bit stealing game

Chapter 8 Polar Viruses
I returned to the UK to continue my studies with a lot of doubts and a box of motherly love.

Right after returning from Grandpa Li's place, I checked Project 279, and as expected, there was nothing there.I wasn't discouraged either, I went to harass Qi Tian as soon as I got back to school.

Qi Tian is a computer guru who came out of the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China. In her eyes, encrypted information is probably no safer than bones in a doghouse.I went straight to Qi Tian when I came back to ask her to help me find out what the mysterious No. 279 plan has become like since it multiplied.

After making an appointment with Ah Tian, ​​Lao Zhang also joined him.He is studying clinical medicine. He is in the fifth year of this year and is standing at a crossroads thinking about his future direction.Lao Zhang is the youngest in the family, with two older sisters and one older brother.His second sister and I were undergraduate classmates, and later became friends with him by chance.Lao Zhang is almost 1.9 meters tall, but he has a cute baby face.

Zhang Yang and Qi Tian were also very tempered, so the three of us often ate and drank together when they were not busy, and occasionally did scientific research together.

After making an appointment to pack and eat at the Thai restaurant we often go to, Lao Zhang directly dragged us to his dormitory in Jesus College.

Ah Tian made himself a glass of ice water in a familiar way, and chewed the ice cubes.Lao Zhang came back with two steaming cups, and handed one of them to Ah Tian.

Jesus College's crest is three white fawns, but it doesn't look particularly smart on a mug.Ah Tian glanced at the cup with distaste, with a bad expression on his face: "Zhang Yang, you are strengthening the stereotype of a doctor." What she was upset about was the chrysanthemums and fat seas floating in the water.I just took a look inside, and there are wolfberries.

After fulfilling the friendship of the landlord, we urged Lao Zhang to start his narration.

Lao Zhang went to the United States for an epidemiological conference in September. Before he came today, he still mysteriously told us in the group meeting that he had something important to share with us.

Ah Tian said it very bluntly: "I'm here to listen to breaking news, not to drink health tea."

Old Zhang cleared his throat. "Guess who are the speakers in this meeting?"

I said, don't be a fool, we don't know who the big shots in your circle are, if you want to say it, say it quickly.

"Benjamin Holmes."

After speaking, Lao Zhang looked at us expectantly.

Ah Tian and I glanced at each other: "If you said Sherlock Holmes, then you would know."

"Is that the virologist who led the expedition team to go deep into the polar regions? He is also Doctors Without Borders, who has been to Africa to participate in Ebola research?" Lao Zhang did not give up, trying to arouse the medical knowledge of me and Ah Tian.We still shake our heads.Lao Zhang exaggeratedly sighed: "Don't you all pay attention to the news? This is a matter of life and death for human beings."

Lao Zhang gave up and told us about this bacteriologist whose name can scare people in the medical field and the meeting he attended.

"Isn't our subject held once a year around the world? Usually it's in April. This year's meeting has already been held in Germany. Last month's meeting was not an open academic meeting. You must have an invitation letter to go. And there is no media throughout the process." There is no broadcast, and we do not allow audio or video recording. Actually, I was not qualified to go, but the postdoctoral fellow in our group who wanted to accompany my supervisor moved to an investment bank, and I was also interested in this aspect, so the supervisor took me. At the beginning, I didn't understand why this kind of meeting was so mysterious, even my mentor kept it secret. I didn't understand why until Dr. Holmes came in. If you haven't heard his name, Polar Virus will know it? The one that made a lot of noise a few years ago."

Hearing what Lao Zhang said, I was impressed.

The polar virus was said two or three years ago, and there was even a "conspiracy theory" at that time.It is said that ancient viruses were bred by the melting of glaciers caused by human activities. Many people in the United States came out to march in those days.I've heard a lot about the virus on the news.

This incident first attracted a small amount of attention because of the deaths of members of the Arctic scientific expedition, and the virus also spread to the settlements of the Inuit people.In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, scientists from many countries went to conduct research.So the expert who came to the United States should be Dr. Holmes.It seems that a similar virus was also discovered in Antarctica later, and at the same time, clues about the connection with the virus were found on Mount Everest, also known as the third pole in the world.The WHO also called on everyone to pay attention at the time.

