Chapter 482: Chapter 343: Contagious Vomiting
Miss Tang glared at me, clearly unsatisfied, since from the forged files, I seemed younger than she was, and speaking to her in a senior tone was naturally unwelcome.
I noticed that her complexion was a bit better, and she had enough energy to glare at me, which was a good sign. But looking at her swollen belly, I felt the situation wasn’t that simple.
Another lady lying on the ground, however, didn’t move after eating and drinking; she wasn’t dead, seemingly just asleep.
Having been in the cave for so long, if not sleeping, what else could they do? Why sleep after coming out?
One sick person, another one sleeping, and it seemed we couldn’t set off back immediately. I found a rock to sit on, took out my old mobile phone, and checked the software I previously downloaded, Encyclopedia of Rare Diseases!
It recorded many strange illnesses with symptoms described in detail. I had heard of a human disease called ’big belly disease’ which seemed to cause abdominal swelling after being infected by a certain type of parasite.
But Miss Tang’s symptoms didn’t quite match that disease. I flicked through the recorded conditions in the encyclopedia, amazed by the sheer variety of human illnesses.
"Did you eat anything unsanitary in the Ancient City, like wild game?" I asked.
"No, I have plenty of food in my backpack."
"What about water?"
"My father set up a water purification system, he’s relied on it to survive these past two years; he drank it without issue."
"That doesn’t guarantee anything. People’s physical constitutions and immunity levels differ. I suspect you might be infected with... parasites."
"Parasites that suddenly grow big?"
"They grow when exposed to air."
"Well, I didn’t drink the wind, just ate a pound of sand."
"Oh... it could be sand clogging your intestines instead."
Miss Tang snorted twice, giving me a sideways glance, "I can’t be bothered to talk to you."
I was merely trying to ease her mental burden; after all, parasites and eating dirt were things she knew about, whereas whatever was in her belly was likely unknown.
The known versus the unknown, especially when it’s in your own body, naturally the former is more reassuring.
Twenty minutes later, Miss Tang’s belly had stopped swelling, and her complexion had returned to normal.
The red spots in her eyes had also faded away, and she sat up on her own, looking down at her bulging abdomen.
"How is it? Does your stomach still hurt?"
"No, I don’t feel anything anymore."
The foreign woman, at this point, also opened her eyes. She first looked around, body tense, then gradually relaxed.
For someone to develop such vigilance, they must have been in a tense state for a long time until it became instinctual.
"There’s no other living thing around; you should be most concerned about us."
"Cough, cough——"
"Alright, you should be most afraid of me, not including her." At the suggestion of Miss Tang’s dissatisfaction, I corrected myself.
"Who are you?" the foreign woman asked with difficulty.
"I should be asking you that. Go on, who are you?" I still remembered the name Mike had mentioned, the name of the entomologist.
"Anna Jin."
"What’s your occupation?"
"On vacation."
"Oh, a tourist. Tourists aren’t on our rescue list, sorry." I stood up and walked towards Miss Tang, clearly indicating to the foreign woman that I was about to leave.
"Wait, I, I have a special task. Listen, I work for the government department."
"That’s exactly why we were ordered to find missing personnel exploring the Death Zone. The list includes someone named Anna Jin."
"That’s me, it’s me."
Miss Tang shot me another disapproving look. My image in her mind was likely shot, but it didn’t matter much.
"But we found a notebook..."
"Yes, my notebook, at the cave entrance, wrapped in a waterproof bag."
Perhaps eager to prove her identity, the foreign woman’s speech sped up and became more fluent.
"What is written in it?"
"Insect observation records, and my teammates are all dead, oh God——" The foreign woman suddenly fell silent, as if recalling something terrifying, with grief and fear intertwining in her eyes.
"You were supposed to be dead too," I added, "according to your own account."
"Yes..." the foreign woman, Anna Jin, murmured, "I was supposed to be dead."
She looked confused, "Why, why am I still alive?"
She looked at her long, curling fingernails, which showed she hadn’t done any manual labor for a long time; those hands were virtually useless.
Her ponytail was loose and floppy; no matter what, during her captivity, her nails and hair continued to grow. Her hair seemed to have never been retied, her hands untouched by labor. In the cave’s harsh conditions, no one would have long nails unless they were a zombie.
