Chapter 253 Extraterrestrial Devil Insect? (1)
Anger caused self-combustion, and so would
grief.
What did this mean?
It showed that the cause of the self-combustion came from a person’s fluctuations of emotions. Once the fluctuations were too intense, self-combustion determinants would be activated.
Self-combustion determinants were the source, a barrel of oil, and pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy were the matchsticks.
If the matchsticks were not lit, the oil would not burn.
With this inference, the problem returned to square one.
What was the self-combustion determinant?
Where did it come from? How did it come about? When did it enter the human body? How did it enter the human body? Did everyone have it, or did only a few people have it?
There wasn’t an answer to any of the questions.
And without knowing the answers, the self-combustions wouldn’t stop!
The matter would only get worse.
And that was indeed the case.
While waiting for the Martial Suppression Office’s people to arrive at the crematorium, Su Jingxing’s phone in his pocket began to vibrate non-stop.
Every vibration meant that the small software Su Jingxing had implanted in the forums and communities of each prefecture had captured a post related to the word “self-combustion”.
Although not all of them were self-combustion cases, most of them were. After Qi Zhaochen led his men into the farewell ceremony hall and took charge of the scene, Su Jingxing found an excuse to leave and returned to his small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. He switched on his computer and added keywords into the hacking software.
Laughter, joy, grief, sorrow, and so on.
Then, he hacked again to extract information.
This time, the vibrations increased over time.
At night, Su Jingxing took out his phone and saw that there were 32 cases of self-combustion.
Within a day, 32 more cases were added.
These people were either in extreme grief, feeling overly excited, or overly angry. Every one of their emotions fluctuated violently. In front of others, they suddenly burst into flames and were reduced to ashes in less than 10 seconds. Then, the incidents were exposed on the Internet.
In the world of the Internet, it was very convenient to communicate among the prefectures. It was not like they were overseas where there were firewalls set up.
The Baiyin and Dashun Prefectures could quickly find out about the major incidents that had erupted on the Changyang Prefecture’s network.
On the other hand, the Changyang Prefecture would also know about what happened in the Baiyin and Dashun Prefectures.
In that case, the three prefectures… No, the 32 new self-combustion cases were not limited to the three prefectures-Baiyin Changyang, and Dashun.
It also involved people from the northernmost Qianyan Prefecture.
In other words, there were 32 cases of self-combustion in the four prefectures in a day.
This was already a major case, and it had alarmed the entire nation.
“Qianyan, Baiyin, Changyang, and Dashun. Other than Changyang, who is close to the center, the other three prefectures are all in the north. Why are there people self-combusting in these places all of a sudden?”
“Who knows? 32 self-combustion cases in a day. This is serious. There must be something wrong!”
“There were already self-combustion cases yesterday, but there were very few of them. I didn’t expect there to be so many cases today.” “I’m just curious. Why are these self-combusting people so agitated before they burn? They were either raging or extremely
sad?”
“Yes, I did some calculations. The only thing these self-combusting people have in common is that their emotions were too intense. This might be the breakthrough point.”
“Doesn’t that mean that if we don’t want to self-combust, we better keep calm?” “That might be for the best. Of course, no one knows the real reason for the self-combustion. Or does the Martial Suppression Office know?”
“My older brother is from the Martial Suppression Office. I eavesdropped, the Martial Suppression Office doesn’t know the reason either. In short, this matter is serious! To be safe, it’s best if everyone doesn’t get too agitated these few days!”
Discussions broke out.
There was a commotion on the Internet and it caused a small-scale panic. However, it was still within control. With the Martial Suppression Office and the government’s guidance, the situation could temporarily be stabilized.
When 30 odd people were scattered in four prefectures and ten odd cities, that left only one or two people in each city.
Therefore, although the public was a little frightened, it did not affect their normal lives.
Those who worked continued to work, and those who were schooling continued to attend school.
But in reality? “65 cases! In the four prefectures, there are 65 self-combustion cases. Changyang Prefecture alone has 17 cases. Have you guys found the reason?”
That night, in the headquarters building of the Martial Suppression Office, Su Jingxing heard the voice of the Changyang Prefecture’s Prefecture Chief coming from the speakers through his Blood Doppelganger.
This was a high-level video conference.
Qinghe City, Treasure Elephant City, Changyang Prefecture City…
The City Guard, Commander of City Governance of the Martial Suppression Office and relevant personnel of every city with self-combustion cases were present to discuss countermeasures online. When Su Jingxing caught the total of 65 cases through his Blood Doppelganger, though he already had his guesses, he was still shocked.
Only 32 cases were exposed online. He thought that two-thirds of them were exposed, while only one-third were not.
Unexpectedly, only half had been exposed.
There were 65 people who had self-combusted and died today.
Compared to yesterday, the number had been multiplied by 10!
The spreading rate was climbing too fast.
At this rate, how many cases would there be tomorrow? And the day after tomorrow?
Su Jingxing couldn’t imagine it.
Neither could the Changyang Prefecture’s Prefecture Chief, the various City Guards and Commanders of City Governance who had participated in the video conference.
The Prefecture Chief’s expression was most grim as he subconsciously raised his voice.
“I’m asking you guys a question. Are you all mute? Aren’t all of you usually better at talking than the other? Why are you so lifeless today?
“There are 65 cases today, will there be 100 tomorrow? If you still can’t find the reason, I’ll fire all of you first before I’m removed from my post!”
The City Guards were speechless.
All the Commanders of City Governance were equally speechless.
The Martial Suppression Office was not under administration of the prefectures and only took orders from the headquarters in the capital. Their highest-ranking leader was the Head Supervisor.
