Chapter 267 The First Infected People in the City
Dr. Zhang sat on the swivel chair in the emergency room of the Central Hospital for a while and rubbed the corners of his eyes.
The clock on the wall showed 2:17 in the morning. He had been working for thirty-six hours in a row.
There were blood stains on the front of his white coat, and the inside of his goggles was fogged up, leaving two red marks on his nose when he took them off.
“Doctor Zhang!” Nurse Xiao Wu came running over from the corridor, water still dripping from the hem of her blue-striped nurse uniform. “Five more were sent in, and their symptoms are the same as before.”
Doctor Zhang stood up by holding the back of the chair, and the plastic floor squeaked under his feet.
The benches on both sides of the corridor were filled with people, including students in school uniforms, old ladies carrying vegetable baskets, and a young man in a suit with his work badge exposed on his chest - "Wang Qiang, Urban Construction Bureau".
He bent down and fished out a new pair of gloves from under the cart, the rubber making a soft sound against his fingertips.
The newest stretcher stopped at the door of the treatment room. The middle-aged female patient dug her fingernails into the sheets, her knuckles turning white.
Her skin was translucent white, her forehead was covered in sweat, and black lines were crawling on her neck, spreading like tree roots to her collarbone and arms.
Doctor Zhang reached out to feel his pulse, which was beating fast and irregularly, like stones hitting sheet metal.
"The temperature is 40.2 degrees." The nurse held up the thermometer and read the number.
Doctor Zhang drew a tube of blood, and the liquid in the tube was an unusual dark purple color.
He wrote in the medical record: "23:17, female, 47 years old, black lines on the neck and upper limbs, high fever, pulse 132 beats/minute, blood pressure 90/55 mmHg."
Turning over a few pages, the previous records were densely packed. From yesterday morning till now, seventy-eight similar cases have been recorded.
"Doctor Zhang," Xiao Wu handed over the examination form and lowered his voice, "The old man in bed number three just scratched the girl who was accompanying him and made her bleed."
She pointed to the end of the corridor, where an old man in a striped hospital gown was tied to a bed with restraints. He made a hoarse sound in his throat and stared at the ceiling.
Doctor Zhang said nothing, but added at the end of the medical record: "Some patients show aggressive tendencies."
He took out his cell phone, pretended to adjust his goggles, quickly took a few photos of the patient, opened the encrypted mailbox, packaged the data and sent it to Lu Zhao.
The note in the attachment reads: "The cases in the southwest region account for 63%, which coincides with the water source area mentioned by Mr. Lin."
At 3pm, footsteps suddenly sounded in the hospital lobby. Dr. Zhang came out of the locker room with a cup of coffee and saw six soldiers in camouflage uniforms standing by the triage desk. Their tactical vests were covered with sealed bags, and their helmets and visors were reflective, so their faces could not be seen clearly.
The leading officer slapped his ID on the table and said, "Looking for the dean."
Half an hour later, the radio sounded.
"Dear patients and their families, please note that according to the emergency public health regulations, patients with persistent high fever and abnormal skin texture will be transferred to a special treatment facility. Please cooperate with the staff to register."
Doctor Zhang tightened his grip on the coffee cup. He saw Xiao Liu at the nurse station packing up medical records with red eyes, and a soldier pushing a sealed stretcher into the corridor. The stretcher was covered with a transparent film and had rubber sealing strips on the four corners.
"Doctor Zhang," the dean came out of his office and tugged at his tie, "don't stop me. We can only follow the orders from above."
Dr. Zhang placed the coffee cup heavily at the nurses' station. He followed the transport convoy out of the hospital and hid behind the green belt.
The military truck drove out of the city with exhaust fumes. He rode on the electric bike parked at the back door and kept a distance of two hundred meters.
The car was parked in a wasteland outside the city. Dr. Zhang hid the electric bike in the bushes and squatted behind a slope.
The barbed wire fence is three meters high and is wrapped with barbed wire on the top. There are sentry boxes every twenty meters, and sentries walk back and forth with rifles.
When the truck drove into the iron gate, he took three photos in a row with his micro camera. Through the lens, he could see a gray building inside the wall with a satellite antenna on the roof.
The phone vibrated. It was a message from Lu Zhao: "I received the photo. Don't expose it."
Dr. Zhang put the camera back into his pocket, and the electric bike key left a mark on his palm.
He thought of the family members of the patient on the truck just now, who were stopped outside the iron gate by the soldiers. The woman cried and wanted to follow the truck, but was pushed and staggered - "We will just take a look!"
No one paid any attention to her.
