Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

Death had arrived for the first batch of patients registered at Jiang Xin Hospital. The same was happening at the hospitals at San Hai City as well as all over the world. The death toll was climbing and the epidemic was getting out of control. Currently not all hospitals had gone into stagnation but none of the hospitals in the infected area had enough on-duty staff to deal with the influx of patients. They lacked necessary equipment too.

At the command central in headquarters, the celebration they had from finding a possible cure was suppressed by a heavy silence. The monitors of the different departments were connected to the surveillance of the different hospitals. Some had their eyes red while others lowered their heads. The monitors showed heart-wrenching images, especially those from Jiang Xin Hospital. From the lobby to the emergency room, and from the pharmacy to the wards… every corridor was filled with patients, shuffling, pleading and asking for help. Filth like blood and vomit was everywhere, on the wall, on the ground, on the patients. It was hell on earth. No one was there to clean up. As much as the patients cried, there was no doctor, nurse or staff who came to help them. This was because the angels in white had already collapsed to the ground themselves, coughing weakly. Initially they tried their best to maintain the order, telling everyone to calm down… but they were themselves taken down by the disease and their words were slowly drowned out.

The death notifications of medical staff arrived constantly at the command central. Doctor Huang Lin died, the other emergency doctor Zhao Yutao died too. Doctors in the nearby area, who were called back to help, died… The nurses at the emergency room died, the researchers who responded first-hand to the emergency died… Some of the patients who still had strength in them moved towards the exits but found that they were all sealed. The guards posted there were coughing violently as well.

The whole hospital was transformed into a giant morgue, housed by the already dead and almost dead. The dead bodies lost their temperature, lost were the warmth of their skin, and the warmth of their life. They would never have the chance to accomplish the things they set out to do, to make confessions they wished to make, to see the world they have yet to see. Those passions that burned dwindled into decay before disintegrating into nothingness. Dust to dust, earth to earth.

“Sir, we’re running out of time but the researchers on the ships still need more time.” Inside the command room, Yao Sinian was in the middle of a discussion with the Phecda leader. “We need to initiate the highest degree disease control measure now and commence lockdown of the whole state. Or else this epidemic will continue to grow and the whole country will… We will have to abandon San Hai City.” Actually since afternoon, public transport like flights and trains were already monitored. But a state lockdown was a completely different beast. This kind of protocol was not something that could be decided by Phecda, at most they could only send the proposal forward to the main government. But based on the development, the earlier the lockdown, the better it would be.

“Drug number 1” brought hope, but they were running out of time. Even if the whole world worked together, analysing the drug’s component, its chemical structure, testing the replication process, manufacturing the API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) and then the actual pills… even if they ignored the purity of the final result, the least they would need was 2 days. This was under the premise that everything went smoothly, but the people from the Research Team were not that optimistic. The component of this drug was extremely complex. They could skimp on time by offering the patients API directly, but whether it was effective and whether it would carry side effects was unknown. Even so that would still take at least 1 day.

With this strain’s fatality rate and contagiousness, it could bring down a whole city within a day. If they did not control and limit the spread now, even if they had the manufacturing formula later, there would be no one left to save.

Abandoning San Hai City was not an easy choice… Because it meant that they would have to make the conscious decision to cease sending rescue efforts into the city. “We’ll make the proposal now.” The old leader said tiredly. Even though the central power of Phecda had been through a lot, this decision still chilled their hearts. Some decisions were impossible to make, but someone had to make them. They were lacking manpower everywhere. To put it frankly, while San Hai City might still have some healthy citizens, the majority had been infected, the rescue effort used here could be deployed to some other cities which had not been so seriously infected, and that would be a better use of their resources…

Perhaps some might have the necessary immunization system to survive this ordeal at San Hai City but these minorities would not be able to stop the city’s inevitable collapse. While the proposal was made to the government, the command central gave the order to the frontline. “Everyone, be prepared to retreat! Problematic Team, evacuate Jiang Xin Hospital immediately. A helicopter will be there to fetch you to the mothership. Please respond if you have received this message.”

Inside Jiang Xin Hospital, pleading and coughing reverberated through the walls. Uncle Dan, Peacock and the rest heard the orders from the headquarters.

“…” Gu Jun heard it as well but he did not respond. He knew what this order meant. He had visited all the patients, most of them were dead but none evoked the spirituality within him. He wanted to revive all of them, he wanted to save the living patients but he only had 4 anti-inflammation pills in his hands.

“Cough, cough…” He Feng next to him coughed violently. Gu Jun knew that the first symptom for this disease control expert appeared 12 hours ago, he still had some time left in him. He Feng’s contribution could not be overlooked for the high efficiency of the measures taken at Jiang Xin Municipal.

“Mr. He.” With a heavy heart, Gu Jun thought, ‘1 is better than 0.'”You should take one of these to see if it works or not.”

Spirit returned to He Feng’s pale face. Light shone in his eyes. That was hope from a spring of life.

“Doctor Gu, Doctor Gu…” Due to the excitement, He Feng exploded in serial chokes. He had to turn his head away to spit his bloody saliva at the wall. This was not something he’d normally do, this kind of medical waste should not be dealt like this…

But now, He Feng pleaded in urgency. “Thank you for giving this pill to me but I wish to give it to my daughter. Cough, cough. She is only 7 years old, she caught the illness less than 2 hours ago. I’m sure she’ll respond to this better than I do, so can I give it to her? She is back home with my wife, my home is less than 1 hour car drive from here. Cough cough…” He Feng’s face was purple from the coughing. “I’ll take the pill and drive home now. I still have 3 to 5 hours of consciousness, I need to return home, I need to… I’ve promised her…”

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