from my heart [last days]

The command room is in a high-end hotel next door to the sports center.

The commander of Chongcheng, surnamed Xu Mingshan, was in his early fifties, wearing a military uniform, well maintained, without middle-aged fat, and without Mediterranean baldness. He met them in the hotel conference room.

Xie Congxin was sitting on a chair. Opposite him was an elderly scholar whose surname was Wen. He was well-known in the circle. He had taught at Beijing University for several years. Thank you Congxin for seeing it once.

After all, the circle is so big, everyone knows each other.

Someone brought a few cups of hot tea, Xie Congxin took a sip, the best Xinyang Maojian.

Xu Shan smiled and said, "Academician Xie came to our city as a guest, why did he leave without saying anything? It seems like I didn't greet well enough."

Xie Congxin smiled inexplicably, and said, "I don't know what's special about me. I need Commander Xu and Professor Wen to greet me specially."

Professor Wen and Xi Ni: "Cong Xin is young, but his modesty is exactly the same as Shi Qing, he is really a formidable young man."

Xu Shan said: "Yes, Academician Xie is too self-effacing. In these difficult times, talents like Academician Xie are very important!"

The words were polite, no one said anything, everyone knew it in their hearts.

After the projector was adjusted, the researcher took a notebook and projected the detailed observation records and analysis of the virus on the screen, and the topic was clicked.

"It has been confirmed that the means of transmission of this new type of virus is bodily fluid infection, and both blood and saliva have very strong virus carrying capabilities." The researcher said, "The incubation period is between 32-66 minutes, which is related to the physical fitness of the sample itself. Direct relationship. We spread the age group sampling in both sexes as much as possible, in which the latency period of males is shorter than that of females, and the younger the age, the shorter the latency period."

Xie Congxin said: "The brain activity is different."

Professor Wen nodded and added: "It also has something to do with the location of the wound. Wounds close to the brain will infect faster. 120 samples, the average time is 47 minutes."

The incubation period of the virus is usually measured in days, or even years, and 40 minutes is already negligibly short. Xie Congxin asked, "What about the samples of infected neurons?"

The assistant switched the screen and released the image of the neuron slice sample under the electroscope. The dark purple virus piled up like spores, and the closer to the center, the darker the color, indicating that it was still dividing.

Xie Congxin tapped the table with his fingertips, "It is similar to the rabies virus. It invades the nerve center, reproduces in the neurons, stimulates the cerebral cortex, and gives instructions to the limbs. Based on animal instinct, the infected person will unconsciously attack other animals." Life form."

Professor Wen said: "Yes. So we are conducting animal experiments, trying to weaken the virulence of the virus through continuous passage, and obtain adapted viruses to make vaccines."

This method is widely used in the production of virus vaccines. Viruses that have repeatedly weakened their virulence are extracted from infected animals and injected into the human body in a small amount to make the human body automatically generate corresponding antibodies. Both smallpox and rabies vaccines are derived from this method.

"How about the virus strain?" Xie Congxin asked.

"At present, only one kind has been observed," said the researcher. "The development of a universal vaccine can be expected."

Xie Congxin said: "Of course we can look forward to it, but I'm afraid it won't be so easy."

"So we need Academician Xie to join us," Commander Xu interjected, "You want to go back to Beijing, not to mention the dangers along the way, and the time delay can't be estimated. Why don't you consider staying here? I guarantee that you will get The best research conditions."

"I can't afford it," Xie Congxin smiled, "In terms of qualifications, I can't compare with Professor Wen, and if I have one more vaccine, it won't be made a day earlier."

Even though modern science has been highly developed, virus analysis is still a difficult problem in the world.

From the outbreak of SARS in 2002 to the death of the last infected person, no absolutely effective treatment has been found so far.Not to mention HIV and Ebola, many countries and scholars have devoted themselves to studying it for decades, but there is no effective way to cure and prevent it.

However, this time the scale of the virus outbreak is so large and the infection is so fast. Judging from the morphological structure and pathogenic performance, the new virus is far more virulent than any known virus. It is definitely not advisable to completely extinguish it or wait for self-healing , even if the whole world is put into research and development, I am afraid that it will take a lot of manpower and material resources, and it may not be profitable. How can it be done with only one important city?

Where did Xu Shan and Professor Wen get their confidence?

"Academician Xie is naturally worthy of it," Xu Shan smiled, "otherwise the Ministry of National Security would not have sent Captain Pei to this high mountain and far away place to pick up Academician Xie back."

