"Ouch!" The student catching the bug suddenly screamed, shook his hand, and threw the white bug out.
The insect slid in a graceful arc in the air and landed in Thomas's open jar.
"This bug is poisonous!" The student's voice was full of panic: "My hands, I can't feel my hands!"
Through the white light cast by the light bugs overhead, everyone could clearly see that the hand of the student catching bugs was turning black and swollen at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His fingers were like pickled cucumbers, the black color also covered with wrinkled ridges and patterns.
"Use kerosene!" Zheng Qing shouted out almost without thinking: "Who brought kerosene? Wipe his hands, quickly!"
The other students looked at him in surprise, and even the teaching assistants expressed some degree of confusion.
Only the old school workers and a few professors showed approving smiles on their faces.
"Why use kerosene?" Assistant Coach Hilda quickly asked the question that everyone was concerned about.
"This is a corpse-eating beetle!" Zheng Qing gasped, his face turning red.
He has never been good at expressing himself in public, and he is not used to being surrounded by so many scrutinizing eyes.
But looking at the frightened eyes of the injured student, he couldn't let himself remain silent.
"I have seen this kind of bug in a research institute. Their outer shell is actually black and gray, but there are many fine white hairs growing on it. Because they eat carrion all year round, they emit phosphorescence."
There was an uneasy commotion from the crowd.
For people living in schools, this kind of weird bugs located deep in the silent forest are always rare. No one expected to see them deep in the campus.
The old man Verne nodded slightly.
Thomas lowered his head and glanced at Zheng Qing in surprise, then raised his head and laughed at Hilda: "The student's reaction is faster than the teacher... I wonder if someone feels ashamed."
Hilda was stunned for a moment, then laughed cheerfully: "The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. Students are always better than their predecessors."
While they were talking, several students had already opened the vents of the lanterns, poured out a bowl of black kerosene, and wiped the injured student's hands.
The black and swollen hand returned to normal again at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Okay." The panic on the boy's face has not completely faded, and his tone is very excited: "I can move...I can feel the touch again."
Zheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief, his spirit suddenly relaxed a lot, and his mind suddenly became brighter.
"I know!" he exclaimed happily: "The skin and flesh of that kappa was eaten away by these corpse-eating beetles...'If you want to use smooth bone surfaces in experiments, this is an ideal tool.'
"
He recalled what a certain doctor had said to him and repeated them to the people in front of him.
"Very good." Professor Yi suddenly interrupted Zheng Qing's explanation, clapped his hands, and attracted everyone's attention: "Everyone, pay attention, everyone pays attention."
He cleared his throat so that everyone could hear his voice.
"Put on your deerskin gloves, get tweezers from Assistant Thomas, then go catch these carrion beetles in the grass and put them into this jar."
Thomas raised his hand to indicate his position.
In one hand he was carrying a sheepskin bag filled with tools; in the other hand he was holding a huge jar. There was only a solitary beetle spinning along the foot of the jar.
"If you don't want your hands to look like that classmate just now," Professor Yi paused here, his stern eyes scanned the young faces around him, and he raised his voice: "Then you must wear it properly.
My own buckskin gloves!”
The surrounding patrol members responded loudly and uniformly, startling the tree sperms who had just closed their eyes to wake up again.
With a goal and good execution, the jar was soon filled with those gray-white corpse-eating beetles.
While the patrol team was catching bugs, the old school worker and several professors were still arguing fiercely.
Because of the distance, Zheng Qing could not hear clearly what they were saying. But he could see that the expression of the old man Verne was not very happy.
When it was all over, Professor Yi unified his tone for tonight's actions:
"Remember, this is just an accident caused by some corpse-eating beetles that escaped into the campus... Because the kappa is still alive, there is no need to write additional patrol reports."
This wise decision sparked cheers from the audience.
No one cares about the slight abnormalities that may exist in this matter.
Soon, Professor Yi put away the injured kappa and disappeared into the dark night with his teaching assistants.
At the lakeside, the patrol members who had not yet completed their tasks looked at the old school janitor eagerly, hoping that he would be merciful and let everyone go back to bed as soon as possible.