The brakes were slammed so hard that Jiang Cheng was violently jerked back by his seatbelt. He was about to ask Lu Linjiang if a joke really warranted such a massive reaction when he noticed a car on their front right making a left turn, nearly grazing them as it sped past.
Lu Linjiang rolled down the window, leaned out to catch the license plate, and immediately reported it to the traffic police department. "Any slower and we would have crashed. That person must be drunk."
Jiang Cheng looked ahead. It was a T-junction, and that car had come from the crossroad without even tapping the brakes. After finishing his call, Lu Linjiang asked, "Are you okay?"
Jiang Cheng shook his head. Lu Linjiang restarted the car. "What were you saying just now?"
Jiang Cheng was now like a cat that had bitten its own tongue; he truly lacked the courage to say it a second time. He gave a light cough, pretending he hadn't heard, and turned his gaze out the window. Lu Linjiang, however, would not let him off. "Me, liking Jiang Langmin—are you serious?"
Knowing he couldn't dodge the question, Jiang Cheng had to explain, "I was just making an analogy." He awkwardly ran a hand through his short-cropped hair. "It’s just that, relatively speaking, the latter—the hypothesis that you like Jiang Langmin—seems more plausible based on past facts."
He heard Lu Linjiang’s breathing grow heavy with intent. "I just..." He just had enough self-awareness now.
Neither of them spoke again. Upon arriving at Micro-Grand, Jiang Cheng offered a polite thank you. The relationship that had thawed slightly on Shiliu Island seemed to have regressed during this short drive. Jiang Cheng had returned to the way he was when he first reunited with Lu Linjiang at the hotel: polite to a fault, but utterly distant.
Returning to the lab, Jiang Cheng unexpectedly ran into Cheng Hao at the entrance. Since Cheng Hao had handed the lab over to them, he hadn't shown his face once. Jiang Cheng had originally thought that, given Cheng Hao’s character, he would have taken every opportunity to observe, perhaps looking for a way to turn a profit. As it turned out, Cheng Hao’s behavior over the past week had completely proven him wrong.
"Mr. Cheng, long time no see."
The laboratory was a fully sealed structure without glass walls. Cheng Hao was standing by the door of the disinfection room, where nothing could be seen, looking as if he were waiting for something.
"Yes, I was away for a conference recently. I only found the time to come check on you these past two days." Cheng Hao greeted Jiang Cheng with rare politeness. "How is the research progressing? Are the rat experiments going smoothly?"
"I just arrived, so I don't know the results yet," Jiang Cheng replied. "Speaking of which, I haven't thanked you properly, Mr. Cheng. Thank you for providing the lab; otherwise, we might have been in trouble."
Cheng Hao’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. "No need to be polite. Jiang Langmin promised me that when the paper is published, I’ll be given a co-authorship."
Jiang Cheng was momentarily stunned. He knew Jiang Langmin must have offered Cheng Hao some benefit to convince him, but he never imagined Jiang Langmin would use a paper’s authorship as a bargaining chip. To say that developing the vaccine was one hundred percent for Guo Junyi’s sake would be a lie; it was impossible not to have some personal ambition. The Gaimore outbreak they had discovered had caused at least five thousand deaths, and that was with the WHO intervening to control it. The fatality rate for the infected was nearly ninety-seven percent. If they could develop a Gaimore vaccine now, it was certain they would hold an unshakable position in the industry from then on.
But these things felt very distant to Jiang Cheng. Facing a Guo Junyi who grew weaker by the day, he didn't even have time to think about personal gain; his mind was entirely occupied with how to develop the vaccine as quickly as possible. Yet, Jiang Langmin had used these very things as leverage from the very beginning.
Jiang Cheng felt conflicted. He had long understood that Jiang Langmin was different, but that had always been an academic realization. Now that he suddenly knew this, he didn't know whether to admire Jiang Langmin’s foresight or not.
His internal struggle didn't escape Jiang Langmin’s eyes. The man seemed completely indifferent to Jiang Cheng’s momentary negative perception. "I understand what you mean. Allowing someone who hasn't lifted a finger to be listed on a paper probably feels like a desecration to you. However, Cheng Hao is a man who lacks neither money nor power. You understand without me saying it how much it costs to renovate a lab like this."
"Under these circumstances, even if Cheng Hao asked for first authorship, I would have agreed," Jiang Langmin said, looking at Jiang Cheng. "But Cheng Hao isn't that stupid. He won't even ask for second authorship. For him, just having his name in the author list is enough. Does this affect us? No. For such a small price, we get a near-BSL-4 facility. So, let him have it."
"Don't dwell on these pointless matters."
