Welder Zhao was a careless person and could provide very little useful information. He repeatedly lamented his bad luck, and coupled with the fact that he was not in a clear state of mind, he kept repeating the same old words.
Zhang Zian found an excuse to end the call with Welder Zhao.
Combing through the information he knew so far, he suspected that some kind of creature in the fish tank caused the large-scale poisoning, but he was only twenty to thirty percent sure. He was not sure if he should speak up. If he was wrong, it was okay to be looked down upon, but the key was that it would waste precious time.
Sheng Ke saw that he was deep in thought and asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Xiao Zhang, if you found anything, just say it. We can't let go of any doubts," Bureau Chief Chen encouraged him. It was March, and the weather was neither hot nor cold, but he and Sheng Ke were sweating profusely.
The ordinary police officers were checking the surrounding residents to see if there were any suspicious people in the past few days, and they were retrieving the surveillance footage of the community. The Biochemical Specialist Police Unit wore heavy protective suits and took turns to enter Carpenter Wang's home to conduct a carpet search. The police officers with dogs were on standby to seal off the scene. If the Biochemical Specialist Police Unit could not find the source of the poison, they might have to send police dogs to search for suspicious objects.
The most troublesome thing was that the poison that caused the damage was not a common one. The various test papers, reagents, and detectors carried by the Biochemical Specialist Police Unit were not effective.
There were people constantly talking to Bureau Chief Chen through the walkie-talkie. The pressure from the higher-ups had almost made Bureau Chief Chen anxious. Although he was very annoyed, he at least maintained a calm appearance.
Zhang Zian made up his mind and said to Bureau Chief Chen, "Bureau Chief Chen, I suspect that there is a problem with the fish tank in Carpenter Wang's home."
Sheng Ke and Bureau Chief Chen's faces froze at the same time.
"Zhang Zian! You can't joke at this time! "Sheng Ke said seriously.
Bureau Chief Chen thought a little more and asked, "You mean, someone quietly put the poison source into the fish tank?"
"No, it's not like that." Zhang Zian shook his head. "The fish tank itself is the source of the poison."
Sheng Ke and Bureau Chief Chen looked at each other, their eyes full of suspicion. If Zhang Zian had not helped the police in several cases, they would have driven him aside long ago. They were not in the mood to listen to his nonsense.
Zhang Zian also knew that the general public did not understand aquatic creatures. Even veteran players of saltwater fishes did not necessarily understand them. What he said sounded like a fantasy to ordinary people, but in fact, some aquatic creatures could really cause such serious consequences.
Under the deep blue sea, there were still countless strange creatures that humans could not imagine.
"Are you saying that a certain fish in the fish tank is poisonous?" Bureau Chief Chen confirmed.
"It could be a fish, or it could be something else. I'm not sure yet. Unless I see it with my own eyes, I can't be sure," Zhang Zian said.
However, it was not easy to see it with his own eyes because the fish tank was filled with water and was very heavy. It was not easy to carry it downstairs. Besides, if the fish tank was really the source of the poison, it might be dangerous to carry it out.
Bureau Chief Chen frowned and stared at the closed window of Carpenter Wang's house. He weighed the pros and cons in his mind.
Sheng Ke and Zhang Zian did not disturb him.
"How confident are you?"
After a while, Director Chen asked with a tense face.
Zhang Zian stretched out three fingers.
A 30% chance might seem low, but under the current situation where they had no clue, they had the capital to take a gamble.
Bureau Chief Chen was silent for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand. "Prepare a gas mask and protective clothing for him."
"Bureau Chief Chen, this …" Sheng Ke wanted to object. It was too dangerous to involve an inexperienced ordinary person.
"Xiao Zhang, are you willing to go in and give it a try? Of course, there must be a certain degree of danger, "Bureau Chief Chen confirmed with Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian glanced at the police dog on standby. If he refused, he was afraid that the police dog would be deployed next. The police dog's tolerance to poison was much worse than that of humans. Once it went in, it might not be able to come out.
"Okay, come on." He nodded and agreed.
Seeing that he was determined to do it, Sheng Ke sighed and no longer objected.
The Biochemical Specialist Police Force brought a full set of spare protective equipment. They put on protective clothing, a gas mask, and an oxygen tank for Zhang Zian. They then explained some things that he needed to pay attention to and warned him not to run around after entering the house.
