The One Who Merged with the Tree

Behind the massive protective shield stood those trees.

The trees had been uprooted and transported here.

It was evident that great care had been taken during the extraction to preserve their root systems.

Even so, some of the finer roots had inevitably snapped.

Pale red blood seeped from the broken ends of these roots, dripping onto the ground.

Many of the branches above were relatively intact, curled up as they were shoved into the Dissection Department.

Each tree was at least as thick as a bowl, appearing entirely ordinary at first glance.

That is, if one ignored the people fused into them.

Every single tree was merged with a human whose eyes were tightly shut.

This fusion was not a simple matter of stuffing a tree into a body or a person into a tree.

Rather, the bodily tissues and the tree's tissues had melded together, as if they had grown as one.

Before Li Fan stood a middle-aged man fused with a tree.

From the neck up, he was a normal person, but starting at the neck, a tree trunk protruded abruptly. The bark and his skin had merged so seamlessly that there was no visible boundary; it looked as if they had grown together from birth.

The tree pierced through his body, emerging again from his lower back.

His calves and feet had re-integrated into the base of the trunk.

At a glance, it looked as if he had been impaled upon the tree.

Only upon closer inspection could one see the perfect fusion of his body and the wood—a complete melding of flesh and blood, where skin, muscle, and even bone had mixed with the cork layer and periderm of the tree.

It was like an entirely new species.

"Chief, what's going on today? It's not even nine o'clock and we're already on the clock. Since when have the brothers had to suffer like this... Good god, what kind of freak show is this?"

Zhang Hongbing grumbled as he walked in, stunned by the sight of the "tree-people" before him.

The other investigators in the department arrived one after another, equally shocked by the sight.

Even though the brothers in the Dissection Department had dissected plenty of anomalies over the years and were no strangers to bizarre sights, they were still deeply shaken.

Among the dozen or so tree-people, the manner of fusion varied for each one.

Some had their limbs integrated into the wood, some were more than half-submerged, and others had only their heads and shoulders fused—the variety was endless.

At first glance, it looked like a silent gallery of postmodern sculptures.

"At least they're all dead..." Ke Ke murmured.

Li Fan nodded.

The agony of such a fusion was beyond imagination and would surely drive anyone to madness; if these people were still alive, the suffering they would endure was unthinkable.

It was truly unimaginable.

Just then, the curled branches of one tree twitched violently, as if the thing were convulsing, causing everyone present to jump in fright.

"Quick, stop gawking! Get your protective suits on and split into groups. Two to a tree, start the dissection. Try to keep the torsos intact as a sign of respect for the deceased. Minister Sun from the Research Department called personally to demand the data; he's in a hurry, so let's get to it!"

Wu Qian clapped his hands, urging them on.

The group immediately stepped forward to begin moving the tree-people.

Wu Qian glanced at Li Fan and added:

"Section Chief Li, you pair up with Ke Ke. Get the job done as quickly as possible."

Li Fan, who had been preparing to start working with Zhang Hongbing, froze at these words:

"Chief Wu, is that appropriate? I've only been on the job for a day, I don't know anything yet..."

Wu Qian waved his hand dismissively:

"Young people need to be challenged to get up to speed. Didn't you all learn this during your initial training? It's just cutting up corpses and recording data, what's so hard about that? Get to it, and if you don't know something, have Ke Ke teach you."

It's rare to find such a diligent and responsible young man, he thought to himself. Must cultivate him well.

I need to groom him into a reliable backbone of the department as soon as possible.

Those cases of liquor yesterday were excellent; high-end stuff, indeed...

The staff of the Dissection Department headed to the equipment room to change into their protective suits, and several colleagues who hadn't had the chance to offer their congratulations earlier took the opportunity to congratulate Li Fan.

Young and already promoted to Section Chief after only a few days on the job—his future was limitless.

After expressing his gratitude, Li Fan and Ke Ke drove a small forklift over, selected a "tree," and transported it to a dissection table.

Between the person and the tree, the weight totaled several hundred pounds; an ordinary person wouldn't have been able to move it at all.

After checking their vital signs, it was confirmed that these "tree-people" were indeed completely dead, with no cellular activity remaining.

The reading on the Psychic Radiation Detector hovered around 50.

A classic case of anomalous infection.

"Section Chief Li, you take the lead as the surgeon, and I'll assist you," Ke Ke said gently.

The young girl showed no sign of dissatisfaction.

Li Fan did not decline either, saying:

"Alright, Sister Ke Ke, just call me Li Fan. Titles like Section Chief are all just empty air. Please hand me the chainsaw."

Li Fan had chosen a corpse that had fused with a tree starting from the shoulder; the entire left half of the body was essentially embedded within the wood, with long sections of trunk extending from both the top and bottom.

He had to saw off the trunk at both ends before he could proceed with the dissection.

The Dissection Department was fully stocked with tools of all sizes. Having dealt with plenty of bizarre, anomalous infected entities over the years, there was no need to go hunting for equipment.

"Help me hold down the trunk above the head."

Ke Ke immediately complied, pressing her hands, encased in thick protective gloves, firmly against the trunk.

Li Fan started the chainsaw. Amidst the roar of the motor, he began to cut rapidly into the wood.

"Screech—"

As the chainsaw blade made contact, the entire canopy shuddered violently, its leaves and branches curling inward.

