With the help of Xie Dingyuan’s team, plus the soldiers’ tireless efforts, the results of the second-stage large-quantity animal in vivo trials were soon released.
Of the one hundred white mice and fifty monkeys under observation, after being inoculated with Vaccine A and then exposed to the Schankwo virus, the infection rate was only two percent.
In other words, judging from this batch of samples alone, excluding chance and other influencing factors, the effectiveness rate of Vaccine A could reach ninety-eight percent!
Compared with the forty-three percent effectiveness rate of the recombinant vaccine studied by Xie Dingyuan’s team, it was more than double!
If this result could be replicated in human subjects, then Vaccine A would be considered a complete success!
Thus, the experiment entered the third stage, clinical trials!
Also the most critical link determining the success or failure of the project.
Once successful and the effectiveness of Vaccine A confirmed, it could smoothly go into production, be manufactured in batches, and be used for large-scale preventive inoculation.
At that point, the ultimate goal of curbing the epidemic would be achieved.
But the human body is far more complex than that of animals, and everything was still unknown.
……
Night fell. All was silent. The entire base sank into slumber.
Because the second-stage animal in vivo trials had ended and the third-stage human clinical trials had not yet begun, Jiang Fuyue’s personal laboratory had been completely cleared out, leaving no observation subjects behind.
And she herself finally didn’t have to keep watch day and night and could return to the dormitory to sleep soundly.
But right in the pitch-black darkness, the laboratory door was pushed open from outside, and a dark figure slipped in.
He first entered the observation room, found it empty, then slunk back out, went to the place where Jiang Fuyue usually worked, and began rummaging through the desk.
First the laptop computer, then a neatly stacked pile of materials and documents in the drawer. The scattered papers on the desk were not spared either, all were stuffed into his pockets.
Five minutes later, he left as silently as he had come.
The above was the footage everyone saw through the surveillance recordings.
“Holy cr*p , th-this… we’ve been robbed?”
“Who’s got such guts? Stealing all the way here?”
“What did this person steal?”
“What’s he trying to do?”
“……”
The discussion did not stop.
Kaza stood at the front in military uniform, his face cold and stern, his sharp gaze sweeping over everyone.
Behind him stood a row of expressionless soldiers.
“Quiet!” At the command, everyone fell silent.
You look at me, I look at you, and the atmosphere began to grow tense.
Kaza: “Everyone has seen it. At three o’clock early this morning, Jiang Fuyue’s laboratory was burglarized. One laptop computer and a large amount of experimental data were stolen. We’ve asked everyone here in the hope that you will cooperate with the investigation and assist the base in catching the thief as soon as possible!”
“So, the questions that follow, please answer truthfully, ”
Kaza raised his hand slightly, and the soldiers behind him stepped forward with voice recorders and notebooks.
Seeing this setup, everyone was a bit dumbfounded,
“W-what does this mean?”
“Are you treating us as suspects, recording statements one by one?”
“Well then! Turns out you’re suspecting us of stealing things.”
“This is ridiculous! Our research direction is completely different from Jiang Fuyue’s. Why would we steal her experimental data?”
“You can’t insult people like this!”
“You have no right to interrogate us!”
“Right, no right , ”
Seeing emotions running high and people starting to shove the soldiers, if this continued, forget about cooperating with the investigation, it would be a blessing if no conflict broke out.
Kaza was under great pressure too. He didn’t want to make trouble either.
But there was no choice. That batch of data was of vital importance and directly affected whether the attenuated live vaccine could be successfully developed.
Once leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable!
Therefore, early this morning, after receiving Jiang Fuyue’s intercom communication and learning that the laboratory had been burglarized, he immediately sealed off the base, forbidding entry and exit, and quickly reported to his superiors.
The higher-ups were shaken and ordered him to take full charge of the investigation, to be sure to dig out the thief as quickly as possible and retrieve the data.
Kaza: “Please cooperate! If it really has nothing to do with you, you wouldn’t mind being investigated, would you?”
“This isn’t about minding or not, it’s that we weren’t respected!”
“Right, this is a blatant insult!”
“What evidence do you have to suspect us?”
Those jumping up the fiercest were the older members of Dan Pinghua’s team, their expressions indignant and their tone agitated.
As if being asked to cooperate with recording a statement was trampling on their dignity.
