Chapter 47
Chapter 47
A few bright stars dotted the night sky as the city’s hustle and bustle faded into the distance, replaced by the rattling and clanking of Old Miao’s beat-up van.
Every part of this vehicle seemed to make noise, jolting along like a bumper car at an amusement park, filled with the smell of gasoline and dust.
Qin Ying rested her arm on the rolled-down window, feeling both chilled and nauseous from the bumpy ride.
Seeing her covered in a cold sweat and clutching several bottles of frozen mineral water, Yin Minmin asked worriedly, “Sister Ying, maybe you should close the window?”
Qin Ying shook her head in refusal. Her clothes were soaked through, and the mineral water she was using to cool herself down had already partially melted in a short amount of time.
Fortunately, despite Old Miao’s age, his driving skills were terrifying. If that little scrap heap of a van had wings, it could have taken flight.
They blew through an unknown number of red lights before a fishtailing drift sent smoke rising from the tires as they screeched to a halt at the entrance of the Sewage Treatment Plant.
Qin Ying’s legs felt like jelly as she stepped out of the car, her stomach churning painfully.
Laodao, who had been following in the car behind them, braked hard right after them.
Wen Hao was holding a file envelope containing the powder they had found in the hospital ward. He and Laodao had been on their way to deliver it for testing when they were called over halfway there.
Old Miao stroked the back of the fat Rat Scout he raised, Tantan, with heavy strokes. “Tantan, we’re counting on you.”
As he spoke, he brought the fat rat close to the envelope.
Showing its intelligence, Tantan’s whiskers twitched as it sniffed around.
Rats have a highly developed and sensitive sense of smell, surpassing dogs in some aspects.
The one in Old Miao’s hands was clearly trained. Its long whiskers trembled, and it soon let out two squeaks.
“Good boy,” Old Miao said with a grin, placing it on the ground.
Under the dim streetlights, Tantan scurried toward the guardhouse of the Sewage Treatment Plant, dragging its long tail behind it.
The light in the guardhouse was faint. Since it was a hot day, the door was wide open, and a security guard sat in front of a fan, fast asleep.
While Old Miao and the others went to wake the man, Yin Minmin helped Qin Ying up. When her hand touched the girl, she gasped, “Sister Ying!”
Qin Ying’s body temperature was abnormally high. Her eyelids felt like they were weighted with lead, making it almost impossible to keep them open.
She drifted in and out of consciousness, nearly slipping into a dream state, staying awake only by the grace of the ice water that made her stomach ache from the cold.
“I’m fine.” She forced herself to focus and poured a bottle of ice water over her head. The shock made her body feel even worse, but her mind cleared significantly.
By then, Old Miao and the others had woken the guard and opened the main gate.
The guard seemed a bit groggy from sleep, scratching his head with his flashlight. “The Cultural Preservation Institute? What kind of agency is that?”
As he spoke, the Rat Scout, Tantan, seeing that no one was following, let out a few anxious squeaks.
Old Miao didn’t have time for small talk and urged, “Keep up, keep up!”
He turned around, intending to have Qin Ying sit in the guardhouse, but he found that she had already followed them.
Under the dim lights of the Sewage Treatment Plant, Tantan sniffed all along the way, circling around until it reached the side gate guardhouse.
It hopped onto the windowsill and squeezed through a gap in the window.
“Is it inside?” Laodao, who was still injured, finally spoke.
The sewage plant guard, who had been a bit annoyed at being woken up, realized there might be some excitement to watch and began to cooperate eagerly.
Without needing Old Miao to press him, he stepped forward to open the door, saying, “You guys are amazing. Zhang Tao stays at the side gate during the night shift; he spends the most time here.”
Supported by Yin Minmin and Wen Hao, Qin Ying forced herself to follow them inside.
The guardhouse smelled of stale sweat. Tantan was running in circles on a desk near the window.
Old Miao knew the temperament of the rat he had raised better than anyone. With one look, he said, “There’s something in the gap between the desk and the wall. Laodao, give me a hand.”
“No need, I’ll do it!” The sewage plant guard was enthusiastic, rolling up his sleeves to help.
As soon as the desk was moved slightly, a dark, crumpled object was revealed.
Tantan couldn’t wait to dive in and drag the object out.
