From 2nd August to 13th August, in a short span of 11 days, the epidemic claimed more than 2 million lives globally. Most of the victims died in the first 3 days.
The scenes of desolation in all the cities in the epidemic areas were similar. The once bustling streets were devoid of life. There was not a single person to be seen. If not for the presence of epidemic control personnel, there were only stray animals scavenging for food, searching for their deceased owners.
Outside the epidemic area, the shadow of death loomed over the people. Their lives were no longer the same.
Medical masks were sold out, all kinds of antibiotics were sold out, all kinds of disinfectants were sold out, mineral water was sold out, protective suits were sold out …
During this half a month, almost everyone in the world only had one hot topic, and that was the plague.
"Jiahwa, do you want to come out and play basketball?"
"Nah, if my mum finds out, she'll scold me to death. I think it's better to stay home and surf the internet."
Chen Jiahwa was a high school graduate from Eastern State. He had nothing to do after his high school entrance exam. His original plan was to go on a holiday in China in August but that plan was canceled. The rest of the summer vacation ended like this. The news advised the public to stay home during this period. All large events were canceled and even cinemas were closed.
However, staying at home was tough. Due to the transmission method of legionella bacteria, the air conditioner was not to be switched on.
Of course, not everyone was so obedient. Most of them believed that they would not be implicated. However, due to Chen Jiahwa's mother being a doctor at the health station, due to his mother's expectation and his own interest, he was accepted into Ji Hua Hospital's 5-year clinical medicine program.
Therefore, his family did not slack in their efforts to prevent the spread of legionella bacteria. The air conditioner and showers were turned off for the past few days.
Perhaps it was because of this that the cloud of worry that hung over their family was thicker than other families.
Now that the epidemic had broken out, the number of patients and medical workers on the news increased every day. The whole family was troubled.
His parents wanted him to give up the offer to study at Ji Hua Hospital and take the college entrance exam next year.
But Chen Jiahwa didn't want to. It wasn't because he wanted to wear a white coat, but because he didn't want to go through the third year of high school again. The thought of having to deal with a sea of questions made his scalp go numb. If that was the case, he might as well die now.
"Son, you have no idea how hard it is to study medicine." His mother advised, "If you study medicine, you'll have to take the college entrance exam every day."
"That's not what you said last month." Chen Jiahwa always retorted, "What do you mean it's easy to find a job after coming out? What do you mean it's easy to find a partner after becoming a doctor?"
"Easy to find a partner?" Mom shouted, "If it was so easy to find a partner, I wouldn't have married your father."
In fact, Chen Jiahua knew that his mother wanted him to study medicine purely because she was unwilling to accept the fact that she was still a doctor at a health station for most of her life. She also had a stable income, so she wanted her son to have a bright future.
Over the past few days, his mother had stopped trying to persuade him. Instead, she had been sighing and saying that she had harmed him, as if he was already in some kind of danger.
"Son, it's fine to repeat a year." Dad also kept trying to persuade them, "We're still young. We have to save our lives first before we think about enjoying university."
Was this a matter of age? Chen Jiahwa could not be bothered to argue with them. He really could not afford to go back to Year 12 again. If not, all his hair would fall out before he was 20.
Even though the epidemic was still far away from Eastern State, and the fearlessness of the medical staff had been praised by the whole nation, the Chen family, which had always prided itself on being a medical family, had undergone this kind of change.
"You're afraid of playing basketball? It's at the basketball court next to our residential area. " His friend's dissatisfied voice came from the phone, "Do you have to be so cowardly? Our Eastern State is not the epicenter, what's there to be afraid of? There was the flu last year, but we're still fine. "
At the beginning of this year, there was a serious flu at Eastern State. At the time, the whole city was put on lockdown. There was no internet and communication was cut off. The rest of the country did not feel anything, but the people of Eastern State had been living in fear for several months. They did not even recover from the shock during Chinese New Year.
Now that half a year had passed, they had recovered and many people were even more hopeful.
"It's different this time." Chen Jiahwa sighed, "Two million people have died globally. My mother has an old classmate who works at the city hospital. He said this is very serious. It's nothing compared to the previous flu. We can't afford to underestimate it. "
"Forget it. How cowardly. Do whatever you want," the friend said and hung up the phone.
"Sometimes, being a coward will help you live longer." Chen Jiahwa grumbled. But strangely enough, why was he not afraid of becoming a doctor?
'It's so hot.' Chen Jiahwa walked to the balcony and sat down. As he enjoyed the cool breeze, he browsed the internet.
Although the internet was tightly controlled these days, it was still very chaotic. There were all kinds of news from home and abroad. There were all kinds of theories, some true and some false. There was even a rumor that the government was going to impose a national lockdown and the world's top officials were escaping to Greenland and Antarctica.
But the news that he shared with his friend was true, his mother did have that classmate.
Looking at the news, Chen Jiahwa's heart did not feel good. But when he looked at the moving pictures of the infected areas, the teams of medical workers in protective gear, the children with determined faces, the orderly crowd waiting to be evacuated …
He felt a surge of strength in his heart.
Although these pictures were definitely not the whole picture, it was because the country wanted to appease the people, so they made such publicity pictures.
After reading the mainstream news, Chen Jiahwa browsed through social media.
Once he logged into the app, he saw a new post. The title read, "Big news, a suspected outbreak of legionella pneumonia at Eastern State!"
"What …" Chen Jiahwa's heart skipped a beat. A chill crawled up his body … Epidemic? An epidemic here?!
He clicked on the post and saw someone had used their phone to take a picture of a quarantine vehicle driving by. Then a group of people were escorted into the vehicle. The group of people was quite strange, they were all dressed in strange linen clothes. He scrolled down to read the replies. Many Eastern State netizens panicked. Their hope was easily shattered.
In the current era, the appearance of quarantine vehicles was equivalent to the appearance of an epidemic.
The more Chen Jiahwa read the post, the more confused he became. He wanted to refresh the page but realized the post had already been deleted by the admin.
"Ah, it can't be true …" He was getting more and more scared. He hurriedly searched everywhere for this situation, but nothing showed up.
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