News broadcasts continuously urged the public to avoid public spaces and stay home as much as possible, with screens scrolling through the admission status of various hospitals. Jiang Langmin yawned, realizing he hadn't stepped foot outside for over twenty days.
He looked at his phone; the internet was merely a digital echo of the television news, occasionally punctuated by reports of one or two similar cases found in other provinces. As for the origin of this influenza virus, no one seemed to care. Jiang Langmin swiped out of the news and pulled up the map again. The flashing red dot on the screen had finally shifted positions.
"The CDC," Jiang Langmin checked the coordinates, his eyebrows arching. "Now, that is interesting."
Outside the window, a thin drizzle began to fall. At this time of year, even the rain no longer carried a bone-chilling bite. It was only eight o'clock in the evening, yet the road below was already deserted. The once-endless stream of traffic had vanished.
Jiang Langmin gazed down with a profound, inscrutable expression until the phone vibrated in his hand. He glanced at the number and answered.
"What is it?"
Pierre spoke, "Jiang Cheng sent a message today to get in touch with Thomas and the others."
Jiang Langmin wasn't surprised by the news. "Oh? What did he say?"
"Nothing specific. He just asked if they had time because he had something to ask. None of them replied."
Jiang Langmin remained silent for a long time. The hair on Pierre’s neck stood on end; he was terrified but didn't dare ask if he had done something wrong.
"Since you had the nerve to kick him out behind my back, why don't you have the nerve to reply to him?"
"I..." Pierre swallowed hard with difficulty. "I thought it would be easier for us to operate if he was gone."
"Oh?" Jiang Langmin asked coldly. Amidst Pierre’s speechless silence, he let the matter drop. "Go ask him what he wants. Find a plausible reason to explain your 'oversight.'"
Jiang Langmin hung up, a look of impatience finally surfacing on his face. "One after another, they’re all such a nuisance."
The phone vibrated again almost immediately. Jiang Langmin squinted at the screen, waiting until the very last second to answer. Jiang Shenghang’s voice rang out: "It’s about time, isn't it? Can we proceed to the second step?"
Jiang Langmin sighed. "Do as you wish."
Jiang Shenghang grew excited. "Great!"
Jiang Langmin originally intended to hang up, but a thought occurred to him. "By the way, how was the first wave of the virus released?"
Jiang Shenghang’s voice suddenly faltered. He said hesitantly, "I found someone to place it in the subway. But don't worry, there won't be any problems."
The last trace of warmth drained from Jiang Langmin’s face, yet his voice remained perfectly steady. "That’s good then. All of you, be careful."
Jiang Shenghang clearly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly hung up. Jiang Langmin looked out at the cold, empty street, his eyes narrowing slightly. A smile of keen interest appeared on his face. "You brought this on yourself. Don't blame me."
***
Jiang Cheng finally received a reply from his former colleague, Larson. Jiang Cheng didn't overthink why the other man had taken so long to respond; his entire mind was currently consumed by the viral sequence. He pushed aside the sequence he was halfway through analyzing and asked, "Do you know if anyone has ever researched this specific drug-resistance sequence?"
Larson replied quickly: "Many people research this sequence. It’s not a rare topic."
It indeed wasn't. But for it to be exactly the same was very strange.
Jiang Cheng transmitted a portion of his sequence over. "Then what about this section?" Although everyone at the institute worked on their own projects, completed papers and experimental procedures could be shared through the database. Larson only needed to run this sequence through the database's search engine to see if anyone had worked on it.
When Jiang Cheng first entered Hughes, he hadn't performed experiments in the lab. Regarding this drug-resistance sequence, all his research had remained in the theoretical stage; it was shelved before any practical application occurred. Therefore, if it was in the database, he could directly find out who had done the work.
Larson presumably searched the database, then replied: "Nothing. No results in the database."
Jiang Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. All experimental materials required individual requisitions. From the moment a project was reported, a record was created. When the materials warehouse issued consumables, they would verify the project to prevent errors. This sequence required quite a few materials, not to mention finding a suitable viral vector. If it didn't go through the lab... Jiang Cheng scratched his head. He couldn't figure it out. Could it have been through Micro-Big?
But Cheng Hao was already in custody. Storing virus strains required professional equipment. How did Jiang Langmin get his hands on the strain?
Jiang Cheng found himself unable to find a single lead. Larson was already asking if he needed anything else; if not, he had to head to the lab. Jiang Cheng could only offer his thanks, and the other man went offline in an instant.
Another lead gone. Fortunately, Jiang Cheng wasn't one to dwell. He quickly abandoned his ruminations and focused his efforts on cracking the viral sequence.
***
Tang Hua had always been in good health, and he was utterly baffled as to why he had fallen during this wave of flu. His final conclusion was that he was simply having a run of bad luck. He sniffed his stuffed nose, crumpled a tissue into a ball, and stuffed it into his nostril. His IV drip had about half an hour left. Taking advantage of the time, his eyes constantly scanned the room, searching for something.