The weather was originally very cool, but after putting on the heavy protective clothing, his whole body seemed to be wrapped in a cocoon. It was stuffy and hot, and the movement of his joints was greatly limited. He couldn't turn his head, and if he wanted to, he could only turn around. The sounds around him also seemed to be blocked and became vague.
The special police helped him check the air pressure. After making sure that there was no leakage, they gestured to him to follow them into the unit building.
Zhang Zian moved his feet clumsily, turned around, and looked at Bureau Chief Chen and Sheng Ke again. They waved at him, their eyes full of expectation and uneasiness.
There was no elevator in the old residential building, and every step up was very difficult. His ears were filled with his own breathing and slight hissing sound, which was the sound of the high-pressure gas in the oxygen tank being slowly released.
When he reached the third floor where Carpenter Wang lived, Zhang Zian's body was already sweating. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead along his cheeks, or stuck to his eyebrows. It was very itchy, but he couldn't scratch it. The more he couldn't scratch it, the more itchy he felt.
He forcibly diverted his attention and looked at Carpenter Wang's home.
There were a lot of shiny instruments piled up in front of the door, and the Biochemical Special Police were busy doing on-site tests and moving things. When they saw Zhang Zian's unfamiliar face, they couldn't help but be stunned. They asked through the headset, "Who is this? Was he sent by the provincial office? "
"No, he's not a police officer. He's … Bureau Chief Chen asked him to help," the person who brought Zhang Zian explained.
"Help?" The special police leader's tone was full of doubt, but since it was Bureau Chief Chen who asked him to come, he couldn't say much. Maybe this person had something unique. "Do you have any suggestions?"
Zhang Zian saw the fish tank in the corner of the living room at a glance.
It should be said that Carpenter Wang was much better at keeping fish than Welder Zhao and Electrician Wu just from the placement of the fish tank. The position was shady and away from the sun, so it wouldn't be exposed to the sun no matter when it rose or set. There was a high-brightness metal halogen lamp about 30 centimeters above the fish tank, and next to it was an LED lamp that was used to balance the spectrum. It was completely artificial lighting.
"I'll go to the fish tank and take a look." He raised his hand and pointed at the fish tank. "I think the source of the poison is in the fish tank."
"In the fish tank? We've visually checked the fish tank, and there's no foreign object. "The special police leader shook his head.
Since the poison was rare and its nature was unknown, the usual test strips, reagents, and detectors were all useless. The Biochemical Specialist Police had to consider all possibilities, including the possibility of a strong radioactive element hidden somewhere in the room.
"Maybe it's just that we can't see it," Zhang Zian said. Zhang Zian said. Seeing that no one objected, he slowly moved to the side of the fish tank.
The water in the tank was very clear, and the objects in the water could be seen at a glance. There were a few dead fish floating on the surface of the water, and beautiful corals were attached to the rugged live rocks. Both the setting and the corals had their merits.
Logically, the fish and corals couldn't be put into the tank right after it was turned over. Maybe Carpenter Wang felt uncomfortable halfway through and stopped. He just gave Welder Zhao a few fish and sent him away.
The special police leader didn't dare to let him out of his sight. Who knew if he would touch the things? He followed him and asked, "Do you think there's something wrong with these fish? Even if they're poisonous, they wouldn't poison themselves to death, right? "
Obviously, there was nothing in the fish tank that could move except for the fish. According to common sense, there was no fish that could be so toxic.
Zhang Zian said, "Come, help me. Pour some of the water out of the fish tank, then take out all the stones in it. Be careful! The water in the fish tank may be very toxic, so don't pour it into the sewer! "
Since everyone was wearing heavy protective clothing, and the fish tank was large, it was difficult to take out the stones without scooping out the water.
The special police were not very willing to listen to the command of a civilian. After asking for permission from Bureau Chief Chen, they reluctantly helped. They used all the containers they could find in the house and poured out about half of the water in the fish tank.
Then, the stones in the fish tank were taken out one by one and placed on the tarpaulin.
Every time a stone was taken out, Zhang Zian would carefully check the corals attached to the live rocks. However, these corals were relatively common species, so they shouldn't be the culprit.
The special police officer responsible for taking photos took photos of the stones very seriously.
Someone else was responsible for recording.
The fish tank was empty. There was nothing except the sand at the bottom that had been stirred up.
Everyone's eyes were on Zhang Zian, meaning: What about now? We'll just say that there are no foreign objects in the fish tank.
