Chapter 10, The Black Corpse Worm

The old witch stopped shouting, her eyes fixed on the banknotes, as if lost in recollection. Suddenly, she said: "You are the young man who stayed at my house."

Igu has mentioned that the fire hedgehog can counteract the poison of the golden silkworm curse, Yi Shiqi explained to the director

At this moment, the old witch began to cough violently, her abdomen heaving intensely. It was then that Yi Shiqi noticed her belly had swollen like that of a pregnant woman. The hostility in her gaze had vanished, replaced by the despair and pity that one exhibits before death.

Are there really Gu insects? Then what about the old Gu woman and the two Gu insects, the golden silkworm and the ice spider? Director Zhao said with a hint of skepticism

"Hiding? This is my home, why should I hide?" the old witch said with a cold laugh

"Why are you hiding in Li Xihua's house?" Yi Shiqi continued to question according to his own line of thought

The duty doctor opened the pharmacy door, but no one dared to step forward

Officer Wang approached Yishi Qi, furrowing his brow and said: "I say, Teacher Yi, why is it that wherever you go, the dead seem to follow you there?"

The forensic experts and others transported the old man's body to the morgue for examination, while Yi Shiqi lit a cigarette, needing to ease the tension in the atmosphere

"How did Old Man Yi die? What exactly happened?" Director Zhao said with a grim expression.

Hurry! Quickly bring me the fire hedgehog! The old witch shouted hoarsely upon seeing someone arrive

"Corpse worm!" Yi Shiqi exclaimed in shock, hurriedly shaking off the old witch's hand, and quickly grasped the insect with a shiny black hard shell, grabbing it and throwing it away

The old witch, with great difficulty, extended her hand towards Yi Shiqi, a glimmer of desperation for survival flashing in her eyes. In that moment, Yi Shiqi felt a sudden surge of compassion in his heart and reached out to grasp the old witch's hand.

The old witch tightly grasped Yi Shiqi, let out a strange cry, opened her mouth, and coughed up a black insect resembling a cockroach, which fell onto Yi Shiqi's neck

Director Zhao turned around and instructed two investigators to go to Shanyin Village to retrieve the corpse of the gu worm, which is also an important piece of evidence in this case, despite some superstitious elements involved

The two cursed insects perished together, and their bodies remain in Li Xihua's yard, while the old witch has fled. Yi Shiqi concealed the fact that he had the golden silkworm hidden on him, believing that he should fulfill the old man's last wish

After a while, Officer Wang, Director Zhao, and other experts from the investigation team hurriedly arrived

"Oh, my unfortunate son..." the old witch began to wail uncontrollably

"He is already dead," said Yishiqi coldly

"What nonsense is this? Has she gone mad?" Director Zhao mumbled

Old Gu Po is Li Xihua's mother? This is too bizarre, as Li Xihua has never mentioned that he has such a mother alive. His younger sister, Xiaohua, also said that their parents died when they were young, and the siblings relied on each other for support.

At that moment, a duty nurse came running from the end of the corridor, stumbling and panicked, shouting: "There is an old woman lying in the Chinese medicine room!"

"Are you talking about Xiao Hua? It was her own decision to go to your room. The moment I saw you, I knew you were also practicing Gu, and you were heading to Shanyin Village. Who doesn't know about the events that occurred in that village? I released Xiao Hua just to test the waters, but I didn't expect that the tall man dressed in Miao attire would actually be hiding a golden silkworm. It's all my fault for being too careless. If only I had released the ice spider instead. Poor Xiao Hua, knowing she was no match yet still went to her death..." The old Gu woman said, shedding a few tears.

Yishiqi could no longer evade, but strangely, that group of black insects bypassed him and rushed quickly towards the door

Yishiqi silently turned and left the hospital, walking out onto the street. The air in the mountainous area at midnight was incredibly fresh and cool; he took a deep breath, his thoughts somewhat chaotic, and it seemed he needed to think things through from the beginning.

