Tai Sui

At three o'clock in the morning, the office building of the Dissection Department was brightly lit.

A group of dissectionists, accustomed to slacking off, gathered in the director's office with dark circles under their eyes, yawning incessantly.

Li Fan sat among them, equally bleary-eyed.

It was decided: the Unity Society could not be allowed to remain.

At the very least, they could not remain in Gu City.

If nothing else, this place—which was supposed to be a retirement home famous for its lax work culture—had been forced into becoming a midnight overtime hub.

Li Fan felt this was an insult to his colleagues.

It desecrated everyone's dreams.

"I don't know which bastard is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, and the Bureau Chief must be out of his mind too. What are we supposed to do even if we show up at the Dissection Department? If something real happens, can we even block an anomaly? We'd just be a burden to the Investigation Department!"

Wu Qian, his eyes bloodshot, cursed the Bureau Chief before the brothers in the department could even start complaining.

Instantly, the tension caused by sleep deprivation and morning grumpiness dissipated.

Right, this wasn't the director's fault; he couldn't help it either.

It was all the Bureau Chief's lack of brains.

That idiot Bureau Chief.

Following this, Wu Qian, having pacified his subordinates, changed his tone:

"But regardless, we still rely on the Bureau for our paychecks. There's no helping it; the work has arrived at the Dissection Room, and since we're already here, we have to get it done. We still have some reception funds left in the department budget. Once we finish, how about we all go out for some karaoke and a meal? What do you say, brothers?"

Deputy Director Liu Dalong laughed and said:

"Director, why are you talking to us like that? Everyone in our department is a hard worker. What's a little overtime? It's settled then: Xidelong Hotel. Oh, and they have that all-in-one foot massage service..."

Zhang Hongbing slammed the table and stood up:

"Director, that's where you're wrong. Isn't a word from you enough to get the brothers to work overtime? No need for all these bells and whistles, let's just get it done! Xidelong sounds good."

The entire Dissection Department shook off its lethargy, instantly becoming high-spirited as they crowded around their leader toward the Dissection Room.

Seeing this, Li Fan felt moved as well.

The work atmosphere in the Dissection Department was truly excellent; it really felt like a home away from home.

In contrast, that big villa he lived in felt like a place where he had to walk on eggshells—it didn't feel like a home at all.

If things didn't improve, he would have to give his family a hint to change the style and atmosphere of the Cleaning Association; it shouldn't be so serious.

At least, that was how it was in the Southwest Pastoral District...

Soon, everyone had changed into their protective suits and stood in the Dissection Room, staring at the thing before them in shock.

"What a sin..."

Zhang Hongbing muttered, then took a sharp drag of his cigarette inside his protective suit, filling his mask with smoke until his face was obscured.

Hu Zhengqi, the head of the Second Section, smacked his lips and said:

"I've been in this department for so many years, and this is the first time I've encountered something that makes me want to vomit..."

As he spoke, he vomited inside his suit.

Li Fan also looked at the thing before him, his expression grim.

It was a group of people.

No, they could no longer be considered human.

Before them lay a large, irregular rectangular block of flesh.

It was seven or eight meters long, and about a meter in both height and width.

Numerous limbs protruded from the mass, some rubbed raw to the point where muscle and bone were visible.

Twisted human faces were vaguely discernible along the edges of the flesh block.

Various clothes and shoes were fused right into it.

This was a monster formed by the fusion of many people.

The only thing to be thankful for now was that the people inside were all dead.

Seeing those faces, some with eyes closed and others wide open, Li Fan's eyes narrowed involuntarily.

He thought of Wang Haitao, whom he had dissected earlier, and the two shoppers who had tried to save others.

And the archaeological team members who had fused with the trees.

He squinted at the sight, and a sudden "crack" sound came from his hand. He jolted, realizing he had unconsciously crushed the Mental Radiation Detector in his grip, leaving a fissure.

He tossed the detector aside; his resolve was absolute.

The Unity Society really could not be allowed to remain.