Zhang Zian stared at the last live rock that was taken out. There were some brown, umbrella-shaped corals attached to it. There were radial stripes on the umbrella-cover, and a circle of slightly wriggling tentacles grew evenly on the edge of the umbrella.
Since the fish tank was placed against the wall, the live rocks attached to the brown corals were on the other side of the wall. They couldn't be seen from the front, so they were easy to miss.
It was almost certain that Carpenter Wang didn't know that these brown corals were quietly growing in his fish tank. They were ugly, so no one would deliberately buy them.
Zhang Zian couldn't guess whether Carpenter Wang had seen the hidden corals when he was flipping the tank last night, or whether he had tried to clean them up. In short, they were furious.
He breathed a sigh of relief, pointed to the brown corals, and said, "The source of the poison you want is these."
According to common sense, the brighter something was, the more poisonous it was, and the less shocking it was, the safer it was.
"What are these? Corals? "The SWAT officers asked suspiciously," Are you sure? "
Zhang Zian nodded. "These are corals of the genus Palymene. Don't underestimate them. The poison they release is called Palymene toxin, which is ranked eighth on the world's poison list. Above it are things like Botox, radioactive element Polonium-210, and diphtheria toxin. Just 21 micrograms can poison an adult weighing 70 kilograms — 21 micrograms. The unit of measurement is not grams, not milligrams, but micrograms. It's 0.000021 grams."
He then pointed to the metal halogen lamp above the fish tank, which emitted strong light and heat at the same time. "These corals sensed danger and released toxins in the water. They first poisoned the other creatures in the fish tank, and the poisonous seawater was evaporated into the air by the halogen lamp. It was inhaled by Carpenter Wang's family, Welder Zhao, and the firefighters, causing them to be poisoned."
Palymene corals had never been found on the list of highly poisonous creatures that were commonly seen on the Internet, but the toxicity of the Palymene toxin they released was dozens of times stronger than that of the notorious blue-ringed octopus or conch snail, and there was no antidote for it. Even a slight inhalation would lead to acute poisoning.
In fact, it was not the first time that saltwater fish players were poisoned by Palymene toxin. These dangerous corals often attached themselves to live rocks and sneaked into people's fish tanks. They slowly grew up, and once they felt that their lives were threatened, they would release toxins.
If Carpenter Wang had not used a metal halogen lamp, the evaporation of seawater would have been slower, and the degree of poisoning would have been less severe. After all, the lamp was too hot, like a small sun.
Although the SWAT officers had rich experience in dealing with dangerous items, it was the first time they had heard of such terrifying corals. They were all speechless.
"Report! Chief Chen, the source of the poison has been found. It's … "The leader reported to Chief Chen through the radio. He glanced at Zhang Zian and said," It's the corals in the fish tank. "
"What? Repeat! "Chief Chen couldn't believe his ears and thought he had heard wrong. There was such a big commotion, and the culprit was actually the corals?
"They're not ordinary corals. They're very poisonous corals called Palymene corals," the leader tried his best to explain.
Chief Chen was surprised, but at the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, they had finally found the source of the poison. They could let the experts sent by the provincial office go home. At the same time, the nature of the incident had changed fundamentally.
He then asked, "Is there a possibility of deliberate poisoning?"
The leader could not answer this question, so he motioned for Zhang Zian to answer.
"Reporting, Chief Chen. I don't think it was deliberate poisoning," Zhang Zian said. "It should have been accidentally brought in from the live rocks that Carpenter Wang bought."
"Live rocks? Where did he buy the live rocks from? " Chief Chen sternly instructed, "Find out where he bought the live rocks from, then search the shop. How can such dangerous things be bought and sold so casually?"
Zhang Zian secretly felt that it was a pity. He was afraid that the aquarium that sold the live rocks to Carpenter Wang would be in trouble. It would be difficult for them to continue operating in the future because of such a big incident.
"Chief Chen, how should we deal with these corals?" the leader asked.
Chief Chen pondered for a moment and said, "Seal them up and bring them back to the station. Be careful."
The SWAT officers carefully sealed the live rocks and corals into boxes.
There was nothing for Zhang Zian to do here. He went downstairs, walked out of the unit, took off his gas mask, and let the breeze blow his sweaty cheeks.
"You're amazing, Xiao Zhang!" Sheng Ke walked over excitedly.
"Fortunately, I didn't fail you." Zhang Zian smiled.
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