Plague (9): Bath invitation

After successfully getting through the difficult initial days of not understanding the information, tens of thousands of players quietly lurked in this city.

After all, under normal circumstances, people wouldn’t suspect that the souls of those around them had been swapped. As long as they weren’t too unlucky or too foolish, there wouldn’t be a risk of brain death caused by excessive OOC.

Wang Mingming, the player who had transformed into Aunt Zhao, the fruit shop owner, was one of the many players who had successfully stayed.

NPC Aunt Zhao was fifty years old, divorced from her husband for many years, and ran a small fruit shop. She owned a house, which was the one rented to Tan Xiao.

She lived with her daughter and son-in-law, and besides running the fruit business, she also helped take care of her granddaughter.

Wang Mingming was a homebody in real life, relying on takeout and instant noodles for cooking. To avoid being discovered by the locals, he had no choice but to choose to travel.

He bought a high-speed train ticket and boarded the train out of the province. As soon as the train left the first station, he started to feel his heart racing, dizzy, and then had difficulty breathing.

The system issued a warning: [Players must not leave the game instance area, otherwise they will be deemed to have failed the game and return to reality after midnight tonight!]

Which otaku hadn’t dreamed of a system that dropped from the sky, leading to a special life? Although his system wasn’t one of those that makes you rich and gives you benefits, the real world had undergone a huge change.

If he lost his player identity, he would completely become an ordinary person, even gradually falling to the bottom of society.

In the real world after the meteor shower, where fog had invaded, the living standards of ordinary people had plummeted and would continue to become more and more difficult.

Middle-aged woman Aunt Zhao was healthy and wealthy, and she had a say in the family, so the chances of surviving a month were very high.

Newbies could choose to give up after successfully completing the game for the first time, but he wanted to at least get the reward for this time!

Wang Mingming clearly didn’t want to fail the game like this, so he hurriedly got off the bus early, bought a return ticket at the station, and went back dejectedly.

Thinking about the rental house still in the chat box on his phone, Wang Mingming planned to take back the house he had rented out and live in it himself. Then he saw the indigenous person who had brought him the system warning!

The fear brought by the game warning took over his brain, and Wang Mingming turned and ran away quickly.

Compared to being alone outside, it was obviously better to have someone take care of you when you’re sick. In the end, Wang Mingming went home to avoid being exposed for cooking poorly. He pretended to be sick in front of his daughter’s family, complaining about headaches, fever, back pain, leg pain, and soreness, then stayed in his room resting every day.

It wasn’t until the seventh day of the game that he saw the notice about a deadly infectious disease online.

A female host from the local TV station had a serious expression on her face: “An unknown malignant infectious disease has appeared in our city. The mortality rate of this infectious disease is extremely high. Currently, the number of deaths from this unknown infectious disease has reached 6. It spreads through blood transmission and can also be transmitted through mosquito bites.”

“The initial stage of this disease is the appearance of rice-sized lumps. The pus-filled lumps can grow to the size of a coin, with transparent mucus visible inside. There is also a certain chance of persistent high fever. Citizens with these symptoms are advised not to scratch and to seek medical attention promptly.”

Patients who died in the hospital were not necessarily the initial patients, because some people, after being bitten by mosquitoes, did not take it seriously and just thought they had a skin disease, casually applying ointment.

By the time they were admitted to the hospital with a fever, the virus had already evolved in their bodies for some time. Additionally, some people had weaker constitutions, and although they were infected later, their condition was more severe, and they developed a fever earlier.

This was discovered by the hospital after studying multiple patients; those patients all had traces of mosquito bites on their bodies.

According to big data research, these patients all visited the same place—Citizen Park.

Wang Mingming initially thought it was the flu and assumed it was a respiratory disease. He had previously bought protective clothing, masks, and goggles and stuffed them under his bed. He never expected it to be bloodborne; being bitten by a mosquito could lead to an infection of the plague!

Who knew if the mosquitoes in their neighborhood had just bitten an infected person a second ago? After seeing the related news, he immediately felt a severe lack of safety and quickly ordered various insect repellents online.

Mosquitoes are very clever; even on high floors, they can use the elevator to get upstairs. Even though he now lived on the 19th floor of such a tall building, he still got disturbed by mosquitoes.

He was quite lucky; as soon as the news broke, the insect repellent in the supermarket sold out, and everything related to insect repellent and mosquito control on the app platform showed as sold out.

The air conditioning in the room was set to the lowest possible temperature, and while Wang Mingming was waiting for the delivery person, he quickly grabbed the remote and set it to a chilly 16 degrees. He pulled out thick clothes and wrapped himself up like a ball, lighting mosquito coils all around the house in an attempt to freeze and poison those damn mosquitoes.

Players everywhere were taking action, and they were encouraging some indifferent locals to join in and buy, buy, buy.

On a scorching hot day, some people went out fully covered, fearing they might accidentally get bitten by mosquitoes.

The player system belonging to Tan Xiao had been malfunctioning and disconnecting, but his boyfriend, a doctor at Huaxi Hospital, was urgently called back to the hospital when the first patient died.

Under the microscope, the virus detected in the patient’s tissue fluid was unlike any virus they had encountered before. It was a completely unfamiliar disease, and it had terrifying contagiousness.

