Chapter 9: Level 1, Second Mission Released

19 June, Before 16:00

City Hospital

“Dad, I want to participate in it.” Qian Yun Kai calmly told his father.

“No!” Team Leader Qian rejected without a shred of hesitation.

“You just woke up this morning and have not fully recovered! You better listen to me…”

“I have already recovered.”

“No, you have not yet recovered.”

“I am a doctor, so I would know if I am healthy or not.”

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“Zsw yal y qsaldpkn esnvsa; usw sdzu jdso ycswv elye rlsrzl!” vbl vlyx zlyela alcwjle.

Ckyd Zwd Iyk qlzz pkzldv, rywpkdt qsa y obkzl clqsal alrzukdt, “Yyucl usw yal aktbv; R byhl ekle sdnl.”

Mlyx Nlyela Ckyd xyppytle bkp vlxrzlp. Mbkp psd sq bkp oyp psxlsdl obs oyp hlau pkdtzl-xkdele yde pvwccsad, sdnl bl elnkele sd psxlvbkdt, bl oswze ts aktbv yblye, ds xyvvla bso xwnb bl ekpytalle okvb bkx.

“Pye, esd’v usw vbkdj vbkp kp y qsaxkeyczl nbyzzldtl? Mbkp ekplypl vbyv yrrlyale swv sq dsoblal, pralyekdt yv qlyapsxl prllep, vbspl vbyv esd’v xyjl kv ekl, cwv vbspl vbyv xyjl kv, alnshla okvbswv xleknyvksd. Gzps, vbspl vbyv alnshlale, clnsxl hlau ayhldswp, yde psxl lhld yoyjld prlnkyz rsolap. Mblu nyd lhld taso swv tsze dwttlvp qasx vblka cseklp.”

Ckyd Zwd Iyk’p lulp olal zkv wr okvb y pvaydtl pryaj, nsdvykdkdt lmnkvlxldv, yp olzz yp qlya, qsa vbl wdjdsod. “Pye, vbkp kp yzps y jkde sq xkaynzl, y xkaynzl vbyv zlvp rlsrzl elhlzsr yckzkvklp! R nyddsv xkpp swv sd vbkp xyvvla!”

Mlyx Nlyela Ckyd pvkzz eke dsv nsdpldv. Rq vbl qkapv rlapsd vbyv alnshlale qasx vbl kzzdlpp okvbswv xleknyvksd oyp nsdpkelale y xkaynzl, yde vbl qkapv rlapsd vbyv talo y tszeld dwttlv qasx bkp cseu oyp yd ydsxyzu, vbld vbl plnsde, vbkae, qswavb rlapsd… kq vblu yzz alnshlale yde talo y tszeld dwttlv, vbld vbl dyvwal sq vbkp hkawp kdnkeldv okzz nbydtl qasx y bsaaldeswp rydelxkn kdvs psxlvbkdt lzpl ldvkalzu. Ohld dso, kv bye yzalyeu clnsxl vbl dyvksd’p vsr plnalv.

Uwaaldvzu, Hbsdt Fbyd Ukvu’p Rdpvkvwvl sq Rdqlnvkswp Pkplyplp bye yzalyeu bydele vbkp nypl shla vs vbl nswdvau’p xykd bsprkvyz, yde lhld vbl dyvksdyz plnwakvu oyp kdhszhle kd vbl rknvwal.

Mbkdtp olal tlvvkdt xsal nsxrzknyvle cu vbl eyu.

Those that were involved in this research might strike it big and become famous overnight, or might…

As a father, he just hoped that his son could avoid this deep invisible whirlpool.

“Dad, I just don’t want people to treat me like a lab rat in the laboratory. Instead of having people meddling with my body, I want to help myself.” Qian Yun Kai picked up his glasses from the bedside table, and started wiping it with a soft cloth.

In actuality, he only had mild short sightedness of about four hundred degrees, but after he recovered from the virus, he…

Hearing that, Team Leader Qian sat on the bed opposite of his son.

His son was right. He was a survivor of the virus, and he was also one of the few recoverees that did not produce any golden nuggets. Furthermore, with his status and reputation as a Team Leader, his son for sure cannot escape the fate of becoming a lab rat that the country can experiment on.

