bit stealing game

Chapter 8 Polar Virus

I returned to the UK with a lot of doubts and a box full of maternal love to continue my studies.

After I just returned from Grandpa Li's place, I checked Project 279, and as expected, there was no such item. I wasn't discouraged either, and went to harass Qi Tian as soon as I got back to school.

Qi Tian is a computer master who came out of the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China. In her eyes, encrypted information is probably no safer than bones in a doghouse. I came straight to Qi Tian to trouble her to help me find out about the mysterious Project 279. What does it look like now?

After making an appointment with A Tian, ​​Lao Zhang also joined in. He is studying clinical medicine and is in his fifth year. He is standing at a crossroads and considering his future direction. Lao Zhang is the youngest in the family, with two sisters and one brother. His second sister and I were undergraduate classmates, and later we became friends with him by chance. Lao Zhang is almost 1.9 meters tall, but he has a cute baby face.

Zhang Yang and Qi Tian also had a bad temper, so the three of us often ate and drank together when they were not busy, and occasionally did scientific research together.

After we met at a Thai restaurant we often go to and packed some food, Lao Zhang directly dragged us to his dormitory at Jesus College.

A Tian got himself a glass of ice water in a familiar manner and chewed the ice cubes. Lao Zhang came back with two steaming cups and handed one of them to A Tian.

The emblem of Jesus College is three white deer, but it doesn’t look particularly smart when printed on a mug. A Tian glanced at the mug with disgust and said with an unkind expression: “Zhang Yang, you are reinforcing the stereotype of a doctor. "What she was unhappy about was the chrysanthemums and fat seas floating in the water. I just took a look inside and there were wolfberries too.

After doing our best to be a landlord, we urged Lao Zhang to start his story.

Lao Zhang went to the United States to hold an epidemiology conference in September. Before coming today, he mysteriously told us in the group that he had something important to share with us during the meeting.

A Tian put it particularly bluntly: "I'm here to listen to breaking news, not to drink health tea."

Lao Zhang cleared his throat. "Who do you think these speakers are?"

I said, stop being so pretentious. How do we know who the big guys in your circle are? If you want to talk, tell us quickly.

"Benjamin Holmes."

After finishing speaking, Lao Zhang looked at us expectantly.

A Tian and I looked at each other: "If you're talking about Sherlock Holmes, you know."

"Is he the virologist who led the expedition team deep into the polar regions? He was also Médecins Sans Frontières and participated in Ebola research in Africa?" Lao Zhang did not give up and tried to arouse the medical knowledge of A Tian and me. We still Shaking his head, Lao Zhang sighed exaggeratedly: "Don't you all pay attention to the news? This is a matter of life and death for mankind."

Lao Zhang gave up and told us about this bacteriologist whose name is so scary in the medical field and the meeting he attended.

"Don't our discipline hold a conference every year around the world? Usually it is in April. This year's conference has actually been held in Germany. Last month's conference was not a public academic conference. You must have an invitation letter to go. There was no media during the whole process. There was no broadcasting, and we were not allowed to record or videotape. In fact, I was not qualified to go, but the postdoc in our group who wanted to accompany my supervisor changed jobs and went to an investment bank. Since I was also interested in this aspect, my supervisor took me there. At first, I didn’t understand why this phenomenon was so mysterious. Even my mentor kept it secret. It wasn’t until Dr. Holmes came in that I understood why. If you haven’t heard of his name, you know the polar virus, right? The one that made a lot of noise in the past few years."

I was impressed when I heard what Lao Zhang said.

There was talk of polar viruses two or three years ago, and there was even a "conspiracy theory" that was rampant at that time. It was said that ancient viruses were caused by the melting of glaciers caused by human activities. At that time, many people in the United States came out to demonstrate. I heard from the news

It's an ear virus thing.

This incident initially attracted a small amount of attention because some members of the Arctic scientific expedition team lost their lives, and the virus also spread to the areas where the Inuit people live. In order to prevent the epidemic from spreading, scientists from many countries went to conduct research. So I came to the United States.

