Natural-focal disease!Mei Xin was dazed for a moment before her expression turned grim.
Under most occurrences of such disease, the source, as well as all the possible areas under certain conditions that the pathogens or disease-causing agents, may spread to the surrounding areas, was the focus of infection. Anyone who stumbled upon such areas might get infected. If the source of infection were animals, geographical, climatic, and meteorological factors, it could have a significant impact on the source of infection.
The foremost and indispensable condition for the formation of a focus of infection was the existence of a source of infection. The second essential condition was that the disease-causing agents managed to spread from the source of infection. Each source of infection could form a focus of infection. However, more than one source of infection could exist in a focus of infection.
What exactly was this place?
The Vulture"s Mouth that could "eat" people.
The team was at a spot—a contaminated area—it should be a focus of infection.
The ants that live there all year round could be a source of transmission as well.
They didn"t manage to find anyone. They couldn"t find their way back either. Immediately after, they became the next source of infection…
Mei Xin furrowed her eyebrows when she looked at the swarms of flying mosquitoes in the forest.
"If that"s really the case, we"re in trouble."
If a new infectious disease were to emerge, the consequences would be dire.
This was because the hospital was not easily accessible from the mountain. They could not prescribe effective cures if it were to be a new infectious disease.
No! The biggest problem now was that they did not know if they could get out of this forest…
If everyone here were to be infected…
Mei Xin s.h.i.+vered at that thought.
Thud! Suddenly, a sound came from behind.
Everyone turned to look.
Another teammate was on the ground.
His hands had supported himself and managed to not collapse entirely on the ground.
"I feel uncomfortable, my legs sore… body weak… want to vomit…"
This teammate was one of those who looked for the way out earlier.
His forehead was filled with perspiration, and it was obvious he was not in good condition. Nevertheless, he still tried his best to show a smile.
"I"m fine. I just need… to take a break…"
His words sounded too painful for those who heard it.
Everyone looked at him…
The face under the brim of the hat looked ill. Not only him, but the rest also started to show some signs of uncomfortable symptoms as well.
The atmosphere was suddenly tense.
Xiang Wan took a deep breath and suppressed the uncomfortable feeling inside her heart. She ran her fingers through her hair.
"There will be a way out. We"ll definitely find a way out!"
Her vision felt a little blurry. Her head was also starting to ache a little.
She told herself she must not become a burden.
No matter what, before she saw Bai Muchuan, she must not collapse.
However…
This eerie forest felt as though it was imbued with the breath of death. It was more frightening than having a sharp knife pointed at their neck.
Her forehead was also filled with tiny beads of perspiration.
The view before her eyes seemed to turn into an illusion—
The fear which was hiding within the hearts of everyone was as though being enlarged to infinity as everyone started to feel discomfort.
"Captain Cheng, do you have some medicine? I"m feeling… not too well?"
There was another teammate who could not withstand the discomfort and asked for a medicine weakly.
After Cheng Zheng checked the first teammate, it was as though something was being broken.
It was the inner stability in their hearts that got broken. The teammates started to feel discomfort, but fortunately, the level of the discomfort varied amongst the team.
Most of them were similar to Xiang Wan. They felt dizzy and quite weak at their limbs. They also felt nauseous with an urge to vomit—
Xiang Wan was a little worried about such symptoms.
After all, the only thing that could really bring them down was themselves.
"Hang in there, everyone!" Xiang Wan shouted, "Captain Quan will be back soon, we can get out of here very soon…"
The group had never thought that finding the way out would actually prove to be a problem when they were supposed to be on a rescue mission.
Everyone was silent.
Cheng Zheng was the most composed and cool member of them all.
After he finished checking the unwell teammates, he took out some tablets and distributed them.
He poured two tablets onto his palm and pa.s.sed them to Xiang Wan.
"Take these!"
His tone was serious and commanding.
This was a critical time, Xiang Wan would not joke around with her life.
"Thank you!" She took the tablets and swallowed them directly without drinking water.
Every drop of water was very precious here. She did not want to waste it unnecessarily…
"Are you able to withstand all this?" Cheng Zheng saw the look of forbearance on her face and couldn"t help asking her that.
"No problem!" Xiang Wan nodded her head and smiled at him.
Her smile was bright and steadfast.
At that very moment, Cheng Zheng felt as if a flower blossomed inside his heart.
This woman! She would never admit how stressed out she truly was.
She had come in gritting her teeth and even if it meant she had to walk with her knees, she would continue to persist on.
Even if she fell down, she did not want to be a burden to the team…
"Mm." Cheng Zheng did not say anything more and brought Mei Xin along to check out the other teammates.
Xiang Wan leaned onto a tree and watched them attending to the rest when she suddenly thought of something.
"Let"s start a fire!"
Cheng Zheng turned his head to look at her.
Everyone was busy at the moment and did not think that much.
Xiang Wan propped a hand on her head. "Since we couldn"t find him," she said seriously, "why don"t we try to let him look for us?"
In the dark, making fire was the most visible and attention seeking method to get spotted at night.
However, this was the forest—
"We have so many people here. Maybe… will we be able to make a fire?"
Xiang Wan said softly as she was unsure if her method would work.
Cheng Zheng nodded his head after some hesitation. "Fire can help alleviate the coldness. Let"s make one. Our clothes are wet anyway. It can help to dry our clothes too…"
They did not know if a fire would be of use, but having a fire could certainly calm minds down at that moment.
Everyone started to work on starting a fire.
Many hands make light work. The fire was started in no time.
Xiang Wan was right about one thing. Since they couldn"t find them, if they started a fire, the missing ones might be able to look for them…
In less than five minutes, Quan Shaoteng came back.
"I nearly got lost after making one round, but at least we found something different. There"s a deep pond where both sides were cliffs. It was impossible to climb, but we found footprints along the edge of the pond. I suspect that it could be an exit to the forest. I want to bring more men to examine it more closely…"
His face was grim and the two men who followed him was panting due to fatigue.
When Quan Shaoteng saw the unwell men sitting by the fire, he was puzzled.
"They… what happened?"
Cheng Zheng gave him a glance. "They"re ill."
After hearing them out, more sweat appeared on Quan Shaoteng"s forehead.
"This terrible place is too bleeping weird! Everyone take a rest, I"ll think of a way!"
Everyone fell silent.
Quan Shaoteng looked toward Cheng Zheng. "Do you have enough medicine?"
Cheng Zheng heaved a sigh. "…"
They didn"t bring much medicine, unfortunately.
When they were preparing for the trip, they brought most items for treating external wounds. They did not expect the death trap of Vulture"s Mouth was the natural focal-disease…
…
The people present were soon gathered around the fire.
Quan Shaoteng had earlier a.s.signed them to little teams.
Everyone"s condition was reported clearly to Cheng Zheng.
They had a little discussion and everyone agreed that—
Those whose body condition was poor would continue to rest and stay there. Quan Shaoteng would, in turn, lead those who were fine and continue their quest to find a way out, as well as look for the whereabouts of Bai Muchuan and his team…
…
Xiang Wan was amongst those who should stay behind.
When it was not time to put up a strong front, she would not do so.
She sat quietly beside Mei Xin and helped her take care of the teammates who were very unwell.
Cheng Zheng also stayed behind. He sat near the fire together with two teammates who were a.s.signed the guard duty, looking at this decrepit, dense forest…
…
It was a place where Bai Muchuan got lost and Quan Shaoteng had not yet managed to find a way out.
Everyone was silent.
In this dense forest, it was so quiet that one could feel suffocated.
So much so that they had gooseb.u.mps just by sitting there.
…