Chapter 46 Speculation of the virus source 1
Inside the safe house, four people sat around a computer, and Lu Zhao's fingers were typing rapidly on the keyboard.
The data in the USB flash drive is being parsed one by one, and various files and codes are constantly flashing on the screen.
"This data is highly encrypted," Lu Zhao said with a frown, "some files require special decryption tools to open."
Su Wanqing sat next to him, staring at the screen: "Is there anything I can help with?"
"Help me find that black hard drive. It should be in my backpack," Lu Zhao said. "There are some decryption tools in it."
Su Wanqing got up to look for the hard drive, while Xiao Ran stood by the window on guard to make sure that the safe house was not being followed.
Lin Che sat on the other side of Lu Zhao, observing the data flashing on the screen.
“These look like experimental records,” Lin Che said, pointing to a folder on the screen, “but most of them have been deleted.”
Lu Zhao nodded: "Yes, someone tried to destroy the evidence, but the data deletion was not thorough. In the computer world, deleted files are usually just marked as overwritable, and the actual data still exists on the hard drive."
Su Wanqing came back with the hard drive: "Found it."
"Thank you," Lu Zhao took the hard drive and connected it to the computer, "Let me try to recover some deleted files."
He opened a professional data recovery software and started scanning the data in the USB drive.
The software ran for several minutes and displayed some files that could be recovered.
"Something," Lu Zhao said, "but it's not complete."
He clicked the restore button and several files were reconstructed. One of them, titled "S-0 Experiment Records," caught his attention.
"This looks very important," Lu Zhao said as he opened the document. "S-0 should be the code name for that virus."
The document is incomplete, but some key information can still be read: ".The S-0 sample showed unprecedented stability and infectivity under laboratory conditions. Compared with known viruses, its gene sequence has obvious traces of artificial editing. The test subject showed obvious symptoms within 24 hours of infection and completely lost his rational ability after 48 hours. The virus survived in the air longer than expected."
"This is the zombie virus out there right now," Xiao Ran said as he walked over, "It matches the description exactly."
“And there is a clear mention of ‘traces of artificial editing’ here,” Lin Che pointed out, “This is not a naturally evolved virus.”
Lu Zhao continued to look through the documents: "There is also a record about the source of the virus, but most of it has been deleted."
Only a few lines of text remain: ". The sample was obtained from. A special channel to obtain the gene sequence. The similarity is as high as 97%. After modification, the infectiousness and mortality rate have been enhanced."
"This information is too fragmentary," Su Wanqing said, "but at least it confirms that the virus is man-made."
Lu Zhao opened another recovered file, which was a financial record.
“Look at this,” he pointed at the screen, “this project received a lot of outside funding.”
Lin Che came over to take a look: "The source of funds only has a code name, no specific name."
"SG Group, Shadow Fund, Zero Point Investment." Lu Zhao read out a few code names. "These are all cover names used to hide the real source of funds."
"I've seen similar operations when I was in the special forces," Xiao Ran said. "They're usually used to hide projects that the government or large multinational companies don't want to make public."
Lu Zhao continued searching and suddenly found a folder with a higher encryption density, called "Execution Plan".
"This requires a special tool to decrypt it," he said, opening a program on the hard drive.
The decryption process was slow, with a progress bar displayed on the screen. The four people waited anxiously, each immersed in their own thoughts.
"Why do you think someone would create such a virus?" Su Wanqing broke the silence.
"There are many possibilities," Xiao Ran said, "biological weapons, population control, or even some kind of crazy social experiment."
"Or it may be related to the 'Biological Reset Plan'," Lin Che added, "We have seen this name in those documents before."
Lu Zhao did not participate in the discussion; he stared at the screen intently.
Finally, the decryption was completed and the folder was opened.
"It worked," he said. "There are several files inside."
The first file he opened was a detailed plan titled "S-0 Launch Plan."
"Oh my god," Lu Zhao's voice trembled, "This is really a launch plan."
The document describes in detail how the virus would be released in a specific area, including the time, location and expected effects.
"It was planned to release the S-0 virus simultaneously in five major cities on July 15, three years ago. The initial number of infections was expected to be 500-1,000 people in each city. Considering the infectiousness of the virus, the infection rate was expected to reach more than 90% within two weeks."
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
"This is horrific," Su Wanqing said. "They are planning a mass killing."
"Not only that," Lu Zhao continued reading, "it also mentions the follow-up plan: 'After the first phase is completed, the second phase of the biological reset plan will be launched'"
"What exactly is the biological reset plan?" Lin Che asked.
Lu Zhao shook his head: "The document doesn't go into detail, it just says that this is a 'multi-stage plan' with the goal of 'redefining the direction of human evolution'."
"It sounds like some kind of eugenics experiment," Xiao Ran said, "using a virus to wipe out most of the population and then rebuild society?"
"It's very likely," Lu Zhao said, "but we need more evidence."
He opened another file, a research report titled "S-0 Variant Study."
"This is even more interesting," Lu Zhao said. "The report mentioned that people infected with the virus will mutate to varying degrees."
The report records in detail the mutation process of the infected: in the early stage, they show high fever and increased aggressiveness, in the middle stage, they begin to mutate physically, and in the late stage, they completely lose their human characteristics and turn into complete monsters.
“This explains why there are different types of zombies out there,” Lin Che said, “They are in different stages of mutation.”
"But there's something very strange here," Lu Zhao pointed to a paragraph in the report, "The report mentioned that a small number of infected people showed 'abnormal reactions'. Instead of turning into zombies, they gained some kind of 'special abilities'."
The four of them looked at each other and thought of the same thing.
"Elemental ability users," Su Wanqing said softly, "Could it be that our abilities are the result of viral infection?"
“That makes sense,” Lin Che said, “After the virus outbreak, some people did begin to display superpowers.”
“But we didn’t have any symptoms,” Xiao Ran countered. “I never felt unwell or out of control.”
"Maybe it's some kind of mutant strain," Lu Zhao speculated, "or maybe we have special factors in our bodies that resist the virus."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com