Transactions driven by self-interest are often both strong and fragile.
Because the interest that was acceptable now can also be abandoned for a higher price.
The woman looked at Qin Chuan. "This is all I know. You promised me double the reward Gao Ye offered."
Qin Chuan studied the expression on the woman's face. Seeing that she wasn't lying, he nodded.
"Take out your citizen card, and I'll transfer the money to you in a moment."
The woman nodded. "But I still need to take the body back. I can't afford to offend the lab people, but I can wait until you're done with your examination. Is that okay?"
Only after hearing this did Qin Chuan look at the woman properly, a wry smile playing on his lips.
"Miss Gu, you want to play both sides."
The woman was quite candid. "Why not? It doesn't inconvenience you. What's wrong with letting me earn a little more?" She swallowed the last sentence.
After all, this was all that person owed her.
Because of this remark, Qin Chuan looked at the woman with newfound respect. Did people truly grow when pushed to their limits?
The once proud and unrestrained person now had to scheme and struggle just to survive.
"Alright, I promise. I'll let you take the body back after I get the results. But what you say after taking it back is your own problem."
The woman nodded and said no more.
Seeing that things were mostly settled, Qin Chuan was about to head back when an urgent text message suddenly came through on his communicator.
"Return immediately!"
Sender: Zhou Zhe.
Qin Chuan looked towards the dissection room, a vague sense of anticipation stirring within him.
Zhou Zhe wouldn't usually speak to him like this. It must be that they had discovered something significant for him to send such a concise message.
With that, Qin Chuan no longer cared about anything else and immediately sprinted back in the direction he had come.
As soon as he arrived at the dissection room, he found Liu Chang and Zhou Zhe staring at Weng Quan's brain, standing there like stunned fish, neither of them speaking.
Even upon seeing Qin Chuan, their expressions were somewhat dazed.
"What's wrong?" Qin Chuan's expression was grave, and he didn't even realize his voice carried a hint of cautious apprehension.
As he spoke, Qin Chuan walked towards them.
When he reached Liu Chang's side, he asked, "Did you discover something?"
But before Liu Chang could reply, Qin Chuan's gaze fell upon the opened skull, where a faint blue luminescence was clearly visible.
This familiar sight made his heart race. He felt as if he were seeing the monster from the cave again.
The same blue luminescence.
"See for yourself. This is beyond my medical knowledge. Why would this person's brain contain fungal hyphae?" Liu Chang muttered in disbelief, unable to comprehend it.
Yet, he didn't move an inch.
Instead, he remained firmly rooted beside the corpse.
"Can't it be removed?" Qin Chuan inquired.
Back in the cave, Zhou Zhe had waited outside and had not entered, so he had no idea that Qin Chuan had obtained that cluster of hyphae.
Liu Chang shook his head.
"I've already tried. It's impossible. That cluster of hyphae is as if it has fused with the brain; it cannot be separated."
Zhou Zhe, standing nearby, let out a soft gasp and then said, "I feel like..."
Before he could finish, he captured the attention of the other two.
Qin Chuan frowned deeply. "What is it you feel?"
Under their expectant gazes, Zhou Zhe finished his thought.
"I feel like these hyphae are absorbing nutrients from the brain."
As soon as he spoke, the other two were stunned.
Even Liu Chang hadn't considered this possibility.
"But Weng Quan has been dead for so long. Why would you have that feeling?"
Zhou Zhe scratched his head, a look of uncertainty on his face, afraid his thought might disrupt the captain's line of reasoning.
Qin Chuan sensed Zhou Zhe's apprehension, but his own mind was a jumble. He looked at Zhou Zhe with an encouraging gaze.
"It's alright, tell us. We can at least consider it."
Only then did Zhou Zhe speak with relief.
"Just now, when Liu Chang was performing the craniotomy, I was watching closely. The moment the scalpel entered the skull, I thought I saw the blue hyphae writhe slightly, but it was only for an instant, so I'm not sure."
Upon hearing this, Liu Chang immediately turned to Zhou Zhe.
"What is your dynamic visual acuity?"
After hearing Zhou Zhe's answer, he seemed to understand, his tone carrying a hint of self-consolation.
"Indeed, your dynamic visual acuity is much better than mine. No wonder I was staring intently and didn't see it, but you caught it."
Zhou Zhe still wore an embarrassed expression, showing no pride in having helped.
"No, I only saw it for a moment. But I was afraid of saying something wrong and affecting your work."
Qin Chuan patted Zhou Zhe on the shoulder with a look of approval.
"No, you did very well this time, Zhou Zhe. You are excellent."
Qin Chuan had always known that Zhou Zhe was brave but lacked in strategic thinking.
He was absolutely loyal to Qin Chuan, but his initiative was somewhat lacking.
He always needed to be given instructions for every task.
Although he executed every task perfectly, Qin Chuan realized he needed to cultivate a successor. In case something happened to him one day, Zhou Zhe would be able to take over.
Upon receiving the praise, Zhou Zhe's face did not show pride, only a hint of bashfulness.
Qin Chuan continued, "Then you only saw it writhe. How did you conclude that it was absorbing something?"
At this, Zhou Zhe's expression became very serious.
"I grew up in the countryside. I used to like studying caterpillars and the like. When those worms feed, they make the same movement. Moreover, after Liu Chang made the incision, those hyphae became still, like dead matter. But if I'm not mistaken, this thing should have lost its activity the moment Liu Chang opened the skull."
Zhou Zhe's analysis was thorough, and even Liu Chang was beginning to believe him.
After all, he had tried to extract the substance earlier, but the result was that each of its hyphae was finer than a strand of hair.
Not only that.
These hyphae seemed to have grown directly on Weng Quan's brain, fitting perfectly and being impossible to separate.
"And..." Liu Chang stroked his chin with his fingertips as he circled the operating table and glanced at Weng Quan's body again. Under their curious gazes, he slowly said, "I hadn't thought in that direction before, but after hearing Zhou Zhe's statement, the idea suddenly occurred to me."
"What idea? Hurry up and tell us!"