Chapter 54: Substitute Starfish, Horrible Way of Spreading!
Defense Communication is a special communication tool developed by Xingfu City.
It is shaped like a big brother, made of stable and extremely strong material. It has some functions of modern smartphones and can be used as protective gear at critical moments. It can withstand three consecutive impacts of about 400 joules.
And most importantly, Defense Pass is free!
Anyone who has been a resident of Happiness City for more than 60 days can register and receive it at the designated location.
Of course, the reason why they are so generous is that once the Defense Communication System leaves the scope of Happiness City, it will immediately become a brick. Not only will it not be able to make calls, but all internal functions will be locked.
Even if you want to make calls between the buffer zone, inner city area and industrial zone of Xingfu City, you need to open special permissions. However, there are very few such permissions, which are basically only allocated to public account communications.
Even though Liu Bi is a fourth-term inspector, even if there are special reasons, he must first call back to the inspection station to apply for authorization.
"The virus that infected He Fei was a special virus. When he died, it had already spread and parasitized the surrounding guards."
"What?"
Cheng Ye's heart sank suddenly, and he almost subconsciously reached for the pistol on the bedside.
But when he turned around and saw the brand new security door, his nervousness dissipated a little.
"Brother B, aren't you in the industrial area? How do you know..."
“That’s why it’s such a big problem.”
Liu Bi's voice was hoarse like sandpaper. "The unknown source of infection that infected He Fei has been named by the research institute. It's codenamed 'Alternate Starfish'. It's an animal-like, hydrophilic infection source with extremely strange and terrifying abilities. It's currently determined to be able to spread through both bodily fluids and contact!"
"Ah, contact?"
Cheng Ye was shocked.
In the inspector's manual, contact-related sources of infection can basically be considered the most terrifying sources of infection.
If the virus is not detected and treated in time, it will spread like wildfire.
How many cities of refuge collapsed overnight, all due to the rampant spread of this type of infected body!
"That's right," Liu Bi said quickly. "The same source of infection appeared in the industrial zone this afternoon. Investigation revealed that the infected individual in the industrial zone had only had brief contact with the infected individual in the buffer zone. The Crusaders immediately sealed off all workers who had come into contact with the infected individual."
"Through induction testing, only three of the nineteen people were infected. However, the workers they had contact with were also found to have new infections..."
"The industrial zone is currently under martial law and a comprehensive investigation is underway. But since all this information has reached us, you should understand the current situation in the buffer zone..."
Of course I understand.
With the exponential spread, it wouldn't be surprising even if the entire city was already filled with infected bodies.
Cheng Ye took a deep breath and looked at his injured leg and the unopened box of nutrient plasma at the foot of the bed.
"Then... can we still hold on?"
"able!"
Surprisingly, Liu Bi gave a resounding answer. "The more transmissible the source of infection, the more stringent the outbreak conditions, and we can try to eliminate it before an outbreak occurs. Current measurements show that when the humidity around an infected body exceeds 98%, the substitute starfish will activate. This state will persist for more than 30 minutes before entering the second phase of the outbreak. If the humidity falls below the threshold, the virus will continue to spread latently."
"In theory, if the host lives in an arid area, the infectious agent may not be able to trigger during its entire life cycle."
"And around our Sichuan City, there will be no rain for the next three days. This is the key to life and death!"
"The Infection Source Research Institute is working tirelessly to develop a plan to eliminate and kill the 'Stand-In Starfish'. Based on past efficiency, the results should be out by tomorrow evening or the morning after tomorrow at the latest. City-wide containment will then be initiated."
At this point, Liu Bi's tone suddenly grew serious. "But you must remember, too many sanctuary cities have implemented rigorous containment measures, some with over thirty days of preparation time, yet no sanctuary city has ever completely eradicated the source of infection."
"Don't be complacent. The outbreak is inevitable, and the timing will be... the next rainfall!"
Rain?
Cheng Ye quickly switched to the weather module of the defense communication system. As expected, the weather module had been turned off.
“Can’t the next rainfall be predicted?”
