Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 321 The Main Artery

Everyone stood up and left in an orderly fashion.

Xu Yi pointed to the seat next to him: "Sit here... Do you know why I kept you here?"

Ou Yang pursed his lips: "I roughly know."

Xu Yi was somewhat surprised: "Tell me about it."

Ou Yang gave a wry smile: "Because I'm not in the military, you're planning to pull me out of the picture, aren't you?"

"That's certainly one of the reasons," Xu Yi said frankly.

“But I’m immune to pneumococcus, and nobody knows the situation in the epidemic area better than me!” Ouyang volunteered, “I don’t think I should be excluded!”

Xu Yi nodded: "There are only a few immune personnel on the ship, and only a dozen or so people with combat capability. From my personal point of view, I really hope you can participate, but you set a very bad precedent with Xiu Shi Dun."

Ouyang tried to explain: "I was indeed affected by the phagocytic fungus..."

Xu Yi waved his hand to interrupt: "Lu Wei has been with you the whole time, so why isn't he affected?"

Ouyang was speechless.

"The military is a place that emphasizes discipline and collectivism. For a soldier, discipline is ingrained in their bones. That's why Lu Wei was able to maintain basic judgment even after being affected by hallucinogens. But what about you?" Xu Yi's gaze pierced through people's hearts. "Discipline doesn't have that much of a binding force on you. If I take you along, won't you become a ticking time bomb?"

Ouyang wanted to say that he had captured Smith alive, and although the process was tortuous, the result was good.

But he's been on board for a while now and knows a bit about the unspoken rules. Take the current situation for example, what Xu Yi needs is not rebuttal or explanation, but to humbly accept criticism.

So he immediately changed his approach and promised in the most sincere tone: "Captain, I promise to obey orders!"

“Simply obeying orders is far from enough.” Xu Yi tapped the table. “Your situation is special, and I can’t ask too much of you. But if you want to participate in this mission, your identity issue must be resolved.”

"Huh?" Ouyang was surprised. "How do we solve this? Through special recruitment?"

“No need.” Xu Yi shook his head. “You participated in the reserves when you were in college, right?”

"Yes, but that was just a formality, just a figurehead position, they never actually organized any activities."

"It's alright, just registering it is fine." Xu Yi smiled, "Transferring from reserve to active duty will solve the status issue!"

Ou Yang blinked: "This works too?"

A few minutes later, Ouyang appeared outside the equipment room.

No one asked Xu Yi why he kept him behind. Lu Wei patted him on the shoulder and said, "Get your equipment!"

Ouyang nodded, still carrying the same three pistols as always, plus a Type 191.

While there was still time, Lu Wei gathered the fourteen people involved in the operation and divided them into two groups, A and B. Group A was led by Lu Wei and included Ou Yang, Luo Han, 27 Ban, and Da Fei.

Team B leader Zhang Cheng, codenamed Gecko.

Ou Yang was astonished: This code name is too unintimidating, why not just call it Tiger?

While there was still time, the team made some necessary preparations, including preparing all the spare ammunition and supplies. They arranged who would carry the ammunition and who would carry the supplies, so that they could board the plane and depart immediately at the first command.

Soon, Zhou Jimin arrived with his incubator and several thermos flasks, explaining in detail how to use them.

Lu Wei immediately assigned this glorious yet arduous task to the medic.

More than an hour later, Lu Wei received a notification that the plane was about to arrive. He immediately called out, and everyone gathered their respective supplies and knelt on one knee in front of the hangar to prepare for boarding.

A moment later, a strangely shaped airplane appeared above Hua Tuo.

This aircraft has two pairs of wings, one shorter in the front and one longer in the rear, with helicopter-style propellers hanging from the wingtips.

Ou Yang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: a tiltrotor aircraft? When were these things put into service?
The most famous tiltrotor aircraft is the V-22, codenamed Osprey.

Ouyang had never seen an Osprey before, but the plane in front of him was no smaller than an Osprey. Because the flight deck was not spacious enough, only half of the fuselage was barely on the deck, while the other half was suspended in mid-air.

The cabin door opened, and Lu Wei waved his hand: "Board!"

Having said that, he bent over and rushed forward first.

The others immediately followed and quickly entered the cabin. As soon as they entered the plane, Ouyang saw two small and exquisite cat-shaped cars parked in the cabin, and he couldn't help but be a little lost in thought.

They're even using this thing?

After Lu Wei counted the number of people and confirmed that everyone was on board, he notified the crew that they could take off.

The cabin door closed, the plane detached from the deck, and in the blink of an eye, it had left the Hua Tuo far behind.