I don't know if there are any foreign experts besides China on Mount Everest, but it seems that the five permanent members of the United Nations have sent expedition teams to Antarctica.It seems that all countries have gained and sacrificed to varying degrees, but the virus has been controlled within the Antarctic range.It has also been widely reported some time ago.The irony is that only a few days after the global panic, few people pay attention to the poor scientists who have dedicated themselves to mankind, and some even attack them.At that time, there were a lot of uninformed remarks on Twitter, and those who helped people resist the disaster were condemned and besieged.However, there has been no news about the polar virus in recent days, and now Europe and the United States have started a new wave of demonstrations due to different things.

Hearing Lao Zhang talk about the polar virus, Ah Tian also nodded aside, expressing his understanding.

Lao Zhang showed a satisfied look, and then continued: "Dr. Holmes is the leader of the American expedition to Antarctica for biological bacteria. After they returned from Antarctica, they took a rest and held this report meeting. As soon as he showed up, we I heard a lot of breathing. At that time, I thought that there were still so many people who didn’t know that he would come. Later, I realized that this report meeting was banned by the US government, so only people in the industry were invited. Let everyone keep quiet. But the strange thing is that neither at the meeting nor after the end did we ask us not to spread it, so I will tell you now."

No wonder the expedition team came back and held a press conference. Such a big event was not reported.

"At the very beginning, Dr. Holmes shared with us their team's Antarctic expedition, how they took samples, and how they isolated virus plants. These are very exciting. Although it is not suitable for an academic report, it is Benjamin. Holmes, I would be happy to hear him talk about feeding penguins. None of us expressed any objection. Later he also talked about the cooperation with Chinese and German teams. More on that later.

Anyway, when the final page of acknowledgments and group photos came along, we all thought it was almost over.Although I haven't heard anything about virus intelligence, everyone can understand that it is unpublished research after all.However, just as we were already applauding, he said that what I want to tell you is about to begin. "

The ease on Old Zhang's face disappeared.He became serious in a rare way, because of his sombre face, the edges and corners of the doll's face could be clearly seen.

Although this matter has not been said that it is not allowed to be said outside, but since I haven't seen this news flying all over the sky, it means that either the matter is important, or it is pure nonsense.From Lao Zhang's reaction, I don't think it should be the latter.

"After hearing what Dr. Holmes said, we just took two shots and put our hands down, waiting for his next words. Just now, the PPT stopped on the last group photo, and then the people in the group photo slowly began to fade. In the end, most of the people were gone. It became black and white. There were a lot of exclamations from around, and I was also taken aback. There were discussions in the crowd, and as soon as Dr. Holmes spoke, everyone fell silent.

He said: "This trip to Antarctica, we are trying to find the root cause of the expedition team and tourists getting sick.This time, there were 140 medical teams and volunteers from seven countries.Only 61 of us left Antarctica. As soon as the voice fell, there was an uproar.

Dr Holmes continued: 'We have found the root cause.However, there are no viruses in Antarctica at all.All of you here are doctors, and we have no complaints about taking the lead for human beings, but this is not our task.Our teammates were infected with strange diseases by radiation, but the source of all this was taken away. 'Professor Holmes trembled all over when he was excited, and almost couldn't stand up.His students came up to support him.The girl also appeared in the group photo.We have a lot of problems, but Dr. Holmes' body won't allow him to stay any longer.Only then did we know that most of the people who came back were still in the hospital.In the end, he did not say who the remaining sixty people were.At the scene, I only saw him and his students in the Antarctic group photo.

When the meeting was over, he insisted on saying goodbye to the guests, but it seemed that he was really not in good health, so no one bothered him except his close friends.My supervisor is an old acquaintance of Dr. Holmes for many years, so I went to have a few words with him.I followed my tutor, and Dr. Holmes shook my hand very kindly.His hands were hot, as if he had a high fever.We didn't stay long, and my instructor was very silent when we left, and he didn't talk to me about it again. "

After Lao Zhang finished speaking, he looked at me and Ah Tian with his eyes.Without saying a word, Ah Tian asked him to turn on the computer, and she wanted to find out who those sixty people were.

