Highly toxic, methylmercury!

Team Chen watched the black water continuously gushing out, his face turning ashen with rage. He no longer cared about his image and immediately cursed, "These beasts! Such good water quality, ruined by them. Who did this? Who is so audacious as to dump sewage into this lake!"

At this moment, everyone was filled with anger, and the netizens in the live stream were also furious.

Such a beautiful environment, such a beautiful lake, full of birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Only here, it reeked to high heaven, utterly disgusting!

A large pipe directly harmed the entire Big Lake, as well as all the surrounding environment, and even the villagers downstream and the people who ate the fish.

This was no longer just environmental pollution.

It was creating evil! It was harming people!

How could someone do such a thing and not fear that their children would be born without an anus in the future?!

If it weren't for the accidental mouse running into Old Master Cheng's coffin today, who would have thought that such a heinous thing was happening here?

The unsuspecting villagers and populace who ate the fish from here wouldn't just get sick or have diarrhea.

This was mercury poisoning!

Once it reached the later stages, the body's joints would become uncontrollable, making it impossible to even crawl.

They could only eat liquid food, couldn't speak, suffered from mental abnormalities, epileptic seizures, and even painful suicides.

The most terrifying thing was that this stuff was hereditary!

Once a newborn was born, there was a high possibility they would carry the toxins, accompanied by congenital paralysis and intellectual disabilities.

For their own selfish gain, they toyed with other people's lives. A seemingly ordinary pipe brought consequences that the entire West Sea City could not bear, hundreds of times more evil than a murderer!

"Popularity" +1+1+1+1

"Popularity" +1+1+1+1

"— [Beasts!! I also studied chemistry. Mercury elements are very difficult to be naturally digested in nature. If they are in water, they need to undergo countless evaporations and rains to gradually degrade the mercury elements within. As for the fish in the water, they need to go through countless generations of death and renewal to get rid of the toxins in their bodies.]"

"— [This lake is ruined. It's impossible for it to recover in less than twenty or thirty years. Imagine, in twenty or thirty years, many elderly people in the village might have passed away. What will they rely on to survive? This also means that this village will soon become a ghost village.]"

"— [No, I just don't understand. For such an important lake, why would someone dare to be so audacious as to dump sewage into it, and it wasn't discovered for several years? Is there no one supervising it? Also, this place clearly looks like a scenic area, how could they allow him to dump sewage here?]"

"— [Naive. If I told you to bury a pipe there, would you dare? Since they dared, it means they definitely have backing. The reason they weren't discovered is because they have the final say, right? But today, he's probably in trouble. Meeting Lin Yuan is the unluckiest thing that has ever happened to him.]"

Anger aside, the case still needed to be investigated.

The problem now was where this pipe came from.

Because it was buried underground, with only its head exposed, the source couldn't be found unless it was dug out and traced.

Obviously, this method was not practical.

The urgent task was to extract some of the black water discharged from the pipe for testing to see if the mercury content exceeded the standard.

However, the moment the results appeared.

Everyone was stunned!

It completely subverted their understanding.

Before the test, they instinctively believed that the pollution of the Big Lake was caused by the sewage discharged from this pipe.

However, the doctor's laboratory results showed that there was indeed mercury, but the content was average.

If it relied solely on this amount of mercury, it would be absolutely impossible to cause the entire Big Lake's water to exceed the mercury standard.

Now everyone was dumbfounded.

Could it be that the source of the pollution was not here?

Lin Yuan was also a little caught off guard by this result.

His intuition told him that the source of the pollution was here.

But it was obvious, from the form of the pipe, that this should be industrial wastewater.

Since it was industrial water, the mercury in it must all be inorganic mercury!

Inorganic mercury could not cause neurological poisoning in villagers and poultry.

This was very contradictory; they found the source, but they couldn't find the correct answer.

Could it be that the inorganic mercury in the wastewater turned into organic mercury after entering the lake?

That was too ridiculous.

Even chemical experiments couldn't achieve that so easily; could a complete chemical reaction occur just in the lake water?

Or was there something special in this lake water?

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan looked at the doctor beside him and said, "Could you please take some soil from other places back for testing? I want to see if there's anything special about the soil in this lake."

Hearing this, the accompanying doctor immediately nodded and went to collect samples for testing.

Team Chen asked doubtfully, "Lin Yuan, why do you want to test the soil? Haven't we confirmed that the water quality is polluted?"

Lin Yuan shook his head and said uncertainly, "We can't be completely sure yet. I think this should be the source of the pollution, but I haven't found the evidence yet."

"I see!" Team Chen nodded thoughtfully.

At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on the doctor who was collecting soil for testing.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, the urban area had already exploded.

On the streets, police sirens wailed one after another, echoing in every corner.

