“That little thing inside the human body...”

Village Chief Zhang stood there with his mouth open, stunned. It took him a good ten seconds to react. "You mean..."

Li Ang smiled and said, "If I'm not mistaken, your village's ancestors, in their original ghoul form, were quite savage and cruel, right?"

"Uh..."

The village chief hesitated and nodded. "A long, long time ago, we were probably just pure beasts, like the ghouls outside. We would cut open animals, eating from their organs to their limbs until everything was gone.

"But after being civilized by the Holy Mountain, we became much more civilized.

"We no longer attack living humans, only eating animals or human corpses.

"And even when we eat, we eat selectively.

"We hold very secret gatherings on a regular basis, and we go through strict cooking procedures such as steaming, and we don't eat the head or face, preserving the dignity of the creature to some extent—although it sounds hypocritical, we are really ashamed of the ugliness of our race.

"Every time we eat, we try to avoid the fact that we are eating corpses as much as possible.

"For decades, since no teams of heroes have appeared,

"So we don't have to hold secret gatherings anymore, and each household occasionally eats the poultry and livestock they raise..."

The village chief paused, suddenly remembering that

when Li Ang was conducting his diagnosis in the center of the village square, he would ask many seemingly unimportant questions in addition to looking, smelling, asking, and feeling the pulse.

Such as the types of crops in the village, the source of the villagers' daily diet, the way they cook their food, their eating habits, and so on.

At the time, the village chief thought it was just a normal doctor's inquiry, but he didn't expect that the other party was already collecting key information at that time.

Li Ang said with a smile: "Your village used to hide the fact that you were ghouls from the outside world's hero teams.

"In order to make yourselves more 'civilized', you have done a lot of work.

"You have actively changed the villagers' eating habits.

"You usually eat a lot of vegetarian food and less meat. You also cook meat before eating it.

"You are afraid of directly eating fresh blood and flesh, which will trigger the bloodthirsty impulse in your blood.

"The inheritance of this eating habit

"ultimately led to you deviating from the survival instincts of ghouls, resulting in the evil consequence of premature aging."

Li Ang glanced at the village chief and said, "The essence of ghouls eating people is actually to obtain the huge number of bacteria in the human intestines.

"More than 99% of the microorganisms in the human intestinal tract are various bacteria, which can be divided into 500 to 1000 types, and the total number of genes is more than 100 times that of humans, which is closely related to human growth and health in all aspects.

"Generally speaking, intestinal flora can be divided into symbiotic flora, conditionally pathogenic flora, and pathogenic flora.

"Symbiotic flora, or beneficial bacteria, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, can synthesize vitamins necessary for human growth and development, such as vitamins B1, B2, B6, vitamin k, as well as various amino acids such as aspartic acid and phenylalanine.

"They participate in food digestion, promote intestinal peristalsis, and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.

"Conditionally pathogenic flora, such as enterococci and enterobacteria, are small in number but are unstable factors. When the human body is healthy, harmful bacteria will be suppressed by a larger number of beneficial bacteria. However, when people are not so healthy, harmful bacteria will cause various intestinal diseases.

"As for pathogenic flora, such as Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli, they usually do not belong to the intestinal tract, and accidental ingestion can also cause intestinal diseases, diarrhea, food poisoning, and so on.

"Because everyone's growth status, eating habits, and living habits are different from childhood to adulthood, the intestinal flora in each person's body will be different.

"You can think of it as a chaotic, dynamically balanced, and fascinating huge system,

"like a complex organ parasitizing in your organs."

Li Ang said with great interest, smiling, "The intestinal flora is like a magic pet that needs careful care and protection.

"Eat more vegetables rich in cellulose and fermented foods rich in probiotics, maintain regular work and rest habits, avoid overeating, eat less high-calorie and high-fat foods, and eat less foods you have never eaten before. Only in this way can you regulate the flora.

"Conversely, you will be plagued by various intestinal diseases—

"When I was doing the physical examination just now, I specifically checked the intestinal conditions of villagers of different ages and genders in your village, and the results showed that

"the growth status of the intestinal flora of all the villagers can be described as a complete mess.

"There are very few or no common beneficial bacteria in the human body, and conditionally pathogenic flora occupy the upper hand instead.

