Chapter 36

Purely by imagining it, Mo Qiong couldn't directly target a person's veins.

But he knew the distribution of veins in the human body, and which ones only required piercing one or two centimeters through the skin.

He took out his phone and checked again, confirming the locations of the veins in the human body.

On the face, the external nasal vein was relatively easy to pierce from the surface, and there was also the submental vein beneath the chin.

However, these were all too thin. If the position was even slightly off, or the angle of penetration was wrong, the fishbone would miss the vein.

Therefore, the best target was the anterior jugular vein. It was relatively thick, and its position was roughly the same in everyone.

Memorizing the details of the fishbone's tip, Mo Qiong took a deep breath, placed the fishbone inside a straw, and blew hard.

"Pfft."

Like a blow dart, the fishbone shot out at an initial speed approaching thirty meters per second.

Its target was the surface of a human trafficker kingpin's neck, where the anterior jugular vein should theoretically be located.

Although the fishbone's high speed wasn't enough to carry it deep into the body, it was enough to pierce the neck and hit the vein.

If the target's vein happened to be distended, the fishbone might even puncture it completely.

A tiny object like a fishbone could cause inflammation at most if it pierced a vein. It wouldn't lead to any serious consequences.

Therefore, at the same time as he expelled the fishbone, Mo Qiong blew out another small breath, or rather, divided the same exhalation into two shots.

The air blown out in this second burst wasn't aimed at a person, but at the tip of the fishbone.

It was precisely an arrow chasing the one before it, flying in a linked sequence.

Because the first arrow's tip was inside the vein after it stopped, when the pursuing air struck it, the air would also drill into the vein.

With an interval of no more than 0.1 seconds, the person wouldn't have time to remove the fishbone from his neck.

In this way, Mo Qiong could complete an injection into a vein from a distance.

The injected substance was... air.

In fact, using a similar method, if Mo Qiong could make someone swallow something into their stomach, he could stuff anything he wanted into that person's stomach.

Any opening leading to the stomach could become a route. If the object was sharp enough, it could even bore straight through the abdomen and enter.

Mo Qiong had considered using this method to force the human traffickers to inhale some poisonous gas, such as carbon monoxide.

But that was too dangerous. After all, he didn't know who was around these human traffickers, and it would be too easy to injure the wrong person.

After thinking it over, Mo Qiong decided that injecting into a vein was the most convenient and discreet method.

He didn't even need to produce carbon monoxide. Injecting a little air would already have serious consequences.

Once air was injected into a vein, more than fifty milliliters could be fatal, and more than one hundred milliliters would certainly kill. Moreover, the cause would generally only be discovered through an autopsy showing that air had been injected into the vein.

But death wasn't Mo Qiong's goal.

According to Mo Qiong's estimate, he could exhale about five hundred milliliters in one breath. The portion used to chase the fishbone just now was probably only a few dozen milliliters, perhaps no more than fifty.

If those people were in relatively good health, those few dozen milliliters of air wouldn't be enough to kill them.

The air would travel through the vein toward the heart or brain. If it reached the coronary vessels, it would cause a myocardial infarction; if it reached the brain, it would cause an ischemic stroke.

If injected into the anterior jugular vein, it was more likely to reach the brain.

The blockage of cerebral blood vessels would cause sudden unconsciousness.

Without timely treatment, severe cases could be fatal.

But for people who would soon be arrested, the police would certainly give them timely treatment.

Therefore, the strokes should ultimately leave them with facial paralysis, slurred speech, and hemiplegia...

If treated well, they would still be able to speak, stand trial, and hear their sentences...

Pfft, pfft, pfft.

Mo Qiong fired repeatedly, launching fourteen shots in succession before returning to the lounge without looking back to chat with Qin Ya.

Once an arrow was released, there was no taking it back. He didn't want to concern himself with the results.

Perhaps for some criminals, the fishbone hadn't entered the vein, and they would suffer nothing worse than swelling in the neck.

Perhaps for others, the consequences would be severe enough to kill them.

But regardless of the result, he had done enough. The rest was up to fate, and the police could handle what came next.

Among the fifteen kingpins who had committed heinous crimes, Dinosaur was one of them.

He was closest to Mo Qiong, so without a doubt, he was the first to be struck.

It was mealtime, and Dinosaur was eating at a restaurant while chatting idly with the owner.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Immediately afterward, the wound swelled, as though something had been pushed inside it.

He casually wiped it and pulled out the object embedded in his neck.

"A fishbone?"

Dinosaur had a terrible temper. He exploded on the spot, turned around without caring who was beside him, and roared, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? How do you spit out fishbones?"

He thought the person at the neighboring table had been eating fish carelessly and spat out a bone that hit him.

The person at the neighboring table was stunned and asked in confusion, "What? I was eating beef. How could I spit out a fishbone?"

Dinosaur took a look and saw that the man really hadn't been eating fish.

There were only three people in the entire restaurant. Apart from that man, there was only the owner.

Dinosaur looked at the owner, who was chopping vegetables by the entrance. After thinking about it, he decided to let it go. The owner was one of his own and was on his side.

"Maybe someone tossed it and accidentally hit me..."

Dinosaur couldn't be bothered to pursue the matter. It was only a fishbone. He had even been stabbed by knives before, so what was there to say about being pricked by a fishbone? Bringing it up would only make him seem fussy in front of his men.

"Forget it. Let's drink." Dinosaur threw away the fishbone and shouted, "Bring me another bottle of Laobaigan."

