Chapter 19
At first, only a small group of people noticed the rumor of mutant rabies in H City.
Those are the marketing accounts operated by major social entertainment sections.
They are like hyenas that swarm around the scent of meat. They integrate the information they collect at the first possible moment, whether it is true or false, and frantically forward it on major traffic platforms with blurry online pictures.
#Sudden! Autumn flu suddenly appeared in H City. If you come into contact with it, you are at risk of getting sick#
#The infectious disease is suspected to be confirmed as a new infectious disease, with a mortality rate of up to 100% #
#Don't panic! Remember the following precautions to keep new infectious diseases away from you and your family#
#Refuting rumors, fake drug dealers invented a new virus to increase sales. Is this a distortion of human nature or a moral decline?#
In today's era of information explosion, the Internet is full of true and false news.
It often happens that before I finish eating the melon in my hand, someone kicks me over in the next second, and before I know it, a new bite of melon is stuffed into my throat, choking melon.
Therefore, all the netizens who have been poisoned by false information immediately felt confused when they saw it.
"I just want to ask if there is anything wrong. Every year, there is flu. There is no news to publish, right?"
"The last time I saw it was a mutant rabies."
"One article spreads rumors, the next article refutes rumors, and it's still the same media. Can you unify your tone before publishing the articles?"
"It's a 100% fatality rate. Anyone who believes it is an idiot."
…
"My home is in H City. I wrote in blood that someone could be sent to control the animals running around. After such a long time, there are still tigers and lions running around. Are you kidding me?"
“I felt as if I was living in a primeval jungle.”
"In H City, I am now panicking when I go out to work, for fear that a tiger will suddenly appear and bite me to death!"
"Honestly, those large animals are so conspicuous, why haven't they been caught yet?"
"Seven people have been bitten and sent to the hospital, and three have been bitten to death. Can this be taken seriously?"
"Help! The accident seems to be not far from my home!"
Compared to influenza infections, animal bites to death are real.
The bloody mosaic-covered picture was circulated online, instantly causing panic and anger among the public.
No one wants to experience what it feels like to be bitten alive. Internet users in H City complained and flocked to the traffic security account to protest.
For a while, everyone's attention was focused on incidents of runaway animals injuring people, and few people paid attention to the influenza virus.
Even the official early warning recommendations were drowned out by the noisy voices.
Until human-biting incidents began to occur frequently.
The first incident occurred near a vegetable market. The biter was a mentally ill person who had not been properly locked up. The stall owner and the kind passers-by who helped were all injured. Several ambulances were dispatched to take away all the injured.
The second incident occurred in a restaurant less than 300 meters away, and at least three people were affected.
The third case occurred in a hospital. The patient suddenly had a seizure and bit the doctor's throat, leaving blood all over the bed and floor. The biter was tested and confirmed to have rabies.
…
More and more patients were biting people in the streets, and more and more citizens witnessed their madness during the attacks.
People were shocked to find that not only were the patients unconscious and unable to recognize people, but their appearance had also changed drastically.
Some people couldn't help but upload the video, and the panic was visible in the text.
"My dad suddenly became like this after being bitten by a lunatic on the roadside. His jaw couldn't close and he was drooling. What should I do?!"
The man in the video was tied up tightly with bed sheets, and his original appearance was basically unrecognizable - his skin was extremely swollen, his eyes were red as blood, cloudy and yellow saliva flowed from the corners of his mouth, and he opened his mouth and let out a beast-like roar.
Anyone who sees this video will feel their heart stop beating.
They trembled with their fingers as they tried to download.
The next second the page refreshed, showing that the account had been banned for spreading false information.
It was like God was playing a ridiculous joke on the people of H City.
In the following days, casualties appeared in large numbers, the doors of major hospitals were broken into, and even the beds in the clinics began to run out.
Food prices rose, supermarkets were cleared out by shoppers, pharmacies were raided, and scalpers drove up drug prices.
Roads out of the city were blocked and citizens were prohibited from traveling.
Similar disasters are also happening in other cities.
.
At the same time, in G City, near Wen Xinjia Community.
Tang Qi walked quickly while scrolling on his phone.
But no matter how he refreshed the page or changed the data card, the page only showed a network error 404.
He couldn't help but curse inwardly: "Is this real news or photoshopped? What on earth are the officials doing? Why don't they come out and refute the rumors?"
Wen Xin stared ahead, and out of the corner of his eye he saw someone rushing behind him, so he quickly pulled Tang Qi.
Tang Qi staggered away and watched the man pass by them. He rushed into the supermarket in front without looking back and shouted angrily: "Are you running so fast? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate?!"
But they didn't have time to argue now.
City G is far away from City H, and many messages and news were suppressed by secret forces. By the time people got the news, more than a dozen cases of the new rabies virus had already appeared in the city.
