Plague Doctor

In a transparent square glass box, a snail creeped slowly.

It is an amber snail, a type of snail distributed throughout the country.

It originally lived in those dark and damp places like grass, ditches, etc. It likes to be hot and humid, and can tolerate drought and cold. It can also float on water plants and water. It feeds on humus, as well as lichens, fungi, moss, algae, and young leaves of plants.

Amber snail shells vary widely in size, usually long oval, with 3-4 snail layers, shell height 5-15 mm, width 3-8 mm, thin shell, light yellow or yellow brown surface , The body is transparent or translucent, and shiny.

But this snail in the glass box, the two tentacles are particularly swollen, compared to the normal amber snail, like two abominable hyperplasia.

Moreover, in its transparent body, it can be clearly seen that there is something in it, but it is not its internal organs.

Suddenly, its speed of creeping increased, creeping frantically at a speed that snails normally cannot reach.

Its two swollen tentacles, reflecting the bright light, seemed to be two drill bits, constantly rotating and constantly flashing and changing.

"Student, this is a snail infected with a parasite. The color and light you see are actually a lot of parasites crawling inside it."

In the biology class of this university, along with the teacher ’s words, the teaching screen played a slow-motion image with a magnification of ten times. It was still such an amber snail. The students all saw the creepy details. That is really not a natural luster. .

The snails were stuffed with parasites, one by one, they were constantly pushing and beating.

"That's a double disk fluke. They changed the snail's body shape and controlled the snail's brain."

When the image on the teaching screen changes, the double-disc flukes, the parasites that look very large under the lens.

Some of these biology students frowned, some were curious, and some already knew something.

"First the snail ate the eggs of the fluke." The teacher of the middle-aged man said, "The parasite has just entered the host."

"After that, the eggs will develop into sporangia, mainly parasitizing the snail's liver. At this time, the snail still has no abnormalities. Maybe it doesn't even know that it has worms in its body, and it is hard to eat the nutrients it has taken. Matters are constantly being stolen by parasites. We are not snails, and we are not sure about this, nor their specific feelings. "

There was a chuckle in the classroom, but the students quickly calmed down.

They looked at the simulated images on the screen, demonstrating how the parasites grew cercariae, then grew, and then branched out from the snail's body into the two antennae, and then formed a complete sporangia, which was full Full of larvae.

It is they that cause the snail's antenna to expand constantly, so that it cannot contract normally, and can only hang down brightly.

Looking at these pictures, some students really felt that this snail parasitized by the double-duck fluke was too pitiful.

"Once it enters the snail's eye handle, the double-disc fluke has the ability to control the host. The snail originally liked to move at night, but after being controlled, it will become active in the daytime, well-lit areas, and the speed of movement is normal. Three times as many, this may already be the physiological limit of the snail. "

The teacher instructed the diseased snail in the glass box on the podium, its tentacles flashing like neon lights.

"How did the double disk fluke control the snail? It hasn't been studied yet. Students, I will see you later.

But the parasites are really smart, they make the snails colorful, make them lose their sense of fear, and walk in the sun with a swing, so eye-catching, and also control the snails to climb higher leaves, those special Conspicuous place. For what? Just to let the birds see. When the bird saw a shiny thing there, the shape was a worm. It flew over and ate it. That's actually the snail's tentacles, all of which are double-duck flukes. "

The teacher paused, picked up the chalk and wrote on the blackboard, emphasizing the authenticity: "aggressive mimicry, here is the situation where the parasite benefits."

Aggressive mimicry, a biological concept, in short, creatures use mating promises, false food, and other means to trick prey.

For example, Nepenthes imitates flowers to trap insects that collect nectar. It is the wisdom of nature to eat, survive and reproduce.

"The snail is the first intermediate host." The teacher said while writing on the blackboard: "Birds are the second intermediate host. After the fluke enters the bird, it will breed there again, and the eggs will follow the bird Excrement is excreted, bird excrement is eaten by other snails ... and so on. "

The students heard goose bumps, the double-disc flukes used snails as false food, and the prey was birds.

