A Worldwide Outbreak

"We have indeed observed evidence that Aspergillus flavus maintains body temperature. The cadaveric symptoms appearing in the patients are caused by the fungus maintaining their body temperature. Of these, tissue liquefaction is the biggest source of heat in the patients' bodies."

"Some pyrimidine drugs have been confirmed effective, but the doses required are enormous. Still, it's a breakthrough."

"At present, none of the patients' vital signs are looking good. Their bodies have all suffered severe damage. Even if we save them, they'll have to spend the rest of their lives in the ICU."

After listening to the report from the researchers under him, the elderly man in the middle rubbed the spot between his brows, looking as if he had a headache.

As the head of the chemical defense troops, he had matters great and small weighing on his shoulders. It was indeed a heavy burden to bear.

"All right. Did you upload that evidence to the research institute? What did they say?"

"Yes, we uploaded it. They said there was indeed a strong possibility that the fungus did not originate naturally."

The chief frowned and looked at the researcher giving the report. "How strong a possibility?"

The researcher flipped through his notebook and reported, "Forty-six percent."

Almost everyone who could hear him stopped and looked at the man who had given the figure.

A probability of 46 percent might seem low, not even half, but under normal circumstances, if an ordinary virus were assessed, the figure would not even exceed 3 percent. This was already an extremely high probability.

"Are you saying this could be a biochemical attack?"

"No. They assessed the probability of a biochemical attack at 2 percent, and a biochemical leak at only 0.4 percent."

The chief sucked in a breath, looking incredulous. "A deadly fungus that didn't originate naturally, and it was neither a biochemical attack nor an accidental leak? What else could it be?"

"The research institute has joined forces with universities specializing in psychology in Shangjing and Xiayun. They used their psychological models to assess it, and the results were much the same."

"Don't tell me someone released this fungus just for fun?" The chief looked at the researcher. Although he knew full well the man was not responsible for the matter, he could not help asking angrily.

The researcher looked at the chief and shook his head. "Xiayun University proposed a hypothesis. At present, our psychological models are all based on human behavior and thought, so some behavioral predictions have a large margin of error, yet produce results that contradict the earlier ones. It's very possible that..."

Hearing this, the chief could not help looking over.

"It could be another nonhuman intelligent life-form."

The chief looked utterly bewildered. "Do... do you know what you're saying?"

"I do. That's Xiayun University's conclusion. They've also modified the model and worked backward to derive some information, but they said it was only for reference."

The terminal beneath the chief beeped twice, showing that a document had been uploaded.

He skimmed it and roughly understood why it had not been a biochemical attack. The reason was simple: the fungus had not been released somewhere crowded. If it had been, it would have spread more easily.

Besides that, the document listed all sorts of other possibilities, but without exception, each had corresponding evidence and conclusions.

Finally, when humans were excluded as the agents, there was an explanation: "it" still did not understand humans very well, which was why it had created a fungus like this and had not even known to pick a good source of transmission.

"The psychologists worked backward from the fungus's characteristics and concluded that 'it' thinks we may be at the stage we were at six years ago. Before that time, we couldn't possibly have established such an efficient monitoring system, and this would have been enough to deal our country a major blow."

The chief nodded. "Anything else?"

"That's right. Besides that, the psychologists believe the distinctive symptoms of this Aspergillus flavus infection can be described as 'gruesome.' This could be a 'deterrent.'"

The chief had seen the photos too. The living dead were indeed more frightening than the dead. If patients really ended up like that, it would indeed be more likely to cause panic.

Ring~~

The landline beside him rang. The chief glanced at the number displayed on it, and his expression changed. He immediately picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.

A long while later, he put down the phone and looked at the researcher with a complicated expression. "I don't think 'it' doesn't understand humans. It just doesn't understand us."

The researcher was puzzled. "Why do you say that?"

"Two large-scale outbreaks of a strange fungal infection have occurred in India and across the ocean. They came to light because the governments couldn't keep them under wraps. Even more have been suppressed."

"We're in fucking trouble."

The situation changed abruptly. The nation brought together all its top think tanks. Every member was subject to a mandatory summons from the state, and they then launched the largest discussion on the internet.

Countless people were making assessments and proposing solutions. It could be said that the stars had gathered.

But they all shared one view: they agreed with the chief. Civilization was in trouble.

~~

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Xu Chen had no idea that the mess he had caused had let the people above catch sight of a god. All he knew was that his days of slacking off had finally paid off. Looking at the various forms of compensation and payment written in the contract, he was over the moon.

Ouyang Xing, by contrast, was deeply worried. After signing his departure contract, he still led the senior students in the hope of continuing to take part in the research. Xu Chen knew he had done nothing but slack off, so he was self-aware enough to take his contract and leave.

Besides consideration for a scholarship, there were extra credits. Even these contributions would be given special recognition, which would make him look great when he went job hunting.

It would be easier to get into a good company.

There was nothing he could do about it. If he had the ability, he would certainly have continued with Ouyang Xing's team, but willing as he was, he lacked the ability. It truly couldn't be helped.

What was more, after all this, Xu Chen knew the state attached immense importance to the matter. Countless experts from above were getting involved, so it was not his place to worry.

Smiling, he put the contract away and planned to show it off to his dear son in the dorm. After all, he too deserved a great deal of credit for Xu Chen getting his hands on it.

Then Xu Chen saw that it was still early and went to get something to eat.

He took out his phone and was startled. The school had already arranged things to cover his absence this time, claiming it was some sort of activity with confidentiality requirements. People had already been notified, so no one had called him.

But one news story left Xu Chen speechless.

"Our country has stationed troops along the island nation's coast to assist it in treating wastewater more efficiently."

The fewer the words, the bigger the matter. Xu Chen looked into it and found that it was actually true.

They had even sent an aircraft carrier over.

Unexpectedly, though, there seemed to be no noteworthy hardline measures from across the ocean.

Next came other news, mostly about major upgrades to domestic water and wastewater treatment plants, making every effort to eliminate drinking-water safety problems caused by the water cycle.

Lower down were stories about customs and border closures and major outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad.

There were also pharmaceutical companies promoting the development of new drugs to treat and prevent cancer.

Since coming to this world, he had never seen the internet so lively. If these stories had been released at different times, every one of them would probably have been a trending topic.

After looking for a long time, Xu Chen sighed. "Damn bastard."