The traffic police department was almost entirely dispatched, with hundreds of traffic police officers in handsome uniforms riding motorcycles to various intersections to direct traffic.

In addition, many traffic police officers sat in police cars, using vehicle-mounted loudspeakers to appeal to citizens to go to nearby Hospitals for physical examinations.

The Hospital side had also immediately formed medical teams, carrying professional testing equipment, and quickly appeared near the residential areas.

Those usually quiet residential squares and street corner Parks had now become temporary examination points.

At each examination point, long queues of citizens waiting for examinations stretched out.

The air was filled with tension and unease; everyone could feel the seriousness of the situation.

Privately, WeChat Moments and discussion groups had already gone wild.

Even West Sea City's local forum, which usually had little traffic, was jammed.

Opening the page, it was almost uniformly filled with people wanting to know what had happened.

"— [Brothers, what happened? I feel like something big has happened? My phone, TV, internet, and the entrance are all notifying me to go for a check-up. Does anyone know why?]"

"— [I don't know, I only know the experience is to see if there is poisoning. I just got checked, and there's nothing wrong with me. They told me not to panic.]"

"— [Not panicking? An unprovoked city-wide check-up, those who don't know would think there's some plague spreading. Is there no one who knows the reason?]"

"— [No, don't you all watch Lin Yuan's live stream? Our West Sea City has a Big Lake that's been polluted, and the water and fish are toxic. Local villagers have been poisoned, and many fish were sold on the market. Now they're helping you check if you've been poisoned so you can get treatment early.]"

"— [Oh my, you scared me. I thought it was a big deal. I don't even like eating fish. But who is this Lin Yuan you mentioned? Why should I watch his live stream?]"

"— [That name sounds familiar. This afternoon, I think I heard about a guy named Lin Yuan who saved someone from jumping off a building. Is it the same person?]"

"— [Yes, he's a celebrity in our West Sea City. I can't believe so many people don't know him. He's currently investigating the source of the pollution. You can search for his live stream and watch.]"

As the situation was too urgent, various rumors spread privately, and even if some people knew the truth, it was only a small portion.

Large numbers of citizens gathered at medical stations, queuing to wait for examinations.

At first, it was fine, but as the queue grew longer and longer, some people finally couldn't help but erupt!

All kinds of curses and doubts filled the air.

The medical staff, facing such a scene, had no time to respond.

But fortunately, with the joint maintenance of the traffic police and police, the situation did not escalate further.

Before the detailed case was thoroughly investigated, they also didn't know how to explain, so they could only constantly persuade the public that it was for their own good.

On Lin Yuan's side, after ten minutes of instrument analysis, the doctor obtained the data report.

The soil actually contained a large amount of mercury, much higher than the water.

Other than that, everything else was normal; they were all components that should be in the soil.

If there had to be a difference, it was that the methyltrophic bacteria within it were relatively abundant.

This type of methyltrophic bacteria is relatively common in lakes and plays an important role.

It can utilize one-carbon methylated compounds as carbon and energy sources for growth, promoting the material cycle and energy flow of the lake ecosystem.

At the same time, this bacteria can also reduce pollutants in lakes by degrading organic matter, helping to improve water quality.

Therefore, the water quality of the Big Lake had always been relatively good, and this was one of the reasons.

Just then, a flash of electricity suddenly went through Lin Yuan's brain, and with a jolt, his pupils sharply contracted.

Under the blessing of the system skill "Chemistry Mastery," he immediately noticed the problem.

Turning to look at Team Chen, he said with a solemn expression, "Team Chen, I think I probably know the reason why this lake was polluted!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Lin Yuan with astonished expressions.

Team Chen's face lit up with joy, and he eagerly asked, "You know? Hurry, tell me, what's going on?"

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, looked at the Big Lake in front of him, and slowly began, "If I'm not mistaken, the poison the villagers contracted should be methylmercury!"

Upon hearing the three words "methylmercury," the accompanying doctor's face immediately changed drastically.

He exclaimed on the spot, "methylmercury?? Oh my God! That's highly toxic!"

Team Chen and the others were startled, but they were all a bit confused, having never heard of this term.

Lin Yuan explained with a solemn expression, "You probably can't comprehend the meaning of highly toxic."

"In our daily lives, the King Cobra is quite poisonous, right? But in front of methylmercury, it's nothing."

"Just half a spoonful of methylmercury can kill a person!"

"There was once a chemistry professor experimenting with methylmercury, and two drops accidentally fell on his rubber gloves."

"He immediately took off his clothes and gloves and kept washing, but do you know what the result was?"

Hearing this, the Photographer's eyes widened, and he swallowed, asking uncertainly, "He didn't die, did he?"