More than ten people who had been infected with the Zebra virus were lying in the 50-square-meter basement. However, compared to the others, these people were seriously ill and could no longer move freely. The muscles on their bodies had clearly become soft and hard along with the stripes. From their eyes, one could tell what was going on in their minds.
Some people's eyes were deathly still as they quietly accepted these useless and barely buffered medical treatments. Some people were filled with unwillingness, resentment, and sorrow. Some people seemed to have thought things through and seemed to be at peace. Their eyes were filled with a look of reminiscence.
The former were mostly young people, while the latter were mostly old people. Age brought about different reactions to life-threatening situations.
Other than those lying on the simple beds, there were some people who could still move. These people helped clean the patients and change the medication.
However, the basement that was originally filled with despair and sorrow changed with the arrival of Huimao and Silin. This was the first living animal they had seen in a long time.
Many people paid attention to Huimao, who was walking around and jumping up and down. The long period of gloom and silence was revived by the jumping of this cat.
It was like a ray of sunlight in the darkness. After staying in the darkness for a long time, it was hard to accept this warm light.
A woman was sitting in a corner with a two-year-old child in her arms. The child, who had been sleepy and listless, reached out to Huimao happily when he saw Huimao.
"Mommy, look, it's a kitten that can move!"
The woman's eyes reddened. She touched the child's hair, which had changed color. Feeling the different texture of the hair in her hands, she said in a low voice, "Yes, it's a kitten that can move."
Due to the disaster brought about by the virus, they had forgotten how long it had been since they had seen such a lively and energetic life. Their memories were filled with striped shadows, and under the background of gunfire and smoke, there were wreckages everywhere. There were humans, animals, and even buildings. All of them were gray with stripes.
Huimao walked around Silin's bed. Silin's body was bleeding profusely. Even though the wound wasn't big and there wasn't much blood loss, he would still die from blood loss if the bleeding continued.
Seeing Huimao pacing around the bed, the woman sighed. "I don't know why, but the equipment is limited, so I can't do more tests."
Hearing this, Huimao's ears drooped. The woman didn't dare to look him in the eye. She felt guilty.
Huimao jumped onto the bed and squatted beside Silin's arm. It checked Silin's physical condition again.
It was even messier.
What to do!
He raised his paw and patted Silin, but there was no response. He patted again and again …
Seeing Huimao like this, the people around him became even more silent. They had seen many people lying down and never waking up again. Every time they saw such an example, they would wonder how long it would take for them to become like the person lying on the bed.
Right now, Cillin couldn't give Wheeze a response. He had gathered all of his power to fight against the unknown substance, and he couldn't even spare any energy to repair his wounds. Many of the components in his body fluids were no longer what they used to be, and this messy state was caused by the battle between the two entities.
Silin thought that he was trying to use the biochip embedded in his chromosomes to fight against the many new zebra viruses brought by the unknown substance. In the end, he realized that he would be the one who would be exhausted the most if he continued to do so. The possibility of driving the unknown substance out of his body was slim.
The virus that had entered his body was unusually active because of the appearance of the unknown substance. The two-colored stripes on the surface of Silin's body had gradually deepened, and the boundary between the two colors was quite obvious. This meant that the zebra virus in Silin's body was abnormally active.
The stable state of his body was on the verge of collapse. Once it did, Silin didn't know if there was any possibility of recovery. But now, the biochip was gradually unable to hold on.
If he used this substance to fully activate the biochip, would he have a higher chance of success?
No. According to the analysis of the information obtained from the equipment in Horay Hansen's underground laboratory, when the biochip was fully activated, there was a more than 50% chance that the body would be unable to completely integrate with the biochip, resulting in excessive rejection and eventual death.
Then, what about the other method? Although it was risky, the success rate was slightly higher than the former.
Silin changed his strategy. He no longer forcefully rejected the unknown substance. The biochip that was gradually becoming unstable also gradually calmed down. However, after this period of calmness, Silin suddenly controlled the biochip to break down the unknown substance.
Huimao's ears twitched. He opened his eyes and looked at Silin. The energy in Silin's body began to appear again, but it was slightly different from before. It seemed that due to excessive energy consumption, Silin's entire body had become a size thinner. His skin wrinkled because of this change, but the wrinkles quickly smoothed out. The epidermal cells began to die, and his skin peeled off piece by piece before turning into powder.
What was going on?
Huimao stared intently at Silin, watching this series of changes that he had never seen before.
However, to Huimao's relief, the boundary between the two colors of the stripes on Silin's body began to blur. Huimao secretly looked around. The lights in the room were dimmer, and most of them were asleep, including the two women. No one paid attention to the situation here, and the people next to them were also asleep. The equipment beside them had flickered a few times, but it did not attract anyone's attention. Perhaps everyone thought that these equipment were the aftereffects of the previous chaos.
