stjorthotic Chapter 112 Is he also a food phobia sufferer?
Chapter 112 Is he also a food phobia sufferer?
Chapter 112 Is he also a food phobia sufferer?
With Li Jiuhe's guidance, Ma Li was very careful in controlling the actions of her ant colony.
As long as these ants are within her control, MaLi has their first-person perspective, so she can see the situation inside the house very clearly.
Soon a large group of ants entered the house, and then dispersed into three teams, carefully moving forward in different directions.
From Ma Li's perspective, she could see that the room was simply decorated, with cheap wooden flooring and walls that had only been lightly painted.
The room was fully furnished, but the furniture was all of ordinary quality.
In addition to the living room, there are two bedrooms, as well as a kitchen and a bathroom.
From the perspective of these ant colonies, one can see what appears to be a person lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms, with two legs hanging off the edge of the bed, while on the sofa in the living room, a person is curled up.
Judging from their clothing, both of them are men. The man curled up in the living room should be the one Li Jiuhe told Ma Li about the curse.
However, at this moment, the guy's face was still contorted in pain, his hands were covering his head, and his legs were curled up. He died in this position.
You can tell what kind of pain he was going through before he died.
According to Li Jiuhe, the device that triggered the bomb in the bedroom was located in the middle of the living room, near the coffee table.
Li Jiuhe's main idea was to have Ma Li use her ant swarm control skills to see if she could dismantle the device. After all, this was a residential area, and it would be best to dismantle this powerful bomb rather than let it explode.
If he tries resetting the task a few more times, he'll eventually find a way to dismantle it.
Mali quickly guided the ant colony to crawl into the cracks in the floor. She had already discovered that one of the floorboards was very loose, and the gaps between it and the other floorboards were also large, indicating that it had obviously been moved.
Once inside, using the perspective of an ant, I quickly spotted a device that looked like a press.
If someone steps on this floor, pressing down with force, the contact points inside will come together, instantly sending a detonation signal to the bomb hidden in the bed.
With the power of this bomb, all three houses would be destroyed, and it would also likely endanger the safety of the adjacent houses and the entire floor.
Therefore, it seems that as long as the contact points are not allowed to touch, it will be fine.
MaLi quickly found the key and controlled the ant swarm to pounce on the bomb switch device.
Of course, these black ants don't just attack randomly; they're like disciplined soldiers, forming several circles and specifically targeting the point of contact.
Moreover, they don't bite wildly because they have enough time, and their bite force is amazing, far exceeding that of ordinary ants, so they are very restrained with each bite, striving for precision.
Not long after, the spring-loaded pressing device lost its support after the outer shell was bitten off, and it gently bounced up.
Then, Ma Li controlled the ant colony to gather into a force and slowly push open the movable floor.
After inspecting the damaged device, Ma Li outside said to Li Jiuhe, "It's done. The detonator should be deactivated. Is there anything else there?"
Li Jiuhe shook his head: "I don't know anything else. You control the ant swarm to search the house carefully."
"it is good."
Ma Li nodded and divided the ant colony into ten teams, which then explored every corner of the room.
Because she had the experience of dismantling the house the first time, the ants searched very quickly, and the entire house was cleaned up in about ten minutes.
During this time, a second identical push-button detonator was found under the floor about two steps inside the bedroom door.
Then it took some time to chew and dismantle it.
Then, Mali controlled the black ants to climb onto the bed and discovered that there was indeed a bomb under the corpse.
"The room has been thoroughly searched; there's no third detonator." Ma Li said to Li Jiuhe, "Should I turn the body over on the bed now and see if it explodes?"
"Okay, turn it over." Li Jiuhe thought so too.
Malice hesitated: "What if there are still undiscovered explosive devices, or what if moving the body causes an explosion? Should we close the bedroom door first, and then use a wardrobe to block it off to prevent it from endangering the living room?"
Li Jiuhe shook his head: "There's no need."
If it explodes again, he will reset the mission once more.
The person who set up this explosive trap might have thought he had the ability to reset missions, but that person also knew that Li Jiuhe's ability couldn't defuse the bomb.
So he might be gambling that if Li Jiuhe doesn't activate the mission definition, he'll be blown up on the spot.