I asked Ah Tian to wait.

"Remember I said I wanted to talk to you two?"

The "radiation source" mentioned by Dr. Holmes is simply too similar to the ore with a magnetic field that Grandpa Li said.And his body is very hot, is this the transformation process?If this conjecture is true, then the distribution of this harmful ore is really wider than imagined.

So I told them what I heard from Grandpa Li.Lao Zhang's eyes widened, and he said, what the hell?I shrugged: "This is what I came to trouble Ah Tian today. Maybe there will be 279 survivors among the sixty survivors."

Ah Tian nodded, took out the hard drive from his bag and inserted it into Lao Zhang's computer, and after a few operations, rows of garbled codes filled the screen.Lao Zhang and I squeezed behind her to watch.Ah Tian unplugged the power after a while.Lao Zhang said distressedly that I haven't saved the game yet, and was glared at by Ah Tian.She said with disgust: "Zhang Yang's computer is flashy, and the firewall is like a sieve. I'll go back and use my computer to check what you two said."Lao Zhang and I nodded obediently.

We sat back on Lao Zhang's floor again.

Ah Tian said that he hadn't been able to find much information just now, and all he knew was that most of the survivors were expedition members from China and the United States.However, these two countries also sent the most people, and the losses were actually not small.Among the survivors was an Italian travel blogger who somehow got on board.

Theoretically speaking, the multi-national scientific expedition team members in distress in Antarctica would make a lot of noise anyway, but the Western media collectively lost their voices, and there was no splash in China.I don't know whether all countries keep it secret because they have their own considerations or are guilty of guilt.It is not known who got that "radiation source" in the end.

Now it seems that in addition to the people of Project 279, there are indeed teams abroad conducting investigations.This radiated stone is now even related to ancient viruses.

I sighed, what's the matter.

"According to what Lao Wang said, there are many such radiated ores, and they were discovered at different times. For example, this Antarctic one, let's assume that it is also one of the radiated ores, and it was discovered only recently. In this case, how do those people check this kind of stone, and what happened to chase it? If there is such a stone in Antarctica, is the virus in the North Pole also caused by radiation? Does that mean that there must be a stone in the North Pole? Do these people know how many such stones there are?" Lao Zhang asked a series of questions.

Ah Tian also looked at me: "Did your grandpa Li tell you about this?"

I was stopped by the two of them, so I could only say: "Li Yuan is investigating this matter now, and Grandpa Li knows only a little."

"Then do you have Li Yuan's contact information?"

I shook my head.

Ah Tian said it was easy to handle.She turned on Lao Zhang's computer again, opened a few webpages, and entered codes and other things. Anyway, she searched for a while without knowing it.I chatted with Lao Zhang for a while and saw Ah Tian turned around and stared at me and said, "How old is that Li Yuan?"

I pondered for a while: "He just celebrated his birthday during Mid-Autumn Festival, and he is 24 this year."

Ah Tian rolled his huge eyes, and I hurriedly asked what was wrong.She dragged me to the computer, and Lao Zhang stretched his neck to watch.

I stare at the screen.There was a man's profile on it, but he was obviously a middle-aged man, and there was nothing to match Li Yuan except his gender.

Ah Tian let me go. "Your little friend here was either damaged by radiation in this way, or he hid so deep that even I couldn't easily find out."

"This radiation really breaks the balance of the human body." Lao Zhang echoed in a strange way, and I gave him an elbow.

But it was unexpected that Ah Tian couldn't find Li Yuan's information.It stands to reason that since he can still run around with the team, he should not be a black householder if he is still participating in some Sino-US cooperation project in the United States.Unless Grandpa Li lied to me, or Li Yuan used some false identity.I don't really believe the former, but the latter directly confirms Li Yuan's suspicion.As for Ah Tian finding the wrong person, this possibility does not exist at all.

