Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
âWhat is going on here?â Wang Yao couldnât see the difference between these and other areas of the hill on the west side. The only thing was that he felt depressed when he was in those places, which made him uncomfortable.
Nothing grew in those places. They were completely deserted. The atmosphere was becoming even worse.
âNo one should come here anymore,â Wang Yao said.
Something horrible had happened. If anyone got infected again, the consequences would be bad.
He left the hill on the west side and told what he had discovered to Wang Jianli, the village secretary. He needed Wang Jianli to make an announcement.
âYao, I donât quite understand what you told me. Tell me the truth, what will happen if someone approaches those places?â Wang Jianli asked.
âThey will become as crazy as that dead sheep and Chen Jiagui,â Wang Yao said.
âOK, I see.â Wang Jianli immediately got what Wang Yao meant and how serious things were.
A thought suddenly occurred to Wang Jianli. âBut, youâve been to those places.â
âI just observed those places from a distance,â Wang Yao said.
âI see. Thatâs good,â Wang Jianli said.
He acted fast. First, he arranged some people to come to the village from the town center.
âWhat?â Those people couldnât believe what Wang Jianli told him. âAre you kidding me? Is this fantasy or real?â
However, they eventually took Wang Jianliâs words seriously since they didnât want to take any risks. What happened to Chen Jiagui was the best evidence. If the disease broke out, they wouldnât be able to take the consequences. They were not stupid.
âI see. We will report to our superior. You can take us there if required,â one of the men said.
âOK,â Wang Jianli said.
Another group of local officers soon came to the village. This time, they took some of Chen Jiaguiâs tissue back to the laboratory in town.
âWhat the hell is this?â The laboratory assistant was shocked when she saw Chen Jiaguiâs blood under microscope.
âWhat happened?â the laboratory director asked.
âChief, come take a look,â the laboratory assistant said.
âHoly sh*t!â The laboratory director, who was in his 40s, couldnât help but curse.
He immediately rang his superior.
âWe have to report this to the cityâs local government of the city,â the director said.
No one dared to delay such a serious thing.
The Haiqu local government quickly sent a team of specialists to Lianshan town center to read the report. In order to make sure no mistake had happened, or maybe because they doubted the expertise of the laboratory in Lianshan, they sent a blood sample to Haiqu
âThis is a horrible virus,â the Haiqu laboratory director said.
Even more concerning was that they couldnât find the same type of virus in the archive. This indicated that the virus was completely new to them and extremely contagious.
âI think we should report it to the senior office of the local government,â a laboratory assistant said.
âOK,â the laboratory director said.
The local government in Haiqu took immediate action. A team of specialists arrived in the village late afternoon to meet with personnel from the countyâs Health Department. They went to Chen Jiaguiâs house together.
âSis, another group of doctors came,â Chen Zhou said to his sister. He happened to bump into the people on his way out.
âIt looks like the issue is serious,â Chen Ying said.
âSis, do you think the village is going to be isolated?â Chen Zhou asked.
âPossibly,â Chen Ying said.
If the virus was highly contagious, this small village would probably become a quarantine area.
âShall we tell Dr. Wang about it?â Chen Zhou asked.
âI think Dr. Wang already knows,â Chen Ying said.
âIsolation?â Wang Yao was surprised when he received a call from Pan Jun.
âYes, I heard it from a friend. They havenât made the final decision yet. Is it serious?â Pan Jun asked.
âYes,â Wang Yao said.
âLet me know if there is anything I can help with,â Pan Jun said.
âOK, I will,â Wang Yao said.
Quarantine. Wang Yao looked up at the sky, which had started to darken.
His parents asked him about the disease during dinner. After all, two groups of doctors had come into the village and made a big scene. This was the first time their village had attracted so many medical staff. They knew something was happening.
