A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 327 Emergencies
"Xiao Chen, come, come, try my wife's cooking. I ate her cooking back then and secretly decided that I could never be with anyone else in this life."

At the entrance of the courtyard house in Beijing, Old Qian greeted Chen Hui with a warm smile and invited him inside. Inside the main room of the courtyard house, fragrant dishes were already laid out, which indeed made Chen Hui's mouth water.

Chen Hui was also a little embarrassed. He didn't mean to come and freeload a meal; it was just a coincidence that he arrived at mealtime.

He never expected that the place where Mr. Qian invited him to discuss important matters would be Mr. Qian's home.

Old Qian noticed Chen Hui's hesitation and said with a smile, "I deliberately called you over at this time, and this meal was specially prepared for you, so you don't need to refuse."

"Come and eat, while it's hot." Old Qian's wife also came to the courtyard and greeted him with a smile. "As expected, heroes emerge from among the young. I've always heard that Professor Chen is a young man, but I didn't expect him to be so young. He looks about the same age as my granddaughter, Xiaoya."

"Hello, madam."

Chen Hui greeted him politely.

Old Qian pointed to the sink next to the courtyard and said, "Come on, let's wash our hands and then eat. As for the matter, there's no rush. We can talk about it slowly after we finish eating."

Since Mr. Qian had said so, Chen Hui naturally had no reason to refuse.

Mr. Qian was from Suzhou, and so was his wife. Naturally, the dishes on the table were authentic Suzhou cuisine: braised crab meat lion's head, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and braised dried bean curd strips.

The lion's head meatballs are made with the original broth, rich but not greasy, and the braised dried bean curd strips are expertly prepared.

This skill is enough to be a head chef in a five-star hotel; no wonder Mr. Qian praised it so highly.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Old Qian took Chen Hui for a stroll in the courtyard.

"The founding of China is almost a century old."

"Countless martyrs sacrificed their lives to bring us the wonderful life we ​​enjoy today."

As Qian walked ahead, he spoke slowly, his eyes filled with reminiscence, “There are many countries and nations in the world that have experienced similar hardships to us, but no one else has been able to reach where we are today.”

"So I've always felt that God has blessed China. If it weren't for that person who turned the tide back then, history might have been rewritten. And today, if it weren't for your appearance, the future would be rewritten as well."

After finishing speaking, Mr. Qian turned to Chen Hui and said, "On behalf of everyone, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

After he finished speaking, he actually bowed slightly to Chen Hui.

Chen Hui waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "This is what I should do."

Mr. Qian waved his hand and said with a smile, "Don't worry, the country will not forget your contributions, and we will always be your strongest support. Do whatever you want to do, and we'll take care of the rest!"

These words, spoken with great confidence, were a promise to Chen Hui and a testament to China's own self-assurance. Indeed, China today possesses boundless capacity to provide a safety net.

"And about the planetary particle collider you mentioned before, go back and organize it, submit the plan, and we'll get to construction as soon as possible!"

After several years of delay, Mr. Qian finally had the confidence to say this, and when he uttered these words, he felt quite pleased.

"it is good!"

Chen Hui was also very excited. He didn't expect that Qian Lao had called him over today just to give him a promise in person, as well as the matter of the planetary particle collider.

Now that he has completed his cancer research, it's time to get back on track and move on to the next stage of his research.

"Alright, I don't have anything else to do. How about you accompany this old man for a walk?"

Mr. Qian was in a great mood. "I'll take you to see the changes in China over the past year or so."

As he spoke, he prepared to go out again, intending to take Chen Hui along the same route as before, to the Wanchun Pavilion in Jingshan Park to overlook the city that had undergone tremendous changes. He wanted to take Chen Hui to see the eternally bright star, the Moon Palace...

"it is good."

Chen Hui readily agreed.

The two had just stepped out of the courtyard when a middle-aged man hurried over and came to Qian Lao's side. He looked at Chen Hui beside Qian Lao, hesitated, and clearly had something important to report.

Chen Hui tactfully said to Mr. Qian, "Mr. Qian, please go ahead with your work. We'll reschedule for another day."

Old Qian waved his hand, stopping Chen Hui from leaving, "Wait for me a moment. No matter what happens today, we're determined to see these stars!"

