Forensic Imperial Concubine novel Chapter 776

"What's wrong?" asked Howard.

"Oh my God!" Diana turned her head away immediately and began to retch.

From the reaction of the people around him, Howard finally realized that something was terribly wrong on his back, but he couldn't see anything. He could only see the horror in the eyes of others as they stared at his back with their dilated pupils. "What on earth is wrong, Harper?" he asked anxiously.

"Fire starter!" Harper instructed the secret guards, ignoring Howard's question, as if she did not feel it was important to answer him at the moment. Harper stretched out her hand. Without wasting a moment, one of the secret guards handed her a fire starter. Harper blew the fire starter to light a fire from it. Then she put it straight to Howard's back. His back was covered with blood-sucking insects. The scene was so gory and bloodcurdling that it made everyone go speechless. It seemed as if the insects had been on his body for a long time because they had sucked so much blood that they had bloated. Their skin had become thin as if it would break out any moment to let out the excess blood.

"Your Highness, what kind of insects are these?" asked a secret guard in a trembling voice.

"These are leeches. I should have been more cautious. I had forgotten that such hot and wet places like swamps are infested with such bloodsucking insects. All of you, check each other's bodies for such leeches. If you find them, don't try to pull them out with your hands. Instead, you should burn them with fire. When they feel hurt, they will fall from your body. Otherwise, their poisonous tentacles will be left in your body. And if that happens, even I won't be able to save you."

The secret guards were left aghast to witness the dense covering of leeches on Howard's back. They had goose bumps all over their bodies and their faces turned pale the moment Harper asked them to check each other. Immediately, they gathered in small groups, took off their upper clothes quickly, and checked on each other. Leeches were found on the bodies of quite a few of them. Fortunately, there were not so many as they were found on Howard's back.

When Howard saw the leeches falling to the ground from his back, he was freaked out too. Had it not been for Harper who had made him take off his clothes to check if there was anything wrong with him, Howard wouldn't have even realized until all his blood was sucked away.

After getting rid of the leeches on Howard's back, Harper passed a general instruction for everyone without considering anything. She said, "Take off your pants and check your whole bodies to see if there is any leech left elsewhere. Take off all your clothes and shake them for a few times, to make sure that there is no leech left on your clothes as well."

"Yes, Your Highness,"

the twelve secret guards answered in a unified voice. But Howard felt too embarrassed to take off his pants in front of Harper. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "I will check myself with the secret guards. After all, you are a female."

Harper stared at Howard for a moment and then realized that what he said was right! It was not until then that Harper realized the gender difference between Howard and her. She had almost forgotten that she was a woman. Immediately, she turned away and walked to Diana. "Take off your clothes," she said.

There was no leech on Diana's body. Perhaps that was because she practiced voodoo arts every day. As a result, low-grade poisonous insects such as leeches dared not get close to her. However, a large part of her skin was exposed to the air, so she was likely to be bitten by some poisonous insects. Harper thought that it would be more troublesome if she was bitten by some unknown poisonous insect and got infected.

"Brother, take off your coat and give it to her!" Harper waved her hand pointing towards Diana. She gestured Howard to make haste. Among all the men present there, only Howard wore a coat. The secret guards wore tight clothes, which made it easy for them to make a quick movement.

After the leeches had been removed from Howard's body, his back was left dripping with blood. When he heard Harper's order, he took off his coat immediately and threw it at Diana.