26 Zombie Meat

Hearing from Fang Qinghe that someone had extended their claws into the police station, causing officers to consume human flesh and suffer from violent vomiting and diarrhea, I felt a jolt of shock. It was no wonder that even the usually composed Fang Qinghe couldn't help but call the perpetrator bold and reckless; this was truly rampant.

Who could have done this, and what was their purpose?

I quickly asked Fang, "Team Leader Fang, could this be Bai Ye’s accomplices trying to rescue him? Are they making the officers sick so they lack the energy to continue the manhunt?"

As soon as I said it, I shook my head. It didn’t make sense. For one, the outside world didn’t know Bai Ye had regained consciousness. Even if they did, if they wanted to delay the police, there were far better ways—like using drugs—than resorting to human flesh.

A new thought struck me. Initially, I assumed the perpetrator was targeting the police for revenge or to incite social chaos. But if the goal was simply to harm or kill officers, this was too indirect. If they had used poison to kill a large number of police, that would have been far more devastating.

Why do this, then? Following this line of reasoning, I arrived at a conclusion: the answer lay in the meat itself.

I immediately told Fang, "Team Leader Fang, I have a theory. The perpetrator didn't serve this meat to harm the police physically—though they may have intended to humiliate or terrorize them. The real purpose might be to force us to examine the meat. You need to have the food tested immediately. Don't just check if it's human; trace its origin. Run the DNA through the database. This meat might have a significant history."

Fang looked at me with a glint of approval. "Chen Mu, you’re starting to sound like your old self again. This lead could be vital."

We hurried to the police station. On the way, Fang called Miaomiao, instructing her to test every remaining portion of the food.

Upon arriving, the station was in disarray. It was understandable; police are human, and the psychological impact of consuming human flesh had caused some to break down.

The situation was quickly clarified. The station’s cafeteria chef had been detained, and the officer who first discovered the anomaly was brought in. He recounted that he had been eating braised pork when he felt a crunch. He initially thought it was a pebble, but upon spitting it out, he realized it was a small tooth—not an adult’s, but that of a newborn.

At first, he brushed it off as bone fragments. But as he continued eating, the meat’s flavor seemed strangely rich. Then, he felt something fuzzy in his mouth. He spat out a clump of hair, and panic set in.

He alerted his colleagues, which acted as a catalyst. Given the officers' keen observation skills, they quickly found fingernails, more strange chunks of meat, and even something resembling an eyeball. The forensics team confirmed it was human.

Questioning the chef revealed that today’s food had been delivered by an outside catering service. The police tracked down the delivery driver, but he knew nothing—the original order had been swapped.

There were no other useful leads. The perpetrator was adept at hiding; security footage from the station and the catering route showed nothing suspicious.

Given the severity of the incident and the current climate of escalating crimes, Fang Qinghe formed a new task force. It included members of the Cold Case Unit and the Criminal Investigation Division, highlighting the gravity of the situation. These recent crimes were, in some ways, more frantic than the "Murder Game" cases. The previous victims had been members of the Dawn organization, but these new crimes targeted civilians, police officers, and national treasures like Professor He. The pressure from above was mounting.

I was added to the task force. Although Fang didn’t reveal my true identity—only stating I was temporarily seconded—my presence as a non-police outsider caused some resentment. They didn't know the pain I had endured or the brilliance I had once displayed in the military. Ironically, I couldn't even remember those past glories myself.

The task force held its first meeting, naming the investigation "Return of the Dead." It wasn't that we believed the man who looked like me had truly risen from the grave, but the name felt fitting. We decided to merge these cases with the "Return of the Dead" file. We identified two primary suspects: the man who looked like me, and Chen Tianming—my biological father. The team didn't know he was my father, only that he was a deviant with a clear motive.

There was also the possibility that the assassin Chen Mu and Chen Tianming were working together. The video I’d seen earlier of the "baby-cooking" training might not have been me, but the assassin. They were twins, and Chen Tianming was likely the father of both. I recalled the video where he told Chen Youquan not to kill the assassin as an infant, saying he wanted to keep him alive for a "more entertaining" form of revenge.

Why would a father seek to avenge himself against his own son?

I couldn't say, but the work continued. The police cast their net wide, though progress remained slow until the results from Miaomiao arrived late that evening.

The findings were beyond our worst expectations. The meat in the food and the officers' vomit contained DNA from more than four individuals. It was a mixture of many people.

Even more horrifying, the meat was not from adults, but from infants—some newborns.

Most baffling was that this was not fresh meat; it was "zombie meat." While we couldn't date it precisely, we made a shocking discovery: the meat had been frozen for over twenty years.

The most stunning revelation was that the DNA of one of the infant samples matched Chen Youquan’s DNA. It was the child that had been swapped away all those years ago—the child taken by the assassin Chen Mu.