Growth Rate

After digging through the records for quite a while, Xu Chen confirmed that several categories of disease had recently seen abnormal increases: tumors and cancer, immune diseases, common infectious diseases, and neonatal diseases.

They seemed completely unrelated, making it impossible to pin them on any particular factor.

Rare immune diseases were especially difficult to diagnose and treat. A single patient could take as much work as several other patients, and all that pressure fell on the doctors.

Xu Chen made a rough guess at what factors might have caused the outbreak, but came up empty.

Compared with its previous methods, Cthulhu seemed almost conscious, acting more covertly and making itself harder to detect.

Although its methods were much milder and the mortality rate was lower than that of the mutant fungus, Xu Chen knew the situation was extremely dangerous. Once the pressure on medical care reached a certain point, even minor illnesses might not receive timely treatment at overburdened medical facilities.

When that happened, the mortality rate would rise like a tide.

What method had it used? How had it caused so many people to fall ill?

Xu Chen thought about it, but had no answer.

Its mysterious power was beyond scientific explanation. Perhaps even a god would struggle to resist its corruption. Otherwise, this obvious big villain had already appeared, so where had the god who had mercy on the world shown his miracles?

As he pondered philosophy, something suddenly occurred to him, a faint spark of inspiration flashing through his mind.

That fleeting inspiration was like a glimmer in the fog, barely visible, but enough to point the way.

If Cthulhu caused all these illnesses...

Song Tian's father... The timing matched up exactly.

His case...

Could it have something in common with the earlier ones...?

The doctors' meeting notes...

Some kind of enzyme...

A light flashed in Xu Chen's mind. "That's right, it was abnormally high Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase activity."

Ouyang Xing, who was also looking through documents beside him, jumped in fright. He stared at Xu Chen in confusion, not knowing what he was talking about.

Xu Chen looked at Ouyang Xing, a little excited. "I remember you studied that Mutant Aspergillus flavus before. Didn't you say that fungus was unnaturally active?"

Ouyang Xing thought for a moment and nodded. "That's right."

"How was it unnatural?"

"Why are you interested in that Aspergillus flavus again?" Ouyang Xing grumbled a little, but still explained it to him conscientiously. "Let me put it this way: do you know how fast normal Aspergillus flavus grows?"

Xu Chen shook his head. He had never studied mycology.

Ouyang Xing now understood how much he knew about the subject, though it was more accurate to say it was what he had expected. The previous medical internship group had slacked off the whole time, so it was only natural that he couldn't answer a single question now.

"All right, I'll just tell you. The growth rate of Aspergillus flavus depends on several factors, including temperature, humidity, nutrients, and other environmental conditions. In theory, if the environmental conditions are suitable, Aspergillus flavus can grow quite quickly.

"Under ideal conditions, such as a temperature of 25°C to 30°C and relative humidity of 85% to 95%, Aspergillus flavus can grow by one to two millimeters per day."

Xu Chen made a rough calculation and raised his hand to look at his thumb. Given suitable conditions in a culture dish, it would take only four to eight days to grow a fungal patch the size of his thumbnail.

"Mutant Aspergillus flavus, on the other hand, grows one to two millimeters per hour."

"Isn't that the same?" He didn't understand.

"Wait, per hour?" Xu Chen caught on. He looked at his thumbnail again, then spread his hand.

In a single day, under suitable conditions, it could grow a fungal mat large enough to cover his palm.

Only then did he realize he apparently hadn't had the slightest clue how fast that Aspergillus flavus spread.

"And it's not just the growth rate that's fast. It spreads fast too. In about half a day, it can basically develop mycelium capable of spreading over long distances. If you grow a fungal mat in a culture dish, you'll see it pop up all over the dish.

"Those small fungal mats are all 'enclaves' of the big one. Their spread is absurdly fast too. That's how the mycelium spread everywhere inside the isolation room back then."

Xu Chen pictured it and realized the growth rate was nothing; the spread was the real issue. Combined, those two traits made it the ultimate fungus, unrivaled under heaven. Its spread compounded and doubled, and the larger the area it covered, the more terrifying it became.

"And that's not all. Guess what the best culture dish substrate for this Mutant Aspergillus flavus is?"

"Should be the same as for common fungi, right? Corn flour, soy protein, maltose extract, that sort of thing?"

Ouyang Xing gave Xu Chen a meaningful look. "Mammals."

"Huh?"

"Living ones."

"Huh??"

"This Mutant Aspergillus flavus is like it changed species, going from herbivore to carnivore. It can plunder nutrients more efficiently from the bodies of mammals. That's why it produces a different reaction from when it infects other organisms and plants. You know."

Xu Chen thought for a moment and nodded.

He marveled at how Cthulhu's brain worked, to be able to create something like this. In the game Global OL—Plague Inc., it would easily rank near the top, ahead of the meta and currently a T0 existence.

There was still no method or drug capable of eliminating it. In some countries that lacked strong containment methods and emergency measures, it was still slaughtering people left and right.

"Then why is it so active?"

The question stumped Ouyang Xing. After talking nonstop just moments ago, he immediately fell silent.

He looked at Xu Chen, unsure what to say. Finally, to avoid an awkward atmosphere, he turned to look at the equipment beside him.

"Senior, why is this mutant fungus so active?"

Unable to withstand Xu Chen's persistent questioning, Ouyang Xing had no choice but to turn back with a wry smile. "That question... I don't know either. Never mind asking me. Even Academician Qi would probably struggle to answer it."

"After all this time, you still don't know why this fungus is so active?" Xu Chen asked, puzzled.

Ouyang Xing nodded. "It may look like we had an easy time developing an antifungal drug like EXC08... Oh, right, mine is broad-spectrum too."

He added that before continuing.

"But in reality, only three universities, one engineering institute, and two academies of sciences in the country have developed antifungal drugs that currently appear to be effective. The higher-ups unconditionally share any information about this kind of fungus with our six institutions.

"It supports our drug research.

"You could say we're basically the people who know the most about this fungus. So if we don't know, we don't know. Now you should understand how we learned about the mutant Aspergillus niger."

"Oh?" Xu Chen picked up on something Ouyang Xing had revealed. "Since you said basically, who else is there?"

Ouyang Xing looked at Xu Chen with pity, making him uneasy.

"You don't even know that? Think about what our internship group did at the very beginning."

"You mean?"

"Of course, the researchers on the front lines. Although the subspecies of this fungus have spread widely, honestly, they're not as terrifying as the original. To prevent the mutant fungus from making a comeback, targeted research is really focused more on the original mutant fungus. They're studying the very questions you mentioned.

"So if they don't have any information, then there's no information at all."