The sanitation worker checked the incubator and found the temperature was slightly below 27 degrees Celsius. He immediately opened a thermos and poured some hot water into the interlayer.

Worried that pouring too much would raise the temperature, I only poured a tiny bit, not even enough to moisten my throat.

Zhou Jimin was very thoughtful; in addition to hot water, there were also two thermos flasks filled with ice!
Lu Wei clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention: "Attention everyone, take a break. Luo Han, you and the medic watch the incubator together. You'll switch shifts in an hour!"

Upon hearing this, everyone changed to the most comfortable position, some even lying on the ground and falling fast asleep with their backpacks as pillows.

Ouyang didn't feel sleepy, but he leaned against the bulkhead and closed his eyes.

But his mind was full of the task that was about to begin, and he couldn't fall asleep at all. He could only sit up helplessly and sighed.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep?" Lu Wei asked.

Ouyang nodded: "And you?"

“Same!” Lu Wei laughed. “Nervous?” “What’s there to be nervous about? I’m just a little confused.” Ou Yang turned to the side. “Isn’t it supposed to be a three-stage transport system, with the last stage using unmanned transport ships? Why are there people on those ships?”

"Well, that's a complicated matter," Lu Wei said, scratching his head. "Where should I even begin?"

“It’s alright, take your time, we have plenty of time.” Ouyang wasn’t in a hurry at all.

Lu Wei smiled wryly: "Well, you know that the geographical location of Banama is very important, right?"

"Know!"

"That makes things simpler." Lu Wei breathed a sigh of relief. "There's not only a canal there, but it's also an important passage connecting the South and North of the Rice Sea. After the outbreak of the epidemic, only a very small number of people smuggled themselves north by sea; the vast majority went north by land!"

"But under pressure from the Mikkelsen, Banama blocked the canal, trying to keep all the refugees heading north on the south bank. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the south bank of the canal. During the day it was fine, but at night, people jumped into the river like dumplings being dropped into a pot, intending to swim to the other side and continue north. During that period, gunfire from the north bank was incessant at night, and the corpses almost blocked the canal."

"And then?" Ou Yang chimed in, playing the straight man.

"Then the epidemic broke out!" Lu Wei said matter-of-factly. "First the south bank, then the north bank. Countless people jumped into the river. When the locks were opened, corpses were everywhere. During that period, the canal was paralyzed because of too many corpses. Our boats were either stuck on the west bank or had to change to the western route."

Ou Yang noticed Lu Wei's expression was off: "What's wrong on the western front? Is there a problem?"

“Of course!” Lu Wei said, “The eastern route is simple, directly crossing the Pacific Ocean. The western route is different. We have to go through the Suez Canal and then the Red Sea. It passes through more areas, and the chances of accidents are greater. If any country in the middle causes trouble, we will have to detour around the Cape of Good Hope.”

"Someone is still making trouble at a time like this?" He knew this had happened before, but the supplies on his ship were bought by the US. Although the US's influence was not as great as before, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Surely they wouldn't be so arrogant as to disregard the US.
Old Mi's overseas bases were not affected by the pandemic!
"What do you mean there isn't?" Lu Wei looked disdainful. "You think too highly of those people. Although the epidemic hasn't spread to Europe yet, every single one of them knows that it's only a matter of time before it spreads. That's why they're all hoarding epidemic prevention supplies. To put it bluntly, if it weren't to slow down the spread of the epidemic, would we be sending so many supplies to the Americas?"

Ou Yang nodded, finally having a better understanding of the situation on the western front.

"So, our transport routes have always focused on the eastern route. Even though the entire territory of Banama has fallen, the canal has always been maintained, and the tolls have been increasing again and again. But it doesn't matter, the US has borne all the transportation costs!"

Ou Yang sighed: "Those who live by the mountains live off the mountains, and those who live by the water live off the water. As long as the canal is still running and as long as there are still ships passing through, those who maintain the normal operation of the canal can charge fees to the passing ships."

It doesn't necessarily have to be money; food, water, weapons, equipment, and especially epidemic prevention supplies are also hard currencies in epidemic areas.

Just thinking about it makes you realize how profitable this business is.

"It's practically a goose that lays golden eggs!" Ou Yang commented sharply.

“That’s right!” Lu Wei agreed. “The canal is too important, and there are many forces that are envious of its benefits. Even the pandemic couldn’t stop the hands of foreign forces. Now, there are countless people hiding on both sides of the canal. They have complicated backgrounds and different identities, but they are all eyeing the passing ships. The forces controlling the canal are particularly complex now.”

