I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  After all, too much righteousness could sometimes backfire…

  After sending Qian Wenhuan off in a private jet, Chen Chen dialed Xia Yin's number.

  "Xia Yin, I'm sending over a copy of a report to you. What you need to do is to immediately contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and report to them the situation in Namibia."

  Before Xia Yin could respond, Chen Chen instructed further, "At the same time, place purchases on all sorts of disposable medical equipment such as face masks, medical gowns, and disinfectants. Most importantly, purchase lots of Preston Ebola Virus PCR Test Kits!"

  "Understood. I've seen the news that a pandemic has broken out in Africa. If these are your instructions, I'm guessing that the pandemic is due to an Ebola virus?"

  Xia Yin was shocked for a moment before she could respond. However, unlike previously, her tone had now resembled that of a strong, determined woman.

  "That's right, the virus is infectious and airborne, with a mortality rate of over fifty percent. It's possible that it'll soon spread throughout many countries within a few days. You need to be careful."

  "Okay."

  Xia Yin gave a brief reply and did not say any further. Chen Chen then soon hung up the phone.

  It was a swift phone call yet when Chen Chen had unhesitantly hung up the phone. Xia Yin was once again overtaken by a brief feeling of emptiness. However, that too passed very soon.

  At that moment, a secretary dressed in black pantyhose and a white blouse came rushing in. She said, "General Manager, the chairman has sent a document over, please take a look."

  "Bring it over."

  Xia Yin lifted her head and received the document. However, once she had read through the report, her face immediately turned worrisome....

  Chapter 200: The Viral Symptoms |

  As the international media began focusing their attention on the pandemic in Africa, Chen Chen had long initiated a sequence of experiments on his side.

  At that point, hundreds of BE-006 infected patients had already resided in his isolation wards.

  These patients were volunteers from nearby regions who were handpicked by the company. They had signed personal declarations that would waive Blacklight Biotechnology from any legal liability even in the event of death.

  Meanwhile, Bernhard and a group of professors who were in charge of managing the study of this virus stood on the other side of the glass window pane. They were monitoring the conditions of each patient and overseeing the flow of every treatment.

  Then, the front door of the ward was opened as Chen Chen emerged from the other side.

  "Boss, why are you here?"

  The group of researchers turned around and greeted Chen Chen.

  "This is a volatile situation, I just couldn't stand and watch from the sidelines."

  Chen Chen waved his hand and spoke to Professor Bernhard, "Are the statistics for the viral symptoms ready?"

  "After carrying out more than 30 post mortems and studying hundreds of infected patients, we've gained a certain understanding of the viral symptoms of BE-006."

  Bernhard confidently handed over a case file to Chen Chen and said, "All the basic information is documented here."

  Chen Chen received the file and flipped it open.

  The first page contained an image captured by an electron microscope. It looked like a strand of strings twirling into the shape of a butterfly, similar to a clat of worms.

  The title was labeled below the image - Blacklight Ebola.

  Bernhard explained aside, "Beautiful, isn't it? It's similar to its relative, yet these are a group of relentless killers."

  "Nobody would dispute that fact."

  Chen Chen shrugged and flipped to the second page. It was a picture of an African man.

  However, the man had blood flowing out from all his orifices, even his skin seemed to be mashed with blood. His expression was sluggish and not lucid at all.

  "This is the standard symptom of a severe hemorrhage."

  Bernhard continued explaining, "The BE virus operates in a manner that's similar to its relative, the Preston virus. It typically transmits from a host's saliva to infect another person via their eyes, nose, mouth, and even wounds.

  "Upon entering the body, I've categorized the viral symptoms into three stages."

  Bernhard then proceeded to lift a finger.

  "The first stage, which is the initial stage of infection, the virus will first attack the white blood cells of the body. This damages its ability to sense foreign objects as well as lower the immunity it provides to the body. The infected patient's blood will then turn more coagulated.

  "Furthermore, the virus tends to attack the body's connective tissues, which is composed mainly of collagen. The virus reproduces rampantly in the tissue, liquifying and damaging the bottom layer of the skin, which leads to blisters growing on the skin and subsequent oozing of blood…"

  Chen Chen flipped to the third page and saw another infected African patient who had hundreds of blood blisters covering his face to a point where he was no longer recognizable.

  "Then comes the second stage."

  Bernhard continued. "The infected patient will suffer from incessant bleeding from his oral cavity, gums, breast, eyes… Blood will start oozing even from various tiny pores of the body. After killing off the white blood cells, the red blood cells will also be destroyed. The cells will be disintegrated by the virus, causing its organelles to scatter all over the body. What's left in the patient's blood are the viruses…

  "All these will happen within the short span of a few days. Such is the destructive capability of a virulent virus."

  Bernhard proceeded. "The third stage is also the final stage of the infected patient's life.

  "In this period, the oral cavity of the infected patient has started to rot. It's also possible that he will start coughing out his tongue and other damaged organs. His liver will start turning into a mush as his intestines are filled with blood. It's like the patient's body is dissolving itself from within…

  "Furthermore, their nerves have also been damaged, which causes the patient's mental state to turn sluggish. Then, they'll die a slow death."