"I'll check on Li Yuan when I get back. Old Wang, I'll ask you again. Didn't Li Zheng say that the 'transformation process' is accelerating no matter what it is?" I nodded.

"Did she say when it started?" Ah Tian asked again.

I covered my face: "I didn't have the nerve to ask at that time."

Ah Tian snorted.In fact, I also regret it. If I knew that this matter could involve such a wide range, what kind of face would I have taken at that time.

My head was almost bald by rubbing myself, but Lao Zhang still refused to let me go. "Then do you now know what 279 they went to Egypt for? Is there a radioactive stone in Egypt? What exactly did you dig out of your archaeological site?"

This time I really didn't know what to ask.Looking into their eyes, I said with difficulty: "I'll go back and ask the archaeological team to see if they know anything."

"If you wanted to ask, you would have asked a long time ago, why wait until now?" Ah Tian mercilessly exposed me.

At this time, Lao Zhang raised his hand.I glanced at him, but he insisted, "So you're going to Egypt?"

Ah Tian is also staring at me now.I said dejectedly: "Go ahead, I promised the archaeological team. And this matter may not have anything to do with Egypt."

"Just deceive yourself and others." Ah Tian gave me a blank look.

I groaned and lay down on Lao Zhang's lazy bean.Ah Tian poked my back viciously, and I didn't bother to move.

After a while, I heard Lao Zhang say again: "Old Wang, I was wondering, what's so good about Egypt, do you have to go after drinking honey?"

Ah Tian poked me again, telling me not to pretend to be dead, but hurry up and get real.

I lay face down in the cushion and said: "Actually, I just got off the plane yesterday and received a photo from my third uncle in the family group chat. It was taken when I was catching Zhou."

If I hadn't seen this photo, I would have forgotten a lot of things.It doesn't mean what I can remember when I was one year old, but there are actually a lot of clues in the process from childhood to adulthood.Just like the one sent by Uncle San.

In the photo, I have a missing jade ring in my mouth, holding a copper plate in my left hand, supporting me, my aunt picked up my cousin, and we were both crying.

I naturally don't remember what happened in this photo, but fortunately, I have a grandma who likes to tell stories.In grandma's narration, this matter still depends on me a lot. More than 20 years ago, he was sent to Sichuan by his work unit, and he stayed there for several years.That time he came home from the mine to celebrate the New Year, and it happened that my birthday was in the first month, so he participated in my Zhou Catch Ceremony.

The things that catch the week are supported by various companies.It doesn't matter whether you catch it or not, it's mine anyway.Grandma put the jade that she had kept at the bottom of the box for decades, the third uncle contributed a small wooden sword he sharpened himself, my father put a copper coin, my mother put a book, and grandpa put a pen. A beautiful stone was placed on it, which symbolizes the family business in the future.Even my two-year-old cousin shared his puppy toy.

When I was grasping Zhou, I grabbed the jade and stuffed it into my mouth. With my mouth in my mouth, I touched the copper coins, and then I lay down on the ground and stretched out to reach a stone in front of me.The problem is that I am only one year old, my body is very soft, and I am still stupid. I can't crawl very well. I was anxious for a long time and couldn't make any progress towards the stone.Da Da happened to be right next to me, and helped me to reach him, but as soon as I touched him, I burst into tears.As soon as I cried, my cousin cried too, and the adults behind hugged and coaxed us respectively.

It is probably because my greedy appearance is too funny. The third uncle took the camera and wanted to take a picture of me taking care of everything, but he did not expect to capture this scene of chaos.Originally, this was just a childhood anecdote, but the third uncle sent me a high-definition remake of it at this time, probably because it has some deep meaning.

The piece of jade I was holding in my mouth in the photo is now tied to my chest with a red string, and the stone that I couldn't reach when I was one year old was seen again last year.

When I went to my cousin's house that day, he had this stone in his bookcase.After all, it was brought back from Sichuan and kept as a souvenir.That stone is round and smooth, and I couldn't help touching it no matter if I was one year old or in my 20s.At that time, I was a little dizzy when I touched the stone, and I almost missed it, which made my cousin ask me if I had Parkinson's.

