Chapter 3: The Long-Nosed Monkey and the Black Fish Bat

  The possible answer seems to be only one. That is:

  What Wang Yongshun gave to Xiao Luqi was neither medicine nor water, but serum. (By the way, let's popularize it for everyone: serum refers to the clear liquid separated from fibrinogen after blood coagulation, or plasma with fibrinogen removed. So serum is not red like blood, don't think crookedly~)

  I suddenly remembered the female corpse in the warehouse's secret room, also stored in an ice cabinet. Like Xiao Luqi, she didn't die from excessive freezing either. Why? It must be that her blood hadn't frozen and was still flowing in a way that wasn't noticeable, extremely slowly.

  In short, it's two words: hibernation.

  From then on, I didn't have the heart to chat with Li Haibo or enjoy the delicious food. All I could think about was this question: Can humans also hibernate?

  Humans are warm-blooded mammals, with a constant body temperature of around 36 degrees. If the external temperature drops sharply and the body temperature becomes too low, it will lose its vital functions and die. Generally speaking, the lethal hypothermia for humans is between 29-26°C. Hibernating animals, such as snakes and frogs, are cold-blooded animals. Logically, human hibernation should not be possible.

  Li Haibo buried his head and ate for a while, seeing me dazed, comfortingly smiled: "Look at your bitter face, see the photo, think about it?"

  I came back to my senses, smiled and shook my head: "Thinking of people when seeing things? Am I so sentimental? Alright, this meal is on me. And also, I need to trouble you with something else. Let's talk about it after dinner."

  Li Haibo nodded and clinked glasses with me, then downed the drink in one gulp. As I savored the bitter taste of the wine, a different kind of melancholy arose within me.

  After dinner, I took out a small package from my bag and opened it. I said to Li Haibo: "There are two plastic bags here. One contains the butt of a cigar that has been crushed, with several bodily fluids on it that don't belong to one person. The other plastic bag contains some powder. Can you help me send them to the forensic center for examination? What is the relationship between these fluid samples and this powder?"

  Li Haibo asked in surprise: "A criminal case?"

  I said no, it's also a friend who asked me. Inside twists and turns I didn't figure out either, aren't you having a good friend doing judicial appraisal? Just trouble him to open a small stove, tell the result to you, issue a report or something, help me keep it.

  Li Haibo said no problem, when there is a result, invite that friend and you to have dinner together, and let him tell you the result directly.

  I hastily waved my hand, pulled out a UnionPay card and said this is just a small token of appreciation. You help me pass it on to him, let him tell you the result, and then you tell me. No matter what the outcome is, don't take it too seriously, just consider it as helping me out.

  Li Haibo nodded in agreement, I said goodbye to him and took a taxi, telling the driver to go to the Workers' Cultural Palace in Luwan District.

  As soon as the car started, I took out my phone and called Wang Haidong. This Ph.D. in biology from China Agricultural University burst out laughing after hearing my confusion, saying: "Lin You, didn't you used to be known as a teenage know-it-all? How could you also make such a mistake? Who says mammals or warm-blooded animals don't hibernate? Do bears hibernate? Do hedgehogs hibernate? Do Arctic ground squirrels hibernate?"

  He bombarded me with a barrage of questions, leaving me speechless. Then he asked, "Okay, so snakes and frogs, these cold-blooded animals, can only withstand temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius, right? If it's below 0 degrees, everything will be frozen stiff, won't they?"

  Wang Haichuan fell silent for a moment before speaking in a very serious tone, "What kind of nonsense is it that everything freezes at 0 degrees? What kind of common sense is this? What's the average temperature of the North Pole?"

  "Minus 12 degrees." I answered immediately, having been interested in geography since childhood.

  Wang Haichuan started to chant in a childish tone: "Polar bear, Arctic fox, Arctic wolf, Arctic musk ox, Reindeer..."

  "Alright, alright," I interrupted his muttering, saying "I know I was wrong. Alright? What you said, not only is the fur thick, but also constantly eating, with metabolism always going on. My point is, if some animal is put in sub-zero temperatures, it can hibernate and still come back to life, does this thing really exist?"

  Wang Haichuan thought for a moment and said, "There is."

  "What?"

  "A type of Arctic black fish. It can still come back to life even if it is frozen stiff in temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius. Some countries located in high-latitude regions, such as Russia and Canada, will inject the serum of this fish into soldiers stationed at border posts along the Arctic Circle to enhance their cold resistance."

  "Is this really happening?"

  "Nonsense. Do you know how AIDS came about? It's not like injecting monkey serum into people to enhance their abilities, and then transmitting a virus that is harmless to monkeys but devastating to humans, resulting in the downfall of so many people."

