"Ji... Miss Jian!! Mr. Morita, he! He!"

The two security guards watched in shock as blood suddenly poured from Mr. Morita's nostrils, making them almost unable to speak coherently.

"Quick! Get him to the treatment room! Be sure to pay attention to protection!"

Gu Ji urgently shouted into the walkie-talkie: "Notify all chefs who have come into contact with raw food to proceed to the isolation area for medical observation, and have the cleaning staff immediately sanitize all raw food and suspend the supply of meat products!"

"Miss Jian, is the virus coming from the food?"

Xiaowu Yefu's voice trembled, and he looked as frightened as Dr. Matsushima.

Gu Ji nodded his head.

[Objective: Successfully identify the source of infection!]

[Choose your reward.]

[Special Driving Proficiency (Minor)] or [First Aid Proficiency (Minor)]

Task completed?

The sudden game prompt made Gu Ji slightly stunned. From the moment the target updated in the morning till now, it had taken just over an hour to break through easily.

Actually, that's how public health works.

Since the 14th century quarantine measures for infectious diseases emerged, public health and epidemiology have developed to today, forming a very comprehensive scientific medical system. As long as it's based on a large amount of real clinical data, deducing the three elements of an infectious disease is very easy.

Location: Japan;

Infection source: raw beef and animal sources;

Outbreak symptom: viral hemorrhagic fever.

Combining these three labels quickly led Gu Ji to think of an infectious disease: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever!

This hemorrhagic fever is a naturally tick-borne viral disease found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, classified as a Nairovirus. Clinical manifestations include fever, headache, bleeding, and low blood pressure shock. In severe cases, it can cause profuse vomiting and bleeding, with a fatality rate of 10% to 40%, making it a very serious high-grade infectious disease!

It was first identified in Xia Kingdom in Xin'an Province, so it is also known as Xin'an Hemorrhagic Fever, while in Japan, it is mainly concentrated in the livestock areas of Hokkaido. All characteristics fit the cruise ship outbreak perfectly.

Of course, this is just Gu Ji's speculation based on his public health experience.

The actual conclusion still requires the results from the viral laboratory tests.

"Good thing I don't like eating raw food..."

He muttered under his breath and began to scrutinize these two new rewards.

White [Special Driving Proficiency (Minor)]: Increases land vehicle driving skills by 12%, masters basic operations for starting special maritime and aviation equipment, and improves high-speed driving reaction and judgment capability by 27%.

White [First Aid Proficiency (Minor)]: Improves on-site first aid level by 11%, and shortens critical condition assessment and judgment by 24%.

Gu Ji's eyes lit up.

Both are very practical marks. After much deliberation, he decided on the first one.

Currently, the medical conditions on the cruise ship are lacking. Even if he possesses first aid skills, facing such a terrifying viral hemorrhagic fever is just a drop in the bucket.

Instead, Captain Neil's infection served as a wake-up call for him.

Keeping a practical skill just in case!

Soon, a new prompt appeared.

[Secondary Objective: Confirm the virus type!]

[Ultimate Objective: Prevent the spread of the infectious disease on the Platinum Star Cruise and treat at least 1,813 civilians.]

As the text faded, two progress bars, similar to an airport checkpoint, appeared in the bottom right corner of Gu Ji's vision:

[Virus Type: Unknown]

[Currently Uninfected Healthy Civilians 3132/3627]

The virus has already infected over four hundred people?

Gu Ji made a careful calculation, and it seemed about right.

Currently, there are more than a hundred infected in the treatment room, and there are three to four hundred close contacts in the medical isolation observation area. Including those in the guest rooms yet to be checked, the numbers indeed add up.

With over four hundred infected, if it is indeed Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, with its severe mortality rate, at least over forty people would die, which would already constitute a very serious maritime health incident!

As he contemplated these things, the "3132" healthy number just displayed dropped again, becoming "3131".

No more delays.

The virus type needs to be identified quickly.

"Morita, where exactly did the raw beef come from?"

Gu Ji turned to keep up with Mr. Morita, who had just been placed on a stretcher.

This guy had such a strange expression when faced with the question earlier.

The physiological instinct of dilated pupils due to fear proved he definitely knew something, or might even be the key to resolving this infectious crisis!

"It can't be! It can't be!"

Morita, now lying on the stretcher, had started showing signs of reddishness on his arms and cheekbones, only repeatedly murmuring to himself, perhaps due to the intense pain from the symptoms, being scared out of his mind by the copious nasal bleeding, or deliberately avoiding the situation, he couldn't engage in normal conversation at all.

Seeing that no information could be extracted, Gu Ji had no choice but to temporarily shift his focus onto the chefs in the kitchen.

He arrived at the medical isolation observation area located on the 10th floor.

The area was converted from the opera house with several isolation belts pulled up. Temperature checkpoints were on stage, while the leather seats below the stage, occupied every other seat, seated a close contact or a suspected case.

A few of the recently arrived people exhibited some anxiety, while those who had been there longer were either playing with their phones or sleeping, thinking they'd soon be disembarking for formal hospital treatment, giving them some peace of mind.

"Where are the close contacts from the kitchen just now?"

Gu Ji approached a female medical staff and asked straightforwardly.

"In Zone D."

The female medical staff led him to the right rear of the opera house, where indeed two Japanese in white chef uniforms were seated. The rest of the raw food chefs had long been infected and were in the treatment area.

By age, they were Tangben and Ishikuro.

Tangben, a chubby Japanese man in his forties, was responsible for the raw food and sashimi cuisine on the cruise; Ishikuro was his assistant, appearing young, a man in his twenties.

Both wore masks and gloves, and from their eyes, Tangben appeared very anxious whereas the younger Ishikuro seemed quite calm and indifferent.

Gu Ji briefly questioned the two.

In the end, Tangben knew little about the beef's source. He was only recently appointed by Shida to be responsible for raw foods, while Ishikuro merely followed orders.

With nowhere else to turn, Gu Ji went back to the treatment area to find the remaining chefs, but the information gleaned was still limited.

In the time he was engaged, the number of infected rose by 8.

"Quick! Quick!"

Just as Gu Ji was figuring out the next step, the intensive care unit beside him suddenly erupted into Dr. Matsushima's urgent voice. He rushed over to see Morita vomiting blood and lifeless, slumped on the bed.

"Dead?"

Dr. Matsushima nodded.

Beside them, a medical staff member sighed with a slightly mocking tone, "Who knew hiding in the presidential suite wouldn't shield one from the virus."

Gu Ji's brows furrowed slightly.

From noticing Morita's coughing to the nosebleed, to being pushed into the treatment room, it took less than an hour for him to die from excessive blood loss?

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