Chapter 85: The Beef Tapeworm

2022-05-20

Over four meters long—just try to picture that for a second. An average adult’s intestines are about four to five times their own height, which means Chen Lin’s should be roughly seven to nine meters. And this worm practically occupied half, maybe two-thirds of it. Imagine what it’d feel like to have something that long inside your own gut.

Most people, I’d guess, wouldn’t be able to eat for three days straight after hearing this.

Guan Zengbin said, “Honestly, the first moment I saw it, it scared the hell out of me. But after I made out what it was, it wasn’t so bad. Just wait, I’ll pull it out in a bit and show you something interesting.”

Watching Guan Zengbin’s strange excitement made my own stomach churn—I nearly vomited up breakfast, lunch and dinner right there. Sure, I’m a woman, but after adding “forensic doctor” behind that title, I guess I stopped being what anyone would call a typical lady.

With tweezers, Guan Zengbin grabbed the worm’s head and started backing away, pulling it along slowly.

One meter. Two. Three. Four.

By now, Guan Zengbin was practically next to me. I tried to back off, but the wall was right behind me and there was nowhere left to go. He looked at me with a teasing glint in his eyes. I’d never been this humiliated in my life, yet seeing that worm still stretching way beyond four meters with no end in sight, my eyes started to well up.

Guan Zengbin walked around the wall, pulling the worm the whole way. Finally the tail came free, and by estimating the length based on the autopsy room, this thing was actually over five meters long. I couldn’t understand it—how did a five-meter worm live inside Chen Lin and he never noticed?

Guan Zengbin found a basin and, as if fishing out noodles, dropped the worm in piece by piece.

“Come check it out,” Guan Zengbin said, beckoning with a finger. “What’re you scared of? It’s not going to eat you. This thing might give us a lot of clues—don’t you want to solve the case?”

After taking a deep breath and giving myself a pep talk for what felt like forever, I finally inched toward the edge of the basin.

Guan Zengbin squatted down, fiddling with the worm’s head with his tweezers as he explained, “Do you know what this worm is called?”

I shook my head. “Something this disgusting even has a name?”

Guan Zengbin laughed. “Hey, everything has a name.”

Suddenly I thought of those white-skinned noodles I’d eaten before in that little village.

“Don’t tell me this thing’s called the white noodle worm?” I asked hesitantly.

Guan Zengbin shook his head. “No, it’s called a beef tapeworm.”

“Beef noodle?” I deadpanned. “Thanks to you, I’ll never be able to look at noodles or beef strips the same way.”

Guan Zengbin burst out laughing. “Not quite—this is the beef tapeworm with threadlike segments. Look here, the head’s shaped like a square, and instead of hooks it has four little suckers.”

I looked, and sure enough, there were four tiny suckers.

Guan Zengbin went on, “Those suckers latch onto a person’s intestines, where it starts stealing all their nutrients. There’s another type that’s similar, called the pork tapeworm. Except that one’s head has little hooks, not suckers.”

“How does this worm even get inside someone?” I asked.

Guan Zengbin shrugged. “From eating raw meat. Raw pork or beef sometimes carries these parasite eggs. If someone eats it, the eggs hatch in their belly, and after about three months it grows into an adult worm.”

The worm was still wriggling. I couldn’t help but ask, “So there’s no harm? Chen Lin really never felt anything?”

Guan Zengbin shook his head. “He definitely felt something. Pork tapeworms can be extremely dangerous. Their larvae can travel through the bloodstream and show up anywhere—maybe in the eyes, maybe in the brain. I even saw a corpse with that in school.”

Goosebumps spread all over me, and I stammered, “What about the beef tapeworm then?”

Guan Zengbin replied, “Compared to pork tapeworm, the beef one is less dangerous. But it can still cause headaches, diarrhea, nerve issues, and all sorts of symptoms depending on the person. In rare cases, people could even die. I’d bet Chen Lin definitely had some of those symptoms.”

“Probably every time he went to the bathroom, he’d pass out tons of eggs,” Guan Zengbin added. “This specific beef tapeworm is just about as long as it gets. However long someone’s gut is, that’s how long it’ll grow. That means it’s been inside for a few months at least. But from an immune perspective, he likely ate a full-grown worm.”

