Chapter 20
There were no tourists in H City, which was at a standstill. The few patients with the X virus who had traveled to closed cities had already been registered and were quickly taken to the hospital for isolation and treatment. The overall atmosphere was peaceful.
Adults work from home, children take online classes at home, stores do not allow dine-in and only offer take-out, and the busiest places have become social networking platforms.
As the first seven days of lockdown passed, fear continued to spread.
Domestic medical resources and supplies rushed to the three locked-down cities, which together served nearly 30 million people. The internet amplified all emotions, and with cases constantly appearing around us, the chances of survival after falling ill were roughly 50-50.
It takes at least three years to research a specific drug, and those who go to the hospital can only take traditional Chinese medicine to enhance immunity, and those with serious illnesses rely on medical equipment to survive.
The negative emotions felt by residents of these cities are several times or even dozens of times higher than those in other parts of the country. Living in a peaceful country, this is the closest they have ever been to losing control of death.
Fortunately, after aid arrived one after another, the closed cities were directly taken over by the central government. Ordinary residents stayed at home and purchased all supplies through online channels. The closed communities organized volunteers to wear protective clothing to reduce the risks caused by gatherings.
The neighborhood committees visit elderly people living alone to register. Many of them live in old urban areas without elevators, making it difficult for them to leave their homes. They often have underlying illnesses and require long-term medication. Volunteers help purchase these medications and deliver them to their homes.
There is also a special group in big cities who rely entirely on takeout, never stock up on food, and don’t even have pots or refrigerators at home.
The city was locked down, takeout orders gradually stopped, and some people, not paying attention to the news and living in remote areas, only realized after entering the community but not leaving: "Ah! There is nothing at home. I won't starve to death in the 21st century!"
I quickly went online for help, and a search revealed quite a few examples. There were many solutions, including community volunteers, neighborhood committees, and the few errand runners who existed.
However, manpower is limited and logistics are slow, so we have to eat instant noodles at home for a few days to make ends meet. As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. Knowing the difficulties faced by our neighbors, we enthusiastically provided support even though we had extra food at home.
There are many heartwarming things like this, which dilute the dark emotions of everyone feeling insecure.
If there are confirmed cases in the building, a dedicated person will come to disinfect the building after the patient is taken away. Residents who self-diagnose a fever or feel unwell can contact the neighborhood committee or call an ambulance directly and self-isolate at home first.
The mobilization of national power is significant. After the first week, the domestic situation has shown a tendency to stagnate. The tragedy has already unfolded. What we need to do is try our best to shorten and end it.
This series of situations has popular science public welfare short films broadcast on TV stations, and online they are directly set as the opening short films of the app.
The situation abroad is more complicated. Some countries that are still in the midst of war and hunger simply ignore the X virus. They do not have a stable environment to deal with it, so they might as well let nature take its course. Hundreds of people die every day, and they have no choice but to give up.
However, there are disagreements among developed countries. Some say wearing masks infringes on human rights, while others speculate that virus X is man-made.
There are also extremists who believe in God and claim that humans chose the virus and will only punish the guilty. A few days later, those who said this became a complete joke because they were infected while marching around without wearing masks.
In the country of M, where the political party is so fierce, there was even a joke where the president said that injecting toilet cleaner could eliminate the X virus.
Politicians and capitalists have no concern for the infected lower-class people. They are complacent and think that they are rich and powerful, and can choose any hospital they want. If they are infected and receive timely treatment, they will be fine. They just want to make a fortune by taking advantage of the disaster that has swept the world.
Of course, Virus X will teach them a lesson and leave an indelible impression.
The two parties used Virus X as a pretext to abandon rational confrontation. One side said intervention and large-scale prevention were needed, while the other side started to bring up human rights and other issues, in order to suppress the other side.
In the midst of this chaos, the X virus spread more and more violently in Country M, with the number of infections reaching new highs. Even though the country is vast and sparsely populated, it cannot withstand large-scale gatherings and demonstrations.
Different countries have different national conditions, and the decisions made by their leadership are also different, which also foreshadows different developments in the future.
In order to ease the tension, major domestic video websites have opened free memberships to blocked cities based on user IP addresses, and have also provided benefits such as games and online storage, and large companies have even donated money and materials.
Several games that Lang Xin previously managed also began operating activities. He was somewhat glad that he had handed over these tasks in advance. Working from home was really not as easy as he had imagined. Not being able to communicate face to face was a huge shock to an industry like gaming that required frequent changes and exchanges of opinions.
By this calculation, working from home requires even more working time due to the lack of equipment and communication.
Of course, in the long run, if everyone stays at home, they will spend more time playing games, and the returns will also increase. But he just doesn't want to worry about the physical work, and a healthy body is the most important thing.
As the apocalypse unfolds, many things are vastly different from what Chao Youqian knew. Humanity's survival rests in its own hands. Faced with the spread of the X-Virus, all he can do is stay indoors and avoid causing trouble for society.
As a homebody, he enjoys playing games and watching anime at home. However, the fact that many of the serialized comics have been postponed due to the X virus is a minor drawback.
He and Lang Xin had been inseparable since they met, and their lives had long since become very comfortable. Without the help of a part-time maid to clean and cook, Lang Xin's cleaning and cooking skills had exceeded his expectations, and he didn't seem like a young master born into a wealthy family.
In his previous life, Chao Youqian often spent time in the library, and had various conflicts with his roommates, such as bedtime, whether to accept the noise from loudspeakers on mobile phones, and computer games.
Now that he and Lang Xin were truly living without anyone else, Chao Youqian felt that everything was going well. Apart from the fact that Lang Xin always dragged him to exercise, there were no other shortcomings.
The two of them could talk about the same topics, play the same games, and had similar tastes in movies and TV series. Chao Youqian felt that having Lang Xin as a friend in this life was a gift from God.
Staying home did have some advantages. Chao Youqian could legitimately refuse his teacher's request to return to school for a review of his thesis. Hilariously, the arrival of Virus X had canceled the original plan to review the papers, which gave the students who had returned to school and were now trapped inside a sense of comical tragedy.
Many students remained on campus in July. Unlike the winter break, which includes the Spring Festival holiday, summer vacation offers a great opportunity to take mini-semesters, conduct internships, and conduct experiments. Fortunately, students don't need to worry about their living expenses. On-campus options are limited, but the supply is stable. University B, nestled in the heart of the political landscape, is particularly stable. Express delivery services remain available, though delivery from the three locked-down cities is missing.
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