Chapter 534: Outbreak
When the four Blacklight Foundation supervisors saw these images, they held their breaths collectively.
For someone in their position, they must have seen their fair share of major ordeals, but the picture they were presented with still did not fail to faze them.
What they were seeing was what was supposed to be regular, living people who were killed and fused like conjoined babies. It was twisted, evil, demented, and a hysterical sight...
These images were heavy with an ominous air around them.
“This is what’s happening in your respective continents.”
Chen Chen announced in a deep tone, “The specific outbreaks location are Europe, India, the North Sea, and Central Continent. Three cases are from the Central Continent, two from Europe, two from the North Sea Continent, and one in India.”
A wave of silence swept through them.
Chen Chen shifted his attention to 01. 01 was a representative of the Northern America Continent and he seemed visibly relieved upon hearing this.
After being struck with three consecutive disasters that were the “Three Statues”, “This Man”, and “Weeping Angel”, the Northern American Continent could almost be described as traumatized by this point. They had even begun doubting if they were cursed with ill fate.
Fortunately, Northern America had finally snapped this cursed streak of new inexplicable events, it was somebody else’s turn now.
“How did this happen?”
This was the first thought that came to 04. “Is there any certain rule or pattern behind this outbreak?”
“Of course.”
Chen Chen answered immediately, “Did you all notice that the victims of these strange fusion accidents are all regions in the eastern hemisphere?”
“Easter hemisphere?”
They first reflected on this speculation Chen Chen proposed and remarked in unison within a second. “The meteorite?”
“That’s right, it seems like you all have made the connection as well.”
Chen Chen applauded. “A meteorite rain of this scale is only seen once every century and the regions affected were the eastern hemisphere. Although most of them fell into the ocean, a notable portion still managed to fall on land. We’ve detected a form of protoplasm in the meteorite samples collected.”
“I’ve heard of this.”
03 immediately noted. “Our relevant departments have submitted similar reports, suggesting the existence of living cells in the meteorite that are still active. If it wasn’t for the Ares Project on Mars discovering the first outer s.p.a.ce life form, this would’ve been the first instance of extraterrestrial life form detected by humans.”
“I do believe that we have similar reports as well.”
02 chimed in as well. “Our research inst.i.tute has begun studies into these extraterrestrial life forms.”
There was not the slightest tinge of joy in Chen Chen’s eyes as he listened to these scientific breakthrough reveals. On the contrary, his expression had only grown solemn. “That’s why I convened this meeting. I’m afraid that all personnel involved in the meteorite research need to be put into mandatory and strict quarantine effective immediately.
“According to the fusion deaths that have just begun to surface all over the world, this protoplasmic substance is without a doubt infectious and lethal. There’s no telling the likelihood of this just yet, but if this protoplasmic liquid has airborne infectious characteristics, I’m afraid this meteorite rain will mark as the single most impactful event in mankind’s chronicle on Earth...”
“Complete havoc.”
Chen Chen did not stress his claims with a heavy tone, but every word he uttered punched into the hearts of everyone present at the a.s.sembly.
“Lock out the news source.”
Chen Chen sighed and expressed. “Collect all the scattered meteorites in the world and lock out all the news concerning the meteorite. Isolate all personnel who have come into direct contact with the meteorite. This is the only thing we can do while we figure out how we can combat this crisis.”
“What’s even more concerning is...”
Chen Chen went on. “Will the meteorites sunk into the ocean create a vicious effect in the ocean? We need to conduct the appropriate research concerning the meteorites and prepare ourselves for a great disaster.”
“I agree with 05.”
03 nodded amiably. “This is no longer something that can be handled with the continents in the foundation alone. This is something that requires the combined effort of all of mankind and we need to mobilize all available forces. Blacklight Foundation will be at the center of this all...”
Everyone nodded and agreed with this statement. The temperature in the room dropped to a freezing point immediately.
“I’ll leave it to you all to relay this situation to the other continents. All discovered meteorites have to be handled according to level-four biosafety standards.”
