Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 256 Chilling
The three people stood on the bridge, silently watching the strange scene below.

A gust of wind blew by, and despite the weather not being cold, an indescribable chill seeped into my bones.

Ouyang could not imagine how many infected corpses the rivers and streams flowing through the epidemic area had carried away, or how many spores had taken root and sprouted outside the epidemic area.

And all of this is a source of infection that continues to spread!

Every river eventually flows into the sea, but fortunately, spores and bacteria cannot survive in seawater!
“If things continue like this, I’m afraid the entire Americas will be lost,” Ouyang said, breaking the silence with a sigh.

Pneumococcus not only infects humans, but can also take root and grow in suitable environments. In other words, no matter how much manpower and resources are invested, it is impossible to completely eradicate this thing.

It is foreseeable that if no effective treatment is found, the epidemic will continue to spread, and only the immune will be able to survive on this land in the future.

When it's all over, Phantom Lung will be spread throughout the United States... no, throughout the entire America. At that time, the only American territory that can still be considered safe will be Hawaii, far away from the American mainland.

Next, all countries must continue to isolate the Americas and prevent anyone who originally lived in the Americas from setting foot outside the region. Otherwise, if there is any oversight and the Pneumocystis pneumonia spreads beyond the Americas, it will inevitably be a huge disaster affecting the whole world!

With a 10% immunization rate, the global population will plummet to less than 800 million in just a few years... No, even if 400 million survive, that's the best-case scenario. If 100 million people survive, that would be a stroke of good fortune amidst misfortune.

Thinking further, if immunity is hereditary, then surviving humans can continue to reproduce and gradually adapt to a world with pneumococcus.

If immunity is not hereditary... it means that from now on, every newborn will have to undergo the test of pneumococcus, and only by passing this test can they gain the right to survive and grow.

The immunity rate for adults is 10%, so what is the immunity rate for infants?

Only one out of ten babies can survive?
Or is it that only one out of twenty or even thirty babies survives?
How many children can a couple have in their lifetime?

Thinking of this, Ou Yang felt a chill run down his spine.

He hesitated whether he should tell his companion his thoughts when a low rumble suddenly came from afar—it was the sound of a helicopter!
Ouyang immediately tensed up: "Let's go!"

The three of them took off running and dashed across the bridge to hide in the bushes on the other side.

A moment later, a light helicopter flew by along the river.

Only after the plane had flown far away did Ouyang peek out for a glance.

It turns out that Old Mi already knew about the situation here.

That's right. Although the US was severely impacted by the pandemic, it's still a giant in its own right. Its rich resources far surpass those of most countries in the world. Even if it monitored the epidemic area with satellites 24 hours a day, it wouldn't be a problem. How could it possibly ignore such a serious issue?
That's not right either. If the US's monitoring was really that thorough, how could the bodies of infected people have ended up in the river?
This world really is a huge makeshift operation!

Whatever, whatever!

Ouyang stood up and shook off the bits of grass from his clothes: "Let's go!"

He suddenly became a little worried that if he walked out of the epidemic area like this, would he be detected by the US satellite?

But then I thought, what's meant to be will be, so I'll just have to take it one step at a time!

The three continued forward, but their steps were somewhat heavy.

Zhu Yiming glanced at Ou Yang, then at Jiang Yuwei, and deliberately tried to lighten the mood: "Hey, Ou Yang, what's the point of your skis? You haven't used them at all."

Ouyang forced a smile: "We don't need it now because we have a road to walk on. If there were no road, I would tie this thing to the wheels. It would definitely save more effort than using the wheels directly."

"Hey, I thought it was something else!" The answer was revealed, and Zhu Yiming suddenly realized, "How did you come up with that?"

"Have you ever heard of grass skiing?" Ouyang brought up a relatively niche recreational activity. "Anyway, I just think of it whenever I see a sled..."

He stopped talking abruptly halfway through his sentence and made several hand gestures alertly.

Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei were startled and immediately hid in the bushes by the roadside, staring at the road ahead, their hearts beating faster and faster uncontrollably.

In the end what happened?
But after staring at it for a long time, I didn't find anything unusual.

The two of them looked at Ou Yang at the same time, and Zhu Yiming nudged Ou Yang lightly with his elbow twice.

Ou Yang shook his head slightly and made a shushing gesture.

The two could only suppress their doubts and obediently continue to hide.

A few minutes later, several American soldiers with guns appeared in the distance.

