Even with little Sansa between them, Jiang Fuyue’s face was pressed against the man’s chest, her shoulders tightly wrapped in his arms, like a small boat battered by wind and rain finally sailing into a calm, warm harbor.
All around them came endless roaring sounds; close at hand was his steady, powerful heartbeat.
At the moment Jiang Fuyue opened her eyes, tears also fell.
“Are you stupid? Who told you to come over here?”
The man silently held her even tighter.
Boom,
Another loud explosion burst not far away, smoke filling the air, yellow sand sweeping over.
“What kind of relationship do we even have? On what grounds do you get to save me?”
“Stop talking…”
“Why can’t I say it? Xie Dingyuan, you b*stard!”
The man’s breathing hitched, his body suddenly stiff. “You… you already know?”
“If I didn’t expose it, how long were you planning to keep hiding it?”
“I’m sorry, I…”
“An apology is useless. If you want me to forgive you, fine, unless you stay alive and get out of here and say those words to me again.”
“Alright, we’ll both get out alive! Can you still move?”
Jiang Fuyue nodded. “Yes.”
“I’ll count to three. After three, run toward the eleven o’clock direction. Get ready! One, two, three…” Xie Dingyuan lifted Jiang Fuyue by the shoulders; Jiang Fuyue also exerted strength along with him, holding the child as she stood up again.
Immediately, the two adults with one child dashed swiftly toward the diagonal front.
……
When the yellow sand dispersed and visibility improved a little, the person in the helicopter looked down for the Nth time. Sure enough, he no longer discovered any trace of that “living person”, most likely already blown to death.
Immediately after, the helicopter flew away.
The exchange of fire lasted for a little over thirty minutes, ending with one side’s withdrawal; soon after, the other side also left.
Ten minutes later, Huaxia reinforcements arrived.
They immediately escorted Xie Dingyuan and Jiang Fuyue onto a vehicle.
The man’s protective mask had already fallen off when he rushed toward Jiang Fuyue. Now his full face was exposed, and several soldiers didn’t quite dare to recognize him.
“Cough…” It wasn’t until they heard the familiar cough that they reacted.
“Doctor!”
“Send people to check on the situation inside the resettlement camp. If anyone is injured, treat them promptly. Also, distribute the food and supplies, leave the necessary portion and send the rest over.”
“Yes!”
“Remember to take proper protective measures. There are many patients inside.”
Fortunately, when the final tally was done, casualties in the resettlement camp were not heavy. Apart from three severe patients who lost their breath due to convulsions, most injuries were minor.
“What’s wrong with you? We already told you that you can’t go in, why are you still forcing your way in?”
“I’m a journalist! I want to go in to take photos and do interviews, why are you stopping me?”
“Show your credentials.”
“Alright, credentials, right? I, eh? Where’s my press card? I must have lost it while hiding just now. I really am a journalist! Just let me in!”
“No credentials, no discussion. Who knows whether what you’re saying is true.”
“Then I’ll go to the embassy later and get a supplementary certificate, okay?”
“Then wait until you’ve got it.”
“……”
The sounds of the dispute reached the vehicle.
Xie Dingyuan raised his eyes and looked over. “What’s going on over there?”
“There’s a journalist who wants to go into the resettlement camp to interview. Our people stopped him.”
At this moment, the middle-aged journalist suddenly spotted Zhong Ziang and Yici, who were about to get into a vehicle,
He immediately rushed up and grabbed them. “Brothers, you’ve got to help testify for me. I really am a journalist! Absolutely genuine!”
Yici looked him up and down. “What do you want to do?”
“Cough… I want to go in and take some photos.”
In the end, Zhong Ziang said a word, and the guard soldiers finally nodded and agreed to let him in, but…
“Put on your protective suit properly! And the protective mask!”
The middle-aged journalist got his wish and turned to bow deeply to the two of them. “Thank you! My name is Mai Lehui. I hope we’ll meet again back home!”
Zhong Ziang and Yici waved at him. “Goodbye.”
……
After Xie Dingyuan and his group finished handling matters here, they didn’t stay any longer.
They directly had the main force drive back to the base as quickly as possible.
Both of them had abrasions of varying degrees. Fortunately, there was nothing serious, and the accompanying medical staff treated them directly in the vehicle.
Sansa also received a full-body examination. The child had been well protected, aside from being a little frightened, there were no obvious external injuries.
Xie Dingyuan, Jiang Fuyue, and Sansa were arranged into one vehicle.
Zhong Ziang and Yici were arranged into another, “No, we want to go with Jiang Fuyue! This is the mission!”
“That vehicle is already full.”
“How is that possible? Even with the child added, there’s still one empty seat!”
“Oh, that empty seat was taken by medical personnel, they need to treat wounds.”
Yici and Zhong Ziang exchanged a look. Thinking that with so many comrades escorting them, Jiang Fuyue’s safety should be assured.
