Chapter 198: The Virus from 65 Million Years Ago

The downside is that the progress is quite slow.

It feels a bit unfair to those at the back.

After all.

The most effective disinfection method that Su Wu currently possesses is using special light for irradiation.

This method works well in open areas.

It can eliminate all viruses in the air within the illuminated range in one go.

But when applied inside the structurally complex shelters, it becomes less certain.

A single drop of water containing the virus could seep into some debris or the crevices of a corner, escaping detection.

Only by deploying a large number of robots to rummage through everything, combined with Artificial Intelligence modeling and gap-filling, can safety be ensured.

This takes a considerable amount of time.

At 3 PM.

Several medium-sized Hovercraft, equipped with virus detectors installed by Su Wu, finally completed data collection across various water bodies in the city.

In a certain deep-water area, they recovered a body wearing a diving suit.

According to the routine examination of the body, the Artificial Intelligence determined that it belonged to the earliest case of death from the Rola Virus discovered so far.

Immediately, Su Wu, far away in a farmhouse courtyard, received the relevant report.

"Owen Shelter."

The source of the body was easy to trace.

The diving suit it wore bore the mark of the Owen Shelter.

Coupled with the work badge it carried, the identity could be quickly confirmed.

Looking at this name, Su Wu felt a vague sense of familiarity and recalled that it was the medium-sized shelter that had competed with him for the ranking in clearing the city ruins after the wind disaster.

Then, Su Wu checked the epidemic map of Jianghe City.

He found that the shelter had never uploaded any infection data from the beginning and seemed to have completely lost contact with the outside world.

"This virus didn't initially break out there, did it?"

With this doubt in mind, Su Wu took immediate action.

A reconnaissance team composed of three Spider Robots, two humanoid service robots, and two Combat Drones boarded a medium-sized Hovercraft and began to head towards the direction of the Owen Shelter.

As the reconnaissance team arrived at their destination, they began to submerge at the entrance of the underwater Owen Shelter.

A body, wedged in the corner of the open outer door, came into view of the robots' cameras.

"Something definitely went wrong."

Su Wu, sitting behind the screen, held his breath.

He instructed a Spider Robot equipped with professional tools to approach and crack the door lock password.

A few minutes later.

The reconnaissance team successfully passed through the isolation chamber and entered the interior of the shelter.

Upon arrival, the testing reagents carried by the robots immediately revealed dense yellow spots on their originally pure white surfaces.

This indicated that the virus density in the air had reached the level of a severely infected person.

In such an environment, even the slightest exposure of skin would lead to immediate infection.

"The shelter still has power."

"All items in the hall are neatly arranged, showing no signs of chaos."

"The outbreak of the virus here must have been extremely violent and sudden."

Through the robots' cameras, Su Wu noticed that the entire shelter was brightly lit.

In the guard room at the exit, several security personnel were all slumped over their desks.

If it weren't for the congealed bloodstains around their mouths and noses, their posture would suggest they were merely resting.

This indicated that the time from the outbreak of the virus to the host's death was remarkably brief, far below the external death cycle of half an hour to 24 hours.

After spending a few minutes searching around without finding more valuable clues, the reconnaissance team continued to delve deeper inside.

Along the way, they encountered no living souls until they reached the deepest seventh level.

There, in a heavily sealed storeroom, they discovered a row of bodies submerged in liquid.

"Human experimentation."

Su Wu raised his eyebrows.

He hardly needed to guess; he immediately realized what had been happening here.

He instructed the reconnaissance team to spread out.

Using the storeroom as a center, they conducted a detailed search around.

Soon, they unlocked the research logs on the storeroom's terminal computer using the magnetic card from a deceased researcher nearby.

Su Wu focused on the logs for a while.

Following the prompts, he had two Spider Robots break into a secret room deep within the storeroom.

Inside the secret room, a fist-sized, brownish-yellow rock was placed in a low-temperature glass cabinet, coming into Su Wu's view.

"The origin of the Rola Virus."

"Is it contained within this thing?"

Two hours later.

At the Jayway Shelter.

In the newly built biological laboratory, a severely infected person, after being injected with a drug by a mechanical arm, finally stopped blood from seeping from his mouth and nose.

"The treatment developed for the original Rola Virus extracted from the rock has taken effect."

"However, it has not cured him."

"It has only slowed the spread of the virus in his body."

"At the latest, he will still die in three to five days."

Su Wu examined the infected person's medical report and noticed some unusual data within it.

After the drug slowed the spread of the Rola Virus, the virus began to bring some additional side effects to the infected person's body.

It provided a slight and sustained enhancement to his physical condition.

Some chronic diseases that were almost impossible to cure quietly healed.

Observing this strange change, Su Wu began to understand why the Owen Shelter would take the risk to study it.

If one disregards the lethal characteristics of the Rola Virus itself, its side effects are almost the universal remedy that humanity has longed for.

More importantly, it can provide comprehensive enhancement to the human body.

This enhancement does not turn a person from an ordinary individual into a superhero or an Olympic champion.

Rather, it allows a person to regress from an aging state back to middle age, or even youth.

In other words, it holds the potential for granting immortality.

In the face of such temptation, not to mention the Owen Shelter, any other person, including Su Wu himself, would not be able to resist the urge to attempt research, no matter the risks involved.

"First, focus on researching the vaccine."

"Then consider the subsequent matters."

Having made his decision, Su Wu's gaze fell once again on the final part of the report, the identification of the brownish-yellow rock itself.

The rock itself was unrelated to the virus.

But many traces on it revealed that this virus, with its powerful infectious and lethal characteristics, may have existed far longer than anyone could imagine.

"Before it fell into a deep slumber underground."

"Did it once thrive during the age of dinosaurs, 65 million years ago—"

(End of Chapter)