Chapter 586: Bacteria

If nuclear contamination were to spread, our already precarious environment would suffer even greater devastation. Humans exposed to the radiation could mutate, developing twisted features, missing limbs, or even growing horns.

Before the apocalypse, Evelyn Ford had seen plenty of news about Rovan dumping nuclear wastewater into the ocean. The radiation caused widespread mutations in marine life—octopuses with over thirty tentacles, fish with bizarre faces. In nearby villages, many newborns suffered from physical deformities and intellectual disabilities. Back then, Rovan was known as the cancer of humanity.

"Does the base have any radiation detectors?"

Liam Sterling nodded. "We do. The base has a lab specifically for detecting nuclear radiation."

"I’ll go with you to the hospital later to check on the children. If possible, I’ll need some of their blood for further analysis."

Liam Sterling’s face lit up with pleasant surprise. "That would be wonderful! Thank you, Dr. Ford. I’ll head back to my dorm to change and freshen up. Shall we meet at one this afternoon to go to the hospital?"

"That works."

After Liam Sterling left for his dorm, Evelyn Ford quickly entered her pocket dimension. Rummaging through a pile of medical equipment, she found several radiation detectors.

Evelyn Ford patted the case they were in and smiled at Ronan Kendrick. "Let’s hope we never have to use these."

「At one o’clock that afternoon」

Liam Sterling knocked on her door right on time. Evelyn Ford, already in a hazmat suit, went with him to the hospital. Before entering the main hospital area, they had to pass through a decontamination chamber for full-body sanitization.

"The patients with the red spots and skin lesions are on the second floor," Liam Sterling explained, swiping a keycard to open the door. "They’re temporarily quarantined here. All of them are children under twelve, and their parents aren’t allowed to stay. The base has assigned a psychologist to help manage their emotional state." The moment the door opened, Evelyn Ford was hit by the pungent smell of antiseptic.

The two of them went to the lead doctor’s office, where Liam Sterling inquired about the patients’ conditions.

"Assistant Sterling," the doctor began, "the red spots are starting to spread across their entire bodies. The lesions are breaking open and bleeding, and the blood has a foul odor. Aside from a fever, the patients show no other symptoms. Their mental state is still relatively stable."

Liam Sterling adjusted his glasses. "Director, I’d like to see the patients. And please, allow me to introduce my colleague. This is Dr. Ford; she also works in the labs. I’ve brought her here today to collect a few vials of the patients’ blood."

The director nodded. "Of course. I’ll take you to them now."

Before entering the ward, they had to go through another round of full-body sanitization. Each ward housed twenty patients, with partitions separating the beds into pairs. The patients lay naked on their beds. As the red spots and lesions had spread across their entire bodies, the beds were covered in plastic sheeting to prevent broken skin and blood from soiling clothes or linens. The children had tubes connected to them and wore oxygen masks. A staff member moved through the room with a spray bottle, misting the patients with a pain-relieving and hemostatic spray. This had to be done once every hour.

’There are many types of skin afflictions—psoriasis, athlete’s foot, tinea capitis, favus, tinea corporis, tinea manuum... But this is the first time I’ve ever seen these lesions, red to the point of turning black.’

"We’ve run multiple tests," the director explained. "The red spots and lesions themselves are not contagious. However, once a lesion turns black, it ruptures and bleeds. That blood is highly toxic, containing hundreds of unknown pathogens. The bacteria within it are infectious."

Contagion and infection are two different things.

Evelyn Ford’s heart sank. The situation was far more serious than Liam Sterling had described.

The director personally drew five vials of fresh blood from five different patients and handed them to Evelyn Ford. While the situation might not seem completely dire just yet, as an experienced physician, he knew with chilling certainty what was coming. If they couldn’t develop a drug to treat the affliction within a week, he feared the lesions would begin to ulcerate. Once the bacteria spread and the skin began to rot, the chances of saving the patients would be virtually zero.

It brought to mind the horrific bacteriological warfare the country had suffered a century ago.

The director shuddered at the thought. He looked at Evelyn Ford with desperation in his eyes. "Dr. Ford, I’m counting on you and your lab. You have to develop a cure. Otherwise... I fear things will get much, much worse."

Evelyn Ford understood his unspoken warning. After they left the hospital, Liam Sterling had to head to the administrative building, so Evelyn hurried back toward The Undercity on her own. ’Bacteria in their active phase don’t survive for long,’ she thought. ’Maybe a few hours, a few days, or a couple of months at most. But active bacteria can divide—one becomes two, two becomes four...’

An idea suddenly struck Evelyn. ’If I can’t kill the bacteria, could I force them into a dormant state? That would stop them from multiplying.’

Evelyn Ford ran a hand through her hair in frustration. ’In a way, Azure is just one giant petri dish. Most bacteria aren’t harmful to humans. It’s like the bacteria in untreated water—at worst, drinking it will just give you diarrhea.’

’A second option: if I can’t force the toxic bacteria into dormancy, maybe I can dilute their toxicity.’

Evelyn Ford had a wealth of theoretical knowledge, but practically speaking, she was a complete novice in this specific field.

This wasn’t false modesty. Compared to the elite specialists on dedicated research and medical teams, she wasn’t even an amateur.

Back in her dorm, Evelyn Ford immediately entered her pocket dimension to prepare for analyzing the bacterial activity and toxins in the five vials of blood. Everyone else in the dimension was busy with their own tasks. Evelyn didn’t even have a moment to spare for Ronan Kendrick. She just shut the lab door, hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign, and got to work.

’The human body contains active enzymes, which have bactericidal properties,’ she mused. ’I wonder if enzymes could be used to eliminate the bacteria in these lesions?’

Evelyn Ford worked tirelessly in her lab for two days and finally made a breakthrough. The moment she emerged from her pocket dimension, she rushed to the base’s main laboratory. All the members of the research team were present; they had made some progress as well. After Evelyn explained her ideas and findings, the team leader was the first to applaud.

"Dr. Ford, that’s incredible! We’ve also made some discoveries."

The situation at the hospital, however, was grim. The lesions had begun to ulcerate. As soon as they did, the patients’ temperatures spiked from 38°C to 41°C.

The patients’ consciousness began to fade, and their heart rates became erratic.

If the ulceration were confined to the limbs, amputation could save their lives. But with the rot spreading across their entire bodies and no effective medication, all anyone could do was wait for them to die.

And yet, the greatest challenge facing them wasn’t the patients in the hospital. It was the cold wind blowing in from the outside.

「In the dorm.」

"I have an idea!" Quincy said, his eyes shining. "If we could change the direction of the wind, wouldn’t that solve the crisis?" His face practically screamed, *Praise me!*

"And how would we do that?" Miles Vaughn asked. For once, he wasn’t arguing, but seemed genuinely interested.

"Well, first, we could use a physical barrier, like building a massive windbreak, but that’s probably not realistic. Second, we could generate a southeasterly wind. If it intersects with the wind from the Northwest at an angle, the two air currents will merge and change direction."

Evelyn Ford sighed. "It’s a good theory, but very difficult to implement. It’s relatively easy to change wind direction in a small, contained area. But the base is simply too large. The surface area is too vast for that method to be viable."