It was a very, very dirty cotton glove with an ugly monkey decoration sewn onto the wristband.
“Brother, do you recognize this?” Old Miao asked, patting the Sewage Treatment Plant security guard on the shoulder.
The guard was older and his eyesight wasn’t the best. He switched on his flashlight, took one look, and clapped his hands. “That’s it. That’s the glove belonging to the Old Woman who’s always coming around to scavenge for trash.”
Wherever there are people, there are disputes.
Sewage contains all sorts of waste, and for safety reasons, scavengers are generally not allowed inside. Consequently, the Sewage Treatment Plant guards often clashed with them, and they naturally remembered a few of the more troublesome troublemakers.
The guard continued, “That Old Woman is out of her mind. No one knows where she drifted in from, but she set up a shack outside and moved in. When she’s lucid, she buys groceries and cooks for herself, but when her madness flares up, she starts acting out and throwing filthy things at people.”
Recalling something, the guard added, “Oh, right! Before Zhang Tao’s accident, he had an argument with that Old Lady right through the window here. She’d scavenged some trash from the sewage-all wet and nasty-and threw it all over Zhang Tao. If we hadn’t held him back, with that dog-like temper of his, he probably would’ve hit her. This glove might have been what she used to hit him with back then.”
Old Miao’s expression shifted slightly at this. He patted the guard’s shoulder and thanked him repeatedly. “Thanks a lot. You’ve been a huge help.”
At that moment, Qin Ying, who was leaning weakly against the doorframe, asked, “Uncle, on the day Zhang Tao argued with that Old Woman, did you see her do anything particularly strange or weird to him? Like, did she open her mouth and spit something at him?”
With Qin Ying’s prompt, the guard immediately remembered. “Yes, yes! We were scolding Zhang Tao that day, asking why he was bothering with a Mad Woman. Zhang Tao said the Mad Woman burped at him, and it smelled like… like licorice tablets or something. We even laughed at him.”
Old Miao slammed his right fist into his left palm and said excitedly, “That’s it! Laodao, grab that glove. We’re going to find that scavenger woman.”
They followed Rat Scout around the Bar Screen one last time and then left the Sewage Treatment Plant. Before leaving, Laodao pulled out an unopened pack of cigarettes and stuffed them into the guard’s hand.
Under the guard’s watchful gaze, the group walked for five or six minutes until they stood before a dilapidated little shack built entirely from trash and scrap materials. On an earthen stove in front of the shack sat a pressure cooker, blackened by firewood smoke.
It was unclear whether the old woman living there intended to sell the trash or if she was just a hoarder, but the refuse was piled so high there was nowhere to step. To enter the shack, one had to climb over a mountain of garbage.
Qin Ying was already feeling unwell; she leaned on Yin Minmin’s arm and dry-heaved several times. Naturally, the task of searching the shack didn’t require the women to take the lead.
Old Miao, Laodao, and Wen Hao exchanged glances and stepped forward without hesitation. As they stepped onto the mountain of trash, a constant rustling sound filled the air. Woodlice, centipedes, and cockroaches scattered in a frenzy, scurrying out from every crevice and crawling onto the men. At least twenty large rats, dragging their young along, bolted out.
Qin Ying’s scalp crawled at the sight; the shock made her feel momentarily more alert. In contrast, Yin Minmin remained quite calm, even kicking away a rat that had run toward her in its panic.
In front of the shack, Wen Hao-who was busy pulling cockroaches out from inside his collar-assumed a solid stance to give Old Miao and Laodao a boost, helping them over the wall of trash blocking the entrance. Constant crunching and scraping sounds echoed from within.
After a short while, just as Qin Ying’s eyelids were drooping and she was beginning to hallucinate sounds in her ears, three voices shouted in unison from inside: “Dammit!”
Qin Ying straightened up abruptly. “What’s wrong?”
Before she could finish her question, Laodao vaulted out with the practiced agility of a delinquent jumping a fence. He was clutching something wrapped in a tattered cloth. The moment his feet hit the ground, he began spitting repeatedly to the side.
Old Miao followed him out, with Wen Hao bringing up the rear. Once all three were out, Laodao walked over with a terrible expression and showed Qin Ying what was inside the bundle of rags.
It was an arm-an arm that had been hacked almost all the way through, half-cooked, and reeking of raw meat!