"This leads to general aging of the intestinal walls of the villagers, rough intestinal mucosa, poor blood circulation, and a dark red color;

"Irregular intestinal peristalsis, either too fast or too slow, feces that are too hard or too thin, unable to retain nutrients, leading to a worse growth status of beneficial bacteria, accelerating the alkalinity in the intestines, and reducing the immune function of the intestinal walls, forming a vicious circle;

"This is the case for both men and women, young and old."

"This..."

The village chief stayed where he was. To be honest, he didn't understand Salmonella or E. coli at all.

But looking at the tone of the brave man,

their ghoul clan might, probably, perhaps, really be suffering from premature aging due to intestinal problems?

"Then what should we do?"

The village chief asked anxiously, "This beneficial... ahem, beneficial flora, how can we obtain it? How can we promote it on a large scale?"

"Generally speaking, humans can stimulate the growth of beneficial flora by ingesting prebiotics."

Li Ang introduced: "Prebiotics, in short, are some organic substances that are not digested and absorbed by the host but can selectively promote the metabolism and proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the body, thereby improving the host's health.

"For example, oligosaccharides are algae, polysaccharides, and protein hydrolysates. Some vegetables, Chinese herbal medicines, and wild plants in natural plants can also serve as prebiotics."

"Vegetables?"

The village chief keenly grasped the key words and said urgently: "But we have been eating vegetables all the time?

"We use technology from the outside world to diligently cultivate farmland and plant various crops.

"The days may not be rich and wealthy, but even the poorest villagers can eat very well every day..."

"Yes, very well,

"but the constitutions of humans and ghouls cannot be generalized."

Li Ang spread his hands and said: "The daily prebiotic intake required by the human body is 15g per day. Of course, this is just a theoretical value.

"In reality, the actual daily prebiotic intake of a normal eating person is 2-8gd, which is far lower than the theoretical requirement.

"And your village, because you have ghoul blood, your physique is inherently different from that of humans.

"When prebiotics pass through the human upper digestive tract, they will not be digested, but will be fermented by the intestinal flora, which ultimately stimulates the growth of beneficial flora.

"But ghoul blood will directly digest various prebiotics, including oligosaccharides, making it impossible for them to reach the intestinal flora, and therefore unable to stimulate the already small number of beneficial flora.

"The efficiency of prebiotic intake is inherently low.

"In addition, the environment is closed, long-term isolation, and the diet is monotonous.

"All these factors lead to your prebiotic intake being far below the minimum level, and intestinal problems spread to systemic problems, leading to weak limbs, various diseases, and shortened lifespan."

The village chief thought for a long time, "You mean, our ghoul blood will digest this thing called prebiotics?"

"Yes."

Li Ang nodded, "It's digested in the upper digestive tract."

The village chief hesitated and said, "The upper digestive tract refers to..."

"The digestive parts above the duodenum."

Li Ang gestured, "Including the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, and one end of the duodenum."

"Oh, oh."

The village chief nodded and hesitated, "Then, can we just skip these parts?"

Li Ang raised his eyebrows, "Hmm?"

The village chief gestured, "Like, using a tube to directly guide that prebiotic into the intestines?"

"Not bad, a very open mind."

Li Ang's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands in appreciation, "You can come up with this kind of method.

"Maybe you can create a new era of medicine in a different environment.

"But, unfortunately, it won't work."

The village chief was about to be happy, but he froze in place, "Uh? Why?"

"Because prebiotics are good,

"but you also need beneficial flora to stimulate it."

Li Ang spread his hands and said, "You don't even have beneficial flora in your intestines, the number is almost zero.

"Even if you pour prebiotics into your intestines with a big tube, it is impossible to create beneficial flora from nothing."

"Oh, you can't create something from nothing."

The village chief thought for a while and summarized, "That is to say, the prebiotic route is not feasible?

"Then... then what should we do?"

"It's probably impossible to rely on eating regular food to supplement prebiotics and then stimulate the growth of beneficial flora."

Li Ang shook his head and said, "We can only use some strong medicine."

"Strong medicine?"

An ominous premonition rose in the village chief's heart, "You mean..."

"Learn from rodents."

Li Ang said in a deep voice, "Use a more efficient way to supplement, or at least maintain a healthy intestinal flora."

The village chief only felt his eyes go dark, "You, you mean eat..."

"That's right, eat shit."

