Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 531 "X" Virus

For the next month, Xu Xiaoyan enjoyed a very leisurely time.

Aside from the necessary arrangements for three meals a day, she can now comfortably take out apples, grapes, dragon fruit, peaches, ginseng fruit, and other fruits from her spatial storage that she would normally never dare to take out.

After finishing each piece of fruit, she would carefully collect the seeds, wipe them clean with a tissue, let them dry, and then carefully sort them into small bags.

You never know when you might need it, right? In this world, no one can predict what will happen tomorrow. Having more resources on hand gives you more peace of mind.

During this period, what she did most was to use the resources in the space to store convenient and ready-to-eat food in advance.

Wash the rice and cook it into white rice. Then take out the potatoes, cut them into thin strips, stir-fry them in a pan, add dried chili peppers and vinegar, and make a sour, spicy and crunchy potato dish.

Then, flour and yeast are mixed and kneaded into a dough. After it has risen, it is rolled out, cut into strips, and deep-fried into golden and fluffy fried dough sticks.

Once all the ingredients were ready, she laid plastic wrap on the cutting board.

First, spread a layer of rice, then add half a fried dough stick, and then add a large chopstick of hot and sour shredded potatoes. Then roll it up tightly and press it down firmly, and a solid rice ball is ready.

This type of rice ball contains carbohydrates, oils, and vegetables, and can be eaten hot or cold, making it convenient to use later.

These days have been peaceful, and there's nothing particularly surprising or alarming on the internet.

So normal that Xu Xiaoyan began to doubt whether everything before was just her imagination, or perhaps there was no virus at all, and she was just overreacting.

However, this peace was soon shattered completely.

First, strange cases appeared one after another in several densely populated areas of Qing City.

Someone suddenly developed a persistent high fever and severe joint pain all over their body.

Some people suffered from persistent diarrhea and became dehydrated to the point of collapse in just two days.

Some people also developed large rashes and persistent bleeding gums.

Hemorrhagic fever, dysentery, dengue fever, influenza... various diseases broke out almost simultaneously in densely populated areas.

The fever clinics and emergency rooms of hospitals in Zones 1, 5, and 9 were instantly overwhelmed.

At first, no one took it seriously, including the infected people themselves. They thought it was just a minor ailment that could be suppressed with some medicine, so they continued to do what they were supposed to do.

However, if a minor illness is left untreated, it can eventually become a serious illness.

Those symptoms that were downplayed quietly fermented, cross-infected, mutated and recombined in the human body, and eventually became a combination of multiple diseases, evolving into a new strain "X" that had never been seen before.

The "X" virus exhibits terrifying characteristics, is highly contagious, and can be transmitted through almost any route, including air, contact, and bodily fluids.

The mortality rate is even more outrageously high, as infected individuals may initially experience only mild fever and fatigue.

However, within just two or three days, the condition can deteriorate rapidly, with all organs failing at a visible rate. From the onset of the disease to death, many people cannot even survive 24 hours.

The hospital corridors were filled with patients. The already limited number of beds was far from enough, and temporary beds were set up in the passageways, lobby, and even the parking lot.

Medical staff often work for 48 hours straight in airtight protective suits, but even so, doctors and nurses still fall ill one after another.

Medicines and protective equipment were depleted at an alarming rate, and the medical system collapsed completely in less than three days.

There was nowhere to put the body, so they could only cover it hastily with a white sheet.

Many people contracted strange illnesses overnight, and family members who were eating and chatting together yesterday were lying on the cold floor today.

He suffered from multiple organ failure, his face turned ashen, and his lips turned bluish-purple. He passed away in less than a day.

Life can end so quickly that many families don't even have time to grieve before facing the next loss of a loved one.

It wasn't until those once vibrant lives were lost one after another that those who initially didn't take it seriously began to panic completely.

Panic spread through the population like a plague, faster than the virus itself.

People closed their doors and windows tightly, cutting off contact with the outside world, trying to isolate themselves in a safe little space.

However, most people don't have the habit of stocking up on supplies on a daily basis. They only keep two or three days' worth of vegetables in their refrigerators, and only have a few packs of instant noodles and a few bottles of water in their cupboards.

They rushed into staying indoors and didn't prepare much inventory at all.

Their desperate craving for food forced them to sneak out and rummage through the empty streets for anything edible.

The noodle shops had been completely looted, with tables and chairs overturned, and the roller shutters of some shops either pried open or were tightly locked.

At this time, the Qing government and military forces were doing everything they could to deal with the chaotic internal situation.

Various emergency plans were issued overnight, and orders for isolation zones and the allocation of supplies were relayed down one after another, but there were many things that were willing but unable to be done.

Lockdowns require manpower, maintaining order requires manpower, transporting supplies requires manpower, and even cremating corpses requires manpower.

Disease never shows mercy just because you are an official or a soldier; it attacks everyone it exposes to equally.

In the command center, while a meeting was being held, people were collapsing. The sentries on duty were saluting one second and then falling to the ground the next.

When those who maintain order are constantly being reduced in number, and when the organization's strength is disintegrated from within by the virus, the entire society begins to slide into chaos at a visible speed.

The information on the internet has become a complete mess, with rumors flying everywhere. Some say it's a biological attack, some say it's a laboratory leak, and others say it's divine retribution.

During those dark and hopeless days, the population of Qing City decreased at an alarming rate.

Just when everyone thought that Qing City was about to be completely destroyed, the large-scale intervention of the military finally put the brakes on this disaster.

The soldiers, dressed in thick protective suits, goggles, and N95 masks, searched house to house, forcibly separating infected patients from healthy people who were not yet infected.

This process was filled with intense conflict; many people were unwilling to leave their homes, and some even picked up kitchen knives and brandished them at the soldiers.

But soldiers are soldiers after all. They carried out orders with calm, even ruthless efficiency, lifting patients one by one onto ambulances.

All confirmed and suspected patients were placed in a tent isolation area set up overnight outside the city.

It was a vast temporary camp, with military tents, civilian disaster relief tents, and inflatable tents densely packed together in what was originally farmland and wasteland.

Barbed wire fences were erected all around, searchlights were set up, and fully armed soldiers were on duty 24 hours a day at each entrance and exit.