Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 640 - 633: Modes of Virus Transmission

Chapter 640: Chapter 633: Modes of Virus Transmission

Five days had passed since the Advance Team returned to the camp. Due to Luo’er’s injuries, the entire team was not dispatched again but remained in the camp. Actually, Li Si had no intention of investing too many personnel in this mission anyway. They just needed to develop the preventive medicine and implement related epidemic prevention work.

The rest, including reducing the epidemic area and eradicating the monsters, were tasks for the Church Court and the armies of the relevant countries to complete. This was a massive project, and even if Li Si wanted to help, he couldn’t contribute much.

Therefore, he let Luo’er’s team stay behind, ready to face any emergencies. As for the needs of the research department, they were mainly handled by the Murong Squad, which also served to train their team.

If nothing unexpected happened, the highly confidential tasks of the future headquarters would mainly be completed by the Murong Squad, while Luo’er’s team would take a backseat, doing less demanding tasks.

Of course, Li Si dared not tell Luo’er about this. He knew that with Luo’er’s temper, if he discovered the truth, he would surely create trouble.

However, assigning fewer tasks to Luo’er’s team had become the general trend. As headquarters continued to penetrate the Otherworld, the importance of the three members of Luo’er’s team became increasingly prominent.

There was no need to mention Luo’er as he was of the royal family of Ilanadale. As long as no accident befell Nina, he would sooner or later be recognized by the Ilanadale royal family. Cheng Ziang was the son of Princess Odelanqi and had a claim to Odelanqi. The last one was Tangmo. Although he had never mentioned it to her, she had a deep connection with Ronisca.

As far as headquarters was concerned, they were vital political assets. Losing any of them would be a huge loss. Despite the good relationships between headquarters and these foreign countries, they had never given up the idea of fostering their people to legally control these countries.

With the assistance of Tangmo, An Liang thoroughly tested the samples collected from Feng. The result was so unbelievable that he summoned Li Si and Cheng Ziang to share his findings.

"Through observation and research by the research department, the source of the Corpse Demons’ infection has been confirmed to be the tumors on their heads. These tumors are filled with virus spores. As soon as they burst, they will spread through the air, enter the victim’s body, and immediately begin to reproduce actively. In as little as one day, the victim will be completely dominated by the virus and have their brain controlled," An Liang reported.

"What about the source of the virus in Exotic Insects and Exotic Beasts?" Li Si asked.

"These monster’s bodily fluids contain this virus. However, it should be noted that the virus does not infect the monsters; it merely uses them as carriers. Once these monsters’ fluids contaminate a victim, the virus will immediately invade the victim, infect and take over their body."

After a pause, An Liang continued, "However, it should be stated that these monsters’ fluids do not infect directly through the skin. In other words, unless there are wounds on the skin, or contact is made with vulnerable organs, such as the eyes, a victim will not necessarily be infected, even if they are contaminated by these monsters’ fluids."

"So you’re saying that while the virus is in these monsters’ fluids, it is relatively safe?" Li Si asked, frowning.

"Yes, exactly!" An Liang nodded, then continued, "Moreover, the fluids of the Exotic Insects and Exotic Beasts are relatively viscous, so they’re not easily splashed about, making it less likely for the infection to occur."

"So you’re saying that as long as one covers their mouth and nose, and ensures there are no wounds on the body, even if covered in these monsters’ fluids, they may not necessarily be infected." Cheng Ziang asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes, indeed. These monsters are not as likely to cause infection, even serving as sources of the virus. Instead, the seemingly harmless Corpse Demons are serious sources of infection," An Liang agreed, nodding.

"Why is there such a significant disparity between these two virus transmission modes?" Cheng Ziang questioned.

"I think it should be a mutation of the virus," An Liang said seriously.

"Mutation?" Cheng Ziang and Li Si looked at each other in puzzlement.

"Yes, strictly speaking, the viruses on these monsters and the Corpse Demons are not of the same kind. In fact, the virus on the Corpse Demons is an advanced mutated version of the virus found on the monsters," said An Liang.

"Hmm, could you be more specific?" Cheng Ziang coughed and asked.

"As I just mentioned, the viruses in these monsters are not easily infectious to their victims. Apparently, the viruses are also aware of this, so once they find a victim, they immediately start to mutate. The most significant change is transferring from body fluid transmission to airborne transmission. In this way, the chance of virus infection and spread is much higher than through body fluid transmission," An Liang explained.

"I see!" Li Si nodded with a frown.

"After infecting a victim, the virus immediately kills the host, then controls the host’s central nervous activity. As a result, these victims become walking corpses or ’corpse demons’, and the viruses control them to continue searching for the next victim, thus constantly spreading." An Liang continued.

"It seems this is a battle between intelligent beings." Cheng Ziang looked at Li Si and remarked.

"However, these viruses have their limitations. After all, they only went through one round of mutation from the monsters to human bodies, so they can’t be perfect yet. But with their continuous spread, these viruses will likely further evolve and mutate into new versions, which could be even trickier," An Liang said with a serious face and a worried tone.

"What are their limitations?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t resist asking.

"These viruses are not very viable. Their spores for transmission, once they leave the cancerous flesh, can hardly survive for twenty-four hours in the natural environment unless they can immediately infect a host," An Liang replied.

"So, once the spores in the cancerous flesh of the corpse demons spread into the air, if they don’t find a host, they will completely lose their vitality and die after spreading in the natural environment for twenty-four hours?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help asking.

"Exactly. We have observed and verified this. These viruses, even in spore form, find it very hard to survive for twenty-four hours in their natural state," An Liang nodded and confirmed.

"That’s one of the few pieces of good news." Cheng Ziang looked at Li Si with a joyful expression.

"Does traditional disinfection work on them?" Li Si didn’t join in the celebration, but continued to frown and raise a new question.

"Yes, as far as we can tell, this virus is still pretty vulnerable, so traditional disinfection still poses a threat to it," An Liang paused, before continuing with a worried tone, "But what we should also realize is, once this virus mutates again, none of us can guarantee what it might become. Therefore, we must control the spread of this virus and promptly resolve the problem in the epidemic zone."

"As long as we can find the mechanism of the virus, prevention and control will be much easier. The Church Court’s current scorched-earth policy has been successful and is constantly reducing the scale of the epidemic zone. If we can find a preventive and remedial method to tackle the aftermath, then we can alleviate this crisis," Li Si said, trying to comfort him.

"Regardless, we must take every possible precaution to reduce the chance of infection. At the moment we haven’t researched a drug to combat this virus, and once infected, the disease progresses extremely fast and is almost irreversible. Therefore, all of us need to be cautious," An Liang nodded and cautioned.

"You guys hurry up with the research and organize the data and samples. I’ll arrange for them to be sent to Earth. We have senior research teams from various countries and the aid of supercomputers there. The speed at which they can develop an antiviral drug should be quick," Li Si suggested.

"Hmm, we’re already on it," An Liang paused before changing the subject, "Next, let’s discuss the situation of the girl your advance team brought back."

"Feng? She didn’t cause you any trouble, did she?" Hearing this, Cheng Ziang hurriedly asked.

"Not at all, you don’t need to worry." An Liang waved it off.

"Tell us about her!" Li Si said with interest.