Chen Chen stressed. “We have to prevent ma.s.s panic. Blacklight Biotechnology will disclose all of our findings concerning the meteorite in a transparent and publicly manner. I hope that everyone present here will mobilize all the forces in your respective countries to conduct research on the protoplasmic liquid.”
“Of course.”
Every one of them gave Chen Chen their word. Facing the potential devastation of mankind, every one of them dedicated their utmost effort to the task.
After that, the four figures quickly vanished, leaving only Chen Chen at the table.
After Chen Chen left the Lilith a.s.sembly, he considered for a moment before instructing, “X, dispatch a team to Mars to collect a batch of meteorites. Suspend all ongoing biological research projects in the Eco Science City and the Spire Experimental Base and set up a new project codenamed ‘RH’ dedicated to researching this protoplasmic liquid substance.
“Rea.s.sign all biological science research crews into the emergency RH Project team. At the same time, reallocate all available resources of the Blacklight Biotechnology and concentrate our efforts on the RH Project!”
“Understood.”
Little X nodded. “I’ll see that everything gets handled properly.”
With that, she left.
Chen Chen formed a deep frown as he watched Little X’s departing silhouette.
Without a doubt, he was the first human to be infected with the protoplasmic liquid within the meteorite. What left him puzzled now was that even the best tool in his a.r.s.enal – the Blacklight fully automated medical platform otherwise known as the Medpod 3000 could not do anything against it either.
The only thing he could do now was to pray and hope that the infectious quality of the protoplasmic liquid was not severe, and that marine life was not susceptible to this infection. Otherwise, this disaster may be the single most threatening crisis faced so far, even more devastating than the “Weeping Angel” from four years ago.
...
All members of the Bioscience Project Department of the Spire Experimental Base including James Watson, were urgently gathered together. They were instructed to put on the most advanced positive pressure protective suit and enter the most biosecure laboratory in the Spire Experimental Base.
However, none of them were to come into direct contact with the experiment subject. Instead, they remained in a completely isolated command room and monitored over a group of Androids working on the samples.
Each one of the researchers was given a doc.u.ment handout with thorough information on the protoplasmic liquid. This information ranged from its trajectory, location, and time it landed on Earth as well as reports of the resulting deaths that came from it. A thorough report compiled by X-113 Nancy was also printed out and handed out to them.
“The initial human experiments indicate that even with airtight protective clothing and without making any physical contact, experiment members are still subject to the infection of this protoplasmic liquid.”
James Watson stood in front of the group and described to the team, “Upon being infected, the subject begins to have a very specific repeated nightmare. In these nightmares, they may dream of a vacated city or a barren path. They tend to hear a mysterious, ominous voice in the dark calling out to them, telling them to join them and fuse with them...
“As the experiment is in its preliminary phase, this is all the information we have at the moment. From here on, we’ll need everyone to brainstorm to make progress.”
Watson stressed again. “Before we can determine the infection medium, we cannot allow anyone other than the Androids to interact with the samples, even if you’re in protective suits. We only a.n.a.lyze the samples using the extracted data.”
The crew murmured among themselves in a low voice as Watson said this.
Meanwhile, a Delta-level subject was just being brought into the laboratory which was then immediately sealed up again. All level-five biosafety laboratories were now purposed for the same research. Some of the laboratories had two Delta-level subjects, and some while others had three of four subjects. Some of the laboratories even had a mix of animals and humans or solely animals.
Not a single level-five biosafety laboratory was left idle. Each one of them had a variety of conditions to simulate a unique testing environment.
“How about the initial test subject?”
One person suddenly asked, “If the situation is just as the company has described, then the world should be facing a great crisis and we need to make every second count. So far we’ve only seen the new subjects inside this laboratory, where is the initial test subject from which these data are extracted from? We’d like to conduct research on this subject as well.”
Even Watson was slightly taken aback upon hearing this mention. Even he did not know where this subject was.
“The subject is deceased.”
X-111, the main artificial intelligence computer of the Spire Experimental Base answered the question, “The initial subject is deceased and the body had been disposed of.”
The crew of researchers started a commotion upon hearing this.