Because that person didn't expect that Li Jiuhe would be accompanied by an ant queen who could control the ant colony at this moment.
Before long, the ant colony turned the corpse over on the bed.
After waiting for a while, nothing happened.
"There was no explosion, so the danger in the whole room should be gone." Ma Li breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Thank goodness you were here!" Luo Shuo gave her a thumbs up from the side.
Ma Li smiled modestly, looking quite shy.
"If there's any corpse flesh left inside, you can have it all."
Li Jiuhe's words immediately made Ma Li grin from ear to ear, and she nodded excitedly.
Controlling the ant colony to transform into human hands, they opened the door from the inside, and the three entered the room one after another.
Luo Shuo walked toward the corpse curled up on the sofa. Based on his tracking ability, he quickly confirmed that this person was the corpse controller they were looking for.
It was this guy who controlled Yu Minmin's corpse.
Li Jiuhe went into the bedroom and looked at the male corpse that had rolled over onto its side by the bed.
The male corpse was found to have an unfamiliar face, and it appeared to have died recently. His body was stiff and emitted a strange smell, but it was not the smell of a dead body; rather, it seemed to have undergone preservation treatment.
He had never seen that bomb before, nor did he know anything about weapons; he only knew that it was quite powerful when it exploded.
After searching all the drawers and other places in the house, they discovered that the corpse controller's computer hard drive was missing, and his cell phone was also gone.
None of the other useful information was left behind.
Ma Li, on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised because she found three clumps of corpse-controlling flesh under the bedroom window, which were about the same size as the previous clump of corpse-controlling flesh.
These three succulents were planted in flowerpots, cultivated like flowers; I don't know what method that is.
Overjoyed, Ma Li immediately wanted to dig out a chunk of corpse flesh to eat, but Li Jiuhe stopped her.
"Are you hungry now?" he asked.
Ma Li shook her head: "I'm not hungry."
She usually eats only once every few days. If she eats this kind of corpse-controlling meat, her eating cycle can be extended. She might be able to eat it once for two or three weeks.
At this moment, Ma Li wanted to eat it purely to satisfy her cravings, not because she was actually hungry.
Li Jiuhe explained, "Look, these three clumps of meat are all grown in flowerpots, which means they can grow. Do you want to eat them all at once, or save them and pick one to eat when you're hungry?"
Ma Li was taken aback: "Yes, Li Dashuai is so smart! I'll keep it then. Besides eating it myself, I can also feed it to my babies from time to time."
"That's right." Li Jiuhe smiled.
"Brother Li, come and take a look." Luo Shuo stood by the bed, bending down to examine the corpse on the bed.
He seemed to have discovered something.
Li Jiuhe walked over and saw Luo Shuo pointing at the mouth of the male corpse on the bed: "Look, this person has no tongue. No, to be precise, his tongue was severed at the root."
Li Jiuhe turned on his phone's flashlight and looked closely. Sure enough, he saw that the male corpse's slightly open mouth was missing its tongue.
This scene made him suspicious, because, after all, he had once cut off someone's tongue.
Uncertain of his decision, he turned to Luo Shuo and asked, "Do you know anything about people with a fear of eating?"
Luo Shuo thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, I've heard of it. That guy can absorb people's fear."
"Are there any other sequencers similar to the 'Eat-Fearer'?" Li Jiuhe asked.
"Of course there are," Luo Shuo said. "But they should be very few; this kind of ability is quite rare. But abilities like yours or Boss Tong's are even rarer. There are probably only ten or fewer people in this world with a sequence like yours, no, less than a handful."
"Really?" Li Jiuhe had always thought that his task definition ability should be unique.
However, Luo Shuo was not actually aware of his true abilities, so it's normal for him to have this guess.
Otherwise, Si Mingyu and his team wouldn't have gone to such lengths to plan this.
"So, there are people like those who have a fear of eating, who also use their tongues to lick the fears of others to strengthen themselves?" Li Jiuhe muttered to himself.
"It's not necessarily the tongue," Luo Shuo said. "It could be through touch, or even by directly killing others to feel the fear of the victims before they die. They are only similar in sequence, not necessarily with completely identical abilities."
