I work as an editor at Marvel.

More than an hour later, the argument finally came to an end, and Li Jie finally won the qualification of the number one volunteer. At the same time, three of the people in the meeting room also decided to become volunteers.

The remaining 296 people will be chosen one by one, through private conversations. If anyone is unwilling, they will absolutely not be forced.

When Li Jie walked out of the building where the conference room was located, it was already getting slightly light.

We are not afraid of the night because we know that the sun will still rise from the horizon the next day, and dawn will always come.

Just as we are not afraid of sacrifice, because we know that this sacrifice is for more people to live better lives, and we will live forever in their hearts.

Li Jie returned to his home, a standard large house. This was perhaps the only place better than before after the apocalypse, with the per capita living space increasing many times over.

The inflated housing prices vanished completely without even a chance to drop.

Looking at his own front door, Li Jie rubbed his stiff face, took a few deep breaths, and prepared to talk to his father.

Click, the door opened.

"You brat, what are you doing standing outside the door?" Li Jie's father walked out of the room with his hands behind his back and started yelling at Li Jie.

"Dad, why are you up already? Weren't you busy until the early hours of the morning yesterday?" Li Jie instinctively reached out to help him up.

Li Jie's father slapped Li Jie's hand away, saying, "Alright, your mother has already told me everything, stop pretending."

"Said? What?" Li Jie's head was still a little fuzzy from staying up all night.

"What did you say!" the father yelled, pulling two ID cards from his pocket. "Take these and register for me and your mother!"

"Dad!" The two thin ID cards felt incredibly heavy in Li Jie's hands.

"Get out of here! Don't come back until you've got things done!" The father turned around and slammed the door shut, tears streaming down his face.

Li Jie knelt down on both knees, kowtowed twice in the direction of his home, then clutched his two ID cards and walked out of the door.

"You old fool! Stop crying! What are you crying about? I already told you, we went there to remove our son from the list, why won't you say that!" Aunt Pang questioned loudly.

“What do you know? We’re both on the list. Do you think Xiao Jie will pull himself out? And if he gets out, someone else of the same age will have to replace him. Tell me, tell me, who will replace him!” the father shouted.

"I don't care who replaces him! As long as it's not him!" Aunt Pang looked like she was about to throw a tantrum, but in the end she just squatted down and started crying.

The father went over and gently hugged his wife. "It's alright. Even if we fail, our whole family can still be reunited down there. And who knows, we might even succeed?"

Chapter 221 This matter is our priority!

The three hundred spots were filled faster than Li Jie, Frank, and anyone else had imagined.

Moreover, the number of people willing to volunteer is constantly increasing.

A large number of these people do not actually understand the cause and effect of the matter. They only know that a group of people need to make sacrifices so that the remaining survivors can see the day when civilization is restored and order is returned.

Li Jie was a little at a loss. With red eyes, he subconsciously looked at Frank, hoping that he could make a decision.

Frank quietly stepped aside. He knew very well that he wasn't the main character here, and that he should let the main characters decide for themselves.

Li Jie walked up the steps to the side, and the crowd below immediately fell silent, all watching him.

"Everyone..." Li Jie didn't know what to say for the first time. After a moment of choking, he took a deep breath, stood at attention, and shouted, "All Party members, step forward!"

Swoosh, snap!

One by one, comrades, young or old, male or female, stepped out from the crowd, sharing a common identity at this moment.

“There are elderly people and young children at home who need to be taken care of!” Li Jie continued to shout.

None of the people who stepped forward moved.

Li Jie's eyes swept across the battlefield and landed on a soldier who had been forced to withdraw from the front lines due to injury. "Hou Cheng! Go back here! Don't you care about your parents?!"

"Reporting!" Hou Cheng saluted. "My whole family are Party members, and we're all here!"

Before its restructuring, Xinghuo Construction Plant was a standard military institution, and most of its original employees were Party members. After the restructuring, these employees stayed and formed the Xinghuo Community.

Li Jie paused for a second, then looked at the others. Of the more than 500 party members present, only a little over 100 were actually registered. There weren't enough people, so the initial registration list was clearly no longer suitable.

Just then, someone in the crowd seemed to understand something and raised their hand high, exclaiming, "Report! I am a probationary member of the Communist Party!"

This statement seems to have opened a new door for everyone.