If that was the case, he might as well take the initiative to become one of the researchers and conduct the research himself.

“I will inform Team Leader Chai.” Team Leader Qian felt helpless. He felt tired, his head was aching, and his body wasn’t up to par either.

The group of people who was the first to get in contact with the virus were all confined in the city hospital. They were not allowed to go anywhere. The fortunate thing was that they had no symptoms of being infected, but for fear that the virus may be hidden deep down inside or the incubation period was longer than expected, they were prohibited from stepping out. Anyway, as long as the cure has not been found, no one could guarantee they were safe.

“Thanks dad. Oh yes, how is Wang Cheng and the group of officers doing?”

“Wang Cheng is very well; he was able to pass through the difficult period and recovered. As for the other four Interpol officers, they are also recovering well and was cooperative when doing all kinds of test.”

Qian Yun Kai felt relieved and asked, “When did he wake up? I want to see him.”

“He woke up much earlier than you during yesterday night. You can see him, but you will have to wait for 24 hours. This is the requirement set by the upper management, those hwo recovered have to be under observation for 24 hours, and no one is allowed to leave before that, no even step out of the room.”

“All those who recovered, woke up at different timings?” Qian Yun Kai asked with a sensitive tone.

“Yes, all different timings. The earliest one was a little girl, she woke up after a come of eight hours. She could also produce a golden nugget.”

“Up till today, how many have been infected? What is the death count and the number of recoveries? How many have the ability to produce the golden nugget? Are there any other abilities beside producing the nugget?”

Team Leader Qian shook his head, “The detailed figures are not out yet. The Special Task Force have just arrived at Zhong Shan City this morning, they are now executing the data collection in the quarantine area.”

Qian Yun Kai used the spectacle cloth to wipe his glasses, pondering on whether to inform his father the abnormality of his body.

After much deliberation, he felt that the time was not ripe. He would wait and see, the details of other recovered patients.

“Wang Cheng also managed to produce the golden nugget?”

“No, he is the same as you. His body has no changes.”

No changes at all? … Qian Yun Kai placed his glasses down, before he chuckled, ruminating on who knows what.

Team Leader Qian heard a knock on the door outside, indicating that visiting hours were over. He could only stand up and inform his son, “I will pass you all of the patient’s information when you are ready to get involved. I will also try to get you in to the research team, so that you can lay your hand on the latest information.”

“Dad, don’t force yourself, it’s fine as long as you try.”

“I know. Tonight, I will come and visit together with your mum.” Team Leader Qian patted his son’s shoulder before walking out of the room.

He had a premonition, that he was 90% sure that he also was infected with the virus. He did not know if he would be like his son and recover after a few days of coma, so he needed to pave a road for his son before the illness reared its head. At the very least, he had to prevent his son from simply being a lab rat.

Back in Xiao Mo’s home…

Over here, after looking through the contents of the blog, Xiao Mo consciously lifted his palms, flipping it to and fro consecutively for a long while.

No changes.

Lucky!

It was not known if the contents of the blog post were true or not. If it were false, then forget it, it was no big of a deal. But if it was the truth… perhaps this was a standalone case? Especially since the world now has a lot of bizarre events. If a woman could grow wires from her belly, naturally, a man could grow golden nuggets from his hand.

Other than this blog post, Xiao Mo did not encounter any interesting news anymore.

As he browsed through the other sites, he unconsciously dipped his hand into the bag of chocolates. After feeling for a while inside the bag, he realized that there were actually none left.

Can’t be, this was the largest bag, how could he finish it so fast?

He started wondering if the manufacturers were unscrupulous, making the bag look big and heavy, but having only a few pieces in actuality.

Xiao Mo became angry, he grabbed the bag and squeezed it. However, from the corner of his eyes, when he saw the pile of empty chocolate wrappers, he became shocked.

How could it be!

He rarely indulged in sweet things like chocolate, except for the occasional piece of dark chocolate, even then he would only eat one to two pieces.

Eating 30 pieces of chocolate in one go, this was unimaginable to him.

Glugluglug

What? Why is he still this hungry?

Where did all the chocolate he ate went?