  "What effect does the monkey serum actually have on that aspect after being administered?"

  "How about it, want to give it a try? We've recently received two proboscis monkeys in our lab, and these monkeys stop eating and drinking as soon as they leave their native habitat, and they're dead in no time. But I think its serum is quite effective, how about you be the test subject, Comrade Lin You?"

  Okay, I know this kind of monkey, which is found in Malaysia. The male monkey has a very large and long nose, hanging down like an eggplant. This nose is extremely inconvenient - even eating requires one hand to hold the nose open and the other hand to hold food. However, the nose is also a way for this type of monkey to show off its sex appeal. The larger the nose, the stronger the ability, and the more the female monkeys like it. If two long-nosed monkey families live close together, the male monkeys from both sides will stand tall, displaying their large noses and small ***, competing with each other. The female monkeys from both sides will carefully examine them, just like a Paris fashion show.

  "Hmm... I estimate this serum is quite effective..."

  Whoa, off topic. I hastily said: "Cut the crap, I'm asking about hibernation, bro! Do you have a sample of that black fish serum?"

  "The woolly mammoth has been extinct for over a decade."

  "......Alright......" I was taken aback, thinking that this black fish was the source of the serum injected by Wang Yongshun, but it turned out to be an animal that had been extinct for a long time. "Is there any other animal that can survive without thick fur in freezing temperatures?"

  "Uh...bats."

  "What? Bat?" I was stunned for a moment, no way...

  "Hmm, bats can hibernate in a super-cold state at -9°C and then warm up on their own. Bats are quite interesting, not only are they the only flying mammals, but they also have a constant body temperature normally, and during hibernation, their body temperature changes with the environment, so they are neither endothermic nor ectothermic, but rather heterothermal animals."

  Wang Haidong's theoretical knowledge that followed, I didn't listen to a single word, my mind was filled with: Xiao Luqi was injected with bat serum???????

  Will she become a vampire?

  "Hai Dong, I have a question," I said nervously.

  "You said."

  "Are there really vampires and werewolves?"

  "Really!"

  "What? Really?! I can hardly believe that this is coming from a Ph.D. student in biology."

  "Hmm, what's so strange about that? Vampires and werewolves were all imagined by people in a time when science wasn't developed. The prototype of werewolves is actually patients with rabies, and the prototype of vampires... guess what? Many people say it's severe cases of albinism. Hehe," Wang Haodong laughed, "but that's not true. The prototype of vampires is a strange and terrifying disease called porphyria. There's a branch of porphyria called erythropoietic protoporphyria, where the patient's skeleton and urine are bright red, their skin and teeth are dark brown. Their skin is extremely sensitive to light, and even sunlight or indoor lighting can cause severe burns, leading to blisters and infections, so they can only live in darkness. Due to a lack of hemoglobin, they're anemic, and nowadays patients need blood transfusions to supplement it. Of course, back in ancient times there was no such thing as blood transfusions, so in medieval Europe, people with this disease tried to cure themselves by drinking blood. And Lin You, do you know that they had to avoid garlic at all costs? Because the compounds in garlic would exacerbate their symptoms and make them suffer extremely."

  I suddenly realized that this porphyria was no different from vampirism. It turns out that the mythological story is nothing more than that.

  Wang Haichuan chattered on for a while, seeing me silent, and asked strangely: "Lin You, is everything okay with you recently? First, you asked about the ovarian cyst of my cat, then asked about hibernation... now even vampires and werewolves have come out, what's wrong with you? Have you encountered evil spirits?"

  As soon as I heard him, I became suspicious and hurriedly laughed: "Nothing's wrong, I'm upright and honest, I don't do anything shameful during the day, so I'm not afraid of ghosts knocking on my door at night. What's this nonsense about running into evil spirits? Don't curse me!"

  Wang Haidong hummed, saying: "That's good. By the way, are you curious about that black fish? I'll look for some old files from abroad later and see if there are any photos to send to you. I think I've seen it somewhere before."

  I thanked Wang Haichuan and exchanged a few more words before hanging up the phone.

  The taxi turned onto Qiu Xi Road, darting through a few alleys before coming to a stop. The driver turned around and told me that we could only go this far, the rest of the way would have to be on foot. The road was too narrow and crowded, if we went any further in, it's likely we wouldn't be able to get back out.

  I nodded in agreement, paid the fare, got off the car and walked a few steps south, looked up and was immediately stunned.

  In the previous picture, don't say the location is nonsense I made up, I rarely make up nonsense.

  People watching the postal market trends at the entrance of Lu Gong You Market