They wore masks, but not military uniforms; instead, they wore the most ordinary clothes and carried the most ordinary bags.

The seven people lined up in a row, their eyes scanning their surroundings like radar.

Ouyang clicked his tongue, only realizing at this moment that the US's lockdown of the epidemic area was much stricter than he had imagined!

That's true. Although the US has a large military, the epidemic area is so big that the military alone cannot complete the lockdown. The most reliable way is to mobilize ordinary people to participate in the lockdown operation.

Americans generally own guns, and the military doesn't even need to issue them; just give them a reason, and the Americans can spontaneously organize themselves.

Just kidding, who isn't worried about the spread of the epidemic?
Isn't this just the American version of the vast ocean?

The University of Tokyo is the best at this trick, so maybe the idea didn't come from them!

Ouyang suddenly felt as if a boomerang had hit him.

However, he also knew that this matter might not necessarily be related to Dongda University, because the militia of the old United States also had a long history, and he had heard of the famous name of the One Minute Man!
Of course, these people may not necessarily be militia members assisting the US military in sealing off the epidemic area; they may have other purposes.

Regardless of what they were up to, Ouyang didn't want to have anything to do with them.

He quietly took out his Glock, preparing for any unexpected situation.

Zhu Yiming swallowed hard and also set up his rifle.

Jiang Yuwei also gripped the gun tightly in her hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed something moving. Looking sideways, she saw a snake covered in dark spots come into her view.

In an instant, the hairs on her body stood on end, and a scream was about to come out, but she stopped herself.

Jiang Yuwei knew very well that snakes usually do not attack people unless provoked. Regardless of whether the snake was venomous or not, as long as she did not move around, the possibility of being bitten was almost negligible.

Knowing this doesn't lessen the fear that runs deep in my bones; it causes uncontrollable physiological changes throughout my body.

But she wasn't alone here; Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming were also there!
Their attention was completely focused on Old Mi, and they were completely unaware of the potential danger around them.

Jiang Yuwei glared at the snake, repeatedly sending her thoughts through telepathy: "Go away, get out of here, get far away!"

Unfortunately, the brainwaves of humans and snakes are not on the same frequency. The more Jiang Yuwei tried to drive it away, the closer the snake got to Ou Yang.

Just as the snake was about to crawl onto Ou Yang, Jiang Yuwei bit her lip tightly, desperately overcoming her fear, and suddenly used her submachine gun to deflect the snake away. Seeing the snake fly off, Ou Yang realized what had happened and broke out in a cold sweat.

Old Mi on the road also noticed something was wrong, immediately turned his gun sideways, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Ouyang fired first, taking down the most threatening enemy, Old Mi, with two quick shots. Then he emptied his magazine in one go, taking two bullets from every enemy in his line of sight.

At least two shots.

At the same time, Zhu Yiming also fired a shot. He didn't know how many targets he hit. In any case, there couldn't be any standing Lao Mi in his line of sight, otherwise he would unconsciously aim and fire!
It sounds complicated, but in reality, everything happened in a very short time. Ouyang quickly changed to a new magazine, made sure all the old Americans were incapacitated, and then had time to turn to look at Jiang Yuwei: "Sister Wei, are you alright?"

Jiang Yuwei sat on the ground with her legs apart, shaking her head stiffly like a wooden doll.

Just now, a bullet from Old Mi grazed her forehead, narrowly missing a hole in her head.

Jiang Yuwei admitted that she had experienced many dangers, but this was the first time she had come so close to death.

Zhu Yiming asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

Jiang Yuwei wasn't sure if she was injured, so she quickly checked herself but found nothing unusual.

"It's alright, it should be alright." Jiang Yuwei was still shaken and stammered as she spoke.

"It's good that you're alright!" Ouyang immediately rushed out, and only after confirming that all the old Americans were dead did he put away his gun, search the old Americans' bodies, find a few Glock magazines, and take a few masks along the way.

Zhu Yiming opened Lao Mi's backpack and found that it was full of palm-sized plastic boxes filled with white powder.

"No way, these old rice sellers sell flour?" He stared wide-eyed, hardly believing it. "Even at a time like this, people in the epidemic area are still using this stuff?"

What surprised him even more was how audacious these old Americans were.

"Sister Wei!" Zhu Yiming handed a plastic box to Jiang Yuwei. "Is this flour?"

Jiang Yuwei glared at him: "How should I know!"

