Mysterious creature sightings

After Yu Jing's unusual riot, the special transportation backup finally arrived.

The searchlight of the helicopter illuminated a mountain forest, and the group of people shrouded in light amidst the roar really looked like zombies. They were transported together with special protective equipment and headed to the underground base research institute.

Lin Zheng clung to the handle of the loader and shouted loudly amidst the loud noise: "Before transporting them in, they must check their belongings, and at the same time turn on the signal jammer and signal encryption lock in each band!"

Very cautious. Ling Jiangyue stood in the middle of the crowd, her long hair fluttering in the wind, expressionlessly looking at the helicopter's blades as they turned out of sight.

Why did you save Lin Zheng just now? She should have waited for Lin Zheng to be infected and get a chance to enter the underground base.

However, she also thought that the existence of illegal organizations made Lin Zheng very vigilant. Even if she was not injured, he would probably take her into the base to protect her in real time.

Yes, it’s okay not to get hurt.

The helicopter carrying them also arrived. Lin Zheng asked Jiang Yuxing to stay behind to prevent emergencies. He turned back to look for Ling Jiangyue, but saw no one.

He frowned and searched the crowd, and soon found Ling Jiangyue standing still in the middle of the crowd, her slender figure like a frozen projection in the scene of people coming and going, as if she would no longer exist the next time she blinked. .

His heart seemed to be stabbed by a thin thorn, and he subconsciously called her: "Jiang Yue!"

Ling Jiangyue tilted his head.

The out-of-focus picture suddenly becomes real when it has focus.

Lin Zheng walked through the crowd and hugged her: "Let's go. Are you cold?"

"It's not cold." Ling Jiangyue obeyed and was protected in his arms, walking towards the helicopter.

In the cold wind, their silhouettes were gradually eroded away in the halo and merged together.

...

The helicopter arrived at the headquarters of the Special Investigation Division. They entered the elevator from the helipad and went deep into the underground base.

This was the first time that Ling Jiangyue saw the entire underground base. The elevator, which was transparent on all sides, descended for half a minute and reached the sky above the base.

The thirty-meter drop distance makes people in the elevator feel as if they are standing at the top of the Ferris wheel overlooking the city. As they descend, the entire base changes from a bird's-eye view to a 3D navigation point.

There are hundreds of specimens of biological species stored in the storage box illuminated by light beams. Walking out of the elevator is like walking in a mysterious museum that is not on display to the public.

She was dazzled by what she saw, and her brain quickly identified information on various creatures.

"All the eleven people sent have passed the machine examination. In Laboratory No. 3, blood tests are in progress." A researcher who came towards him quickly reported the situation. After speaking, his eyes drifted to the people who had met him once. .

Ling Jiangyue was seen hiding behind Lin Zheng. Lin Zheng stopped and formally introduced: "This is Ling Jiangyue, a special consultant of the Special Coordination Office. He will be in and out of the base laboratory in the future."

The researchers who were walking around paused for a few seconds and said hello.

Ling Jiangyue nodded quickly as if she was flattered, like a newbie in a big company, nodding until she was dizzy, and had to keep up with Captain Lin's footsteps and continue to trot forward.

Before entering the laboratory, it was necessary to disinfect and wear protective equipment. Ling Jiangyue opened her hand and asked Lin Zheng to help her put it on, and asked in a low voice:
  "You brought me here, aren't you afraid that I will leak the secret? What if those people capture me and use some advanced instrument to read my brain, then all your secrets will be leaked." Lin Zheng hugged her. The long hairpin said: "There are no brain-reading machines yet. Also, you only have part of the authority, and there is no way that all secrets will be leaked by you."

It turned out to be the case, so she said that it might not be so easy to win in one fell swoop.

But it doesn't matter, as long as you enter here, getting more permissions is just a piece of cake.

After getting dressed, they walked into Laboratory 3.