I was getting totally lost, so I quickly asked, “Can you explain it more clearly? I’m not getting it at all.”

Still examining the worm, Guan Zengbin didn’t look up. “The body’s got strong immunity to beef tapeworm eggs. Eating raw beef a few times isn’t likely to infect someone. Unless you eat raw meat every day, your chances are low.”

“So you mean Chen Lin loved steak tartare or something?” I frowned. “Or could he have caught it from drinking dog blood?”

Guan Zengbin shook his head. “Nope. Dogs aren’t intermediate hosts for beef tapeworm. They don’t eat grass, and beef tapeworm’s intermediate hosts are usually cattle, sheep, or deer. So it wouldn’t come from dog blood. Most likely, Chen Lin ate it himself.”

“He ate it himself?” I could hardly believe my ears. “How?”

Guan Zengbin stood up, motioning for me to follow her out as she spoke. “Think about it—a normal person, if they accidentally eat undercooked meat and get a parasite with all these symptoms, their first reaction would be to go to the hospital, take deworming pills and get rid of it.”

“Right,” I nodded.

“Exactly. But not Chen Lin. This worm grew over five meters. If there were no symptoms when it was one or two meters, by five meters it would be impossible not to notice something was wrong.” Removing her gloves, Guan Zengbin gestured for us both to wash up. “Wash well—I’m guessing you don’t want anything living in your gut either.”

I’d never scrubbed my hands so thoroughly in my life. Honestly, I probably used more soap today than in my entire life before this put together.

Guan Zengbin went on, “So that’s the issue. Even if Chen Lin’s personal situation made it awkward to go to a real hospital, pretty much any pharmacy sells dewormers. He could have just bought some pills. Why let this thing grow unchecked? It means he knew he had it, and didn’t care.”

“And why would he do that?” I asked.

Guan Zengbin turned seriously to look at me. “This worm is constantly sucking up nutrients from its host’s intestines—which is the body’s most important organ for absorbing nutrition. Remember how thin Chen Lin was? He barely had any flesh on his bones.”

Suddenly it clicked. I realized what Guan Zengbin was getting at. “You’re saying—”

Guan Zengbin nodded firmly. “Exactly. The one thing every woman dreams of: losing weight!”

It was the first thing that came to my mind too. Timidly I asked, “So… this really works for losing weight?”

“It works,” Guan Zengbin replied dismissively. “But you’re trading years of your life for it. Mess this up and you’re dead.”

By this point, Guan Zengbin had already left the room and was heading for the office. I scrambled to catch up and asked, “So what are we doing now?”

Guan Zengbin didn’t answer me directly. “Think about it. Parasite eggs don’t usually survive, so Chen Lin must have swallowed an adult worm. And to ensure it survived, he drank dog blood for the extra nutrition. That explains it all.”

I nodded as understanding dawned. “So it’s not easy for the adult worm to survive—a special person must be raising these things somewhere. If we follow this trail, we might get a lead.”

“Exactly!” Guan Zengbin said.

In the office.

The second everyone heard we’d pulled a five-meter-long flatworm from a corpse, they went wild. It was like a herd of wild horses—everyone insisted on seeing it for themselves. There was no stopping them. I could already picture a bunch of them vomiting all around the courtyard.

A lot of folks won’t sleep tonight, I’m sure of it.

Even Team Leader Shao and Mary couldn’t resist. It’s just human nature.

Before long, Team Leader Shao and Mary came back in looking miserable, while waves of retching echoed from outside. I tried warning them, but people are just hopelessly curious.

“This thing,” Team Leader Shao said dryly, “is pretty wild.”

“No kidding,” I replied. “Maybe we should sell tickets—five bucks a head…”

Guan Zengbin shot me a look and said, “Mary, I suspect someone’s actually trading these worms online. If we check, we’ll probably find Chen Lin’s transaction records. That will narrow down where he’s been and give us leads.”

Mary’s face was completely drained of color. She just gave the OK sign with her hand, clearly nauseated.