Chapter 58

"Is something happening?"

In a bus that gradually came to a stop and was being checked by heavily armed special police, a man looked out at the riot control vehicles and over a dozen armed special police officers outside, and asked curiously.

"It's probably because the East Sea Expo is about to be held."

His companion replied nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's right. With the expo, security measures must be tightened."

The man nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Seeing the special police approaching, he quickly took out his ID card.

Not only this bus, but any vehicle entering or exiting the highway was basically thoroughly checked, causing a large number of vehicles to be stuck at the highway entrances and exits.

On the section of the highway where a major traffic accident occurred last night, many damaged vehicles had already been towed away, and the ground had been cleared. However, in a certain area, several damaged vehicles were left in place.

Next to these severely deformed vehicles, two white tents were set up, and personnel in biohazard suits were carefully using disinfection sprayers to disinfect the surrounding ground.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

At this moment, three military transport helicopters, the Z-8A, flew in a triangular formation toward this area and slowly landed on the highway as they approached.

"Click."

A military officer in a colonel's uniform with thick eyebrows jumped out of the open cabin door, followed by some technical officers carrying boxes and fully armed elite soldiers, who were clearly members of a special forces unit.

"Comrade Colonel!"

A person in charge at the scene quickly rushed over and saluted when he was still five or six steps away from the colonel.

"Are you in charge here?"

The colonel's eyes were cold, almost devoid of emotion: "What's going on? Why hasn't the cordon been extended? Why are ordinary, unrelated people still allowed to enter here?"

The person in charge broke out in a cold sweat and did not argue, immediately saluting: "Yes, Comrade Colonel, I will arrange it immediately."

"All unrelated personnel must be cleared out. No one without permission and a valid ID can approach within 100 meters of this area!"

After giving the order, the colonel nodded slightly, and the officer beside him nodded and turned to give the command. The soldiers from the special forces unit who had disembarked from the transport helicopter immediately dispersed with their weapons to drive away the ordinary soldiers.

"Comrade Colonel."

A person in a biohazard suit walked over and saluted with difficulty.

"How is the situation?"

The colonel glanced at the white tent.

"We are still observing. The specific follow-up situation needs further observation."

As he spoke, he led the colonel into the white tent.

The interior of the white tent was large, filled with various instruments, but these were not important. As soon as the colonel entered the tent, his gaze was immediately drawn to the central area.

The central area was covered by a transparent glass box, a cubic structure that, due to its high transparency, seemed almost non-existent.

Inside this transparent glass box, a pink, flesh-like mass that resembled a human body was continuously writhing. It was called a mass because, to others, it looked like pork on a market stall.

Unlike pork, this "flesh" seemed to have a life of its own, with various parts moving slightly and unconsciously.

"What... is this thing?"

The colonel frowned, trying to suppress the nausea in his heart.

"This... strictly speaking, is a human!"

"Human? Are you joking? How can this thing be a human?"

Calling it a human completely exceeded the colonel's common sense, making it hard for him to believe easily.

"We previously extracted some tissue cells from this thing and confirmed through DNA analysis that it is indeed human DNA."

The person said, "It is indeed incredible. We find it hard to believe that this thing is human, but its DNA and its shape prove that it was human in its 'lifetime.'"

"Lifetime?"

The colonel looked at him: "Do you mean this thing is a victim of the accident?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

The person was puzzled: "A regular accident wouldn't cause this. There must have been a trigger. Whether this thing is a victim of the accident will only be known after the reports from other departments are out."

The colonel did not speak. Having already been informed of the relevant information, he knew that the accident on the highway was not simple. It was neither due to the vehicles themselves nor caused by explosives or weapon attacks. As for the exact cause, the investigators had been pulling their hair out for days and still hadn't figured it out.

"Then, when can this thing be removed?"

The colonel asked: "I need a specific time."

"Comrade Colonel, I cannot give you a specific time."

The person shook his head: "We haven't concluded whether moving this thing will have any adverse effects. The expert group's opinion is to maintain the status quo and continue observation."

"How long will the observation take?"

The colonel was somewhat impatient, pointing to outside the tent: "This is not a military zone or the wilderness; this is the East Sea highway! Do you think it can be sealed off for a long time?"

"But..."

"Do not waste time!"

The colonel dismissed the person's hesitation and ordered: "I will give you three more hours. You must resolve all difficulties and transport this thing back to the Nanjing Military District tonight."

"Yes, Comrade Colonel, I will ensure the task is completed."

Military personnel are duty-bound to obey orders, and no matter how many difficulties, they must be overcome. The person had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

However, agreeing was one thing, and being well-prepared was another. This person felt a vague sense of unease about the flesh mass, intuitively feeling that moving it easily would be a bad thing.

"Wait, something's wrong, how can this be?"

Just as he was about to conduct another test, the flesh mass in the central glass cabinet suddenly trembled, and like ice melting in high temperatures, it began to rapidly dissolve, with large amounts of dirty, pale pink liquid flowing down from the mass. In just a few moments, more than half of the mass had dissolved.

"What's happening?"

The colonel turned around, suddenly hearing a cry of alarm behind him, and quickly turned back to see the dramatic changes in the glass cabinet.

"It's autolysis."

Someone in the tent was shocked.

"Autolysis? What autolysis?"

The colonel asked, but no researchers responded. Everyone was staring at the flesh mass with horrified eyes.

Autolysis refers to the decomposition of body tissues after death due to the release of enzymes, causing the organs and tissues to soften and liquefy. This is a normal phenomenon.

However, autolysis occurs in tissues that have lost their activity. How could this mass, which was active a second ago, suddenly lose its activity?

Most unimaginable of all, organ autolysis typically takes 24 to 48 hours, and it would never liquefy half a body in just a few seconds.

Yet, the bizarre scene unfolded before their eyes, leaving the five or six researchers on the scene in shock, unable to think or speak.

No one had time to save it or do anything else.

Right before their eyes, the flesh mass continued to decompose and dissolve, with the cell nuclei and cell bodies completely dissolving and disappearing, turning into a large pool of blood-red liquid with no value.

"What's going on? What's happening? Speak up!"

The colonel grabbed a researcher and shouted.

"It's too late, it's useless..."

The person shook his head in a daze, smiling bitterly: "All our efforts were in vain. We don't need to waste time anymore; we can evacuate directly."

"You say it's in vain?"

The colonel stared at the glass cabinet: "Is there no way at all?"

"No."

"To be honest, the phenomenon we just saw is beyond the scope of current biology to explain..."

Hearing this, the colonel's face turned ashen, and he walked out of the tent without a word, picked up the phone, and dialed a number at the Nanjing Military District.