Plague Doctor

Chapter 402: Acute Radiation Sickness

The headlights cut through the darkness. The sound of engines echoed through this deserted land. The citizens of Ma Er Wan had been safely evacuated. There were no longer any citizens or animals within the quarantine circle. The plants were the next to go. At Mo Bei, trees were a rarity and thus every single one was precious. The logging trucks, excavators and dredgers, which were part of this Quarantine Circle Project, moved towards the afforestation spots.

At Mo Bei Command Central, Zhou Dajun, the main commander had his face drawn. He was a Mo Bei local, he saw for himself how the environment at his hometown improved with his own two eyes… “Start!” With an order, the vehicles rammed into the lively trees. Then came the sound of sawing and falling… The trees fell one after another. The logs were carried away by the trucks, leaving behind not even a seedling.

At the same time, the land was torched. It burned away the wild grass, the colors of spring and the signs of nature. Overnight, everything morphed into smoke and dust. Quarantine circle… or more literally, the Death circle surrounded the 30 cubic km of mutated area.

…

At Mo Bei’s Phecda Division, two surgeries were imminent. The patients were Tian Fuhou and Bian Yi. They were scheduled for right upper arm amputation. Both of them had reached their hands into the locust tree, which caused minor burns on their arms. Turns out that was caused by direct exposure to radiation. For the human body, 1 Gy equals to 1 Sievert (Sv). Sievert is a derived unit of ionizing radiation dose in the International System of Units and is a measure of the health effect of low levels of ionizing radiation on the human body.

Currently, the radiation dose within the two were respectively 6.2 Sv and 4.5 Sv in general but 1723 Sv and 1871 Sv in their right arms. The other two patients, Mai Dong and Ma Zhengxin measured respectively at 5.6 Sv and 4.2 Sv. The four’s acute radiation sickness worsened. There was constant vomiting, headache and dizziness. After the result confirmed that it was radiation poisoning, the medical unit prescribed them anti-radiation medicine, antemetic and sedative. For now, Mai Dong and Ma Zhengxin’s situation was brought under control. However, Tian Fuhou and Bian Yi had complained of increased pain around the burn marks since noon.

At 1723 Sv and 1871 Sv radiation doses, their conditions were worsening fast. The scorched skin first swelled before decomposing. Then the vessels under the skin imploded and the tissues disintegrated. The impacted cells were digested,and the hands no longer looked like one. Tian Fuhou rolled about in bed. In all these years, no matter how hard life was, the old gentleman never shed a tear facing these hardships. But now, the old man washed his face with tears and moaned nonstop. The pain was unbearable. For a 79 years old man, the intense pain also caused his blood pressure to rise and gave him breathing difficulty. His bodily functions were damaged and there was danger of cerebral haemorrhage and cardiac arrest. The medical unit instantly injected the old man with morphine but that was practically ineffective against radiation pain. After all, for radiation sickness, there was no cure.

Officer Bian Yi was not faring any better. In fact, he might be worse, because his dose was higher. The wailings echoed inside his room as well, it sounded like hell on earth. The situation had worsened until amputation was necessary. The patients were unable to bear the pain and the radioactive isotope might continue to spread if the hands were left connected to the body. The surgeries should have been done in the morning but there were simply too many questions, was there a supernatural influence behind the radiation within the mutated area? Was this a simple radiation sickness? Would the anaesthetic be effective during the surgery? Could surgery even be possible?

The surgical building was busy. The medical unit sent by the Spell Department arrived that afternoon, among them were Wang Ruoxiang and Cai Zixuan. The two of them would be the third assistants in the upcoming surgeries. Facing such unusual circumstances, they naturally were reminded of Gu Jun but at the pre-op meeting, they cleared their mind and focused on the surgical discussion. The medical members for the two surgeries gathered at the conference room, in attendance were the many experts.

“Based on current observation,” A middle-aged man with an honest face stood before the monitor to give his explanation. This was Professor Zhang Bohai. Prof Zhang was the chairman of the clinical emergency rescue unit of radioactive incident, as well as the member of organizations like radioactive medical research centre and radioactive nursing care society. This member of authority would lead the other members to cooperate with Phecda to deal with the emergency rescue and healthy safety measures required in this mission. “The symptoms of the two patients are similar to normal acute radiation sickness, current readings do not suggest the influence of the supernatural. We believe that the surgeries can be conducted as normal, using full body anaesthetic.” Prof Zhang concluded, “The earlier the surgery is done, the better.”

Everyone nodded. Tian Fuhou might not survive the surgery without anaesthetic. His spirit might be strong but his blood pressure would shoot through the roof. Wang Ruoxiang nodded slightly. This was her first mission since she returned to the Spell Department. She did not expect it to be such a big challenge.

One of the biggest challenges for these two surgeries were the extremely unwieldy anti-radiation gears that all the doctors and nurses were required to wear. Prof Zhang would not personally join the operation. The main surgeons were instead Yang Rongzhong and Tan Bo, both experienced surgeons. Both surgeries were assigned attending Spell Department members to deal with possible supernatural accidents. After coming up with the surgical procedures, the two main surgeons set up their individual surgical plans with their own teams. After the meeting was over, the doctors moved towards the surgical rooms.

“Aiz.” Cai Zixuan lagged behind. Studying the mutated scans of the patients’ arms on the monitor, he sighed. Tian Fuhou’s right arm, the arm which was responsible for greenifying several hundred acres of land, was about to be sawn off.

“Zixuan, don’t worry,” Wang Ruoxiang patted the shoulder of her old friend, “With or without radiation, your hair is fated to be gone.”

Over the two years, she had changed a lot but she still had a glossy head of hair.

“You’re right about that.” Cai Zixuan touched his bald head with a smile. He knew the monitor was trying to lighten the mood. The two moved to follow up with the rest. It was already midnight but their battle was just starting.