fictionpage Chapter 122, The Second Tongue of the Dead
Chapter 122, The Second Tongue of the Dead
Chapter 122 The Second Tongue of the Dead
The only person in the entire apartment was an elderly woman lying in bed, and she was in a vegetative state.
Luo Shuo quickly entered the room and confirmed that the culprit he had traced from Fang Yi and Guo Yunxi was the old woman lying on the bed.
However, the old woman's appearance bears a resemblance to Fang Yi.
"Call the Xingtai City Investigation Bureau and have them investigate the relationship between the people in this house and Fang Yi," Li Jiuhe said. "Also, ask them to provide a brain-consciousness bidirectional transmission converter."
"Okay." Luo Shuo immediately made a phone call.
Li Jiuhe turned his head and glanced at the strange humanoid figure formed by the swarm of ants that was wandering around the room.
This humanoid figure is very similar to Zhou Yiwen's cursed incarnation from earlier, with thick limbs, a large belly, and bulging patches on its back, resembling a deformed hematoma.
It's clear that Ma Li thinks the cursed avatar was really cool, killing Fang Yi, a newly promoted curse master, in one fell swoop, which is why she's now using an ant swarm to simulate its appearance.
He said to Ma Li, "Let's take you in, you weirdo. The Bureau of Investigation will be here soon. Also, that cursed incarnation just happened to be a perfect counter to Fang Yi; it doesn't have to be in that form to be powerful."
"oh."
Ma Li gave a command in her mind, and the strange humanoid figure instantly dispersed, turning into a large number of ants that crawled back into her stomach along her tail.
Knowing that investigators would be arriving soon, she wisely stood in a corner, trying her best not to attract attention.
Not long after Luo Shuo hung up the phone, a police car arrived first.
However, the police car was simply parked on the street outside the apartment building, and the people in the car did not get out; they were probably just there to assist after receiving orders.
If the Bureau of Investigation requests it, these police officers will immediately get out of their vehicles and begin their work.
After waiting for a while, the Bureau of Investigation's black official car arrived.
The car door opened, and a bald man in a trench coat jumped out first, followed by a young man.
The young man was holding a device in his hands, which was a two-way brain consciousness transmission converter.
"Hello, leader, I am Zheng Yuanfeng, the team leader of Group One of the Xingtai City Investigation Bureau." The bald man shook hands with Li Jiuhe.
He could tell when he got out of the car that Luo Shuo was standing half a step behind Li Jiuhe, which meant that Li Jiuhe was probably in charge here.
After introducing himself, Li Jiuhe did not reveal what had happened to him. He simply explained that they were investigating a case here, specifically the cursed Fang Yi, and that's how they found this apartment.
As for the series of events that happened to the old sorcerer Zhou Yiwen today, he only mentioned it briefly and did not go into details.
If we want to go into details, we'll leave that for Zhou Yiwen to report to the local investigation bureau himself.
The bald man, Zheng Yuanfeng, had already obtained the address information before arriving. He quickly said, "We just checked, this apartment belongs to Fang Yi. His mother, Luo Fang, is 67 years old and has been bedridden for many years."
"Is it paralysis, not a vegetative state?" Li Jiuhe found the key to this question.
Zheng Yuanfeng was taken aback. He took out his phone and pulled up the information he had just checked. He looked at it carefully again: "Yes, it's confirmed that it's just paralysis, not loss of consciousness. It's not a vegetative state."
"Go in and take a look first, and while you're at it, plug this machine in and put it by the bedside," Li Jiuhe said.
"it is good."
Zheng Yuanfeng looked suspicious and quickly walked into the apartment with his men.
Upon entering the bedroom, Luo Shuo quickly cleared the items from the bedside table for them, while the young man placed the instrument on it, found a power outlet, and plugged it in.
Zheng Yuanfeng stood by the bed and bent down to carefully examine the old woman Luo Fang on the bed.
After a short while, he lifted Luo Fang's arm and found it limp and unresponsive. He then turned on his phone's flashlight and used it to pry open Luo Fang's eyelids to check.
The pupil reacts only slightly to light.
However, it was clear that the other person's pulse was strong and slightly fast, indicating that Luo Fang was aware of the outside world.
Li Jiuhe also came to the bedside and stood there.
Zheng Yuanfeng was surprised by the test results: "It's strange. The record said it was just paralysis due to illness, but now it looks like I'm in a vegetative state. Could it be that my condition has suddenly worsened recently?"
Li Jiuhe said, "Regardless of whether it gets worse, let's first stick the converter's transmission sensor wire to her head and see if we can communicate."
