A Bizarre Outbreak

By the time Xu Chen finished reading the entire report, he finally understood what had happened. Honestly, if he hadn't seen the government on such high alert, with even the military deployed, he would have found it hard to believe.

After the last typhoon, a bizarre and terrifying case had appeared in Taiping Town, in coastal Yujing Province: an Aspergillus flavus fungal infection.

Nearly every living creature in the village had contracted the yellow fungus. They were sickly, feverish, and weak.

The town hospital had reported the case, but within a few days, the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse. Most patients had died of fungal infections in their organs or respiratory failure.

This was already beyond the jurisdiction of the police. A biochemical attack was suspected, so chemical defense troops had been dispatched to provide emergency aid, disinfect the area, and investigate.

The investigation was remarkably thorough, though perhaps information had also been relayed and reported promptly.

Patient zero had been a fisherman. He hadn't encountered some indescribable thing at sea, as Xu Chen had imagined.

All that had happened was that he'd netted a rare large yellow croaker. There was nothing special about it except its size. He'd put it in the fridge just to look at it, unable to bring himself to eat it, until it went moldy. Then, for reasons known only to him, the fisherman had washed it, stewed it into soup, and drunk it.

Patient zero had fallen ill extremely quickly, becoming completely bedridden in just one day. For some reason, his wife and children hadn't developed symptoms. Thinking he merely had a cold, they'd cared for him attentively. Only when pale yellow secretions began appearing on mucous membranes all over his body did they realize something was wrong.

A day after he was taken to the hospital, patient zero's family began showing the same symptoms. Their mucous membranes—their mouths, nostrils, and eyeballs—also turned yellow. They briefly developed fevers and weakness and were taken to the hospital. Patient zero's own mucous membranes began to become inflamed and erode, and the serum that seeped out stained the entire bed a flowerlike pale yellow.

The town's medical care wasn't particularly advanced, but a basic examination was enough to identify a fungal infection. Though the locations of the infection were a little strange, it wasn't untreatable—until his entire family of four was brought in for treatment.

Half a day later, the nurses and doctors involved in their treatment also sensed that something was wrong with their own bodies.

The doctor in charge had been a student of a professor at the city hospital, so he immediately called his former teacher for advice. The professor also took it seriously and gathered his colleagues for a remote consultation. They found there was something unusual about the fungal infection and wanted the patients transferred.

Then, while an ambulance was being arranged for the transfer, one of the doctors under him came over and, anxious and terrified, showed him the yellow substance on the mucous membranes in his mouth. He also said that many more patients with the same symptoms had arrived outside, all of whom had been in contact with patient zero.

The doctor in charge keenly sensed that something was wrong. This could be an infectious disease. He immediately told his former teacher, reported the matter to higher authorities, contacted the town mayor to arrange a lockdown, and did his best to stop the disease from spreading.

He compiled a list of those who had fallen ill and detailed records of their various symptoms, documenting a fairly complete chain of transmission. He even went to the fisherman's home and secured all the evidence of the infection source: the refrigerator, the trash can, and the discarded garbage bags. He did everything he could, even recording footage on his phone of patients from infection through the onset of symptoms.

Most of the data in the report Xu Chen now held had been provided by this doctor.

He had fought for a week, trying every means and method to clear the bizarre Aspergillus flavus infection before the chemical defense troops arrived. He personally administered medicine and cleaned and debrided wounds, and, unsurprisingly, became infected himself.

After the chemical defense troops arrived, he underwent more aggressive treatment, taking excessive doses of antifungal drugs that he would never have dared use on other patients, because they would place a severe burden on the kidneys. He even tried physically debriding himself, cutting away the infected areas, but none of it worked.

With the support of the military doctors, he had done everything he could. Sadly, he still hadn't beaten the disease and had died of it two days ago. He had survived longer than anyone else infected with the fungus.

"...In summary, I believe this is a super fungus capable of resisting every broad-spectrum antifungal drug on the market. It has a terrifying capacity to spread and infect, and the human immune system is powerless against it. It must not be overlooked."

The end of the report consisted entirely of the doctor's conclusions, and they appeared not to have been edited at all.

"Academician Qi, this... is a bit too..."

"Too unbelievable? It's far more than that." The elderly man, Academician Qi, shook his head. "Xiao Feng, bring in the specimens."

"Yes!"

A soldier outside answered crisply, then walked in carrying a large alloy case that appeared to be insulated.

When the case was opened, it contained ice and another, smaller case. The soldier then left.

"These are prepared specimens. The slides are specially made, and the specimens are completely secured inside them. They can't be damaged without special tools. That case contains microscopes. Take a look for yourselves."

The students exchanged glances. Then a senior student brought the case over and handed out the microscopes one by one.

Ouyang Xing was closest to the specimen case, so he reached out and opened it. It was filled with prepared specimens.

He glanced at Academician Qi and waited for him to nod before picking up a prepared slide. A pale yellow liquid was sealed inside it. As for its source, none of them would want to hear about that.

Xu Chen took a curious look too, but couldn't make anything of it.

Ouyang Xing made no unnecessary movements. After all, this wasn't anything safe. He wiped the condensation away, secured the slide on the microscope, and began adjusting it as he observed.

He watched for a while, his expression growing uglier the longer he looked.

Seeing Ouyang Xing's expression, everyone understood that the specimens were no ordinary samples and took slides for themselves.

Xu Chen was no exception.

The quality of these microscopes really was excellent. Once adjusted, they showed the specimens with perfect clarity. After a little adjustment, he saw a green world.

"The vesicle of Aspergillus flavus is spherical, and the conidia radiate outward, gradually becoming loosely arranged. The color is slightly yellow. Yes, this is a textbook example. There's nothing unusual about it."

A senior student beside him seemed to know the morphology of Aspergillus flavus by heart. He recited it on the spot, describing what it should look like to the others.

That was what Xu Chen saw too. The spores suspended in the liquid looked very much like the eggs of some creature, such as an apple snail.

"No, look more closely. These spores are a little active," Ouyang Xing cautioned.

Xu Chen looked again, but saw no sign of activity. Instead, he noticed that moisture had condensed on the cold slide, so he picked it up, wiped it off, and put it back.

This time, the field of view under the microscope came to life. The spores swam and grew as though they were alive.

"Temperature! Warm them up before looking," a senior student said, having noticed it too. She immediately alerted the others.

Everyone was puzzled for a moment, but they did as she said and observed the same abnormal activity.

"!"

"Next is something the report didn't mention," Academician Qi said without waiting for a response. "While that doctor was studying it, we were conducting our own research in parallel. We discovered that it was not only highly infectious, but also abnormally active compared with ordinary fungi and possessed incredible vitality. We therefore submitted it to the General Chemical Defense Institute for research."

"Our superiors issued instructions. Given the terrifying nature of this fungus, they want all relevant medical and biological sciences schools to pool their ideas and see if there's a solution. You're the best in your school, so you mustn't fall behind the others."

Xu Chen's expression changed. Wasn't he just here to make up the numbers? He was hardly one of the best; a pampered weakling was more like it. If he'd known it was something this serious, he would have refused no matter what.

This infectious disease was absurd. Someone had eaten fish and ended up with a thing like this.