Chapter 281: Patient Zero Is…
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"What's going on? What does she mean by Patient Zero?" Reno grumbled. The nurse on the first floor shouted with an ear-splitting volume and her voice was still reverberating through the hospital. Reno felt as if his ears were also echoing from the noise. He exchanged glances with his sister and decided to go out to take a look at the situation.
However, they heard a low growl from the cat doctor, "Don't move around needlessly!"
"Doctor, do you know what is going on, sir?" Rena immediately turned behind, asking politely.
The bicolor cat sighed. His white whiskers twitched rapidly as he explained, "The event in this hospital involves a Patient Zero with a pathogen. An unlimited number of posthumans can participate in the event and they are called visiting family members. When a posthuman attacks Patient Zero with a fatal attack, that posthuman can gain 1-3 lives. If a person gets touched by Patient Zero, that person will become a 'patient'. Any patient within the hospital will lose two lives each day. That is twice the normal daily rate—"
As he spoke, his paws rose and landed on Lin Sanjiu's physical body so quickly that it was impossible for any of them to see what he was doing. After the cat doctor carried out that series of actions, the large tunnel-like machine started humming.
"We need to be quick. I am not sure when Nurse Amy would discover you," before he could even catch his breath, he continued, "If she discovers that you guys can also participate, it would be troublesome. Or, maybe it isn't that troublesome, you guys can just participate…"
"How can we participate under such circumstances?!" Even though the siblings were still under the cat doctor's mysterious charm, they shouted exasperatedly, "Dr. Hu, please continue with what you want to say?"
"Oh," when the cat's white, furry paw landed on a button, Lin Sanjiu felt her heart thumping once, "Patient Zero isn't always near. Most of the time, it would pretend to be one of the patients. When it reveals itself, the nurse manager would announce its position. The posthumans would then rush over to kill this Patient Zero…"
Even though the rules aren't complicated, Lin Sanjiu and the siblings couldn't help turning pale as they heard what the cat doctor said. There were too many traps within the few rules that the cat described. As bystanders, they wanted to avoid the whole 'event' as much as possible. Rena was the first one to react after the explanation, "Let me go lock the door and block the entrance! If Patient Zero can't enter, we don't have to care about the chaos outside!"
Lin Sanjiu heard Reno agreeing with his sister. The two sisters immediately started moving the furniture in the room. Even though she heard every word the cat doctor said, she didn't even look up once—
Lin Sanjiu eyed her own physical body without averting her gaze, she had never felt so nervous before.
As the cat increased the voltage with his paw, the dead body started jerking on the surgery table. The dead body's lifeless greenish-gray skin started quivering with each jolt. Each time she spotted something just a little unusual, Lin Sanjiu would assume that it was a sign that she was reviving. But, whenever she calmed herself down and looked again, she could not avoid a bout of disappointment. After the cat doctor tried this method for about three minutes, he shook his head. He opened the back-end of some of the steel needles he had inserted into the dead body's arteries and allowed some fluid to flow into the arteries.
"What is that?"
Amidst the noise created by the siblings as they moved the office tables and chairs, Lin Sanjiu's voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
"If we want the invasive cells to think that you are still alive, we need to create a false environment," the cat doctor answered briefly without looking up. He flashed two of his sharp canine teeth, "Okay, stop bothering me now!"
Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to return to her seat nervously. She stared unblinkingly at her own body which was just refusing to open its eyes.
The siblings, who were at the other end of the room, had finished blocking the door. They checked the room once more. After confirming that they didn't miss any gaps and that no one was hiding in the room, the let out a sigh of relief and headed toward the surgery table.
However, the moment they turned around, the siblings froze.
"Erm… Did Dr. Hu mention how Patient Zero would look like?" Reno asked quietly. He was so startled that he sounded somewhat dim-witted.
"No, No…" Rena didn't sound any better. She stammered for some time before she called out, "Jiu.."
"Huh? What's the matter?"
Lin Sanjiu could tell from the teenage girl's voice that something was wrong. She immediately raised her guard and turned behind to question the girl.
"You, you…"
In an instant, the siblings seemed to lose their ability to speak fluently and gawked at her. Even after repeating "you" for a long time, they couldn't form a proper sentence.
Following their gaze, Lin Sanjiu looked down, puzzled. The very next second, she leaped out of her chair uncontrollably. Her reaction was so huge that it startled the cat doctor too.
"Be careful," the latter grumbled but immediately froze.
Unbeknownst to them, Lin Sanjiu's appearance had already changed completely.
Her skin was covered with red, festering scars which were uncomfortable to look at. Her long hair had almost all fallen out. There were only a few gray strands of hair on her head. Her lips, nails and eyes were an unhealthy yellow. She was definitely worthy of the term 'Patient Zero' with her current appearance.
"It can't be!" Mrs. Manas let cried out, "You are just a higher consciousness entity, you wouldn't just change without any reason. Besides, I already checked. You are alright. Your body is perfectly fine!"
"If I am fine, why am I like this—"
Before Lin Sanjiu could finish her sentence, she saw a black-white shadow leaping up. This was accompanied by a furious shout, "That bloody woman lied to me!" Everyone immediately looked at the cat doctor. "That thing about Patient Zero having 1000 lives must be bullsh*t!"
Lin Sanjiu had never seen Meowie Hu with such a livid expression. He narrowed his large round eyes dangerously, "So, that was why she said that having 30 posthumans was sufficient. She said it was unnecessary for my interns to join. The fact is that anyone outside of those 30 posthumans would be treated as Patient Zero!"
"Huh, so each time they attack Patient Zero, they are actually attacking a posthuman? The lives that they get are naturally from that posthuman…" Rena's lip turned pale. Then, she asked, "What about the rule about a posthuman changing into a patient if he or she is touched by Patient Zero…"
"Those people that are touched are just participants. Since they already agreed to participate, the nurse with that rotting face has the power to deduct their lives…" The more he thought about it, the angrier the cat doctor became. "Just hold them back for a while, once I am done with this, I will bring you guys out!"
Once the cat said that, a voice came from the corridor outside the room: "The target is there!"