"To give you an example, Lock No. 1 is controlled by the Mexican gang, Lock No. 2 is controlled by the locals, and Lock No. 3 is the area controlled by a third force. Unmanned transport ships can travel on the ocean without any problems, but once they enter the canal, they have to deal with these forces. We can't expect AI to negotiate with them, can we?"

"So the higher-ups recruited a group of people who would board the transport ships before they entered the canal and disembark after they left the canal, repeating this cycle over and over again, specifically to deal with the forces along the route."

"Oh!" Ouyang understood. "So that's how it is!"

"That's basically the situation," Lu Wei said.

Ou Yang asked curiously, "Has there never been a similar accident before?"

"It happened, but not often." Lu Wei recalled, "Our crew members are all armed, so we shouldn't have let the enemy board the ship so easily!"

"The higher-ups didn't provide any more detailed information?" Ou Yang was a little confused. What was going on?

“No!” Lu Wei shook his head. “At the time of the incident, the network was interrupted, the radio was interfered with, and even the satellites couldn’t capture the scene due to bad weather. The information we have is from a crew member who escaped and reported it via satellite phone, but that crew member is also out of contact.”

"This has been planned for a long time!"

"That's right, so the situation we face is very complicated!"

Ou Yang's heart tightened: "Isn't it too weak to rely on just a few of us?"

“I don’t know the specifics, but the impact of this matter is extremely negative, and the higher-ups are taking it very seriously. There are definitely more than just a few of us involved,” Lu Wei said. “If it can’t be resolved in a short time, the Americans will probably get involved too!”

"Huh?" Ouyang was quite surprised. "There's also the matter of Old Mi?"

"What do you mean, 'no'? You don't think it's just a simple shipwreck, do you?" Lu Wei's gaze was strange. "Such a large ship sunk in the waterway is equivalent to blocking the entire canal. There are four transport ships waiting to return on the east side, two of which have already entered the canal; three have already entered the canal on the west side, and there are two more waiting to enter. Until this problem is resolved, these ships cannot pass through the canal. Do you think the problem is serious?"

Hey!
Ou Yang finally understood.

It's no exaggeration to say that the old man has been able to hold on until now entirely thanks to the support of the University of Tokyo.

Besides epidemic prevention supplies, most of the essential daily necessities, such as food, canned goods, convenience foods, and medicines, have to be imported from Dongda University.

At first glance, the ten transport ships on both sides of the canal, with a transport capacity of over a million tons, must be carrying an astronomical amount of goods.

It could be dispersed to the east and south coasts of the United States. A million tons of supplies would disappear in the blink of an eye, like a handful of sand scattered into the sea.

In other words, the canal is the lifeline of the rice industry. Now that the river transport is interrupted, it is equivalent to cutting off the rice industry's main artery. No wonder the rice industry is in a hurry!
Ouyang understood a bit: "You mean the attack might also be aimed at Old Mi?"

"I didn't say that!" Lu Wei quickly clarified, "It's possible that he just wanted to seize a batch of supplies."

Whether it's the East or the US, a single ship of supplies is insignificant; the key is how to ensure a continuous supply.

However, for the various forces along the canal, a ship full of supplies means ample food, sufficient medicine, and a large amount of epidemic prevention materials. Each of these items is hard currency in the epidemic area, which can make a small force become one of the most important forces on both sides of the canal!

With such a huge temptation, how could those forces struggling on the brink of death not be tempted?
Ou Yang rubbed his face vigorously: "It's getting more and more complicated the more I talk about it... Forget it, I'll just take a nap!"

Let the higher-ups worry about the complicated stuff; he just needs to follow orders and complete the tasks!
More than three hours later, the seemingly endless ocean was replaced by land.

Lu Wei roused everyone: "We're about to land. Now, let's get the mission briefing out!"

Everyone focused their attention on Lu Wei.

Lu Wei continued: "The incident occurred in the Gaira Channel, which is more than 150 meters wide and 13 meters deep. It is the narrowest and shallowest section of the entire canal. The lock is just a few hundred meters away, and the north bank is adjacent to the urban area, which is one of the areas most severely affected by the epidemic!"

"The satellite detected unidentified armed personnel on the deck, and many people and vehicles were gathered nearby, carrying supplies from the ship... It is now 11:20 a.m., and in theory, it would be more advantageous to operate at night, but our trapped personnel urgently need antidote to save their lives, so we must start the operation as soon as possible and find a way to get them back on the ship!"

(End of this chapter)