this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
Xu Cong felt like he’d just lost face for the second time today. His fists clenched tight, veins bulging, while his toes curled so hard inside his shoes it felt like he’d carved out a whole three-bedroom apartment in there.
“Stay,” Jiang Ci said bluntly. “Our medical team needs to eat before we head over anyway. You eat something too, and while you’re at it, tell us more about what’s happening in the quarantine zone.” She shoved a lunchbox into Xu Cong’s hands without giving him room to refuse.
Red-faced, Xu Cong could only accept the food and sit back down.
Over the course of the meal, everyone got a general understanding of the situation in the base.
This was a small base, with only a few hundred survivors, all living together like one big family. No wonder Xu Cong was so stricken.
The virus in their base had been brought back by someone who went out, and it began to spread at an alarming rate upon their return.
Normally, after survivors’ bodies had undergone evolution, even catching a cold was rare. But after that one person came back, a wave of coughing and fevers erupted. Even the original base leader was infected. The remaining healthy survivors had hurried to move the sick into quarantine and called on the base doctors for treatment.
But with no access to the most critical medicines, the doctors couldn’t make progress. Patients only worsened by the day. In desperation, when There’s A Gourmet City had sent out word, Xu Cong, who had always trusted Jiang Ci, had chosen to reach out to her for help.
Waiting for her to arrive had been agonizing, and when he finally saw her just now, he hadn’t been able to hold back his emotions—crying out loud like that. Although it was humiliating, in that moment, Jiang Ci felt even more precious to him than family.
After the meal, Jiang Ci had everyone change into protective suits and pick up their medical kits to enter the base together.
Xu Cong led them straight to the quarantine zone. When he wanted to proceed further, Jiang Ci stopped him, “We’ve got protective suits. You don’t. If you go in, you’ll risk infection—and right now your base can’t afford to lose you.”
Though he was clearly anxious, Xu Cong could only nod at her words and stop where he was. “Boss Jiang… I’ll be counting on you.”
Jiang Ci nodded steadily and, along with the others, entered the quarantine area.
The base’s doctors and helpers, wearing masks and bulky protective suits, were overwhelmed as they looked at the little boy who had fallen into a coma due to fever.
Watching the child’s life force slowly ebb away, they had done everything they could but still couldn’t save his life. A sense of helplessness swept over them.
At that moment, a series of hurried footsteps was heard.
Startled, the doctor turned toward the quarantine gate. She was certain it had been sealed, so who could be coming in now? Another case, maybe?
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, until she saw a group of people in lightweight protective suits stride in. Each one carried a medical kit, and without hesitation, they began opening them with practiced hands, splitting off to check patients in every room.
The doctor was stunned, unable to comprehend what was happening.
“Doctor Jiang, hello.” Jiang Ci stepped forward. “I’m Boss Jiang from There’s A Gourmet City. We received your distress call, so I’ve brought a medical team. These are the highly skilled Chinese medicine practitioners our team has handpicked. I’ve also provided the herbs that can stabilize the patients soon.”
Doctor Jiang rose, wanting to shake her hand, but when she glanced at her own gloves, contaminated by contact with the virus, she had no choice but to hold back.
The child in her arms was carefully taken away by one of the newcomers. Outside the quarantine area, others from the medical team, with Song Jinchuan’s help, had already set up large cauldrons over open fires. Before long, the thick, earthy fragrance of boiling Chinese herbal medicine spread throughout the base.
Jiang Ci had Xu Cong organize the uninfected survivors, making sure each one received a bowl of preventative decoction.
As the survivors gathered in the open space, Jiang Ci finally realized just how few of them were left—barely a hundred. It was fewer than the daily customers at There’s A Gourmet City.
Xu Cong still held considerable authority in the base, and with a few words, he had everyone line up.
“The situation in the quarantine zone is under control for now,” Jiang Ci announced. “Don’t worry too much about your relatives and friends inside. After drinking this medicine, I want everyone to stay at home. Don’t go out for the time being. Food will be delivered to your doors.”
It wasn’t just about treating the sick. The most important thing to do now was cutting the problem off at its root.
They had already discussed this with Xu Cong before. If they could completely wipe out the virus in the base, then for Xu Cong, this was a duty he could not shirk.
The survivors also expressed that they would not go out and would wait for this wave of the virus to pass.
Meanwhile, in the quarantine zone, Doctor Jiang was taking care of and treating patients along with the medical team, who were diagnosing by taking their pulse and then prescribing medicine, all in one go.
It was the same method and demeanor that Doctor Jiang had seen from those renowned traditional Chinese medicine masters.
