When I asked for more details, Mrs. Mu insisted the young man leave the room. "Officer, didn't you just say I was poisoned? Should I go to the hospital?" he asked uneasily.
"This poison temporarily makes it impossible for you to ingest protein. But aside from that, there’s nothing to worry about. Please leave your contact information and we’ll inform you when we find a cure."
After leaving his contact information, the young man walked out of the study.
Mrs. Mu poured herself a glass of bourbon and asked if we wanted a drink, but I declined. Then, dropping into the desk chair, she began her story.
Half a year ago, Mr. Mu joined a club through a friend's introduction, but the details weren’t disclosed to Mrs. Mu.
To put it bluntly, Mrs. Mu believed that the pastimes of the rich involved pleasure of the flesh. As a mistress herself, she was open about such matters. After all, she was only with Mr. Mu for the luxuries and couldn’t care less if her husband had a debauched life outside of their home.
However, upon returning from the club, Mr. Mu seemed spirited and full of vigor. Naturally, there wasn’t much sex for a man in his fifties. But ever since he joined the club, he had become so passionate and intense in the sheets that even Mrs. Mu was frightened!
Every time she looked into his eyes, she found them red and bloodthirsty like a wolf. Once, Mr. Mu even bit her neck. It was not the playful intimate sort between lovers, but a bite so hard blood gushed out of the wound. Mrs. Mu screamed in pain and tried to push her husband away. Despite apologizing, Mr. Mu licked the blood with terrifying greed in his eyes.
Mr. Mu was so keen on this club that he wouldn’t eat or drink, counting down the days till the weekend.
And as soon as the weekend arrived, he would get dressed and leave at five in the afternoon.
Although unaware of what her husband did at the club, Mrs. Mu couldn’t fight the uneasiness she felt. She would occasionally remind him to be careful outside given his age, but Mr. Mu wouldn’t listen at all. Upset with his behavior, Mrs. Mu started inviting friends over for weekend parties.
There was one other strange thing–Mr. Mu had asked where he could purchase human placenta. Since Mrs. Mu was hospitalized for some time, she knew that human placenta wasn’t easy to obtain. She managed to procure it via her friend and ended up stewing it for Mr. Mu. In fact, human placenta was similar to a piece of skin with a little meat. But just thinking about its origins made Mrs. Mu disgusted.
Strangely enough, Mr. Mu, who hadn’t eaten meat for half a year, devoured it with relish.
"Officers, has my husband done something illegal?” asked Mrs. Mu. “Tell me the truth. I wouldn’t want all his property to be confiscated when the time comes. What a huge loss it would be if I don't get a penny!"
"You’re really straightforward, aren’t you?" scoffed Xiaotao.
Mrs. Mu laughed, "Why should I bother pretending with the police? Doesn’t it boil down to that between men and women?"
"Don’t worry. You won’t lose your assets," assured Xiaotao.
Mrs. Mu nodded, "Thank goodness. But then again, if he has really committed a crime, do go easy on him. After all, he is my husband.”
"Thanks for your cooperation. We’ll leave you to your party!" I said.
Upon exiting the villa, I furrowed my brows, "From the clues we have so far, this mysterious club is probably dealing in the same business as Chef Tang."
Xiaotao gasped, "I really hope my dad won’t get mixed up in all this."
Ill at ease, Xiaotao planned to wait for Mr. Huang in his apartment. Right then, we received a call from Bingxin, reporting her findings. "Song Yang-gege, the poisoned liquor has no reaction with the chemicals in the mice’s blood."
"Have you tried feeding the mice with the poisoned liquor and then their own kind?" I suggested.
"I did think of it so I separated the alcohol content from the poisoned liquor and injected the mice. I tested them with beef jerky, milk and the meat of other mice. They wouldn’t eat any of it."
I turned my attention to the cage on the table. The mice were nibbling on the peanuts and celery but ignored the meat next to them.
"Perhaps the poison doesn’t react on chemicals in the blood but on human proteins. Can you get a sample of human protein?"
After all, this wasn’t a hospital so we couldn’t just grab a blood bag. "Can we use human milk?” asked Xiaotao. “A colleague of mine just gave birth. I can ask her for some milk."
"That’s too much trouble, just take my blood!"
"Gosh, do you have to be so dedicated!" laughed Bingxin.
Rolling up my sleeves, I allowed Bingxin to tie a tourniquet around my arm and extract a tube full of blood. Then, she placed the blood into a small plastic cup meant for feeding.
At first, the mice were indifferent, but one soon crawled over and began licking at the blood. It continued licking frantically, drawing the attention of the other mice. In a matter of seconds, the mice finished a small cup of human blood, their red eyes gleaming like shiny adzuki beans as if they were still looking for that "delicacy.”
“How horrifying! They’re drinking human blood!” exclaimed Bingxin. “Let's get rid of these mice!"
"Don't!” I stopped her. “We have to study how to relieve this effect. I don't want to be a vegetarian my entire life!"
“Xiaotao-jiejie, I’ll have to trouble you to get some human milk."
"Oh no!" I cried, palming my forehead.
When the girls asked me what was wrong, I smiled bitterly, "I drink milk every time I use my abilities. But now I can't ingest protein unless it’s human, which means I can’t use my abilities..."
“Should I ask my colleague to give you some?" Xiaotao interjected.
"God, no! I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach that!"
"What's the big deal? Many fitness enthusiasts drink human milk. If my colleague knows that you drank her milk, she’d be very proud." The girls threw their heads back in laughter.
After handling this matter, Xiaotao planned to wait at Mr. Huang's apartment, along with Bingxin who wanted to spend the night there. Since the apartment would be empty except for the two, I was duty-bound to watch over the girls.
We stayed up all night watching movies and snacking. I eventually fell asleep on Mr. Huang's couch while the girls shared his bed.
Early the next morning, Xiaotao ran out of the bedroom, looking a mess. "Is my dad home?" she cried.
Sitting up, I shook my head, "No!"
"I just had a nightmare that my dad came back with blood. He scared me half to death!" she said, patting her chest. Returning to the bedroom, she got properly dressed and tried to reach Mr. Huang once more but to no avail. Xiaotao knitted her brows in consternation.
"Check if Mr. Mu is home," I suggested.
This time, the call to Mr. Mu actually connected. As soon as she said the words “Uncle Mu,” he hung up on her. Gritting her teeth in anger, she cursed "That bastard knows I’m a policeman. Something must have happened... Bingxin, get up! We’ve got to go!"
At her call, Bingxin reluctantly got up. Who said that girls took forever to get ready? We were out of the apartment in fifteen minutes!
Xiaotao drove over to Mr. Mu’s villa like a madman on wheels. Even Bingxin turned pale with fear. I had to keep reminding Xiaotao of the traffic policeman ahead so she would go easy.
Unfortunately, we saw only Mrs. Mu, having narrowly missed her husband. She reported that Mr. Mu packed up and left right after returning home and receiving a phone call.