Chapter 101 Step by step, changing the future...
Fu Qing and the other two followed her into a prepared conference room. A technician was busy adjusting the equipment. Several other people were standing in the room, two of whom were still on the phone. When they saw Fu Qing standing next to Officer Chen, they realized her identity, immediately stood up straight, and nodded to her with a serious and respectful posture.
Upon seeing the group, a solemn-looking middle-aged man immediately stepped forward and shook hands with Fu Qing. Officer Chen introduced the man as Liu, the deputy director of the S City Public Security Bureau.
Director Liu had already heard about Fu Qing's situation, and he was very approachable and polite during the conversation. When he saw Xue Ran and Zhao Yunxiao next to him, he inquired about their identities.
Upon hearing about Xue Ran's family situation, both Director Liu and Officer Chen's expressions changed slightly, and their eyes showed a mixture of pity and tenderness as they looked at the young woman.
Both of them were of marriageable age and had children. Deputy Director Liu even had two daughters, the younger one being about the same age as Xue Ran.
Putting myself in Xue Ran's parents' shoes, if they were to leave too, leaving their young child to live alone in the world... just thinking about it makes my heart ache.
Xue Ran was no stranger to this kind of gaze. From childhood to adulthood, she had grown up under the care of her parents' colleagues. She naturally felt a sense of belonging to the police station.
But Director Liu was still puzzled: "Why were you with Principal Fu? Are you her student?"
“We’ll explain later,” Fu Qing said, glancing at the time. “It seems a bit too late now.”
The technicians are making final adjustments. The meeting is about to begin, at which time unauthorized personnel will be asked to leave the meeting room.
Fu Qing had no choice but to hurry up and continue introducing Zhao Yunxiao: "He is our...virus-related researcher."
Zhao Yunxiao didn't care how dubious the accusation was. He then opened a shoulder bag he carried with him, inside which was a thick stack of documents.
That was the zombie intelligence he and Lu Yan had compiled over the past six months based on their memories from their previous lives, and it even included some information on serum research.
However, Zhao Yunxiao did not take out this information immediately.
The information above was too detailed, even touching on the future evolutionary direction of zombies. It would be too conspicuous to present it before Fu Qing gained the trust of the higher-ups.
Director Liu glanced at it, but before he could see the contents of the paper clearly, his backpack was fastened again. Zhao Yunxiao said in a serious tone, "These materials will be useful in the meeting later. I will hand them over to you after the meeting."
The technicians on the other end looked up, indicating that the meeting could begin at any time.
Everything proceeded very quickly and in an orderly manner. Only about twenty minutes had passed since Fu Qing arrived at the police station.
Everyone quickly took their seats. Director Liu gave the central seat to Fu Qing and sat next to her. Zhao Yunxiao sat on the other side, followed by Xue Ran.
The meeting began quickly.
The large screen in front lit up and was divided into several sections, showing scenes from different conference rooms or individual images of a particular expert or scholar. Fu Qing glanced at it and saw that some people were wearing understated Zhongshan suits and jackets, some were wearing military or police uniforms, and others were doctors or researchers in white coats.
They were urgently transferred from their respective posts, and their eyes all fell on Fu Qing through the screen.
Some people were not even clear about the situation. Director Liu started the meeting by introducing Fu Qing's background, her position as principal, and her heroic act on the pedestrian street nearly a year ago. He then briefly summarized the purpose of her visit today.
The meeting screen was split in two, with the other half playing live footage.
It was only then that Fu Qing learned that the live stream had indeed attracted the attention of cybersecurity departments, and that they had been searching for the video uploader even before Director Liu reported it. However, before the technical staff had any results, Director Liu's side had already come knocking on their door.
The two sides came together, which led to this meeting.
After Director Liu finished his introduction, one of them spoke in a deep voice: "Before we begin, I'd like to ask you a question—how do you know all this?"
His tone was not polite, and even carried a strong sense of doubt: "Please forgive me, but I really can't understand why a university president whose duty is to educate and nurture people can so decisively kill a 'human'. The fighting skills you displayed and the calmness you showed when you made the move make it hard for me to believe what you said."
