Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Shen Xing took his handbag, got on his bicycle, and rode towards the only flower and bird market in the small town.

It's called a flower and bird market, but it's really just a roadside stall on a street outside the vegetable market. Inside, there are quite a few people selling ornamental fish, kittens and puppies, and wild game hunted by villagers from nearby towns.

Hamsters are a rare breed here. If you really can't find any, Shen Xing can settle for something like a little yellow chick or a little yellow duck, and also buy some raw meat at the market for comparison.

The market was not far from the school; Shen Xing arrived at his destination in less than five minutes.

Shen Xing parked his bicycle next to a utility pole at the intersection, picked up his black handbag, and walked into the crowded flow of people with a smile on his face.

The roadside was lined with rusty iron cages and plastic basins of various colors, and the whole street reeked of the fishy, ​​pungent smell of meat.

Several elderly vendors were squatting on the ground, selling wild game they had caught themselves, with net bags containing a few wild rabbits or free-range chickens.

After wandering around for a while, Shen Xing realized that he had been too naive.

Let alone the baby rats or hamsters used to feed snakes, there are very few small animals that meet Shen Xing's requirements. The most suitable one is probably that rat that just scurried into the sewer on the street.

Shen Xing eventually returned to the chicken stall at the street corner, where a few elementary school students were gathered. He spent five yuan to buy five chicks from the owner and also bought some scraps and livers from pigs, cattle, and sheep.

All of these items were eventually packed into a black plastic bag, looking no different from what an ordinary person would do after grocery shopping—well... in fact, it really was grocery shopping, nothing much was done.

Shen Xing first rode his bike home to retrieve the petri dish locked in the cabinet, and then returned to the garage he rented.

After running back and forth, it was already 6 p.m.

This should be the time when many people return from grocery shopping, but this old neighborhood still feels rather lifeless.

This is why Shen Xing used this place as a temporary settlement or warehouse: it's cheap, there are few people, and it's quiet.

After entering the garage, he placed the black plastic bag containing the chicks and scraps of meat, along with his handbag, aside.

Turn on the lights, turn on the exhaust fan, and put on a white coat.

Shen Xing took out a DV camera and a plastic dish from his briefcase and placed them on the stainless steel workbench.

Just like last night, after setting up the DV camera, pointing it at the control panel, and turning on the recording function, Shen Xing tore off the black electrical tape stuck to the plastic dish.

After tearing off the electrical tape wrapped in a cross shape around the plastic dish, Shen Xing gently shook the dish and placed it on the worktable.

The pink muscles inside twitched slightly, looking weak and listless, completely unlike the movement they had when they were first taken out of the painting yesterday.

Could it be an act?

Although I know that logically speaking, a muscle has no ability to think and only relies on instinct, the way this piece of flesh appeared is very illogical.

Shen Xing did not take the risk of releasing the meat directly. Instead, he took a piece of beef from the black plastic bag and placed it on the worktable.

He took out the scalpel from yesterday, cut off a small piece of meat, then used tweezers to pick it up, opened a small gap in the plastic dish, and stuffed the meat piece inside.

Shen Xing took a half step back and observed the movement of the muscle on the DV camera screen.

The muscles remained still, as if they didn't even feel the presence of this piece of flesh.

No eyesight? Well... after all, no eyes.

Shen Xing took a half step forward and used tweezers to move the slice of meat a little closer to the muscle, so that it was already attached to the muscle and the two were in direct contact.

No response.

Shen Xing tried different cuts of meat, such as mutton, chicken, and offal, and finally came to a conclusion.

This muscle will not react to inanimate objects, not even flesh.

It seems like I don't have any appetite... or maybe the food isn't right.

A chirping sound came from a black plastic bag nearby. Shen Xing opened the lid of the plastic dish and then took out a yellow chick from the bag.

The chick struggled in Shen Xing's hands. Although he really wanted to break the chick's legs to prevent it from running away, for the first experiment, Shen Xing wanted to eliminate other influencing factors and let the chick face the muscle directly to see how the chick would react when it saw the pink "worm".

Shen Xing placed the chick in a plastic dish. The chick stood there for a moment, then spread its wings and tried to cross the dish to run to its companion in the black plastic bag.

Shen Xing picked up the chick and placed it directly in front of the piece of muscle.

The chicks, however, showed no reaction to the muscles, as if they didn't see them at all, and turned their heads to peck at Shen Xing's fingers.

The muscles, too, did not react to the chicks.

Over the next ten minutes, Shen Xing made many attempts.

He cut open the chick's breast and let the blood drip onto the muscle—no reaction.

Cut off a single wing from the chick and align the wound with the muscle—no reaction.

I pinched the muscle, ripped open the chick's chest, and stuffed it inside—no reaction...

Shen Xing had exhausted all five chicks, but still hadn't found any answer.

Chicken blood and chicken meat won't do...

When chicken blood is dripped onto muscle, it is directly separated, as if there is a hydrophobic layer on it, naturally repelling the blood.

Moreover, the chicks seemed not to see the meat at all. Shen Xing stuffed the muscle into their mouths, and they didn't even think to swallow or peck at it.

Or did I just think in the wrong direction from the start?

To common sense, this muscle protruding from the painting is clearly an anomaly.

Could this anomaly only resonate with other anomalies?

If there were any other unusual phenomena elsewhere... Shen Xing could only think of himself.

He looked at the faint white scar on the back of his left hand, which was almost invisible.

My own body also started to show abnormalities.

There is almost no rejection reaction to any transplant, but the transplanted material will quickly lose its activity within minutes.

Shen Xing brought over a new scalpel, disinfected it briefly, removed the glove from his left hand, and gently cut a wound on his left hand fingers with the scalpel in his right hand.

He squeezed a little, and a drop of blood came out. He held his left hand above the muscle and let the blood on his fingers drip onto the small muscle.

Unlike chicken blood, which is dispersed after being dripped on, one's own blood, when dripped on, directly penetrates the muscles, causing the previously lifeless muscles to regain their activity and begin to twitch.

But this time, it was no longer moving towards the doorway, nor towards the school clinic—but towards Shen Xing.

Just like my earlier guess, only the abnormal can resonate with the abnormal.

And I, without a doubt, am an "abnormality".

Looking at the small muscle that was moving toward him, Shen Xing felt no fear or other emotions.

All he wanted to know now was—what were these things? What had he become? Had all these anomalies just begun? Or was the government or some other force concealing everything?

And... will it be rejected by your own body?

Shen Xing maintained the posture of extending his index finger, just like God and Adam in Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam," and gently touched the muscle that was wriggling towards him with his wounded index finger.

The moment the wound touched the muscle, a buzzing sound erupted in Shen Xing's mind. Everything before him seemed to be over-sharpened; he could see that the muscle was covered in jagged spots, and accompanied by intense pain, it was moving along the wound in an impossible manner...

It burrowed into its own fingers.