For a moment, Doctor Jiang felt a surge of emotion. Even in the apocalypse, this legacy had not been forgotten and erased by time.
Because there were few people in this base, the medical team of several dozen people had already managed to control the worsening condition within a day.
The survivors who had been suffering from high fevers were slowly recovering, and the conditions of everyone was slowly improving. Seeing this, Doctor Jiang’s exhaustion melted into tears of relief.
When she had cradled that feverish child earlier, she had truly believed another tragedy like the one years ago was about to repeat itself.
Fortunately, with Boss Jiang and her team here, everything was turning for the better.
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
After leaving behind a doctor and nurse to continue caring for the survivors, Jiang Ci led the rest of the team to another base.
This wave of the virus was spreading fast, having already swept across several cities. On Jiang Ci’s mission map, urgent red dots were popping up everywhere.
The second base was in the same city as the previous one, taking them less than an hour to get there.
Although this city was larger than the previous base, their sense of prevention was nowhere near as good.
The infected survivors hadn’t even entered the quarantine zone and were still walking around outside as if nothing was wrong.
Jiang Ci’s brows furrowed tightly. As she entered with her medical team, some of the survivors even had the nerve to ask her what she was doing there.
“Didn’t your base leader tell you that the epidemic was spreading everywhere and that some of you were already infected?”
In fact, this base had never reached out for help. But since a red dot had appeared on her map, Jiang Ci thought she might as well lend a hand. She hadn’t expected the people here to be completely oblivious.
“We don’t know anything!” the survivors suddenly panicked. After all, even if they hadn’t experienced the disaster from a few years ago, they had still heard of how terrifying it had been.
“They only told us it was a flu! But I said, how could everyone be that sick if it was just the flu?”
As the crowd grew more restless, Jiang Ci raised a hand to calm them down. “Don’t panic. We’re here to help you. Our medical team is very professional. We’ll treat you, but you need to follow their instructions.”
Her words gradually calmed the frightened survivors, though many still muttered curses at their useless base leader.
Because this base was so chaotic, the workload of the doctors had increased significantly.
Only after truly delving deeper into the situation did Jiang Ci realize that it wasn’t just the epidemic that was the problem here—it seemed like all other aspects were also in disarray. Even the quarantine zone had been turned into a two-storey building far more luxurious than any other buildings.
According to the survivors, the base leader had built it, claiming it was a public facility. But in reality, he was the only one who ever used it. The doors were always shut tight, with no one else allowed inside.
“Anyone who had anywhere else to go has already left this base. The ones with nowhere else to go had no choice but to stay. Even if we know the base leader’s useless, what can we do?” one survivor guiding Jiang Ci explained bitterly.
“Is the base leader living there now?” Jiang Ci asked.
The survivor nodded. “Ever since the virus started spreading in the base, he immediately holed up in there with his men.”
Jiang Ci felt a surge of anger but maintained a polite smile. “Thank you for guiding us. Please go over there and let the medical team examine you.”
The survivor nodded and walked away.
Now only Jiang Ci remained. She had sent Song Jinchuan to help the medical team set up temporary tents.
The tents were exchanged by Jiang Ci from the system. They looked small from the outside, but stepping inside revealed a much larger space.
Soon, tents began to rise from the ground one after another. The medical team filed in, and the remaining survivors were brought in batches.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, in the building within the quarantine zone, a telescope was retracted from the window.
“Brother Mao, people really did come. A whole bunch of doctors just showed up,” said a bald man, lowering the telescope and turning toward a heavily tattooed man in the room.
The tattooed man was none other than the base leader, Dong Damao. He had taken over the base just a few years ago, claiming that the previous leader had died suddenly. In reality, he and his men had killed him, unwilling to live under someone else’s thumb. However, building a base required too many resources that he was unable to obtain, so he could only resort to stealing one.
Though a villain, Dong Damao was skilled at deception, and the survivors had fallen for his act.
Still, even the best lies eventually unravel. After this incident, many would likely hold grudges and turn against him.
Now, with no outsiders around, Dong Damao finally revealed his true nature, his mouth curling into a cold smile. “I told you, sooner or later there’d be some righteous fool showing up.”
His tone even carried a hint of regret. “What a pity… not enough people have died yet.”
“Should we go out?” the bald man asked.
“No. We’ll wait until it’s mostly over. Then we’ll pretend we were sick too, say a few nice words, and we’ll be fine.” Dong Damao sneered, his tone devoid of emotion, filled only with absolute confidence in his own acting.
i changed the translation for the a restaurant city to there’s a gourmet city! by the time you’re seeing this on my website, i should’ve probably alr finished publishing the complete ebook and probably changed the rest of the earlier translations too!
