Chapter 110 - 103: Someone Else’s Building
"These things... I remember they’re supposed to be social creatures." Qin Ziwen frowned. He recalled the information in the bestiary, which recorded that the Forest Giant Mayfly was an aquatic insect that lived long-term at the bottom of lakes and rivers.
In this form, they typically remain for three to four years.
During this period, they would usually gather at the bottom of wide bodies of water, feeding on small fish, algae, and aquatic plants.
As they approached adulthood, they would typically swim against the current, moving toward the forested regions of the river’s upper reaches, devouring every aquatic creature they encountered along the way.
This was partly because food was more plentiful in the forest regions, and partly a form of "regression," similar to the river-to-lake migration of certain salmon.
Every year, when it was time to produce offspring, they would swim upstream from freshwater lakes and rivers, returning to the place that had first nurtured them.
However, the Forest Giant Mayfly had a fatal weakness in its aquatic form.
Its static vision was almost zero. When facing one, as long as a person remained perfectly still, the mayfly would basically perceive them as a piece of wood and ignore them.
But the moment they started to swim, the mayflies would swarm them.
These bugs weren’t at the bottom of the river before, which meant this area wasn’t their permanent habitat. Their appearance now indicated that they had begun their migration.
Once the Forest Giant Mayflies began their migration, their emergence period was at most a week away, and at soonest, just two or three days.
Their emergence was a collective event. When one individual began to emerge, it would secrete a special hormone, causing all others of its kind in the nearby watershed to complete their emergence one after another within a single day.
After emerging, the Forest Giant Mayfly’s mouthparts would completely degenerate, causing it to lose the ability to eat. Its lifespan would be reduced to just a few hours to three days. During this time, they would fly freely over the river’s surface and through the forest sky, mating and reproducing, laying their egg masses in the water, in the grass along the riverbank, and in the crevices between stones.
So, these Forest Giant Mayflies would begin their mass emergence in a few days at most. The bugs in the river were a problem for now, but it wouldn’t last long.
To prepare for their emergence, they would attack any living thing that could swim in the water during this period, helping them accumulate energy.
Qin Ziwen pondered, ’Can I gain any advantage from this?’
After a moment’s thought, he figured the easiest way was to buy up fishing and trapping equipment.
With the river teeming with Forest Giant Mayfly larvae, those tools would surely depreciate in value.
He could buy them cheap and sell them high later, definitely making a profit from the exchange.
But on second thought, he felt it was unnecessary.
’Profiting purely from a disaster... that kind of money is tainted.’
’Besides, they’re all dirt poor. I wouldn’t make much anyway.’
Qin Ziwen and Zhao Pu started walking back. "Dr. Zhao, how is the infectious disease situation now?"
Zhao Pu replied, "It’s alright, much better than a few days ago. We’ve managed to contain it for now. The households with sick family members have also formed two Hunting Teams.
"From what we’ve seen, the mortality rate for this disease is quite high. It primarily targets the elderly, children, and patients with pre-existing conditions. The mortality rate for the elderly and children after infection is around 60%, while for healthy adults, it’s about 25%."
Hearing these numbers, even though he was mentally prepared, Qin Ziwen’s heart sank.
"When you say pre-existing conditions, you mean..."
Zhao Pu said, "Diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney or liver disease. These conditions weaken the immune system, leading to lower immunity."
At this, Zhao Pu gave a bitter smile. "This time, the infectious disease progresses quickly from incubation to onset. It’s a good thing it doesn’t have a long incubation period. And lately, the price of Western medicine has skyrocketed. It’s almost impossible to get your hands on any."
As they talked, the two arrived at the base of the building.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
The sound of a door being smashed came from upstairs, very close by.
Zhao Pu said, "That should be the team that handles the bodies. The Alliance Association has a special team responsible for dealing with corpses. You barely ever see them, but whenever someone dies, they’ll show up at the door to remove the body. They’re probably trying to break down the door to 202 right now."
Qin Ziwen went upstairs and, in the second-floor hallway, saw the mysterious team Zhao Pu had mentioned.
There were seven people in total. One was giving orders, two stood behind with their hands in their pockets, two were using sledgehammers to smash the doorknob, and another two were carrying a pair of simple stretchers.
Except for the man in charge and the two with their hands in their pockets, who all had short hair, the other four all had long hair and were silent and sallow-faced.
Qin Ziwen stopped. He recognized at a glance that these four long-haired men were definitely not modern people, but recruited ancients.
Their aura was even more familiar.
It was almost identical to that of the refugees who had fled to the porridge shed.
They carried an air of exhaustion, numbness, and oppression.
’These four... they seem to be ancient refugees, too?’
Almost instantly, Qin Ziwen thought of the porridge shed.
Someone in the Alliance Association must have obtained a Porridge Shed Building Card and then recruited a large number of refugees from it.
And made these refugees work for them.
Using the refugees to dispose of corpses was smart. Even if a refugee accidentally got infected, all one had to do was abandon them, drive them away, and stop providing them with porridge to sustain them. The infected refugee would naturally leave.
And after the original resident’s body was removed, everything in their apartment would become his resource.
’This business is certainly profitable.’
Qin Ziwen sighed inwardly, but he also saw it as a good thing.
After all, if the bodies weren’t dealt with, they would rot if left at home for too long. Combined with the germs in the corpse, it could even lead to mutations, causing secondary infections and spawning even more terrifying diseases.
Compared to using the Gated Community’s original residents, using these refugees was indeed the most "cost-effective" method.
This also opened his eyes to a new use.
The refugees from the porridge shed could serve as "expendables" at critical moments.
At the turn of the hallway, the man supervising glanced at Qin Ziwen and the others and said, "Hold on a moment."
"BANG! BANG! CLANG~"
The sound of smashing didn’t stop, followed by a loud clang as something fell to the ground.
The door was pulled open.
In the hallway, the supervising man took a mask out of his pocket and put it on. "I suggest you two step aside. It’ll be hard to carry them downstairs otherwise."
Qin Ziwen and Zhao Pu exited the hallway and stood outside the building’s entrance.
Zhao Pu glanced around, then leaned in and whispered, "Four of those people inside don’t look like they’re from our Gated Community."
Qin Ziwen said, "They were probably recruited."
Upon receiving Qin Ziwen’s confirmation, Zhao Pu could only feel it was an extravagance. "I heard it takes one Recruitment Card to recruit a single person. To use something so valuable for carrying corpses? Aren’t they afraid of them getting infected?"
An able-bodied adult male who could follow orders and possessed intelligence... anyone who got one could treat him as their own "second arm."
Yet such a precious recruited member was being used to transport the corpses of those who died from an infectious disease. If they were accidentally infected, wouldn’t that Card be completely wasted?
And to send out four at once... Zhao Pu couldn’t imagine just how extravagantly wealthy the person behind this was.
If Qin Ziwen didn’t have a porridge shed, he might have shared Zhao Pu’s astonishment.
But since he also had one, he understood the logic behind it, so he found it rather ordinary.
Qin Ziwen asked Zhao Pu, "Do you know who sent this team?"
Zhao Pu shook his head. "I don’t. I only know it’s someone from the Alliance Association’s upper management. I’m not sure who exactly sent them."
As the two were talking, footsteps approached from behind.
They turned their heads. Four men carrying two stretchers passed by them.
The stretchers were covered with bedsheets, hiding the faces of the dead.
But in the air, there hung the faint stench of death.
...
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