Chapter 66 Heavenly Tapir Silkworm

After a long silence.

I countered her, "Do you think that's even possible?"

Liao Xiaoqin stared at me coldly.

"What if? Your brother is missing without a trace—dead or alive unknown. This is the only method I can think of right now."

I: "......"

She closed the iron box and handed it to me.

"In this world, there are far more things we don't know than we do. Whether it works or not, we have to try."

"I'll give you one hour to deal with that furious old Du and make him crack the secret of the silk-producing worms!"

She managed to persuade me.

The things I had experienced lately were simply unimaginable to me before.

Liao Xiaoqin was right. What if there was a shred of hope left?

I picked up the iron box and gazed blankly at her.

"Can you tell me the truth..."

"No!"

Before I could finish, Liao Xiaoqin interrupted me decisively, her chin tilted up, pointing a finger at me.

I turned and left.

Actually, what I wanted to ask just now was whether she was really looking for the Golden Silkworm Molt or my brother.

To hell with it if she refused to tell!

Liao Xiaoqin was truly too cunning, leaving me to deal with an old man master of gu-poison arts. If I failed to handle him and old Du secretly hit me with some gu-poison tricks, I wouldn't even know how I died.

Spotting a small grocery store nearby, I went over and bought a sheet of letter paper, along with a red and a black ballpoint pen. Hiding in a corner, I wrote a letter of introduction with the black pen, and then drew a large official-looking seal with the red pen.

My painting skills had been quite good back in my school days; the sketches I copied in art class were often pinned to the wall by the teacher for other students to admire.

Several female students had even secretly slipped me notes asking me to teach them how to draw after class. At the time, my goal was to pursue a doctorate, so I told them I didn't have that kind of idle time.

Arriving at old Du's doorway, I saw him sitting on the threshold crying, looking extremely heartbroken.

I bit the bullet and greeted him.

"Master Du!"

Old Du raised his head, spotted me, and abruptly grabbed a shovel beside him.

"Pfft!"

I reached out and tapped him.

Old Du's body instantly froze, his internal breath misaligned, and he slumped down onto the ground. Pressing a hand against his chest, unable to move, he glared at me with furious eyes.

"You little punk..."

"Old Du! Do you know who I am?"

"You're a damn idiot!"

I pulled out the letter paper and waved it in front of him a few times.

"Take a close look! We are from the National Supernatural Organism Research Center. Old Qin from Peking University is a senior veteran in our unit. We are here today on a crucial secret mission, and we don't have time to mess around with you!"

Catching sight of the letter, old Du was clearly bluffed.

However, the old man really had a stubborn temper.

"Even if you guys were the Jade Emperor descended to earth, you still have to pay for killing my silkworms!"

I opened the iron box and brought it close to his eyes.

"How about picking one as compensation, is that enough?"

The black silkworm squirmed vigorously inside the iron box, occasionally lifting its head and emitting a strange odor.

Old Du stared with wide-eyed disbelief, much like a collector encountering a peerless treasure.

Clearly, he had never seen this breed before!

I immediately closed the iron box and turned to leave.

"If you're not willing to cooperate, I'll find someone else!"

Seeing this, old Du panicked.

"Hey! You idio—little comrade, I don't want compensation anymore! Let me take a few more looks!"

A weight lifted from my heart, and I asked with a smile, "You won't beat me up later, right?"

Old Du hurriedly replied, "No, no! I was just too impulsive a moment ago. Since you're here from above on a secret mission, I will definitely cooperate fully!"

I walked over and patted him on the back.

Old Du coughed a few times, caught his breath, and eagerly reached out to grab the iron box.

Blocking his hand, I instructed him with an air of mystery.

"Let's talk inside!"

The two of us went into the house.

The woman was still inside the room, wearing a mournful expression.

"Master Du, please cure my illness."

Old Du waved his hand.

"Your illness won't kill you anytime soon. I'll go to your house to treat you tomorrow. Get out of here right now, I have major business to attend to!"

After the woman left, old Du closed the bedroom door, took the iron box from my hand, and began to scrutinize the black silkworms inside. He remained silent for a full ten minutes.

At last.

Old Du swallowed hard, turned his head, and asked me, "Little comrade, where did these silkworms come from?"

I waved a hand at him.

