Chapter Ten: Strange Tumor [4K]
Wang Han sat in front of the laboratory workbench, staring blankly at a metal box the size of a lunchbox, made of an unknown material, for over an hour.
He was a lecturer at Shancheng Medical University, specializing in oncology. After graduating with his doctorate, he stayed at the university, but had made no progress for seven years.
The reason he couldn’t attain a higher title was not due to lack of ambition or oppression, but simply because he had no significant research achievements to show for himself.
Every time he thought about why he had remained an obscure lecturer for so long, Wang Han found it somewhat amusing.
From elementary school to university, to obtaining his doctorate and staying on campus, his first twenty-eight years had been smooth sailing. In the eyes of others, he may not have been a dragon among men, but he was certainly exceptional, and during holidays, he was often held up as a role model for relatives and friends to educate their own children.
Wang Han once believed that too.
He thought he was smarter than most people and, to be a bit arrogant, felt that he was exceptionally gifted.
However, reality had told him that while he had talent, it was not enough!
Some say that if talent is lacking, hard work can make up for it, but Wang Han wanted to tell those people from personal experience that believing effort matters is only because they haven’t reached the point where talent comes into play.
The most despairing aspect of this world is not the absence of talent, but having enough talent to glimpse the world of true geniuses, yet no matter how hard one tries, they can never reach that “holy land.”
Wang Han had heard of a story about an ancient swordsman who was highly skilled. One day, he encountered a master swordsman. After witnessing the master’s skills, he was so disheartened that he never touched a sword again.
He felt that while his confidence hadn’t been completely eroded, his predicament was not much different from that swordsman.
What he couldn’t understand was why someone would seek out an underperforming talent like him to research the contents of the box and offer such tempting conditions—an independent laboratory and sufficient research funding, perhaps to bridge the gap between him and true geniuses?
Wang Han had no doubt about that client’s promises; he knew at least three tech companies controlled by that client.
The conditions for receiving the client’s funding were simple to the point of disbelief: he merely had to open the metal box and study its contents, regardless of the outcome.
After sitting for a long time, Wang Han stood up, left the laboratory, and walked to the end of the corridor. He lit a cigarette, and his reflection appeared on the glass.
He was overweight, haggard, slightly hunched, with disheveled hair, somewhat yellowish.
Looking at himself, he always recalled the patients he had encountered who were on the brink of d*ath due to malignant tumors.
But he knew his body was quite healthy.
The uncertainty he felt stemmed from the visit from that influential client yesterday. After delivering the research samples, he had felt slightly unwell, as if something had drained his energy, leaving him utterly fatigued.
However, after having a close friend in medical imaging examine him thoroughly, no abnormalities were found, so he didn’t give it much thought.
As a medical student, he still had a lot of faith in modern medical test results; he couldn’t act paranoid just because he felt unwell.
“Cough cough cough—!”
Just as he took a puff of his cigarette, Wang Han felt a sudden unbearable itch in his throat, followed by a cough as if he had choked.
He coughed violently, his whole body shaking, his face turning red, with the sound carrying thick phlegm, yet feeling nothing in his respiratory tract, just simply dry, intensely rubbing and pulling.
In a daze, his gaze swept across the glass window beside him, and his pupils instantly dilated.
He saw his reflection in the glass, attached to a huge, deformed, sickly mass of flesh. Above that flesh, it seemed to have some air holes, and with every cough he made, black smoke erupted from those holes.
As that smoke billowed forth, his body shrank visibly.
As if electrocuted, Wang Han’s body trembled, frozen in place.
In that instant, he inexplicably recalled a conversation during lunch when a colleague mentioned the strange incidents occurring at various hospitals in Shancheng recently.
Recently, several hospitals had admitted patients suspected of having respiratory illnesses, yet no cause could be found after examinations, so they could only prescribe some anti-inflammatory cough medicines. But soon, those patients died from various bizarre severe respiratory cancers.
The entire process lasted less than a week, and many relatives of the deceased adamantly claimed that negligence at the hospital was to blame, causing a ruckus, leaving hospital staff overwhelmed.
