ryethenovel Chapter 66 The "Living Dead" in the Coffin
Chapter 66 The "Living Dead" in the Coffin
The air in the basement was thick and murky, and the beam of the flashlight flickered through the dust.
The pitch-black coffin lay horizontally in the center, its paint peeling off in large patches, resembling a piece of rotten, black flesh covered in sores.
The few renovation workers that Lao Zhang brought had already retreated to the stairwell, clutching wrenches and crowbars, their calves trembling.
"Boss, this thing is eerily heavy. When it was smashing the wall just now, I heard fingernails scratching wood inside." Old Zhang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice weak.
Su Qing squatted at the head of the coffin, her ear pressed against the wooden board, her fingertips tapping lightly.
"The frequency is very fast, it's not the scratching of fingernails, it's the vibration caused by an excessively fast heart rate." Su Qing didn't turn her head, her tone so calm it was chilling. "The person inside isn't quite dead yet, or rather, they're dying."
Wang Minyu walked over and caught a strange smell.
It wasn't the smell of a corpse, but a pungent odor mixed with aged angelica root, borneol, and some kind of chemical preservative.
"Guan Shan, open the lid," Wang Minyu ordered.
Guan Shan stuffed the half-eaten sugarcane into his pocket and gripped the edge of the coffin with both hands.
His muscles bulged, and the floor tiles beneath his feet made a faint cracking sound.
"rise!"
With a sickening cracking sound, the coffin lid was forcibly ripped open.
A plume of white, cold mist shot out; it was the residue from the sublimation of dry ice.
Inside the coffin lay a withered old man. He wore a faded old Tang suit, and his skin, like withered orange peel, clung tightly to his skeleton.
The most bizarre thing was that his mouth was stuffed with a crystal-clear jade cicada, and a transparent tube was inserted into his throat, connected to a miniature pump that was half-buried in sawdust.
The system panel flickered violently in front of Wang Minyu's eyes, and the text turned into a glaring dark red.
[Patient: Wu Youde (74 years old)]
Symptoms: Achalasia (late stage), severe malnutrition, forced metabolic inhibition.
[Status: Deep coma.]
[Diagnosis: This is a living specimen being kept as a "medicinal catalyst." His vital signs are being maintained by continuous injections of low-dose sedatives and high-concentration nutrient solutions.]
"Wu Youde?" Liu Yixin leaned closer for a look and almost jumped up in surprise. "Isn't this Wu Defa's uncle? I heard he went back to his hometown to retire ten years ago. Why is he locked up here?"
Wang Minyu reached out and placed his hand on the old man's carotid artery.
The pulsation was extremely weak, like a spider silk about to snap.
"Wu Defa's business is ruthless," Wang Minyu sneered, pointing to the flexible tube. "This tube contains high-purity glucose and complex amino acids, mixed with Shengmai San. He's using his uncle as a natural 'fermentation tank' to cultivate certain shady medicinal herbs."
Su Qing pulled out a dark, fleshy object from the crack in the coffin. It looked like a lingzhi mushroom or a piece of meat.
"This is... a meat-like Ganoderma?" Li Siyuan exclaimed in surprise.
"It's fake." Wang Minyu took the object, squeezed it, and said coldly, "It's a deformed thing made from human metabolic waste and forcibly grown by fungi. Those exorbitantly priced 'tonic pills' that Wu Defa used to sell were probably made from this powder."
Those around him gagged.
"To save lives," Wang Minyu said succinctly.
"Boss, if he's sent to the hospital in this condition, he'll probably go straight to the ICU, and there's no guarantee he'll survive," Su Qing commented objectively.
"The ICU burns through money, but what I'm burning through is lives." Wang Minyu patted Guan Shan on the shoulder. "Move him to the backyard. Don't fill that hole; it'll come in handy."
Zhou Yi, who was just immersed in the joy of "rebirth", was so frightened when he saw the old man being carried out that he dropped his noodles into his bowl.
"Dr. Wang, this...this also needs to be buried?"
"He's different from you. You're out of your mind, he's a rusty part." Wang Minyu took out a row of silver needles as thin as wheat awns from his pocket. "Guan Shan, pry the jade cicada out of the old man's mouth. Don't break it. It's good jade. We can wash it and sell it later."
Guan Shan roughly pried open the old man's mouth, and the jade cicada fell to the ground.
Wang Minyu's needle moved extremely fast.
Instead of choosing conventional acupoints, he precisely inserted the needles between the old man's withered neck and chest.
"Tian Tu, pierce deeply one inch and two inches."
"At the center of the chest, insert obliquely."
The old man's body trembled violently, and a muffled coughing sound came from his throat.
"Siyuan, go get three hundred grams of ginger and juice it. Zhao Na, get a bottle of strong liquor, the spiciest kind."