The expert should be Dr. Holmes. It seems that a similar virus was later discovered in Antarctica, and clues related to the virus were found on Mount Everest, also known as the third pole of the world. The WHO also called on everyone to raise awareness at that time.

Pay attention to.

I don’t know if any foreign experts other than China have gone to Mount Everest, but it seems that the five permanent members of the United Nations have sent expedition teams to Antarctica. It seems that various countries have gained and sacrificed to varying degrees, but the virus is at least under control in Antarctica.

It was widely reported some time ago. The irony is that just a few days after the global panic, no one paid attention to the poor scientists who dedicated their lives to mankind, and some even attacked them. At that time, there was a message on Twitter

There are many unintelligent remarks made by the people, and those who helped people resist the disaster are being denounced and suppressed. However, there has been little news about the polar virus in recent days. Now Europe and the United States have started a new wave of demonstrations due to different things.

.

When A Tian heard Lao Zhang talking about the polar virus, he nodded to show that he knew.

Lao Zhang showed a satisfied look and continued: "Dr. Holmes is the leader of the American biological and bacterial expedition to Antarctica. After they returned from Antarctica, they rested for a while and then held this report meeting. As soon as he showed up, I

I heard a lot of breathing sounds. At that time, I thought that there were so many people who didn't know he would come. Later I learned that this report seemed to be banned by the US government, so only people in the industry were invited.

Please keep quiet. But the strange thing is that neither at the meeting nor after it was over, we were not asked not to spread the word, so I will tell you now."

No wonder the expedition team came back and held a press conference, and such a big event was not reported.

"At the beginning, Dr. Holmes shared with us the experience of their team's expedition in Antarctica, how they took samples, and how they isolated virus plants. These are very exciting. Although it is not suitable for an academic lecture, it was Benjamin.

Holmes, I was happy to hear him talk about feeding the penguins. None of us expressed any objection. Later he also talked about the cooperation with the Chinese and German teams, and I was quite proud. This is why I decided to engage in research later. Of course, this is what we

More on that later.

In short, when the last page of acknowledgments and the group photo appeared, we all felt that it was almost over. Although we did not hear any information about the virus, you can understand that it is unpublished research after all. However, just as we have begun

While applauding, he said what I wanted to tell everyone was about to begin."

The relaxation on Lao Zhang's face disappeared. He became rarely serious. Because of his stern face, the edges and corners of his baby face were clearly visible.

Although this matter has not been disclosed, since the news has not been spread all over the world, it means that it is either of great importance or it is pure nonsense. From Lao Zhang's reaction, I think it should not be the latter.

"After hearing what Dr. Holmes said, we all put our hands down after taking two pictures, waiting for his next words. Just now, the PPT stopped on the last group photo, and then the people in the group photo slowly began to fade, and finally most of the people were

It became black and white. There were many exclamations around, and I was also startled. The crowd began to talk, and as soon as Dr. Holmes spoke, everyone fell silent.

He said: 'This time we went to Antarctica to find the root cause of the illness of the expedition team and tourists. This time, a total of 149 medical teams and volunteers from seven countries went to Antarctica. We were the only ones who left Antarctica.

Sixty-one people.' As soon as he finished speaking, there was an uproar everywhere.

Dr. Holmes continued: 'We have found the root cause. However, there is no virus at all in Antarctica. We are all doctors here. We have no complaints at all for taking the lead for mankind, but this is not our task. Our teammates were infected by radiation.

Disease, but the source of all this has been taken away.' Professor Holmes was so excited that he trembled all over and almost couldn't stand. His student came up to help him. The girl also appeared in the group photo. We have

There were many questions, but Dr. Holmes’s body did not allow him to stay any longer. We learned that most of the people who came back were still in the hospital. In the end, he did not say who the remaining sixty people were. At the scene, I

I only saw him and his students in the Antarctic photo.

When the meeting ended, he insisted on saying goodbye to the guests, but he seemed to be in really bad health, so no one except his close friends bothered him. My tutor is an old acquaintance of Dr. Holmes for many years, so I went to

He said a few words. I followed my tutor, and Dr. Holmes shook hands with me very kindly. His hand was very hot, as if he had a high fever. We didn't stay long, and my tutor was silent when we left, and he didn't say anything else after that.

