Medical support team

Xu Chen looked out the window at the pouring rain. It had been falling for two days, and he was extremely worried.

"Xiao Song, what do you think about us buying a Geiger counter?"

"Not much. You think I didn't consider it? A usable one costs at least 600, and the cheap ones don't work at all." Song Tian spoke as he played his game. "Why worry about that? Once the typhoon passes, the alert will be lifted. We just have to stay here a couple more days."

Xu Chen shook his head, watching the rain pour down outside and spread unchecked. There seemed to be nowhere in the world it couldn't reach.

"With rain like this, if there's a flood, we're done for. We'll be exposed to radiation for sure."

Song Tian took off his headphones and tilted his head at Xu Chen. "Wouldn't have guessed you cared so much about the country and its people. But honestly, it's not our place to worry about that yet."

Suddenly, Xu Chen's phone vibrated. Song Tian saw it and put his headphones back on, continuing his game.

Xu Chen took out his phone. It was his Grandpa Yang calling. Grandpa Yang was also the head of the college's medical school and a deputy dean at the provincial hospital. He was a close friend who had been through life and death with Xu Chen's own grandfather, and Xu Chen had managed to transfer here thanks to his help.

Why was he calling this time? Xu Chen was a little puzzled.

He answered the call.

"Hello? Xiao Xu, has everything been all right at the medical school lately?"

"Grandpa Yang, I'm fine."

"That's good. I'll be leaving the college for a while soon. Your grandfather entrusted you to me, and I got you transferred here, so I can't just leave you to fend for yourself. Write down a number. He's my star pupil. If anything happens at school, give him a call."

"Okay, I'll write it down."

Xu Chen found a notebook and wrote down a string of numbers, followed by a name: Ouyang Xing.

The name was familiar, but Xu Chen couldn't remember where he had seen it.

"One more thing. If any infectious disease breaks out soon, he'll call you and tell you what to do. Make sure you don't turn your phone off."

"Okay."

After hanging up, Xu Chen repeated the name twice, then decided to stop trying to remember and just ask.

"Xiao Song, have you heard of Ouyang Xing?"

Song Tian looked at Xu Chen in confusion. "Ouyang Xing? Ouyang Xing? Isn't he the genius heartthrob in your department?"

"Genius heartthrob?"

"Yeah, the guy who ranked first in the province on the college entrance exam."

"I really didn't know that..."

"His family's rich, and he's ridiculously handsome. He's got that... male lead in a women's romance kind of vibe. What, you want to go after him?"

"Screw you. If anyone's going after him, it should be you. You can make it a man-on-man romance."

Song Tian smiled and went back to his game. It was the kind of banter the two were used to, and it wouldn't change anything.

Xu Chen held the notebook and thought about it. He really didn't have anything going on, but what about Grandpa Yang? Where could he be going in rain like this, a man-made calamity turned into a full-blown natural disaster?

Could it have something to do with the infectious disease outbreak Grandpa Yang had mentioned?

Xu Chen casually searched on his phone. Almost all the news was about the rainstorm, with no mention of any infectious disease.

Was he just overthinking it?

Hmm... looking at it another way, even if I really knew some infectious disease had appeared, what could I do?

The only thing he could think of was to lie flat. After all, he had just transferred here and was only a first-year student.

"Xiao Song, are you almost done with this match?"

"Almost. Why?"

"Bring me along when you're done. I'll log in now."

For the past two days, all classes had been suspended because of the rainstorm. With nothing to do in their dorms, everyone had been calling friends together in the class group chat to team up and play games. It had even developed into matches between classes, and they were having a great time.

Xu Chen was no exception. Naturally, he joined in too.

"Okay, I'm in the party. Start it, Xiao Song."

"Test your mic first. Lao Niao says he can't hear you clearly on his end..."

"Start once you've got it working."

The loading screen appeared on the monitor. Everyone only had to wait a moment before they could enter the game and fight.

But Xu Chen glanced at the black clouds hanging over everything outside the window. Even though it was daytime, it was as dark as night.

Far away at the provincial hospital, Dean Yang kept looking at the phone in his hand. At last, he sighed and tucked the senior-friendly button phone into his pants pocket.

He had said everything he needed to say, and there probably wasn't anything he had overlooked in his arrangements.

He looked at the large screen in the conference room. It showed footage of several people in hospital beds.

"Everyone, I trust you've read the materials that were sent out. I asked some acquaintances over there, and they confirmed it's real. It's a disease we've never seen before. As for how it develops, we can't even make a guess, let alone understand it. Even figuring out the conditions for its onset will take throwing people at it."

