Su Su paused before placing the blood sample into the slot in the window in front of her.
A man waiting behind Su Su to undergo the examination seemed somewhat impatient.
“Why is this so troublesome? Will it take this long every time we enter or leave the base from now on?”
The woman in the white lab coat gave the man a standard, formulaic smile.
“Of course not. Only people entering the base for the first time or returning from heavily infected areas or restricted zones need to undergo such complicated procedures.
“Everyone entering or leaving through the city gates must register their departure time, location, and purpose.
“Under normal circumstances, people returning from lightly or moderately infected areas do not need a blood test. A few strands of hair are enough.
“The hair test produces results within a dozen minutes or so, and there is no need for a forty-eight-hour quarantine.”
“That sounds good. Very good.”
Another person waiting behind the man spoke up.
“I heard that people who have been parasitized or infected usually mutate within one to thirty minutes. There are also a few cases with longer incubation periods, but it won’t exceed forty-eight hours. This is much better. It’s safe!”
“Hmph!”
The man who had complained first snorted softly but did not say anything else.
The woman in the white lab coat reminded Su Su again.
“Please enter the scanner for your examination.”
Su Su followed the woman’s gesture and looked over.
Two long, silver-gray rectangular boxes stood beside the glass window, looking like two coffins.
Su Su was silent for a moment before stepping inside one of the boxes.
A thermal image quickly appeared on the electronic screen in front of the woman, indicating that Su Su’s physical condition was normal, that she had no external injuries, and that she was not carrying any specially dangerous items.
“You’re clear. The blood test will take another half an hour to produce results.
“Please follow the staff member to the quarantine building for isolation.”
Su Su stepped out of the scanner.
A staff member wearing protective clothing and carrying a firearm approached and escorted Su Su to undergo the forty-eight-hour quarantine.
The quarantine building was located just outside the base walls. It was a high-rise structure built directly against the city walls.
Inside the building were numerous cramped, honeycomb-like rooms. Each one was only about four or five square meters.
The doors were welded together from iron bars. Inside each room was a simple metal-framed bed and a white toilet.
At the staff member’s signal, Su Su entered the room.
The lock on the door clicked shut.
The cramped, suffocating room made Su Su feel oppressed.
However, what made her even more uneasy was the result of her blood test.
The staff member had just said that it would take another half an hour for the results.
Su Su knew that half an hour was 1,800 seconds.
She curled up in one corner of the metal bed and silently counted the seconds in her mind.
“Hey! Are you here for quarantine too? I just got here.”
A voice came from the room next door.
The owner of the voice seemed to be going through puberty, and his voice sounded somewhat hoarse.
Perhaps because he had finally found someone to talk to, his excitement was difficult to conceal.
“It was so boring in here. Thank goodness you came.
“I was worried that if no one stayed in the room next to me, I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to!”
Su Su looked toward the room next door, but unfortunately, her view was blocked and she could not see anything.
Perhaps because Su Su had not responded for a while, the voice next door hurriedly continued.
“What is your name?”
“Su Su.”
After hesitating for a moment, Su Su answered.
After receiving a response, the person next door sounded less anxious when he spoke again.
“My name is Liang Bu. Liang as in sorghum, not the Liang from walking two steps.”
“Mm.”
“Where are you from?”
“Somewhere far away…”
Su Su answered indifferently.
She did not tell him that she had come from Shangzhou. Otherwise, this person would probably have wanted to hide three meters away from her and would never speak to her again.
“I came from somewhere far away too…”
Liang Bu was a talkative young man. He chatted with Su Su endlessly, rambling on about all sorts of things.
Perhaps because she had someone to keep her company, the half hour passed quickly.
The staff member in protective clothing and carrying a firearm appeared again.
They were covered so thoroughly that Su Su could not tell whether this was the same person who had brought her here earlier.
“The blood test results are out.”
Upon hearing this, Liang Bu and Su Su stopped talking and stood in front of their iron-bar doors, waiting for their judgment.
The surroundings became quiet again. Even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly.
Liang Bu had arrived a few minutes before Su Su, so the staff member went to his room first.
The staff member flipped through the pale record book in his hands. When the sound of turning pages stopped,
“Bang!”
A gunshot rang out without the slightest hesitation.
The sound of the bullet tearing through the air seemed to slow down beside Su Su’s ears.
Then Su Su heard something pierce through flesh.
Blood flowed out from the room next door.
Liang Bu was dead.
“Confirmed infected. Executed.”
The staff member announced the result like a machine.
Soon, two more people in protective clothing arrived. They removed the body, disinfected the room, and left.
The staff member who had just fired the shot moved a few steps and stood in front of Su Su, continuing to flip through that “Book of Life and Death.”
Su Su stared at him through the iron-bar door. Her fingers curled inward unconsciously from nervousness.
“Blood test result…”
Time seemed to stretch endlessly.
Su Su stared at the staff member’s two exposed eyes behind the transparent protective face shield and listened as he slowly uttered five words.
“Not infected. Safe.”
The moment his words fell, Su Su let out a long breath of relief.
The staff member closed the “Book of Life and Death” and reminded Su Su,
“Once your forty-eight-hour quarantine is over, you may leave. Please wait patiently.”
Su Su nodded and returned to the corner of the metal bed, curling herself up.
A newcomer soon arrived in the room next door, but the newcomer did not speak.
Su Su remained silent as well. She could not help wondering whether many people like Liang Bu had died in this very room before.
Forty-eight hours was neither long nor short, yet it felt agonizing to Su Su.
Fortunately, only people entering the base for the first time or returning from heavily infected areas or restricted zones needed to undergo quarantine here.
It was not necessary every time someone entered or left the base.
This allowed Su Su to breathe a sigh of relief.
It was forty-eight hours later when she finally saw the sun again.
Su Su finally left the quarantine building and safely entered the base.
She raised her head toward the sky. A dark cloud happened to drift directly overhead.
The sunlight was blocked, making everything appear somewhat gloomy.
Beyond the towering city walls, thick black smoke was rising into the sky.
Su Su looked over curiously.
It was not mealtime, and the direction from which the black smoke was rising was clearly outside the base.
“You’re new to the base, right?”
As Su Su was wondering about it, a young man with an unruly appearance, around twenty years old, stepped in front of her.
“My name is He Bantian.”
After introducing himself, the unruly young man quickly revealed his purpose.
“I work as a kind of ‘middleman.’ You don’t have a place to stay yet, do you? I can help you find a place. I guarantee fair prices and honest dealing!”
Su Su looked at He Bantian and thought his name was rather strange.
She indeed did not have a place to stay yet.
Seeing that Su Su had been staring at the place where the black smoke was rising, He Bantian immediately began explaining enthusiastically.
“That black smoke is from burning corpses.”
“Burning corpses?”
“Yeah. There are so many people dying these days.
“And it’s not just corpse burning. There are even people inside the city who set up little stalls specifically to draw portraits for the dead!
“None of this is strange anymore. You’ll get used to it.”