A small parasite, just a few centimetres in size, has such a sinister grotesque trick.

And distinguish between day and night, high and low, conspicuous and hidden.

Whether this is wisdom or instinct is amazing.

"Teacher, can double flukes control birds?" A male student asked.

"There is no evidence that there is such a situation."

"Can it enter the human body?"

"This is not a human parasite." The teacher smiled and said, "Our human body is more complex than snails and birds, and has a stronger defense system that can withstand the double disk fluke. But we also have many parasites to deal with, like the worm It ’s also hard to do. I know what you want to ask. No, there is no parasite that can control human thoughts and behavior. "

"There may still be one. The name is money." The teacher said, "The English name is Money and the Latin name is Aes."

There was another chuckle in the classroom.

Indeed, humans are not snails, and parasites are not so easy to control.

At the same time, in that transparent glass box, the snail wriggled frantically for a second.

...

Beep, beep, the phone is connected.

"Hello, is Wang Jiawei's mother? I am Li Yuhao's mother. Yes, our son is in a dormitory."

"Hello Yuhao mother, what are you looking for me for?"

"This is the case, Yu Hao told us last night that he and some classmates went to your house for a party and spent the night there. I called him in the morning, no one picked it up, it was almost noon, and there was still no one Yes, he hasn't returned home yet. I also have Jiawei's number here, as well as several other classmates, I called them, no one answered ... "

"Is this ... Ms. Yu Hao, my dad and Jiawei have been out in the field these days. Do n’t worry, the young people must have a party and party late, and they do n’t have to go to school today, and they are not surprising all night, maybe They are still awake and no one answers. "

"I think so too, but it's always a bit strange ... these children didn't send a circle of friends, which of their previous parties did not send a few?"

"Um ... otherwise, I asked the community property management to send someone to my house to see what happened, maybe I was drunk and drunk?"

"Okay, Mommy Jiawei, then trouble you."

"Hey, what's the matter, this is also the party that Jiawei has."

The call is over.

Less than half an hour later, the call was connected again.

"Hey, Ms. Yu Hao? The security guard went to see it just now. No one was at home. I also found that my garage is open. I looked at the picture and an MPV was driven away. I asked the security guard to check the monitoring of the community. , The car drove out last night, the car that Jia Wei drove, Yu Hao and they are all in the car ... "

"What ... Jiawei will drive? Here, where have they gone?"

"I don't know here, Ms. Yu Hao, it should be fine. The young people go crazy. Let's not mess up."

"Stop talking, call the police, let's call the police quickly."

"Wait, this matter hasn't reached that part yet, don't make a big deal first ... Mother Yuhao, don't look at the car that Jiawei drove, I thought I only considered my son ~ www.NovelMTL.com ~ It ’s all of them? We do n’t know. I mean, if they touch marijuana or ecstasy, the police will destroy them. We have to think about the children. "

"Hey! You ... they are not safe now, aren't we the first thing to consider! My family is not the kind of person who can touch drugs."

"I'm making an analogy. Slowly, Ms. Yuhao, look at the circle of friends! I saw Jiawei just sent a circle of friends. Do you see if Yuhao did?"

"Ah, let's see, hey, yes, yes, yes! Yu Haogang also sent one. Why didn't the child answer the phone when he was here? He didn't call back to report a letter, which scared me to death. What does this circle of friends mean ... 'I saw God, I am its incarnation in the human world.' "

"... Jia Wei also made the same sentence, did they go to any concert and see which idol?"

"Maybe, this child ... Jiawei's mother, that's the case first, I'll call Yu Hao again, and wait for him to go home, and see if I don't smoke him."

"Why don't the young people go crazy without swearing, but this Jiawei, I'm going to clean him up when I go back."