18: Chapter 18 Discussion

The next morning.

Binjiang Park underground base.

"Luoer, you're awake!" the man asked anxiously.

"Brother, where are we?" Sister asked.

"We're in an underground base," the man replied.

Last night, the man carried Sister to the base and knocked on the door.

Everyone had handled such a situation once before, so the man, carrying Sister, smoothly entered the underground base's isolation zone and gained a general understanding of the situation there.

Although the conditions were simple, the man felt very fortunate deep down.

He knew that given the situation last night, with his infected Sister, it would have been absolutely impossible to leave the West District smoothly. The on-duty staff would definitely not have let him and his sick Sister out. And if he had returned home regardless, he alone would not have been able to contend with the zombies.

"I say, young man. It looks like your Sister is probably infected. I suggest you don't stay in the same room with her. If she turns into a zombie, you won't be able to escape either," the man in the white coat in the opposite isolation room reminded him.

With sturdy doors and windows blocking them, and many staff members on duty outside, they weren't worried about someone turning into a zombie affecting them.

"What does that have to do with you?" The man's temper flared instantly upon hearing those words.

"Listen or not, I don't care," the man said indifferently. He sat on the bed, crossed his legs, and took a sip of water.

The man ignored him and continued talking to Sister:

"You rest well. With Brother by your side, there's nothing to fear."

"Brother, I think he's right. You should change rooms, so you don't get infected too," Sister said.

"It's even better if I get infected. That way I can continue to take care of you," the man said affectionately.

Sister closed her eyes and said nothing more.

The isolation zone, after all, was not a prison. Although everyone's freedom was temporarily restricted, it didn't prevent them from keeping up with the outside situation.

There was no power in the isolation rooms, so phones couldn't be charged. But every so often, there was a television on the wall in the corridor, and everyone would quietly watch the news reports during their breaks.

"Urgent notice, urgent notice."

"Dear citizens, please note! Due to the virus, the number of infected people in the West District has significantly increased. To ensure the safety of residents' lives and property, residents living within the West District are asked to temporarily evacuate their current residences and proceed to the nearest temporary Resettlement Office as soon as possible. There are currently 9 temporary Resettlement Office locations, as follows: ..."

The same message had been broadcast in a loop all night.

"Alas! It seems the West District might not be able to hold out..." someone said.

"Nonsense, just watch, it won't be long before the zombies are eliminated," another person in a different isolation room retorted.

"I think it's hard to completely eliminate the zombies! Leaving aside other things, just how do you solve this 15-day incubation period? If you ask me, gathering people together is even more dangerous. If someone is already infected and turns into a zombie, a large area will be infected!" another opposing voice chimed in.

"Then isn't going to the Resettlement Office also unsafe?" someone asked.

"Do you think so? One can only say that gathering people together facilitates management and protection. The city is so big, and deploying forces everywhere would be difficult to control. But concentrating people also carries great risks. I think the current method is quite good, one small single room per person, no one next to anyone. It's a pity this method won't work if there are too many people."

"Didn't they say that antigen has been developed now?"

"How could it be that fast? Not to mention the time from mass production to the start of antigen testing, and the human, material, and financial resources consumed in between, just how high can the accuracy be?"

"You're too pessimistic! Throughout human history, how many major epidemics have occurred? With such primitive medical conditions in the past, didn't we still achieve victory in the fight against viruses? What's more, technology is so advanced now."

"Alas! It's just a pity for those who turned into zombies; they were directly killed, it's too tragic!"

"Womanly compassion! From a medical perspective, a person is already dead after brain death. It's just that this virus hijacks the brain nerves. Although they can still move, they no longer possess conscious activity and no longer fall within the human category. The problem now is, if you don't kill them, they will turn around and attack more people, what do you say we do?"

"Alas! Indeed!"

"Hey, have you heard? There's an asymptomatic infected person in Shuguang Hospital. She's a nurse from Binjiang Hospital," someone asked in a low voice.

"No, I haven't heard. Where did you hear that?" Everyone gathered at the window, asking curiously.

The man cleared his throat and said proudly:

"I heard it from others too. I'm sure everyone knows that the first virus infected person came from Binjiang Hospital. And this nurse was responsible for that patient's ward at the time. No one understood this virus back then, nor did they know that brain-dead people could turn into zombies. Logically, brain-dead patients usually wouldn't last more than 24 hours and would essentially be incurable. But at that time, the infected person still had a heartbeat, and Experts were still consulting, so the young nurse went to change the medication as usual. But during the medication change, the infected person, who suddenly turned into a zombie, got up and bit the female nurse's arm directly. The nurse was terrified, her face drained of color, and she screamed loudly. But the zombie just wouldn't let go, tearing off a piece of flesh from her arm. Fortunately, the caregivers in the nearby beds saw something was wrong, quickly restrained the zombie, and pulled the person out of the room. However, later I heard that several caregivers in the room were bitten, and other patients were bitten to death on the spot."

"I know that. It was on the news back then. But later the hospital issued a statement saying it was a medical dispute," another person suddenly remembered the news they had seen before.

"What happened to that nurse later?" someone continued to ask.

"Well, then the virus outbreak happened, didn't it? This female nurse was isolated. But who knew, 15 days passed, and that female nurse never died, nor did she turn into a zombie. It's said that in just 15 days, she was tormented to the point of being unrecognizable. But later she got better, and her health recovered. After Shuguang Hospital was built, she was transferred to Shuguang Hospital."

"Then why haven't I seen her?" a doctor asked, and other doctors nodded in agreement.

"She's a national treasure, how could you see her? Think about it, what does asymptomatic mean? It means she can resist this virus. Perhaps whether we can successfully eliminate the virus this time depends on her. Shouldn't she be strictly protected?" the man replied disdainfully.

"Maybe that nurse wasn't infected?" someone questioned.

"Are you the smartest person on earth? Do you think all those Experts are just sitting around doing nothing? Don't you think they'd know if she was infected or not?" the man continued to reply.

"I knew it, the building next to mine has people with guns standing guard 24 hours a day. I always thought some important figure lived inside."

"Wow, if what you say is true, this nurse is really lucky!" someone exclaimed.

"More than lucky, she's practically a chosen one!" the storyteller concluded.

Everyone nodded silently.

Such things could only be envied.

"Excuse me, are you all doctors?" the man taking care of his Sister asked.

"Yes! What's up?" the man in the opposite isolation room asked impatiently.

"I'm sorry, my attitude was not good just now!" The man tried his best to force a smile and apologized.

"Oh! It's nothing," the man waved his hand and replied, no longer putting on airs when the other party apologized.

"I want to ask, is there any way to treat the virus once infected?" the man asked.

"No way. The virus attacks the brain nerves. As far as I know, there's no good treatment method so far; you can only leave it to fate," the man shook his head helplessly and said.

After listening, the man's face was filled with sorrow, and he looked at his Sister with reluctance.

Oriental Chen was also paying attention to the external situation, but he couldn't do anything at the moment and could only wait and see.