A pale red liquid immediately seeped from the cut, carrying a strange, eerie mixture of herbal fragrance and the metallic tang of blood.

Li Fan frowned, but remained unmoved, continuing his downward cut.

His current physical condition was excellent, and his strength was more than sufficient. He held the chainsaw steady and soon severed the trunk above the head.

Next came the roots at the bottom.

In no time at all, the excess trunk at both ends had been removed, leaving a pool of pale red liquid on the floor.

The cross-section of the trunk was also pale red, looking much like a piece of meat left out for days.

With the surrounding branches and twigs cleared away, the subsequent dissection became much easier.

Picking up a scalpel and having Ke Ke secure the corpse's limbs, Li Fan began to cut along the areas where the tree and the body had fused.

The blade felt as if it were slicing through tough bark rather than skin, but fortunately, it parted smoothly.

"Record," Li Fan said in a deep voice as he cut through the flesh.

Ke Ke immediately activated the recorder while scribbling rapidly in her notebook.

"Human tissue and tree tissue are uniformly fused. Blood vessels and nerves are interwoven within the wooden structure. Suspected cellular-level fusion..."

"Organs are blackened, showing signs of necrosis..."

"Inferred that the complete alteration of human structure led to an immune rejection response, resulting in multi-organ failure and death..."

As he spoke, Li Fan skillfully opened the corpse, continuously examining the state of each bodily system.

Dissection and disposal of anomalous infections were not medical experiments, and the staff at the Dissection Department were all self-taught amateurs; their primary goal was simply to locate the source of the anomalous infection.

Precision work was left to the Research Department.

Soon, the infected entity before them had been mostly dissected, and the areas where the tree and body had fused were all cut open and inspected.

Nothing unusual.

Or rather, nothing that could be identified as an anomalous infectious object.

Although the tree-man before them was extremely bizarre and by no means a normal existence, no anomalous infection source had been detected within the body at all.

The reading on the Psychic Radiation Detector had even dropped slightly.

The fused parts of the tree-man were incredibly healthy, giving the impression that these tissues were meant to grow that way.

It was the human parts that could not withstand the transformation.

After a long bout of manual labor, Li Fan felt a bit tired. He tossed his pliers aside and said:

"Sister Ke Ke, let's go to the lounge and take a break."

"Oh." Ke Ke nodded quickly and followed Li Fan to undergo decontamination.

After finishing in the decontamination room, shedding their protective suits, and changing into casual clothes, they arrived at the lounge.

Li Fan poured a cup of coffee and slumped onto the sofa, ready to clear his head.

Ke Ke also collapsed onto the sofa, taking off her black-rimmed glasses to gently rub her eyes.

Only then did Li Fan notice that without her glasses, Ke Ke was actually quite delicate and beautiful—a real beauty.

It was just that her dark circles were a bit heavy.

He teased her on the spot:

"Sister Ke Ke, did you have too much fun last night? Why are your dark circles so heavy?"

Ke Ke waved her hands hurriedly:

"No, no, I... I don't have time to have fun... I was working a part-time job until very late last night."

A part-time job?

Li Fan was stunned.

The Anomaly Bureau's salary was decent enough, and even though the Dissection Department wasn't exactly popular, it came with special allowances. It was definitely considered a high salary in Gu City, so why would she need a part-time job?

Seeing Li Fan's confusion, Ke Ke said:

"I actually work three jobs: one in the morning, one at noon, and another at night. If it weren't for Director Wu, I wouldn't have had a chance at all..."

"Sister Ke Ke, have you run into some kind of trouble?"

Ke Ke sighed and said:

"It's all to pay for my sister's treatment... She has Long Sleep Syndrome, also known as Sleeping Sickness..."

Listening to Ke Ke's explanation, Li Fan realized that after the appearance of anomalous events, some anomalous illnesses had also emerged in this world.

Long Sleep Syndrome was one of them.

Those afflicted fall into a deep, eternal slumber; while their vital signs become extremely weak, their brain waves remain abnormally active.

According to modern medicine, their vital signs have all but vanished, effectively rendering them corpses.

Except for the brain.

Yet, they are not dead.

It is as if the patients are living in another world.

A world of dreams.

The treatment for Long Sleep Syndrome and the maintenance of vital signs require a massive amount of money. Although the salary at the Anomaly Bureau is not low, it is still not enough.

That is why Ke Ke took on three extra jobs, and combined with her previous savings, she is barely scraping by.

Li Fan sighed and asked:

"How much more do you need?"

Ke Ke's expression dimmed:

"The annual maintenance costs at least two million. My savings are almost bottomed out, and if it comes to it, I'm prepared to ask the Bureau for a ten-year salary advance... If that doesn't work, there's still the death benefit..."

"Don't worry, I'll help you think of a way," Li Fan comforted her.

The Cleaning Association has plenty of money.

He casually pulled out a lighter and put a cigarette in his mouth, preparing to soothe his nerves.

As he flipped open the lid of the windproof lighter, a red flame flared up, and the surrounding scene instantly transformed!

The lounge, which had looked clean and tidy just a moment ago, was now permeated with wisps of black mist; the smooth walls became mottled and covered in patches of mold.

Every object became rusted and covered in dust.

The entire office building seemed to have turned into a ruin abandoned for who knows how many years.

Li Fan rubbed his eyes, then stared intently at the windproof lighter in his hand.

This was the lighter he had brought back from the Prison of Suppression!