"That's why we've formed an all-round medical team this time, with people from every department, to see which field can identify the problem."

"This battle will be extremely dangerous. Several of my old friends have already fallen victim to it, so you can imagine what we're facing. And more people will certainly die, perhaps even for nothing. There's also a very good chance we'll go there and come away with nothing."

"They urgently need people on site. I won't try to rouse you with fine words, but I've already submitted an application to the higher-ups. I'll go there myself and see what's really happening."

"A plane will be arranged shortly. The medical support team application forms are on the table. If you don't want to go, you can stay here and take part in remote consultations."

"That's all I have to say." Dean Yang looked at the clock on the wall, tapped the stack of application forms in front of him against the table to straighten them, and placed them in the middle of the conference table. "There's still half an hour. Anyone who takes a form can board the plane."

When he finished, the conference room fell silent for a moment before people began whispering. The application forms on the table began to disappear one by one.

Dean Yang stared absentmindedly at the dwindling stack. He was thinking about the final arrangements he had made, the safety of these doctors, and the mechanism and cause of the strange disease.

When he had first learned of the disease, he had actually thought someone was joking. Only after the higher-ups were willing to vouch for it, Central Hospital sent over video materials, and he repeatedly called acquaintances to verify it did he understand that it was real.

In those infected with the disease known as "Taihao," no suspicious microorganisms had been detected, and their vital signs were normal. Yet they behaved strangely and spoke only the two syllables of "Taihao."

It also had a terrifying capacity for infection, not because of how efficiently it spread, but because of its route of transmission. Taihao's route of transmission was completely unknown. Even people wearing airtight class A protective suits and breathing air from their own supply, theoretically isolated from all pathogens, could still become infected.

It was as if all it took to become infected was a couple of glances.

Faced with such a terrifying and bizarre infectious disease, Dean Yang didn't declare that the edifice of medicine had collapsed, but he did feel it was close enough.

Dean Yang had no confidence at all when it came to this new infectious disease. He was only going so he could see the strange condition firsthand and leave some information behind. Saving people was secondary.

For that reason, he hadn't even brought his star pupil, Ouyang Xing. Everyone he had called to the meeting was an old professor or doctor about his own age.

He had thought of one possibility that had to be carried out resolutely, even at a severe cost.

Dean Yang looked at the table again. The application forms had all been taken, so he looked back at everyone.

"You need to think this through. Once you get on the plane, there's no getting off."

"Old Yang, don't think so little of us. You're allowed to go, but we aren't?"

"No, that's not what I mean." Dean Yang paused, an expression the others couldn't read appearing on his face. "You could say that our group is going there to die. I've already submitted a report. If our medical support team is completely wiped out, then other medical personnel must be stopped from following us in. All treatment plans should be abandoned, with isolation as the primary measure and monitoring according to the situation.

"We can't pour endless medical resources into these people. If possible, use my life to limit the losses."

A doctor immediately objected. "Dean Yang, you won't even save people who are still alive? Isn't that approach too extreme? We won't necessarily come to any harm."

"Extreme? There's something even more extreme. I also proposed in my report that if transmission continues after isolation, it means isolation has failed. In that case, all patients."

Dean Yang looked sharply at every doctor around the conference table. Each of them held a position of authority. Many were both attending physicians and professors at the college, and had received a thorough modern medical education.

"Without considering treatment, eliminate every source of infection."

The hall fell silent. Everyone was frightened by Dean Yang's decision.

If the report were actually acted upon, it would be an outright humanitarian crisis, and they would be put on the historical pillar of shame.

But Dean Yang was treating even himself no differently, which showed that he truly believed the situation had become grave and that this was the last resort.

Dean Yang's tone softened. "I know you're all doctors. You've made it your duty to save lives and heal the wounded, and you can't stand by and watch people die. But this Taihao disease is far too bizarre. All you see are patients in good physical condition, merely showing signs of delirium and in no danger of dying. What I see are infected patients who have lost all bodily function, yet can still spread it in a bizarre manner. It causes illness in one hundred percent of cases. There's no way to prevent it, no way to contain it, no cases of a cure, and no cases of recovery on its own."

"There has never been a more frightening infectious disease in history. If isolation fails and this disease breaks out, it will be the greatest public health event in human civilization. It's as if it were aimed at us humans in particular. It's an infectious disease of civilization."

"And we're right at the source of this infectious disease. There are fewer than a hundred patients, a price we can bear, and the smallest price our civilization can pay."

"Everyone, please think it over again."

Dean Yang looked again at the doctors around the conference table. Still, not one of them spoke up to withdraw. Their eyes all shone with resolve.

Not a single person said they would give up.