Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 265 A Shameful Blade Is Hard to Sheath

Early morning, guard post number 62.

The battle is over, but the smoke from the battlefield has not yet dissipated.

After their initial attack failed, the rebels launched two more attacks before dawn and at midnight, but both were repelled by the defenders. Their attempt to capture the outpost was never realized, and the heavily damaged rebels were no longer capable of launching another attack.

However, the rebel leaders were not willing to accept defeat. They hid behind the wreckage of an armored vehicle, their bloodshot eyes fixed on each other, arguing back and forth.

Before long, new orders were issued, and the core members of the rebel army immediately dispersed, searching everywhere for comrades who could still participate in the attack, especially those who had been hiding and slacking off.

However, due to the heavy casualties of the main force, the remaining rebels dared not go too far, lest they anger Lao Liu and cause unnecessary conflict.

Forced tactics were forbidden, so they could only try to persuade them with kind words. But the six brothers were all sophisticated egoists, and none of them wanted to run into the guns of the guards. The speed at which they were being summoned was outrageously slow.

Not far from the highway, Nelson, his eyes bloodshot, was still lying in the mud pit.

The temperature was too low at night, and the damp clothes clung to his body, making him not only uncomfortable but also causing him to lose even more body heat. He was now ice-cold all over and could hardly feel his body anymore.

But he remained motionless, gritting his teeth, lying in the mud pit, ignoring the rebels' calls.

Whenever he felt he couldn't hold on any longer, he would open his tightly closed eyes a crack, look at the piles of severed limbs on the road, and immediately find the willpower to persevere.

Ou Yang and the others, who hadn't slept all night, were in no better shape. They waited all night but didn't get a chance to escape.

After several rounds of brainstorming, I still couldn't come up with a safe way to get through the blockade.

Time passed slowly, and around 7 a.m., the rebels finally gathered a group of men and launched their fourth attack on the defenders.

Ouyang scoffed at the rebels' tactics, pointing out that they were better equipped, had more men, and were in higher spirits.

But after failing three times in a row, how could the fourth attempt succeed?
To put it bluntly, this is a series of defeats that have left the rebel leadership ashamed and unable to bring themselves to strike.

However, the rebels did learn from their previous experience, with thousands of them spreading out in skirmish lines and launching attacks from several directions simultaneously.

However, the rebel skirmish lines were neither the alternating advance of the Mi-style nor the three-person groups of the Dongda, but rather each direction had its own characteristics.

The formation on the front was too tight; a single shell could take out a whole group. The left flank was too loose, practically a disorganized mess. The right flank was slightly better, but only a few.

As for tactics such as cover, support, and coordination, it's not that they don't exist at all, but rather that they are completely invisible.

It's clear that the rebel command does have some ideas, but firstly, the command system is incomplete, and secondly, the individual soldiers' skills are really lacking. They mainly operate on the principle of "you command your way, I'll do my way," and although there are connections, there is no cooperation.

Ou Yang was deeply moved, but what could a makeshift team expect?
Looking at it from another angle, it's already commendable that a hastily assembled mob dared to launch an attack, and even launched four consecutive attacks. What more could you ask for?
Ouyang's judgment was correct. They failed to capture the outpost at night, and dared to attack after dawn. They were simply courting death!
Before the rebels even got close, gunfire erupted from the outpost.

Before dawn, the defending troops voluntarily abandoned their positions and withdrew to their outposts undetected under the cover of darkness. The rebels, however, still regarded the empty positions as their target and were caught off guard by the defending troops from the side.

Upon discovering the rebels' attack, the American soldiers opened fire without even waiting for orders.

Machine guns swept from afar, rifles fired up close, and guns equipped with scopes were used for pinpoint elimination; the rebels fell one after another under the defenders' fierce firepower.

The remaining rebels went into hiding, and although they seemed to have a considerable force, they quickly fell silent, leaving only sporadic gunfire.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the sentry post is only about two people tall. It's made of welded armored steel, and there are machine gun emplacements on top of the wall. The rebels' bullets are like tickling them.

By the time the defending troops were ready to fire, the rebels had already scattered, and they didn't even have a chance to fire.

Ouyang put down his binoculars and sighed helplessly.

According to the original plan, they should have taken advantage of the firefight to break through the blockade line, but the rebels were really hopeless. If they had charged forward at this time, they would have been doomed to die at the hands of the rebels.