Xiao Mo held onto his stomach; he had a strong feeling that something was seriously wrong with his body.

He wanted to eat!

He wanted to eat meat!

He wanted chocolate, fried chicken, anything edible, he wanted to eat them all!

When he imagined all the kinds of dishes in his mind, Xiao Mo found that he could not curb his craving anymore.

Eat, the only thing he could think of was to eat!

Was it because he was in a state of being hungry for three days straight?

But he had just eaten so much chocolate, yet, why was he still so hungry? What was going on? Why did he feel even hungrier?

Where was the food?

Where was it?

Xiao Mo desperately looked around for anything that was edible. As long as it was food that he placed his eyes on, regardless of what it was, he would immediately tear open the bag and pour its contents into his mouth at one go.

The more he ate, the hungrier he got!

Pop. The pack of biscuits got forcefully torn open.

Crackle. The biscuits fell all over the tabletop and the floor.

Xiao Mo could not be bothered about cleanliness and proceeded to grab the biscuits from the countertop and cram them inside his mouth.

Once everything on the tabletop was wiped clean, he crawled onto the floor to pick up the pieces that fell, shoveling them into his mouth simultaneously.

Xiao Mo’s abnormal behavior attracted Xue Li Hong’s attention.

“Old Xiao, what’s wrong with you?” Xue Li Hong jumped down from the sofa and ran over to him.

Having eaten too much biscuits, all of them were stuck onto his throat, so Xiao Mo hastily wanted to drink water. He hurriedly grabbed his cup and rushed to the water dispenser.

Glug glug glug… Having continuously drank three big cups of water, Xiao Mo continued to scavenge for food. Seeing the kid standing in front of him and blocking his way, he forcefully pushing him away and scrambled into the kitchen.

Being pushed, Xue Li Hong took a few steps back before he was able to stabilize himself.

What was wrong with the old man? Xue Li Hong did not continue asking Xiao Mo, but instead followed behind him to observe his actions.

Xiao Mo ran into the kitchen to rummage through the grocery that they bought a few days ago.

Firstly, he found some high calorie chocolates, and after eating five to six pieces, he spotted some malted milk extract powder, using a spoon he dug two big scoops into a cup and added a heap of sugar, before using hot water to melt the sugary mixture. While waiting for the drink to cool down, he grabbed the nearest fruit from the fruit basket and started devouring. The fruits were gone in a flash, and next were the crackers.

After gorging his heart out, his stomach finally stopped growling. However, the feeling of hunger and emptiness in his stomach did not cease, making Xiao Mo wanting to get a bite into anything he laid his eyes on.

“Is the restaurant still open? Or is there any store that sells snacks or takeaway?” Xiao Mo asked Xue Li Hong anxiously.

Xue Li Hong shook his head and replied, “All closed. Only the supermarket is still in operation, but they are heavily guarded by the police.”

Xiao Mo had no choice but to cancel his plan to head out. He feared that he would blindly rush into the supermarket and grab any food and shove it into his mouth. This would definitely attract the attention of the police, and he did not want to face the consequence of getting caught by the police.

Thus, he decided to help himself by cooking something. Yes, he had bought some frozen meat previously. He decisively took them out of the freezer.

As he was busy with the frozen meat, his other hand did not stop, they were busy shoveling food into his mouth.

Xue Li Hong’s eyes widened as he saw the man wipe off an entire big pack of ham, before bringing out two packs of butter wafers, and other crackers, drank a big cup of melted wheat milk, followed by another bag of family size wafer biscuits.

Followed by dried beef jerky, dried pork meat, chocolate, milk, sweets, bread, anything the man could find that was cooked, he crammed them into his stomach.

Xue Li Hong observed the various wrappers littered all over the kitchen countertop and floor. He recalled his past memories, looking for any related events, before analyzing and comparing them.

According to his analysis, the situation happening to the man right now was considered reasonable.

On the 17^th morning, the way the man’s body reacted to the virus attack was abnormal. His body’s skin was ripping and his bones were bent to an unscientific angle. If this were to happen on normal people, that person would have long been in a vegetative state, motionless with all his skin broken.

However, this man, only laid in bed for two days and recovered, waking up with a perfectly recovered body, with his skin all patched up and not a single bone broken.

