“Cheyenne, don’t be too surprised just yet, take a look at number 3.”
“Hmm.”
In Petri dish number 3, there was a dead centipede, and tiny worm-like creatures were completely entwined around the much larger centipede, like strands of hair wrapping around it with their own bodies.
The head was slowly emerging from the centipede’s abdomen… followed by the body… and then the tail.
No wonder Cheyenne found the liquid in Petri dish number 2 strange; it wasn’t nutrient solution, but blood extracted from the centipede’s body.
This scene successfully disgusted Cheyenne; she felt like she was about to throw up her breakfast, but managed to hold it in.
A light bulb went off in her head, reminding her of a biology report she had read a long time ago.
“As thin as hair, as hard as copper… Old Mr. Zamora, could this be the Hairworm?”
It was also known as Nematomorpha or Gordius Worm.
In regions with many rivers, swamps, or dark and damp environments, these worms tend to appear.
They mostly live in water, with their larvae parasitizing arthropods, feeding on the host to grow.
When fully grown, the Hairworms can reach a length of one meter, freely swimming in water.
During the breeding season, Hairworms lay their eggs in the water, infecting people through the flow of water, especially targeting women.
However, this creature is not fatal; at most, it causes symptoms like abdominal pain and indigestion.
Listening to Cheyenne’s analysis, Leandro continued with a solemn expression, “If only it were that simple if it were indeed the Hairworm.”
“Old Mr. Zamora, what do you mean?”
Cheyenne looked at him in confusion.
The next moment, Old Mr. Zamora’s heavy and worried voice echoed in the laboratory; because it was a sealed space, she heard it even more clearly.
“These creatures may look like Hairworms on the surface, but they are not. Real Hairworms do not have teeth, or grow so rapidly, or possess the ability to regenerate.”
“What you just saw should be more accurately described as – Hairworms mutated by genes.”
Hairworms were already hard to exterminate; they had to be burned to completely get rid of them.
Now, with the mutation, they were even harder to deal with than before, not only because of their regenerative ability but also because their reproductive rate had increased significantly.
What’s more deadly is that previously infected patients with Hairworms mostly contracted the infection through two routes: urinary tract and digestive system infections.
Even if the parasites lived in the human body for several years, they wouldn’t pose a threat to life.
But this time was different; these Hairworms could enter the human body through wounds on the skin and travel through the blood vessels to the brain and heart.
And once they successfully inhabited the host, they would control the person’s thoughts and consciousness, inducing hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and other behaviors.
As Cheyenne heard more, she found it increasingly profound, almost like something you would only see in a sci-fi movie, right?
Absolutely stunning!
“You… you mean, these tiny worm-like creatures can even control the host to commit suicide? This is too terrifying, Old Mr. Zamora, are you sure?”
Only then did Leandro bring out the secretly kept Petri dish number 4 for her to see.
He had kept it hidden before out of fear of others seeing it; if this information got out, it would cause a societal panic.
Even more worrisome, if it is deliberately exploited by someone for profit, the entire Chulae is likely to be in chaos.
Four years ago, the artificial spread of a virus led to an economic stagnation, only to show slight signs of recovery this year.
Just at this time, something more terrifying than the virus was discovered, and if you say all of this is just a coincidence, Leandro wouldn’t believe it.
The 4th petri dish is much larger than the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, almost fifty centimeters tall, and round.
Moreover, it is no longer an open container, but a completely sealed one with only a small square opening left on the lid, with a silver lock added deliberately.
Inside the transparent container, the mutated nematode worm has a body that is almost as thick as a pencil, about one meter in length.
True to form, it coils at the bottom like a snake, without much movement.
As it matures, the teeth on its body become more prominent, triangular saw-like teeth resembling those of a shark.
Next to the mutated nematode worm are several dead mice.
Strangely, most of their bodies appear intact, except for an extra hole in their heads.
Sensing a change in temperature, the mutated form begins to knot and wriggle inside the petri dish…
Cheyenne was once again disgusted by this scene, preferring to look at cold-blooded animals such as snakes rather than this ugly creature.
She quickly covered it with a black velvet cloth.
“Old Mr. Zamora, please stop making me look at it. I feel like I won’t be able to eat all day after seeing this, ugh!”
“As a doctor, your tolerance is too low. If you can’t eat because of this, how do you manage on the operating table?”
With advanced medical technology now, surgeries often no longer require real scalpels but electronic ones.
Although these can cut more accurately to the desired location, reducing errors caused by poor technique during surgery.
However, since it consumes electricity, it makes a “sizzling” sound when cutting through layers of muscle during use.
To some, it sounds like meat being scorched on a grill, with a hint of burnt flavor.
Many people find it hard to eat after seeing this scene, but Cheyenne perseveres out of her sense of responsibility as a doctor.
“Cough… it’s not the same!”
“Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. When Number 4 was still in the larval stage, I placed it in the water source for this rat.”
“After the rat drank this water, I recorded its various data every day. At first, everything was normal, but by the third day… it started eating very little, only drinking water.”
After about two more days… the rat stopped eating completely and drank water about three times a day.
Rats typically do not need to drink so much water, but after being infected by this mutated hairworm, it began to drink a large amount of water, which was one of the anomalies.
By the eighth day, this rat had changed from a fat rat at the start to a rat with only a layer of skin left.
Another anomaly appeared… it used its sharp claws to scratch its own head.
Every day, even if it scratched through the skin, lost hair, and bled profusely, it did not stop.
“The blood hole on the rat’s head was not caused by the hairworm biting it, but the rat itself using its claws to dig it little by little.”
If such behavior were seen in humans, wouldn’t it be considered suicidal?