The young investigator immediately got to work, and although he didn't seem very skilled, he finished in no time and turned on the converter.
After the instrument has been running for a short while, the green light stays on, indicating that it is working normally.
In reality, a person in a vegetative state has no independent consciousness and cannot communicate with the outside world like a normal person.
Order modifiers, or sequencers, are special vegetative individuals who can communicate with the outside world because their brain activity is extremely developed, and almost all the energy in their bodies is converted into mental energy.
This consciousness converter can only be used on them, and is not applicable to people in a true vegetative state.
"Luo Fang, can you hear what I'm saying?" Li Jiuhe asked.
If the other party can answer, it proves that Luo Fang is also an Order Rectifier, or at least has exceptionally developed mental power, comparable to a true Order Rectifier.
After waiting for a while, the converter did not respond at all.
"So she's just an ordinary person in a vegetative state?" Zheng Yuanfeng asked.
Li Jiuhe frowned and remained silent.
Just then, the indicator light above the converter suddenly started flashing.
Soon the two words appeared on the screen.
【Help----】
Then the line of text jumped and was replaced by new text.
Who are you?
The second line of text looks normal, but it feels out of place compared to the previous two words.
Li Jiuhe and Zheng Yuanfeng exchanged a glance.
"She really is a Sequencer."
"But what was the meaning of the first sentence?"
The people inside were completely bewildered.
However, one thing is certain: although Luo Fang may not be an order restorer, her mental strength is definitely formidable.
"Are you aware that your son, Fang Yi, is a cursed being?" Li Jiuhe asked.
"Ah, I don't know. Officer, what is a cursed person?"
Li Jiuhe frowned slightly.
If this person knows nothing, why would Luo Shuo's search focus on her?
If she truly didn't know, then the reason behind Fang Yi's actions against her would be buried with him forever.
After a moment's hesitation, just as he was about to ask more questions, he suddenly saw the light on the converter flashing violently, at a much faster frequency than before.
Almost immediately, text appeared on the screen.
Don't believe him, he's not me!
As soon as this line of text appeared, another new line of text immediately appeared, overwriting the first line.
Sorry, I slept too long and I'm a little groggy.
Everyone standing by the bed was startled. Zheng Yuanfeng immediately bent down to check on the person on the bed and saw that Luo Fang's eyelids were trembling rapidly. It was clear that she was experiencing a very fast and intense emotional change.
I really don't understand what you just said. Did something happen to my son? He should be home by now.
As they examined the person on the bed, text continued to appear on the converter's display screen, and it seemed to have returned to normal.
No, it wasn't me.
Another string of strange characters appeared, as if someone was eager to express something, but their mouth was tightly covered.
Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo realized something at the same time.
Luo Shuo quickly stepped forward and whispered to Li Jiuhe, "Brother Li, it seems there are—two people inside her!"
"There must be two consciousnesses in her mind, one is herself, and the other is an outsider."
Li Jiuhe added.
The others present, who had been completely bewildered, suddenly realized what was happening, but their expressions became even more astonished.
"Who are you? Who is taking over Luo Fang's consciousness?" Zheng Yuanfeng asked hurriedly.
【I don't understand what you're talking about. Tell me quickly, what happened to my son, Fang Yi?】
Shortly after that sentence appeared, another sentence immediately followed, and at the same time, the frequency of the converter's flashing lights increased dramatically.
Don't trust him.
Tell me! Where is Fang Yi?
Two sentences scrolled onto the screen one after the other.
"He's dead. Fang Yi is dead," Li Jiuhe replied. "He murdered his own mentor and cast a curse on me. He's been executed!"
No, that's not true. My son is very obedient; he's not the kind of person you're describing.
He's dead? Is he finally dead? He killed outsiders in his quest to become stronger—
I'm feeling very confused right now, I'm sorry to have made you laugh.
You must believe me! That person is trying to take over my mind!
Please let me calm down, because the news you brought me is driving me crazy. I think I'm going insane!
For a moment, the text on the converter screen kept jumping around, and as soon as a line appeared, it was immediately overwritten by the next line of text.
The sight left Li Jiuhe and the others dazzled.
However, he noticed something amiss from these constantly changing conversations.
In this dialogue, every other sentence is the consciousness of Fang Yi's real mother, while the next sentence is the consciousness of the outsider.
Fang Yi's mother kept trying to let them know that the other person speaking was not her.
The outsider's consciousness attempted to deceive them, using phrases like "confusion" and "going crazy" to conceal the manifestation of Fang Yi's mother's consciousness.