If someone recovered from such a drastic destruction, their body’s cells must have gone through some very high-speed transformation. Every single cell of this man seemed to have gone through the destruction and recovery at high speed.

This overly extensive activity of destruction and then followed by recovery requires insanely high amounts of energy. Hence after waking up, feeling ravenous was indeed a normal circumstance, as his body needed to replenish the energy lost during the transformation. This analysis felt very reasonable to him.

Nonetheless…

In reality, human beings are unable to immediately fully recover after such carnage. They also should not be able to recover their energy just by eating their fill.

Thus… thus even if he gave this man the only jab that exists in this world, the jab that acts like a super-nutrient solution, he should not have had such a miraculous recovery.

Speaking of the jab, it could not be considered as a nutrient jab, as its main purpose was for interrogating criminals, specifically for criminals who are strong-willed and have strong mentality.

Once anyone is jabbed by this super-nutrient solution, the person will experience full body paralysis for 15 days, all while having a clear conscious. Even when the person feels sleepy, he will be unable to sleep at all.

However, during the 15 days of paralysis, one need not worry about the lack of nutrition, as this solution is able to replace the nutrition that a healthy adult body needs to survive. Hence, even if one is seeking death, it will not come.

Just imagine, with just a jab, when put in a small enclosure and cannot even move an inch of your body, but your conscious is clear. So, in this state, you are left in this small enclosure for half a month, no matter how tired or scared you are, you cannot shut your eyes, you cannot sleep.

Of course, besides being a mean of interrogation, it could also be used as a life saving solution, especially when you are in an emergency. You could use this to sustain your energy and support your body’s nutritional needs.

Back when he procured such a solution, it was to be used as a backup plan for himself. Never had he ever imagined, that he would instead use it on an irrelevant person, in that such a circumstance to boot.

At that time, he was compelled to jab Xiao Mo with the solution, as he couldn’t keep watching Xiao Mo hurt himself when he was in his crazed state.

He wanted him to stop hurting himself, while also getting the nutrients he needed in order to resist the virus. Under such rushed conditions, the best answer he could think of was the super-nutrient solution jab.

Looks like he made the right choice.

Although the immediate effect of the jab was not great, it did not stop the man from moving around for 15 days, it also did not make him stay awake for the whole time. The nutrition also seemed to be absorbed properly.

Xue Li Hong shrugged, he thought irresponsibly: He wasn’t a doctor, he was an engineer. Some slight error was normal when he prescribes medicine. As long as the results were acceptable, then there was no problem whatsoever.

After considering the jab he gave into his analysis, Xue Li Hong came out with a conclusion: Xiao Mo’s body had evolved after he got infected by this new, unknown virus.

Or else, this man would have long already exploded due to overeating. Even the most optimistic result would be that his stomach had a hole. But seeing that he was still very lively, and was still running around looking for food, it seemed that this person’s situation was already beyond the scope of a normal human being.

Xiao Mo’s change, added by the observations during the past 2 days, made Xue Li Hong sure that there was a very troublesome matter to come. Way more troublesome than the past predicaments he had experienced so far.

Yes, actually it was quite meaningful. Xue Li Hong felt that he had a renewed meaning to life and had to impulse to continue living on.

“Xiao Hong, where were the braised meat which I bought earlier on?” Xiao Mo had opened the fridge and brought out a glass bowl covered in wrap. He opened the wrap and used his fingers to swipe the solidified oil and licked it.

Xue Li Hong was open-minded, so he had no aversion towards the way Xiao Mo addressed him. He replied calmly, “I ate them.”

Xiao Mo had a weird expression; he never knew that the feeling of hunger could be so uncomfortable. Now he finally understood, when one cannot fill the stomach, they can do anything. Just like back in the olden days, people would use their children to exchange for food.

Now, when he looked at the little kid next to him, his saliva almost dripped down.

“System, what is happening to me? Are you the one responsible for my changes!” Xiao Mo shouted in his mind.

The system remained silent, not answering Xiao Mo’s question.

Must I ask the question verbally? I can’t talk mentally in my mind?

