Chapter 595: New Virus
Startled by the sudden voice, Melody Summers and Roman Rhodes both looked up at the doorway. Officer Tristan Tanner walked in, a smile on his face.
Officer Tristan Tanner entered the hospital room and said to Melody Summers in a half-joking, half-serious tone, "If you don’t want to work for someone and you don’t want to start your own business, then the only thing left is to be a civil servant. You should join the system!"
"I think you’d be a great fit for our police department. Every time there’s danger, you rush to the front line faster than any of us officers. Maybe you were born to do this job!"
Melody Summers: "..."
Melody Summers was speechless.
After hearing Officer Tanner’s words, Roman Rhodes, who was standing to the side, frowned in thought for a moment. He then said to Melody Summers, "The department is short-staffed right now, and we’re planning a special recruitment drive. You’ve distinguished yourself several times before. If you’re interested..."
"No, no!" Melody Summers waved her hands dismissively. Although joining the public sector was a huge temptation—everyone says ’the ultimate career is a government job,’ after all—she was currently more interested in the *actual* universe!
If she joined the public sector, she’d be on call twenty-four hours a day. She’d have even less of a chance to board one of Odyssey Station’s great ships and journey into the void!
Facing Tristan and Roman’s expectant gazes, Melody Summers said with a sincere expression, "An opportunity to join the public sector is rare, and getting into the police department is even harder. My qualifications aren’t quite up to par. It’s better to leave the opportunity for someone who really needs it."
Officer Tanner looked a little regretful. He genuinely thought Melody Summers would make a great police officer, but since she was adamant in her refusal, he didn’t press the issue.
He then turned to Roman Rhodes, handed him the file in his hand, and said, "Director Rhodes, this is the new autopsy report. Please take a look."
Roman Rhodes took the file from Tristan’s hands and began to flip through it, page by page. As his eyes scanned the lines of text, his expression grew grim, his brows knitting tightly together.
Seeing Roman Rhodes’s expression grow increasingly grave, Melody Summers couldn’t help but ask, "...Whose autopsy is that?"
Tristan, standing beside them, answered, "Do you remember that woman from the emergency management office yesterday? The owner of unit 1404 in Building 4..."
Melody Summers searched her memory. Prompted by Officer Tanner, she recalled the woman from yesterday who had bitten her own husband to death and then attacked others at the emergency management office...
The woman had seemed to have lost all reason, attacking everyone around her indiscriminately. She possessed incredible strength; several officers working together couldn’t restrain her. In the end, it was Officer Sean Pierce who shot and killed her.
At this thought, Melody Summers nodded and replied, "I remember."
Officer Tanner continued, "The hospital performed an autopsy and detected a new type of virus in her brain..."
"Last night, medical experts at the research institute analyzed the virus sample overnight. Several of them suspect this new virus shares a common origin with the neurotoxin produced by the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp we detected before..."
Melody’s eyes widened at his words. She murmured, "So you’re saying... she lost her mind because she was infested by a Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp? She was attacking people because her brain was being controlled by the neurotoxin it released?..."
’This thought sparked a flicker of doubt in Melody’s mind. The neurotoxin from the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp can indeed control a human body, but most cases involve manipulating the host to jump into a river. A very small number of hosts exhibit self-harm or aggression toward others, but there has never been a case this bloody.’
’At least, I never heard of one in my past life.’
Just as Melody was pondering this, she saw Officer Tanner shake his head. "That’s what we suspected at first, but..."
Thinking of the autopsy results, Officer Tanner’s face also showed confusion. "But there were no signs of infestation by the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp in her body! The medical examiner performed a dissection yesterday, and we can confirm she was never infested by a Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp!"
Melody froze at his words—
’How is that possible?!’
’According to the research from my past life, the only way the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp’s virus could infect a human body was through larval infestation. If the owner of 1404 was never infested by a Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp, how could she possibly have been infected with the virus...’
As Melody puzzled over this, for some reason, she suddenly remembered what Robert Lancaster had said before he died—
Robert Lancaster had said that the massive epidemic during the floods in her past life wasn’t a natural disaster, but a man-made one. Someone had been researching a "new virus."
’...Could the virus that infected the owner of 1404 be the "new virus" Robert Lancaster was talking about?!’
The thought flashed through Melody’s mind for an instant, but she dismissed it the very next second.
’The clinical symptoms of that "new virus" in my past life were mostly high fever, headache, a drop in blood pressure, chest pain, coughing up blood, and skin hemorrhaging. There were never any cases like the owner of 1404.’
’So where did this "new virus" come from??’
Melody couldn’t figure it out, and she even felt a sense of despair. ’Could this be another butterfly effect, caused by my rebirth, along with Felix Ford’s and those people from the Lancaster Family?’
’If that’s the case... then my sin is a great one...’
Just as unease crept into Melody’s heart, she heard Officer Tanner continue, "Although we can’t determine the source of this new virus for now, the professors and experts at the institute are already studying its transmission pathways. What we can confirm so far is that it can be transmitted through blood."
Melody’s heart sank at his words— ’Blood transmission?!’
’Doesn’t that mean any open wound is a potential point of infection?!’
Thinking of the frenzied state of the owner of 1404, Melody murmured, "This... couldn’t actually be a zombie virus, could it?"
Melody had been thinking it since yesterday. The way the owner of 1404 had flown into a rage and started biting people was exactly like the "zombies" from the movies.
Although she knew "zombies" were just a fictional concept and didn’t exist in reality, when she thought about how Terra had already endured three years of natural disasters... Melody felt that anything was possible!
’If a zombie virus is what awaits humanity after the floods...’
’Does that mean Heaven truly intends to wipe out humanity?’
Perhaps guessing Melody’s thoughts, Roman Rhodes chuckled and offered some reassurance. "Don’t worry. Even if there really are zombies, there’s no need to be afraid. After all, things like zombies are nothing in the face of modern firearms."
"You have to have faith in the quality of our nation’s military and its modern combat capabilities. If zombies like the ones in the movies really appeared, the military is fully capable of annihilating them in a short period of time."
After hearing Roman’s words, Melody thought about it and realized he was right.
Zombies were still made of flesh and blood, not invincible steel. They couldn’t stand up to firearms. No matter how ferocious the owner of 1404 had been, a single bullet from Officer Sean Pierce had put her down.
A city besieged by zombies sounded terrifying in the movies, but if it happened in reality, given the government’s response speed, the public’s cooperation, and the military’s combat effectiveness, those zombies would probably just end up being captured and turned into zombie-powered generators.