mijobooks Chapter 11 Biohazard Bodies! We treat everyone equally!
Chapter 11 Biohazard Bodies! We treat everyone equally!
He turned to look at the male student.
"You stepped barefoot on the floor mat, and I don't need to tell you what was on it, right? Your roommate got off the bed and stepped on it, and then you stepped on it, and that's how the fungus was transmitted."
He bent down and pointed to the shoes under the bed, where grayish-white mold spots were faintly visible on the surface.
"The shoes are moldy too, which means the humidity in this dorm room is ridiculously high. Do you guys never open the windows for ventilation?"
The male student nodded shyly.
"This area is to the north, and there's a garbage dump outside. The smell is even stronger when the windows are open."
Lin Mo was taken aback and remained silent for two seconds.
The comments section picked up where he left off.
"So you chose to let it ferment inside the dorm room?"
"Poor ventilation + dampness + sweaty feet = a large culture dish for fungi."
"Indecisiveness: The outside smells like garbage, the inside smells like foot odor, which should I choose?"
"They chose to cultivate a new flavor."
Lin Mo took a deep breath.
He shifted his gaze from the few pairs of moldy shoes and prepared to straighten up.
But as he got up, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something deeper under the bed.
The lump was stuck in the corner between the bed frame and the wall; it was dark and irregularly shaped, like a small hill.
He squinted, took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and bent down to shine it under the bed.
The moment the light shone in, Lin Mo froze.
There was a mountain of socks piled up under the bed.
This is not an exaggeration, not a metaphor; it is a real mountain.
Socks of various colors, styles, and degrees of misalignment were piled together.
Layer upon layer, the bottom layer has turned black and hardened, and you can vaguely see white mycelium covering the surface.
The middle layer is dark gray, and the cuffs of the socks still retain their curled shape.
Like a bunch of shriveled donuts.
The top layer is relatively fresh—if the word "fresh" can be used to describe socks that have been worn for a week without being washed.
The socks are a light color.
But each one was stiff and upright.
There was a layer of shiny yellow, solidified sweat stains on the soles of the socks.
It reflects a faint luster under the light of a mobile phone.
That smell.
It is continuously released from this sock-shaped mountain.
It is the source of all the odors and the core of the pollution in this room.
Lin Mo remained bent over, the flashlight beam sweeping back and forth across the pile of socks twice.
It was as if he was confirming that he hadn't misread it.
Then he slowly straightened up, his expression blank for two seconds.
Turning to look at the male student, she spoke very softly:
"Your roommate never washes his socks?"
The male student was startled by his expression.
He quickly explained, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"He never washes his socks. He told me that washing socks is too much trouble, so he just throws them under the bed after wearing them."
"The next day, I'd just grab a couple of clothes from under the bed, wear them until they got dirty, then throw them back in, and repeat the cycle."
"He said this is the easiest way, since you can't see the soles of your feet with socks anyway, so it doesn't matter whether you wash them or not."
After he finished speaking, he scratched his head and added another sentence.
"He told me at the end of last semester that he couldn't remember the last time he bought socks."
"Because there's no need to buy new ones; there are still many unworn ones under the bed. He calls this 'sustainable development.'"
After hearing these words, Lin Mo stood there in silence for a long time.
His expression was complex, as if he had heard some information beyond his comprehension.
At this moment, the comments section had completely lost its rationality.
"These socks have formed a closed-loop ecosystem."
"Get dirty → throw under the bed → take it out and keep wearing it → get even dirtier → throw it out again → take it out again, a perfect Möbius strip."
"Biological cycle: Foot sweat → bacteria → fungi → sock pile → continued cycle."
"He said buying socks is useless? His feet are already producing natural socks."
"I can't stand my roommate wearing socks that haven't been washed for two days, but this is the culmination of four years of hard work."
"That girl was the biological mother, this roommate should be called the biological male."
"Gender equality means that the mother and the male body are paired up."
"Don't accuse us of sexism; men and women are equal when it comes to dirt."
"The person upstairs is right, we treat everyone equally."
"A male and female pair can prevent the spread of infection."
Lin Mo finally snapped out of his shock.
He offered no comment or criticism, but spoke to the male student in a calm tone.
"Bring those shoes from your roommate's shoe rack."
The male student, bewildered, limped to the shoe rack by the door.
He pinched his nose and picked up a pair of gray-blue basketball shoes.
The shoes were covered with a layer of white salt frost.
It's crystallized from sweat that has repeatedly soaked and evaporated, and the insole is already deformed.
The edges curled up, revealing the dark yellow inner sole underneath.
The shoelaces have long since disappeared.
The shoe tongue is crooked to one side.
The entire shoe looks like it was just pulled out of a swamp.
Lin Mo took a lighter out of his pocket.
He handed the lighter to the male student, speaking in a serious tone as if he were explaining a rigorous scientific experiment.
"Hold the shoes properly, with the top facing up. I'll try lighting the top with a lighter."
The male student froze for two seconds, then his pupils began to dilate.
"School doctor, what are you doing? Won't this explode?"
"Shoes aren't bombs, they won't explode."
Lin Mo spoke calmly.
"However, if the odor concentration inside the shoe is too high, it may catch fire. I want to verify a fact."
The speed at which the bullet comments flooded the screen instantly skyrocketed.
"Wait, wait... is he really going to set his shoes on fire with a lighter??"
"School doctor, what are you doing! This is a biological weapon, are you out of your mind?"
"What the hell is this experiment?"
"Ignite the gas inside the shoe???"
"Family members, I'm so nervous."
"Gas masks are for sale in the front row."
"He said earlier that he wanted to verify a fact; that's the spirit of science, everyone."
The male student held the basketball shoes in his hands.
Arms outstretched, body leaning back as far as possible, face turned to one side.
Lin Mo stood next to him, pressing the edge of the mask with his left hand to ensure an airtight seal.
He held the lighter in his right hand, with his thumb on the switch.
Slowly, inch by inch, it approaches the shoe opening.
The instant the lighter's flame touched the edge of the shoe opening—
A blue flame suddenly shot out from inside the shoe opening.
With a low, muffled "poof," the flames expanded in the air into a fist-sized, blue-yellow fireball.
Then it quickly retracted.
It burned silently along the edge of the shoe opening for about two seconds.
It was extinguished by Lin Mo in one breath.
The male student was so frightened he almost threw his shoe away.
He jumped back a step, his toes hitting the crossbar of the bed frame.
She let out a miserable scream.
The live chat exploded at that moment.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"
"It really caught fire!"
"Fire is shooting from the shoe! Fire!!"
"Is this a shoe or a gas stove?"
"Blue flame! It's blue flame! That means it's burning completely! The purity of the gas inside this shoe is comparable to that of natural gas."
"The scientific experiment was successful. Conclusion: This stench is genuine flammable gas, without any adulteration."
"Hydrogen sulfide + methane + ammonia, this shoe is a walking biogas digester."
"The shoes of the bio-engineered physicist can be used as a new energy fuel."
"I suggest the government develop this energy source so that my roommate can work in an oil field."
"His roommate's feet are like an oil field drilling platform."
Lin Mo blew out the flame and closed the lighter.