The meeting was convened too hastily, and not everyone had seen the live stream. It's understandable that some people would feel uncomfortable seeing the zombies die in the video, and it might even provoke their resentment towards Fu Qing.
Everyone's current attitude is still to protect and control those mutants as much as possible, and then seek hope of curing them, but Fu Qing killed him directly. How could this not be shocking?
Everyone looked at the young man sitting at the head of the table. Being questioned to his face, it was as if he was being accused of cruelty, but Fu Qing's expression didn't change, and she showed no anger. She said, "Before answering your question, I need to state a few facts. You can question it as you please afterward and use any means you can think of to verify it, but regardless of whether you choose to believe it or not at the moment, please listen to what I have to say with these facts in mind."
"This will save us a lot of time," she said calmly.
A young man who looked to be only in his early twenties was being scrutinized by leaders and bigwigs from various fields, yet he was still able to calmly organize his thoughts and respond. Officer Chen, standing to the side, couldn't help but take a second look, once again refreshing his understanding of Fu Qing.
The other party's words were indeed impolite, but Fu Qing's attitude wasn't much better either. Director Liu was taken aback, but upon closer examination, he realized that her words were less arrogant and more about pursuing efficiency, which made them seem rather blunt.
Hmm... that's a bit too blunt.
Director Liu wanted to remind her to be mindful of the other person's identity, but then he thought better of it and didn't say anything.
In situations like these, pursuing efficiency is the right approach.
"First, this is not a terrorist attack, but a virus that has never appeared on Earth before. The infected people behave almost exactly like zombies in movies and TV shows. They will instinctively chase after human flesh and blood and become highly aggressive. Some individuals will even evolve further while infected, with one or more abilities improving to a level far exceeding that of ordinary humans."
The person who had been somewhat annoyed by Fu Qing's words earlier couldn't help but hold their breath and listen intently.
As Fu Qing spoke, she glanced at the man's expression and realized that he didn't have a problem with her personally; his questioning was probably just out of a sense of justice.
That's good; at least it shows that everyone here is truly thinking about the people.
Some people couldn't help but want to speak when they heard "never appeared on Earth," but Fu Qing didn't give them the chance.
She continued without pausing, "Secondly, this virus can be transmitted through bites. As long as a wound is created and blood comes into contact with the other person's saliva, infection is guaranteed, without exception. However, depending on the individual, some people will immediately develop the mutation, while others will enter an incubation period of varying lengths."
"The longest known incubation period can even be several weeks, and this is not an isolated case. The current information is that the smaller the child is, the faster the onset of the disease. However, I have also seen a five-year-old child with an incubation period of up to eleven days. The incubation period for adults is even more difficult to predict."
Officer Chen then spoke up: "I can testify to that."
He recounted the story of the middle-aged man in the bureau, then casually added that if Fu Qing hadn't reminded him in time, the young detectives in the bureau might have already been infected. This made the expressions of the others even more serious.
Some people even turned slightly pale as they realized something.
The virus had only been out for less than two hours, and people knew very little about the infected. Every word Fu Qing said was overturning their previous understanding and imagination of the situation.
They were eager yet fearful of hearing more from Fu Qing.
"third."
Everyone's hearts sank.
"Third, the infected person is already confirmed dead the moment they are infected. Their subsequent actions are not controlled by themselves, but are an attack instinct belonging to the zombie species. Since they are already dead, there is naturally no way to cure them."
As soon as the words were spoken, an aged voice, trembling, came from one of the screens: "In the past hour or so, at least tens of thousands of infected people have emerged across the country. Do you mean that none of them can be saved?"
"Are you asking us to abandon those people?"
In the video, the elderly woman with white hair had tears in her eyes as she stubbornly asked, "Is there really no way to save them?"
"Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance, we can't just sentence them to death. We have excellent scholars; we can conduct research..."