Moreover, it was an official announcement from the G City People's Hospital, which did not even give people a chance to close their eyes and ears.
At this moment, the supermarket is full of people inside and outside, all of whom are rushing to stock up on food after reading the news online.
Some people even formed teams and drove vans to transport goods in boxes.
In a hurry, Tang Qi grabbed Wen Xin's wrist and squeezed inside.
Wen Xin quickly grabbed Canary who came to help, to prevent the boy from being separated in the crowd.
In order to improve purchasing efficiency, the three of them split up after entering the supermarket. Tang Qi went to buy snacks, and Wen Xin took Canary to buy rice and noodles.
The scene of the robbery can only be described as chaotic.
Someone was about to reach out to the shelf, but saw that the entire row of instant noodles had been taken away by one arm and put into the shopping cart below. He was so anxious that his voice rose two decibels: "You bought so much, do you plan to eat it for the rest of your life?"
"Fuck you, you don't care if I can finish it or not."
"The news online may not be true. The authorities have not responded yet. Can you calm down? I just want to buy some meat and vegetables to cook at home!"
The staff hurriedly organized the crowded crowd: "Don't rush, don't rush! Our supermarket restocks every day, don't crowd! Line up at the back and don't rush!"
"Stand back, you're going to step on someone—"
Wen Xin protected Canary with his arms and stood side by side with another girl in a sweatshirt.
Seeing the girl in the sweatshirt being pushed and about to hit the iron frame, he said, "Be careful!"
At the same time, he stretched out his hand and quickly helped the person block it.
After the girl in the hoodie stood firm, she reacted immediately and used her elbow to block the person who hit her from behind.
Then, she quickly picked up the only two remaining bags of rice and put one bag each into her and Wen Xin's shopping carts.
This almost made the people behind who were trying to cut in line go crazy.
But because there were people all around him, if he stopped for a moment he would be squeezed out by others, so he had to give up in anger and compete with others for the bulk rice.
"Make way, everyone, make way, let us get out!"
Wen Xin kept Canary behind him, and the three of them finally squeezed out of the crowd in front of the shelves and came to an open space.
The girl let out a long breath and almost squatted on the ground.
A month of exercise had paid off. Compared to her, Wen Xin was still able to keep his feet on the ground, but he was also frightened by people's madness.
He looked at the extra bag of rice in the shopping cart and said to the girl, "Thank you."
The girl in the sweatshirt took a deep breath and nodded: "Thank you too, you helped me block it just now."
The girl had other things to buy, so after saying this, she rushed out again and headed straight for the canned food area.
Wen Xin didn't even bother to rest. He stared at the shopping list in his hand and rushed to other purchasing areas one by one.
He planned to buy a lot of things, but luckily Canary was by his side.
As a mutant, Canary is much stronger than an ordinary person. When she saw someone trying to push Wen Xin away stealthily, she kicked him rudely.
"Fuck, who kicked me! Ah, stop squeezing—"
The purchase, which usually takes only half an hour, took two hours longer because of the crowded queues.
The moment they came out of the supermarket, the three of them felt that the air was much fresher and they felt relieved to see the light of day again.
Tang Qi didn't know how his daily routine suddenly turned out like this.
"I really regret not buying more food when I went to the supermarket with you."
He looked back at the huge crowd behind him and felt his scalp tingling. "This is really terrible, damn."
When Tang Qi saw the news, he suspected that there was something wrong with his eyes. He scrolled through dozens of pages of netizens' comments, and the more he read, the more his hair stood on end. So he quickly ran to Wen Xin's house to inform his good friend.
He was so shocked that he didn't even react to the issue of hoarding food. It was Wen Xin who quickly calmed him down and reminded him, and then the three of them hurried to the supermarket.
At the moment, they have bought almost a week's worth of food, plus what they have stocked up in the spice room, which is enough to last for more than a month.
Wen Xin rubbed his brows.
With the existence of the dumplings in front of him, he would not be like others who found it difficult to accept this completely different reality for a while.
He just looked at the pictures shared by Tang Qi and felt that things might not be as simple as just stockpiling food and medicine.
Why did Wen Jinfeng remind him to stock up a month in advance? Why was the infection not under control? Why did those patients look nothing like humans, but more like mutated monsters? ...
This is only the first day that City G reported the emergence of a mutant rabies virus in the city.
The next day, something even more magical happened.
【Author’s words】
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution during 2023-03-29 23:08:45~2023-03-30 23:47:39~
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Xixi 20 bottles; Xiaoyu 16 bottles; 59920197 10 bottles; Chrysler 5 bottles; Yanke, Xiaoyuan Buyuan, What to do if you are out of words? ! , Bu Chi Yu 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!