Another information concealed from them was that Chen Chen himself, along with all of the Black Knights that had come into contact with him over the last day had left the Spire. This group had gone into the previous grand hall with the pa.s.sage to DOOM. There was no way to access this hall other than through the black sphere installed within.
There were more than a hundred Black Knights gathered here by this point. They were the ones who had come into contact with Chen Chen. As a precaution for the protoplasmic liquid containing contagious qualities, he decided to quarantine himself and the Black Knights. Until they managed to figure out the nature of the protoplasmic liquid, he was not going to leave this hall.
When he saw the questions the scientists and researchers had that Little X relayed to him, he did not know whether to laugh or cry. What consequences would Blacklight Biotechnology endure if they found out that the first person infected was none other than the founder himself?
One could only imagine.
It seemed like this time, the winds of fortune did not align itself with Chen Chen and the rest of mankind...
One comfort that Chen Chen found in these circ.u.mstances was that the Black Knights did not seem to exhibit any symptoms of fusing. Was this because the substance was unable to be transmitted twice or because the Black Knights did not have brains and thus could not be manipulated?
...
Two days later.
Chen Chen’s greatest concerns had become reality. Across the globe, the cases of fusion death were skyrocketing. In just two days, there had been thousands of cases reported in the Central Continent and more than five hundred reported in Europe. Even in regions such as the South Sea Continent and the Middle East where there were no such reported cases previously, such cases were beginning to surface...
To combat this crisis, the acting government of the afflicted regions began adopting methods such as information lockdown and putting the infected in quarantine to suppress the news flow. However, due to the unexplainable nature of these deaths, the word still got out inevitably.
At first, the governments were still able to keep the situation under control. As the situation started to spiral and the number of people in quarantine started to rise along with the number of reported deaths, many related articles and pictures began to surface online and the government was unable to keep up any longer.
Initially, these articles would be redirected to a 404 error web page shortly after they were uploaded. However, with the influx of these articles and images and the subsequent error pages, the netizens that did not know the full extent of the situation were starting to draw up rumors and theories about what was happening.
Some of them speculated that the government was conducting evil, inhumane experiments on human subjects. The pictures of the deformed, twisted dead bodies they saw were proof of these experiments. Meanwhile, others suspected that it was a new form of the viral virus. Then, there were the ones who claim that this was the omen of the end times.
At first, the people were largely skeptical of these speculations. However, the government’s continued efforts of blocking news sources had the opposite effect of evoking further fear and confusion among the people. It did not take long before the people began to parade and protest on the street and demand clarity from the government.
Shortly after that, the people started to panic and the world was plunged into a disarrayed state...
Over time, it was quickly pointed out that the regions least affected by these bizarre events were the North Sea and Indian Continent. The two continents combined only reported no more than five hundred cases, which was dramatically lower than regions such as the Central Continent or Europe.
The Blacklight Biotechnology team quickly formed a conclusion based on this observation. The explanation for this was simple – the protoplasmic liquid froze at minus five degrees and turned into a state similar to the ionic crystals Chen Chen had spotted previously. It was apparent that the protoplasm in the meteorite had difficulty spreading while in this state.
The North Sea Continent bordered at the North Pole was positioned in the polar climate region. Furthermore, it was now winter which meant that the temperature in the region hovered around negative ten degrees Celsius. Under such conditions, the meteorite that had fallen instantly turned into a crystallized state and was unable to infect humans.
This was the first weakness of the protoplasmic liquid that mankind had discovered so far!
Based on this observation, another weakness of the protoplasmic liquid was quickly determined. The reason it was similarly ineffective in India was that in addition to being susceptible to cold, it was also vulnerable to high-temperature climates.
However, the latter theory was quickly debunked.
When the meteor descended on Earth from outer s.p.a.ce, its temperature should reach up to the thousands due to the thermal velocity. If the protoplasmic liquid managed to survive such extreme temperatures, there was no reason that it would not survive the mere sub-forty-degree Celsius climate on land.
Besides, the situation in the South Sea Continent, whose climate was similar to India, was quickly spiraling out of control as well.
After discarding all unlikely possibilities, there was only one conclusion.
A majority of the fusion death reports in India were covered up by the local authorities...