Xie Congxin raised his unilateral eyebrow, turned the fountain pen on the table with his slender fingers, with a careless expression on his face, "Commander Xu can speak directly if he has something to say."

Xu Shan glanced at Pei Ze who was sitting behind Xie Congxin. Pei Ze was also looking at him, his eyes were calm, but he couldn't hide his sharp scrutiny.

"I've already said it," Xu Shan leaned forward, "I sincerely invite Academician Xie to stay in Chongcheng to participate in the production of the virus vaccine. I will provide the best conditions for Academician Xie, and all resources in Chongcheng will be at your disposal. If Not enough, we will also seek support from neighboring provinces and cities. And everyone from the Ministry of National Security, the meteorite magnetic field interferes with the signal, and the communication with Beijing has been completely cut off. Stay here while we figure out a way to restore communication."

Pei Ze was about to refuse, but Xie Congxin looked at the Xinyang hair tip that was about to cool down on the table, and suddenly smiled: "Indeed."

He stopped after saying these two words, Xu Shan couldn't figure out what he meant for a while, Pei Ze said: "Academician Xie, the order I accepted is to send you back to Beijing."

Xie Congxin leaned back on the back of the chair and looked at Pei Ze, "It's better to say that I asked the National Academy of Sciences for help before you received the order. Now I'm safe and I don't need help anymore. Your task Of course it can be lifted."

The truth is true, but yesterday he was racing against time to return to Beijing, Pei Zemei pressed down, "Are you sure?"

"Sure," Xie Congxin pressed his pen on the table, "I'll stay. The mission of the third team is over here. If you want to go back to do business, I can write you a letter and take it back to prove that I want to stay. It's not that you didn't complete the task."

With such a straightforward answer, without any hesitation, Pei Ze looked at him silently, and said in a deep voice after a few seconds, "No, we will leave today."

"Okay." Xie Congxin smiled, and looked at Xu Shan again, "It's not easy for them to come all the way to pick me up. Does Commander Xu mind borrowing a helicopter?"

Xu Shan shook his head, "It's not that I don't want to borrow, it's that I can't."

Xie Congxin raised his eyebrows, and Professor Wen said: "Academician Xie doesn't know yet, right? The infection effect of the virus is more obvious to animals. After the virus broke out, we tried to send helicopters to rescue the surviving residents, but they were attacked by swarms of birds soon after takeoff. Several crashed."

Xie Congxin was surprised, Xu Shan said: "I will prepare enough water, food, and weapons for Captain Pei and his team members, and send someone to take them out of the city in the afternoon. Does Academician Xie think it's okay?"

"Okay," Xie Congxin said bluntly, "Let Captain Pei choose it himself, it's better to have the weapon at hand."

Xu Shan immediately arranged for someone to take Pei Ze to the armory, as if he wanted to send them away as soon as possible.

Pei Ze got up, his eyes glanced coldly over Xie Congxin's head, and finally he didn't say anything, and left with Xu Shan's people.

"Academician Xie, what request does it have?" After Pei Ze left, Xu Shan asked politely, "As long as we can do it, we will do our best to meet it."

Xie Congxin clasped his hands on the table, his smile faded away, his solemn expression was completely different from that of just now, "Then Commander Xu, please explain clearly first, what did Xie Yiming tell you to make Commander so anxious to keep me?"

Xu Shan and Professor Wen exchanged a look, Pei Ze is not here, some things can be said in the open.

Professor Wen coughed, "Congxin, I'm old friends with you, Teacher Su, so it's not too much to call yourself half an elder?"

Is this to play the emotional card?

Xie Congxin smiled: "Of course. Seniors are based on age, seniors are based on seniority."

"Let me just say a few words, don't feel annoying to the old man," Professor Wen said softly, "When I take care of my students before I retire, the first thing I always tell them is that when you enter the biology industry, no matter what the research topic is, you have to do it in the end." It comes back to people. Shi Qing used to say that as a creature, one must seek the well-being of everything that lives."

"The teacher did say," Xie Congxin turned the pen, and resumed his casual expression, as if the seriousness just now was just an illusion, "'Research is not for yourself, but for the well-being of everything you live'."

"Yes, the research is not for yourself," Professor Wen sighed. "I am ashamed that I am not as good as him in research, but the intention is the same. You are his student, so you must understand this truth."

Xie Congxin smiled and said nothing.

