initiative to ask, "Can mimicry be awakened after being parasitized by the Zerg?"
She asked, but her tone was very sure.
Zhuang Mingyue raised her eyebrows, obviously not expecting her reaction to be so quick.
If a normal person heard her question, and if they were parasitized by the Zerg and awakened their mimicry, they would definitely feel nervous, afraid of being caught as an invisible Zerg parasite. How could they guess the meaning behind the question so quickly?
"Then was it your mimicry that awakened first? Or was it your mimicry that awakened after being parasitized by the Zerg?" Zhuang Mingyue continued to ask.
Shi Jianxia shook his head, "I don't know either."
"I went straight to sleep after returning home last night. This morning, I woke up to find that my mimicry had awakened. Then Granny Liu knocked on the door. I noticed something was wrong with her and called the reporting hotline immediately."
At this point, she paused and said, "Actually, I still haven't quite figured out what happened."
Zhuang Mingyue looked at her without asking any more questions. The conference room immediately became quiet, with only the crunching sound of Xixi biting the insect crystals.
After five minutes of silence, Zhuang Mingyue smiled. "Thank you very much for your cooperation. These are the only questions I have for now. But before the specific results of the investigation come out, I hope you won't leave Shuiyuan Star."
After saying this, she placed a brand new intelligent bracelet in front of Shi Jianxia. "Every citizen of the Federation who awakens their mimicry must join the Mimicry Ability Management Association. Your identity information has already been entered for you at the Mimicry Investigation Office. This is the bracelet issued by the Mimicry Association. You can find answers to most of your questions and inquiries in it."
The original owner of the Mimicry Ability Management Association knew something about it, and there were indeed the regulations that Zhuang Mingyue mentioned.
Shi Jianxia took the bracelet, thanked him politely, shook hands with Zhuang Mingyue, and followed the assistant out of the meeting room while holding her.
When her figure disappeared, Gongye Jiwang yawned and asked, "Did you lie?"
Zhuang Mingyue shook her head. "She probably has nothing to do with the red-backed centipede smuggling, but her last answer was clearly evasive."
At this point, Zhuang Mingyue smiled and said, "Cunning little girl."
Gongye Jiwang hummed noncommittally, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably again. He was about to slump over the table when Zhuang Mingyue quickly grabbed the back of his collar, forcing him to stay awake. "Do you remember the Granny Liu she mentioned?"
Gongye Jiwang was the first to arrive at Minghua Community, and it was he who killed all the red-backed centipede parasites in the residential building where Shi Jianxia lived. He was the only one who knew the situation at that time best, which was why Zhuang Mingyue asked him to sit in on the trial.
Gongye Jiwang shook his head.
Zhuang Mingyue frowned, "No impression?"
Gongye Jiwang shook his head again.
Zhuang Mingyue sneered, "Speak."
Gongye Jiwang said in confusion, "There are so many red-backed centipede larvae in the community, so there must be at least one red-backed centipede mother, but I haven't found the mother or the insect vortex formed after the mother's death."
Zhuang Mingyue pondered for a moment, then asked, "How many insect crystals did you feed her mimic?"
It would be the limit for an ordinary C-level mimic that had just awakened to eat four or five first-level insect crystals in one breath. However, that furry second-level mimic ate several second-level insect crystals without showing any discomfort. Either its talent was related to this, or its potential was far more than just C-level.
After a long while without receiving a response, Zhuang Mingyue looked down.
Gongye Jiwang had already fallen asleep with his head hung down.
Is this the reincarnation of a sleepyhead? How can he sleep so well?
Zhuang Mingyue clicked her tongue in annoyance, let go and let him sleep on the table.
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