While administering acupuncture, Wang Minyu explained, "His esophageal muscles are completely stiff, so regular medication won't work. We need to use spicy food to forcefully dispel this stagnant energy, and then combine it with my 'pushing the uterus and clearing the blood' technique to expel the toxins that have accumulated over ten years."
The ginger juice was mixed with strong liquor and Wang Minyu forced it down his throat through a tube.
A moment later, the old man's stomach emitted a thunderous rumbling sound.
"Get out of the way!"
Wang Minyu called out.
The old man suddenly sat up and vomited a large pool of dark purple, viscous liquid.
The smell was like a bomb exploding in a septic tank, and the construction workers scrambled out of the basement.
After spitting out that mouthful, the old man's chest began to heave violently, and his originally ashen face suddenly glowed with an eerie redness.
He slowly opened his eyes, his cloudy eyeballs rolled around, staring at Wang Minyu, his voice so weak it was like a mosquito's buzz.
"De...Defa...how much more...do you need to take?"
"Wu Defa has run away." Wang Minyu put away the silver needles, wiped his hands with disgust, and said, "This shop is mine now. Old man, you owe me medical bills, and you'll have to pay them off with all those prescriptions in your head."
The old man stood there stunned for a long time, then suddenly burst into tears, and a sob like a broken bellows came from his withered chest.
System prompt:
[Harvesting "A Glimmer of Hope" Emotional Value: 8000.]
[Hidden Reward: Ancient Processing Techniques (Fragment)]
Wang Minyu looked at the panel with satisfaction.
This expansion hasn't even started yet, and they've already picked up a "living fossil" from the pharmacopoeia. This chive planting is really worthwhile.
Old Wu was settled in a temporary prefabricated house in the backyard.
Although his body was as weak as a sheet of paper, his mind was surprisingly clear.
According to his confession, Wu Defa locked him in the basement for eight years in order to obtain those lost folk remedies.
"That beast fed me all sorts of poisonous herbs every day, observed my body's reactions, and recorded them." Old Wu ate his millet porridge, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold the spoon. "He said I was the most talented pharmacist in the Wu family, and that dying in the basement was my destiny."
Wang Minyu sat opposite him, flipping through several yellowed notebooks that had been found in the basement.
"I didn't see any talent in you, but you've got a tough life." Wang Minyu's sharp tongue remained unchanged. "If you had died sooner, I could have saved the money for that bottle of liquor."
Old Wu gave a bitter smile: "Dr. Wang, you saved my life. All the prescriptions that the Wu family has kept in our heads, I'll give you them all if you want to hear them."
"Don't rush for the prescription. First, keep an eye on those two acres in the backyard for me." Wang Minyu stood up. "If anyone steals herbs, just pretend to be a ghost to scare them. Anyway, you look fine now; you can go straight to the scene without makeup."
Old Wu nodded repeatedly.
Just then, the sound of high heels clicking on the floor came from the front hall, the rhythm was rapid and carried an aggressive air.
"Where is Wang Minyu? Have him come out and meet us!"
Wang Minyu frowned slightly, lifted the curtain, and went out.
Several people were standing in the hall.
The leader was a woman in her fifties, wearing a dark blue business suit, her hair neatly styled, and gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. Her eyes revealed a scrutinizing and disgusted look.
Behind her were two young men carrying briefcases and several law enforcement officers in uniform.
"I am Fang Qin, the head of the star-rated pharmacy evaluation team of the Municipal Health Bureau." The woman showed her work badge, her voice cold and hard. "We have received multiple complaints that Renxin Pharmacy has illegally expanded, is practicing medicine without a license, and is misleading patients by using unapproved 'folk remedies.' Dr. Wang, please cooperate with the investigation."
Liu Yixin, sweating profusely, said anxiously, "Director Fang, it's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! Our expansion permits are being processed..."
"The paperwork being processed doesn't mean we can start work." Fang Qin interrupted him, glancing around before her gaze settled on the banner on the wall that read "Cure Pretentious People." Her brows furrowed. "Who allowed this vulgar slogan to be displayed? It's a disgrace to the medical community!"
Wang Minyu leaned against the counter, fiddling with a bottle full of hawthorn pills in his hand.
"It's not a disgrace, it's mainly to ward off evil spirits." Wang Minyu didn't even lift his eyelids. "Director Fang, right? If you want to investigate, then investigate. Don't comment on my aesthetics here. Your complexion is sallow, your eye bags are puffy, and you have a rotten apple smell when you speak. Haven't you been taking your diabetes medication on time lately?"
Fang Qin's expression changed instantly.
She does have diabetes, and because she's been busy with assessments lately and often stays up late, her blood sugar control is not ideal.
"You...you stop spouting nonsense!" Fang Qin forced a defiant stance. "I'm on official business right now!"
"Even performing official duties requires a scientific approach." Wang Minyu walked over and circled her once. "Your left leg drags a bit when you walk, which is a sign of microcirculation disorder. If you keep pushing yourself like this while you're on patrol, you'll be lying on my operating table before you even shut down my shop."