Li Ang said painfully, "After thinking about it, this is almost the most suitable way to relieve the premature aging disease in your village."

"Is there no other way?"

The village chief felt like he was suffocating, "This is too..."

"Disgusting?"

Li Ang shook his head and said, "Rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, coypus, capybaras... these animals have been eating their own shit for tens of millions of years, what did they say?

"There is also the dung beetle, a species that is born in shit, grows in shit, dies in shit, and is associated with shit for its entire life.

"In nature, eating shit is a completely legitimate and not dirty or filthy behavior.

"It is completely the self-proclaimed higher humans who have smeared the act of eating shit with unwarranted infamy.

"Just imagine, if animals and microorganisms did not digest shit, the whole world would be submerged in shit and turned into a planet with a brown-yellow substance covering the surface.

"Humans live in the selfless dedication of other species, and they also trample, criticize, and insult them. It's simply an ungrateful act of villains..."

The more Li Ang spoke, the more excited he became. Ding Zhens嗣 and Liu Wu怠 had to persuade him, "Calm down, calm down."

"Hoo..."

Li Ang calmed his breathing and slowly said to the village chief: "Alas, if it wasn't a last resort, I wouldn't have taken this last resort.

"If you want to cure the premature aging disease in the village,

"you'd better be psychologically prepared—not just your own psychological preparation, but also the work of all the other villagers."

"..."

The village chief's expression could almost be turned into a mask of pain. He breathed heavily a few times and said with difficulty: "Okay...

"Then what should we do?

"Find a chance to slaughter a large animal and eat its intestines and the stuff inside directly without cooking?

"Although this is difficult to accept, I will try my best to persuade others for the sake of the continuation of the village.

"After all, as long as we endure a period of hardship, things will get better in the future..."

"Who said we should eat livestock? And only eat it once?"

Li Ang said inexplicably: "How can it work to eat it only once?

"You have to eat it often and make it a local dietary habit."

"What?! Eat it all the time?"

The village chief was shocked and stood there in a daze, as if struck by lightning, "This, this...

"Didn't you say that we can directly obtain beneficial flora by eating it directly?"

"That's animals."

Li Ang shook his head helplessly and said, "Many herbivores start eating shit from an early age.

"Because newborn herbivores, like you are now, have no intestinal flora responsible for digestion and absorption in their intestines.

"It is impossible to create flora directly from nothing.

"Therefore, they must eat the shit of adult individuals.

"Such as elephants, hippos, pandas,

"This is called inheritance from one generation to another, and it will not work without one generation.

"As for koalas, they also eat shit. They must eat shit to obtain a class of intestinal bacteria called tannin-protein complex degradation bacteria in order to obtain the ability to decompose the toxins in their main food, eucalyptus leaves.

"Otherwise, they will be poisoned to death by eucalyptus leaf toxins.

"If you want to cultivate your own stable beneficial flora in your intestines,

"you must imitate herbivore cubs,

"and eat shit regularly, persistently, every month, every week, and every day.

"This is a very long process, which may be a bit tormenting for you."

It's more than tormenting, just thinking about it makes me suffocate.

Ding Zhens嗣, who was on the side, barely suppressed the urge to complain. He looked around at the expressions on the faces of his teammates and found that their expressions were also very wonderful.

Li Ang's words were very absurd, but they had a very strong sense of logic for some reason.

Ghouls, I feel like they should change their names...

Li Ang didn't care about the village chief's almost collapsed mood and continued: "You don't have to be sad yet. In fact, periodic intake of microorganisms is also beneficial to adult biological individuals.

"Because adult individuals, even if they have cultivated reliable and stable beneficial flora, will still lose some of the diversity of intestinal flora as time goes by and their physical functions decline.

"For example, international medical zebrafish have intestinal flora complexity and change trajectories similar to humans.

"The intestinal flora of older zebrafish is more monotonous. If they eat the fish shit of younger zebrafish, they can restore the activity of the intestinal flora and even become longer-lived and younger.

"I think ghouls may be the same."

Li Ang said seriously: "In general, cubs, adults, and the elderly all have to eat shit,

"and cubs and the elderly can also eat the shit of adult individuals,

"thereby offsetting or even completely curing premature aging.

"It sounds a bit unpleasant, but you can change your mentality. It's just that as ghouls, you've changed your food.

"It's the same, there is no essential difference."