228: It's a bee monster!

Shen Mingyuan didn't delay. Using his special status associated with GUPA, he went to the police station that had jurisdiction over the area where the incident occurred. Under the guise of “assisting in the investigation of abnormal death cases,” he requested to access Liu Hongwen, Zhang Jianjun’s coworker’s, identity information and possible whereabouts records.

The reception officer, after verifying his credentials, was querying the System.

Just then, urgent calls and dispatch orders suddenly came through the station’s communication channel. The atmosphere in the hall instantly tensed, and several police officers grabbed their equipment and rushed out.

“What happened?” Shen Mingyuan stopped a familiar police team leader, who knew some of his background, and asked.

The leader’s face was grave, and he spoke quickly:

“We just received an alarm. A heinous case occurred at the city’s Seventh Middle School. Preliminary feedback… two students are dead, and the situation is very bizarre. We need to go there immediately!”

“I’ll go with you!” Shen Mingyuan said immediately, his expression serious. “It might be related to the case I’m investigating.”

The leader hesitated slightly, then, recalling Shen Mingyuan’s special authority and the previous bizarre corpse case, nodded: “Get in the car!”

The police car roared through the streets and quickly arrived at Seventh Middle School.

The campus had been cordoned off, and the atmosphere was oppressive. The crime scene was near a relatively secluded bicycle shed behind the teaching building.

Shen Mingyuan followed the police past the cordon.

Two boys in school uniforms lay on the ground, their bodies twisted, their faces showing expressions of extreme pain, and their skin unnaturally flushed with large urticarial bumps.

Most shockingly, two black giant needles, almost as thick as a forearm, with a texture like a mix of chitin and metal, and emitting a dull sheen, were plunged into their backs!

The giant needles were deeply embedded in their bodies, and the surrounding clothing was corroded with holes after being soaked by some liquid.

Forensic and on-site investigators had already begun their work, proceeding cautiously.

“These needles… they’re too big.” Shen Mingyuan frowned. This was definitely no ordinary weapon.

He suppressed the surprise and doubt in his heart, his sharp gaze sweeping across the surroundings—the concrete ground, the steel frame of the bike shed, the wall… Suddenly, he looked up at a surveillance camera installed on top of a lamppost not far away.

“That camera! The angle might cover this area!” Shen Mingyuan immediately told the police officer in charge of the scene, “We need to retrieve the surveillance footage immediately!”

Given the gravity of the matter, the school was extremely cooperative. Soon, Shen Mingyuan and several core investigators arrived at the school’s surveillance room. Technicians were nervously retrieving the records from the corresponding camera during the time of the incident.

Almost simultaneously, a preliminary autopsy report summary was also sent over.

A forensic doctor walked over and quietly reported to the leader and Shen Mingyuan:

“The preliminary cause of death for the two victims is acute systemic allergic reaction combined with multiple organ failure.

A highly complex mixed biological toxin was detected in their bodies, capable of causing the immune System to furiously attack its own tissues… It can be understood that they ‘died of allergies,’ but the process was extremely violent and painful.

Those two giant needles are hollow structures and should be the channels through which the toxins were injected.”

Death by toxin… Shen Mingyuan murmured to himself. Just then, the surveillance footage was retrieved.

The time rewound to before and after the incident. In the footage, two tall boys were cornering another smaller student in the bike shed, pushing him and snatching his belongings, clearly bullying him. The bullied student was curled up, not daring to resist.

At this moment, a figure suddenly darted in from the edge of the surveillance screen! Its speed was so fast that the image was somewhat blurry.

What was that thing?!

Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the screen.

The figure’s outline was roughly humanoid, but its entire body was covered in a continuously subtly writhing, yellow and black “exoskeleton.”

In the not-so-high-definition surveillance footage, the exoskeleton looked like a set of grotesque armor, inspired by beehives and insect carapaces, with compound-eye-like reflective points on its surface. It exuded an inhuman, unsettling Aura, like a monster from a tokusatsu drama.

“Mon… monster?!” Someone next to him cried out in a low voice.

The “Bee Armor Monster” charged directly at the two bullying boys with clear intent.

The two boys also noticed this terrifying assailant and were scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. They abandoned the bullied classmate and tried to escape.

The “Bee Armor Monster” raised its arms; its “hands” seemed not to be palms, but two sharp protrusions.

The next second, the two black giant needles that Shen Mingyuan and the others saw at the scene shot out from the front of its arms, precisely hitting the backs of the two fleeing individuals!

The two cried out and fell to the ground. The “Bee Armor Monster” did not stop, nor did it even look at the two fallen individuals or the terrified bullied student in the corner. Its figure flickered, and it disappeared from the other edge of the surveillance screen with the same swiftness. The entire process took less than ten seconds.

The footage continued to play, showing the two boys struggling and convulsing in pain on the ground, their skin visibly turning red and developing rashes, their movements growing weaker and weaker until they became completely still.

