Chapter 44: Blight

"This is a strain of *Aspergillus niger* discovered across the ocean, which is by no means inferior to the *Aspergillus flavus* on our side. However, they do have some competence; according to them, they have already brought the spread of this fungal infection under control."

"Then, how did you come to know about this news?" Xu Chen asked, suppressing a wave of nausea.

"Academician Qi said that various terrifying mold diseases of this kind still exist around the world, and countries are searching for a cure for this mold. A fungus with such an extremely high lethality will not be reported by the media to avoid causing panic; they can only discuss it privately. They reached certain agreements with us and shared a vast amount of information previously unknown to us."

"When did this happen?"

"During the previous international health conference. Don't you watch the news?"

Xu Chen thought for a moment. He had indeed heard rumors recently, but he hadn't paid any attention to them at all.

"Fine, then what do we know that we didn't know before?"

Ouyang Xing smiled. "What do you think would happen if this mold were left unmanaged?"

Recalling the characteristics of the mutated *Aspergillus flavus* he had seen earlier, Xu Chen shook his head. "If left unchecked, a fungus capable of infecting virtually any living organism would probably spread across the entire world in no time."

"You're wrong. The US side revealed a piece of intelligence: this mold possesses a density-dependent transition mechanism similar to that of locusts, meaning it can only spread extensively in areas where large populations congregate."

"Could you elaborate?"

"We halted the spread of our local *Aspergillus flavus* disease right at the start, so we never witnessed its fully propagated form. It's only natural for you to make such an assumption, but the US is a different story." For reasons unknown, Ouyang Xing smiled as he spoke. "They bore the full brunt of the *Aspergillus niger* outbreak, which is why we were able to observe the fully evolved state of the pathogen.

"Collin County in Texas on the US side was hit disastrously hard. They didn't take it seriously in the initial stages and only implemented quarantine policies later. They burned out a massive quarantine zone with fire, completely isolating the dead zone of fungal infection. Then they discovered that the fungus could still cross the quarantine zone, but its symptoms were vastly attenuated.

"According to their scientists' deductions, when this primitive fungus reaches a certain density and has a massive base of human or animal hosts for infection, it possesses extreme survival and transmission capabilities with virtually no weaknesses. However, once isolated, these fungi evolve long-range spreading spores to cross distances, at the expense of weakening in other aspects.

"This resulted in the fungi outside the mold dead zone being far less active than those inside; some even weakened to the point of matching natural environmental molds, yet they still retained certain properties of the original mold, such as... human infection."

Xu Chen suddenly understood why the foreign fungal infections seemed so weak. As it turned out, these were merely residual weak strains that couldn't be contained even after the main spread was brought under control. Yet, it seemed that even these weakened fungi still possessed terrifying lethality.

"So the drug I developed isn't targeted at the terrifying fungal body itself, but rather its offspring..."

Xu Chen abruptly stared at him, only to find Ouyang Xing deep in serious thought with no abnormal signs.

Lately, his mind had been plagued by that old deity Cthulhu; any phrase even remotely associated with Cthulhu was enough to trigger a reaction in Xu Chen. Meeting Ouyang Xing's gaze, he wondered if he was just being overly sensitive.

"Offspring? That's an interesting metaphor," Xu Chen probed.

"Oh? Ah?" Ouyang Xing scratched his head. "Indeed, I shouldn't use the word 'offspring'; I should call it a mutated subspecies... Strange, I actually feel like 'offspring' is quite fitting."

A faint tremor ran through Xu Chen's heart, but observing Ouyang Xing closely, he truly couldn't detect anything amiss.

"Never mind, that's a minor detail. The main point is that while EXC08 might not stand a chance against the main body, dealing with the weakened version is an absolute piece of cake, a total breeze!" At this, Ouyang Xing grew genuinely excited. He pulled Xu Chen over to a laboratory bench where a row of test tubes sat neatly inside an insulated box.

Unable to find any anomalies, Xu Chen finally gave up. "Well then, isn't your medicine basically done? Why were you so excited upon seeing that notice?"

At this, Ouyang Xing looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, although the drug is nearly ready, there's still some distance to go."

"So is it done or not?"

"It's as good as done."

Ouyang Xing replied, "Even though the toxicity of EXC08 has been drastically reduced, it's still quite toxic. The next task is to mitigate its toxicity further; otherwise, with the current formulation, even a few units would cause liver damage."

Xu Chen sighed. "You've got a long and arduous road ahead of you."

"That's precisely why. With relevant resources and financial backing, we could acquire better instruments for research, and our progress would more than double. Once this drug is perfected, our Nanhua University will make a name for itself!

"You must understand that while this weakened version of the fungus isn't as formidable as the main body, its tenacity and transmission capacity are like something specially specialized. At that point, this medicine will be of immense use."

Looking at the insulated box before him, Xu Chen was suddenly struck by doubt. What on earth had he come here for again? Ah, right, to investigate the composition of the patients infected domestically.

Although he had acquired a great deal of information he hadn't known previously, it wasn't of immediate use to him.

"Senior, I came here today because I need your help with something..."

Ouyang Xing suddenly remembered. "Oh, right! I completely forgot. I intended to let you eat first before talking business, instead of dragging you straight in here. Go ahead, let's see if I can help."

"Alright, I'll be direct. Recently, global medical pressure has surged. You just told me about the situation abroad—that it's a subspecies fungal infection... But domestically, as far as I remember, we should have already halted the spread of that mutated *Aspergillus flavus*, and choked off the sources completely. There's no such fungus in China, so why is there still such massive medical pressure?"

Hearing this, Ouyang Xing furrowed his brow as well. "That does seem strange indeed. Could it be a global medicine shortage? Or did customs defenses fail? Hold on a moment, I recall that our Dean Yang has quite a few students working in hospitals; I can help you ask around."

Xu Chen nodded. He hadn't expected his Grandpa Yang to have such extensive connections in the medical industry—this truly was having peach and plum disciples all over the world.

"Hello, is this Senior Zhang? I'm Ouyang Xing... Dean Yang's student. Yes, yes, I'd like to ask about your hospital's patient statistical data... for research purposes... Thank you."

"Hello, Senior Guo? That's right, I am..."

Ouyang Xing took Xu Chen's request quite seriously. He made a total of six phone calls, requesting data from six different hospitals. Since this portion of the data did not involve patient privacy and was relatively minor, and he stated it was for research, most of them readily agreed.

More importantly, they were all former students under Dean Yang's tutelage, willing to give a junior fellow student a helping hand.

Fumbling with WeChat, he printed the documents out using the laboratory printer—the paper could be reimbursed anyway—and after a brief sorting, he handed them over to Xu Chen.

"These are the patient origin reports from six hospitals, including two Grade-III Class-A public ones. The sample size is still a bit small, let me think of another way for you."

"No, no, this is more than enough." Weighing the thick stack of papers in his hand, Xu Chen was genuinely startled. This wasn't enough? Any more and it could pass for a book.