Huimao looked at Silin again. He raised his claws and lifted Silin's sleeve. The stripes on his arm were the same. Although the blood from the wound had not coagulated, it was no longer flowing.
Half an hour later, Huimao blew away the layer of 'ash' on the surface of Silin's body due to the death of a large number of cells.
The chaotic state in Silin's body had calmed down, but the originally blurry black and white stripes now appeared again, and the boundary between the two stripes was still so clear. What's going on?
Huimao listened carefully to Silin's heartbeat and relaxed a little. He continued to lie on the ground and keep watch.
Another hour passed. The sky outside was starting to brighten, but the basement was still quiet.
Silin opened his eyes and turned his head to see a pair of cat eyes staring at him.
He moved his fingers a little uncontrollably, but he recovered very quickly. He raised a hand and pinched Huimao's ear, communicating with a machine language that only the two of them knew and no one else could hear.
"Where are we?" Silin asked.
Huimao told him what had happened earlier, and hurriedly asked about Silin's current condition. He also asked if he should contact Guan Feng and have them send someone over.
Silin shook his head. After relaxing his muscles, he propped himself up on the makeshift bed and sat up. With his eyesight, he could see the place very clearly.
A few people who hadn't fallen asleep vaguely saw that Silin didn't react at all when he sat up. In their minds, even if an infected person could sit up right now, he would die very soon. It wasn't surprising at all.
Not far away, Cillin saw the dog lying on a small operating table. The dog's gunshot wound had been treated, but it could only lie there. Even breathing was difficult for it.
There was a glass of water on the cabinet next to him. Silin poured himself a glass of water and drank it. Then, he found a bag of compressed biscuits. Although the workmanship was rough, it could still save him a little. In order to get rid of the unknown substance, Silin felt like he had lost a month's worth of weight in a short period of time.
Originally, Cillin had planned to treat the unknown substance gently, decompose it step by step, and then eliminate it. Who knew that he would seize an opportunity in the end. After the unknown substance was decomposed, it became a balancing force that stabilized the chip, and embedded itself into the biochip on the DNA chromosome, causing the chip to change.
What made Silin happy was that during this embedding process, the chip was completely activated. Under the effect of the decomposed unknown substance, it was unusually peaceful.
In other words, Silin had absorbed the substance that produced the Zebra virus for his own use. It was exactly because of this that Cillin was able to better understand this new virus.
Most of the time, naturally formed life forms were much stronger than artificially modified ones. The same was true for viruses. In fact, the most dangerous viruses weren't the viruses in the secret research institutes, but the unknown viruses that hadn't been discovered yet.
This virus was definitely not artificially created. It was a new life form, a new virus. It didn't appear in the form of DNA or protein like other known viruses, but in the form of this unknown substance.
The unknown substance that entered Silin's body allowed the Zebra virus to appear. Now, without this substance, the Zebra virus would no longer appear.
As for the so-called mutants, Silin could analyze the interaction between the chip in his body and the unknown substance to find the best solution.
Taking advantage of this time, Silin looked at the contents recorded by the scanning machine in the underground laboratory where the substance was discovered. The whole story of the discovery of the substance and the origin of the Zebra virus were recorded.
He was a depressed researcher. He had only accidentally discovered the material that fell from the meteorite and brought it into the laboratory. However, it didn't take long for him to discover that he was infected with the virus.
After discovering it, the person didn't immediately report it. Instead, he set up a trap with a hateful thought. The people who died on the planet discovered by the patrol team were the victims. Through the records, Silin knew that the researcher contacted seven people. In other words, in addition to the five people who had been discovered, there were two more people.
These seven people were the carriers that spread the virus from one planet to another.
This was a revenge incident.
"Hey, you're awake?" The woman who brought Silin over said.
Silin put away the scanner without a trace and smiled. "Thank you for bringing me in."
"Don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank your cat. We really couldn't help much." The woman looked at Silin and found that the small wounds had healed, and even the marks had faded. However, she didn't ask directly. She had seen many people with special physiques.
Silin walked a few steps and stretched. If it weren't for the stripes on his face, people would think that he was a normal person who hadn't been infected with the Zebra virus.
"Anyway, thank you for bringing me here."
The woman smiled bitterly. "This is all I can do. I know that everyone is going to die, but I still want to do something out of habit. Come, I'll take you to eat some hot food. "
There was a small compartment in the basement that was used to store hot food. Here, the woman scooped a bowl of porridge for Silin. This was the only simple food in the basement.
Silin drank a large bowl. Although it wasn't much, he still felt hungry. However, he realized that there wasn't much food in the basement, so he didn't ask the woman to make more after he ate some.
It was already dawn outside, but no one dared to go out. They were afraid that they would be beaten into a sieve.
Huimao was also very hungry, but it was picky and didn't eat this kind of porridge. Silin pinched its ears and told it that he would make food for it after they went out.
