Chapter 577: Chapter 577

Song Bin’s teeth chattered as he watched Jing Shu unzip the sealed body bag. The old man, with experienced foresight, covered his nose.

A moment later, an overwhelming stench spread. Song Bin almost vomited his dinner from the night before, while Jing Shu merely wrinkled her brow and held her breath, her expression unchanged.

The old man chuckled. "See? It’s still fresh. Hasn’t started to rot yet, and the insects inside haven’t burst out. Otherwise... TSK TSK, that sight would really make your skin crawl."

Upon hearing this, Song Bin’s legs weakened, and he almost fell to the ground. In the four years of the apocalypse, he had always worked in an office; he had never witnessed such a scene.

The deceased’s face was twisted, a ghastly pale tinged with blue. Their hair stood on end, and their body was rigid. Only the stomach was somewhat swollen. At a glance, it seemed almost like a normal death.

Jing Shu started her examination with the head, her rubber-gloved hands pressing on the eyes, ears, and nose—all seemed normal.

There was no livor mortis, no green discoloration, and no bloating. Jing Shu had a decade of experience from the apocalypse collecting bodies for points, so she was very knowledgeable about determining the time of death. The old man was right: the time of death was no more than six hours ago.

Jing Shu continued her examination, not overlooking any detail. Although the body was stiff, the flesh inside felt soft. Jing Shu was familiar with this texture; it was similar to how a steak is tenderized before grilling, intensely punctured with a dense cluster of needles for better mouthfeel. The flesh of this corpse felt soft and loose, as if it weren’t properly connected, like a sieve.

Moreover, the stench from the body likely wasn’t from decay, not this early. Therefore, it had to be the smell of parasites.

Jing Shu furrowed her brow and continued her inspection.

She then pressed a finger on the stomach. The skin quickly caved in and then began to ripple like water. Suddenly, a horrifying scene unfolded!

As if a stone had disturbed a flock of resting birds, the corpse’s stomach began to writhe wildly, the movement spreading outward. In the blink of an eye, the skin all over the body was undulating. Beneath it, countless thin, long things seemed to be scurrying around. They would sometimes bump into each other, perhaps startled, causing the skin to bulge out.

Soon, the stomach deflated, and the body swelled up, bulging ominously. Most chilling of all, the insects inside kept writhing crazily. Some parts looked as if they would burst open, their shapes visible in the firelight.

Some insects were squeezed to the periphery, slowly oozing out from the corners of the eyes, the nostrils, and the ears, yet they still relentlessly burrowed back into the host’s body.

"These... these... are all these parasites? Will... will they burst out? Will they jump onto me?" Song Bin stuttered, shuffling backward. This was completely different from what he had imagined. Good heavens, this wasn’t just a case of parasite infection; the entire corpse seemed to be made of insects!

Being infested with these insects is too terrifying! If... if I were infested... No, it’s too disgusting!

Even the usually unflappable Jing Shu was slightly stirred, not because the insects were so repulsive—after all, in her past life, she had survived by eating red earthworms and had long grown accustomed to them.

She just hadn’t anticipated how cruel the parasite incident truly was. It was far worse than she had imagined. Perhaps this was the cycle of life: humans barely surviving by eating red earthworms, and after a round of genetic mutation, the red earthworms returned to prey on humans.

The old man carefully tucked away his cigarette, his disdain for the overwhelmed Song Bin increasing. "You people naturally lack experience. There’s no need to worry; parasites won’t leave their host voluntarily. Even if they did, you haven’t eaten red earthworms before and lack the necessary genes. So, even if these insects burrow into your stomach, they can’t reproduce."

Only then did Song Bin slowly exhale. "So these insects are nothing to worry about after all."

Jing Shu glared at Song Bin. "In these years of the apocalypse, only a very few people haven’t eaten red earthworms. Think about how many people have. If there’s a real outbreak..."

The consequences would be unimaginable!

Before long, the parasites that had spread out were oozing from every orifice and opening in the host’s body. Yet, they always kept one end buried in the host’s flesh and the other end exposed, probing the air.

These insects were incredibly long. Red earthworms were just over a dozen centimeters, but these mutated parasites were a good thirty to forty centimeters in length. Half of their bodies dangled in the air, and soon, they began to make their way out of the body bag.

"They... they’re coming out!"

Jing Shu raised an eyebrow, grabbed a handful of parasites, and, under Song Bin’s jaw-dropped gaze, yanked hard.

"What... what... what are you doing?!"

The handful of thread-like insects stubbornly refused to be pulled out, clinging desperately to the host’s corpse and emitting a sharp, piercing screech. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel•fire.net

Jing Shu frowned and pulled harder. SNAP! With the sound of a thread breaking, the parasite she held broke in half.

The parasites flowing from the host’s body frantically retracted. Even the recently severed ones pulled back inside. The insects in Jing Shu’s hand visibly shriveled, curling up like strands of wool.

Just like red earthworms treated with salt, they died completely.

The body, now seemingly just a corpse again, still had bloated skin. It was as if the insects inside were fighting, making it seem like nothing had occurred.

"It seems they really won’t leave the host willingly. Although they’ve mutated more severely, their living space has become even more confined. They can only survive on the host. This is good news."

Jing Shu threw away the shriveled, dead parasite in her hand. Song Bin collapsed to the ground with a thud, mumbling nonstop. Even the old man sucked in a sharp breath, having never seen someone so brazen.

No matter how much pressure was applied afterward, the parasites remained retracted inside, the skin stretched taut, almost to the point of bursting. Jing Shu noticed that in this short period, the body seemed to have swelled considerably. Under the firelight, more and more insects crowded together, looking as if they were about to explode.

The old man, being familiar with this, pointed at the corpse and trembled. "Quick, quick! Push it into the fire! Every time it’s , it’s about to burst! This... this is the final stage!"

Jing Shu shook her head. Instead, she first took out a knife and, as the old man watched wide-eyed, slashed it across the body. With this cut, there was no need for the body to explode. The parasites, no longer confined by the skin, burst out like a torrent.

Once in the air, these parasites began to panic, like vampires suddenly exposed to daylight. They finally scattered completely, and in doing so, also ended their own lives.

Surprisingly, the first to turn into balls of wool and die were the longest, largest insects. They transferred all their nutrients and hopes to the larvae.

Then, countless tiny larvae leaped out from the body.

"Quick, quick! Push it into the fire! These insects are about to fly everywhere!"

The larvae scattered like falling rain, bounding in all directions as they searched for new hosts.