Otherworld Girl Development Guide

Africa, as a crucial raw material supply chain in the global industrial chain, boasts a diverse range of proven mineral resources with substantial reserves.

It is rich in oil and natural gas; it has large reserves of iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, tin, and phosphates; it is renowned for its gold and diamonds; and with the successive discovery of uranium veins, the reserves of many minerals rank among the world's top, making it a key region in the strategic layout of major powers.

A transport plane carrying valuable goods slowly descended from the sky...

"Cough cough cough..." An employee in the cargo hold coughed a few times.

"Hey buddy, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, probably just a cold..."

"You're really unlucky. I was hoping to go to the city with you and have some fun, maybe even try some black pearls once in a while. Now it looks like you're going to be a spineless coward..."

"You're the coward... hiss..."

As he was speaking, an African mosquito bit him, then nimbly evaded his palm and flew away into the distance.

"...These damned mosquitoes, why did God create them...?"

Ordinary mosquitoes are fine, but this Aedes albopictus is really an unwanted species!

In a port in India, a passenger ship flying the Stars and Stripes slowly docked. The gangway was then lowered, and passengers disembarked one after another, while cargo was loaded and unloaded.

The stevedores drove forklifts, moving one large container after another to the dock, even adding some creative touches to the loading and unloading process...

The goods on the forklifts were arranged on the dock, and the vibrations seemed to arouse some special "passengers." More than a dozen rats were seen crawling out from the gaps in the goods and then disappearing into a corner.

The porter glanced at the fleeing rat, unfazed. It wasn't unusual for a ship this big to have some rats on it; some ships even had more rats than people.

Soon, some Indian porters stepped forward and began the most primitive manual carrying work. After all, although this kind of carrying work was backward, it could provide a lot of "employment".

As soon as a porter placed his hand on the goods, he felt a sticky sensation on his hand. He pulled his hand back and looked down, only to find that his hands were covered with a black, foul-smelling liquid.

It turned out that he had accidentally touched a dead rat. The rat's death was extremely disgusting, as if it had been crushed into rat paste by a heavy object.

Ugh... Unable to withstand the combined stimulation of taste and sight, the porter vomited, instinctively wiping his mouth with his hand...

Soon, the morning's moving work was over. The movers had come into contact with dead rats or rat bloodstains among the goods. They quickly forgot about the gruesome deaths of the rats, since there were quite a few rats here, and they came into contact with many rats every day.

Amidst the sizzling yellow curry, the porters, their hands still stained with blood, began their clean and hygienic lunch.

After rinsing it in clean water, I reached into the warm food and grabbed some unidentified yellow food, poured it over my lunch, and began to enjoy it.

Chapter 26 Total Lockdown

"My esteemed King, our containment centers are nearing their capacity. If this continues, to prevent the spread of the blood plague, we will likely need more funding to build more containment centers..."

The virologist wiped the sweat from his brow. In just one month, the number of people infected with the blood plague had increased exponentially. It was truly the best gift God had given to the United States.

“Sir, don’t be too nervous. We can wait and observe…” The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reassured the virus expert with lighthouse-like optimism: “…Perhaps the situation is not as serious as you think. We can wait for the test results.”

"and many more?"

The virus expert raised his voice; he was fed up with these bureaucrats who always tried to cover things up!

"You really should see the hellish scene inside the containment center. The patients are covered in blood blisters, the virus is constantly destroying their cells, and the infected are wailing in endless pain!"

The situation at the containment center has been reported to the top levels of the United States, but some bureaucrats are not very interested in it. Just as the head of NASA is not an astronomy expert, the head of the CDC is not a virus expert and does not even know what a blood plague is.

"...It's still winter now, and the plague virus isn't very active at low temperatures. Once summer arrives, the plague's power will become apparent. Remember, they were found in Africa..."

The blood plague developed in the Level 4 laboratory of the United States can be described as a variant of the Ebola virus. Through continuous iteration and screening of the virus, the most suitable sample for use as a viral weapon was selected.

"...Families are constantly being infected, and even some children have contracted the blood plague. We can't wait any longer... Monitoring takes time, and while we wait, more people will be infected with the blood plague. Moreover, the virus is constantly mutating, and it might mutate during the monitoring period!"

The virus expert slammed his fist on the table and said:

"...While we were having this meeting, the blood plague might have already mutated, for example, by becoming airborne!"

Survival is the first law of life. In order to survive, viruses will mutate, enhance their transmission methods, and reduce their harm to the host. This can also be considered a way to continue survival.

"...Virus variants—if an infected person sneezes, they expel millions of infection sources, infecting everyone. After all, the blood plague is something we created; no one understands their creation better than its creator. The virus is constantly evolving, with many variants, each more difficult to deal with than the last..."

The incubation period for typical Ebola virus infection is 2–21 days. Infected individuals typically experience a sudden onset of high fever, headache, sore throat, weakness, and muscle aches, followed by vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea...

Within two weeks of onset, the virus spreads, causing internal and external bleeding, blood clotting, and necrotic blood that quickly spreads to all organs of the body. Patients eventually develop symptoms such as bleeding from the mouth, nose, and genitals. The chance of death within 24 hours is 90%, meaning it is almost certain to kill someone who gets it.

"...The incubation period of the blood plague is much longer than that of the ordinary Ebola virus, and its infectivity is much stronger. A month has passed since the initial car accident, but we have been stuck here arguing!"

"Nonsense? Watch your words, sir. We have already established a containment center and achieved initial control of the blood plague. Our biotechnology company is working overtime to develop vaccines and effective drugs against the blood plague!"

One legislator said with a stern face that inaction and ineffective action are two different things. Nobody wants to take the blame, so the thing to do is to shift the blame as soon as possible.