Even now, her calves are still cramping. She wouldn't care even if she knew, let alone know.

Ouyang opened the rest of the backpacks one by one and filled them all with plastic boxes.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Good heavens, he thought they were militiamen helping the US military to seal off the epidemic area, but they were just a bunch of rats smuggling flour!

"Never mind that, we can't stay in this dangerous place any longer, let's get out of here!" Ou Yang originally wanted to throw the body into the bushes, but after seeing the flour, he changed his mind and just left the body on the road.

The three quickly left, but after going a short distance, they hid in the bushes again, and only continued on their way after confirming that there were no more Lao Mis.

They traveled at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently as dusk approached. Before it got dark, Ouyang began looking for a place to camp.

The best campsite would definitely be a cave or something similar, but although this was still a mountainous area, we couldn't find a cave before dark and ended up camping behind a boulder.

Logically, after dark, a campfire should be lit to keep warm and scare away wild animals.

However, the place was too unsafe, and fearing that their location would be exposed, the three of them dared not risk lighting a fire. After eating some self-heating food, they immediately crawled into the tent to rest.

Three people squeezed into a two-meter by two-meter double tent, with the men sleeping on both sides and Jiang Yuwei sandwiched in the middle.

There's no other way; this is the safest method.

Moreover, everyone has their own sleeping bag, so there's no issue of deliberately taking advantage of someone while they're sound asleep.

In addition, we must take turns on night shifts. We would rather start later the next day and travel a little less, than compromise on safety at night.

"What if we encounter wild animals in the middle of the night?" Zhu Yiming asked worriedly.

“What else can we do but shoot them!” Ou Yang said.

Generally speaking, wild animals will not attack tents on their own initiative because they do not recognize them and will not associate tents with prey. They may approach tents out of curiosity, and may scratch or even bite, but the possibility of them launching a direct attack is very small.

The guns in their hands are not toys. Given a little time, even if it's a bear, the only outcome will be death by their guns.

After walking for most of the day, everyone was exhausted. Jiang Yuwei and Zhu Yiming quickly fell asleep, leaving only Ou Yang, who was on the first shift, staring wide-eyed at the top of the tent.

He did some calculation in his mind.

Because Zhu Yiming has not fully recovered, he did not walk continuously. On average, he had to stop and rest for a while every hour or so, and take a full hour break every three to four hours. Based on his walking speed, he could only travel a maximum of about 20 kilometers per day.

This result was so unexpected that Ouyang couldn't help but grit his teeth.

It's over a thousand kilometers away, it would take more than fifty days to get to Xiu Shi Dun.
This doesn't even include the time spent finding food and water, taking care of personal hygiene, or other daily tasks.

Don't assume that things will go smoothly from here on out; at any moment, a few highway robbers might jump out from the roadside.

The tent was pitch black. After an unknown amount of time, Ouyang's eyelids began to droop.

He forced himself to stay awake, took out his phone and turned it on to see what time it was, only to find that it was just eight o'clock.

Just as I was about to shut down the computer, I suddenly noticed that the signal bar, which was originally a cross, suddenly jumped up and showed a signal bar.

Ou Yang sat up abruptly, staring at the screen for a long while before he was sure he hadn't misread it!
There's a signal here! There's actually a signal here!
Even though it's only one bar, it's still a signal!

Ou Yang was overjoyed and immediately crawled out of his sleeping bag to call Luo Hui.

The dialer remained silent for a long time. Ou Yang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, fearing that the last bar of signal would disappear.

It seemed like several minutes had passed before pleasant music finally came through the receiver.

Luo Hui answered the phone almost instantly: "Oh...where...are you?"

The signal was too poor, and Luo Hui's words were intermittent and hard to hear clearly.

Ouyang simply crawled out of the tent and strode towards higher ground: "Old Luo, it's me, Ouyang. Wei-jie and I are both fine, and Old Zhu is almost recovered... I don't know where we are, but we should be out of the epidemic area. I plan to continue towards Xiushi Stew. Is our boat still over there? Hey, hey, hey—"

He rambled on and on, and got to a high place, but the signal suddenly dropped. No matter how he jumped or shook, he couldn't find a signal.

Not long after, the phone call was disconnected.

Ouyang wanted to try again, but the limited battery power prevented him from continuing, so he could only turn off the phone and return to the tent in frustration.

No problem, since there's a signal, it means the base station is nearby. We can just look for it again tomorrow!
(End of this chapter)