As soon as he stepped in, Ling Jiangyue frowned at the dry and hot environment inside.

Noting her reaction, Lin Zheng explained: "Fungi like moist and warm environments and cannot tolerate high temperatures. The simulated environment in this laboratory can temporarily slow down the behavior of the fungi and lose some of its activity."

She nodded.

Fungi don't like hot, dry conditions, and she certainly knows that because she's also feeling a little uncomfortable right now.

The eleven people lying on the special experimental bed had been injected with sedatives and antifungal drugs. They were no longer twisted and struggling as before, but every face was stained with tears, the eyeballs were protruding and the masseter muscles were loose. The more they looked, the more they looked like scary people. Skin.

"You're back? The antifungal drugs are barely effective." Lin Jia, who followed the infected person back early, said in a comfortable tone, and then made another twist.

"But the most difficult thing for fungi to deal with is the hundreds of millions of spore powder. I can't determine when spores will take over again. Their clothes have been treated with high temperature and high pressure, and even a little active spores can be detected."

Lin Zheng took the data board: "Ordinary fungi can be destroyed at temperatures above one hundred degrees, while spores need to be above one hundred and twenty degrees. Since this fungus can break through the disadvantages of Ophiocordyceps hemiformis that it cannot adapt to human body temperature, then they will be killed The temperature will only be higher. Has the blood test come out?"

Lin Jia: "Just came out. I found a problem. Their infection levels are obviously different."

She clicked on the picture under the microscope: "There are three approximate numbers of the amount of that thing in the blood. Among them, Zheng Linlin and Qi Zhiyu are the more serious ones, Su Yu is the mildest, and Yu Jing is in the middle."

"Is it because Zheng Linlin was injured? But Qi Zhiyu was not injured." Ling Jiangyue appeared at the experimental site for the first time as a researcher. He stood up straight despite the restlessness of his neighbors and spoke in a very serious manner.

Lin Jia raised her eyebrows: "Did you see it or smell it? Zheng Linlin was indeed injured, which is consistent with the blood stains near the body."

"If she was the only one in the most serious condition, it can be speculated that it would take a longer time for the mutated fungus to break through the skin's defense line. But Qi Juyu was also very serious. I can only guess that she was closest to the fungus at the time, or someone or something Controlled their different infection progress. You see-"

"Eleven people, the infection level generally rises in a gradient. They are more considerate than the research assistants, and they directly distinguish the research order for us."

Ling Jiangyue paused for a moment and ignored the question of seeing or hearing without changing his expression. He pretended to read the data analysis and asked directly: "You said Su Yu is the mildest? Who is most likely to wake up and regain muscle control?" It should be him, how could it be Yu Jing?"

Lin Jia: "I don't know. Different organisms have different abilities to control their hosts after parasitization. In fact, I now feel that if this thing is really mutated by artificial guidance, the mechanism of action may not be completely similar to Ophiocordyceps hemiformis, because they There are almost no traces of immune cells struggling to fight off fungal infections in their blood, which should be resisted by the immune system."

Lin Zheng was not surprised by her speculation: "Kyle's acting style is hard to distinguish between true and false. The previous series of performances made us all think that the infected person is like a parasitic flexorback ant, where the muscles are manipulated and the brain is still intact. Awake zombies, but if it were that easy, the research direction would not be difficult to find.”

"Because the ants have been parasitized for 4800 million years, they have already evolved ways to deal with Ophiocordyceps hemiformis over such a long period of time. It carries another type of bacteria on its body, and when it is being parasitized, it has While parasitizing, the bacteria can parasitize the fungus, and they can exchange their own death for the death of the fungal spores."

"As long as we can extract the bacteria from the ant flexorback, we can prevent the continued spread of spores - although we may not be able to save these eleven infected people."

Ling Jiangyue opened her eyes wide and said "Wow" in her heart, as if listening to a romantic love story, and almost held her chin and asked, "How did you and the Bentback Ant meet?"