Then he looked at his secretary, Xiao Jiang, and said, "Go ahead and speak. Professor Chen is not an outsider. There's nothing you can't tell him."

After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Jiang said, "There's been a new development in Suzhou. The special medicine we developed hasn't worked; in fact, it's worsened the condition."

"Continue the lockdown and quarantine, and send more experts over to find a treatment as soon as possible."

Mr. Qian's expression turned serious, and he immediately made a decision: "Go to the conference room first and inform Mr. Zhao and the others that we need to hold a short, impromptu meeting."

After saying that, he looked at Chen Hui again and said, "I'm sorry, but this is a matter of life and death, so I'm afraid we can't go today."

"Old Qian, go ahead and get busy. Don't worry, just let Brother Feng take me there."

Chen Hui looked at Dai Yafeng at the alley entrance in the distance. Dai Yafeng was also a native of Beijing and was quite familiar with the area.

Old Qian turned and took two steps, then suddenly turned back. "Xiao Chen, you're also an expert in biology. Perhaps you can help with this. Come with me to the meeting later."

"There's no need for a meeting. Could you please give me a copy of the relevant data, Mr. Qian, so I can see if I can find a solution?"

"Of course, it would be even more helpful if we could go to the front lines."

Chen Hui had originally planned to give it a try. Now that his biological level had reached level 6, he was quite confident. Human lives were at stake, and he wanted to help in any way he could.

"no!"

Mr. Qian said firmly, "Remote support is fine, but you absolutely cannot go to the front line."

What a joke! What if something happens to Chen Hui because of this?
He even regrets mentioning it now.

"No problem, let me take a look at the data collected from the front line first."

Seeing Qian Lao's solemn expression, Chen Hui didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Okay, let's go back first."

The two quickly returned to the courtyard house, while Chen Hui was led to a small conference room by another secretary.

Chen Hui was not kept waiting long; within just over ten minutes, a computer was placed in front of him, containing the data related to the incident.

Biomedical scientists, through analysis of virus samples, have concluded that this is a novel coronavirus with a clear structure and a well-defined transmission route, and they are already attempting to kill the virus.

But through repeated attempts, they discovered that no matter how they tried to kill the viruses, they always managed to return like leeches, as if they weren't outsiders at all, but rather something that had always been inside the patient's body. So as long as the patient was alive, there would be a continuous stream of viruses being generated, which is why the incident remained out of control.

Countless pieces of data entered Chen Hui's mind from the computer. His eyes were filled with various Chinese characters and symbols. With his memory, he would never forget these things after just one glance.

But he still couldn't figure it out.

Generally, when a new virus is discovered, biologists collect samples, culture pure strains, and finally develop vaccines such as inactivated vaccines and mRNA vaccines to make the human body develop resistance to the virus.

This time, they did do it, and it worked. However, these viruses were like cockroaches that couldn't be killed. They were impossible to eradicate and kept fighting a tug-of-war in the patients' bodies. Instead, the intervention of the vaccine quickly depleted the patients' vitality and made their condition worse.

With such poor results in clinical trials, they naturally couldn't promote it, and everyone was anxious as the number of infected people continued to rise.

At one o'clock in the morning, Mr. Qian had just finished a meeting with several other elderly people and walked out of the conference room. He saw that the small conference room next door was brightly lit, so he stopped and walked to the door of the small conference room. He saw Chen Hui, who was seriously analyzing data on the computer.

He opened his mouth as if to tell Chen Hui to rest first, but after hesitating for a moment, he quietly left.

He suddenly understood why Chen Hui, at such a young age, had achieved so much; his hard work and focus were indispensable.

Walking into the courtyard, he beckoned to his secretary, Xiao Jiang, "Have the kitchen prepare a late-night snack. If Professor Chen gets hungry, bring it up to him anytime."

"clear."

Xiao Jiang nodded, also feeling respect for Chen Hui. From the moment he gave the data to Chen Hui, Chen Hui sat in front of the computer for more than five hours, occasionally doing calculations on the draft paper. It was truly rare for Chen Hui, with his current status, to be so dedicated to his patients.

"Truly a pillar of the nation!"

Mr. Qian sighed again, then went into his bedroom. He was already dizzy and lightheaded after the meeting, and if he didn't go to sleep soon, he might collapse tomorrow.

Time waits for no one, and he is no longer young.

