Chapter 173: The Characteristics of Ghost Orchid Fungus
Huai Yu and Uncle Za Zi were sitting on a long bench in the rescue room corridor.
This was her first time here, and she felt both tired and sad. She had no choice but to keep walking around, trying to distract herself.
Uncle Za Zi was also feeling exhausted. At his age, he just couldn’t compare to the energy of the younger folks. In fact, he had been doing strenuous physical labor all day.
Now, unable to sit still, he turned and went to the nurse’s station in the lobby. In the quiet, spacious hospital lobby, faintly, one could hear him negotiating with the nurse for a sweet calming candy.
Meanwhile, Huai Yu looked at the backpack. The cup was gone, and the food she brought was also missing. Only the big and small cubs had been jostled around during the journey. Now, they were drowsy and half-asleep inside the backpack.
She sighed, picked up the backpack, and decided to take it to Zhou Qian’s hospital room. But just as she lifted her foot, she suddenly remembered that it was the middle of the night.
“Forget it, I’ll wait a bit longer.”
She sat back down on the bench in the corridor, looking up at the posters on the wall. The posters had detailed illustrations and explanations about various types of plant and animal injuries. Huai Yu observed them carefully and learned quite a bit of new information.
Until—
“What is this?”
She leaned in closer to the poster.
Uncle Za Zi, having finally coaxed the nurse into giving him a sweet candy, had it in his mouth. Seeing Huai Yu looking at the poster, he suddenly felt a bit guilty. He hurried over to her and said, “I know, I know! Although this image looks like a red mess, it’s not because we didn’t get the picture. It’s just that we haven’t received the complete specimen yet.”
“This is the Ghost Orchid Fungus. It’s a symbiotic fungus of a certain kind of orchid found in the wastelands. Once it touches the skin, it quickly parasitizes.”
Uncle Za Zi shivered. “This kind of parasitic thing is the worst. If it’s a weak parasite, it can still be expelled—hospitals have all sorts of expulsion agents.”
“But if it’s a strong one, you have to use different methods to control their behavior, then forcefully remove it. If not, the person will never be able to live without the expulsion agents.”
He sighed heavily, looking downcast. “The expulsion agents are insanely expensive!”
“But people still have to grit their teeth and use them—because medical progress is pretty fast nowadays. Who knows, maybe we’ll be able to hold on and see some hope?”
“This Ghost Orchid Fungus is the worst. Not only does it parasitize, but it’s also highly toxic, and it has a tendency to target the brain… no matter where the spores infect, the ultimate goal is the brain.”
“And right now, we can only expel it temporarily, keeping the mind clear, but it doesn’t solve the problem.”
“Even the specimen… We don’t have a complete one! Because the Ghost Orchid Fungus can’t be exposed to light! Once it’s detached from its parasitic source and exposed to light, it dies… in short, it’s a huge hassle.”
“So, it’s not that the hospital is being stingy with the pictures—they don’t even have them. This red lump is probably the one taken by the medical warehouse.”
…
Inside the hospital, Fanta’s naked body was quickly sutured and cleaned on the biological extension surgical table, and then sent into the medical warehouse for repair.
Meanwhile, in the operating room, a group of doctors was gathered around a small black biological box in the center, their eyes nearly glowing with excitement.
Before they got too excited, they carefully inspected the makeshift black box to ensure it was still light-proof.
“Is it lightproof?”
“Yes, yes!” The nurse swore to the heavens. “It’s set to dark mode, and for extra precaution, I wrapped it in two more layers of blackout cloth. I even cut the cloth from the curtains.”
Right now, the black box wasn’t connected to any specific instruments, so they couldn’t see anything, but everyone was still gathered around it, their eyes gleaming with pride.
“The only one in the world! Alive! The Ghost Orchid Fungus! Hahaha, it’s ours at Flower City Hospital!”
“Be low-key, be low-key! Have you contacted the director? We need to pry a few good machines from the capital!”
“Exactly! We have such a big hospital, and only three medical warehouses… this time, we need at least ten!”
“The more machines we have, the lower the price for usage. Right now, they’re hesitant to even turn the machines on… But this young man helped us successfully obtain the specimen. I’ll apply to waive his treatment fees.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
With the good things right in front of them, what was the treatment fee in comparison?
“Wait, didn’t they say four people were sent in at once? Where are the other three? Which rescue rooms?”
“Quick, quick! What if they’re infected with the Ghost Orchid Fungus too?”
“Right, right! Hurry and check! Don’t waste them—”
“This patient looks young, his physical constitution should be pretty good, right? When will he wake up? Why did the Ghost Orchid Fungus gather in the stomach?”
“Yeah, but didn’t we check the stomach during surgery? There was nothing.”
“There must be a reason. Did he eat something that suppressed the Ghost Orchid Fungus?”
“We’ll ask when he wakes up. Little Qin, record that down.”
“When the patient wakes up, if they can provide any useful clues, we’ll apply to waive the treatment fees for all four of them.”
“We can, but I think getting answers will be tough. After all, once the Ghost Orchid Fungus invades, the person immediately falls into a coma, unable to take in water or food…”
“I guess he didn’t eat anything. It could be that he has some special ability that just happened to suppress it.”
“In that case, we need to find out what kind of ability it is! Be sure to ask clearly.”
“—Got it, the other three are in rescue rooms 3, 5, and 6!”
“But there’s no one in Room 6. That patient’s symptoms are the lightest. After basic repairs, they’ve already been sent to the ward—”
“It’s a regular abdominal hemorrhage. Apparently, a mutated plant in the wasteland pierced through them. But because they have wood-type abilities, they left the broken branch of the mutated plant inside their body to slow the bleeding, and that’s what kept them alive…”
“Not bad, not bad,” the doctors praised. “Looks like their emergency knowledge is solid—Is that patient awake?”
“No, they’re still receiving a blood transfusion. Plus, the abilities have been overused, so they’ll need a long time to recover.”
“The other two are a woman with nerve death in her left arm, abilities depleted, and she illegally took an ability-enhancing drug… Right now, her body is full of holes, and after basic cleaning, she’ll be sent to the medical warehouse.”
“The other male patient has two broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and seems to have been hit by gravity… One of the broken ribs pierced his internal organs, but thanks to his enhanced body after gaining abilities, he was able to survive.”
The doctors moved quickly, walking briskly while listening to the assistant’s report.
At this point, the head doctor asked the most crucial question:
“Do they have any Ghost Orchid Fungus in their bodies?”
“No.” The assistant shook his head. “The Ghost Orchid Fungus is a single-parasitic fungus. It won’t choose another host until the current host dies. So…”
Though the doctors sighed, they weren’t disappointed. They simply waved their hands.
“Forget it, let’s approve the medical warehouse for them.”
