Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 105 Other People's Buildings
"I remember this thing is gregarious." Qin Ziwen frowned. He recalled the contents of the illustration book, which recorded that the forest mayfly is an aquatic insect that lives at the bottom of lakes and rivers.

In this form, they typically last for 3-4 years.

During this period, they usually gather at the bottom of wide bodies of water and feed on small fish, algae, and aquatic plants.

As they approach adulthood, they typically swim upstream, approaching the forested areas of the upper reaches of the river, where they will prey on any aquatic life they encounter along the way.

On the one hand, food is more abundant in forest areas, and on the other hand, it is a kind of "retrograde migration", similar to the lake and river migration of some salmon.

Every year when they give birth, they swim upstream from the freshwater lake to return to the place where they were born.

However, the forest mayfly has a fatal weakness in its aquatic form.

Its static vision is almost zero. When facing it, as long as you remain still, it will basically treat you as a block of wood and choose to ignore you.

But once the other side chooses to swim, they will swarm it.

The absence of these insects at the bottom of the river previously indicated that this area was not their usual habitat; their appearance now suggests that they have begun their migration.

Once the forest mayflies begin their migration, the time between their emergence and mating period can be as long as a week or as short as two or three days.

Their molting is a collective process. Once one individual begins to molt, it secretes a special hormone that causes all of its kind in the nearby watershed to molt successively within a day.

After emerging from their molt, the mouthparts of the forest mayfly will completely degenerate, losing the ability to feed, and their lifespan will be reduced to only a few hours to three days. During this period, they will fly freely on the river surface and in the sky above the forest, mate and reproduce, and lay their egg masses in the water, in the grass by the river, and in the crevices of rocks.

Therefore, these forest mayflies will begin to molt collectively within a few days at most. The insects in the river are a problem at this stage, but it won't last long.

In order to aid in their metamorphosis, they will attack any living organism that can swim in the water during this period to help them accumulate energy.

Qin Ziwen pondered what benefits he could gain from this.

After thinking for a moment, he felt that the simplest solution was to acquire fishing and angling equipment.

These tools will certainly depreciate in value because of the large number of forest mayfly larvae appearing in the rivers.

Buy it at a low price first, then sell it at a high price; you can definitely make a profit in one go.

But after thinking about it, I felt it wasn't necessary.

Profiting solely from disasters is a risky business.

Besides, they're all poor people, so they can't earn much money.

Qin Ziwen and Zhao Pu walked back. "Dr. Zhao, what's the situation with the infectious disease now?"

Zhao Pu said, "It's alright, much better than a few days ago. It's barely under control now. The households with sick family members have also formed two hunting teams."

Currently, this disease has a relatively high mortality rate, primarily affecting the elderly, children, and those with underlying health conditions. The mortality rate for the elderly and children is around 60%, while the mortality rate for healthy adults is around 25%.

Hearing this number, even though he was mentally prepared, Qin Ziwen's heart still sank.

"What do you mean by 'underlying disease'?"

Zhao Pu said, "Diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and liver disease can weaken the immune system and lead to low immunity."

At this point, Zhao Pu smiled wryly: "This infectious disease has a relatively fast incubation period and onset time. Fortunately, it's not the kind with a long incubation period. Moreover, the price of Western medicine has been soaring recently, and it's basically impossible to find any medicine."

As they talked, the two went downstairs.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

There was a banging sound coming from upstairs; the sound was very close.

Zhao Pu said, "It should be that team that specializes in transporting corpses. There is a team within the Tongmenghui that is responsible for handling corpses. You rarely see them. Whenever someone dies, they will come to collect the body. They are probably breaking into Gate 202 right now."

Qin Ziwen went upstairs and, in the second-floor corridor, saw the mysterious team that Zhao Pu had mentioned.

There were seven people in total: one person was in charge of directing, two people stood behind with their hands in their pockets, two people were smashing the doorknob with a hammer, and two people were carrying two makeshift stretchers.

Apart from the one in charge and the two with their hands in their pockets who had short hair, the other four all had long hair, were taciturn, and had sallow complexions.

Qin Ziwen stopped in his tracks. He recognized at a glance that these four people with long hair were definitely not modern people, but ancient people who had been recruited.

Their demeanor was even more familiar. They were almost identical to the refugees who had fled to the soup kitchens.

He exuded an air of weariness, numbness, and repression.

These four people seem to be ancient refugees as well?

Almost simultaneously, Qin Ziwen thought of soup kitchens.

Someone in the Alliance must have obtained the building card for the soup kitchen and then recruited a large number of refugees from it.

He made these refugees do his work.

By using refugees to dispose of corpses, even if the refugees accidentally become infected with germs, all that is needed is to abandon them, drive them away, and stop providing them with food and porridge; the refugees carrying the germs will naturally leave.

After the original resident was moved out, everything in the house became his resources.

This deal is definitely worthwhile.

Qin Ziwen felt a pang of emotion, but this was also a good thing.

After all, if a corpse is not properly disposed of, it will rot if left at home for too long. In addition, the bacteria in the corpse may even mutate, causing secondary infections and breeding even more terrifying diseases.

Using these migrants is indeed the most "cost-effective" approach compared to using the original residents of the community.

This also opened up a new use for him.

Refugees in soup kitchens can serve as "supplies" in critical moments.

At the corner of the stairwell, the man in charge of supervision glanced at Qin Ziwen and his group and said, "Wait a moment."

Clang! Clang! Bang!

The banging on the door didn't stop; then there was a loud crash as something fell to the ground.

The door was opened.

In the stairwell, the man in charge of supervision took a mask out of his pocket and put it on: "I suggest you make way, otherwise it will be difficult to carry it downstairs."

Qin Ziwen and Zhao Pu came out of the stairwell and stood outside the unit door.

Zhao Pu looked around, then leaned closer and whispered, "There are four people inside who don't look like they're from our neighborhood."

Qin Ziwen said, "They must have been recruited."

Upon receiving Qin Ziwen's confirmation, Zhao Pu felt it was extravagant. "I heard that one recruitment card is needed to recruit one person. Such a precious thing, and they actually use it to carry corpses? Aren't they afraid of contracting diseases?"

Anyone who acquires a fully functional adult male who obeys commands, possesses intelligence, and has all four limbs can use him as their "second arm."

As a result, these precious recruited members were used to transport the corpses of people who died from infectious diseases. If you accidentally get infected, this card will be completely useless!

Moreover, the fact that four people were sent at once made Zhao Pu unable to imagine just how powerful the person behind it was.

If Qin Ziwen didn't have a soup kitchen, he might have shared the same sentiment as Zhao Pu.

But he also had soup kitchens and understood the logic behind them, so he found it quite ordinary.

Qin Ziwen asked Zhao Pu, "Do you know who sent this team?"

Zhao Pu shook his head: "I don't know. I only know that it was a high-ranking member of the Tongmenghui. I don't know exactly who sent it."

Just as the two were talking, they heard footsteps behind them.

They turned around and saw four people carrying two stretchers passing by.

The stretcher was covered with a sheet, so you couldn't see anyone's face.

But a faint stench of decay lingered in the air.

(End of this chapter)