Inside the conference room, Chen Hui was unaware of what was happening outside. He had reviewed all the data provided by Qian Lao, but he couldn't come up with any good ideas for the time being. It wasn't a profound question; the frontline medical staff and scientists had already done enough.

That's precisely why he was even more puzzled.

It's like a math problem: you understand the problem, you follow the steps correctly, but the final result is wrong, which is very problematic.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
With his eyes closed, a vast amount of data flashed through Chen Hui's mind like a slideshow. At this moment, he was like a high-speed computer, analyzing this data.

Time passed slowly, and before we knew it, it was four in the morning.

Outside the conference room, Xiao Jiang's eyelids were heavy, and he had already started to doze off.

Suddenly, Chen Hui in the conference room opened his eyes, a bright light flashing in them.

Chen Hui turned on his computer and pulled up an electronic map showing the distribution of cases across the country. Although he clearly remembered the data, he still decided to double-check it.

The red infection points are mainly concentrated in Suzhou, but they are not evenly distributed throughout the city. They are like clusters of eerie flames, burning fiercely in a few specific communities and blocks, while other adjacent areas only have sporadic, traceable cross-infection cases.

He subconsciously circled those high-density burst points with his finger.

"How can the boundaries of an airborne virus be so clear? It's like... like there's an invisible net that's only cast in these places."

He overlaid case data with urban population density maps and traffic flow maps.

The results showed that the outbreak point was not the most densely populated or most mobile area, ruling out conventional transmission factors, which made the illogical feeling even stronger.

Coo coo... coo...

Outside the courtyard, a rooster crowed loudly, the sky began to lighten, but Chen Hui still had no clue whatsoever.

With a sigh, he decided to rest for a few hours before continuing his research. Rubbing his throbbing head, Chen Hui got up and walked out of the conference room.

Suddenly, as he stood up, he looked up and saw a world map on the wall of the conference room. It was a yellowed paper map, the kind that the elderly liked to stick on their walls.

A sudden thought struck him like a bolt of lightning.

He practically ran back to the computer, his hands trembling slightly with excitement.

He accessed a highly privileged human gene geographic distribution database, a research database that compiles gene sample information from tens of millions of people, and he attempted to overlay the epidemic map with the frequency distribution map of the MGC2 gene cluster.

The vague, ghostly outline on the epidemiological map has now become incredibly clear and precise.

The boundary of the high-incidence area perfectly coincides with the high-frequency distribution area of ​​the MGC2 gene cluster, especially its subtype MGC2A, in the local population, with an overlap of up to 97.3%!

The image on the screen was like a lightning bolt, cleaving through all the fog.

In the southeastern old city of Suzhou, in a place known as the settlement of descendants of the river valley people, the red outbreak point of the epidemic, like blood, almost completely stained the blue area representing the high distribution of the MGC2A gene.

In the newly developed area just across the street, the blue faded, and the pandemic came to an abrupt end.

This is no longer an epidemiology; it's practically a meticulously drawn hunting map!

This virus is strange!
Although Chen Hui was 90% certain, he still needed solid evidence in molecular biology.

He immediately accessed the viral gene sequencing data of the first batch of critically ill patients. The ordinary analysis report only marked the different sites from known coronaviruses and concluded that natural evolution was possible.

But Chen Hui didn't believe it.

He launched his self-written deep sequence analysis algorithm to scan every corner of the viral genome, especially those non-coding regions that are usually considered to be non-functional.

After running for several hours, the algorithm finally identified an exceptionally complex secondary structure in what appeared to be a redundant sequence.

This structure resembles an ingenious lock.

Chen Hui's knowledge of bioinformatics told him that this was very likely a specific promoter.

Its structural features indicate that it needs to bind tightly to a specific host cell protein in order to efficiently initiate the expression of downstream genes, namely viral virulence genes.

It turns out that their enemy is not a virus at all, but this seemingly harmless gene expression material. When it binds to a special protein expressed by the human MGC2A gene, it quickly generates a pathogenic virus.

This is why the virus keeps being killed, yet it keeps regenerating!
If we cannot solve this seemingly harmless gene expression substance, we will never be able to solve the virus.

Chen Hui walked out of the conference room and looked at Xiao Jiang, who was dozing off. "Prepare a biology lab for me. I need to conduct cell experiments."

Now, only the final step of experimental verification remains.

(End of this chapter)