While they were resting in the cubicle, Celine chatted with the woman for a bit. He learned that the woman was a doctor, and the school she went to was not a good one. Her family's financial situation was limited, and she did not have any particularly outstanding talents. She had always been unknown. However, it was precisely this ordinary and inconspicuous doctor who still carried the word "medical ethics" in such a difficult situation. What about those so-called celebrities in the industry?
This disaster had taken away many people, including her family. Now, only she and her cousin, the little girl that Huimao pretended to be pitiful, were left.
"It will be fine. There will be a turn for the better soon, "Silin said.
The woman just smiled and didn't answer. They had been looking forward to the so-called turn for the better for too long, but the final result was always disappointing. Now, she was numb with disappointment. She only relied on the remaining medical ethics to support herself. She didn't give up. She was motivated to keep those people alive for one more second. Of course, she wasn't stupid. She had her own standards. There were some people she didn't dare to bring in. She didn't trust them. If this place was exposed, everyone here would die.
After talking for a while, Silin took out a tube of medicine. It was a broad-spectrum medicine that he had made in the past. Although it couldn't completely cure the symptoms of the zebra virus, it could play a role in alleviating it.
"Try this medicine. There's hope if you can delay it for one more second."
The woman took the medicine and thanked him. She didn't doubt the medicine. After all, at a time like this, it didn't matter what medicine it was. She would give it a try if she could.
When the woman heard that Silin wanted to go out, she gave Silin a gun. Silin refused. The gun would be more useful in their hands.
After Silin promised not to tell the rioters about this place, the woman opened the basement door for Silin and let Silin out.
It was still gray outside, and the air was filled with an unpleasant smell. There were some people sitting on the rubble with guns. They were the kind of people who chose to go crazy in their despair.
Silin and Huimao didn't choose to clash with them. Now wasn't the time. Their top priority right now was to contact Guan Feng.
After leaving the city and arriving at a remote place, Cillin took out his communicator and contacted Guan Feng.
It didn't take long for the communicator to connect. Guan Feng stared at Cillin's black-and-white face through the holographic image on the communicator's screen. He opened his mouth a few times, but couldn't utter a single word for a very long time.
While Guan Feng was silent, Silin told him his idea. He wanted to research the zebra virus medicine here, and he asked Guan Feng to send a robot to deliver the medicine synthesizer. Guan Feng refused.
"Some robots have already arrived at the planet, but they couldn't find you. Since you've come out now, I'll have them send you off the planet. I won't object to your research. The starship I sent out should have arrived outside the planet by now, and there are relevant equipment on it. You can research there, but you can't stay on the planet! "
Silin understood Guan Feng's meaning. A heavily infected planet like this could be abandoned at any time. If the higher-ups gave the order, Silin would be able to avoid them easily if he stayed on the starship.
Silin didn't turn down Guan Feng's offer. He needed to hurry up and try to synthesize the medicine.
Robots appeared around Silin before Silin could finish talking to Guan Feng. They had received the signal and rushed over. A hidden spaceplane was already flying over.
After turning off the communicator, Silin and Huimao went up to the starship. There was indeed a starship waiting outside the planet, but it wasn't Guan Feng's. It looked like Black Viper's starship. There was no way Guan Feng's starship would have such a complete set of medicine synthesizer equipment.
Without contacting anyone else, Silin went straight into the medicine workshop and started trying to synthesize the virus medicine.
Huimao crouched on a nearby shelf and asked Silin during a break, "You look pretty good right now. If it wasn't for that zebra stripe on your face, I wouldn't have thought that you're an infected person at all."
Silin moved his gaze away from the molecular synthesizer and smiled. "You can't judge a book by its cover."
Under Huimao's wide, round eyes, the black and white zebra stripes on Silin's body started fading until they disappeared completely. Then, they reappeared and returned to their original black-and-white appearance.
Huimao raised a paw in indignation. "Y-y-y-you're lying again!"
"It can't be helped. At first, I became like that because of the infection, but after I woke up, I was no longer like that. Besides, if others find out about this … Do you want me to be dragged into research by the Royal Academy of Sciences or the bigots of Black Viper?"
Huimao shook his head violently. Who would be willing to do something like that? In the past, it was afraid of being dragged into research, but now Silin was in the same situation as well. Very good, I have a companion.
"So you're saying that you're completely fine now?" Huimao wagged his tail happily.
"You could say that."
"That's good then. You should get back to work. I'm going to sleep now that I'm full!"
"Go to sleep."
Silin rubbed Huimao's head. It must've been hard on the glutton this time. Now that he finally had a chance to relax, he decided to let it have a good sleep.
Half a day later, Silin chose three different medicines from the dozen or so he tested them on infected animals. All of them were fairly effective. He chose the quickest medicine and had the robot take it to some of the heavily infected animals on the planet. If it worked, then it would be a success.
After the robot left with the medicine, Silin had just sat down when his communicator rang. It wasn't Guan Feng this time, but a dispirited Bel.
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