Indeed, such a severe respiratory illness wouldn’t go undetected unless there was negligence, but the doctors in charge of the examinations all unanimously assured that they had found no abnormalities in their assessments.
Moreover, the fact that different hospitals, different doctors, and different symptomatic patients all experienced misdiagnosis seemed too coincidental.
The only reasonable yet somewhat absurd explanation was that these patients had encountered an urban legend incident.
Only something like an urban legend could cause a healthy person to d*e of cancer in less than a week.
Could urban legends be real?
In silence, Wang Han stared at his reflection in the glass, confirming that there was nothing abnormal before finally feeling a little relieved.
Maybe he just misperceived in the glare?
Perhaps I really should quit smoking sooner?
Wang Han thought, shaking his head. He didn’t finish the cigarette but instead snuffed it out and quickly returned to the laboratory.
He had made up his mind to see what exactly was in that metal box.
“What the hell is that smell?”
As soon as Wang Han opened the metal box and hadn’t had time to see what was inside, he was immediately assaulted by a foul odor that made him curse.
The smell was strange, somewhat like putrid flesh, mixed with the scent of exhaust fumes, and the acrid odor released while burning garbage, evoking an illusion of gasoline and plastic being used as fuel to incinerate a highly decayed corpse.
Before Wang Han could recover from the discomfort caused by that foul stench, he was struck again when he finally saw what was contained in the box.
“Is this… malignant glandular carcinoma? But how could it be like this?”
The substance was dark red, semi-transparent like jelly, covered in ulcers, with some areas having lumps protruding, through which gray-white tissues could be vaguely seen beneath the flesh, resembling glandular malignant tumors—tumors that commonly lead to lung cancer, gastric cancer, and other cancers.
But if it were merely glandular malignant tumors, Wang Han would not be so shocked; he had seen too many tumors and was long past feeling uncomfortable due to their appearance.
What truly shocked him were two reasons.
First, the tumor was attached to striated muscle tissue where it was almost impossible for a glandular malignant tumor to grow. It was like saying peach blossoms could bloom on a banana tree.
However, given the existence of Nightfall Syndrome, this special “cancer,” it was not impossible for such a situation to arise. He had heard of a case where a male patient developed cervical cancer due to Nightfall Syndrome.
As for how a man could develop cervical cancer, he was unclear.
What truly startled, even terrified, him was the second point: the tumor tissue was “alive!”
That ugly, sickly, distorted mass of tissue was slowly writhing under his gaze, as if it were breathing, rhythmically.
It had been at least ten hours since the metal box was sent. If considering the time since it left the patient’s body, it would have been even longer. Even if the metal box had been stored at low temperatures until an hour ago, it shouldn’t retain this level of vitality.
This completely overturned his understanding of tumor tissue and even common sense.
Wang Han glanced again at that hideous mass of flesh and inexplicably thought of the rumors he had heard from colleagues during lunch. A chill rose behind him.
Could this thing have come from those strange patients?
This is troublesome! He sighed, pressing his hands against his head, furrowing his brows in distress, “I don’t want to deal with such bizarre things! But that client…”
That client had told him that once he opened the metal box, it meant he had accepted the commission.
Given that client’s identity and means, if he backed out after accepting the commission, the consequences would be something he could not bear.
What should he do?
Could he only grit his teeth and carry on?
Lost in thought, Wang Han stood up, put on gloves, sanitized his hands, and nervously yet skillfully prepared to make slices of the mass of flesh.
Fortunately, throughout the process, that mass of flesh behaved cooperatively without making any frightening moves.
After placing the sliced tissue under a microscope to observe for a while, the already deeply shocked Wang Han suddenly felt a wave of dizziness as if he were about to faint, his body swaying.
How is this possible? What on earth is this?
Years spent in tumor research had allowed him to see almost all types of cells, but what he saw under the microscope was a type he had never encountered before. He even suspected that it was not a cell of any known biological entity.
Those cells were extraordinarily large, slightly bigger than ovum; a single cell almost filled the entirety of the slide, devoid of a nucleus and instead encased in a mass of rolling smoke, with some incredibly tiny crystalline particles faintly visible within the smoke.