Xiao Mo became uncertain about the system’s existence. He felt that he was hallucinating, and the hallucination looked so normal and sounded so real when he was experiencing it.

Maybe, the other people out there who got sick also had a system in their mind.

He shook his head, trying to drive away the hunger pangs. Xiao Mo opened the drawer of the fridge, brought the entire drawer to the table and emptied all the vegetables onto the table.

“Help me wash these vegetables, we can cook them all tonight.”

“Ok.” Xue Li Hong replied with the tone of an adult. He swiftly brought a small stool over to the basin, stepped on it and started washing the vegetables. Not only did he wash them, he even peeled the potato.

Xiao Mo patted the kid’s head in gratitude. He decided to leave out some meat for the kid, the poor kid already mentioned multiple times that he wanted to eat braise meat.

He washed the rice, placed it in the rice cooker and cut the vegetables rapidly. He handled two stoves simultaneously, one to stir fry the vegetables, and the other to braise the meat in a pressure cooker.

He knew there was something wrong with him, so he tried his best to curb the feeling of hunger. Luckily, he was still rational. Or else, he wanted to put his head into the rice container and eat them raw. Even the frozen meat looked so appetizing, that he wanted a few mouthfuls of it.

Part of the frozen meat defrosted and the blood started flowing out into the water. The coppery scent smelled so fragrant as it wafted into Xiao Mo’s nose. He took a few deep breaths, savoring the smell. It smelt so good that he wanted to eat it.

The metallic smell got stronger as the meat continued to defrost.

Badump, badump, badump. Xiao Mo felt that he could hear his heart pounding, following the strong heartbeats, he saw the little kid standing next to him.

Wow, so small. The meat must be very tender, so fresh and delicious.

Pah! Xiao Mo slapped his head. His illness seemed to be getting worse. He had heard before that there was a kind of blood sucking illness; the patient would think that they were vampires, and will have the urge to suck people’s blood.

Xue Li Hong stared at him slapping his own head.

As Xiao Mo started cooking the vegetables, he was still very hungry. He chose the dishes that would cook faster and used very high speeds to finish cooking the two dishes.

As he was waiting for the dishes to be cooked, in that half hour, he had already finished all the high energy food that he bought just recently.

Xue Li Hong stood on the stool and reminded him, “Remember to collect the rations that the government distributes and buy more food.”

Xiao Mo lightly replied, “Ok.” He was craving for steak, especially the very rare kind.

The both of them cleared a big pot of rice, two kilos of braised meat, and a large pot of mixed vegetable soup. Inside the soup there were fishballs, meatballs, and a variety of vegetables too. Xiao Mo finally sighed and rubbed his stomach. He was finally feeling the hints of being full.

“Full?” Xue Li Hong did not eat much. Looking at Xiao Mo ate made him feel full.

Xiao Mo shook his head, “Still got space for more food. You were saying that the supermarket is still open? Then we better go buy some more food.”

He still felt like eating. There was still some braised beef in the pot, it was still cooking.

“Yes, it is still operating, but very few people are there. Everyone is scared of the virus, especially those that are still healthy. The workers at the supermarket are all volunteers, the people working in the lockdown zone are also all volunteers. I heard that the government offered a very high pay package.”

“No matter what, we have to go out to stock up our food supplies and collect the grocery given by the government.” Xiao Mo decided to stock up on more food. He could not guarantee that his appetite did not increase exponentially.

If he was going to eat like this from today onwards… Xiao Mo shivered, if this was the case, he could only undergo surgery and cut away a part of his stomach. If not, he could never support himself like this.

“Oh yeah, I went to your shop and found this.” Xue Li Hong passed him a USB thumb drive.

“This isn’t merchandise?”

“Nope.”

“Where did it come from?” This item did not belong to him. Who knew why this kid suddenly mentioned about it.

“It was under the rack where you placed the knives.”

“Huh?” Xiao Mo really wanted to ask: Why did you even look under the rack in the first place?

“Ding, Recycler Xiao Mo, level 1 recycling mission, the second try: Recycle the Mother of Gluttony, Li Xiao Shuang. Time limit: today, before Chinese time 18:15 hours. Special notice: If you are unable to complete this mission, you will be wiped out from the system.”