Jiang Cheng knew Jiang Langmin was right, but a sense of dissonance lingered in his heart. That feeling didn't last long, however, as it was washed away by the results of the rat experiments—the results for the first mutation group were excellent. This allowed Jiang Cheng, who had started the second mutation group without waiting for the results to save time, to breathe a sigh of relief.
The second mutation was built upon the first. To ensure success, Jiang Cheng and Jiang Langmin had prepared several sets and placed them in culture dishes. Now that the data for the first set was out, they only had to wait for the second set to finish culturing. Taking advantage of this time, Jiang Cheng pulled up Guo Junyi’s medical records and compared them with his own thesis, his brow furrowing deeper by the second.
"What is it?" Jiang Langmin asked, looking at Jiang Cheng, who was hunched motionless in front of the computer. "Is there a problem with the experiment?"
"No," Jiang Cheng said. "Guo Junyi’s condition is deviating quite far from what I predicted. Looking at the records, on the third day of medication, his temperature once dropped below thirty-nine degrees, and his other vital signs were recovering well. But on the fourth day, the drug’s effectiveness dropped significantly. Even if the virus mutated rapidly or developed drug resistance, it shouldn't have been this fast."
Jiang Langmin had handled the final steps of the antiviral agent; he knew Jiang Cheng’s experimental content by heart. He leaned over to look at the records. "Even without the rat experiments, the deviation shouldn't be this large. Moreover, it did work at the beginning, so it shouldn't be an issue with the agent itself."
"Three days..." Jiang Langmin repeatedly compared the records of the third and fourth days. "It’s very likely the drug is still having some effect; otherwise, Guo Junyi wouldn't have avoided internal bleeding until now. It’s just that changing only the replicase is too simple for a virus of Gaimore’s caliber. It’s like a mouse—even if you feed it a large amount of contraceptives, for a creature that can store fertilized eggs in its body and decide for itself when to become pregnant, such a method is too temporary."
Lacking a better explanation, Jiang Cheng had to accept this for now.
"Don't overthink it. Once the second mutation is complete, we’ll do one more set, and then we can try the medication," Jiang Langmin patted Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. "For Guo Junyi, at least there’s a chance to fight."
The thing Jiang Cheng admired most about Jiang Langmin was his consistent ability to compartmentalize. In his view, if the vaccine succeeded, that was best; if it didn't, it was only to be expected. As for the human lives tied to it, to Jiang Langmin, that was an entirely separate matter.
He wouldn't easily shoulder the burden of a life—if the vaccine failed, the infected would naturally die, but if no vaccine was researched, the infected wouldn't even have a chance to fight. There were so many viruses in the world; how could one try them all? If one always thought about these things, wouldn't doing research be exhausting?
Though Jiang Cheng usually thought this way too, when he saw Guo Junyi’s illness progressing right before his eyes, he found he couldn't convince himself so easily.
Jiang Langmin saw his hesitation and chuckled softly. "I understand your thoughts. When the infected person is someone you know, no one can detach themselves so easily." The machine storing the culture dishes chimed, and both men turned to look. "Don't worry. We will succeed."
The experimental rat placed among the group, though weak, was in much better condition than the other rats infected with Gaimore at the same time. As Jiang Langmin caught it to inject the second vaccine group, he suddenly said, "I have an idea."
Jiang Cheng understood what he meant immediately. " I was thinking the same thing. Based on the first set of data, the situation is actually quite good. The PTC paper had experimental data showing that a semi-finished vaccine shouldn't be susceptible to the wild-type virus."
Jiang Langmin put the rat back in its cage. "While it won't be a complete cure, it can at least alleviate some symptoms."
The two looked at each other through their hazmat suits. Finally, Jiang Cheng made the decision. "No matter what, let’s try."
The people at the CDC didn't expect that in just over ten days, Jiang Cheng would notify them to perform the first injection. A crowd gathered outside the isolation ward; even Chu Juxian rushed over upon hearing the news.
"What’s happening? Is it ready so soon?" Chu Juxian was a mix of joy and worry. "Didn't they say it would take twenty days? This is only half the time..." He didn't dare say the second half of his sentence.
"It’s not finished." Ren Lifei watched through the window as Jiang Cheng took a test tube out of an incubator. "This is a semi-finished product. A vaccine made with this technology can inherently be used for treatment. They’re afraid Guo Junyi won't hold on, so they’re trying this first."
Chu Juxian didn't understand the technicalities, but seeing Ren Lifei’s look of admiration, he knew he probably didn't need to worry too much for now.
In just a few days, small blood blisters had appeared on Guo Junyi’s body—the hallmark of the onset of internal bleeding. Jiang Cheng felt fortunate that he hadn't waited for the rat experiments before starting the second step of the modification. Otherwise, if they had waited another three days, it was hard to say what the situation would be.