As a family member of a doctor, Tan Xiao learned the news four days earlier than most citizens.

He immediately ordered various medical supplies, reserved ten thousand for living expenses and tuition for the first academic year, and spent ninety thousand in total.

Better quality medical supplies were actually very expensive. After thinking for a while, he still asked Wen Yi for a huge sum of five hundred thousand to wholesale purchase protective clothing, masks, goggles, rubber gloves, and so on.

While Wang Mingming was there competing with other citizens to buy mosquito coils, Tan Xiao had already procured the supplies in advance. He wore protective gear and used a small cart to transport them one by one, stacking them all in the rented room next door.

When he learned about the infectious disease, Tan Xiao went online to read a lot of information. Compared to ordinary people outside, the healthcare workers on the front lines always faced the highest risk of infection.

Even though the air conditioning in the hospital was particularly strong, the transmission of infectious diseases was not limited to mosquito bites. During the study of the disease, the patient’s blood could potentially splatter onto Wen Yi.

Tan Xiao was not a particularly great person, but when he sensed danger approaching, he hoped to do something to reduce the risk for himself and his partner.

Wen Yi said that the virus they observed was evolving rapidly, and it was evolving in a more severe direction.

The patients who died at the beginning actually had milder symptoms; their deaths were caused by prolonged high fever. However, the patients who were admitted to the hospital later developed skin pustules and obvious ulcers.

To minimize the impact and avoid causing panic among residents, the information that could be disclosed in the news was definitely more mild than the actual situation.

Tan Xiao hoarding these medical resources was certainly not for high-priced trading. He was just being cautious, preparing for the possibility that the infectious disease might worsen and spread over a large area. At that time, if merchants hoard supplies, high-risk medical staff might not receive effective protection.

These resources were prepared for Wen Yi and his hospital colleagues. If the situation at the hospital turned out to be better than he expected, he would donate all the remaining resources.

If the situation was very bad, he at least needed to ensure the safety of his lover.

After the news broadcast, government-organized disinfection teams quickly appeared on the streets.

In the resident group Tan Xiao was part of, the group owner forwarded the street office’s notice three times: “Starting tomorrow, insecticides will be sprayed. Please make sure to close your doors and windows properly, and take down any clothes and bedding that are drying outside in advance.”

There were more patrol cars in the streets and alleys, using loudspeakers to spread awareness.

“Don’t throw away water-filled mineral water bottles carelessly; they can easily breed mosquitoes…”

“If you experience symptoms related to infectious diseases, please go to the hospital promptly.”

Some people were terrified, worried that they had contracted a special infectious disease, only to find out after going to the hospital that they hadn’t.

The hospital was already busy, and now it was even more short-staffed.

Meanwhile, some patients who were actually sick hadn’t even gone to the hospital, and all sorts of rumors were spreading wildly in various groups.

“Can’t go to the hospital, the hospital is exaggerating this disease. Being bitten by a mosquito isn’t that scary. They don’t care if you have the disease or not. If you show any suspected symptoms and go to the hospital, you’ll be locked up!”

“Someone in my family is in the hospital. I heard this disease is super scary, with an extremely high mortality rate, and bodies everywhere.”

This message was accompanied by a GIF that looked very realistic, but in fact, it was a still from a viral sci-fi movie.

There were just too many people in the city. Whenever a major incident occurred, many people would stir up trouble. Every second, someone was spreading rumors, and these rumors often spread faster than the truth.

Tan Xiao didn’t want to trouble Wen Yi, so he quietly reduced his outings, and even when he did go out, he made sure to stock up for at least a week.

However, he still sensed the brewing storm from the details he gathered from groups and the internet.

The situation didn’t seem to improve; it was worsening at an alarming rate.

On the first day the news reported the incident, the numbers given to the public were 6 deaths and 18 infected.

On the second day of the broadcast, the number of infected people rose to 76.

On the third day of the broadcast, the number of infected people became a staggering 1,058, and the death toll increased to 125. Some patients collapsed and lost their breath as soon as they entered the hospital.

The third day of the news broadcast also marked the tenth day since players entered the game instance, and the plague instance entered its second phase, the outbreak period.

Once infected with the plague, players could see their system panel’s data rapidly declining. Being infected with the plague meant game over.

Tan Xiao’s life was greatly affected as a result: Wen Yi’s working hours became increasingly late. On his first day back, he worked his regular hours, then added two more hours. The next day, he added four hours, and could only leave work at ten in the evening.

On the third day of the news broadcast, Tan Xiao received a video call from Wen Yi. He looked somewhat haggard: “A Xiao, I might not get home until midnight today.”

Tan Xiao nodded: “I’ll save some food for you. You must take care of yourself!”

Wen Yi smiled gently: “I will.”

When Wen Yi returned home in the middle of the night and opened the door, he saw the lamp that Tan Xiao had specially left on for him.

The boy, dressed in pajamas, immediately came out of the bedroom and heated up some food in the microwave.

He took two sets of chopsticks and said, “I’m hungry too, so I’ll keep you company while you eat.”

After finishing the meal, Tan Xiao put the dishes into the dishwasher.

Wen Yi went into the bedroom and then into the kitchen, hugging Tan Xiao, who was wearing an apron. He held a small square box that looked like a piece of gum between his long fingers. “A Xiao, I want to take a shower with you later, okay?”