Virus

Chapter 37: Virus

"It was time to leave."

Huang Ji was about to leave when he realized that overnight, his identity had already become unusable.

Cough, cough!

Just as he reached the stairwell, a passerby who had come to Hua Shan Hospital for treatment walked past him carrying a thermos and suddenly coughed violently several times.

There was nothing unusual about that. After all, who came to a hospital without some ache or fever?

Yet Huang Ji's expression changed dramatically, and he dodged sharply to the side with an exaggerated movement.

He was avoiding the droplets!

His movements were so large that everyone nearby looked over, and some even chuckled.

Anyone could tell that he was disgusted by the man's coughing.

Normally, showing disgust meant nothing more than a frown. This guy, on the other hand, had actually jumped away in fright!

The coughing man frowned instead and snapped, "It's just a cold. It won't kill anyone!"

Huang Ji said seriously, "You should ask a doctor for a mask."

"What the hell's wrong with you?" the man muttered before walking straight to the waiting hall and taking a seat.

There were many people in the waiting hall, packed closely together.

The man coughed every so often, his throat producing a congested sound. Whenever he felt uncomfortable, he lifted his thermos for a sip of hot water to soothe his throat.

That made his throat moist when he coughed, producing even more droplets.

"Level six..." Huang Ji stared at the droplets and confirmed the virus's infection level.

After his medical skills had improved significantly, he had created this comprehensive assessment system himself. It was broadly similar to international standards, though it also had his own additional classifications.

Level one was confined to animals and could not infect humans.

Level two had infected a very small number of humans, but mainly infected animals and did not easily spread to people.

Level three could easily infect humans, but only spread between humans and animals, not from person to person.

Level four could spread among people and form an "epidemic."

Level five had many transmission routes, spread at extreme speed, and could survive outside a host for a relatively long time.

Level six was extremely contagious, spread incredibly fast, had a very long incubation period, could survive in the open environment for a long time, and even asymptomatic carriers were contagious.

As for level seven, that was legendary. It could rapidly permeate the entire ecosystem, infect every animal, and adapt to all kinds of conditions, including high pressure, low pressure, high temperatures, and low temperatures.

There had never been a level seven case. It was like the zombie viruses in various works of fiction.

At all times, Huang Ji kept his perception of viruses unblocked by default.

So long as he saw a virus carrier, he would passively sense the virus's infection level.

Earlier, the moment that man appeared before him, an extremely dangerous torrent of information had struck him. When the man coughed, the droplets were visible to the naked eye. Huang Ji's scalp had gone numb, so naturally he dodged widely.

Of course, he could not see the virus itself. He could only see the droplets and the virus carrier, but the information on the carrier alone was enough for him to understand many peripheral details about the virus.

He simply could not read the virus's RNA sequence or the meaning represented by each part of it.

"Extremely infectious... and it's a completely new virus. A global pandemic has already begun, yet the World Health Organization has only classified it as level five."

Huang Ji frowned and took out a mask to put on. He had prepared it long ago as something to conceal his face.

He had not expected that he would now truly need to wear it to prevent a virus.

"The nurses don't know I'm a fraud yet. I only need to avoid the doctors."

But that was the problem. Huang Ji did not want those doctors and experts to find him, so he had to leave as quickly as possible.

Yet the coughing man had contracted an unknown virus, one for which there was still no simple testing method.

Not only that, it struck fiercely, had numerous complications, and could be fatal.

Without question, this would become a top-tier global pandemic. Although its complete gene sequence had already been uploaded to the international influenza database, the country was still in the stage of studying and researching it.

Huang Ji ran a projection and discovered that this man would currently be treated for an ordinary cold, then become a super-spreader because he was a taxi driver.

"Tch." Wearing his mask, Huang Ji walked into the waiting hall.

He took out another mask and handed it to the man. The man froze. "What's this for?"

"Tang Yan, put on the mask." Huang Ji directly called out his name.

