Chapter 571: Cholera 5
"Is the cholera bacterium really that hard to eliminate?"
"Throughout history, cholera has always been an infectious disease with a very high mortality rate. Even with the advanced medicine we had before the apocalypse, we could never completely eradicate it. And now, we’re living in the apocalypse."
Ethan Dawson’s expression turned serious. "If cholera can appear, other infectious diseases might show up too. The plague, avian flu, yellow fever, influenza, echinococcosis, filariasis, dengue fever, malaria, Ebola, schistosomiasis, typhoid fever, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, AIDS..."
After hearing Ethan Dawson’s impromptu lesson, everyone’s faces changed.
"I can’t believe there are so many infectious diseases in the world. That’s terrifying."
"That’s not all. I only listed the ones I know. We still have to be careful. Under the long night, new types of bacteria and viruses that have never been seen before could emerge."
Evelyn Ford picked up the conversation. "To prevent disease, besides boosting your immunity, the only other way is to reduce contact with other people. You must wear a hazmat suit whenever you leave the Undercity. It’s a hassle, but many infectious diseases are even more terrifying than cholera. Effective medicine can’t save everyone, nor can it cure every illness. The young and the elderly have the weakest immune systems. In this cholera outbreak, the majority of the dead were older people."
Evelyn Ford looked at Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell. "Mr. Vance, Mr. Lowell, you two should try to stay inside the Undercity as much as possible."
The two men nodded. "Understood."
Time flew by. More than twenty days had passed since the cholera outbreak began. Liam Sterling still managed to come over for a meal occasionally, bringing the latest news and updates from the base. Rhys Chase, however, was too busy and hadn’t shown up at all. The next time they saw him, it was a full month after the outbreak started.
"Mr. Chase, you’ve lost weight." Quincy circled Rhys Chase, then reached out and patted his shoulder.
"The food at the administration building hasn’t been great lately, so I’ve slimmed down a bit. Is everyone else doing okay?"
"We’re doing well, just pretty shaken up. How is the base? Have all the residents recovered?"
Rhys Chase smiled. "It’s not that fast. Cholera is an infectious disease. Although we’ve effectively controlled it, people are still getting infected every day, and people are still dying from it every day. But thanks to the effective medicine you provided, we avoided a much worse outcome. Otherwise, this *Vibrio cholerae* outbreak could have claimed tens of thousands of lives."
"It’s a good thing the medicine worked. How are the shelters in Flumen and the resettlement housing area? The population there is mixed, so I’m afraid there might be periodic outbreaks later on."
Evelyn always felt the shelter at the resettlement housing area was a huge hidden danger. The residents there were mostly refugees who had fled from all over the country. They had lived in refugee camps before, and their habits were influenced by that life. Many were reckless and audacious, while many others were timid and cowardly. The military would probably need to be stationed there to maintain order, or trouble could easily break out.
"The population there is indeed complex. After living in refugee camps for so long, their bodies are malnourished and their immune systems are weak. The death toll is highest there. Recently, the daily death toll at the base and in Flumen has been around ten people, but it’s over a hundred in the resettlement housing area. It has nothing to do with the medicine. Their bodies were already on the verge of collapse. With cholera on top of that, they were beyond saving." Rhys Chase looked utterly exhausted, so no one dared to ask him any more questions.
"What about the orphans?" Quincy asked, most concerned about the children who had lost their parents.
Rhys Chase thought for a moment. "The children were the first to receive treatment. No matter what, they are still young and have so much potential. We have to ensure their survival rate."
Rhys Chase also had his own private room in the Undercity. He stayed there for a few days to get back into peak condition before returning to the administration building to continue his work.
The cholera outbreak was contained but not completely gone. The base issued a hazmat suit to everyone. There were no replacements; if a suit was torn or damaged, you had to mend it yourself. In the period that followed, thefts of hazmat suits became frequent. In the shelters, some people even got into fistfights over them and were arrested and detained by the police.
Unlike the Undercity, the shelters didn’t have private rooms. The clothes-drying areas were all communal, and clothes could only be dried with air blowers. Clothes theft was rampant. To protect their belongings, some people didn’t dare wash their clothes for months. Others had to mark their clothes or sew their names onto them.
The pharmaceutical factory was still producing the effective medicine, but the medicinal herbs were nearly depleted. Evelyn Ford didn’t have any spare herbs to give them either. Rhys Chase issued an order: all able-bodied young and middle-aged adults were to go to the medicinal fields to plant herbs. The points they could earn each day would be doubled. Instantly, tens of thousands of people signed up, all swarming the administration building.
No matter how hard or difficult it was, production could not stop. Besides, they now had Solar Lamps, which made working even more convenient. Two Solar Lamps were also installed over the medicinal fields, bathing hundreds of acres in light as if it were daytime.
Evelyn Ford was also hired to work in the medicinal fields. Rhys Chase had exchanged many medicinal herb seeds with her, and with her extensive experience in planting, she became the base’s agricultural expert.
As her follower and assistant, Ronan Kendrick naturally went wherever she did.
The base’s team of experts was easy to get along with. Perhaps because Rhys Chase had put in a good word, everyone was quite respectful towards them.
The soil in the medicinal fields was relatively barren. It used to be a cotton field that was abandoned after the apocalypse and later developed into medicinal fields.
「After a month in the medicinal fields, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick finally returned to the Undercity.」
During that time, with the group separated from them, no one could enter the space to work. After they got back, Evelyn had everyone enter the space. Staring at the fully ripened wheat, they were all stunned.
"It’s ready to harvest already?"
"It’s been ready for half a month. The wheat heads are huge. I estimate this will be a big harvest. We should be able to get 2,000 to 2,200 pounds per mu."
"Evelyn, are you kidding? Normal wheat only yields about 900 to 1,300 pounds per mu."
Evelyn Ford smiled. "Produced in the space, of course it’s different from the wheat outside. You can compare the size of the wheat heads. The heads of wheat grown in the space are twice as large as those grown in the outside soil."
"I can attest to that," Zion Lowell said, raising his hand.
"Back at Wyrmrest Base, I was in charge of crop cultivation. It’s true, nothing grew as well as it does in the space. Even the soil is different. We have several hundred mu of the black soil in the planting area. Since we planted it all with wheat this time, I estimate we’ll harvest several hundred tons."
Hearing "several hundred tons," Quincy nearly fell out of his chair.
"So we’re basically landlords now?"
"Even landlords are no big deal compared to us," Evelyn Ford said smugly.
"Alright, let’s rest for today and recharge. Starting tomorrow, everyone will enter the space to harvest the wheat. We’ll try to finish all several hundred mu within a month."
"We have a harvester. Half a month will be enough," Ethan Dawson said confidently.
"It took you one or two months just to till the land. Harvesting wheat is much harder than tilling. We also have to thresh it. I doubt we can finish in a month. Oh, right, save the wheat straw. We can use it to feed the livestock later."