"Report! I am an applicant for Party membership!"

"Report! I am a member of the Youth League!"

"Report! I am from a minority group!"

Hands shot up like a towering forest, and loud voices echoed across the open space as everyone tried to find excuses for Li Jie.

Li Jie looked at each person, a bright smile spreading across his face.

Frank stood silently to the side, constantly reviewing some key points of the test. This time, the person he was assisting was too helpful, and he could not allow any additional casualties to occur due to his own operational mistakes.

The test officially began, and Li Jie, as the leader who decided to conduct the test, naturally became one of the people to receive the vaccine.

Facing countless eyes, Frank felt immense pressure. After changing the visor to be opaque, he adjusted his mindset and then began explaining while administering the injection.

The explanation can help him reduce the possibility of making mistakes, and it can also increase everyone's confidence. People who are confident and have a positive attitude have a higher chance of survival when facing illness.

“The universal vaccine consists of three doses.” Frank pressed the release button, and the portable syringe returned to its original size. “The first dose serves as a marker, allowing the immune system to better recognize the cells and beneficial bacteria in the body. It is mainly to prevent autoimmune diseases and reduce the possibility of developing conditions like allergies and lupus due to an overactive immune system.”

As they spoke, the syringe was pressed against Li Jie's arm, and a pale white liquid was injected into his body.

Although he would have to wait one to two days before getting the second shot, Frank took out the remaining two shots.

"The second injection contains a light green liquid that is an immune-boosting agent. Its effect is very simple and clear: it comprehensively strengthens the individual's immune system. Therefore, if any of you have a compromised immune system, such as HIV, then this vaccine is not suitable. Please let us know in advance."

"The third injection is currently a blue liquid. After the relevant virus is injected, it will turn dark blue. Its purpose is to fully activate the immune system while creating a weak reflex behavior that will be linked to the introduced virus."

"After the three doses of the vaccine are administered, the volunteer's immune system will be greatly strengthened, lasting for one to three years. When the marker, which is the virus injected later, appears, the immune system will be fully activated within minutes due to a weak reflex, and will attack and kill the invading virus with all its might."

After Frank finished explaining, he put the syringe away. The biggest drawback of this vaccine is that sometimes the immune system reacts too strongly. The most dangerous time is six hours after the virus invades the body. The infected person will have a high fever, and all senses and abilities will be reduced until the virus is killed or the body collapses due to excessive stress.

"The second type is a biological antidote, which can be used for infected individuals who have completed vaccination or those who are simply infected. It is extracted into a special type of cell and, once injected, becomes a support force for the immune system. However, this support force has only two types: one is an army that attacks together with immune cells such as T cells, and the second is a support army that maintains vital organs and tissues such as the heart and brain, reducing the possibility of bodily collapse."

"The third type is a purification potion. Unlike the other two types, which mainly enhance one's own immunity, its effect is to target the virus. Through various functions such as element replacement, it directly kills the virus or reduces the virus's attack power."

Frank kept explaining that only a few tests were expected to be conducted today, so he had time to explain.

"Our test is divided into three phases. In the first phase, we tested the three drugs individually to observe the effects. In the second phase, we tested them in pairs to check for any conflicts. In the third phase, we used all three drugs together to check if the effect of one plus one plus one is greater than three."

"Please divide yourselves into three teams according to the ratio of old, middle-aged and young people: 2:4:4. Then, proceed to this rapid scanner for a simple physical examination," Frank said, pointing to the machine that was more than two meters tall next to him.

Just then, Li Jie reacted, his legs went weak, and he leaned against Frank.

Frank turned over and took Li Jie's temperature; it was a low-grade fever.

The immune system will also attack enemies such as cancer cells and parasites during the labeling process, the simplest manifestation of which is a mild fever.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief when he learned it was just a minor side effect of the first dose of the vaccine. He was afraid that if something went wrong on the first try, everyone else would have run away.

Frank quickly turned around to explain, but found that no one had deserted. In the short time he was checking, everyone had already lined up and was waiting for the physical examination.

"Alright, everyone, I hereby announce that the drug testing has officially begun!" Frank said, looking at the crowd below.

Chapter 222 Ready to Go

With everyone's wholehearted cooperation, the testing progressed very quickly, and the preliminary testing was completed in just twelve days.