Talk to me about this."

After Lao Zhang finished speaking, he looked at me and A-Tian with his eyes. A-Tian asked him to turn on the computer without saying anything. She wanted to find out who those sixty people were.

I asked A Tian to wait.

"Remember that I also said that I wanted to tell you two something?"

The "radiation source" that Dr. Holmes mentioned is so similar to the ore with a magnetic field that Grandpa Li mentioned. And his body is very hot. Is this a transformation process? If this conjecture is true, then the distribution of this harmful ore is really

It's wider than imagined.

So I told them what I heard from Grandpa Li. Lao Zhang's eyes widened and he said, "Oh no, you don't know." I shrugged: "This is why I came here today to trouble A Tian.

Maybe we can find 279 people among these sixty survivors."

A Tian nodded, took out the hard drive from his bag and plugged it into Lao Zhang's computer. After a few operations, rows of garbled codes filled the screen. Lao Zhang and I squeezed behind her to watch. After a while, A Tian

Unplugged the power supply. Lao Zhang said distressedly that I haven't saved the game yet, and A Tian glared at her. She said with disgust: "Zhang Yang's computer is flashy, and the firewall is like a sieve. I'll go back and use my own as you two said."

Check on the computer." Lao Zhang and I both nodded obediently.

We sat back on Lao Zhang's floor.

A Tian said that he hadn't been able to find much information just now. All he knew was that most of the survivors were expedition team members from China and the United States. However, these two countries also sent the most people, and the losses were actually not small. Among the survivors,

There was also an Italian travel blogger who somehow got on board.

Theoretically, there would be a big fuss when the multinational scientific expedition team members were in distress in Antarctica, but the Western media collectively lost their voices, and there was no splash in the country. I don’t know if all countries kept it secret because they had their own considerations or because they were guilty of committing crimes. That "radiation source"

It is unknown whose hands it ended up in.

Now it seems that in addition to the people from Project 279, there are indeed teams from abroad conducting investigations. This radioactive stone is now actually related to the ancient virus.

I sighed, what does this mean?

"According to what Lao Wang said, there are many such radioactive ores, and they were discovered at different times. For example, this Antarctic one, we assume that it is also one of the radioactive ores and was discovered recently.

In this case, how do those people check this kind of stone? Did they chase it after something happened? If there is this stone in the Antarctic, is the virus in the Arctic also caused by radiation? Doesn't there also need to be a stone in the Arctic?

Do these people know how many such stones there are?" Lao Zhang asked a series of questions.

A Tian also looked at me: "Did your Grandpa Li tell you this?"

I was stopped by the two of them and could only say: "Li Yuan is investigating this matter now, and what Grandpa Li knows is limited."

"Then do you have Li Yuan's contact information?"

I shook my head.

A Tian said this was easy to do. She reopened Lao Zhang's computer, opened several web pages and entered codes and other things. In short, she checked for a while unconsciously. Lao Zhang and I chatted for a few words and then watched A Tian.

Tian turned around and stared at me and said, "How old is that Li Yuan?"

I thought for a while: "His birthday just celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, and he is twenty-fourth this year."

A Tian rolled her eyes hugely, and I quickly asked what was wrong. She dragged me to the computer, and Lao Zhang stretched his neck to look at it.

I stared at the screen. There was a man's information on it, but he was obviously a middle-aged man. There was nothing that matched Li Yuan except his gender.

A Tian let me go. "Either your little friend here was destroyed by radiation and became like this, or he was hidden deep enough that even I couldn't easily find him."

"This radiation really disrupts the balance of the human body." Lao Zhang agreed in a strange tone, and I gave him an elbow.

However, I was unexpected that A Tian could not find information about Li Yuan. Logically speaking, since he can still follow the team everywhere and is still participating in some Sino-US cooperation projects in the United States, he should not be a shady person. Unless it is Li Yuan

Grandpa lied to me, or Li Yuan used a false identity. I don't believe the former, but the latter directly confirmed Li Yuan's suspicion. As for A Tian checking the wrong person, this possibility does not exist at all.