Seeing the tragic scene before them, the members of the Dissection Department, who had been complaining about overtime just moments ago, now wore solemn expressions. Without a word of complaint, they consciously split into groups, picked up their tools, and began the dissection.

Humanity possessed a natural pity for the tragic plight of their own kind.

Wu Qian picked up his tools along with the others and began to work.

Anomaly Containment File No. E212940

Codename: Tai Sui.

Infection Manifestation: Somatic fusion; the fused individuals gradually lose consciousness and perish.

Case Details: The police recently received a series of missing persons reports. Investigations pointed to a patch of forest on Cloud Mountain in the outskirts of Gu City. When police forces were dispatched to search the area, they were attacked by Tai Sui. However, the entity lost its ability to move minutes after fleeing and died rapidly.

Disposition: The Transportation Department of the Southwest Bureau of the Anomaly Administration Support Center detected anomalous psychic infection levels at the scene, retrieved Tai Sui, and transferred it to the Dissection Department.

Psychic Radiation Level: 0–10.

Anomaly Infection Rating: D.

The electronic file of the anomalous entity appeared on the screen to the side. Everyone took a glance, sighed in unison, and continued the dissection.

This anomalous entity was clearly formed from the fusion of those missing persons.

One could only wonder if they still possessed consciousness after being fused.

Moreover, having spent many days alive in the forest, one could only imagine the despair and terror they endured.

Because Tai Sui's body was far too massive, the primary task for the dissectors was to slowly cut it open, following the gaps between the fused bodies to pull the corpses out one by one.

Or rather, to cut them away directly.

Afterward, they would record various data and search for the existence of any other anomalous items.

Having overcome their internal discomfort, the dozen or so people worked quite quickly together.

Liu Dalong took the lead as the primary surgeon.

Only now did Li Fan realize that the butcher shop Liu Dalong's family ran was not for nothing.

He hadn't expected that the burly-looking Liu Dalong would have such skillful knife work.

Using a butcher's knife, he cut swiftly along the seams of the conjoined corpses, and before long, he had "carved out" a relatively intact body.

Because some areas were fused too deeply, it could only be considered relatively intact.

Those who received the bodies immediately moved them onto dissection tables in pairs and began a careful examination.

Li Fan and Ke Ke were assigned a young girl.

Prying open the girl's eyelids and inspecting them closely with a light, Li Fan spoke quickly:

"No foreign objects in the eyes, no obvious signs of infection. Forceps."

Ke Ke recorded the findings while handing over the forceps.

Li Fan pried open the corpse's mouth again, inspected it with the light, and said:

"No foreign objects in the oral cavity, no obvious signs of infection."

He then furrowed his brows, staring at the corpse before him, and suddenly noticed something wedged in the girl's twisted palm.

He used the forceps to pull it out with force, revealing a fragment.

It was a piece of a subway card.

Li Fan examined the subway card carefully, pulled out his mottled windproof lighter, and flicked it on.

A blood-red flame flared, illuminating the entire Dissection Room.

Li Fan looked around and saw that all the corpses, along with the remains of Tai Sui still being dismembered, were covered in wisps of black mold representing anomalous psychic radiation.

But that was all there was.

Aside from a bit of black mold on the surface of their bodies, no fungal hyphae or similar things emerged from within the corpses.

They were different from previous infected entities.

There was no source of infection inside them.

Li Fan carefully examined the corpse's limbs again and found that one of her hands showed severe signs of corrosion.

Clearly, this hand had been the first to come into contact with Tai Sui; it was the same hand where the subway card fragment had been found.

The other hand had been exposed, tightly clutching a broken hairpin stained with blood.

"There is writing on this corpse," Zhang Hongbing said from the dissection table next to them.

Li Fan looked over immediately and saw the words "Help" and "Ground" scratched crookedly into the side of the corpse's waist.

There was also a scratch mark next to them.

These two corpses had been pressed together.

This meant that she had still been alive at the time, desperately using her exposed right hand to clutch a hairpin and carve three words into Tai Sui's body.