Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 39 Hunting Organization
The uncle shook his head without thinking: "Sorry, you know, Brown Bear City is very big, and I'm not familiar with many places."

Ou Yang didn't hold out much hope to begin with, so he immediately asked, "Then where can I find a map? A taxi driver would be fine too!"

The former is a dead map, and the latter is a living map. He doesn't mind either one.

The uncle still shook his head: "Sorry... didn't you try the navigation in the car?"

Ou Yang was stunned and suddenly realized what he had overlooked.

Yes, isn’t there a navigation system in the car?
Although wireless communications are paralyzed, navigation devices cannot connect to the Internet, and even positioning is probably interfered with, navigation has an offline mode and cannot provide directions. But it should be okay to look at the map, right?
How could he forget this one?

Ou Yang was cheered up as the originally difficult matter suddenly became clear. He thanked him earnestly and sincerely, "Thank you very much for your help, really."

"Come on, don't make it so embarrassing." The uncle waved his hand with a smile that showed he was proud of helping others.

Ou Yang hesitated for a moment, then carefully considered his tone and said, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No thanks." The uncle smiled. "I can see that you've been through a lot. I just want you to know that disasters aren't just about indifference and hurt, they also bring warmth and kindness. I hope I can leave you with some beautiful memories of your journey with Milijian."

"Wow!" Ou Yang scratched his head, genuinely surprised. He had to use an exaggerated expression to hide his true thoughts. "Why are you suddenly getting so sentimental? I'm not used to it."

From the outbreak of the epidemic to now, all he has seen is indifference or cruelty. This is the first time that a stranger has given him warmth and care with such a gentle attitude, and he doesn't know how to describe his mood at the moment.

The uncle smiled and said, "Please believe that this world still has its beautiful side."

The world is in tatters, but there are always people who patch it up.

Ou Yang took the initiative to open his arms: "Can I hug you?"

"Of course!" The uncle agreed happily and gave Ou Yang a big hug.

Ou Yang, who was hugging the uncle tightly, suddenly smelled a faint fresh scent. His movements froze for a moment, and after smelling it carefully, his thoughts seemed to be much clearer.

"What's wrong?" The uncle noticed something was wrong, let go of Ou Yang and asked.

Ou Yang was silent for a moment before he said, "I don't know how to put it... Have you been in contact with anyone infected recently? Or anyone who doesn't look normal?"

The uncle put away his smile: "What do you want to say?"

Ou Yang hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to tell the truth: "Do you know that you are infected with the virus?"

The uncle was stunned: "What kind of virus?"

Ou Yang pursed his lips and said nothing.

The uncle must know what he is talking about, but he just doesn't want to accept this fact.

The uncle was stunned for a while and wanted to smile, but his cheeks tightened a few times and he couldn't smile.

He sat down on the ground with a sad look in his eyes: "Actually, I already had a premonition, but I didn't expect this day to come so soon."

Ou Yang wanted to say something to comfort her, but he didn't know how to start.

Should he tell him that he would gradually sink into a state of hallucination and be unable to extricate himself from it? Should he tell him that there was no cure for the fungal infection? Or should he tell him that he would gradually sink into a state of hallucination, eventually becoming a severely infected person with only his instincts left?
At that moment, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness. He longed to help this optimistic man, but what could he do? Should he go back to the airport and tell the military to hurry up and investigate? If things were that simple, how could the epidemic have reached this point? Should he go back to the fortress and search for antibacterial serum? While that would help, it would only delay the spread for a few days and would have no chance of eradicating the already established fungus.

To be honest, he really couldn't understand. With today's medical technology, even cancer cells can be accurately eliminated by targeted drugs. Has the US military never thought of analyzing the DNA of fungi and then creating a targeted drug that can eliminate fungi?
No, fungi have DNA, right? He had long since given back the biology he'd learned to his teacher, and he couldn't quite remember whether this thing was a eukaryote or a prokaryote.

Ou Yang suddenly began to waver in his decision and felt extremely conflicted.

When some people are trapped in an illusion, their evil thoughts are infinitely magnified, while others are influenced by the illusion and their good thoughts prevail. It is indeed the safest approach to hand over the information to the consulate. If the results are researched one day earlier, countless kind people will be saved!

"Don't worry, I'm fine." The uncle cheered up, still optimistic. "I must have caught it a few days ago... That night, there were gunshots on the street, and I heard someone crying for help, so I put him in the store. Later I found out that it was a hunting organization that was hunting down the infected."

"Hunting?" Ou Yang was a little unsure of the meaning of the word. "What does it mean?"

"It means exactly what it says." The uncle said, "Have you ever seen a zombie?"

Ou Yang nodded and corrected himself in his mind: That is not a zombie, but a severely infected person, a patient.

The uncle looked towards the street with a complicated expression: "Zombies are always out at night and hiding during the day. Some people come out specifically to fight zombies at night. I didn't expect that person to be infected."

Ou Yang's thoughts were a little confused. Whether at the airport or in the fortress, he had never heard of the infected people having such a habit. But when he looked at the scorching sun outside, he felt a little confused.

Being infected with fungi does not mean complete death. Human instincts are still there, so it is not surprising that people avoid the scorching sun.

Another possibility is that the fungus does not like too high temperatures, so it drives the host to avoid sunlight, but this inference is really ridiculous.

"From what you said, zombies and infected people are not the same thing?" Ou Yang asked.

"Of course I know zombies are actually infected people. The US military has been promoting the effects of fungal infection," the uncle said. "But they not only spread the virus, but they are also extremely aggressive. Everyone thinks that severely infected people are zombies, so some people specifically hunt them."

Ou Yang was a little dazed.

It has only been half a month since the US military blocked the airport, but a special hunting organization has already emerged among the people. This is really amazing.

He immediately connected the clues of the US military, propaganda and hunting, and felt that the emergence of the hunting organization was not that simple.

Perhaps it is because severely infected people are strictly speaking only seriously ill, and the US military has legal or other concerns and cannot take the initiative to eliminate them, but is unwilling to allow them to spread the virus everywhere, so they turn a blind eye to the hunting behavior of the people and even secretly support the hunting organizations.

Even if something were to happen in the future, it would only be a spontaneous act by the public, and could be defined as an act carried out by ordinary people for their own safety... Hmm, self-defense doesn't seem appropriate. Is there such a provision in US law?
The uncle added, "It's best not to go out after dark. It would be bad if the hunting organization mistook you for an infected person."

Ou Yang's throat was blocked, but suddenly an idea came to his mind: Are those members of the hunting organization really not infected, or are they immersed in a mild fantasy after being infected?

Also, besides hunting organizations, are there any other similar civil organizations?

This world is just a huge makeshift team!

Ou Yang thought.

　Please read it!

　　I'm out of ideas and have a headache!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)