At this point, he glanced down at the male corpse: "Brother Li, you mean this person was also a cannibal, and a cannibal who relied on licking the fears of others?"
"Is it possible that both individuals with food phobias are using their tongues as a tool to absorb their fear?" Li Jiuhe asked rhetorically.
Luo Shuo nodded: "It's not impossible, but the probability is very small, and it's even rarer. I guess there are probably only two or three Terror Eaters in the entire Tian Shu Kingdom who rely entirely on their tongues."
"That's enough for them." Li Jiuhe became more certain of his thoughts.
He suspected that since the Tongue of the Dead had been destroyed last time, those guys would definitely look for a similar object to replace it, and if there was an exact replica, that would be even better.
So, could it be that the person I'm seeing right now, who has no tongue, is another possessor of the Tongue of the Dead?
If his tongue has already been taken away by the other party, then all they need now is themselves and the morning bell.
A sense of crisis surged up, and almost subconsciously, Li Jiuhe immediately informed Chen Zhong of his discovery through telepathy.
They had developed a deep understanding, and the next second, his connection to the morning bell disappeared.
The morning bell somehow managed to hide itself again.
Li Jiuhe called Huang Guozhong and said that a case involving Sequencers had been discovered here, asking them to send people over immediately to seal off the scene and conduct an investigation.
Meanwhile, Huang Guozhong had just finished compiling the information on the registered cursed individuals and was about to send it to him.
Huang Guozhong readily agreed and immediately sent someone over. After hanging up the phone, he also sent over the information about the person who had cursed him.
However, it will take some time to investigate Yu Minmin's records of entering Mingzhu City, and nothing has been found yet.
Li Jiuhe and the other two did not wait in this residential area.
Instead, after determining that there was no value there, they left the neighborhood before the investigators from the Pearl City Investigation Bureau arrived.
Upon arriving outside the residential compound, Luo Shuo asked, "Where are we going now?"
"The Emperor Hotel," Li Jiuhe said.
Luo Shuo quickly recalled that he had later heard Huang Guozhong mention He Erbing's confession in the car, saying that the express delivery he received came from the Emperor Hotel in Mingzhu City.
"Are you going to investigate that place?"
Li Jiuhe shook his head: "The investigation is only one aspect. Shouldn't we take a break?"
He then frowned, his gaze shifting downwards to the bulging pockets on Luo Shuo's clothes.
"What did you take from the mortician's room just now?"
Luo Shuo looked embarrassed and reached into his pocket to take out a golden ashtray and a dark green jade pipe.
"Sorry, I've fallen into my old habit. When I was checking the room just now, I noticed that this ashtray is pure gold, and the jade quality of this dark green pipe is definitely top-notch, so I couldn't resist."
Li Jiuhe was also somewhat puzzled: "I just don't understand, you've been doing this for so long, your personal wealth should be among the top ten in the Investigation Bureau, if not in the top ten. You really couldn't resist?"
Luo Shuo sighed: "Actually, it's not that I like money, it's just that I feel insecure. I feel secure only when I have money."
It's always been like this since I was a child, because my family was too poor when I was young.
"I understand," Mali, who hadn't spoken until now, interjected. "This is called childhood trauma. When I was little, I was almost carried away and eaten by a bird, which is why I'm still afraid of birds. I tremble when I see one up close."
Luo Shuo said, "I'll put the things back. Wait for me."
Li Jiuhe waved his hand: "No need, the investigators from Mingzhu City are arriving soon. This is the last time."
"Okay, sure." Luo Shuo quickly packed the things back up.
The three of them took a taxi and arrived at the Emperor Hotel half an hour later.
Li Jiuhe remembered that He Erbing had mentioned before that the mailing address was room 1808 of the hotel.
However, he did not book this room, but instead asked for two rooms opposite 1808.
After settling into the hotel, he took out the contact information for the cursed person that Huang Guozhong had sent him and dialed the number on it.
The person who committed the curse is named Zhang Song. The fact that he can be registered with the Investigation Bureau of Mingzhu City indicates that he is under official control at all times, and there is a high probability that he is not a bad person.
However, Li Jiuhe dialed the number several times, but the call could not be connected.