"I'll check on Li Yuan when he gets back. Lao Wang, let me ask you again. Didn't Li Zheng say that the 'transformation process', no matter what it is, is accelerating?" I nodded.

"Did she say when it started?" A Tian asked again.

I covered my face: "I didn't have the nerve to ask under the circumstances."

A Tian snorted. In fact, I also regretted it. If I had known that this matter could involve such a wide range of things, how could I have been embarrassed at that time?

My head was almost bald from being rubbed by myself, but Lao Zhang still refused to let me go. "Then do you know now why they went to Egypt in 279? Is there a radioactive stone in Egypt? You were at your archaeological site back then.

What is it that comes out of the ground?"

This time I was really at a loss for questions. I faced their gazes and said with difficulty: "I'll go back and ask the archaeological team to see if they know anything."

"If you wanted to ask, you would have asked earlier. Why wait until now?" A Tian exposed me mercilessly.

At this time, Lao Zhang raised his hand. I glanced at him, but he insisted and asked: "So you still want to go to Egypt?"

Now A Tian was also staring at me. I said dejectedly: "Go ahead, I have promised to the archaeological team. And this matter may not have anything to do with Egypt."

"Just deceive yourself." A Tian rolled his eyes at me.

I whined and lay down on Lao Zhang's lazy bean. A Tian poked my back viciously, but I was too lazy to move.

After a while, I heard Lao Zhang say again: "Lao Wang, I'm just wondering, what's so good about Egypt? Are you drunk on honey? Do you have to go?"

A Tian poked at me again, telling me to stop pretending to be dead and to get real trouble quickly.

I lay face down in the cushion and said, "Actually, as soon as I got off the plane yesterday, I received a photo from my third uncle in the family chat. It was taken when I was pregnant."

If I hadn't seen this photo, I would have forgotten many things. It doesn't mean what I can remember when I was one year old, but there are actually many clues in the process from childhood to adulthood. Just like this one sent by my third uncle.

In the photo, I have a piece of jade ring with a missing hole in my mouth, holding a copper plate in my left hand, supporting me, and my aunt picked up my cousin. We were both crying.

Naturally, I don’t remember what happened in this photo. Fortunately, I have a grandma who really likes to tell stories. In grandma’s story, I still have to rely on me. He was sent by his employer more than 20 years ago.

I have been going to Sichuan for many years. That time he came home from the mine to celebrate the New Year. My birthday happened to be in the first month of the year, so he participated in my Zhouzhu ceremony.

The items used to catch Zhou were supported by various families. Regardless of whether I caught them or not, they are all mine anyway. Grandma put the jade she had kept at the bottom of the box for decades, and the third uncle contributed the jade he cut himself.

My father placed a copper coin on the small wooden sword, my mother placed a book, and my grandfather placed a pen and a beautiful stone, which meant that he would engage in the family business in the future. Even my two-year-old cousin

Brother Du shared his puppy toys.

When I was catching Zhou, I grabbed the jade and stuffed it into my mouth. I held it in my mouth to touch the copper coins, and then I lay on the ground and stretched to reach a stone in front of me. The problem was that I was only one year old and my body was very soft.

I was stupid, not very good at crawling, and I couldn't move forward towards the stone even after being anxious for a long time. He happened to be right next to me and helped me to reach it. As a result, I started crying as soon as I touched him. When I cried, my cousin also

As we started crying, the adults behind us picked us up and comforted us.

I guess my greedy look was so funny. My third uncle took a camera and wanted to take a picture of me taking care of me. Unexpectedly, he captured this chaotic scene. Originally, this was just a childhood fun, but now my third uncle HD

I remade it and sent it to me, I guess it has some ulterior meaning.

The piece of jade I'm holding in my mouth in the photo is now tied to my chest with a red string. The stone I couldn't reach when I was one year old was seen again last year.

When I went to my cousin's house that day, he had this stone in his bookcase. After all, he brought it back from Sichuan as a souvenir. The stone was so round and round that I couldn't stand it whether I was one year old or in my twenties.

