Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 349: Information about the Sick Village
"In the past twenty years, it's not that no one has tried to explore this space station..." Ke Lan pressed the remote control, and the information on the projection screen immediately turned to the next page. "There are four records available, nine years ago, six years ago, four years ago, and three years ago."
"The most recent record is of little value. It was just a group of young rich boys who held a 'test of courage'. In the end, they only wandered around the periphery of areas B and C. They didn't even go deep into areas B and C, and returned to the Ark in disgrace. The entire file, including the title, has less than 200 words... As for the one four years ago, it should be the time when Ivan's friend disappeared." Ke Lan said.
"Well, there were three people in total, all doctors. The purpose of the exploration was to study topics related to radiation sickness, but when they came back, only two were left. Both of them died within a year. The cause of death was highly malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." Ivan said.
"Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma?" Ke Lan was slightly stunned. This is a malignant tumor of the blood system. Compared with leukemia, which is also a malignant tumor of the blood system, the five-year survival rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is slightly higher. However, those highly malignant lymphomas are much more lethal than acute leukemia . From the onset of obvious symptoms to death, the shortest time is only a few days. In this case, there is no window of time for rescue.
With current medical technology, many cancers are no longer terminal. Even if they cannot be completely cured, it is still easy to prolong the patient's survival time and improve the quality of life. These two people are doctors themselves, and they are not the kind of people who cannot afford medical expenses due to family difficulties. However, they died of lymphoma within a year. Obviously, they had the most malignant and fastest-killing type.
"Is it because of radiation?" Ke Lan asked. The description of the two people's illness in the data was vague, but Ivan knew more. "Even if they didn't wear protective clothing, they would definitely take anti-radiation drugs when they went to that kind of place, right? After returning, they would definitely be given intravenous drips of Radiation Elimination to expel the radiation in their bodies... Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case... If the radiation is that strong, then no one can survive in the space station."
"Look at this." Ivan pointed to a paragraph in the document and said, "When they were visiting radiation sickness patients in the sick village, they were attacked by unidentified people."
Ivan paused and continued, "One of the two men contacted me after returning to the Ark. He told me that after the attackers injured them, they splashed their blood on their wounds."
"You mean... blood infection?" Ke Lan pondered for a few seconds, "But... although non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a malignant tumor of the blood system, this disease cannot be transmitted through blood infection... If they had AIDS, it would make sense... Wait! Could it be that after these two people were infected with AIDS, their immune systems collapsed, and then they contracted lymphoma, and their condition worsened in a short period of time and they died?!"
Ivan shook his head: "No, I checked the autopsy report and the HIV test was negative."
"That doesn't make sense... Unless there is a high concentration of radiation in the blood, it would lead to this consequence directly... But if there is such a high concentration of radiation in the blood, then can the owner of this blood still be considered human?" Ke Lan tapped the table rhythmically with his index finger and spoke slowly.
"In short, the following precautions should be included: protect your body, try not to get injured, absolutely prohibit the intake of local food and drinks, strictly prohibit contact with any body fluids of local people, and it is best not to have any direct physical contact." Ivan said seriously.
“Hearing what you said, I feel like this sick village is just like raising poisonous insects…” The Hound couldn’t help but complain, “Those with weak constitutions and bad luck will probably die soon after being sent up there. Those who can survive and stay in the space station for several years are probably either monsters or close to monsters… They are not human beings at all, they are simply poison kings.”
"That...that Marshall...can he still survive in a place like this?" Zhuo Ligetu whispered, looking at Asano Akira cautiously.
"The Security Bureau has interrogated Mann's followers. They only learned about Marshall's location in South District 16 half a month ago... Although it's unclear whether the source of the information is reliable, it's at least worth a try," said Ke Lan.
"That depends on the timeliness of the information... If they get outdated intelligence, we'll be the ones who get taken advantage of," muttered the Hound.
"Let's not talk about this for now." Ke Lan paused. "In addition to these two exploration records, the earlier two records actually have more content, including the living conditions of the sick village, the daily diet and living habits of the residents, some customs and beliefs..."
Having said this, Ke Lan suddenly stopped, and the expressions of the other people also changed to varying degrees.
"The records mentioned that... the residents of the sick village generally believe in an unnamed god..." Ivan read the second half of the document, "This god... could it be..."
"A heretical sect." The Hound said word by word, his face looking very ugly.
"It may not be a heretical sect... Even if there were missionaries from a heretical sect mixed in with the miners suffering from radiation sickness, the South Sixteenth District is completely isolated from the outside world. The heretical sects on the ground cannot control the believers there..." Ke Lan analyzed, "Besides, Lao Gou also said that the residents of the sick village do not live long. Even if the heretical sect spread among them, it certainly cannot be considered the same as the heretical sects on the ground..."
"But it is still a threat to us." Ivan continued reading the document. "The residents of the sick village are very xenophobic, especially those who come from the ground and are healthy and have not suffered from radiation sickness... It is also for this reason that those who go to the sick village to explore find it extremely difficult to carry out investigations. Almost no locals are willing to communicate with them, and they are often spied on, followed, or even attacked."
"If I were these people, I would also hate the people on Earth. Those mining companies are doing all kinds of immoral things. What's the difference between throwing people into a space station and leaving them in the wilderness to fend for themselves... To put it bluntly, those mining companies have never treated them as human beings... This is simply the treatment of animals." The Hound cursed.