  Chen Chen flipped till the end and saw various post-mortem dissection pictures.

  "Indeed, it's the classical way to die of the Ebola virus."

  Chen Chen closed up the report and said, "Put this up on our company's website and share it across the world. Let's talk about something more uplifting. Have you managed to discover the incubation period and curative treatments for the virus?"

  Bernhard shook his head and said regrettably, "According to our investigation, the incubation period can reach a maximum of 7 days. We suspect that the incubation period of the BE-006 virus is similar to other Ebola viruses. Its true maximum incubation period can reach 20 days."

  "This is truly a bad news."

  Chen Chen said solemnly. The longer the incubation period, the more effective the virus infectivity. This meant a large threat to human civilization.

  "As for treatment methods, we've only managed to try two methods so far. The first is the NPC1 Blocker Therapy, the other's the normal symptomatic treatment."

  Another professor explained, "The Ebola virus needed to enter the cell's nucleus via NPC1 to undergo self-replication. Once the NPC1 proteins could stop the transportation of cholesterol, the patient's condition would show visible improvements. We've managed to control the condition of a group of patients after injecting them with NPC1 blockers.

  "However, the traditional symptomatic treatment yielded less impressive results. Such treatments include oral rehydration and intravenous infusion via electrolyte liquids, recovering blood platelets and maintaining patients blood oxygen level.

  "As of now, the mortality rate of patients undergoing traditional symptomatic treatment is approximately thirty-five percent."

  Chen Chen did not probe further. He understood that the only reason the mortality rate for symptomatic treat
ment was still not high was due to most symptoms not reaching its final stages yet.

  The longer they waited, the higher the mortality rate would be.

  "It looks like the NPC1 Blocker Therapy is the most effective treatment method against the Ebola virus for now."

  Evans explained further, "The only shortcoming of the NPC1 Blocker Therapy is that the patient will eventually get Niemann-Pick disease, which is a high price to pay."

  "Well, there's no other better ways."

  Chen Chen said solemnly, "By the way, when's our company able to begin its research on a vaccine?"

  "About one half to a month, when we fully understand the characteristics of the virus."

  Evans thought and provided further estimations. "After half a month, the true mortality rate of the pandemic will probably be out. A lot of international aids will also arrive by then. That's when we can truly launch a counteroffensive.

  "Furthermore, we're also expecting to see some patients who're able to naturally produce antibodies and recover from the virus themselves. By then, we'll be able to use their blood to treat the virus. For now, our priority is on ensuring how to best contain the virus spread within this month."

  "Very well."

  Chen Chen nodded and said, "You can be rest assured here. Although I can't guarantee that the virus won't spread into Eco Science City, I can at least promise that once any case is discovered, the control measures will be immediate so that this research environment is safe."

  After encouraging his employees, Chen Chen then went to retrieve a sample of BE-006 live virus strain and left the research center.

  Chen Chen had planned to initiate another research on the live virus strain in the Spire Experimental Base. After all, the advanced equipment in the experimental base had excelled even those of a level-4 biosafety lab.

  Furthermore, many top scientists were in the Spire Experimental Base, which included Hannibal, Li Lei, and others. Chen Chen had also intended to have Little X join the research.

  Although lacking in creativity, Little X's calculative and micromanipulation abilities allowed it to easily analyze the gene map of the virus and performed complex genome editing techniques such as the CRISPR-Cas9.

  Chapter 201: Worldwide Support |

  As Chen Chen was planning his next move on the pandemic, the Blacklight virus had continued spreading throughout the African region.

  Visiting each village and city, the virus was claiming one life after another as if it was the incarnation of the Reaper.

  Having learned from three years of culminating experience, Chen Chen submitted the reports via Blacklight Biotechnology to the World Health Organization (WHO), attracting the attention of various nations.

  In the WHO conference room, countless media representatives congregated below the stage as they flashed their cameras incessantly to the stage.

  On stage, a group of WHO spokespersons sat in a row. A familiar face could be seen sitting right at the center of it.

  He was a seemingly crass young adult in his late twenties, combing his oily hair as he wore a pair of gold-framed glasses. This person had a peculiar presence to him.

  However, very few could recognize that that person was the person-in-charge of Blacklight Biotechnology Namibia Subsidiary Company, Qian Wenhuan.

  At that moment, Qian Wenhuan was addressing the international media.

  "Ebola is a nightmare that has been terrorizing the Earth Federation. We need to fear it more than we fear HIV and why's that? We have to first start by talking about its mortality rate…

  "However, I'm not here to talk about that today. What I'm trying to express here is that seven days have passed since the virus outbreak."

  Qian Wenhuan gestured his seven fingers and said solemnly, "It's been seven days now. Although seemingly short, only Namibia has submitted its pandemic report to the WHO in Africa. What are the rest of the pandemic-stricken nations doing?

  "They're busy at war, busy covering up the truth. They didn't even realize that the terrifying grip of the virus has already reached themselves."

  There was only silence in the crowd.

