Chapter 751: Grave Situation
On the deck of the liner, Hu Zhenfeng and the others’ eyes turned saucer when they saw that Tang Xiu and his men were easily jumping six-plus meters away. The world’s long jump record was 8.95 meters, but it was achieved through the inertia of a full sprint run-up. Although the deck was only six-plus meters away from the shore, they seemed so relaxed jumping over without a run-up. What they did was simply beyond Hu Zhenfeng’s imagination.
“What monsters! They just lifted their legs and yet jumped so far. Wouldn’t they be able to break the world record if they were to participate in the Olympic Games?”
The contempt inside Hu Zhenfeng’s heart toward Tang Xiu reduced a lot.
The members of the Phantom Special Combat Squad, including Captain Yu Shuqing, were also surprised by the long jump ability of Tang Xiu and his men. Though they too could jump ashore, doing it so easily was not something they could achieve.
“These fellas are experts, Captain,” said Chen Yangfan, who had always been proud of his speed, leaned towards Yu Shuqing and said with a solemn expression.
“I already noticed that they are all masters, but I didn’t think that they were so powerful,” Yu Shuqing nodded. “Of all the members of our Phantom Squad, I’m afraid there’s only you who could barely match them.”
“That is if I take a few steps back to run, else it will be a bit difficult,” said Chen Yangfan with a forced, wry smile.
“I don’t think I could go anywhere close to the people who can become the envoys sent by our superiors to solve the crisis here. Alright, keep your vigilance. Don’t displease them.”
“Roger that!” The squad nodded.
On the shore, there was a medium-sized bus that could accommodate twenty-plus people, with a young man donned in a leather suit and wearing a mask standing at the door. After he saw Hu Zhenfeng, his eyes immediately shimmered as he greeted him with a salute, “You’re finally back, Chief of Staff. Our garrison is in huge trouble.”
“How is the situation now, and how many men in the army got infected by the virus?” Asked Hu Zhenfeng.
“Only 88 people were not infected by the virus, and they are the ones who got assigned to the two patrol ships in nearby waters. As for the rest, all of them have cold, fever, and weakened body symptoms. We have taken various antivirus drugs, but it doesn’t have any effect whatsoever, while the preventive medication we bought from that foreign black market will come too late.”
“Do the other officers and men still retain their combat capabilities other than those on the two ships?” Asked Hu Zhenfeng quickly.
“We can pull it through for some time, but only 3 to 5 days at best,” the young man nodded. “Chief, the first carrier died just six hours ago, and there are now dozens of people who are seriously ill on the island. They could die at any time.”
With a slightly changed expression, Hu Zhenfeng asked in a deep voice, “How many people not infected are left on the island now?”
Anger flashed on the young man’s face as he said, “More than 1000 people, but more than 90% of them are from those foreign forces. They took that preventive agent before coming here, hence avoiding getting infected. Division Commander Yang forbid us to take action against them, so they are practically running wild on the island, although they have yet to do anything too outrageous. They… kind of scattered on the island, surveying the mineral resources and inquiring about various information.”
A cold glint flashed in Hu Zhenfeng’s eyes as he asked again, “Did you bring that antivirus gas mask?”
“Yeah, I brought them over. Thirty of them in total,” the young man nodded.
Hu Zhenfeng turned to look at Tang Xiu, Yu Shuqing and the others, and then said in a heavy voice, “We have not yet taken any preventive drugs before coming here, so we must wear gas masks on the island to prevent us from getting infected.”
“Chief, we only bought 100 preventive drugs from those foreign forces, so we don’t have to worry about being infected after taking them. We’ll be fine with only wearing the masks.”
With that said, he poured a lot of black pills from the vial he carried along and gave them to Hu Zhenfeng.
Hu Zhenfeng’s eyes lit up, and immediately grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth. He then handed the rest to Yu Shuqing and his men while watching as they took them. When he gave it to Tang Xiu, however, he was rejected.
“We don’t need it.”
Tang Xiu was reluctant and even unwilling to take this drug of unknown origin, because he firmly believed that the virus would not be a threat for them, cultivators.
“Tang Xiu, you may be the commander of this operation, but you cannot be arrogant!” Hu Zhenfeng angrily said. “This preventive drug is effective, you must take it as precaution and safety’s sake!”
“You’re not my superior and I don’t have to obey your orders,” said Tang Xiu indifferently. “Alright, it’s urgent so we gotta hurry up.”
Anger gushed inside Hu Zhenfeng’s heart, but he forcefully suppressed it. He could not figure out the origins of Tang Xiu and his men, and he even thought that they were simply not from the Security Agency.
On the road, Tang Xiu learned from the young man driving the bus about the situation of Divine Doctor Gui Jianchou who had also taken the preventive drug and was now studying the virus on the island and had not yet been able to find any anything from his study since yesterday.
After driving for more than two hours, the bus entered a rugged mountain road, and the bumpy travel lasted for an hour before they finally entered an olive green military camp.
Yang Chuxiong was the commander of the garrison. Despite being a division commander, his rank was Major General. This man was still young, 46 years old, looking sturdy and robust, and had the bearings of a brave, tiger general.