The owner hurriedly brought him another bottle. Dinosaur gulped down a large mouthful.

"Ha..." He exhaled, then suddenly felt that his tongue had extended and wouldn't retract.

"Hm? I..." He was just about to speak when his body suddenly stiffened, and he toppled from his chair.

The owner hadn't gone far. He was startled by the sight and hurried over to support him.

But Dinosaur's tongue was stiff and he couldn't speak. His eyes were half closed, and saliva mixed with liquor dripped from his mouth. He seemed to have already fainted.

The customer beside him was also frightened. Seeing that Dinosaur was still clutching the liquor bottle, he cried out, "Boss! This is fake liquor!"

The owner panicked too, because it really was fake liquor...

It was just that Dinosaur had first drunk Laobaigan at this very restaurant, and had continued drinking it here ever since. As a result, Dinosaur had always thought... this was simply what Laobaigan tasted like.

The owner hurriedly pinched the philtrum beneath his nose, but Dinosaur only groaned twice.

"Quick! Give me a hand and get him to the hospital!" the owner shouted.

But the customer didn't dare touch him carelessly. He said, "This is a stroke. Call an ambulance."

When the ambulance arrived, the police in the building across the street saw it.

"Hm?" A police officer saw Dinosaur being carried unconscious into the ambulance from the window and hurriedly notified the command center.

"Team Leader, Dinosaur seems to have fainted. They're taking him to the hospital now."

After hearing this, Team Leader Chen hurriedly said, "Send someone to the hospital to see what's going on. If he's unconscious, that's perfect. We can arrest him directly in his hospital bed."

A while later, the police officer sent to the hospital reported, "We found out. He suddenly suffered a stroke and is being resuscitated..."

"A stroke? A sudden illness...? Hmph, that's even better. Leave someone at the hospital to keep watch. He won't be able to run." Team Leader Chen spoke.

This sudden illness had come at exactly the right time. People like Dinosaur were cunning and ruthless.

Even if they couldn't escape during the arrest, sending a message to their children before dying would still be dangerous.

Now that he had suffered a stroke and couldn't do anything, the arrest operation across the entire region was essentially secure. There would be no accidents.

When the people in the command center heard the news, they all said it served him right. Just one person suffering a stroke had eliminated so much risk.

However, only an hour later, a police officer from another area reported, "Team Leader, Gecko has suddenly fallen ill. He's had a stroke!"

"Oh? He had a stroke too?" Team Leader Chen was startled. Had Heaven itself started working overtime?

One or two cases could be dismissed, but when a third important target also suffered an incident, everyone felt that something was wrong.

"What happened to Grasshopper? Did he have a stroke too?" Team Leader Chen asked.

But the police officer this time said, "A stroke? No. It's a myocardial infarction."

The command room erupted in discussion, everyone clicking their tongues in amazement.

"Three consecutive sudden illnesses requiring hospitalization. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

"Could someone have done this?"

A while later, another target ran into trouble.

Team Leader Chen asked, "What happened to Bald Cat? A stroke or a myocardial infarction?"

"Hm? Neither. Bald Cat has insufficient blood flow to the lungs and is suffering respiratory failure."

"This..." Team Leader Chen was utterly astonished.

When reports about the fifth and sixth sudden illnesses came in, Team Leader Chen immediately ordered, "Prepare ambulances and monitor the targets closely. The moment anything happens, begin treatment immediately!"

"Move ahead of schedule and carry out the arrests! For targets who have already suffered an incident, take control of everyone around them, whoever they may be."

"Yes!" The operation, originally planned to begin at eight, started at only six-thirty.

As the arrests proceeded, the leaders in various locations indeed suffered sudden illnesses. Most had strokes, a few had myocardial infarctions, and only one suffered respiratory failure.

At around seven, all fifteen leaders had suffered incidents and been admitted to hospitals.

The remaining underlings were arrested one by one by the police, who had been prepared in advance. The criminal organization was uprooted in a single stroke.

At around seven-thirty, Team Leader Chen walked into the lounge and told Qin Zheng and the others, "The operation is over."

Qin Zheng and the others were first shocked. "Wasn't it supposed to start at eight? It's already over?"

"Because of some special circumstances, the operation began ahead of schedule," Team Leader Chen said.

"Did the operation go smoothly?" Qin Zheng asked.

Team Leader Chen said, "Very smoothly. Extremely smoothly. Exceptionally smoothly!"

"Your child has already been rescued. I verified it during the DNA investigation. Just complete the paperwork and you can take the child home."

Hearing this, the Qin family was overjoyed. The great weight in their hearts had finally fallen away.

When they embraced Qin Liang, they could no longer hold back their tears, even though the six-year-old child already felt completely unfamiliar to them.

"Thank you! Team Leader Chen, thank you so much." Qin Zhi wept tears of joy.

But Team Leader Chen merely nodded and said, "We still have to interrogate them through the night. We don't know how many days we'll be working overtime. You can go home first... As for this case, just watch the news."

"All right. We won't trouble you any longer. We'll definitely come to your home and thank you in person when we have the chance."

After Qin Ya's family left with Mo Qiong, Team Leader Chen had someone notify the other parents to come and collect their children.

He ended by saying, "All fifteen suspects suffered sudden illnesses. It must have been deliberate. Everyone present at the time of onset must be thoroughly investigated."

"Yes."

P.S. Sorry.