Huang Guozhong called soon after, asking him in detail about the cause of the two bodies found in the neighborhood.
Li Jiuhe didn't go into details, only telling him that the deaths of the two men were related to the curse he encountered in his rented room in Nanfeng Town, a case that headquarters was currently investigating.
Further details of the case need not be disclosed.
Huang Guozhong didn't ask any more questions. He could easily report this kind of case; he just needed to write "directly managed by headquarters," and his superiors wouldn't ask any questions.
However, Huang Guozhong also told Li Jiuhe a detail: the unexploded bomb found on the bed was a modified police bomb.
It is indeed very powerful, but it is basically impossible to buy on the black market in Mingzhu City. I don't know where those people get it from.
This served as a reminder to Li Jiuhe that perhaps some officials were involved.
Their current investigation process and results must absolutely not be disclosed to the local investigation bureau.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Huang Guozhong; he didn't trust those who held power, since Huang Guozhong's position in the Investigation Bureau was really insignificant.
After ending the call, I dialed Zhang Song's number several more times, but still couldn't get through.
"We'll go straight to his house to find him first thing tomorrow morning," Li Jiuhe told Luo Shuo and Ma Li.
He then instructed Ma Li to control the ant swarm to silently enter room 1808. Inside, they carefully examined the room, focusing on any traces left by the guest and any unusual scents.
Because the previous guest might have been a powerful Sequencer, or even a Spellcaster.
The black ants did find some clues. Ma Li quickly told Li Jiuhe that there were faint traces of energy fluctuations from a Sequencer in room 1808.
That was all; her ant larvae searched for a long time but found nothing else.
That person was clearly very careful and left no loose ends.
"So—who exactly is this guy?"
Li Jiuhe never imagined that so soon after the last incident, he would be targeted again by a powerful Sequencer who was suspected to be a spellcaster.
And this guy might have some connection with Si Mingyu.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of controlling Yu Minmin's corpse to hunt him down, and that guy probably knew very well that even if Yu Minmin was controlled by the corpse, she couldn't possibly kill him.
So the implementation of this plan feels like they wanted to lure themselves to that neighborhood and then detonate a bomb.
Even if he detonates the bomb, Li Jiuhe is unlikely to be killed; he only needs a mission reset to save himself.
If Mali weren't there, at most they wouldn't open the door; after the mission reset, you could just leave.
So what was the real purpose of Yu Minmin's plan to hunt him down?
This is what Li Jiuhe can't understand right now.
He felt he might have overlooked something, which was why he couldn't figure it out immediately.
However, this does not prevent the investigation from continuing. After all, the three of them are now sequence users whose sequence abilities can basically complement each other, and the other party cannot possibly guess how they will retaliate.
Before long, Ma Li retrieved the black ants she had released, patted her bottom, and wriggled her body back to her room to sleep.
Because she was the mother, she naturally had a guest room to herself, while Luo Shuo shared a standard room with Li Jiuhe.
According to Ma Li's own thinking, she is currently unable to shake off Tong Cheng's image, so she should continue to cooperate with Tong Cheng's people.
We'll talk about it again once I've fully developed my abilities and am able to shed my facade.
She took great care of the three flowerpots containing the corpse-controlling flesh.
Now, this queen ant drools just looking at a flowerpot, hoping to gain more with Li Jiuhe and the others.
After all, the investigation is still ongoing, and they might find more in the future. In any case, following Li Jiuhe and his group this time is definitely worthwhile.
After washing up, Luo Shuo turned off the light and lay down on the bed, quickly falling asleep.
Li Jiuhe turned to look out the window, feeling the streetlight shining in, wondering if something had happened to the cursed one named Zhang Song.
Whether I can get into the deserted cabin depends on the person who is closest to me.
While I was pondering this, a strange feeling suddenly rose from the bottom of my heart, without any reason, yet it was unusually intense.
Li Jiuhe suddenly sat up and looked around, not knowing what had happened.
Then Luo Shuo, who was sleeping on the next bed, suddenly woke up.
The man opened his eyes, made no other movement, glanced at Li Jiuhe, and then said softly, "It's okay, you'll get used to it eventually."
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