Chapter 156 Vaccine
"I just thought I'd seen it somewhere."
The person who was responsible for delivering the message was also there to take Watasha to the capital. So after receiving the notice, Watasha and his subordinates boarded the train to the capital that night.
A day later, Watasha met with the deputy commander of the National Rescue Command Center.
The two sides discussed all the details of the transaction and finally reached a successful cooperation.
The deal was done, and after shaking hands, Watasha let out a long sigh, feeling that his trip was worthwhile.
He believed in the credibility of this country's government and didn't want to worry about anything else. He just wanted to return to the sea to pick up his family members who were still on the cruise ship and enjoy a vacation-like life on the train with his family.
As for the rest, let others worry about it!
As someone who works hard for three hours every day, he feels that he has been dedicated enough recently!
Watasha said goodbye to the deputy commander cordially and was about to leave his office, but when he turned around, he unexpectedly saw an open folder on his desk.
He frowned as he looked at the familiar pattern on the paper.
The deputy commander saw him stop and followed his gaze to the document. He asked curiously, "Is there anything wrong with this document?"
Only then did Vatasha come to his senses and realize that it was very impolite to stare at other people's documents.
He shook his head. "Sorry, I just think I've seen this pattern somewhere before."
"Maybe it's on the international network! We have published our research results there before. We hope that everyone can unite and cooperate to face the current difficulties together." Unfortunately, not many people responded to this call.
Without giving it much thought, the deputy commander handed him the document his secretary had just delivered. "This was just sent by our domestic research institute responsible for pathogenic bacteria research. It's talking about the fungus that caused this mutation. They're already working on a vaccine, so perhaps there will be new progress soon!"
"Really?" Although Watasha felt that the snowflake-like pattern was not something he had seen recently on the Internet, he was quickly diverted by the deputy commander's words. "Then please let me know when you figure it out. This will be a blessing for all mankind!"
"Of course!" the deputy commander said with a smile, "We've agreed to be friends who support each other."
But after seeing off the visitor, the deputy commander frowned as he looked at the report in his hand.
After discussing the Watasha issue at the last meeting, all participants felt that this was indeed a good opportunity to promote faster global stability. This winter will eventually pass, and for them now, almost all other conditions are in place, except for the vaccine.
So, after the meeting, they asked the institute to report the latest progress on the vaccine. However, the report showed that the vaccine development was not as smooth as other aspects.
The deputy commander attached great importance to this matter and contacted the former director of the institute after reading the report.
According to the former director of the Capital Institute of Epidemic Prevention, while they have successfully isolated the pathogenic bacteria that cause mutations in humans and animals over the past six months, they have also discovered that the changes it causes in different organisms, and even in different humans, are different. Infection with this fungus not only causes symptoms, but also induces genetic mutations and recombination in many cases.
The institute conducted a more detailed study of this pathogen and discovered that, while seemingly identical in appearance, it had differentiated into at least twenty distinct strains over the past six months. Each of these twenty strains possessed its own unique genetic sequence that could cause humans to transform into zombies.
During this period, they have been studying how to prevent the fungus's genes from exchanging and recombining with human genes, and have achieved some results so far.
"We have now developed three vaccines, all of which have passed Phase I trials and are about to enter Phase II trials. If all goes well, they may be able to be used clinically soon..."
At that time, when the deputy commander heard the old director say this, his heart was about to fly, but the old director's next words made his heart fall to the ground in an instant.
"However, these are only three vaccines. We estimate that to fully prevent infection, at least sixteen vaccines are currently needed..."
It took half a year to develop three vaccines. If sixteen or even more are needed, how long will it take to develop them all?
When he thought of this, he directly asked the old director how to speed up the development of the vaccine, but the old director did not give any more efficient methods.
"Scientific research is inherently a long process, and the current pace of research is considered fast."
If possible, the old director would certainly like to develop a vaccine as soon as possible, because every day later, the pathogen may mutate into more types, and they will need to develop more vaccines to prevent infection. However, the reality cannot be ignored, and it is not something they can achieve just by thinking about it.
"Unless we can find the original pathogen. By comparing them with the original pathogen and finding the commonalities between them, we might be able to develop one or a few universal vaccines to solve the problem. Otherwise..."