"Don't ask where they came from; it's a secret. All I can tell you is that the Research Center recently discovered a bizarre breed of silkworm. We asked experts both domestic and foreign, and no one knows what it is. Old Qin recommended us to come and try our luck with you. If you know, tell us everything; if you don't, let's not waste time."

"I know! I know!"

"Then tell me, what kind of silkworms are these?"

Old Du was momentarily stunned.

"I need to go check my ancestral ancient books, wait a moment!"

With that, he immediately fetched a ladder, climbed up along it into the wooden attic of the room, and started rummaging through ancient books inside.

I sent a message to Liao Xiaoqin, telling her the old man was handled and urging her to hurry over.

As soon as Liao Xiaoqin entered the room.

Old Du anxiously scrambled down from the attic, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Two comrades, these are the legendary Heavenly Tapir Silkworms!"

Liao Xiaoqin and I exchanged a glance.

Liao Xiaoqin asked, "Master Du, please explain in detail."

Old Du explained to us.

"My Du family is a lineage of gu-poison masters in Western Hunan. My ancestors were once powerful great shamans. According to our ancestral records, in ancient times, there existed a Heavenly Tapir Silkworm—black flesh, white cocoon shell, capable of spinning golden silk, and extremely slow in laying eggs, molting once every fifty years!"

I purposely spoke in a loud voice, "Old Du, this is a serious matter, no making things up!"

Hearing this, old Du scratched his head.

"How would I dare make things up to you... By the way, do you know what a tapir is?"

I nodded.

"I know. A divine beast in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which feeds on dreams, especially nightmares."

Old Du slapped his thigh, his emotions somewhat stirred.

"The Heavenly Tapir Silkworm has a similar function, but instead of devouring dreams, it devours human memories!"

I asked, "What the hell did you say?!"

Old Du's tone was filled with complacency.

"My ancestor's books recorded an ancient shamanic art: it states that when a person is on the verge of death, they are fed with specially treated medicinal mulberry leaves, and the Heavenly Tapir Silkworm is given to them along with shamanic rituals. It will spin silk to wrap around the person's entire body, merging and coexisting with them for a period of time."

"After the person breathes their last, the Heavenly Tapir Silkworm will continue to propagate on the corpse. Not only can it retain all of a person's past experiences and wishes during their lifetime, but it can also manipulate the corpse to perform simple tasks according to the person's intentions while alive."

Liao Xiaoqin raised her voice.

"Old Du, this is a major matter, you cannot make up stories!"

This damn thing was definitely not made up.

In the tomb of Marquis Guewu, we had indeed seen a silkworm-cocoon human who was currently performing the simple task of guarding the black stone treasure box coffin.

The truth had arrived!

Marquis Guewu had actually died long ago; what we fought was not a human at all, but a humanoid giant silkworm hive that retained a small fraction of Marquis Guewu's consciousness!

Would you believe it?!

In other words, the silkworms inside the iron box still stored the memories of Marquis Guewu?

Old Du furrowed his brows.

"Two little comrades, these are records from the books. Since you asked me to introduce them, of course I've told you everything! As for whether it's true or not, you can judge for yourselves!"

We remained silent.

Old Du felt somewhat speechless towards us.

"Let me ask you, how is it that the palace walls of the Forbidden City can project the shadows of walking eunuchs and palace maids during thunderstorms?"

I said, "Because the wall acts as a medium, and the lightning produces a light-and-shadow reaction, transmitting past activity footage of the Forbidden City onto the wall surface."

Old Du countered with a question.

"If brick walls can serve as a storage medium, why can't the Heavenly Tapir Silkworm?"

This question left us completely stumped.

Old Du sighed lightly.

"You young people always love to talk about science. How many years has science even existed?"

"Who's to say that when science is highly developed in the future, there might be proof that such a thing as the Heavenly Tapir Silkworm truly exists, and through a special method to merge with the human body, it can store human brain memories just like a compact disc?"

Liao Xiaoqin gave a small smile.

"Master Du, I believe you!"

Hearing this, old Du's expression brightened with joy, and he gave Liao Xiaoqin a thumbs-up.

"This young woman looks much smarter than this punk, her mind is truly sharp!"

I: "......"

Liao Xiaoqin asked, "Master Du, do you have any technique or spell to extract the memories from these silkworms?"