Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 566 - 564: Toxin
"Accidents are the most wondrous thing in this world," the young man began, a shy smile playing on his lips. "They are indescribably fascinating, unpredictable, and elusive. Medical accidents, traffic accidents, sudden illnesses, food poisoning, falling objects from high places, falls from heights, fires, drowning, electric shocks... Human life is so fragile; a glass of water, an icicle, a chopstick, a fork, or even a nut could be enough to cause death. In modern life, people deal with so many tools every day that the potential ways to die are even more bizarre and varied than those shown in movies like *Final Destination* or the TV show *1000 Ways to Die*."
He spread his hands and laughed. "Death is the ultimate destination for everyone, and it’s the fairest thing in the world. If homicide cases are shocking and angering, recorded in files, and investigated by countless people to uncover the truth, then accidental deaths carry a sense of mournful helplessness, sometimes even a touch of dark humor. Similarly, few people care or dwell on the flip side of accidental deaths, not even the media chasing clicks—it’s just an accident, an inevitable fate. And I," he paused, "am responsible for creating accidents."
"As time goes by," he continued, the shyness in his smile perhaps due to the self-congratulation in his words, "I’ve become increasingly adept at this. Even if I were to display the entire process of an accident to the public, no one could discern the complete storyline before it concludes. Just like a world-class Mage or a heartless criminal mastermind from a detective novel."
"Sister Lan, do you suspect that someone is killing these criminals?"
"Yes." Wei Linglan nodded. She looked at Chu Yin, who was browsing through the files, and nodded again. "These cases are quite ordinary, but I always feel that something isn’t quite right. I’m not an expert in this area, and my scores in the criminal investigation courses at the bureau aren’t very high. You’re smarter than me. Take a look to see if there’s a problem here."
Chu Yin hummed in agreement, took a sip of the cola, its ice nearly all melted, and stared intently at the documents. She began to read from the file:
"Huang Yuanwei, male, 46 years old, a driver. He was previously a liaison in a criminal gang.
One summer morning two years ago, while driving to Lin City, he suddenly found it increasingly difficult to breathe. His throat and chest felt tight, tingling pain shot through his fingertips, and he could barely grip the steering wheel. Double vision also appeared before his eyes. For safety, he managed to pull off the highway and immediately went to the hospital.
By the time he arrived at the emergency department, his condition was critical. His complexion was a sickly red, he was gasping for air, and his chest heaved dramatically. However, physical and neurological examinations were relatively normal.
Considering he had eaten local food during a business trip the day before, combined with his history of allergies, the doctors concluded these were common allergic symptoms. They administered diphenhydramine—an antihistamine H1 receptor blocker that can suppress the central nervous system and is used for allergic diseases of the skin and mucous membranes, such as hives, hay fever, and allergic rhinitis. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Histamine is an active amine compound found within mast cells and in the mucous membranes of the lungs, liver, and stomach. When the body encounters an allergen, it releases histamine. As a chemical messenger, histamine binds to receptors on vascular smooth muscle, causing blood vessels to dilate and leading to local edema. It also causes the smooth muscle of the bronchi in the lungs to contract, resulting in narrowed airways and difficulty breathing. This, in turn, can cause blood pressure to drop and heart rate to increase.
The doctor used diphenhydramine to block the histamine and gave Huang Yuanwei Adrenaline to constrict his dilated blood vessels. If it were an allergic reaction, this treatment should have been effective.
However, after several hours of observation, Huang Yuanwei’s condition did not improve. He still felt unwell and claimed his stomach had started burning; even oral antacids provided no relief. Then, he felt his throat tighten and swell, rendering him unable to speak or swallow. His heartbeat rapidly increased, and his eyelids drooped.
The doctor immediately conducted various tests, including an MRI, but the results showed no issues. Huang Yuanwei’s condition deteriorated at an eerily rapid pace. His facial and throat muscles became paralyzed, he couldn’t speak, and his limbs wouldn’t move. His eyelids drooped and couldn’t open; only a respirator could help him breathe.
The most terrifying part was that his mind remained clear. He could vividly feel himself gradually losing control of all his muscles. He could vividly feel his body becoming progressively paralyzed.
Before the doctors could proceed with further treatment, he lost his life.
Only after his death did the doctors understand the cause. His acute muscle paralysis was not an issue with the brain or spine, as the paralysis was remarkably balanced, even, and synchronized across his body. It couldn’t be a viral infection of the nerves either. Viruses that cause such widespread paralysis, like poliomyelitis, would typically induce days of fever before muscle paralysis set in.
Therefore, the problem had to be with the neuromuscular junction. Motor neurons, located in certain nerve nuclei in the anterior horn of the spinal cord and the brainstem, send out nerve fibers to the muscles. Near the muscle fibers, these nerve fibers each branch into tens or hundreds of smaller filaments. Each filament terminates on a muscle fiber, forming a one-to-one neuromuscular junction. These junctions transmit signals from the nerve fibers to the muscle fibers, causing muscle contraction. If the neuromuscular junction is disrupted, muscle atrophy and paralysis occur."
Chu Yin frowned as she continued reading, "And the cause of the neuromuscular junction malfunction is..."
"Botulinum toxin."
The young man smiled at the old woman and said, "You see, the entire process of muscle movement begins with a command from the nerve center. This command sends a nerve impulse down to the end of the axon. The impulse stimulates vesicles within the presynaptic membrane to release neurotransmitters, like acetylcholine. These neurotransmitters then diffuse across the synaptic gap and bind with receptors on the muscle membrane, triggering muscle contraction.
"Botulinum toxin, however, binds with the presynaptic membrane of cholinergic neurons and undergoes endocytosis. This process forms an acidic vesicle that surrounds the toxin molecule. This vesicle remains at the end of the presynaptic membrane of the motor neuron, preventing the normal release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The result is muscle paralysis.
"I’ve been observing from the shadows. Sure enough, just as I anticipated, the officials traced the botulinum toxin ingested by Huang Yuanwei to the food he ate at a restaurant the day before—a can of ham. And the owner of that restaurant? He just happened to be a murder suspect who had been on the run for years.
"For botulinum toxin to be produced in canned food, the external environmental temperature and pH must be exactly right. It was a perfect, regrettable accident."