"We can't. We don't have weather satellites, and cloud data is transmitted entirely by Xinhuo Sanctuary. The atmosphere is abnormally chaotic this year, so we can only confirm that there will be no rain for three days at most. After that, it could rain at any time."
Rain at any time?
Now Cheng Ye has only two choices: either pack up and escape into the wilderness immediately, or stay and fight Xingfu City to the end.
However, if you are not prepared in advance, where can you run to? You might end up running into the lair of the infected!
Damn it, after this time, I have to start setting up a shelter outside the city.
“If an outbreak occurs, how will we respond?”
Cheng Ye asked immediately without hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, he could clearly hear a sigh from the other side of the microphone, full of vicissitudes and emotion.
"Brother B?"
"The industrial zone and the buffer zone can't communicate, especially at a special time like this. But do you know why I can call back?"
"Um?"
"Ding Yishan called me. He wanted me to come back and protect you!"
?
Both ends of the microphone fell into an eerie silence.
Ding Yishan?
In an instant, Cheng Ye thought of three or four possibilities, but he didn't expect the answer to be these three words.
"Why?"
"You ask me?"
What Liu Bi said seemed to be a matter of course.
The voice came from the microphone, and a classic animated picture suddenly appeared in Cheng Ye's mind.
'Go and get rid of Tang Monk and his disciples.jpg'
Asking Brother B, who is far away at the hydroelectric power station, about this kind of thing seems... indeed... a bit unreasonable?
"Then can you come back?"
"Well...wait for me for a moment, I'll take a look at the situation."
On the other side of the microphone, in the communications room at the highest point of the hydropower station.
Liu Bi first glanced at the eight soldiers guarding outside the door, then stuck his head out and looked down.
In Industrial Zone B, no less than a hundred heavy armored infantry fighting vehicles were patrolling and their bright headlights were sweeping across the area, forming an impenetrable light network.
In the distance, more than 20 tanks painted bright yellow were stationed at various important checkpoints, with their gun barrels all pointed at the entrances and exits to prevent any infected bodies from destroying the hydropower station.
Looking up, I saw a swarm of drones in the sky like a swarm of locusts, with red lights flashing under their fuselages. They were all equipped with powerful tranquilizer guns, enough to make an adult black bear unconscious within five seconds.
Further away, there seemed to be a dozen helicopters shuttling back and forth, and the searchlight beams were like silver chains falling from the sky, sweeping out swaying light trails on the ground.
"Cheng Ye?"
"Brother B, you say."
“I feel like I can’t get out.”
Liu Bi lowered his voice and said, "The defense at the hydropower station is a little tight. How about I ask if I can send you to my place?"
Grass!
Brother B is indeed a genius!
Why didn’t I think of this?
However, before Cheng Ye could ask about the possibility, a strange voice came from the other side of the microphone.
"Prosecutor Liu, even though we'd like to pretend we can't hear anything, your voice is a little bit loud. We... well, aren't deaf."
At a little point, the man emphasized the pronunciation.
"I'm sorry, but we've received orders from the inner city to put the hydropower station on S-level alert. Now, whether you or the person you're talking to appears within the hydropower station's blocked area, you will be killed instantly."
"Is it not possible even with a certificate from the checkpoint?" Liu Bi asked unwillingly.
"Even if Stationmaster Ding came over and saw those twenty-eight Rhino tanks parked in the passage, I heard one shot wouldn't hurt too much!"
"Oh, by the way, the eighteen patrolling Shadow helicopters are all equipped with A-3 30mm chain cannons. This thing also seems to be a supernatural artifact."
There was an eerie silence on both ends of the microphone again.
After a while.
"Brother B?"
Cheng Ye swallowed, "What do you mean by twenty-eight Rhino tanks? Eighteen Shadow helicopters?"
"Is that... the 'hundreds of millions' that I understand?"
"Well..."
Liu Bi hesitated for a moment, then, as if he had lost his memory, changed the subject. "Don't worry about it. The hydropower station is, after all, the most important facility in our Happiness City. The key issue now is... what are you going to do?"
"Where's Sister Luo?"
