Don't follow the rules

Chapter 561 The Church of the Cross (Twenty-Four)
"Is it serious?" Seeing that Ning Yao did not refute or get angry for a long time, Chunyu Kong asked with rare concern, but he quickly realized what was going on and immediately blocked any words that might give Ning Yao an excuse to take advantage of the situation, "If it is serious, let the doctor take a look. If it is not serious, don't delay the investigation."

Manyi quickly pushed the cart forward two steps, distancing herself from the two people behind her: "Let whoever wants to look, look. I'm not going to look."

Ning Yao raised her head, blinked hard to suppress the red light in her eyes: "It's nothing serious, let's continue."

The three continued walking deeper into the warehouse.

There weren't many people deep inside the warehouse; it was filled with mummies that had already been registered, stored, and packaged.

Although the doctors who were conscripted into the association's medical clinic complained incessantly, they still carried out the unreasonable tasks assigned to them by their superiors with great seriousness and rigor. All the mummies underwent preliminary examinations by the doctors, and each one had basic information about it. The outer bags even had the signature of the person who packed them last, ensuring that responsibility was assigned to individuals.

Chunyu Kong wrinkled his nose.

"Does it smell?" Ning Yao sniffed it as well. "It's alright, the fresh air system is working properly."

Sora: "It doesn't smell bad, it just has a strong smell of a pathetic, overworked office worker."

Manyi: "Are you swearing?"

Empty: "Obviously."

Manyi scoffed: "Yes, yes, we doctors are just that spineless. Unlike the field team, who are so tough, they all run away at the slightest disagreement. Now, we even have to go through my connections to get in the door."

Chunyu Kong glanced at him with some surprise: "You have a strong sense of collective honor. I didn't expect you to feel so much belonging to the association's medical clinic."

Manyi paused for half a second: "No, I just said it offhand."

Chunyu Kong nodded: "Understood, the argumentative personality type."

Manyi: "No... wait? That's not right?"

Chunyu Kong picked up a small animal mummy from the shelf and began comparing the information on the register with the label.

Ning Yao rested his head weakly on Chunyu Kong's shoulder, his voice listless: "How do we investigate?"

Kong didn't turn around, nor did he twist Ning Yao's head off and kick it around like a ball. He simply handed the mummy in his hand to Ning Yao, picked up another one for himself, and said calmly, "Generally speaking, the original registration of a collection will indicate its origin, and there will be records of its receipt, transfer, donation, loan, and storage before it is officially put into storage. In this way, we can know the information that the collection carries during its circulation."

“Where they come from, where they are going, who handles them, their status during the process... By comprehensively analyzing these, we can obtain information beyond the written materials, and what is not recorded is often what people try to hide.”

“But this batch of mummies was ‘intercepted’ by the association halfway, so there must be some missing links. What can we find out?” Manyi sat down with the trolley and hummed softly.

“If we don’t investigate, we definitely won’t find anything.” Chunyu Kong didn’t explain anything for him, but skillfully dodged the question and threw the words back at him.

Ning Yao turned the mummy in his hand over and over, but found nothing, and tossed it back onto the shelf with little interest.

"How did he react in this area?" Kong suddenly asked.

Ning Yao paused for a moment, then instantly understood what Kong meant: "Sulking."

Kong seemed to be deep in thought: "So there's no reaction. It seems the useful stuff isn't here."

Ning Yao smiled, her eyes crinkling, and covered her mouth, whispering, "Dancing in Horus' minefield? You're naughty, but I like it."

"Shut up, stop talking nonsense. It's just a shortcut for quick reconnaissance." Time was limited, and since the cat mummy area hadn't elicited any reaction from Horus, the three of them decisively skipped the screening of this area and immediately moved on to the next one.

"What did you just say was next to the cat?" Ning Yao asked.

“Fish,” Manyi said succinctly.

duang
Ning Yao's mind suddenly exploded for a moment, like hot water that had been boiled over and then brought to a boil again. The pain immediately overflowed from the edge of the scalding pot, only to evaporate in an instant.

"It's a fish! It's a fish!" Ning Yao shouted quickly, ignoring his throbbing temples, afraid of missing a fleeting clue.

He dashed into the fish mummy section, grabbed one at random, and threw it over.

The pain intensified, further confirming Ning Yao's suspicions.

He gritted his teeth and took the fish mummy.

This is a provocation! This is a provocation!

Horus was furious, his domineering rage almost solidifying in the air. Even Chunyu Kong and Manyi could clearly sense the dangerous and scorching aura emanating from Ning Yao.

"Hey buddy, let's talk this out. Who provoked you?" Ning Yao held the fish high, squinting his reddened eyes, trying to make Horus see him more clearly.

puff

The fish, already extremely dry from being mummified, suddenly emitted a wisp of burnt black smoke from its mouth and spontaneously combusted under Ning Yao's "intense" gaze.

"Hey! No open flames!" Old Chu suddenly appeared out of nowhere, snatched the burning wooden (mummy) fish from Ning Yao's hand, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it several times until the flames that had just appeared were completely extinguished and the fish was dead beyond any doubt. Only then did he turn around with his hands on his hips and start scolding the group.

"Are you all crazy? This is the warehouse for mummies! It's the driest room in the whole building. How dare you start a fire here? You're incredibly audacious. Luckily, I was the only one who saw it. If Grandpa Geng had caught you, he would have buried the three of you in cement blocks."

Manyi pouted: "Didn't you go off to relax? Where did you come from?"

Old Chu, however, looked utterly wronged: "What are you saying? What do you mean I went to slack off and rest? The warehouse is at its busiest time. How could I just stand by and watch my colleagues working hard and sweating profusely while I'm lying in the second shelf from the bottom right of shelf B17 in the wooden fish section, secretly watching short videos, enjoying the air conditioning, and eating half a watermelon I didn't finish at lunch with a spoon? No way!"

Ning Yao: "You've already confessed without being asked, haven't you?"

Chunyu Kong raised his hand: "Excuse me for interrupting, but are you in charge of collecting and adding the fish mummy data to the database?"

Old Chu tilted his head: "It's me."

“That’s perfect,” Chunyu Kong said, casually pulling out a fish mummy. “What kind of fish is this?”

Man Yi took the fish before Lao Chu could: "Although the fish is shriveled and unrecognizable, the original registration form of the collection indicates that the species of this batch of fish is Nile perch. As its name suggests, it is widely distributed in the Nile River basin. Perch has always been delicious, so maybe the locals would like to eat it? It makes some sense that it was made into a mummy."

"No, that's not it~" Old Chu said with a smile, taking the fish from Manyi's hand. "The locals are very superstitious about this kind of fish."

"A taboo?" Chunyu Kong asked.

"It seems to be related to some mythology?" Old Chu pondered, stroking his chin. "I remember it ate someone's little brother."