This scene was very strange; none of the people present had ever seen a person in a vegetative state like this before.
Li Jiuhe had already figured out that Fang Yi's mother might have originally just been paralyzed, but judging from her tone, it was probably her son and outsiders who had done something to harm her, which led to the current situation.
The text on the screen continued to scroll, but it was mostly the outsider pretending to be Fang Yi's mother speaking.
As for Fang Yi's real mother, Luo Fang, her consciousness may not be as strong as that person's, and her words began to decrease as her consciousness shifted.
Sometimes I get abruptly interrupted after only saying half of what I've said.
The outsider continued to try to make those present understand, in her own words, that Luo Fang was simply confused because she was so shocked by her son's sudden death.
However, Li Jiuhe was now on high alert, guarding against the possibility of something even stranger happening to the person lying on the bed.
He was all too familiar with this scene. Although the location of the last incident was different, the feeling was strangely familiar.
However, one thing was fortunate: Chenzhong was not by his side. Before he had thoroughly investigated the matter, Chenzhong obeyed his orders and did not appear at all.
I know Fang Yi is the one who has been cursed, he—
I'm sorry, please let me rest! My thoughts are very jumbled right now, please give me some space to process my son's passing.
The text on the screen is still jumping.
Li Jiuhe suddenly stepped forward, put his hand in front of Luo Fang's mouth, and then turned her lips open and pried open her tightly closed teeth.
Luo Shuo was startled, realizing what he was trying to do, and quickly stepped forward to take a look.
The sight before them startled them; Luo Fang's tongue was large and thick, and had changed color, turning grayish-purple.
"This isn't her tongue!" Luo Shuo exclaimed in surprise.
Li Jiuhe had already grabbed the thick tongue and pulled it out sharply; it was a tongue that had broken off at the root.
The tongue was stuffed entirely into Luo Fang's mouth, wrapped tightly, and could not be noticed from the outside unless you looked closely.
Almost at the same moment, a sentence popped up on the converter's display screen.
[Fang Yi stuffed his tongue into my hand.]
Luo Shuo, fearing Li Jiuhe might have forgotten, quickly reminded him, "The male corpse in the home of the corpse controller in Mingzhu City—that male corpse was missing its tongue!"
Li Jiuhe nodded and tossed his tongue towards Ma Li: "Destroy it."
"Well"
As the slippery tongue flew towards her, Ma Li instinctively showed a look of disgust and almost dodged it.
Although this tongue is highly likely to have come from a cannibal, if Ma Li were to eat it like she ate that mass of corpse-controlling flesh, it would definitely be very beneficial to her. However, she just couldn't bring herself to put her mouth on it.
She then stuffed the tongue inside her dress, releasing a large number of ants from its tail, which began to feast on the tongue under her skirt.
To the ant colony, this was simply a delicacy.
Moreover, they still evolve after eating, just like how Mali eats and then feeds back to them.
Fang Yi—he harmed me; he doesn't deserve to be my son.
[Including the other one. ——— harmed me ——— stuffed ——— head* into my mouth ———]
He can't get out; he's stuck in my—head—
Just as Li Jiuhe found and removed Luo Fang's tongue from her mouth, the seemingly normal person on the converter's screen suddenly stopped speaking, leaving only Luo Fang's intermittent narration.
Her thinking was indeed somewhat unstable, but that was due to being too excited.
She was very grateful to Li Jiuhe because that tongue had been stuck in her mouth for days, making it difficult for her to breathe and causing her constant discomfort.
Moreover, judging from Luo Fang's words, she was originally just bedridden with paralysis, but she was conscious. It was her son Fang Yi and others who made her into a vegetable.
Not only that, the outsider's consciousness was forcibly entered her mind and shared this physical body with her.
Because Luo Fang was already paralyzed, she could only watch helplessly as all of this happened, powerless to change anything, and unable even to struggle.
Gradually, she didn't know why she went from being paralyzed to being in a vegetative state. However, the consciousness of the outsider in her mind grew stronger day by day, and she felt that it could completely take over her body at any time and directly erase her original consciousness.
In other words, that person could replace Luo Fang at any time and take over her body to continue living.
Luo Fang had long since given up hope, until just now when Li Jiuhe and the others suddenly appeared.
Looking at the intermittent text explanations on the converter, the foreign thoughts that had been pretending to be Luo Fang remained completely still, as if they had suddenly disappeared at this moment.
