Chapter 195 Wind Heat
"It started as just a sneeze and a minor pain that nobody cared about."
I walked briskly down the corridor, wearing a mask and gloves, following closely behind Sheng, who was also wearing one, toward the next room that had been converted into a temporary ward.
"Then it turned into a series of coughs and unbearable itching."
Along the way, Sheng briefly recounted his findings to me upon my return.
"After that, the high fever persisted, breathing became difficult, herpes ulcerated, internal bleeding occurred... all sorts of symptoms were mixed together. Even I could only barely keep the patients alive, but I could never truly cure them."
"So I began to wonder if there was some factor that I hadn't yet noticed influencing the symptoms?"
Countless green spheres shimmering with a luminous glow surrounded us, instantly flying into the closed ward according to Sheng's will, and gently merging into the bodies of the patients groaning in pain.
Using my senses, I confirmed the symptoms of those patients.
As Sheng had said, most patients presented with symptoms such as coughing, high fever, stomach cramps, limb convulsions, and itchy, ulcerated skin. It was said that these were mild cases that would not spread the germs easily and only required simple isolation. The only way to maintain the current stalemate was to rely on the glowing orb that Sheng had just injected, which took root and expanded in the patients' bodies like a plant, barely protecting their lungs, heart, and brain nerves.
"But your method can't last, can it?"
I clearly sensed something was wrong: "The plant roots that grow after being injected can indeed barely protect their vital organs for a period of time, but if this continues, in order to compete for the nutrients necessary for growth, those plants will even turn around and plunder their vitality and the nutrients stored in their bodies, won't they? It's almost like forcibly turning them into vegetable people."
It is said that a certain precious medicine is cultivated in a similar way: first, special insect larvae are fixed in moist soil, and then specific mycelia are attached to their bodies. After a period of time, the mycelia invade the insect's body, and the larvae's activity gradually stops. They supply all the stored nutrients to the growth of the parasite, and eventually completely transform into the plant itself, waiting to be discovered and harvested, or to break open after maturity for the next round of sowing.
What Sheng is doing now is similar to the preparatory work for making such precious medicines, except that the object has changed to a person.
However, unexpectedly, after I said those words, Sheng suddenly stopped and turned to me with a look of shock and fear in his tired eyes, as if he had just noticed this.
He hesitated for a long time, twisting his index fingers together. Even the few clusters of shimmering light surrounding him dimmed. After a long while, he finally stammered and said in a low voice, "I...I don't know."
—Didn't you ever think this would happen?
I had intended to ask that, but after taking a few deep breaths to calm my slightly rising emotions and clearly seeing the deep dark circles under the boy's eyes, I finally sighed, shook my head, and slowly walked back.
I originally wanted to put my hand on the boy's head, but after thinking about it, I moved my hand away from his slightly dry and messy hair and gently patted his shoulder instead.
Like a startled fawn, Sheng looked up fearfully, peering at me with her slightly moist eyes, yet she showed no intention of leaving. She simply stood quietly in place, biting her lip, waiting for my reprimand.
But how could I blame this young boy who looks no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, and who was even sick and weak not long ago?
Let's take a look at our current personnel composition!
Sword Demon and I left the safe zone for three days to investigate [Sylphid's] location, and he still hasn't returned. Juncheng, who has been busy organizing matters related to the safe zone, collapsed the night before last. His wife, Duheng, has been tirelessly caring for their daughter, Ping, who has been ill for more than five days, and is on the verge of collapse. Shan has been in charge of searching for supplies. Although they have now received help from an experienced doctor among the survivors, obtaining medicine is extremely difficult in the current situation. As for Xiaoxi, managing the remote monitoring team has put her under a lot of pressure. Now, due to the illness of team members, there is a shortage of manpower, and everyone's working hours have to be increased. The long-term tension has left her exhausted.
Even the addition of Yanzi, a female student introduced by Shengxin, did not reduce the already excessive workload much. On the contrary, because people kept falling down, he had to step in to maintain order and provide treatment more and more often, leaving him almost no time to catch his breath.
I thought for a long time but couldn't say anything encouraging. I just patted his shoulder a few times, signaling him to keep going: "Let's take it one step at a time."
"……Yes."
Sheng's voice was a little low, but at least he didn't seem very frustrated. Judging from his footsteps, he seemed to have cheered up. He first took small, quick steps to catch up with my heels, and then followed closely behind me with a slightly slower pace.
"Sheng, you told me before that the patient we're going to visit this time is the one who first fell ill in the current safe zone, right?"
I checked again the details he had conveyed when he suddenly called me back.
It's quite an amazing coincidence that, in a city surrounded and overrun by trees, a flock of pigeons happened to land on the roof, and were then caught by the person in charge of remote surveillance.
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