The reception hall of the main laboratory building at Muxi University.
Upon hearing the news, the teachers and students dropped what they were doing and rushed into the hall, where they watched the group of visitors and began to discuss it amongst themselves.
Surrounded by a group of knights, Rachel sat on a bench in the hall and complained to Alfonso, "Mr. Dunlop is too slow."
Alfonso, dressed in dragon bone armor, stood at the door and said, "I'm used to it. It's always like this."
Rachel turned to look upstairs, saying as she looked, "Wayne Dunlop must have been so busy with experiments that he forgot the time again, right?"
Alfonso was taken aback, then summoned a squire and gestured for him to ask.
Ten minutes later, the squire knight returned with the answer.
Wayne did indeed forget the meeting time.
Seeing Wayne finally appear at the bottom of the stairs, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and walked outside.
Wayne, carrying a stack of books containing data, refused the knight's help, staggered to the carriage, and tossed them inside.
Faced with the books and notes piled up on the carriage floor, Rachel shook her head helplessly, cleared a small space, and sat down sideways.
Wayne followed him inside and began rummaging through the floor, organizing the materials he wanted.
Rachel clapped her hands, indicating that they could set off.
Alfonso stood at the driver's position, flicked the reins, and slowly drove the carriage toward the school gate.
Rachel glanced at Wayne, who was rummaging through the floor for materials, then focused her attention on Wayne's stained lab coat and unkempt beard, and asked, "Mr. Dunlop, what are you looking for?"
“A set of experimental data about the necromantic virus, and antibody resistance tests…” Wayne said as he searched, “I remember putting that report in here, but I forgot which book it was tucked in… Due to the time constraints, I could only bring this whole pile of books.”
Rachel looked down at Wayne's face and said softly, "Mr. Dunlop, if I may be so bold, you need sleep."
Without even looking up, Wayne said, "This is not the time to talk about this. If we can't find a way to deal with the undead plague, then everyone in the city will be asleep forever."
Rachel sighed softly, sat up straight, and stopped talking.
"Ha, here it is!" Wayne pulled a stack of papers from a book, flipping through them as he spoke. "This data is a bit old, but it still works. By the way, what are the physical symptoms of that Zero you found? Heartbeat? Brainwaves? Neurological responses?"
Rachel was a little confused by the series of questions: "Mr. Dunlop, slow down. First, could you explain what number zero is?"
Wayne: "Patient Zero is the first person infected with the virus. He had the original strain in his body and developed antibodies against the pathogen. Therefore, Patient Zero is of great significance in combating the virus and developing antibodies."
Rachel continued, "So, what about... antibodies?"
Wayne: "In His Majesty's library, antibodies are explained as follows: Antibodies are actually proteins secreted by plasma cells and used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses..."
Wayne glanced up at Rachel's expression, paused, and continued, "Simply put, after a host infected with bacteria and viruses survives, a special immunoglobulin will be produced in its body. This substance, once extracted and refined, can resist or even neutralize the pathogen."
Rachel asked, "What is the relationship between that antibody and patient zero?"
Wayne: "Patient Zero was infected with the first generation of the virus. This generation of the virus has not mutated or recombinated, and is therefore called the root virus. Therefore, the antibodies in Patient Zero's body have broad-spectrum resistance against viral lineages."
Worried that Rachel still wouldn't understand, Wayne added, "To put it simply, finding Patient Zero will allow us to develop an antidote to the undead plague."
Rachel nodded: "There's a problem. The patient zero we found, Marcus, has already been infected. Can we still extract antibodies from him?"
Wayne rubbed his hands together: "That's a good question. I've dissected many undead, and most of their organs and tissues have been completely taken over by the undead virus. Their immune systems have been completely destroyed, and there's not a trace of antibodies left."
Rachel said, "Since it's an undead, its entire body is naturally in a state of death, so it's normal that it doesn't have the antibody you mentioned."
Wayne said excitedly, "But His Majesty told me this time that you found Patient Zero in the Southern Empire, the first person infected with the necromancy virus. And not only that, this Patient Zero is not a completely dead body; he has self-awareness and possesses the memory bank of a normal person. Do you know what that means?"
Rachel said uncertainly, "Does that mean he... isn't dead?"
Wayne shook his head vigorously: "No, no, no, you didn't understand what I meant. Patient Zero, his name is...?"
Ritchie: "Marcus."
Wayne: "Yes, Marcus! As Patient Zero, if Marcus is just an ordinary undead, then he's of no help whatsoever in researching viral antibodies?"
Rachel: "Why?"
Wayne: "Have you forgotten what I just said? An ordinary undead, with all its organs and tissues eroded by the virus, how can such a sample be used to develop antibodies?"
Rachel understood somewhat: "So... Marcus is valuable not only because he is Patient Zero, but also because he should have normally functioning living tissues or organs in his body, and antibodies should be found in those tissues and organs?"
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