"The bad news..." Guo Junyi repeated in a murmur, flashing Lu Linjiang a miserable smile. "It's a filovirus. There is no vaccine."
Lu Linjiang wanted to comfort him, to say it was just a virus and everything would be fine, but the words died in his throat. He swallowed the obvious lie. "You should head back. Go to the hospital for a check-up first."
Guo Junyi slowly stood up. "You go back first. I’m going to finish the autopsy report before I decide what to do." He looked at Lu Linjiang. "Right now, no one is better suited to perform this autopsy than me."
Whether it was the lighting or something else, Guo Junyi’s face seemed to have taken on a faint, sickly greenish hue. Lu Linjiang wanted to argue, but he found himself at a loss for words. Guo Junyi pulled his mask back up and picked up the scalpel. "Go on. Don't interrupt my work."
Lu Linjiang stood in silence for a few seconds before turning and walking away briskly. By the time he sat in his car, he had fully grasped the weight of the term "filovirus." The definitions he found online made his head throb with a dull ache. He sat in a daze for a moment until a name surfaced in his mind. As if his body had a will of its own, he drove to the hotel parking lot before he had even consciously decided to do so.
He called the Jinghai Medical College and asked them to send over images of the virus. Just as he knocked on Jiang Cheng’s door, his phone lit up, signaling the file had been received.
Jiang Cheng looked at Lu Linjiang standing outside his door with a dazed expression, wondering if he had worked himself into a stupor. Why else would he be seeing this man in the middle of the night?
"Is something wrong?"
Lu Linjiang handed him the phone. "Do you know what this is?"
Jiang Cheng took it blankly. After a single glance, his confusion deepened. "Gaimoer?" He looked at Lu Linjiang suspiciously. "Why are you asking about this?"
For some reason, seeing Jiang Cheng recognize the virus at a glance made Lu Linjiang feel inexplicably relieved. "Someone died at the Airport Road hotel today. Guo Junyi found this in him."
Jiang Cheng jolted, suddenly alert, and yanked Lu Linjiang into the room. He shoved Lu Linjiang down onto a chair and stood over him, his expression grave. "Did you touch the body?"
Lu Linjiang nodded. "Guo Junyi and I carried him together."
Jiang Cheng hurriedly grabbed Lu Linjiang’s hands, inspecting them inch by inch. "Besides your hands, did any other part of you touch him?"
Lu Linjiang let him perform the inspection. "No."
Jiang Cheng examined him meticulously, not even overlooking the edges of his fingernails. Only after confirming there were no wounds did he subconsciously breathe a sigh of relief. "Then you’re fine. Gaimoer isn't airborne. Its primary mode of transmission is through contact with bodily fluids." He sat down heavily on a nearby chair. "You gave me a heart attack."
Lu Linjiang instinctively tried to soothe him. "Don't worry, I should be fine."
"You came here in the middle of the night just to tell me this?" Now that the alarm had passed, Jiang Cheng scratched his head, wondering when Lu Linjiang had developed the habit of being so dramatic. He had nearly died of fright. Seeing Lu Linjiang’s heavy expression, he asked, "What is it? Has it spread? That shouldn't be possible."
Lu Linjiang shook his head. "We aren't sure if anyone else is infected yet... but do you remember my colleague, Guo Junyi? He’s the forensic pathologist from the Forensics Department."
Jiang Cheng had met most of Lu Linjiang’s colleagues back in the day. "I have a vague memory of him. Why?"
"While he was performing the autopsy, blood sprayed out and hit his face. He said..." Lu Linjiang reached up and tapped his own cheek. "He happened to have a cut on his face from shaving. I came to ask—could he be infected?"
Jiang Cheng’s eyes widened. "Sprayed blood hit an open wound? That..." Jiang Cheng found the situation almost too surreal to process. He and Lu Linjiang stared at each other for a moment before he spoke cautiously. "It’s hard to say. It depends on how long the person has been dead, the activity level of the virus, and..." And how unlucky he was.
Jiang Cheng didn't finish the sentence. Lu Linjiang looked devastated; offering a probabilistic guess that relied on fate felt inappropriate given the circumstances.
His impression of Guo Junyi wasn't deep. He only remembered the man was from the same intake as Lu Linjiang and looked like a frail scholar, though he was supposedly a cold-blooded professional who didn't bat an eye during dissections.
Jiang Cheng thought for a moment. "Sitting here guessing won't help. We should consider where to get him tested. But since this only happened today, we probably won't get a definitive result in the short term." He suddenly realized he had missed a crucial question. "How long had the victim been dead when he was infected with Gaimoer?"
Lu Linjiang shook his head. "He hasn't given me the preliminary autopsy report yet."
"Right." Jiang Cheng snapped back to reality. "With something like this happening... regardless, we need to find a facility for testing. I’m not sure if the Jinghai CDC can handle it."
"Based on current statistics, the incubation period for Gaimoer is about five days, and there might be a window period during that time..." Jiang Cheng looked at his open laptop. "If all else fails, I can help contact domestic institutions that can run the tests. It’s better to know for sure as soon as possible, whether he’s infected or not, than to just guess blindly."