Fu Qing paused for two seconds, looked at the respected old man who had appeared in many news reports, and felt a moment of reluctance: "No, I will explain the reason later. But I must emphasize that the virus spreads very quickly. Ordinary people who have not been trained are almost powerless against zombies—that is, infected people. As I mentioned before, the conditions for killing zombies are very harsh, and it is difficult for ordinary people to do so."
"There are still over a billion people across the country who are at constant risk of infection. Our first priority should be how to protect them."
The old man fell silent, shaking his head sadly and desperately.
The spread of the virus cannot be stopped immediately just because you want to. The decision they made at this time was not only sacrificing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
She both hoped that what Fu Qing said was wrong, so that they would still have hope, and she also hoped that what Fu Qing said was absolutely accurate, so that they could refer to it.
How contradictory.
When Fu Qing reached her third point, she had already painted a sufficiently brutal picture, and everyone was almost terrified to hear her say more. Fortunately, Fu Qing seemed to have temporarily finished speaking, but she immediately followed up with, "This is basic information about zombies and viruses."
Basic.
Those present were all intelligent people, and they almost immediately deciphered Fu Qing's implied meaning.
She had more to say than that.
The crowd had no time to care about how much she knew or where she knew it from; they simply fell silent and pondered the three points from before.
First, the virus is transmitted through bites; second, infection is 100% guaranteed and there is an incubation period; third, death is inevitable after infection.
The first point is something that almost everyone already believes.
The initial suspicion was of terrorism because it was suspected that someone had released drugs on a large scale, and that these drugs might have hallucinogenic effects, causing the victims to become highly aggressive.
However, the fact that the outbreak occurred globally at the same time and was contagious reduced the possibility of terrorist attacks to almost zero.
As for the second point, whether the virus can cause 100% infection requires laboratory verification and several weeks of observation in reality, and these are not things that can be concluded immediately.
However, Officer Chen's words greatly increased the credibility of Fu Qing's "incubation period theory".
The intelligence that kept coming in during the meeting confirmed that some people did not mutate immediately when they were bitten, but suddenly developed the mutation afterward.
In this regard, trusting Fuqing and remaining vigilant will not do any harm.
Having figured this out, on one of the screens, a man in a Zhongshan jacket, who had been sitting in the middle of a crowd and had not spoken until now, pondered for a moment and then ordered: "Immediately issue notices to hospitals, communities, and police stations across the country, strictly check whether people who come for medical treatment and help have any wounds, separate people with wounds from those without wounds, and isolate those with wounds in single rooms as much as possible to prevent the mutation from harming ordinary people."
"Furthermore, we should promote Officer Chen's approach nationwide. Anyone who needs to come into contact with an infected person must cover their entire body. We should mobilize protective equipment and distribute it to all units. Those who have not yet received protective equipment can temporarily use thick clothing or other readily available items for simple protection. Contact without protection is strictly prohibited."
Protecting yourself from saliva is actually not difficult.
Someone seemed to respond in the background and then hurriedly left.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yunxiao breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
In the early stages of the virus outbreak in the previous life, hospitals and police stations almost without exception fell into overrun early on because they received a large number of people seeking refuge and medical treatment, but failed to properly isolate them.
This also resulted in a significant loss of medical staff and grassroots police force, who were precisely the most important force after the establishment of the shelters.
One wrong step leads to another, and that's where it all started.
Zhao Yunxiao couldn't help but feel fortunate: at least they had already made some small changes to the future, right?
He suddenly felt a surge of emotion, and secretly took a few deep breaths to suppress the rising feelings.
Fu Qing waited until the order was given before saying, "Simply isolating people won't solve the problem. There are too many infected people. In less than three days, all the hospitals and police stations will be overwhelmed and collapse."
The other party was not angered by Fu Qing's bluntness. He communicated with Fu Qing in a completely equal tone: "You should understand that we cannot, and it is impossible for us to, immediately order the killing of the zombies you mentioned."
Fu Qing understood, of course.
They couldn't even publicly and immediately announce to the whole country the virus's high lethality and transmissibility, nor could they inform the public that all infected individuals had actually died.