Zheng Yuanfeng, the leader of the first investigation team in Xingtai City, realized that the case was very complicated. He did not know the cause and effect, while Li Jiuhe should have been investigating the case all along, so he was very familiar with it.
Therefore, Zheng Yuanfeng dared not say anything more and just quietly watched the words Luo Fang conveyed.
He now understands very well that all he needs to do is cooperate closely with the investigators from the General Administration and not ask any other questions that he shouldn't.
Li Jiuhe asked, "Luo Fang, is that person still conscious? Can you still sense them?"
The screen quickly displayed a text reply.
He seems to have disappeared. I can't feel it, but I still feel very uncomfortable.
Li Jiuhe turned around and glanced at Ma Li.
Ma Li understood what he meant and nodded: "It's been cleaned up."
The tongue had been completely devoured by her black ant larvae at her feet, leaving almost no trace.
And just as she had predicted, the evolutionary effects brought about by the tongue were the same as those of controlling the corpse flesh.
However, there is one downside: this thing cannot be planted directly in a flowerpot like the corpse meat, otherwise it could continuously feed her ant colony.
After confirming that the second tongue of the terror eater had been completely devoured, Li Jiuhe bent down, leaned close to Luo Fang's ear, and said, word by word.
"I know you're still here. I only started pretending to be mute after I found the tongue of the person with a fear of eating. Isn't that a bit too late?"
Si————Ming————Yu. "
Xingtai City.
Special Incidents Investigation Bureau, Director's Office.
Director Lu shut down his computer, stood up, picked up his briefcase, and was about to leave.
A piercing sound, like an alarm, suddenly came from his briefcase.
Director Lu paused slightly, opened his briefcase, and took out a small black alarm device with a long, rectangular display screen on it.
At this moment, not only is a red light flashing on the alarm device, but a short text is also appearing on the display screen.
[Zhang Renjun is in critical condition. Please go to check on him immediately!]
Director Lu was startled and immediately rushed out of his office. He told his assistant to notify the heads of the five investigation teams and then prepared a vehicle to go to Zhang Renjun's house.
Zhang Renjun, one of only two Order Restorers in the Northeast Region of Tian Shu Kingdom, awakened in Xingtai City.
The fact that a city can produce an Order Regulator is a source of pride for the city's Bureau of Investigation, and such an individual is someone that the Bureau, including the regional shelters, will pay special attention to and care for.
Although the Order Regulator is in a vegetative state, all of his and his family's living expenses are now managed by the Bureau of Investigation, so there is no need for him to worry about them anymore.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Investigation, including the City Hall service department, will provide special care to the order changer and his/her family, including sending gifts and offering condolences during holidays.
Although some uninformed service departments simply do not understand why their superiors are asking them to give special attention to this family.
Since the birth of Sequence Ability, there have been approximately fifteen Order Rectifiers throughout the entire Tian Shu Kingdom.
Under normal circumstances, the addition and subtraction will not exceed three, and at the very least, there are twelve.
These order restorers can cover the entire territory of the Celestial Pivot Kingdom; this seems to be a fixed pattern, and it has always been so.
Because they are Order Regulators, even though they appear to be in a vegetative state, their lifespan is at least 120 years or more. In fact, the longest-lived Order Regulator on record lived to be 223 years old.
This is also the longest-lived person among all those who have undergone the Sequence, and there is no record of anyone breaking this record to date.
In the suburbs of Xingtai City, a number of people are gathered in a courtyard house.
The owner of this courtyard house was Zhang Renjun, who was worshipped by the local Zhang family while he was still alive.
The local municipal government's care and services for the Zhang family were all due to Zhang Renjun's existence. Although other distant relatives and nearby neighbors had no idea why, they all enjoyed welfare benefits to varying degrees because of him.
But now Zhang Renjun is suddenly critically ill.
In the spacious bedroom, Director Lu of the Investigation Bureau and several investigation team leaders had already arrived.
Everyone looked tense as they stared at the converter placed on the bedside table.
Zhang Renjun usually uses this dedicated converter to communicate with others.
At this moment, only four words are displayed on the converter's screen.
I'm not sick.
Director Lu was surprised. If he wasn't sick, why was he suddenly in critical condition?
Moreover, Zhang Renjun is indeed not very old, only sixty-three years old, which is still in his prime among the order restorers. It should not be a problem for him to outlive his next generation of descendants.
But now he was ashen-faced, weak, and lying in bed sweating profusely.
Director Lu quickly asked him, "What exactly happened?"
More text appeared on the screen.
[A new Order Rectifier has emerged—who wants to replace me!]
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