At six o'clock in the evening, Dr. Zhang was dragged to the isolation ward by the head nurse.
"Doctor Zhang, come and take a look!" The head nurse's hands were shaking. "Old Li in bed number five, he..."
The door of the ward was ajar, and Dr. Zhang saw the military doctor in a white coat and the patient who was tied up.
Lao Li's skin turned gray and black, his right fingers stuck together, and his nails were so long that they could scratch the bed rails.
He growled in his throat, the restraints were stretched tight, and the bed legs left two deep marks on the ground.
"Another case of accelerated mutation." The military doctor wearing gold-rimmed glasses inserted the syringe into Lao Li's neck. The moment the blue liquid was pushed in, Lao Li collapsed and his eyes rolled back.
"This is the third case today." Another military doctor took off his gloves. "Headquarters wants a live sample. Prepare to transfer it."
Doctor Zhang took out his phone and recorded a video through the crack in the door. In the camera, Lao Li's deformed arm glowed coldly under the light, and it was somewhat similar to the pattern of the Weaver's wreckage that he had seen in Lin Che's place before.
Just as the video was encrypted and sent out, the door of the ward slammed shut. Dr. Zhang took two steps back and bumped into the fire hydrant.
The phone vibrated, and Lu Zhao replied: "The team has been synchronized. Team Leader Su confirmed that the infection is in line with the system's prediction."
At 11 o'clock in the evening, Dr. Zhang was sorting out the map in his office. He drew a circle in the southwest area with a red pen, and then drew arrows along the water pipes - the earliest cases were like water dripping into ink, spreading along the water pipes.
The latest red dots are scattered in the east of the city and have nothing to do with the water pipeline network.
He wrote in his notebook: "Human-to-human transmission is possible. The initial symptoms are similar to those of the flu and are easy to miss."
The pen stopped in mid-air and the door was pushed open.
A man in a black suit stood at the door, with two soldiers holding guns behind him.
The man had the National Security Bureau badge on his chest, and his lips didn’t move when he smiled: “Doctor Zhang, Chen Li, National Security Bureau Special Operations Team.”
Doctor Zhang pushed his notebook into the drawer and pressed his fingertips to the emergency button on the corner of the desk.
"What's up?"
"The photos you took recently and the emails you sent are all considered leaks of state secrets."
Chen Li took two steps forward, his leather heels tapping on the floor tiles, "Follow us now and cooperate with the investigation."
Doctor Zhang stood up, and the chair made a harsh sound on the ground.
He felt for the USB drive in his pocket, which contained all the original data.
"I'm a doctor, and it's my duty to record the cases."
"My duty?" Chen Li pulled his tie. "Spreading panic is also my duty?"
He nodded behind him, and two soldiers stepped forward.
Dr. Zhang pressed the emergency button and the laptop in the drawer began to automatically delete files.
When Chen Li grabbed his arm, he heard the phone ding - the data was sent successfully.
At the Fortress Command Center, a message popped up on Su Wanqing's terminal. She glanced at the analysis sent by Doctor Zhang: "The infection rate is 0.5%, about 50,000 people, and it may reach 5% in a week."
Looking at the location of the emergency signal again, the coordinates were marked at a secret facility in the east of the city.
"We have to save him." Xiao Ran put the tactical knife on the table, and the handle made a dull sound.
Lin Che stood by the window, the blue lines on the back of his neck slightly hot: "The information he holds is too important."
Su Wanqing pushed the terminal to Lu Zhao: "Can you locate the specific location?"
Lu Zhao tapped the keyboard a few times, and a satellite image of a gray building popped up on the screen: "Chengdong Military Research Center, temporary detention point."
"How long will it take to prepare?" Xiao Ran asked.
Su Wanqing touched the jade bracelet on her wrist and found that it was warmer than usual.
“Tonight,” she said. “The infection spread pattern mentioned in his data is very consistent with the water source that Lin Che mentioned. We can’t lose this informant.”
On the other side, Lin Che bent down to check the instrument in the water treatment center. He closed his eyes and his consciousness extended along the water pipe to the southwest.
The flow of groundwater has changed, like a pool of water disturbed by something, and it has a sticky feel - it's not an ordinary pollutant, it seems to be alive.
"Lu Zhao." He picked up the intercom, "The water in the southwest base is abnormal, more active than before."
Lu Zhao's voice came from the intercom: "The system is analyzing energy fluctuations and may be preparing to open a portal. It matches the second phase data of the sealed cabin."
Lin Che straightened up, and the blue lines on the back of his neck became hotter. He looked out the window, and the lights of the city turned into a blurry yellow in the fog.
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