Tang Yan was about to start cursing when he saw Huang Ji take out a hundred yuan and place it in his hand.

"Oh! Sure, sure, sure..." Tang Yan immediately put on the mask.

The others stared over. Damn, a hundred yuan just for wearing a mask?

"You know me?" Only then did Tang Yan ask.

Huang Ji said calmly, "If you want to get rich, come with me."

After saying that, he swept his gaze over the others, confirmed there were no other infected people here, and walked straight out.

"What? Cough, cough... Wait for me." Tang Yan was greedy for money. He did not even stay to see a doctor, eagerly following Huang Ji out.

Huang Ji walked out of the hospital with his head lowered beneath the mask, leading Tang Yan to the parking lot.

His taxi was parked there. Tang Yan thought Huang Ji wanted to hire him as a driver, so he got in first and smiled. "Where to?"

Huang Ji opened the rear door and frowned deeply.

Information flooded into his mind at a glance. This was practically a poison box.

"Wait in the car. Don't run around." Huang Ji took out two hundred yuan and tossed it through the window.

"Got it!" Tang Yan said as he took the money.

Before long, Huang Ji returned with disinfectant from a nearby pharmacy.

There were six bottles in total. He set four on the ground and said, "One for yourself, one for the front seats, one for the back seats, and one for the outside of the car. Spray it all down for me."

"Four hundred!" Tang Yan's eyes shifted as he named his price.

Huang Ji opened his wallet, revealing a thick stack of bills worth around two thousand yuan.

"No problem!" Tang Yan immediately got to work, spraying disinfectant throughout the car, inside and out, then on himself as well.

It took nearly half an hour from start to finish!

Huang Ji inspected everything carefully. Only after confirming there were no problems did he get in and give Tang Yan four hundred yuan.

"So? Young man, this getting rich you mentioned can't just mean these few hundred yuan, right?" Tang Yan asked with a smile.

"Take me to the West Suburbs, Lingguang Used Car Recycling Market," Huang Ji said.

"Eight hundred!" Tang Yan immediately raised the price.

"Fine." Huang Ji smiled.

Tang Yan hurriedly started the car and drove Huang Ji toward the West Suburbs.

Once there, under Huang Ji's guidance, they drove deeper and deeper in until they reached an extremely secluded warehouse.

"We're here. Get out." Huang Ji got out first after speaking.

Tang Yan eagerly followed him out and entered the warehouse.

At that moment, Lin Li and Zhang Junwei came out to greet them with Xiao Zha and several other brothers. Xiao Zha and another castrated man were the most enthusiastic. After all, they had been receiving Huang Ji's acupuncture treatments every day these past few days, and their condition down there had improved greatly.

"..." Tang Yan sensed that something was wrong.

When Zhang Junwei saw the taxi outside, he muttered, "Why did the driver get out too?"

He had thought Huang Ji had taken a taxi here and discovered upon arrival that he had forgotten to bring money, so he planned to pay the fare for Huang Ji himself.

"Um... the money... you haven't paid yet." Tang Yan happened to be muttering about the promised eight hundred yuan Huang Ji had not given him.

Zhang Junwei took out his wallet with a smile. "I'll pay. How much?"

Tang Yan said, "Eight hundred yuan."

"Are you looking to die?" Zhang Junwei's face changed instantly.

Tang Yan jumped in fright and hurriedly said, "No... We agreed on eight hundred!"

"You dare charge eight hundred for a taxi ride? Did you drive here from Cambodia?" Zhang Junwei raised his fist as if about to hit him.

"Stop!" Huang Ji called out to Zhang Junwei.

"Give him the money."

Zhang Junwei stared. "Really? Even if he drove here from Jinling, it wouldn't cost eight hundred."

Huang Ji said nothing. Lin Li directly took out the money and handed it over.

"No need, Brother Lin. I've got it, I've got it." Zhang Junwei hurriedly stopped Lin Li and paid out of his own pocket.