As Jiang Cheng spoke, he began searching on his computer. Lu Linjiang watched him, gradually becoming entranced by his movements. It wasn't until Jiang Cheng noticed his undisguised gaze and looked up that Lu Linjiang snapped out of it.
"Is there a problem?"
Lu Linjiang froze for a second before finally coming up with an excuse. "I haven't had dinner yet. Have you eaten?"
Jiang Cheng’s busy hands stopped. The clock in the bottom right corner of his screen showed it was already 8:50 PM. He looked at Lu Linjiang helplessly. "I’ve already eaten..."
The room was soon filled with the distinct aroma of takeout. Jiang Cheng had eventually relented, allowing Lu Linjiang to order food and eat in his room. He glanced at Lu Linjiang, who looked like he couldn't even taste what he was eating. He wanted to offer comfort but didn't know what to say, so he went back to focusing on finding a testing facility.
Lu Linjiang forced himself to eat a little. He wasn't actually hungry, but some inexplicable impulse made him want to stay. Jiang Cheng sat directly across from him, brow slightly furrowed as he stared at the screen, typing away intermittently.
Lu Linjiang couldn't help but drift off into a daze again. Fortunately, since he was sitting opposite Jiang Cheng and the laptop screen acted as a shield, Jiang Cheng didn't notice his blatant staring. He was focused entirely on the screen, not even sparing a glance toward Lu Linjiang.
A few papers were scattered on the table. Lu Linjiang withdrew his gaze and, relying on his sharp eyesight, took a look. Reading English upside down was incredibly difficult. He tried to get through two lines before realizing he was utterly out of his depth; he wasn't even in the same league as Jiang Cheng when it came to this research.
Realizing how much Jiang Cheng had changed over the years, Lu Linjiang had to admit that his old, fixed impressions of the man were shifting. It was because of this that his first instinct upon hearing about Guo Junyi was to find Jiang Cheng. Even though Jiang Cheng hadn't mentioned a cure, Lu Linjiang felt an inexplicable, total sense of trust in him regarding this matter.
Before he could figure out where that feeling came from, an ill-timed knock sounded at the door.
Jiang Cheng’s train of thought was broken. He looked toward the door blankly. Lu Linjiang gave him a gesture to stay put and went to open it himself. When he saw Jiang Langmin standing outside, both men were surprised.
"Captain Lu hasn't turned in yet?" Jiang Langmin recovered quickly from his shock, asking with a faint, knowing smile.
Lu Linjiang hadn't previously held any strong opinion of Jiang Langmin, but his view of the man had soured since that day at the restaurant. Now, he simply found him annoying. He remembered Wang Ling saying that Jiang Langmin and Jiang Cheng were a good match and immediately decided Wang Ling had terrible judgment—how could someone who disturbed others' rest with late-night visits be a good match for Jiang Cheng?
"I came to see Jiang Cheng... for dinner." Lu Linjiang stood as solid as a mountain, blocking the doorway and pretending not to see Jiang Langmin’s intention to enter. He was nearly ten centimeters taller than Jiang Langmin and possessed the broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted physique of someone who worked out constantly. A pale, scrawny academic like Jiang Langmin stood no chance of gaining an advantage physically.
Jiang Cheng, hearing the commotion, pushed Lu Linjiang aside, not understanding why these two were loitering in the doorway.
"Senior Jiang? I was actually looking for you. Come in."
Jiang Langmin entered the room with an air of entitlement, giving Lu Linjiang a polite nod as he passed—a gesture that made Lu Linjiang’s face darken instantly.
There were only two armchairs in the room, so Jiang Cheng naturally sat on the edge of the bed. Jiang Langmin picked the chair closest to the bed and sat down, ignoring Lu Linjiang as he spoke. "I came to tell you that Mrs. Tao has settled everything. She plans to return to Denmark the day after tomorrow. I’m here to let you know so we can leave together once the tickets are booked."
If Jiang Langmin had said this half an hour ago, Jiang Cheng probably would have agreed wholeheartedly. According to the original plan, he should have returned to the lab long ago to finish the data for his paper. But now, he felt conflicted.
He glanced hesitantly at Lu Linjiang. "I’ll decide tomorrow."
Jiang Langmin didn't miss the subtle interaction. "Why? Is it because of Captain Lu?"
Jiang Cheng didn't catch the underlying implication. He turned to Lu Linjiang. "Right. Lu Linjiang, show Senior Jiang that picture from earlier."
Lu Linjiang pulled out his phone and brought up the image. Jiang Langmin took it, looking puzzled, then raised an eyebrow. "What, is Captain Lu interested in virology too?"
"This was found in a corpse."
Jiang Langmin paused, then zoomed in to examine the virus in the photo closely. "It’s definitely Gaimoer. A corpse? Where?"
"In the police morgue."
Jiang Langmin’s expression suddenly shifted to one of intense interest. "How long has the person been dead? Is it possible to observe it?"
"The corpse isn't the priority right now." Lu Linjiang instinctively disliked Jiang Langmin’s enthusiastic tone. "Blood from the body splashed into a cut on my colleague’s face. He suspects he’s been infected."
"Oh..." Jiang Langmin’s eager expression froze instantly, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.
***