Frank's data from the first phase was directly compiled into Vernon's hands. After being compared with Rogers' two still-in-progress documents, the overall text was compressed through the shuttle pod and sent back to the multiverse portal.

Inside the Huaxia military base, a large section of land is missing, marked by the marks left from testing various weapons.

"Our class only got second place in mode switching speed, and we actually lost to Class One! Can you accept this?!" Class Two's squad leader shouted at the soldiers in front of him.

"cannot!"

"Oh, what's wrong with that? Class 1 is better than Class 2, isn't that obvious?" The class monitor of Class 1 walked over with his hands behind his back.

"Squad leader, you're jumping for joy over such a small accident? If you get first place two more times, are you planning to become the company commander?" the second squad leader mocked.

The squad leader, shaking his leg, said, "Hey, you're wrong about that. If I wanted to, I could become anything, not just the company commander, but even the battalion commander..."

“Yes, if you’re going to be someone, be a battalion commander. Being a company commander would be a waste of your talent.” The company commander came out from behind.

In an instant, everyone stood at attention. The squad leader was startled and quickly saluted, saying, "Reporting to the company commander, I don't think being a company commander is a waste of my talent."

"Enough with the nonsense!" the company commander said, hands on his hips. "Let's get down to business. We've received a batch of vaccines, and our company needs three people to test them."

"Company commander, let's choose from our squad! We're all in great shape! One of us is worth ten!" The squad leader didn't hesitate at all and immediately chimed in.

"Who told you to interrupt!" The company commander glared at the squad leader. "The personnel have already been selected. I'm not going to talk to you. I'm here to tell you that the battalion-wide drill is coming up soon. You guys better hurry up. I may not have time to keep an eye on you for the next few days, so you can't let me down."

"Yes, sir! Don't worry, Company Commander, with our Second Platoon here, first place is definitely ours!" the Second Platoon Leader interjected.

The squad leader was speechless and didn't dare to jump in front of the company commander. The company commander was happy to see this kind of healthy competition and didn't say anything more. "There's one more thing. I've told the political instructor to bring paper and pens to meet in the small conference room tonight. That's all. Let's continue training."

"Yes!"

Inside the base's Chief of Staff's office, the Chief of Staff was organizing the hypothetical enemy information that had been transmitted along with the drug information.

The army commander suddenly pushed open the door and entered, asking, "How's the preparation for vaccine testing going?"

"Everything is arranged. Perfect timing, you're here. Take a look at this, one of our main enemies this time," the chief of staff said, waving his hand.

The army commander picked it up and saw a piece of paper with three parasols drawn on it. They all looked pretty much the same, except that the colors of some of the umbrella surfaces were slightly different.

"Red umbrella, white umbrella, blue umbrella, what is all this?" The corps commander frowned as he read the words under the picture.

(P.S.: This work has been slightly modified, incorporating game and movie worldviews. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the alternative settings in this book.)

"They were originally part of a super-large company called Umbrella Corporation. After Umbrella Corporation was broken up and sold due to public opinion and other reasons, they were ostensibly acquired by some other companies. However, in reality, the acquired companies were the ones that held all the power. The acquiring companies were mostly just shell companies or other companies that had already been controlled."

The chief of staff read aloud the notes Frank had written, “In short, it seems that this company is responsible for the situation over there.”

"Hmph." The commander threw the paper aside. "These guys should be hung on the streetlights."

The chief of staff smiled but didn't say anything. To put it bluntly, if this protective umbrella had originally been some kind of global corporation, a giant enterprise that actually controlled an entire civilization, they might have been a little worried.

But that's it? A company that can be dissolved due to public opinion? What kind of company is that? Their PR budget is probably too low.

Why can't nuclear power plants or nuclear bomb explosions be washed away? These days, you can even wash away nuclear wastewater by dumping it into the ocean, and it looks very real.

Why can't a virus leak be covered up? Just blow up the research institute, then send a bunch of casual rescuers to stall for time, and finally rescue a cat, and that's pretty much it.

If all else fails, they'll just tough it out. A certain big-name car brand still acts like they're God when it comes to selling cars; they just want to hold out until everyone forgets about it.

The protection system is even easier for them; they just need to hold out until the virus spreads all over the world, which is now. Once everyone is dead, there will naturally be no more public opinion issues.