Kaza’s face went cold: “Today this must be clarified. It’s best if you’re willing to cooperate. If you’re not willing, you must be willing!”
Xin Hongcheng: “Fine! Soft won’t work, so you’re going hard! Is this how you Suweitans treat our Huaxia team?”
Because he was arguing on principle, his old face flushed bright red.
Kaza didn’t buy it at all. “This is an order. It must be carried out!”
“What if we refuse to accept it?”
“Right! We won’t accept it!”
“We want to see the Chinese-side higher-ups!”
Kaza clenched his teeth, his jaw stiff. These old b*stards!
By comparison, Bai Chuanhao’s team was much calmer.
Some people had already begun cooperating with the questioning, their attitude good.
The older generation wanted dignity and felt that being interrogated was an insult, while the younger people didn’t have that notion, having been taught from a young age to cooperate with police uncles.
Although these soldiers weren’t police, the nature was similar, it was all for investigating the truth anyway.
And they were wearing uniforms.
At the sight of that outfit, people behaved honestly.
In the end, only a few old fellows remained, with Xin Hongcheng as the leader, stubbornly refusing to speak.
Kaza was furious and pointed at Xin Hongcheng: “I think you’re the one who stole the stuff!”
Xin Hongcheng’s eyes widened round, then he shook all over with anger: “You, you , ”
“Old Xin!”
“Are you okay?”
“He fainted! Hurry, send him to the infirmary!”
In an instant, chaos erupted.
Kaza obtained a total of ten statements and recordings, took them back to the office, and also invited Xie Dingyuan and Jiang Fuyue over.
“How is it? Any leads?” Xie Dingyuan asked as soon as he entered.
Kaza pushed the organized statements in front of the two of them. “They’re all here. Take a look.”
“At present, aside from those few old fellows who refused to cooperate with the questioning, everyone else has an alibi.”
Because people lived two to a room, everyone was quite certain that their roommates had not gone out last night.
Kaza: “The surveillance outside the dormitory buildings also didn’t capture anyone going out. From the current clues, this thief seems to have appeared out of thin air and disappeared out of thin air.”
Along with Jiang Fuyue’s laptop computer and those materials, all vanished without a trace.
Xie Dingyuan: “Could they have already left the base?”
“Impossible! After nightfall, the defense level of the base gates is always raised to the highest. No one could sneak out. After daybreak, I immediately issued a lockdown order. So that thief must still be inside the base!”
Jiang Fuyue: “Is it possible it was a soldier?”
Kaza still shook his head: “We have a complete management system and monitoring model for active-duty personnel. If anyone left the dormitory in the middle of the night, it would definitely trigger the alarm system, and we would know immediately.”
“So,” Jiang Fuyue closed the statements and returned them to Kaza, “this thief can only be someone from the research teams.”
Besides members of Dan Pinghua’s and Bai Chuanhao’s teams, that also included members of Xie Dingyuan’s team.
Kaza nodded: “They were all questioned. The statements have no problems, and their behavior was normal.”
Even the stubborn Xin Hongcheng and his few companions, whether facial expressions or body movements showed nothing suspicious.
Although Kaza had blurted out in anger that the thief was him, in reality, the shame and indignation Xin Hongcheng displayed contained not a shred of falseness. One could see an old man who valued face deeply, showing the fury of having his dignity insulted when faced with distrust and suspicion.
Solid and real.
Xie Dingyuan: “If that’s the case, then everyone’s suspicion can be ruled out. So what’s left to investigate?”
Kaza sighed: “That’s the most troublesome part.”
It looked like no one had done it.
There wasn’t even a suspect.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Jiang Fuyue. Seeing that her research data had been stolen yet she wasn’t anxious at all, her expression extremely calm, he couldn’t help being surprised.
“Why are you acting like nothing happened?”
Aren’t those who do research and academics supposed to treat experimental data like their lifeline?
He had once personally seen a PhD at the base who did biochemical research, risking his life to rush into a burning room to rescue experimental data and retrieve a USB drive.
In the end, he suffered severe burns and had skin grafts over almost his entire body, yet when he lay on the hospital bed, he was still thanking God for letting him preserve the data.
Now look at the Jiang Fuyue before him, calm to a frightening degree, and she even asked back, “Then what should I look like?”
Guess who did it.
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