They stopped insisting.
“I’ll have the doctor come up and treat the two of you.”
……
In the evening, the group arrived at the base smoothly.
Kaza stood at the gate to welcome them. Seeing Xie Dingyuan, he immediately stepped forward and patted his shoulder. “You okay?”
Xie Dingyuan: “I’m fine. Not too bad.”
Jiang Fuyue also got out of the vehicle with Sansa, greeted Kaza, and then left directly.
She still needed to settle Sansa.
Yici and Zhong Ziang also got out of the vehicle and walked toward their superior.
Suddenly, Zhong Ziang halted in his tracks, staring fixedly in a certain direction.
Yici followed his gaze and couldn’t help but freeze as well.
“Old Yi, I think I might be hallucinating. Otherwise, how could I think that Doctor X looks exactly the same as my old uncle?”
Yici swallowed. “Sh-shouldn’t be a hallucination, because I saw it too.”
Their eyes met; the two stood dumbfounded.
Only after a long while did they react.
Zhong Ziang: “S-so… Doctor X is my old uncle? My old uncle is Doctor X?!”
Yici: “Probably… should be… more or less correct…”
“D*mn! Then everything I said and did to Jiang Fuyue in the car was all right under his nose?!”
Yici: “You’re finished.”
Zhong Ziang: “I’m finished…”
Suddenly, Xie Dingyuan seemed to sense something and abruptly turned his head to look at the two of them.
Yici hurriedly dodged aside, practically wanting to write the four words “not my business” on his forehead.
Zhong Ziang, on the other hand, stiffened all over like a startled rabbit, spun on his heels, and ran straight toward their superior, hiding behind him.
Chanting silently: Can’t see me… can’t see me…
Superior: “?” W-wait, I’m a bit confused!
……
The next day, after Xie Dingyuan finished handling matters at the base, he returned to the vaccination site under the identity of Doctor X to take charge of the overall situation.
Before leaving, he went to the laboratory to see Jiang Fuyue.
Before he could even speak, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
Jiang Fuyue froze.
“I’m sorry,” he kept his promise, living to say those three words to her again. “I shouldn’t have hidden it from you. It’s just that the identity of X can’t be made public yet.”
“Had you already recognized me?” Jiang Fuyue let him hold her. “A year ago, at the Auction House, the red chalcedony… and you chasing me relentlessly, striking whenever you felt like it… I was wearing a human-skin mask then, did you already discover it early on? Hm?”
The final tone rose slightly, carrying a hint of danger.
“Cough!” The man gave a light cough.
It was an admission.
Jiang Fuyue raised her brows and stepped out of his embrace. “How did you find out?”
“…Back then in the lab, you took off your clothes, and I saw there were injuries…”
“So you found out very early on? And you kept quiet the whole time, just teasing me?”
Xie Dingyuan said solemnly: “Absolutely not! I figured that you wearing a mask was to keep people from discovering your true identity, so I didn’t expose it.”
Jiang Fuyue gave a light snort.
Xie Dingyuan couldn’t help reaching out to scratch under her chin: “Getting angry isn’t good. You should smile more.”
Jiang Fuyue deliberately turned her head, avoiding his hand.
The man let out a soft sigh, tinged with a pitiful, dejected air, like a big dog that had been wronged. “Yueyue, I’m leaving right away. At the fastest, it’ll take at least a month before I can come back. Can you kiss me once, okay?”
“Just once.”
The girl remained unmoved.
Disappointment flashed through the man’s eyes: “Then when I come back, ”
Before he could finish speaking, a warm touch pressed against his cheek.
Xie Dingyuan froze for a moment, then curved his lips into a faint smile.
The girl pecked his lips again.
“Enough?” Jiang Fuyue blinked.
“Not enough! I’ll save it for now, and when I come back…”
After saying that, he left in high spirits.
His retreating figure was buoyant, his steps light.
Jiang Fuyue scoffed, shook her head, and sighed: “Idiot!”
……
After Xie Dingyuan left, Jiang Fuyue took Sansa into the laboratory.
By mid-June, the weather was getting hotter and hotter. The blazing sun scorched the desert, and it had been a long time since the last rainfall.
In previous years, at this time of year the base would organize large-scale live-fire drills, but this year they were canceled.
“Why?”
Kaza: “There’s something more important.”
That’s right, this “more important thing” was Jiang Fuyue’s research!
In order to provide her with a good research environment and conditions, the high-level officials on both the Su and Chinese sides could be said to grant whatever she asked for.
Jiang Fuyue wanted equipment, buy it!
Jiang Fuyue wanted manpower, send it!
The commotion was considerable, so much so that dozens of research scholars across the entire experimental zone all turned their attention to that independent laboratory.
Everyone knew she had gone out and brought back a little girl who possessed natural Schankwo antibodies.
