The invasion of the Flying Locust plunged Mo Bei City into chaos.
On the morning of 19th March, a day after the Flying Locust appeared, the first batch of 100 patients arrived from the desert wasteland on birds. All of them either self-destructed successfully or were shot down by the anti-air force. Mo Bei managed to fend off this wave of invasion but the loss was heavy. The evacuation of some areas had to be halted.
A part of the city was designated as quarantine area No. 1. There were more than ten thousand people who were suspected to be acutely infected.
When the carriers self-destructed, they were all within the radiation range — using Headmaster Chui's 8000 sqm radius as the standard.
There were Phecda members, military personnel and a large number of civilians. Some came with their families, there were the elderly and children.
Those who came into contact with them outside of the radiation range were temporarily listed as suspected patients. They were placed at quarantine area No. 2.
After one day, all the suspected patients at quarantine area No. 1 were diagnosed with allophagia. At quarantine area No. 2, there were more than 3000 people diagnosed.
These 13,000 plus new patients challenged the manpower allocated to them. Be it quarantine, surveillance, treatment, pain relief … they all required manpower or else the situation would be even worse. With the help of the government, many cars arrived at Mo Bei with their wills.
At the quarantine base, the condition of the second batch of patients continued to worsen.
After the appearance of the Flying Locusts, the patients' mental problems worsened. Most of the students and teachers from Mo Bei City's High School showed signs of insanity. However, the medical team could still use sedation and artificial coma to treat them.
However, the physical symptoms of the patients left them helpless. They had been injected with nutrient solutions, but their bodies still showed signs of dehydration and hunger. Their blood pressure was decreasing, and the examination found that the patients' cerebral blood flow was also decreasing. It seemed to be developing toward cerebral ischemia.
A normal human body was complicated enough but the comparison of DNA from these Locust Sickness patients confirmed Wang Ruoxiang's hypothesis.
Compared to their DNA before they were infected — this was extracted from the hair collected from their homes. There was a significant difference and the related mutation sites had the same frequency and distribution. Just one mutation could cause a mutation in the human body. It was unknown how many mutation sites were involved in the Locust Sickness. The only thing that could be confirmed was that the patients' genes had indeed mutated, a large number of mutations.
However, all the medical staff, including Wang Ruoxiang herself, hoped that this hypothesis was wrong, because in such a situation, there was nothing they could do.
Just like how the human body needed vitamin C, this was a physiological requirement at the DNA level.
They knew what the patients needed, the abnormal soil, but once they gave it, it would only lead to an earlier death.
If there was enough time and the scientific research of the world was gathered, there might be a corresponding gene correction therapy.
But the time they had now was not decades, or even a month. It was not even a week.
Si Kouxian, Wang Ruoxiang, and Cai Zixuan were all confused.
The earliest clinical trial had already ended. Some of the six patients who participated in the trial had gone to the frontline in the wasteland to determine the demarcation line with the suicide squad.
Patients could use their bodies to tell which parts of the soil were normal and which parts were abnormal. In the action plan, the patients did not need to eat the soil, and the suicide squad would not let them eat it either. They would know once they tasted it with their tongue. Since the border might be very long and time was of the essence, 100 patients were recruited.
They were all willing, even competing.
At least they would be able to eat some abnormal soil.
"I wish to do something …" Zhou Kewen said when he applied for the job. "I know I'm doomed, but at least my death will be worth something …" Thinking about his own death, he was in agony. He only had one wish, a wish that was strongly influenced by his physiology, "Can you let me eat a meal of that soil before I die before you kill me, please …"
"I can't just send my students." Wang Jinbo was one of the applicants. He too wished to eat a meal of abnormal soil before he died.
It was in this complicated emotion that there was fear, despair, the desire to die with value, and a twisted greed for the soil.
100 patients who were relatively mentally stable participated in this mission.
Among them, 63 people suddenly went crazy during the assessment. They broke free from the supervision of the suicide squad and ran towards the demarcation line. However, they didn't go anywhere. Instead, they threw themselves on the ground, dug the soil with their hands, and stuffed it into their mouths. Some people went completely crazy, and some people cried as they stuffed the soil.
They could not resist the hunger and thirst. When a person's hunger reached its limit, madness was the norm.
Hunger, extreme hunger, most modern people did not know what it felt like, but the bloodstained history books said it had to be very cruel.
It would make people no longer human, and they would turn back into beasts that ate raw meat and drink blood. The morality, dignity, and will that humans had worked so hard to build would be shattered. Eating soil, eating plants, cannibalism … As long as it could eliminate that hunger, they would not care about anything else.
Bang, bang, bang, bang …
Based on the agreement before the mission, the snipers of the suicide squad killed these patients who had lost control. Wang Jinbo, Zhou Kewen … all of them had a headshot.
They minimized the pain and tried their best to preserve the patients' dignity.
Not long after the bodies of these patients landed in the wasteland, they were cremated by incendiary bombs.
As for the other 37 patients, due to the higher radiation exposure in the wasteland, their condition was more serious. After the mission was over, most of them were euthanized.
These 100 patients had chosen a valuable sacrifice. If this civilization was not defeated by this incident, they would be remembered.
But for now, the people at the command central and the other departments could not let their emotions wander in this. The boundary of the wasteland was determined, it was about 2 square kilometers. The life circle construction operation continued and now the scale was visible.
As a doctor, Wang Ruoxiang watched the frontline operation in front of the screen, observing and analyzing.
The gunshots shattered her heart and tore through every nerve in her body.
"Are we doctors, or are we corpse collectors?" she murmured to herself.
What could they do at a time like this?
When she was in medical school, her teachers told her that the main responsibility of a doctor was to reduce the patient's pain. It was not only about saving people, it was fine if they could not save them. No, there were many diseases that could not be cured. Cancer, for example … the doctor's job was to reduce the patient's pain …
She had not slept for a long time. Even when she had time to rest, she would be jolted awake just as she was about to fall asleep.
But it was in this state that Wang Ruoxiang participated in the diagnosis and euthanasia of the returning patients.
The Locust Assimilation had changed their bodies and corrupted their minds but they could still leave this world peacefully.
It was going to be another long day. At 9 am, a sudden change happened.
Wang Ruoxiang was woken up by someone. She hurried to the command central at the quarantine base. Everyone there was looking at the big screen. It was the situation at the wasteland. A fleet of drones appeared in the air and remote-controlled vehicles appeared on the ground. They suddenly entered the wasteland from another dimension.
Those were not equipment from their faction. The logo on them was unfamiliar. There were two Chinese characters, Mysterium.
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