And the student who was originally being bullied had long since collapsed in terror, only to crawl away much later to seek help.

The surveillance room was silent. Reality was stranger than imagination.

A monster, seemingly composed of a swarm of bees, used giant needles carrying terrifying allergic toxins to precisely “execute” two campus bullies.

Shen Mingyuan suppressed the anger that had been churning in his chest since he saw the surveillance footage. He didn’t look at the forensic report again or ask for more details about the scene, but instead directly found the pale-faced principal.

“Principal, I need to verify a piece of information.” Shen Mingyuan’s voice was calm, but his eyes were so sharp that the principal dared not meet his gaze.

“About half a year ago, was there a student named Liu XX studying at your esteemed school? Did he suffer severe, sustained campus bullying, which ultimately led to a tragedy?”

The principal’s first reaction was a violent twitch of his eyelid, followed by a professional expression of difficulty and evasion:

“This… Mr. Shen, regarding what you said… our school has always attached great importance to the physical and mental health and safety education of students. The situation you mentioned… we need to verify the archives, and regarding disputes between students, sometimes it might just be minor frictions that have been exaggerated…”

“Minor frictions?” Shen Mingyuan’s voice suddenly rose. “What were those two students doing in the surveillance footage just now? Was that minor friction?! That was a crime!

And according to what I understand, similar things have probably not happened for the first time in your school, have they?!

That child named Liu XX, was he right here, under your noses, bullied for a long time until he couldn't bear it anymore?!”

His questions came one after another, his Aura oppressive. Sweat began to bead on the principal’s forehead, his eyes darting, still trying to explain:

“We, we have always dealt with such incidents seriously, but some things require evidence, and there might also be misunderstandings between students…”

Just then, the principal’s office door was violently pushed open with a “bang”! A man and two women aggressively rushed in, they were the parents of the two deceased students. Their faces were filled with grief, anger, and a habitual arrogance.

“Principal Wang! What on earth is going on?! My son was perfectly fine at school, how could he have died?!”

A woman in a designer suit, her exquisite makeup ruined by tears, shrieked, her designer handbag nearly hitting the principal’s face.

“Exactly! How do you manage this school?! Where’s the security?! Police! You must catch the murderer immediately! I want him to pay with his life!”

Another corpulent man, also well-dressed, roared, his face red and neck thick, spittle flying. The woman standing beside him was already sobbing uncontrollably, but her eyes were equally fierce.

“Mrs. Li, Mr. Zhang, please calm down, please calm down! We are fully cooperating with the police investigation…” The principal hurriedly stood up, trying to appease them.

“Investigation? I donate so much money to the school every year, just so you can ensure the children’s safety! Now that such a big incident has happened, how can you expect me to calm down?!”

Mrs. Li was relentless, her voice almost piercing eardrums. “My husband is on his way from the company! This isn’t over!”

The scene was chaotic, with cries, curses, and explanations mixed together. The police officers who had come in with them struggled for a long time before they managed to persuade the emotional parents to leave the principal’s office, promising to report progress immediately.

The door closed again, isolating the outside clamor. The principal slumped into his chair, wiping sweat in embarrassment.

Shen Mingyuan had been watching with cold eyes, and now he slowly spoke, his voice not loud, but like a cold awl:

“Donated so much money? Oh… I see. No wonder some things can ‘require evidence,’ can become ‘minor frictions’ and ‘misunderstandings.’

You took the money, so the pain and cries for help of some students can be ignored, suppressed, right, Mr. Principal?”

The principal trembled, his face turning from red to white, and finally to a ashen gray.

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but in the face of Shen Mingyuan’s all-knowing gaze and the successive tragedies, any pretense seemed pale and ridiculous. He finally slumped his shoulders and let out a long, heavy sigh.

“That child… Liu XX, he… indeed studied at our school.”

The principal’s voice was dry,

“Regarding him… he suffered some unpleasant treatment from some classmates. We later became aware of it and conducted mediation and education.

But… as that parent just said, some families… are quite influential. We were also in a difficult position. Ultimately, the child couldn’t cope… We were all deeply saddened. Afterwards, we also strengthened psychological counseling and disciplinary management…”

Shen Mingyuan was too lazy to listen to the platitudes that followed. He had obtained the crucial information:

Liu Hongwen’s son indeed studied here and ultimately passed away due to bullying, and it was highly probable that the bullies’ families had exerted influence on the school authorities through their wealth and power.

It’s confirmed. Shen Mingyuan thought. The Bee Monster, the precise poisoning of the bullies, Liu Hongwen’s grief over losing his son, and his son being bullied here… these clues stuck together like magnets.

That “Bee Armor Monster” is highly likely related to Liu Hongwen! But what exactly is going on? Did Liu Hongwen turn into a monster? Or did he control or create the monster?

In any case, finding Liu Hongwen is the key to unraveling all of this.