However, to completely overcome the virus, this was far from enough. Only by figuring out the special immune mechanism inside the girl’s body could it be copied and replicated in other people.
Put it this way: at present, vaccines did exist, whether inactivated, recombinant, or the attenuated live vaccine developed by Jiang Fuyue. Although their effectiveness was as high as over eighty percent, their applicable population was limited to ordinary people who had not been infected, and they did not confer one hundred percent immunity.
For those patients who were already infected, there was no specific drug that could save their lives.
Therefore, in terms of clinical treatment, not only was the survival rate low, but even if one barely managed to survive, severe aftereffects might be left in the future.
If Jiang Fuyue could thoroughly understand the human body’s own immune mechanism against Schankwo and create a specific drug, or find a special treatment method, then patients already infected with Schankwo could be cured!
“Why is there still no news? It’s almost been half a month…”
“You think this is embroidery? You want results in half a month?”
“I think with Jiang Fuyue’s efficiency, half a month is totally possible.”
“That depends on the situation. After all, research doesn’t go smoothly every time.”
“Yeah, there are always times when thinking gets stuck. What if she gets jammed at some key point? And she’s working solo, there isn’t even anyone to give her suggestions.”
“Hearing you guys say that, I suddenly don’t feel confident anymore.”
“Don’t be so down. You just need to know that she’s Jiang Fuyue, and Jiang Fuyue is omnipotent!”
“Have you ever seen her fail?” A question to the soul.
Everyone fell silent.
Come to think of it, there really hadn’t been!
“Brothers! Pull yourselves together! Believe in Sister Yue!” Xu Kuan was the first to speak up.
Bai Chuanhao coughed lightly: “I’ve been pulled together for a while now.”
Everyone else: “……” Then should we pull ourselves together too?
Over there, even someone from Dan Pinghua’s team, which had always maintained a “mature and steady” style, couldn’t hold it anymore.
Xin Hongcheng jumped out first: “I absolutely believe in her!”
Old Huang: “……” Could you lick a bit harder? [keep smiling]
Dan Pinghua: “……” Although excited inside, he had to keep steady on the surface!
At the same time, the high-level officials on both the Chinese and Su sides were also anxiously watching,
“How much longer will it take? Th-this is really killing us with anxiety!”
“Be patient. Give her some time.”
“Yes, research most fears haste. Absolutely don’t rush her.”
“I didn’t rush her. I was just talking, that’s all. I didn’t say it to her face…”
“Now that the news has already been sent back to the country, the higher-ups send at least two encrypted messages a day. You can see how much importance they attach to it.”
“How could they not take it seriously? Once Jiang Fuyue succeeds over there, Huaxia will be the first country able to effectively treat Schankwo infections. Think about what kind of concept that is?”
“They say Western medical standards are ahead and science and technology more developed. For the past half-century, although our country has been developing at high speed, in scientific and academic fields we’ve always been pressed down a notch. Not to mention far away things, just take international awards like the Nobel Prize. There are very few scientists who have won under Huaxia nationality.”
“That’s discrimination, and it’s also reality. But now, it seems this pattern ought to be broken.”
Without breaking, there can be no establishing.
“Eh? Listening to what you’re saying… you mean Jiang Fuyue can do it?”
“Whether she can or not isn’t for me to say. Strength will speak.”
“Sigh… let’s hope so.”
“……”
Under the eager anticipation of all, finally, on a calm afternoon, Jiang Fuyue came out of the laboratory. Everyone thought she was heading to the cafeteria to eat, and they smiled and greeted her: “Sister Yue!”
This form of address already showed her status and prestige among this group of scholars.
Jiang Fuyue gave a slight nod as a response.
She found Kaza and said lightly,
“It succeeded.”
“…Huh?” Kaza looked utterly confused, food still un-swallowed in his mouth.
The corner of Jiang Fuyue’s mouth twitched.
He belatedly realized: “Y-you mean, the research succeeded?! You found a way to treat Schankwo infection?!”
That shout was loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear. Instantly, the whole place fell silent; you could hear a pin drop.
Then, in an instant, it exploded.
“It succeeded? It really succeeded?!”
“Oh my god! I’m witnessing history?”
“Unbelievable, am I dreaming?”
“Sister Yue forever! Huaxia forever!”
“Sister Yue is awesome! Long live the motherland!”
The nemesis of the Schankwo virus was a type of mutated phagocytic cell, which needed to undergo immune action within the human body to be produced.
And the key to triggering this immune mechanism was, “F active enzyme”!
F was the code name given to it by Jiang Fuyue.
……
On July 1st, the research results were published to the world, shocking all countries.
On July 16th, F active enzyme successfully saved a patient with severe Schankwo infection.
At this point, the clinical curative effect of F active enzyme against the Schankwo virus was confirmed!
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