"It's still too slow. I suspect the virus has already spread abroad..."

“Isn’t this better? This way, the origin of the virus won’t be the United States. We can even blame it on global warming, the melting of Arctic glaciers and permafrost, and the revival of some ancient virus in the freeze. We can pin all of this on China,” an aide said in a low voice.

His words made the others in the room's eyes light up... That's right, it doesn't matter where it originated, as long as the blame is shifted there.

The country that first discovers the virus is considered the origin of the virus; if it's not reported, it's not considered the source.

After failing to persuade the politicians, the virus experts turned to Trump.

"Mr. President, time is running out for the United States. Think of those poor children!"

Trump leaned back in his chair, glanced at the hat with the "MAGA" logo on it, straightened his red tie, and asked the expert in a low voice:

"What would happen if we locked down New York or built a wall?"

"Lockdown? Border wall?" The expert's eyes seemed to say: Why is Your Majesty plotting a rebellion?

"Your Excellency, I must remind you that this is a challenge to democracy and freedom, and it will have serious negative consequences for you. You are restricting the freedom of your citizens and infringing on their human rights!"

"I'm just asking for advice..."

"In that case..."

After exchanging glances, the experts discussed the matter and, upon reaching a conclusion, addressed the King:

"Currently, the lifestyle and personal safety of the citizens of the United States are built on a fragile economy. Energy, fuel, transportation, and so on... the entire system relies on a supply chain that can deliver goods to the places of need in a timely manner..."

"...Once a lockdown is implemented, this supply chain will break down, like a domino effect...if one falls, it will affect all the subsequent dominoes, and the blood epidemic within the quarantined area will spiral out of control within a week at most..."

This theory suggests that isolating a region will quickly lead to the collapse of order, turning it into a jungle where the strong prey on the weak.

On the first day, the hospitals will be overflowing, and the blood epidemic will plunge the quarantine areas into panic...

The next day, supplies were rationed and transportation was completely blocked...

On the third day, as community self-governance began, order collapsed, and everyone became extremely aggressive in order to protect themselves and their families...

On the fourth day, the power supply was cut off, the shelves were emptied by looting, the tap water was contaminated, and gunfights broke out in the streets for daily necessities... The already daily gunfights in the Beacon Congress became even more serious!

On the fifth day, society will transform into a dark forest, where everyone is a hunter with a gun, a competitor vying for survival resources...

“My esteemed President, even if you shoulder everything alone, what price will it take to save what remains? The economy will collapse, and we will lose a great deal of money.”

"The city was saved, but was it all worth it?"

Chapter 27 Everyone Under Heaven Knows About Rabbits

"However, we can also solve the problem of the blood plague in another way, which is what we are doing now... Once all the people who have the blood plague die, the blood plague will naturally end."

The aide said expressionlessly, "Capital is profit-driven. This approach will undoubtedly cause serious losses to the capitalists in the United States. They cannot accept losses. Once they find the risk too great, they will try to transfer the risk, such as through capital outflow."

Rather than letting these capitalists suffer losses, it would be better to let these patients with the blood plague commit suicide within a controllable range.

Everyone stared blankly at the advisor who made the suggestion, and the virus expert's hands trembled.

"This is murder!"

Even Hans Cat from World War II would shed tears in his presence; this is practically the work of Satan!

"No, that's slander. It was the virus that killed them."

"Let's build more shelters first. At least we should do our best. Not just public hospitals, but private hospitals should also be prepared..."

That being said, private hospitals may not admit patients who are certain to die unless they pay upfront!

"...First, we need to control the spread of the epidemic."

"I feel so tired," Trump said. He felt like the unluckiest president in the history of the United States. During his term, he not only witnessed the rise of China, but now he also had to witness the outbreak of the "Black Death" within the United States.

The virologist opened his mouth, then sighed helplessly. The mutation of viruses is beyond human imagination. Life is so amazing, turning the unthinkable into the possible, such as infecting rodents.

“I say…aren’t there a lot of dead rats lately?” the garbage truck driver said to his partner.

While cleaning up the garbage recently, they found a lot of dead rats in the garbage dump, and the way they died was very "bizarre", as if they had been gutted by wild cats.

This made cleaning the trash cans a bit troublesome for them, as they had to come into contact with bodily fluids left behind by the rats.

Behind the garbage truck, blood flowed out through the gaps in the truck and dripped onto the ground.

Passersby paid no attention to the blood, simply trying to avoid it as they walked.

Three days later... the increasing number of rat carcasses attracted attention, and several rat carcasses were sent to the laboratory for testing.

In a Level IV biological research center, researchers stared in horror at the dead rats on the experimental table.

"Quickly! I need to see the president immediately, before it's too late!"

--------------------------------------

Rabbits on the other side of the ocean.

A special package arrived at a top-level biological research institute. The package contained a metal box, inside which were test tubes filled with dead mice.

Let's go back twenty days...

The US has countless satellites in the sky monitoring the entire globe, and so does China. The only similarity is that both sides are keeping an eye on each other.

Squeak... A high-precision optical sensor made of grating stone zooms in, watching the concentration camp that has appeared in the suburbs of New York, and sends the data back to the satellite control center.

One of the staff members on duty frowned slightly as he looked at the images sent back by the satellite. If he didn't know that this was the United States, he would have thought he had been transported back to the concentration camps of the United States during World War II.

He pulled up the data and compared it with the satellite images transmitted back a few days ago, and immediately frowned deeply.

Just a few days ago, it was an ordinary sanatorium that wouldn't attract any attention, but now mold has taken hold of its perimeter.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!

The staff on duty thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and reported the situation.

Soon, in the conference room of the control center, the rabbit experts gathered together to begin their discussion.