Chapter 346: Chapter 346: Someone is Tampering
"Be careful from now on, never eat those unidentified things again, even if they are things you used to be familiar with. After so many years of accumulation and some chemical reactions, it’s very possible that mutations could occur. What was originally non-toxic, well, could have turned toxic, understand?"
"Dare to eat them again? This time, it has already scared us out of our wits. I will not pick and eat things randomly anymore. Okay, Dr. Liu, sorry to trouble you, we’ll be going now."
Since they had resolved these troublesome matters, it was a cause for celebration for them. There was no need to stay any longer, so they hurriedly left the clinic.
Liu Zheng took a deep breath and then glanced outside. Thankfully, there was no one else around at that time.
It seemed that not many people had eaten the mushrooms. After all, there was a limited amount every time they grew. After the two of them had picked them, basically there wasn’t much left for others.
But Liu Zheng also must find out who was responsible and whether those things were mixed in with the mushrooms or the soil. If it was the soil, then the contamination source could be much wider.
He worried that the toxins could slowly seep through the soil into underground rivers and then, through a kind of backflow effect, return to the village through well water. If so, the village’s water could be severely contaminated.
Liu Zheng quietly walked into the inner room where he saw the grandmother and grandson sitting cross-legged on the bed, seemingly in conversation.
He approached and carefully examined the wound. It seemed to be much better than the day before, at least the pus was no longer oozing out, and some parts had even begun to heal slowly.
"Good, the recovery is not bad. It seems that my treatment is quite effective. You two stay here; I need to head over to the back mountain for a bit, I have some things to take care of."
"Okay then, we’ll trouble you, Dr. Liu. But, why are you going to the back mountain at this hour? Are you going to do something?"
"Some villagers picked some mushrooms from the back mountain and ate them. Normally, these mushrooms are fine—I ate them as a child, and many villagers have eaten them without problems. But this time, poisoning symptoms appeared."
"The mushrooms from the back mountain? Oh, I remember now. Is it at the foot of the mountain, if you walk eastward, there is a small patch that looks like a vegetable garden, right by the corner of the wall where two pieces of wood are and where the mushrooms grow?"
"Exactly, that’s the spot. How come, have you seen it too?"
"Heh, not just seen; we’ve even eaten them."
"What did you say? You’ve eaten those mushrooms? But after eating them, you didn’t have any reaction at all?"
"Not at all, no reaction whatsoever. And after eating them, the mushrooms even tasted really sweet. At that time, my grandson had picked some and cooked a big pot of soup at night. We really did eat a lot that day."
"If others had reactions after eating them and only you didn’t, it proves that the virus in your body can erode these bacteria, and so, the toxin doesn’t affect you at all and is quickly broken down in your body."
"I guess that must be it. Otherwise, why would normal people get poisoned while we don’t? It’s probably because the virus in our bodies is too powerful."
"Okay then, it looks like there is some issue with these mushrooms. They shouldn’t have mutated after so many years of growth. I’m worried someone might be doing this on purpose. If that’s the case, then the entire village will be in grave danger."
"Well, now that you mention it, I do have some recollections. I remember once at midnight, when I came into the village and was spotted by someone, then I quickly fled. As I was preparing to hide in the cave, I saw someone walking back and forth in that patch of land."
Upon saying this, it seemed as if he had reminded Liu Zheng; after all, these people had been living there, even for many days. Could it be that they knew something?
"Usually, the mushrooms grow back about five days after the rain, so new mushrooms can grow. So, the toxins must have been added to the new mushrooms. This means that the contamination didn’t happen too long ago, so you must have seen it."
"Right, we’ve seen it. At first, I thought it was done by the neighboring villagers. So, neighbors were afraid to see us, and I dared not contact them. So, I quickly bypassed that spot. But now that you bring it up, I did see something. Oh, right, it was right after it had rained that day, and it was in the evening."
"What did this person look like? Do you have any recollections?"
"What I saw was just a silhouette, and under poor lighting conditions. But I got the sense that this person was not simple. Even when walking, the body was light, yet from the distance, it looked like a white-haired old person."
"A white-haired old person?"
Upon hearing that, Liu Zheng frowned slightly, because as far as he remembered, there was no such elderly person with white hair in the village. There were indeed many elderly people, but none with white hair.
"Exactly, I am fairly certain of what I saw. Other than that, I couldn’t make out anything more."
"Alright, I’ve got it. You two rest here for now. While I’m gone, the clinic door will be locked. I won’t let anyone in, so you should be safe here for now."
After explaining everything to them, Liu Zheng stood up and left. He then headed back down to the familiar lands at the foot of the mountain.