Those whose relatives and friends have been infected will absolutely not want to believe that they are dead. Before witnessing the zombies' attack power firsthand, they will stand up and do everything in their power to stop any attempt to take the infected away.
At this juncture, this could very well cause chaos throughout society.
Although zombies have appeared, society continues to function normally, water, electricity, and gas are still supplied, and people can communicate via the internet. For many, the harm caused by zombies still exists only online.
They are not supporting young people; they cannot see a future. And on the surface, no one can see that the social system is rapidly and irreversibly heading towards collapse.
Therefore, even if the authorities completely trust Fu Qing, those infected individuals still cannot be killed.
This has nothing to do with the nature of zombies; it's purely for the sake of social stability.
They can't even disclose the virus's 100% lethality—if they did, one can imagine how many people would hide the fact that they were bitten out of fear of being "dealt with."
The long incubation period can give people a sense of complacency.
This kind of wishful thinking has killed countless people in previous lives.
As Fu Qing pondered the matter, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
She is used to acting alone, and now she has chosen to cooperate with the government. Although she can do many things that she could not do on her own with the help of the huge state apparatus, she is also subject to the same constraints.
“But there is still a lot you can do.” She pressed her temples and pointed out clearly, “It’s not as simple as this vague, non-mandatory stay-at-home notice.”
“That’s right.” The man nodded. “So I need you to tell me your sources of intelligence, or provide me with evidence sufficient to convince me to give the order.”
The meeting was held in secret. He spoke casually, but Fu Qing could still sense his decisiveness and uncompromising attitude.
The two looked at each other for two seconds through the camera and the screen.
For an unknown young man to communicate on equal terms with a person of this rank is already unbelievable to outsiders, but Officer Chen was even more dismayed to realize that Fu Qing was actually thinking.
She was actually wondering if she could trust the other person!
In a short moment, Fu Qing seemed to have made a decision. She calmly said, "What if I said that I knew all along that the virus would break out?"
*
Fu Qing's words were like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
Officer Chen nearly jumped up abruptly, and Director Liu, who was sitting closest, couldn't help but stare at her with wide eyes.
One scene after another revealed urgent, intertwined inquiries.
"What's the meaning?"
"What do you mean by 'I knew all along'? Please explain!"
"It's illegal to fail to report something that endangers national security, do you understand?"
Fu Qing just revealed too much information, and many people are already wondering how she knows all of this.
Some have even begun to speculate that the virus might have originated from some secret research project, and since Fu Qing is the principal, it might have been accidentally created by their school's biology lab.
If that's the case, they could obtain information from Fu Qing first and then judge his merits and demerits later.
But no one expected that Fu Qing would say it so casually.
This crazy act, which was tantamount to surrendering to the authorities, was handled with remarkable composure.
Even Zhao Yunxiao and Xue Ran next to him wiped away their sweat.
Following the principal out like this, you really need a strong heart to handle it.
Ignoring the aggressive questioning from the crowd, Fu Qing continued, "Not only that, I knew about all of this a year ago."
She suddenly reached for her bag, and the others in the meeting room almost reflexively reached for their guns, but stopped awkwardly a second later because Fu Qing pulled out a tablet.
She directly pulled up the profile of @DormitoryBattle and handed it to Director Liu, saying, "You can investigate this account called @DormitoryBattle. It was opened by a student of our school about a year ago, and all the videos were independently planned and filmed by our students."
"The account is set up in a world where a zombie apocalypse will arrive in about a year. A group of college students are constantly simulating various dangerous situations in the apocalypse in order to prepare for the imagined apocalypse and are making various preparations to welcome the apocalypse, including but not limited to growing vegetables, stockpiling goods, and practicing fighting skills on their dormitory balconies."
"The video showed their imagined zombie images, which are no different from the zombies that have appeared so far in terms of attack methods and weaknesses."
"In addition, you can search for the account @Fanglaoshiyouhuashuo. Besides videos, we also share text content."
Fu Qing said, "A year ago, all the students in Fangzhou had already begun preparing for this inevitable apocalypse."
