Chapter 12: Chapter 11: Why Does Everything Happen to Our Family?
Perception is the mind’s interpretation of signals received by the body’s organs.
What the eyes cannot see, one can touch with their hands and body. What one cannot touch, one can observe with their eyes. And what one can neither see nor touch, one can hear with their ears.
Compared to an ordinary person, He Xiaotian’s perception was on a completely different level.
A frenzied aura permeated the room, repulsive and unsettling.
"Dad?"
His eyes swept across the bedroom, landing on his father, who was tied tightly to the bed.
His face was pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and low, guttural roars rumbled from his throat.
"Meat... Meat... I want meat..."
He Xiaotian’s face drained of color. His father, normally as steady as a mountain, had become... this. How could he possibly remain calm? His face darkened as he walked out of the bedroom. "What’s going on?!" he demanded.
"I... I don’t know... WAHHH..." His mother covered her face, breaking into sobs.
"Mom, please, don’t cry. The priority right now is figuring out why Dad is like this." He Xiaotian’s expression was grim. All the signs indicated that his father’s condition was an exact match for the patients mentioned in the online forum and the ones he’d glimpsed at the hospital.
"Try to calm down, and then tell me everything from the beginning."
After saying this, he stepped out of the house, pulled out his phone, and called his cousin.
The post from today had clearly mentioned a dozen or so biting incidents, perhaps even more.
Otherwise, why would hundreds of people have gone to the hospital for treatment?
Did one person bite ten people?
You think this is Yip Man?
His cousin had left in a hurry earlier; it was probably related to this.
If nothing else, he could ask him to get some inside information from the police station.
"Hey, cousin, what’s up? I don’t think I’ll be able to make it back tonight." His cousin’s voice came through the phone.
"Cousin, I need to ask you—what’s the deal with all these biting incidents?" He Xiaotian asked urgently.
"Why are you suddenly asking about this case?" His cousin’s tone turned serious, hinting that this was no ordinary matter.
"Something happened at home. My dad’s become exactly like those people. If he wasn’t tied to the bed, he would’ve snapped and started biting people by now!" At this, he gritted his teeth. ’Just let me find out who’s behind this. I’ll make the culprit pay dearly for what they’ve done.’
"What if I told you it was just a strange, mutated infection and that you should take your dad to the hospital for quarantine and treatment immediately? Would you believe me?" his cousin asked, letting out a long, slow breath.
"I’m not a three-year-old. How could a normal infection give off that kind of frenzied aura? There’s clearly more to this story. Cousin, tell me. He is my dad!" He spoke the last four words deliberately, enunciating each one.
"Alright, Xiaotian. I can’t say much about the case. The department is worried about causing a public panic, so we just signed NDAs. But don’t worry too much. A special task force from the provincial capital is coming to investigate.
"And listen, don’t buy any meat, and definitely don’t eat any! Make sure you remember this—*any* meat. For now, your dad is stable, so don’t get involved. You’re just a college student. You can’t do anything to help. That’s all there is to it."
"I understand, cousin." Before Liu Junming could say any more, He Xiaotian crushed the phone in his hand. His cousin was a man of principle, and above all, a dedicated police officer.
Getting him to break protocol was practically impossible.
Never mind trying to pry details about the biting incidents out of him—not even his own father could make him talk!
Besides, he’d already said a lot, revealing one key piece of information: meat.
He Xiaotian knew his cousin was just trying to protect him. ’It’s true, I’m just a college student, not some brawny laborer. How could I possibly help?’
And this whole situation ran deep. Very deep.
The frenzied aura in that room alone was enough to prove this was no ordinary infection.
’But cousin,’ He Xiaotian thought, ’I’m not just an ordinary university student.’
He Xiaotian wasn’t arrogant. He didn’t think getting a Golden Finger made him some kind of chosen one.
He knew that if it hadn’t been his father, he wouldn’t have given this whole affair a second glance.
But it just so happened that his father, the pillar of their family, had fallen.
If he let fear paralyze him, if he simply resigned himself to fate...
...and placed all his hope in the provincial task force, could he even call himself a son?
’Even if I didn’t have the Experience Points system or the Fire-refined Golden Body, I’d still have to do this.’
Determination hardened He Xiaotian’s gaze.
’Dad, you’ve always been the one to guide me through tough times, my greatest pillar of support.’
’Now, let me, your son, be yours!’
He pushed the door open and went back inside the house.
"Mom, are you feeling any better?" He needed to hear the whole story to figure out his next move.
"When your father came home this afternoon, I noticed he was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. I could understand if it was because of the missing worker from a few days ago, but while things have been busy lately, he’s still been getting enough rest.
"After he got home, he just kept muttering about meat. He even started tearing the place apart, looking for raw meat to eat. I was going to call the police, but the paper mill is at such a critical stage right now.
"So I called your aunt and uncle. After your father ate all the raw meat in the house, he started going berserk when he couldn’t find any more, like a total madman. Thankfully, they got here just in time to stop him. You know the rest."
"What kind of meat did he eat?"
"Zhongcheng."
He Xiaotian narrowed his eyes. Zhongcheng was a slaughterhouse, and it was the largest meat supplier in Z County.
To put it simply, eighty percent of the meat sold at the market came from their facility.
The remaining twenty percent was taken up by a few well-known national food corporations.
But since those were famous brands, their prices were naturally higher.
So why did his own family eat meat from the Zhongcheng slaughterhouse?
Simple: it was fresh.
A large number of animals were slaughtered there every day, and the meat was immediately shipped to local markets and supermarkets.
"You didn’t eat any, Mom?"
"I’ve been on a diet lately, avoiding anything heavy or greasy."
He Xiaotian rolled his eyes. ’You’re barely a hundred pounds and you’re talking about dieting?’
"Did you call a doctor? Did they say why he went berserk?"
"The most famous doctor in Z County, Dr. Zhang, came. After looking at him for a while, he just said there was nothing he could do. He suggested we go to the provincial capital, since the facilities and equipment there are better."
"Do we know any doctors at the People’s Hospital? We should call them, ask about the current condition of the patients from the biting incidents. If... never mind." He trailed off, then turned and walked back into the bedroom.
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