I tried to touch it. When I touched the stone, I felt a little dizzy and almost lost my grip. My cousin asked me if I had Parkinson's disease.

In fact, after my arrest, I stayed in Sichuan for a few years. When I was a child, I would cry every time I saw him. Now it seems that the third uncle went to Sichuan probably because of me. The third uncle has a very keen intuition.

He must have found something in Sichuan, so he sent this photo to remind me.

I thought about the piece of jade my grandma gave me again. Although my family doesn’t have any close family ties, it has always been around Sichuan and the Li family in recent decades, which is really a bit disturbing.

But then I thought about it. I have been wearing this jade for more than 20 years. If there was radiation, I would have died of 'transformation'. After all, I am not a member of the Yin family with extraordinary talents. And if there is really something wrong with this jade, my third uncle will also

I won't hide it.

Speaking of which, that guy Li Yuan is so wicked. He knew I was going to Egypt but didn't take the initiative to contact me. I tried to contact him but couldn't find him.

I get a headache when I think about how many people and things were involved in this trip to Egypt.

A Tian took advantage of my random thoughts to check Egypt. Although he didn't find anything about the magnetic field, he found tentacles in Egypt from more than seventy years ago. The Eight-Nation Allied Forces, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria were among them.

Also added Poland.

However, due to the impact of World War II, most countries declined in Egypt, and the ones that remained relatively strong were the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

The United States is home to the Chicago House, a well-known Egyptology research institution, and many forces inside and outside the United States come in through here; the United Kingdom is divided into two parts, one of which is the Egypt Exploration Society, dominated by the British Museum and major universities, and behind it is

At that time, there were a number of university research institutes and various families. However, their interests were the same as those of the United States, which focused more on looting cultural relics and conducting research. Another British force was the Black family. They came to Egypt on their own initiative, like the traditional wealthy people.

Action. The difference between this family is that they did not hire an archaeological team or an expedition team, but did it themselves. It was the second young master of the Black family who went to Egypt more than 60 years ago. But what did this family do in Egypt and why?

However, the records are unclear. Moreover, the Black family has not made much splash in recent years, and their research and cultural relics have not produced much fame. France, as a veteran Egyptian plunderer, has often been cheated by the British due to its military achievements, so in this century it has

Many scholars were also sent to excavate and study in Egypt.

Before receiving the excavation application from the archaeological team, the British Museum handed me an expired olive branch. Now that I think about it, it might not be a good thing.

After listening to what A Tian said, I remembered that in fact, in addition to these three countries, there was another person who came to Egypt with the University of London at that time. This person was Mr. Xia Nai, one of the founders of modern Chinese archeology. This old gentleman was in Egypt.

It is unknown whether this experience overlaps with that of the previous countries, but more than seventy years later, a Chinese archaeological team set up camp in Egypt. The Soviet Union also helped build the Aswan Dam in the 1950s. This is what the five permanent members of the United Nations

They are all closely related to Egypt.

I couldn't help but smile helplessly.

A Tian and Lao Zhang looked at each other.

"Let us ask you again, is this Egypt your destination?"

I nodded.

No matter what is there, I have no reason not to go and see it. If I don't take the opportunity to explore the temple that I slapped away, I will definitely have trouble sleeping and eating.

Lao Zhang shrugged at A Tian and said proudly, "I'll just say it."

A Tian looked at me: "Zhang Yang and I just discussed it. Anyway, the laboratory is not open during the Christmas holiday, and we have never been to Egypt. This time I will give you a chance to be a tour guide and take us to have fun." "

I opened my mouth stupidly. "Ah?"

Lao Zhang added with a playful smile: "The Great Sage said, no tips will be given until the route is planned." Then he received another blow from A Tian.

Knowing that I couldn't refuse their kindness, I secretly thought that I would find an opportunity to repay them later, but I said, "Then you should prepare the tip. You two will never find a better company in Egypt than me." .”

In the end, Qi Tian did find one, but that was a story for another day.

Just like that, my two friends couldn't help but want to take a trip into this muddy water for my curiosity.

Today, the protagonist Li Yuan only appears in the background...

(End of chapter)