In every scene, you can hear someone gasping for breath.
Director Liu stared at the tablet in his hand, his mouth agape.
Meanwhile, the cybersecurity personnel present had already brought up the account page on the big screen and quickly filtered out the parts where "zombies" appeared.
Meanwhile, another person found the live stream announcement previously released by @DormitoryBattle, which revealed that this afternoon's live stream was their "one-year anniversary celebration".
Why is it called a one-year anniversary when the account hasn't even been open for a full year yet?
They found the answer in the comments section.
—Because today is the day that @DormitoryBattle Royale predicted the end of the world would come.
The cheerful live stream announcement was frozen on the screen. Most of the people present were older and couldn't understand the internet slang used in it, let alone why they would use such a frivolous and irreverent tone to welcome a disaster for all mankind.
Some people were already looking at Fu Qing with hostility.
But some people thought more deeply, such as the middle-aged man who was the highest-ranking person in charge of the meeting.
He carefully read through the announcement, and his furrowed brow slowly relaxed, but he still had doubts: "The lottery and conditions you mentioned in the announcement, are they to encourage more people to prepare for staying at home after the outbreak of the virus?"
He quietly asked the person sitting next to him for advice, and with their somewhat clumsy movements, he scrolled down to the comments section, where he found that many netizens had enthusiastically signed up.
[The stuff I impulsively stocked up on at home after seeing Tao Tao can finally come in handy!]
[I just ordered a box of the agricultural products that TaoTao shared last time, they're super fresh! The quantity is a bit large though, enough for me to eat for a month.]
[Without further ado, please see: (pictures of supplies such as flashlights, hand-cranked generators, military knives, and compressed biscuits)]
I've been eating homegrown scallions and bean sprouts for half a year now, and I never imagined that following TaoTao could save me money!
Some people are showing off their supplies, some are showing off their muscular physiques, and others are taking photos to display the thriving vegetables at home.
This is a world he is completely unfamiliar with.
But he could still see that all of this was due to the influence of Fu Qing and her students.
He then opened the homepage of @TeacherFang's Words and found that the account was updated almost every day, sometimes even publishing several articles a day. Judging from the writing style, there were at least ten contributors.
It covers a wide range of fields, using the most absurd and eye-catching titles to deliver serious popular science.
The reading data below is quite impressive; judging from the profile pictures in the comments section, most of the readers are middle-aged or elderly.
No one realized what they were really trying to say, yet everyone was subtly influenced.
The cheerful tone and absurd title are just the surface; the underlying cry is palpable. They are trying their best to warn the public of this disaster and encourage more people to prepare.
The dedication to updating and operating the platform over the past year, along with the dense text sharing on various platforms in addition to the videos, is evident in the immense effort invested.
But why?
"Why didn't you come to us from the beginning?" he asked. "Did you not trust us?"
Fu Qing shook his head: "It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I can't."
As she flipped her hand, a realistic zombie suddenly appeared beside her.
The lifelike appearance caused a gasp from the audience, with some even jumping up from their seats. Those watching on the screen rubbed their eyes, repeatedly checking before displaying expressions of utter disbelief.
"..." Xue Ran felt a strong sense of familiarity. She had already experienced the principal's style of directly presenting evidence without saying much, since the very first day of school. She just hadn't expected that even those high-ranking and powerful figures would be taken aback by the principal.
"What... what's going on?" someone asked boldly, while examining the thing that had suddenly appeared.
Although it looks similar to the infected outside, its motionless stance makes it look more like a robot.
"This is Fang Zhou's usual training tool, something called a simulated zombie. It can simulate various different types of zombies that exist, but of course, there is an upper limit to its capabilities," Fu Qing explained.
This is what she brought, intending to donate it for research.
The crowd fell silent for two seconds, sensing that something was amiss.
More important than this thing called a realistic zombie is...
"Where did you conjure this thing from???"
Officer Chen asked the questions that all the big shots, who couldn't easily show their surprise, wanted to ask.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com