…
Thinking of what the old director had said before, the deputy commander closed the folder in his hand and rubbed his aching forehead.
"Now it seems that we can only wait!"
…
At the end of January, Line 2 of the train was successfully connected with Line 1, connecting all the previous stations to form a complete elliptical ring in the central and eastern regions.
Jiang Qian exchanged for two new trains specifically for running on the Coastal Line 2, and after recruiting the necessary staff for the two new trains through the rescue team's recommendation, she took her family directly to run on the Western Line 3 newly determined by the rescue team.
The Wu family and the two families with the same master were already accustomed to the days when the three families worked together. Since no one else had to stay on the Line 2 train, they naturally got on the Line 3 train together.
The train skirts the northernmost tip of the land, traversing the heart of the Northwest.
Jiang Qian watched the train pass through layers of high mountains, across the flying yellow sand and snow, and land in cities the size of small towns.
The western region itself has a small population, and it can be said that the area is vast and sparsely populated. Therefore, for administrative divisions of the same level, the population and houses are smaller than those in the central and eastern regions.
Even after the change, a lot of people moved from the central and eastern regions to the western part of the country, but the population in the west was still not as large as that in the central and eastern regions.
Despite the small population and numerous mountains, the western region has plenty of land available for cultivation. While the land isn't as fertile as the northeastern region, nor as flat as the central region, its vast expanse and sparse population make it ideal for large-scale mechanized cultivation.
Before the mutation, the western region had already begun to be developed into an important granary for the country. After the mutation, in order to feed the country's large population, the vast, sparsely populated, and relatively safe western region became the preferred planting base.
This time, the new station of Line 3 is placed in the western region. On the one hand, it is to facilitate the delivery of supplies to the guards guarding the border every six months. On the other hand, it is to allow more manpower to cultivate this vast land.
Due to floods and disasters, it will take a long time for the central and eastern regions to restore production and life to their previous state. During this period, the western region, which was less affected, became a good place to resettle people and develop production.
Although it is predicted that this winter will last for six months and it will be several months before large-scale planting can be carried out on the land, the National Rescue Command Center has decided to prepare in advance if the situation permits.
Therefore, on the Line 3 train where Jiang Qian was, there were not only materials being transported to the west, but also many people who voluntarily applied for or were sent to the western region to reclaim land.
It was under such circumstances that Jiang Qian met Guan Zhihao's family by chance.
While she was queuing for food, she accidentally bumped into the person in the queue next to her. After subconsciously apologizing, she realized that the person she bumped into was her ex-husband.
Ever since she heard her mother and Jiang Dong say on the train in October that they had met their family, she had not heard any news about them since then, and she had never imagined that the next meeting would be under such circumstances.
Although they had been divorced a long time ago, they had lived together for so many years that Jiang Qian knew for sure without even thinking that the Guan family had any relatives living in the western region, so she guessed at the time that the other party must have followed the large army to the west to cultivate land.
Although she didn't know why the Guan family made such a choice to leave City A where their ancestors had lived for generations, it had nothing to do with her anymore.
She glanced at Guan Zhihao who was still stunned in front of her. She had no intention of reminiscing about the past. She took a step back, turned around and left.
But the next second after she turned around, the arm holding the tray was pulled by the person behind her, forcing her to stop and leave.
Guan Zhihao didn't expect to meet Jiang Qian here.
After meeting Jiang Dong on the train last time, he kept an eye on the people coming and going in the train, hoping to see her.
By now, Guan Zhihao no longer hoped that they could reconcile. He wanted to see her, but only to see her well. But unfortunately, when the bus arrived at the station, he didn't see her.
Later, in order to survive in this world, he, as the backbone of the family, had to struggle for survival. All the crystal cores he had accumulated were exchanged for supplies, and he had no chance to get in the car to see her.
This time, the whole family decided to come to the Northwest after discussion. Before getting on the car, Guan Zhihao had thought about whether she, as a staff member's family member, would be on this car, but he did not dare to hold too much hope. He did not expect that fate would be so unexpected.
【Author’s words】
The next chapter will be updated next Tuesday, which is the afternoon or evening of the day after tomorrow.
Thank you for your support.
Warm reminder: This article is fictional, all plots and characters are fictitious, please do not relate to reality.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
