Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Now that things had come so far, the warm-hearted neighbor felt that it might really be a case of natural gas leakage. He didn’t dare treat the matter lightly, and he quickly dialed the numbers for the fire department and the emergency center.
He also dialed the fire department because every household was secured with a heavy security door. If the fire department was not there to break down the door, the emergency personnel of the emergency center would not have been able to get in, and they’d be wasting precious time—such was the bloody lesson learned from the natural gas poisoning incident the year before.
After receiving the call, the fire department and the emergency center acted quickly. They immediately dispatched their firetruck and ambulance. It didn’t take long before they drove into the housing facility one after the other with their sirens on.
The neighbor did not leave as planned to buy breakfast; instead, he waited by Carpenter Wang’s door and sent his family downstairs for breakfast.
The firefighters and emergency care personnel came upstairs with their tools and the neighbor briefly explained the situation to them.
After listening to his explanation, in order to avoid more serious consequences caused by the explosion of natural gas, they immediately arranged the evacuation of the neighbors on the upper and lower floors. They then carefully removed the locks with their tools.
The heavy security door was opened, but the strange thing was that the firefighters didn’t smell the smell of natural gas. Natural gas itself was colorless and odorless, but in order to allow people to notice the gas leak sooner, the gas company added in stinky gas to the natural gas.
The firefighters did not smell any unpleasant smell, and the natural gas alarm that was on them did not react, either.
Carpenter Wang’s family was all on the ground and there were several piles of vomit on the floor. Carpenter Wang’s condition was the most severe. He was unconscious and had white foam coming out from his mouth. His other family members still had consciousness, but they were unable to move their bodies.
The firefighters then judged that it wasn’t a gas leak, but that it was a bad case of food poisoning.
As the emergency care personnel was also sent downstairs by the firefighters, the firefighters took turns going into the room and carried Carpenter Wang’s family downstairs. They then helped the emergency care personnel and carried them into the ambulance.
However, things did not end there. The firefighters immediately developed symptoms of chest tightness and shortness of breath. They were then taken to an ambulance, along with Carpenter Wang and his family.
Before the ambulance had time to drive away, the emergency center received a second phone call, and the caller was also from the same community. It was from a different unit in the same building. It was Welder Zhao’s family; they claimed that Welder Zhao was suffering from shortness of breath and was unable to stand. They were afraid that it might have been a heart attack.
The emergency care personnel was alerted and felt that the situation was serious. After taking protective measures, they rushed to Welder Zhao’s home.
At that time, Welder Zhao’s consciousness was already in a blur, his body was weak, and his family was very anxious. However, the emergency care personnel not only carried Welder Zhao, but they also requested that his family members go downstairs for a physical examination.
His family did not understand the situation and almost quarreled with the emergency care personnel, but after much persuasion, they reluctantly followed the emergency care personnel downstairs to undergo a physical examination, which turned out to be all normal.
As for Welder Zhao, his symptoms were very similar to those of Carpenter Wang’s family––the severity was between Carpenter Wang’s family and those of the firefighters.
After receiving the news, the fire department and the emergency center judged that it was not a simple food poisoning incident––it might have been a case of a large-scale poisoning, or something even more serious.
As a result, the fire department and the emergency center alerted the police.
After the police were alerted, they rushed over with haste and cordoned off the scene. The seriousness of the issue had escalated up another level.
With the feedback from the emergency center, it was confirmed that Welder Zhao, Carpenter Wang with his family, and the firefighters were all suffering from the same kind of poison. The toxicity was extremely strong, but they were still waiting for the test results to show exactly what kind of poison it was––though they could be certain that it was a rarely seen poison.
Actually, it was quite obvious when one thought about it––the firefighters had stayed in Carpenter Wang’s home for only a few minutes and showed symptoms of poisoning. So how strong was this poison?
The police urgently dispatched the Biochemical Specialist Police Unit to do all they could to find the source of the poison.
Sheng Ke asked a police officer for an SLR camera and let Zhang Zian look at the LCD screen.
Sheng Ke flipped through the photos one by one. The photos were taken by the Biochemical Specialist Police Unit and were shot at Carpenter Wang’s home.
Zhang Zian saw that Carpenter Wang’s home was very messy, and there were piles of things everywhere––there was almost no place to step.
Older people were often reluctant to throw away their unused, old objects, and as a result, more and more things accumulated in the home.
Sheng Ke sighed. “This house is too messy. We don’t even know where the source of the poison is, and we can only search blindly. It’s almost like searching for a needle in a haystack…”
Because it was a densely populated area, and the toxicity of the unknown poison was extremely strong, the Specialist Police Unit did not dare to open the window for fear of it spreading to the nearby people.
“Hold on!” Zhang Zian suddenly shouted at Sheng Ke. “Captain Sheng, please go back two pictures.”
Sheng Ke was unsure about what Zian had noticed, but he did as was told.
Bureau Chief Chen stood on the other side of Sheng Ke, attentively staring at the LCD screen of the SLR camera.
Zhang Zian noticed that the photo captured a corner of the fish tank. The water in the fish tank was still clear, but a few small fish had floated up to the surface of the water with their bellies up––they had been dead for some time.
“What is it? Xiao Zhang, what did you notice?” Bureau Chief Chen anxiously asked.
Zhang Zian started wondering… Could it be that the source of the poison is from the fish tank?
He was unable to confirm it, however, because the poison is so strong. Just a few breaths could get someone poisoned, so it was obvious that it could get into the tank and kill the fish, too––but it could not be proven that the poison source was from the fish tank.
“Bureau Chief Chen, Captain Sheng, is Welder Zhao able to speak now? If he can, I would like to ask him a few questions. Of course, it’ll be better if Carpenter Wang himself is able to answer my question, but he’s not conscious yet, is he?” Zian asked.
Sheng Ke immediately got in touch with the police officers stationed at the emergency center with his walkie-talkie.
“Welder Zhao is already out of danger and is able to speak,” Sheng Ke replied and cast a look at Bureau Chief Chen for permission.
Bureau Chief Chen lightly nodded his head. Sheng Ke then handed the walkie-talkie over to Zhang Zian.
“Hello? Is this Master Zhao? This is Amazing Fate Pet Shop’s Zhang Zian. I’m currently assisting the police in trying to trace the source of the poison that is affecting you. Can you briefly explain what you did at Carpenter Wang’s place last night?”
Since it was an emergency, Zhang Zian skipped the formalities and expressed his identity and purpose of the call in only a few sentences.
Welder Zhao’s hoarse voice came from the walkie-talkie. He sounded weak, which was a big difference from his usual loud and energetic voice.
“That… We didn’t do anything… Carpenter Wang just restarted his tank, got all the fish and prawns out, poured out the water, and did everything again. I only watched from the side. Who knew I would be so unlucky…”
Zhang Zian was waiting for that sentence. He needed to confirm that Carpenter Wang and Welder Zhao had restarted the tank.
Restarting the tank meant setting up the fish tank’s ecosystem all over again; it was a spring cleaning for the fish tank.
Some residents in the tank might not have been too willing for that to happen.