Wang Han sat there in a daze, as if his soul had left his body.
Just then, he heard some sneaky and secretive sounds in his ear.
The sounds came from the corridor, resembling the wind brushing against small debris, rubbing against the smooth floor, mingled with faint footsteps, as if something ominous was drawing near.
Hearing that sound, Wang Han shuddered, turning to look at the window connecting the laboratory to the corridor.
The window was half-open, and it was very dark outside, barely revealing a green glow from the emergency exit sign.
However, although nothing was there, Wang Han felt as though a pair of eyes was watching him, and the owner of those eyes seemed to have noticed that he had discovered its presence.
“Gurgle——!”
He glanced at the slice beneath the microscope again and then back at the ugly mass of flesh still writhing in the metal box, gulping hard.
This research can’t continue!
At least not today.
He decided it would be better to wait until there were more people at the university tomorrow.
Wang Han thought, quickly gathering various instruments and the metal box, and almost ran out of the laboratory.
As soon as he left the laboratory building, he noticed a thick fog outside, feeling vaguely that something was off, but he didn’t dwell on it, as foggy weather was quite common in Shancheng.
So, he didn’t think much of it and jogged towards the parking lot, disappearing into the thick fog shortly after.
In the early morning, at the Xiyangyang hotpot restaurant.
Jiang Li sat at the dining table, staring at the bubbling red broth, her eyes twitching slightly.
Although she had long heard that people in Shancheng liked to eat hotpot, she never expected that someone would eat hotpot for breakfast.
“Lin Kule, can we eat something else besides hotpot? Like noodles, wonton noodles, or lamb offal soup?”
Lin Kule smiled awkwardly at Jiang Li and explained, “Actually, I didn’t want to eat hotpot so early in the morning either, but the number three said that we don’t get many customers here at the end of the year, and we need to try to use up the hotpot base we bought for display; otherwise, it would go to waste.”
Jiang Li replied, “The Huacheng Siye Society disguising itself as the Folk Culture Research Management Bureau should be well promoted, not only to avoid wasting funds but sometimes also to unexpectedly gain spirit energy items.”
Just as Jiang Li fell silent, a sudden hurried sound of footsteps came from outside the hotpot restaurant.
Soon after, a round-faced girl about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a black mole in the middle of her forehead, rushed in and ran straight to Lin Kule’s side. “Kule Sister, you’re really amazing; something big has happened!”
While speaking, the girl began to dig something out of her backpack, but noticing the unfamiliar person beside Lin Kule, she paused her movement.
Seeing this, Lin Kule raised an eyebrow, smiling as she explained, “This is Jiang Li, a temporary operative transferred from Huacheng; whatever it is, you can tell her, it’s fine.”
After a brief pause, she turned to Jiang Li and explained in a low voice, “Mai Mai is our trainee operative.”
Jiang Li nodded in understanding and then saw the girl called Mai Mai pulling out several photos from her bag and handing them to Lin Kule.
“Kule Sister, these are photos taken this morning by the Special Action Team at Shancheng Medical University. There was a fire in a laboratory last night, and everything inside was burned. The Special Action Team detected severe Nightfall Syndrome corrosion in that laboratory.”
“Have you questioned the laboratory staff?” Jiang Li instinctively asked.
“We have questioned them.” Mai Mai blinked upon looking at Jiang Li and said, “They said that last night, only a man named Wang Han, thirty-five years old, a lecturer at the medical university, was in the laboratory.”
“Surveillance footage shows he left the laboratory at 1:43 AM yesterday, and shortly after, the laboratory caught fire. It’s very suspicious. The Special Action Team attempted to contact Wang Han but couldn’t get in touch. I’ve already asked them to retrieve Wang Han’s personal information and his communication records from the recent period.”
After hearing this, Jiang Li nodded slightly, unable to help but praise.
Look at their trainee operatives, how professional!
The two trainee operatives from Huacheng were either slacking off or lying flat when they couldn’t fish.
Just as Jiang Li was thinking this, her phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a call from a slacking trainee operative in Huacheng.
