An hour later, Sun Ya paused his experiments and came downstairs.
Su Jin stood beside the dining table. A corpse lay completely naked with its limbs splayed wide, tied securely to the table legs and stools.
A variety of tools were laid out along the edge of the table.
The other corpse had been tightly bound and tossed to the side.
After casting a couple of glances over the setup, Sun Ya nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, Xiao Li. You're meticulous enough—you've got the makings of a researcher. If this catastrophe hadn't happened, I'd have gladly taken you on as my student. In a moment, I'll instruct your moves while I keep the records."
"Forget it... I don't want to go through anything like this ever again in my life." Su Jin panted heavily, swallowing hard over and over. "By the way, Elder Sun, aren't you an engineer? Do you usually do autopsies too?"
"It's not entirely outside my field, though I've only observed a few dissections... Let's begin."
Su Jin took a deep breath, composed himself, and said, "Let's do it."
"Cut slowly. There might be high-pressure gas trapped inside the body, so watch out for splashes. Their weakness is the heart, so we're only inspecting the internal organs. Start cutting one centimeter below each side of the collarbones and slice toward the midline of the sternum. Then cut down from that junction to the pubic symphysis..."
Su Jin held his breath, gritted his teeth, and made the first cut. The tactile sensation transmitted through the blade constantly assaulted his mind.
Even with multiple layers of protective gear, the visual shock, the pungent stench, and the dread of infection still made him want to vomit.
The skin split, and the blade dragged with difficulty from the collarbones toward the sternum. The color gradually drained from Su Jin's face. "It's so tough to cut—not quite what I imagined... Has the zombie's skin changed?"
"No, your knife is just dull, the corpse is too cold, and you're too nervous," Sun Ya said calmly.
"Whew... Elder Sun, talk to me about something else, please... Urgh... By the way, weren't you in military industry? How did you end up making medical equipment?"
"Heh, you've probably noticed my temper by now. I didn't get along with the folks in the department. But when it comes to other fields, I'm top-tier too. Do you know who developed our country's first MRI machine?"
"Who said Newton?! Have you lost your mind from fright? It was me! Me!"
The further he cut, the more sickening it became as the layers of skin and fat peeled open before his eyes. Su Jin kept slicing, his voice trembling slightly. "Uh... I never expected I'd get to know someone of your stature. Why do you live in a dump like this?"
"A dump? Twenty years ago, ordinary people couldn't even dream of living in Rencai Community. It declined later on, sure, but I grew used to it and couldn't be bothered to move," Sun Ya said. "Do you know what Old Wei did?"
"Elder Wei? Didn't you say he was in military industry too?"
"He wasn't an ordinary military technician. Back in the day, he was heavily involved in developing the Cold Canopy missile system. You could call him a true weapons expert. We'll need heavy firepower to secure a foothold in the future, and wielding weapons effectively is technical work. Only he can give you comprehensive guidance."
"Good grief, this broken-down place really is crouching tigers and hidden dragons..."
As they spoke, the Y-incision on the corpse was finished.
Sun Ya waved a hand, covering his nose and mouth. "Peel it open."
Su Jin pursed his lips and pulled the two flaps of the corpse's chest aside, exposing the ribcage and viscera to their view.
"Use the hatchet to chop open the sternum. It'll give us a good look at whether his bones have changed."
Holding his breath, Su Jin picked up the hatchet and gestured for Sun Ya to step back.
Sun Ya retreated further, and Su Jin brought the blade down with full force, sending bone fragments flying.
"Holy, fuck!"
"Just chop it—what are you cursing for!" Sun Ya frowned at the outburst.
"Is this even a job fit for a human? Killing people didn't make me feel this miserable... Fuck! Fuck!"
After a barrage of curses, the sternum and ribs were split apart. Beneath his helmet, Su Jin's eyes were bloodshot and his face was drenched in sweat.
Sun Ya stepped forward, inspected the jagged fractures in the bone, and then looked toward the internal organs.
