The night sky at Eastern State was gray. From midnight until dawn, the number of people on the streets had dwindled.
Even though the internet was tightly controlled, for the past two days, the media at Eastern State had been reporting about it. The citizens had received notifications on their phones that a new influenza had recently broken out at Eastern State. It was highly contagious, and the fatality rate was high. If one suddenly experienced muscle pain, anxiety, or insomnia, one had to seek medical attention immediately.
Due to the severity of the news, people had reduced their exits to avoid crowded places. The whole city was shrouded in a layer of deathly aura.
When Gu Jun arrived at Phecda's Medical Department, it was already midnight. He had finally returned after one and a half months.
The buildings at the Medical Department were still brightly lit, but the colleagues that he saw were all moving in a hurry. No one was talking, and they did not even make eye contact. It was as if they could not see each other. Professor Qin told Gu Jun that even though there was no prohibition within the department, there was no suggestion to chat outside of work.
There were already three cases at the Medical Department, and none of them were people that Gu Jun was familiar with. They were the researchers from the psychology group.
Due to the urgency of the situation, Gu Jun did not have the chance to meet any of his acquaintances. The first thing he did was to follow them to the psychology building. He had been there for his induction training, but at the time, there were no unfamiliar members from the Action Department guarding the place, and there was no gloom that hung over the place.
"Currently, there are ten patients being treated here," Professor Qin said. "The other patients are at the quarantine camp." Yao Sinian nodded.
After entering the building, they passed through many checkpoints before they reached the Nightmare Illness Research Center that was located on the twelfth floor.
This place did not look like it was 1 am. From the corridor to the various offices, there were busy doctors and researchers. They tried to understand this disease from the perspective of neurology, psychiatry, and psychology.
However, they were either frowning or expressionless. There was no breakthrough.
"Elder Qin, Leader Yao." The leader of the psychology group, Tang Zhifeng, hurried over. When he saw Gu Jun, he was surprised. He knew Gu Jun.
Tang Zhifeng was one of the judges of the medical skills competition that day, and he appreciated Gu Jun's psychological quality.
However, Tang Zhifeng knew that Gu Jun was later taken away by the Abnormal Energy Investigation Team because he was suspected to be the 'thing in the banyan tree'. Many of the people here had also heard some gossip about Gu Jun, mainly that this rising star had committed a crime and was taken away. At this time, everyone was quite puzzled about his appearance.
"This is Gu Jun, one of us." Professor Qin raised his voice and introduced, "He has done a lot of great things, and now he's here to join the research."
Everyone was surprised. To be valued so highly by Old Qin and Commander Yao, Gu Jun seemed to be able to bring something.
But wasn't Gu Jun originally from the Surgery Department? Oh, that's right, the research plan to try to use lobotomy as a treatment. The first surgery will be carried out tomorrow morning. Gu Jun must have joined the surgery team, but why did he attract so much attention …
"Good morning, everyone." Just as Gu Jun greeted the group, Professor Qin said, "Leader Tang, let's bring Ah Jun to see the patient."
Soon, Gu Jun put on his white coat and mask again after so many days and followed the few leaders to the sickrooms on this floor.
Before this, he had complained that wearing a mask made his breathing stuffy, but now, this feeling that he had not felt for a long time gave him a sense of peace.
The security in the corridor of the sickrooms was even tighter. Every room was a single person, and the door was equipped with a soundproof one-way glass window. From the corridor, one could see into the room.
Through the glass window, Gu Jun saw the patient of Nightmare Illness for the first time. A normal looking young man sat on the bed, lost in thought.
"This patient was just admitted yesterday," Professor Qin said, and his voice had a calmness that was similar to that of an experienced doctor.
"Ah Jun, now we can roughly divide the development of Nightmare Illness into three stages. This patient is still in the early stage, and the main clinical symptom is sleep disturbance. Every night, after he goes to sleep, he will have the same nightmare again, and after he wakes up, he will not be able to sleep again. Some patients in the middle stage have tried to stay awake at night, but they will still have hallucinations at some point. They will not have a nightmare in the morning, but they will not be able to sleep well.
"In the early stage, the patient's mental state will rapidly deteriorate, and he will show signs of muscle weakness. This will lead to autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and the symptoms include increased sweating, tachycardia, arrhythmia, and postural hypotension. There is another symptom, and that is the lesion of the tongue … Let's go in and take a look. "
Immediately, the two guards from the Action Department opened the sickroom door. They went in to remind the patient to follow the rules, and then the group of people walked in.
When the patient saw the group of doctors enter, his haggard face lit up with excitement, and he was about to say something.
Gu Jun frowned. He could see the fear in the patient's eyes and the desire to live.
The patient was only several years older than him, so he should not be facing death at the age of twenty-five.
"Ah." The patient only dared to make such a muffled sound. The rule here was that patients were not allowed to speak freely. They could only answer whatever the doctor asked them, and they had to speak word by word. If there was anything wrong, the guards would immediately use the taser to stop them.
"Hello, please open your mouth." Gu Jun listened to Professor Qin. He held a small flashlight and walked forward to examine the patient's tongue with a serious expression.
The patient was very cooperative. He sat by the bed and raised his head, and his mouth was wide open.
Before Gu Jun shone the flashlight, his heart instantly sank, as if the pathological scene before him had yanked at his heart.
The patient's tongue was obviously a shrunken tongue. It was almost half the size of a normal tongue, and it was curled into a strange shape. The color of the tongue was eerily black, and there was a strong stench coming from it. It looked like the tongue of a dead body …
A dead body would have a shrunken tongue, and that change was almost identical to the tongue before him.
"It's done," Gu Jun said in a low voice as he nodded at the patient.
"Ah, ah …" The patient made a few anxious and vague sounds, as if he was desperately asking for help.
However, after examining the tongue, the group of people left, leaving the patient standing by the bed in a daze.
"A shrunken tongue is the first symptom of patients in the early stage." In the corridor, Professor Qin said to Gu Jun, "Also, the patient will feel thirsty, and drinking a lot of water will not alleviate this symptom. It may be nerve damage. However, at this stage, the patient's mental strength is still fine, but he has become a little anxious. "
Tang Zhifeng, who was next to him, sighed. "This patient said that he was infected after reading his friend's WeChat message. His friend is also here, and he is in the middle stage."
Gu Jun could only listen quietly. How could he dare to think that he could definitely save them? He did not trigger the feeling of spirituality earlier …
He looked at the patient in the ward through the one-way glass window again. The patient was already sitting there in a daze, thinking about something.
He calmed down and looked at the patient's information card hanging at the door.
Name: Chen Wenwei
Age: 25
Condition: Early stage]
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