"My home is very safe. It's in the suburbs and there aren't many people around. As long as I don't go out, the starfish infection will..."
At this point, Liu Bi suddenly remembered, "No, I forgot to tell you the characteristics of the substitute starfish!"
"What I'm going to say next is very important. I've written down the key points I've summarized for the industrial zone. I'll read them to you now. Press the record button."
"good!"
Cheng Ye was alerted and quickly pressed the function key on the side of the defense channel.
"The infected body of the substitute starfish is also divided into three stages: the first stage is parasitic, the second stage is outbreak, and the third stage is fusion."
"As I said, there are no obvious symptoms during the parasitic period. It can only be diagnosed when the surrounding humidity increases, which will cause a faint starfish mark to form on the forehead."
"During the outbreak, the mark will rapidly deteriorate into a tumorous form. The human consciousness will be sealed within the tumor, and the body will be controlled by the source of infection. This manifests as an extreme craving for food, and a significant increase in aggression and bloodthirstiness."
Craving food?
Starfish are carnivores. If there is an outbreak, what can be considered meat?
Cheng Ye couldn't help but glance in the direction of the big meat canteen. Unfortunately, the scale of the Twin Ponytail breeding should not be able to feed tens of thousands of infected starfish, right?
"Due to infection through bodily fluids and contact, their desire for meat and increased aggressiveness make their behavior patterns during outbreaks similar to those of the S-1 series of zombies."
"During the fusion phase, the Stand Starfish will provide the host with extremely strong defense and digestive recovery capabilities. Current defense test results show that it can completely withstand kinetic energy impacts below 300j. Digestive recovery test results show that if the host has fewer than seven fatal injuries, they can be fully recovered by eating approximately 50kg of meat. If the host has more than seven fatal injuries, they will die."
300j?
A typical police pistol uses a 9mm bullet with a kinetic energy of approximately 300-400.
The kinetic energy of the Buffalo Combat Pistol is about 570.
It seems that this contact infection body is indeed not strong. For example, Barrett was only in the burst stage before, and he was fine after taking a magazine. However, the strength of this stand starfish in the fusion stage is not even as strong as the burst stage of the rotten vine.
Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief, and then secretly sighed that the system of Xingfu City was indeed powerful.
If it were an ordinary gathering place or a refuge city, facing this unknown infected body, how could they have the ability to find out so much key data in less than a day?
"You borrowed 100 contribution points earlier. I guess you haven't used them all yet, right?"
"Um?"
Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and whispered, "I haven't had time to use it yet. I've been busy reinforcing the door and replacing it with a security door these past two days."
"That's good, I was just about to remind you to change the door!"
Liu Bi said anxiously, "To avoid panic, the news will be blocked for the next three days. The station will not provide any defensive equipment. You have to buy all your supplies yourself. Of course, you can submit for reimbursement afterwards. The amount for the following three periods is 150 contribution points. Don't feel bad about not spending any money."
"It's getting late now. Tomorrow morning, go to the Giant Wall Turbulence Equipment Store and order some gear. Use the codename: 'Dongshan Comeback'. This is the expedited codename used by our Dongren inspectors. Remember these:
"First, a protective suit that fits you perfectly to prevent contact transmission of the Stand-in Starfish."
"Secondly, a dedicated backpack-type isolation box can contain the source of infection and prevent secondary infection."
"Third, a long gun, a rifle, a shotgun, it's all fine, it's your choice!"
"Also..." Liu Bi paused and lowered his voice to a very low level, even if Cheng Ye was using the hands-free mode, he would still lean close to his ear to listen.
"I've hidden the oil-powered military armored vehicle your father left behind in the abandoned underground garage of the chemical plant's staff quarters. It's equipped with two heavy machine guns with automatic fire control, along with enough supplies to last for half a year. Remember, you can only activate it if the buffer zone is completely defeated. Otherwise, you'll be considered a defector and will never be allowed to enter Happy City!"
"After we leave the city, your sister Luo will know where it's safe. She'll take you to the hiding place I set up in the ruins, and hide there until... this disaster is over!"
...
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