I took out my phone and saw that it was almost eight o'clock, but the phone couldn't receive any signal.

He couldn't help but feel anxious, secretly wondering if the drone battle last night had accidentally hit the auxiliary vehicle and shot down the drone responsible for signal relay as well.

He jumped down from the tree, and Zhu and Jiang immediately came over to ask what had happened.

Ouyang shook his head and explained the situation: "Don't count on it, we have to turn back!"

"Huh? Why are we going back again?" Zhu Yiming's thoughts were a little hard to keep up with Ou Yang's train of thought, and his eyes were full of confusion.

Ouyang patiently explained, "If the rebels had captured the outpost, there would be nothing to say. We could have just seized the opportunity to rush over and be done with it. But the current situation is that the rebels simply don't have that capability."

"Then we don't need to go back, right?" Zhu Yiming still didn't understand. "We can just wait a few more days!"

“That’s not the case,” Ou Yang said. “For the US military, the presence of rebels here means that the area north of the checkpoint is contaminated with Pneumococcus. In order to continue to blockade the epidemic area, the US military will definitely send reinforcements in the shortest possible time. Moreover, the blockade line in this direction has been infiltrated by the US military and is riddled with holes. They will definitely have to repair the blockade line next.”

"But this repair is not about restoring all the fallen outposts; it's about designating all the contaminated areas as epidemic zones and then setting up a new blockade line southwards from this outpost. If we don't leave now, we'll have to continue facing US drones once reinforcements arrive!"

"Ugh, what a mess this is!" Zhu Yiming said, feeling utterly exhausted. "I'm so fed up. If we had just dropped a bomb when the pandemic first broke out, wouldn't the problem have been solved long ago? There wouldn't be so much trouble."

Jiang Yuwei glared at Zhu Yiming: "You should just give up. If the Americans really throw a bomb at the brown bear, won't they kill us all?"

"It's better to die than to go through all this trouble. How long is this back and forth going to end?"

Ouyang packed the binoculars into his backpack and carefully organized his equipment: "Miguel probably didn't expect the situation to be this serious, right? Besides, when the outbreak occurred, the pneumoconiosis had already been spreading for several days. Even if we blow up the brown bear, it won't solve the epidemic."

"Hey, why are you still speaking up for the US?" Zhu Yiming complained. "Isn't it obvious? The US should either be determined to turn the epidemic area into a wasteland, or launch a massive relief effort at all costs. This constant lockdown is just treating the symptoms, not the root cause, and it'll be over sooner or later!"

“Just being realistic.” Ouyang slung his backpack over his shoulder and adjusted the straps. “I think the Mi Palace definitely has its own plans.”

Zhu Yiming asked curiously, "What are your plans?"

“They must be waiting for a turning point,” Ou Yang guessed. “The war between humans and microorganisms has lasted for millions of years. Phantom lung bacteria is not 100% lethal. As long as there are enough samples, sooner or later, super-immune individuals who are not afraid of phantom lung bacteria will emerge.”

"Aren't we immune?"

"We are only immune, not super-immune." Speaking of her profession, Jiang Yuwei immediately chimed in, "There is a super-immune person in the United States whose blood, even diluted ten thousand times, can still kill ninety percent of the novel coronavirus." Upon hearing this, Zhu Yiming understood.

Although immune individuals are not infected, their blood does not kill pneumococcus, so the three of them are only immune, not super-immune.

Zhu Yiming suddenly recalled a plot from a novel and realized, "Isn't this just raising Gu gu?"

"More or less," Jiang Yuwei said.

Zhu Yiming said disdainfully, "What's the point of all this lockdowns? Even if a super-immune person emerges, they still won't be able to leave the epidemic area!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!" With that, Ouyang took the lead and stepped out of the cargo compartment.

It was already broad daylight, and he regretted leaving so late; he should have left before dawn!

He hadn't gone far when his phone suddenly started vibrating in his pocket. Ouyang quickly answered, "Hello!"

A familiar voice came through the receiver: "Ouyang? Where are you?"

Ouyang gestured for his companion to leave the road: "We're still near the checkpoint. Last night it was a complete mess, with drones dropping bombs. There's really no chance."

"The opportunity is coming soon, so get ready!" Luo Hui said.

"What?" Ouyang could hardly believe his ears. "Did we go off on a tangent? I didn't see any opportunities either."

"A group of American soldiers heading north are about to arrive at checkpoint 62!" Luo Hui revealed the answer. "They should be able to pass through then."