"The bones are normal. Cut open the viscera—just make some rough slices so we can see inside clearly."
"Which one do I cut?"
"We've already opened him up, so cut all of them!"
"Huff, puff... Fine, fine!" Su Jin took the knife and began hacking and stirring through the cavity. Halfway through, his expression froze. "Wait! A sea urchin?!"
"That's fucking shit! Stop stirring it around and get back! I can't tell if you're terrified or a pervert—are you mincing meat for dumplings? Even a serial killer wouldn't butcher a body like that!"
Sun Ya stepped in to inspect it, picking up a spare paring knife.
Poking through the internal organs, he began his examination.
"Liver and lungs are normal, intestines normal, kidneys normal... Heart is normal too?"
Sun Ya showed a puzzled expression and used the knife to probe deeper.
Because the heart had been struck by a bullet, it was mangled and torn.
After searching through it carefully, Sun Ya frowned. "Come take a look at this. This black patch... is it scorched, or did it grow on it? My eyes are a bit blurry."
Su Jin leaned close, squinting. Embedded in the shredded heart was a black spot about the size of half a fingernail.
"It grew there. Looks like connective tissue."
"Mm... The texture is very hard, close to bone. Even an abnormally diseased heart couldn't grow tissue like this. It seems that grey substance you mentioned primarily affects the heart."
At that point, Sun Ya's expression shifted. "Dissect the other one too."
"Wait a minute!" Su Jin's face suddenly turned dead serious. No longer repulsed by the cold, slimy viscera, he reached straight into the abdominal cavity.
When he pulled his hand back out, pinched between two fingers was a stone as translucent as jade!
"This is..." Sun Ya was utterly astonished.
Su Jin breathed heavily, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "A zombie crystal?!"
"What on earth is a zombie crystal?" Sun Ya asked hurriedly.
"A mutation produced inside a zombie's body! If you eat it, you gain miraculous powers!"
"Where did you learn that?"
"All the novels say so!"
"Tch, you've really got a screw loose. 'Zombie crystal'?" Sun Ya looked at him in total disgust. "Isn't that just a fucking gallstone?"
"Impossible! How could a bodily stone look like this?" Su Jin wiped the 'gemstone' in his hand, regarding it like a priceless treasure.
Sun Ya stepped forward and smacked it out of his grip. The stone hit the floor and shattered into pieces, and Su Jin's heart broke right along with it.
"The stones they took out of me two years ago were way prettier than that... Look for yourself, there's a whole pile of stones in there! Cut the nonsense and hurry up and dissect the other one!"
Nursing his heartbreak, Su Jin hauled the second corpse over to begin the dissection anew.
With the prior experience under their belts, the procedure went noticeably faster this time.
The two went straight for their ultimate target, focusing directly on the heart.
After a few careful incisions, the same black connective tissue appeared before them.
Only this time, there was a clear difference in size: it was as large as a thumb.
Sun Ya prodded it with the knife, then shifted positions.
He stabbed several different areas before finally slicing open the zombie's arm to inspect the deep muscle tissue.
After working for a while, he crouched down to examine the first corpse lying discarded on the floor.
By the time he stood back up, a trace of dread had crept into his expression.
"What is it, Elder Sun?" Su Jin grew tense as well.
After a moment of silence, Sun Ya pointed at the second corpse. "The owner of this body was thin and clearly hadn't worked out. The one on the floor was much heavier, so by all rights his muscle strength should have been greater, but the reality is the exact opposite. Even though our sample size is tiny, the only explanation is the size of the mutated area in the heart. That means..."
"The zombies are evolving?" Su Jin felt a chill run through his entire body.
Sun Ya exhaled a breath of frosty air. "We should have anticipated this from the start... But the black tissue is growing in different spots in each corpse. If their goal is to cover the entire heart, they might be nowhere near their limit... Wait! What is this thing now?"
Chapter 32