  Qian Wenhuan continued. "According to our company's data, the number of countries affected by this pandemic has increased from eight countries to thirteen countries now. This includes Libya, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Congo, and others…

  "The only consoling news is that the virus has not left Africa for now. This is the only silver lining that exists in this pandemic…

  "Let's talk about the data Blacklight Biotechnology has collected so far in Namibia."

  Qian Wenhuan retrieved a form and continued. "Within this week, there have already been 5300 infected cases in Namibia. Just Windhoek itself already has more than 3000 cases. We don't even know how long the incubation period of the virus actually is. However, according to our company's estimate, infected patients who're still within the incubation periods could be three times as many as those who showed obvious symptoms!"

  A commotion soon began below the stage.

  "That's right, you didn't hear that wrongly. Within just a week, the virus has infected more than ten thousand people. The capital of the country, Windhoek, is sinking. Do remember that Namibia is a country with relatively vast lands and lower human population density.

  "While other African nations have yet to submit their findings on the pandemics, Blacklight Biotechnology has led the way in researching the virus. We've found that this virus is a new strain of the Ebola virus that's airborne. Its threat to humanity surpasses even that of the Black Death. If the virus manages to spread beyond Africa, it could mark the end of humanity…"

  Everyone held their breath.

  Qian Wenhuan said sternly, "I don't mean to sound alarmist. However, according to our company's statistics, the mortality rate of the virus is increasing every day. It has now exceeded fifty percent and this is just the beginning. As time passes, more and more patients won't be able to hold it much longer and die. As of now, we're only capable of administering symptomatic treatments and this will not be enough to defeat the virus.

  "Therefore, I call upon everyone here to go to war with the virus. It's my hope that all nations are able to join us to help Africa and Blacklight Biotechnology in defending against the virus attack!"

  Qian Wenhuan's tone was becoming louder. "At Blacklight Biotechnology, we own the only level-4 biosafety lab in Africa and we shall utilize it to take charge at the frontline of this battle against the virus!

  "At the same time, we also own twenty-three transport aircrafts and fifty-two transport helicopters, all of which we'll mobilize free-of-charge in distributing aids to all pandemic-stricken nations!"

  A round of thunderous applause ensued among the crowd.

  Qian Wenhuan then brought the conversation to another direction amid the applause. "However, our company's resources are limited on its own. We need assistance from all over the world. Ladies and gentlemen, we've already spent more than 10 billion USD in purchasing medical equipment all over the world. However, this is still far from enough. We still need more people to join us and together, we can save Africa!

  "Ladies and gentlemen, leaders of all nations, and those present in this hall, humanity is approaching its most vulnerable period in history. Africa needs your help. Please aid us to contain the virus in the frontline here in Africa. Don't let the virus spread. This is an issue that concerns all of humanity!

  "At Blacklight Biotechnology, we're committed to the mission of serving and prolonging humanity and we shall forever stand at the frontline of battling this Ebola virus!"

  …

  Qian Wenhuan's speech at the WHO has shaken the world.

  Soon, Chen Chen had also uploaded the virus information onto his company's website. As the media began picking up on the story, the entire world was horrified at the pixelated gory images that were displayed.

  Then, after a few rounds of international conferences, the WHO had announced the Ebola virus pandemic as a global health em
ergency, calling nations all over the world to halt travelers from visiting the African continent.

  Most countries not only enhanced their customs inspection but they had also sent relief teams and medical resources to aid the pandemic in Africa.

  As the frontline institution in battling the virus, Chen Chen had obtained a vast amount of material and human resources in his mission. There were even world-class biologists who came forward, whom Chen Chen had invited into his research team.

  In a short time and with the support of the entire world, Eco Science City had immediately transformed into a stellar research machine.

  Meanwhile, the name Blacklight virus had slowly gained traction among citizens around the world. Although it had not gained an official acknowledgement from the academic world, the name had been used by media around the world.

  Netizens had also started paying attention to the name of the virus.

  "Bio2001: Ahh? The virus in Africa finally has a decent name to it [Shrugs] "

  "Tonic Ai Shufen: I'm fuming, how dare they ride on Dr. Alex's popularity! Mad!!!"

  "EVAlution: Isn't that the name of the virus in Prototype? What an old game, I miss Dr. Alex."

  "Yutong Xinju: That's not totally right. Although the English name for it is the Blacklight virus, the Mandarin name for it is Yi Bo La Hei Se Shou Biao, which is translated as Blackwatch Ebola."

  "Oldmonkisdying: I've noticed this company a long time ago. It's called Blacklight Company in English, yet it's called Blackwatch Company in Mandarin. My mind's splitting apart."

  "Sky Emperor Kawakuwa: The founder of this company is so silly."

  "Wanluo: Do you think this virus can create a real-life Dr. Alex? Or can it be a man-made biological weapon?"

  "Bai Hualin: Impossible. There'll surely be evidence within the genetic composition of the virus if it's man-made. If no one has mentioned anything about it, it could only mean that the virus is a normal mutation of another virus."

  Regardless, Blacklight Biotechnology once again dominated the headlines and grabbed the attention of the world's citizens since the fiasco with the age-reversal treatment.