The group from the City Bureau who had fallen on the front lines originally liked to cluster together in the early morning. They would finish their drips as a group so they could leave early—that way, if something happened at the bureau, they could still head back to help. But ever since Lu Linjiang delivered those three hundred or so photos, these men had set up a rotation schedule. They staggered their IV sessions to ensure that someone was stationed in the City Hospital’s infusion room twenty-four hours a day. They couldn't cover everywhere, but they would catch whoever they could in this room.
Tang Hua had been assigned the night shift. An IV usually took four hours, so he had volunteered for the midnight to 5:00 AM slot. Partnered with Zhou Shaorui from the Vice Squad, he sat by the nurse's station, watching the patients come and go.
Zhou Shaorui let out five yawns in a row. Tang Hua glanced at him. "What, nicotine withdrawal hitting you?"
Smoking was prohibited in the hospital. Over the past few days of IV treatments, several heavy smokers had been struggling. Zhou Shaorui nodded. "You bet. My wife has been watching me like a hawk lately. I haven't found a single gap to sneak a puff."
Tang Hua shook his leg. "Serves you right! That's what you get for flaunting your relationship!"
"Hey, how is my wife so sharp? I used mouthwash and breath spray, and she still smelled it instantly. Her professional skills are better than the people at the bureau."
Tang Hua looked at him coldly, then turned away. "You grandson! Even the flu can't stop you from showing off your marriage!" He was ranting internally when he saw a figure emerge from the door leading to the restroom at the other end of the infusion room.
Even at this hour, there were quite a few people in the room. However, as dawn approached, most were slumped in their seats, many dozing off. Very few people were moving around. This person seemed to have just gotten up to use the restroom and was now returning to their seat.
But Tang Hua felt something was wrong. He and Zhou Shaorui had intentionally chosen to sit by the nurse's station to make it easier to observe people coming and going. Anyone coming for an IV, even an escort, would have to pass this point. But Tang Hua was certain that the person who just entered had not passed the nurse's station.
"What is it?" The talkative Zhou Shaorui noticed Tang Hua’s change in demeanor.
"That guy just now. I haven't seen him before."
In their line of work, the first instinct upon suspecting a colleague's observation was to verify it. Zhou Shaorui was about to stand up when Tang Hua pressed him back down. "I'll go. I need to use the head anyway."
He stood up, leaning on his IV pole, and shuffled over slowly. The people in the seats were leaning every which way, dozing in various postures; not many were fully awake. Tang Hua scanned left and right, pretending to be casual, but he recognized everyone along the way. Criminal investigators had their own knack for remembering faces. Like Lu Linjiang, who had memorized the faces of over three hundred people after flipping through the surveillance screenshots; recognizing people was their basic skill.
Tang Hua walked all the way to the back door, but in this space of less than two hundred square meters, the man had vanished. Tang Hua was startled. He was certain that since the man appeared, no one had entered or exited through the back door. He immediately turned around with his pole, intending to check again.
There were no blind spots in the infusion room. By walking down the central aisle, one could see everything in the seats on both sides. Tang Hua looked carefully once more; the man was indeed gone.
The windows in the infusion room didn't lead outside; climbing out was impossible. Zhou Shaorui also realized something was wrong and stood up. Tang Hua and he locked eyes. Just as they were about to speak, Zhou Shaorui, who was facing the back door, suddenly shouted, "There!"
Another figure appeared by the back door and slipped out of the infusion room.
"Stop!" Tang Hua barked. In the room where only the sound of the television lingered, his voice was exceptionally loud, startling many half-asleep patients wide awake. The person, however, acted as if they hadn't heard a thing, disappearing through the back door without looking back.
Both men simultaneously ripped out their IV needles. Zhou Shaorui went through the front door while Tang Hua charged for the back. But the person was like a needle in the ocean, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Tang Hua and Zhou Shaorui circled the area a few times but couldn't even catch a glimpse of a sleeve.
Tang Hua returned to the infusion room dejectedly, with Zhou Shaorui following close behind.
"Where was he hiding just now?"
The two of them went to the very last row of seats. The infusion room was almost at full capacity now; the only advantage over the daytime was that people didn't have to bring their own folding stools. The person who had been jolted awake by that thunderous shout hadn't gone back to sleep yet. Seeing the two officers searching, he pointed to the floor beside him.
"That guy just now... he brought his own folding stool and was hunkered down right here. When you yelled, he ran off without taking his stuff."
The speaker was roughly the same height as Lu Linjiang but a size larger in build. The suspicious man had been sitting on the stool on the floor next to him, perfectly obscured by half the man's bulk. It wasn't that Tang Hua hadn't seen him when he walked by, but the man had his back to the door and was wearing very common clothing; Tang Hua had momentarily overlooked him.
"Dammit," Tang Hua cursed himself under his breath. Zhou Shaorui patted him and crouched down to examine the items the man had left behind: a thin jacket and a folding stool.
Zhou Shaorui picked up the items, only then discovering that directly beneath where the stool had been, there was a small, open, wide-mouth bottle.
***
