Mars City, outside Port 10, a temporary laboratory.
Academician Ding Xueming looked at the various indicators in front of him with deep concern and sighed deeply.
"It's so difficult...it's really difficult!"
Despite various physical cooling measures, the body temperatures of the six starship pilots remained above 38 degrees Celsius.
This would undoubtedly cause enormous damage to the human body!
Just as Ding Xueming was filled with worry, a researcher quickly walked up to him with a document in hand.
"Mr. Ding, the blood sample test results are in."
Upon hearing this, Ding Xueming quickly turned around and took the documents handed to him by the researcher.
The moment Ding Xueming saw the data, his brows furrowed instantly.
"Elevated percentages of white blood cells and neutrophils, elevated C-reactive protein, and increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate..."
He murmured softly, "This is a typical case of inflammation caused by a bacterial infection!"
At that moment, he actually felt relieved.
Bacteria are fine, as long as they're not viruses!
Bacterial infections, based on past experience, are relatively easy to resolve.
"Have you found the pathogen?" Ding Xueming turned to the researcher beside him and asked, "Where is the lesion located?"
A hint of hesitation appeared in the researcher's eyes.
"Old Ding..."
"Hmm?" Seeing the researcher's expression, Ding Xueming's heart skipped a beat. "Tell me! What happened?!"
"...The pathogen has been identified, but we found the bacteria throughout the patients' entire bodies," the researcher said with a bitter expression. "Now all six patients have varying degrees of inflammation throughout their bodies, which is why their high fevers persist."
Ding Xueming's expression instantly turned several shades darker.
"Have drug resistance screening experiments been conducted?"
Are our antibiotics effective?
The researcher slowly shook his head: "Professor Ding, so far, this bacterium has shown extremely strong drug resistance."
"Even the most effective antibiotic can only have a limited effect."
Although he had expected this result, Ding Xueming felt a chill run down his spine the moment he heard the researcher's answer.
He swallowed hard and asked the last question in a dry voice: "What about the speed of transmission and the speed of reproduction?"
The researcher's expression grew increasingly grim.
"We have determined that it can be transmitted through the air, and at a speed... faster than any other bacterium we have discovered so far."
"The reproduction rate is the same."
Upon hearing the result, Ding Xueming felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
It spreads rapidly, reproduces quickly, and is currently incurable...
With a background in infectious diseases, he had never seen this kind of bacteria before!
Humanity, is it over?
...
Inside the biological laboratory.
Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi carefully examined the samples from Gale Crater through a microscope.
“Huh?” Lu Yongchang’s eyes lit up. “This structure is quite similar to the Martian fungi we’ve discovered before.”
Mao Zhengzhi quickly nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, unusually thick cell walls and cell membranes...that must be why they survived the starship’s sterilization procedures.”
Lü Yongchang shook his head: "It should be more than that."
As he spoke, he reached out and dripped a drop of disinfectant onto it.
The irritation from the disinfectant caused these bacteria to become significantly more active.
The next moment, an unbelievable scene appeared before everyone.
The bacteria began to spontaneously cluster together.
Just like ants encountering a flood, countless ants will immediately huddle together to form an air chamber, protecting the important queen and a portion of the ants.
Even though the ants on the periphery may be scattered by the flood, there will still be a steady stream of ants going to fill the gaps without hesitation.
The reason is simple.
As long as the queen and the middle ants survive, their colony will not perish.
The behavior of these bacteria is remarkably similar to that of ants!
“No wonder…” Looking at the scene before him, Lü Yongchang muttered to himself, “No wonder they were able to survive the disinfection measures of Xuan Nu No. 2.”
"yes."
A hint of emotion flickered in Mao Zhengzhi's eyes.
"They just want to survive."
"However, their survival is not good for us."
Lü Yongchang nodded slightly: "Continue the testing and count the number of bacteria in each sample."
...
"Zero, organize the data."
Lu Yongchang raised his hand and gently rubbed his shoulder through his protective suit.
A giant holographic image quietly unfolded, enveloping everyone present.
That is a complete 3D model of Gale Crater.
The next second, red dots of varying shades appeared in the 3D image.
The shade of color indicates the number of unknown bacteria in the sample.
The darker the color, the more bacteria it contains.
Due to the different sampling depths, the positions of the red dots also showed changes in depth.
Through this holographic projection, the researchers clearly discovered the underlying pattern.
The lightest red dot is located on the outermost edge of Gale Crater.
At the foot of Mount Sharp, located in the center of Gale Crater, there is a series of dense, reddish-black dots!
Lu Yongchang took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "Maybe Fang Xu was right after all..."
"What?" Mao Zhengzhi, who was standing to the side, was stunned. "What did Academician Fang say?"
“…He said that there might still be magma activity beneath Gale Crater, which would explain the presence of damp moisture underground.” As he spoke, Lü Yongchang pointed to a red dot in the holographic image.
"You see, in the same area, the color depth of the red dots also increases as the depth increases."
"The closer you are to the center, the deeper you go underground, the more bacteria there are."
“This also shows that the environment there is more suitable for bacteria to survive.” Lü Yongchang turned his gaze to Mount Sharp in the center. “Perhaps there is indeed residual magma activity under this mountain.”
Mao Zhengzhi shrugged: "Regardless of whether there is magma or not, our primary task now is to figure out this bacterium."
"Old Ding has already sent over the inspection information."
Lu Yongchang's eyes flickered, and he quickly asked, "How are they? How are Bai Yixuan and the others?"
Mao Zhengzhi reached out and "dragged" a holographic projection screen in front of Lü Yongchang: "Take a look for yourself, the situation is not optimistic."
"With the help of large amounts of antibiotics, the six drivers are out of danger, but at present, we are unable to eradicate these stubborn bacteria."
"If there is even the slightest relaxation, even if only a few bacteria remain, they will quickly multiply back to their initial size!"
"Moreover... the extensive use of antibiotics can easily lead to antibiotic resistance in bacteria."
"In other words, these six drivers are now in a state of slow death."
Looking at the various test data sent by Academician Ding Xueming, Lü Yongchang fell silent.
After a long silence, he turned around, looked at the instruments beside him, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Let's continue. I believe we can find a solution."
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