"Going north? Where did these people come from?" Ou Yang was completely baffled. He could understand each word individually, but when put together, he couldn't understand it at all.

Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei looked over in surprise, not understanding why Ou Yang was reacting so strongly. They gestured to him, asking him to turn on speakerphone.

Ouyang immediately switched to answer mode.

Fearing that Ou Yang might misunderstand due to a lack of understanding, Luo Hui explained in detail: "It's like this, the US warships have run into trouble, and there's a loophole in the sea blockade. Earlier yesterday, a fleet of refugee boats from the South America docked in southern Kexue, and several thousand refugees poured into Kexue. Now, rumors are spreading in southern Kexue, and some Americans have heard the news and are heading north to seek refuge. They should be arriving there soon."

Ou Yang was stunned, as were Zhu and Jiang.

"Then what's the point of a lockdown?" Ou Yang asked.

“Of course it makes sense,” Luo Hui said. “The US is doing its best to eliminate illegal immigrants who have come ashore. The epidemic has not spread, or rather, it has not yet broken out. These Americans only chose to go north after receiving the news and being unable to withstand the pressure.”

Zhu Yiming couldn't help but interject, "Isn't this just grasping at straws when you're desperate?"

“That’s true,” Luo Hui said. “The situation is a bit complicated right now. We don’t know how the US will arrange things yet, so I suggest you wait until the US arrives and see how Post 62 reacts before making a decision.”

Now the three of them understood: if the checkpoint allowed them to pass, they would continue south; if not, they would wait for another opportunity!

Ouyang asked a question that everyone was concerned about: "Is there a risk of an outbreak in southern Kizilsu Kyrgyzstan?"

Luo Hui gave an irrelevant answer: "The risk has always existed, but whether the situation can be controlled depends on the determination of the Mi family."

Ouyang understood: "So we have to keep going south?"

"Correct!"

Ouyang then asked, "Is our ship still in Shy Poetry Stew?"

"That's right!" Taking advantage of the remaining time, Luo Hui introduced the situation of their ships, "Our ships here are also divided into several types, from safe to dangerous into four levels. Level one means there is no risk of infection, and only after strict screening and isolation are passengers allowed to board; Level two is for isolation and observation, which is a preparatory version of Level one; Level three is a medical ship, which is specifically for treating patients with mild symptoms who have been infected; Level four is a research ship, which treats patients with severe symptoms while studying pneumopulmonary bacteria."

"There's a research vessel?" Ou Yang was genuinely surprised this time, but then he couldn't help but sigh, "It's been more than half a year, you've been researching, I've been researching, but we haven't seen any results."

"That's not entirely true. There have been some achievements, but the existing research results are not enough to end the pandemic."

Ouyang immediately became somewhat curious: "Could you explain this in more detail?"

He hadn't been exposed to this kind of information for a long time and was eager to know what progress had been made.

Luo Hui changed the subject: "I don't know our own situation either, so I won't talk nonsense to you, but recently, the joint laboratory developed an immune serum."

Ou Yang glanced at Zhu Yiming subconsciously: "Is it the kind of immune serum I'm referring to? Something like snake venom serum?"

He suddenly remembered the experiments the doctor had conducted in the underground fortress.

“It’s different,” Luo Hui denied. “This thing can’t cure infections.”

"What's this thing for?"

"Giving a normal person an injection can ensure that they will not be infected by spores for a certain period of time, but the effect can only last for a while. They either need to leave the dangerous environment in time or get a booster injection as soon as possible, otherwise they will still die."

"What about injecting it into infected individuals? What are the effects?"

"It can briefly revive infected individuals in the early stages of infection, but it has no other effect."

Right, all right!
Ouyang suddenly felt a sense of pride.

This immune serum is probably somewhat related to the doctor's research in some unclear way, and the research data that our side has was given to him by his superiors, so he must have made a contribution to it!
Yes, the US military obtained another document during their raid on the underground bunker.

Of course, serum isn't anything particularly advanced; if a PhD can study it, others can too.

He just wanted to know whether this research was done by the joint laboratory on its own, or whether it was a further development of the doctor's research results.

When deciding to conduct this research, should both parties contribute the same research data?

If the Americans were to treasure the data and discover that the University of Tokyo was already a well-known name, the expressions on the faces of the American researchers would certainly be quite interesting!

(End of this chapter)