Professor Wen continued: "In eight days, among the 3000 million people in Chongcheng, less than one-twentieth of them managed to take refuge in Yuzhong. We used to be lucky and thought that the infection rate of smaller wounds might not be [-]%. , so observed dozens of samples. The final conclusion is that the infectivity of this virus is unimaginable, even if the wound is less than one centimeter, as long as it is stained with body fluids, it will be infected. So far we have not encountered To the rare example."

He had roughly guessed what Xie Yiming had done when the researcher came to him in the morning, and he wasn't too surprised when it was confirmed.

"You mean this?" Xie Congxin unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled up his sleeves, revealing the bandage underneath, "I was indeed bitten, but the wound was not big and not infected. It seems that I was lucky enough to do this one-third."

"Congxin!" Professor Wen was a little anxious, and his voice was aggravated, "There are dozens of meteorites that fell. This is not a small-scale disaster, but a crisis that mankind all over the world is facing!"

Xie Congxin raised his eyelids, "So?"

Professor Wen said: "Vaccine production must race against time! If you already have an idea, tell us! None of us will take your credit!"

"What clues can I have?" Xie Congxin was still smiling.

Professor Wen said: "Although I am not from the Academy of Sciences, I have heard about the project your teacher and parents participated in back then. You..."

"Professor Wen," Xie Congxin interrupted him with a surprised expression, "What does that project have to do with today's events? Don't you think that the meteorite that fell 20 years ago is the same as the one that fell now?" Something? How can there be such a coincidence?"

Professor Wen paused, and Xie Congxin said again: "Even if it is the same thing, how much can I know if I was not born when the experiment was carried out? Do you rely on my mother's prenatal education?"

"..."

"'For the well-being of everything alive'..." Xie Congxin repeated this sentence, as if remembering something, and then smiled, "Of course I understand the truth. I will definitely do my best for the vaccine. Don't listen to the students' one-sided words."

At 01:30 in the afternoon, Xu Shan arranged for two armored vehicles to send Pei Ze and others away from Chongcheng.

The back seat of the jeep is full of supplies and weapons. Needless to say, guns and bullets, there are also a lot of grenades and grenades.

The students saw them off at the gate of the Olympic Sports Center and surrounded several people to thank them.Pei Ze was not good at words, so he stood by the car and waited for them, and lit a cigarette.

When halfway through the draw, Xie Congxin approached and handed over a national atlas.

Pei Ze took it, folded a corner of the page on the national highway, opened it, and drew a route back to Beijing with a red pen on it, and circled several big cities that he would pass along the way.

"A parting gift," Xie Congxin said, "Yichang, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, there should be a landslide on the expressway, please take the national highway to be safe. If all goes well, we should arrive within ten days."

This is not the shortest route back to Beijing. Pei Ze raised his eyes to look at Xie Congxin's pale chestnut gray pupils, trying to find some clues between them, but Xie Congxin's expression was impeccable.

Pei Ze couldn't help asking again: "Do you really want to stay?"

Xie Congxin smiled, and leaned against the jeep with Pei Ze, pointed to the smoke between Pei Ze's lips, and stretched out a hand.

Pei Ze took out the cigarette and lighter and handed them to him.

Xie Congxin bent one leg, lit a cigarette and bit his lips. He obviously didn't smoke often, and he didn't like to smoke. He let the cigarette burn, and only took a puff when the sparks were about to go out, and spit it out after his lungs.

On the other side, the rest of the third team was surrounded by students.

Probably because of being thanked, Cheng Yinshang's ears were a little red, Zhou An rejected the girls' gifts, and Peng He hung shoulders with the boys, the atmosphere was like parting from life to death.

Xie Congxin looked at it for a while, then suddenly said: "Captain Pei, there are three kinds of people in this world."

Pei Ze shook off the soot, "Which three?"

Xie Congxin narrowed his eyes, "Smart people, smart people, stupid people."

He still had his usual sarcastic smile because he only lifted half of the corner of his lips, but his eyes were blurred in the smoke, and his emotions seemed a bit difficult to discern.

He said: "Smart people seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and smart people protect themselves wisely, and only fools go forward."

Pei Ze asked, "Which type is Academician Xie?"

He is a smart person who seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages, so he chooses to stay?

Xie Congxin stood up straight, "I don't think I'm too stupid."

He threw away the cigarette butt and crushed it with the sole of his shoe, took two steps forward and stopped, turned his head, his side face was a little lazy in the warm afternoon sun.

Then he compared his two fingers on his forehead, like a nondescript military salute, more like a casual farewell.

——"Then Captain Pei, you're on your way."