Tang Yan took the money but did not leave. Instead, he asked, "Is there any more money to be made? This is small change."

Huang Ji smiled. "You. Stay in that corner. You're not allowed to go anywhere."

After saying that, he ignored Tang Yan and walked away.

"Huh?" Tang Yan froze.

Zhang Junwei immediately pointed at the corner of the warehouse and roared, "Get over there and squat!"

Tang Yan was dumbfounded. "Wait... What do you mean? Hey, you guys..."

He turned to leave, only to find Xiao Zha and the others surrounding him, each holding a wrench.

"Hey, hey, hey... No, no, don't pull out weapons! I get it, I get it. Fine, fine, I'll go over!" Tang Yan said miserably, hurrying over to the warehouse wall with his back bent.

A group of burly men formed a semicircle around him as Tang Yan squatted there, trembling.

"Is this really necessary? Hey! Boss! How did I offend you? I only spat once!" Tang Yan said agitatedly. He unconsciously stood and took half a step forward, looking toward Huang Ji, who was inspecting a batch of goods in the distance.

"Squat properly!" Zhang Junwei roared.

Tang Yan hurriedly shrank back down, squatting obediently. He was on the verge of tears and nearly breaking down.

"No, I really didn't provoke your boss. Hey, be reasonable! I just caught a cold and went to the hospital to see a doctor. Is coughing a few times that outrageous?"

"And a little spit comes out when you cough. That isn't outrageous either, right?"

Before he could continue, Zhang Junwei roared, "You spat on our boss?"

"No, no, no! Hey! That's the point, I didn't spit on him!" Tang Yan spread his hands and said with wide eyes, "I really didn't! Your boss dodged away in a flash!"

"Over something this trivial, you tricked me into coming here? Was that necessary?"

Zhang Junwei was somewhat confused too. He did not know how this man had offended Huang Ji, but that did not stop him from roaring, "Squat down and don't move!"

"You guys should at least be reasonable if you're in the underworld! Fine, fine, I admit it! I admit it, okay? I did curse at him!" Tang Yan said helplessly.

Zhang Junwei grabbed him by the collar.

Tang Yan immediately said, "I'll apologize, okay? I apologize. I sincerely apologize."

"Come back!" Huang Ji called loudly from the other end.

Zhang Junwei released Tang Yan, told him to stay put, and then returned to Huang Ji's side.

Huang Ji took out the remaining two bottles of disinfectant and sprayed him all over, then said, "Try not to touch him. Everyone else needs to disinfect too."

"What, does he have some infectious disease?" Zhang Junwei asked.

Huang Ji nodded.

"What infectious disease?"

Huang Ji said, "One that can kill people."

Zhang Junwei froze, then immediately called the brothers over to wash their hands.

"Wear masks when you get near him from now on. Don't let him run around," Huang Ji said.

"Understood!"

Huang Ji pointed at a warehouse opposite them. "That warehouse is yours too, right?"

"Yeah, that one's actually used for storage," Zhang Junwei said.

Huang Ji said, "Clean it out, then move all the equipment we bought over there."

P.S. Sorry. I conceived this book last year. You can tell from the fact that I started in March 2009 that many things would happen which you readers, with your god's-eye view, already knew were coming. So I had to write H1N1. But I happened to take two months off, and only started this new book now. What was originally supposed to be a major plot arc right after the medical studies now looks like I'm chasing a trend. I want to die. I was forced to cut a huge amount of plot, because it perfectly mirrored reality—or rather, reality is always astonishingly similar. Some things I originally intended to advocate have also become common knowledge now... Anyway, I'm very depressed. I've been revising ever since I started the book, using saved chapters for several consecutive days now while editing and deleting the virus-related plot. It will be condensed into a few chapters and end soon. The main purpose is to let the protagonist begin evolving. Please be understanding if the plot feels faster later on. Black Emperor once said that one must be as steady as bedrock.