Her hands were as soft as if they had no bones, slender, smooth, and delicate. Yi Shiqi felt that this was not the hand of an old and frail woman, but rather that of a young lady.

Looking through the window, the boxes containing traditional Chinese medicine in the pharmacy have been pulled out, and various Chinese herbs are scattered all over the ground. ... Against the wall, beneath a row of medicine cabinets, an old woman with disheveled hair and a fierce expression is sitting on the ground with her back against the wooden cabinet, her deeply sunken eyes gleaming with a ferocious light like a trapped beast

What the hell is going on here

Yishiqi did not wait for the duty doctor to speak, but instead laid the elderly person's body flat on the long bench in the corridor, and then took out his mobile phone to dial.

"Why did you kill Li Xihua?" Yi Shiqi did not want to get entangled in this matter and quickly got to the point

"Officer Wang? Old Man Yi has died, he is now at the town hospital," Yi Shiqi said calmly.

Director Zhao and the others outside the door were taken aback, and they fled in panic, with a mass of dark, writhing corpse worms hot on their heels, countless legs scraping against the concrete floor of the corridor, producing a piercing, grating sound

Yishiqi pushed the doctor aside and walked into the pharmacy. He approached the old witch, took out his wallet, and waved a one-hundred-yuan bill in front of her.

This sudden situation was completely beyond their grasp, and Director Zhao and Officer Wang exchanged glances with each other

Everyone hurriedly followed the nurse to the front of the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy, where the glass of the pharmacy window was shattered, with fresh crimson bloodstains still visible on it

The on-duty nurse looked at them in surprise when a male on-duty doctor approached and asked, "What happened to the patient?" He noticed the bloodstains on the back of the elderly man's hand.

Yes, I am the young man who stayed over that night. Have you forgotten? You even sent a multicolored spider to bite us

The situation is as follows: After we returned to the inn, Old Man Yi's spirits were consistently low. Later, he asked me to accompany him to see the place where Yi Gu had died, so I went with him to the waterside in Shanyin Village. There, we discovered the old witch and the ice spider she raised. Old Man Yi also had a golden silkworm with him. Subsequently, the two insects began to attack each other. In an effort to save the golden silkworm, which was poisoned by cold, Old Man Yi bit through a blood vessel on the back of his hand. Ultimately, he succumbed to exhaustion and died while I was carrying him to the hospital.

"Damn it, where is there a fire hedgehog here? Hey, old... old lady, did you kill the seven people from Shanyin Village?" Director Zhao felt that calling her 'old witch' was inappropriate, so he changed his address to 'old lady'

"Nonsense! That is my son," the old witch exclaimed angrily

Yishiqi also thought that both Old Man Yi and his son died beside him, in short, it was quite unlucky

Yishiqi understood that Yigu had once said that before the person who has been cursed by the Golden Silkworm dies, hundreds of black corpse insects will escape from their mouth and nose with their last breath. Turning back to look at the old witch, he saw her staring with terrifying eyes, her mouth wide open, already lifeless.

Your son?" Yi Shiqi was taken aback

However, the heartfelt confession of the old witch before her death does not seem to be a lie. If the old witch is indeed Li Xihua's mother, then Li Xihua and his sister have told a lie, and there may be some secrets in their family that are not known to outsiders. Furthermore, it is generally impossible for a mother to poison her own biological child; could it be that the murderer is someone else?

At this moment, hundreds of black insects, resembling cockroaches, surged forth from the mouth and nostrils of the old witch in a frantic rush

The crowd rushed out to the main gate, and the terrifying black corpse insects immediately followed, quickly disappearing into the street

Ask her about her relationship with the incident of the dead in Shanyin Village " Director Zhao reminded Yi Shiqi from outside the window

"Old Witch!" Yi Shiqi exclaimed in astonishment

In the late night, at the town hospital, Yi Shiqi pushed open the hospital's main door while holding the corpse of Old Man Yi.

Give me the fire hedgehog! The old witch seemed oblivious to the conversations around her, continuing to shout insistently.