âThey came because of Chen Jiagui. His condition was horrible,â Wang Yao said. âIt is highly contagious. The group of people who came earlier were from the county. The other group is from the city. If the virus doesnât get controlled and another case is found, our village will become a quarantine area.â
âQuarantine area?â Zhang Xiuying sounded nervous. âSo, we wonât be allowed to leave the village?â
âCorrect,â Wang Yao said.
âIs it gonna become that serious?â Wang Fenghua put down his chopsticks.
âProbably,â Wang Yao said.
Meanwhile, Chen Jiaguiâs house had been blocked.
âNo one is allowed to enter this house,â the city specialist said before leaving.
The specialists had seen Chen Jiaguiâs body lying on the bed. To be honest, they were scared themselves. After all, they had never come across this kind of situation before. The virus was horrible. In less than three days, a sheep and a person had died because of it. It was too much for them to handle. None of them wanted to stay in the house for too long. Therefore, they didnât bother to take a good look in the house and left with simple instructions.
After a discussion, the group of Haiqu specialists decided to ask for assistance from the province.
âWhat? Theyâve gone back? They just left us here watching the house?â a Lianshan doctor complained.
âHey, they are from the city. Who will give a damn about us?â another Lianshan doctor asked.
It started to get late. Wang Yao left his house at about 9 p.m. He took several bags with him.
âWhat do you need those bags for?â Zhang Xiuying curiously asked.
âTo load soil,â Wang Yao said.
He headed south after he had left his house. He didnât change his direction to west until he arrived at the south end of the village. No one was on the street at this time of day, but most houses had lights on.
Woof! Woof! Woof! Dogs barked from time to time.
Wang Yao went to the hill on the west by himself. He went to the pit. In just a moment, he was inside the pit.
He had a shovel in his hand. He shoveled some soil into a bag and then stored it into the system. He planned to take the soil back to Nanshan Hill to test it. He had taken the soil to a laboratory to test before. The result suggested that the soil was toxic and unsuitable to grow anything in. However, the result didnât suggest the toxin was contagious and could kill animals.
He took the soil samples back to Nanshan and entered his Spirit Gathering Battle Array.
âSan Xian!â He summoned his dog. âCome here to take a look at this!â
Woof! Woof! Woof!
San Xian was unsettled after sniffing the soil in the bag. It was as if there was a bomb in the soil.
âNo good?â Wang Yao asked.
Woof! Woof! San Xian kept barking.
âI see.â Wang Yao patted San Xianâs head and put the samples away.
How should I test it? Wang Yao kept thinking about it. He didnât go to sleep until late that night.
Meanwhile, some people couldnât sleep at all.
It was a bit gloomy the next morning.
âItâs about to rain.â Wang Yao looked up at the sky.
It started to rain after 9 a.m. Wang Yao saw a car coming into the village from the north.
Here comes another group of people.
âThe rabbit? What do you need the rabbit for? The one you brought from the hill is still here,â Zhang Xiuying said.
âI need it. Can you buy several more rabbits back?â Wang Yao asked.
âWhat do you want to do with them? You want to eat rabbit meat?â Zhang Xiuying asked.
âNo, I need them to be alive for my experiment,â Wang Yao said.
âI see,â Zhang Xiuying said.
âYou are so cute!â Wang Yao looked at the small rabbit in the cage. âIt might hurt.â
He brought the rabbit back to Nanshan Hill.
âOh my god, what happened to him?â a Qi Province specialist asked. The group of specialists traveled overnight to the village. They were checking Chen Jiaguiâs body.
âAre you sure he only died four days ago?â one of the specialists asked.
âWell, I think so,â a Lianshan county doctor said.
âAre you absolutely sure?â a specialist asked.
âWell, not really. You know, look at his body. We really canât be sure,â the doctor said.
The atmosphere was awkward outside Chen Jiaguiâs house as the specialists held a meeting.
âWe need to take the body away, but the body needs to be processed first,â one of the specialists said.
âAre you sure? This might be too risky,â one of the specialists said.
âYes, it might be, but the body will help us study the virus,â the lead specialist said.