In fact, Da Da stayed in Sichuan for a few years after I caught Zhou. Every time I saw him when I was young, I would cry.Now it seems that Uncle San went to Sichuan probably because of me.Uncle San has a very keen intuition. He must have found something in Sichuan, so he sent this photo to remind me.

I thought of the piece of jade my grandma gave me again.Although my family doesn't have a close family, it has always been around Sichuan and the Li family in recent decades, which is really disturbing.

But after thinking about it, I have been wearing this jade for more than [-] years. If there was radiation, I would have died of "transformation". After all, I am not a talented Yin family.And if there was something wrong with the jade, Third Uncle wouldn't hide it.

Speaking of which, that kid Li Yuan is too wicked.Even though he knew that I was going to Egypt, he didn't take the initiative to contact me. I wanted to contact him but there was no such person.

When I think about how many people and things were involved in the archaeological trip to Egypt, I get dizzy.

Ah Tian looked up Egypt while I was thinking wildly.Although I didn't find anything about the magnetic field, I found tentacles that were in Egypt more than 70 years ago.The Eight-Power Allied Forces, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, and Austria are all among them, and Poland is added.

However, due to the impact of World War II, most countries declined in Egypt, and the United States, Britain and France remained relatively strong.

The United States is the Chicago House, a well-known Egyptological research institution, through which many forces at home and abroad come in; the United Kingdom is divided into two parts, one of which is the Egyptian Exploration Society, which is dominated by the British Museum and major universities. At that time, there were many universities, research institutes and various families.But this group of people have the same interests as the United States, and they pay more attention to plundering cultural relics and doing research.Another faction that belongs to Britain is the House Black.Their coming to Egypt is the traditional kind of spontaneous action of rich people.The difference with this family is that they did not hire an archaeological team or an expedition team, but did it by themselves. It was the second young master of the Black family who came to Egypt more than 60 years ago.But the records are vague about what the family did in Egypt and why they came here.Moreover, the Black family has not made much splash in recent years, and their research and cultural relics have not made any achievements; France, as an old-fashioned Egyptian plunderer, has been blacked out by the British because of its victories, so it has sent many scholars in this century. Excavation studies in Egypt.

Before receiving the excavation application from the archaeological team, the British Museum also handed me an expired olive branch.Now that I think about it, that might not be a good thing.

After listening to Ah Tian, ​​I remembered that besides the three countries, there was another person who came to Egypt with the University of London at that time.This person is Mr. Xia Nai, one of the founders of modern Chinese archaeology.It is not known how the old gentleman’s experience in Egypt overlaps with those in the previous countries, but more than 70 years later, a Chinese archaeological team set up camp in Egypt.The Soviet Union also helped build the Aswan Dam in the 50s.The five permanent members of the United Nations have quite a relationship with Egypt.

I couldn't help but smile helplessly.

Ah Tian and Lao Zhang looked at each other.

"Let's ask you again, are you planning to go to Egypt?"

I nodded.

Whatever was there, I had no reason not to check it out.If I have the opportunity to visit the temple that I slapped away and don't grasp it, I will definitely have trouble sleeping and eating.

Lao Zhang shrugged his shoulders at Ah Tian, ​​and proudly said, "Let me just say it."

Ah Tian looked at me: "Zhang Yang and I just discussed it. Anyway, the laboratory is closed during the Christmas holiday, and we have never been to Egypt. This time, I will give you a chance to be a tour guide and take us to have fun. "

I opened my mouth stupidly. "what?"

Lao Zhang added with a hippie smile: "The great sage said, no tip if you don't design a good route." Then he was hit by Ah Tian again.

Knowing that their kindness cannot be refused, I thought to myself that I must find an opportunity to repay it later, but I said on the face, "Then you should prepare the tip, you two will never find a better company than me in Egypt. .”

In the end, Qi Tian really found one, but that's for another story.

In this way, my two friends couldn't help but want to go to this muddy water for my curiosity.

　Today is also the protagonist Li Yuan who only appears in the background...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)