“Welcome, Tang Xiu.”
The first moment he saw Tang Xiu, Yang Chuxiong was slightly stunned. Though he received the orders from the superior leader that the name of the person who would aid them in the crisis was Tang Xiu, never did he expect that Tang Xiu was as young as the rumors said. Hu Zhenfeng might be unaware how great the achievements Tang Xiu performed before, but Yang Chuxiong had investigated Tang Xiu by using his privileges, and he could tell that Tang Xiu was not that simple on the surface.
Tang Xiu gave a slight nod in response and said, “Division Commander Yang, right? I already learned the current situation on Mist Source Island. It’s grave, right?”
“It’s far more than grave. It’s simply an indescribable mess!” said Yang Chuoxing with a bitter expression. “I’m afraid more than a half of the hundreds of thousands of people on the island will die if you can’t solve the virus within 2 or 3 days.”
There are only 2 or 3 days of time?
“Where is Divine Doctor Gui Jianchou?” asked Tang Xiu bluntly. “Take me to him.”
“He’s in the temporary lab inside,” answered Yang Chuxiong immediately. “We have collected blood samples from the infected people and the Divine Doctor is currently doing everything he can to study the nature of this virus and trying to find a solution.”
Ten minutes later, Tang Xiu saw the legendary Divine Doctor Gui Jianchou, who was now wearing a white coat and a pair of white gloves inside a temporary lab. He was now observing a small piece of carrion with a pair of tweezers.
“Hello, Doctor. I’m Tang Xiu.” Tang Xiu walked forward and introduced himself.
Gui Jianchou was very thin, and his wrinkled face was full of solemnity. His brows slightly pressed after hearing Tang Xiu’s words, as he carefully scrutinized Tang Xiu and slowly nodded, “The Young Divine Doctor of the Star City Chinese Medical Hospital, Tang Xiu. You have made those two conceited disciples of mine feel ashamed of their inferior abilities. Anyways, I have paid particular attention to some cases of your treatment, especially the acupuncture technique you used. It’s simply a technique that turns bad into good, amazingly powerful!”
“You’re overpraising me,” Tang Xiu politely replied. “Senior Gui Jianchou, since you came here ahead of me, could you tell me the results of your study and the situation with the virus?”
“Since I’ve began studying medicine I have encountered all sorts of diseases, but this virus is very strange. It has a wide range of transmission, be it through saliva, blood, air, water… any healthy person has the possibility of being infected as long as they are within ten meters from a infected person. Of course, I have also studied Western medicine as well and have quite some achievements on it. Yet still, I find it very difficult to extract anything from this virus sample no matter what means I try. Furthermore, I’ve also tried over 100 methods, using massive medicinal herbs to carry out a mixed research, and yet am still unable to create an agent that can kill this virus. Its tenacity is way too strong.”
After a short silence, Tang Xiu took out a porcelain bottle and handed it to Gui Jianchou, saying, “This is a medicine I refined myself. It has a good effect on tempering the human body. Try to put this into it, and let’s see if it has any effect.”
Gui Jianchou looked surprised, but still took the porcelain bottle and carefully poured a drop on the carrion.
Zzzt…
It was as though a strong sulphuric acid was poured on the carrion as it rotted at a very fast rate and turned into black water with pungent stench.
Gui Jianchou’s brows knitted. He forced a smile and said, “Not only does it have no effect, but it also will make the infected die a violent death once used on them.”
Tang Xiu squinted his eyes. Then, he grabbed paper and a pen on the table, quickly wrote down a list of medicinal herbs’ names: Honeysuckle, Wild Lily, Venom String Seed, Black Scorpion, and Golden Cicada.
“Awu, come in,” shouted Tang Xiu.
Mo Awu pushed the door, came in and asked, “Any instructions, Boss?”
Tang Xiu handed him the list and seriously said, “Find these herbs immediately and send them to me as fast as possible. Ask aid from Division Commander Yang as he is more familiar with this place than you.”
“Understood!” Mo Awu took the list and left.
Gui Jianchou took back his vision from Mo Awu’s back and asked with a confused expression, “Tang… anyways, I’ll call you Little Tang! What prescription did you make?”
“That liquid is a body tempering medicine, while the prescription I just made has the opposite medicinal property than the first. I want to try to make the opposite medicinal property and see whether it’s effective on this virus.”
Gui Jianchou looked to be absorbed in his thoughts. Then, he nodded and said, “The possibility is indeed quite high. I also refined medicinal herbs and prepared some medicines. After pouring it on the carrion, the aggravate decaying and corrosion did not happen. All things will develop in the opposite direction when they turn extreme, hence poison can be used to fight poison. Maybe the prescription you just made will have an effect.”
“I’m also trying anything in a crisis like this, so I don’t want to miss any possibility,” Tang Xiu forced a wry smile. “And to be honest, my medical skills are special, but one thing for sure is, I admit that I won’t be able to match you at all. You yourself have yet to thoroughly study the nature of this virus, while I have yet to even study the medicine for treating the infected. Hence, what I just made is perhaps no better either.”