Chapter 182: The Puppet Master

Bor, South Sudan.

Zheng Hailan looked at Du Jiujiu, who was dressed in a silver hazmat suit, with surprise, “You say the client provided both the isolation suits and the disinfectant?”

“Yes, these isolation suits ensure that all members of the medical team are protected from the Ebola virus; the disinfectant has just been tested and is capable of eradicating the Ebola virus.”

Du Jiujiu, tasked with leading the protection of the medical team, received the supplies and handed them over to Zheng Hailan as soon as possible. To avoid raising suspicion, the security team also donned the isolation suits.

Zheng Hailan observed the isolation suits delivered by Du Jiujiu. They were silver, one-piece suits with an unknown transparent material covering the face area.

Once the isolation suit was worn, visibility was not hindered, and they felt light and comfortable compared to current suits.

Du Jiujiu’s movements seemed unhindered by it.

Zheng Hailan couldn’t spot any accompanying oxygen tanks and asked curiously, “How can we breathe continuously without oxygen tanks if it completely isolates us from the outside?”

Du Jiujiu explained, “The isolation suit operates in two modes. One is the filtering mode, which allows outside air to pass through and be purified for the wearer’s breathing. The other is the isolation mode, which activates an internal microcirculation system to provide a continuous supply of oxygen for four hours. When the oxygen is low, the suit alarms, and you just need to return to a safe, oxygen-rich environment and press this button. The isolation suit will automatically complete oxygen collection within half an hour.”

Zheng Hailan knew exactly who the client was, and that’s why she was surprised.

Du Qiu managed to deliver equipment for fighting Ebola so quickly. How many excellent things had his company researched?

Remembering the enormous vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and the lifelike robots launched by Dream Technology she met that night, Zheng Hailan felt somewhat relieved.

Her daughter’s boyfriend was a patent-laden doctor and a guardian of one of the most profitable tech companies of the day. Pouring money into some high-tech product wasn’t strange at all.

Thinking of her daughter’s well-being brought a smile to her face.

“Jiujiu, can the filtering mode you mentioned really block the Ebola virus?”

Du Jiujiu replied, “It can. The Ebola virus is about 80 nanometers in diameter, and this isolation suit can block any substance larger than 1 nanometer.”

“1 nanometer? That’s impressive! It could virtually block all viruses and bacteria. Our suits, once cleaned with the disinfectant you mentioned, should be foolproof.”

Zheng Hailan felt pleasantly surprised. Although the medical team fought bravely on the front lines against Ebola, everyone harbored an internal fear.

They approached patients with extreme caution daily to avoid skin injuries.

Working in bulky protective suits was cumbersome.

A few years ago, Africa had a similar Ebola outbreak, and the medical team was provided with protective suits to ensure their safety.

Now with these lightweight nanoscale isolation suits, their efficiency could significantly increase.

Most importantly, everyone could now work with peace of mind.

“Jiujiu, thank that client for me.”

Zheng Hailan then asked, “By the way, how many of these nanoscale isolation suits do we have? There are still many people from Tang Country in Zhuba, such as those from the embassy, the peacekeeping forces, and mining companies.”

“Oh, I only received enough for the medical team for now. There are 25 members, and here are 25 suits. Please put them on as soon as possible,” Du Jiujiu urged.

Zheng Hailan was a bit disappointed, but on further thought, given the advanced technology of the suits, she realized they must be costly to produce.

The medical team, initially 28 strong, had to withdraw after some were kidnapped and injured. Zhang Mingliu suffered severe injuries in an operation and was sent back to the country, along with three others from the team.

Zheng Hailan quickly assembled the medical team and distributed the nanoscale isolation suits, specifically asking Du Jiujiu to explain the functions of various buttons on the suits.

Although the number of suits was limited, they received plenty of disinfectant, enough to disinfect key areas in Bor and establish a real safe zone, separating patients by the severity of their symptoms. However, because there were too many patients, medical supplies were being used up very quickly.

Just then, Zheng Hailan received bad news: two soldiers from Tang Country’s peacekeeping forces stationed in the capital, Zhuba, had been infected with the Ebola virus!

Far away in the base, Du Qiu also received this news. When he sent the isolation suits and disinfectant to the medical team, he had already arranged for Star Ocean to monitor the entire South Sudan, especially the situation in Zhuba, the capital.

Du Qiu had just reached a cooperation agreement with the government of South Sudan. Over the past two months, the industrial park on the outskirts of Zhuba was already taking shape.

This was with Du Qiu controlling the construction speed; otherwise, the factory buildings might have been completed by now.

Du Qiu’s requirement for Star Ocean was to keep construction progress at double the speed of Tang Country since the speed at which Tang Country could construct was already astonishing to the world. Zhuba could not appear to be excessively faster.

For example, building a medium-sized basic chemical plant in Tang Country would take less than a year to be fully operational, and with a particular concurrent construction and production approach, it could even start production in just nine months.

Thus, for the construction speed of the robot legions, the whole building process should be completed within six months, and with the latter approach, production could start in just four.

For the Zhuba Industrial Park, Du Qiu used the latter approach. The shorter-duration standard factory-style plants were already finished, and even the longer-duration ones, like the chemical plants, were taking shape.

Most of the factories in this industrial park were for smelting and processing the local minerals of South Sudan. Some supplied basic industry product factories within the park, and after becoming finished products, were sold locally.

With the industrial park, South Sudan effectively gained an embryonic industrial system, eliminating the need to import basic daily-use industrial products.

Other raw materials were destined for the base located beneath the park.

With the experience of constructing the base in the Tanga Federation, the construction speed of this base and island base was astonishing.

After all, the number of construction robots was much higher than before. Under Star Ocean’s direction, in just over two months, the underground space was excavated, initially reinforced, and concealed.

Although the subterranean base extended thousands of meters below the surface, beyond the reach of satellite remote sensing, there were still methods to detect subterranean spaces.

For instance, seismic wave detection and ultrasonic detection were capable of exploring underground spaces to some extent.

Du Qiu employed shielding technology, setting up a shielding zone within the rock layers surrounding the underground space, ensuring that the base remained undetected.

Since the base was in Zhuba, South Sudan, it naturally became a key monitoring area. Therefore, when Tang Country’s peacekeeping soldiers were diagnosed at the capital’s hospital, the information was promptly relayed to Du Qiu.

Du Qiu understood that Zhuba was not Bor; being the capital of South Sudan, he knew it held not only the local citizens but numerous embassies and agencies from other nations.

Strict quarantine measures were essential to control the Ebola virus.

Now that two soldiers from the peacekeeping forces of Tang Country were infected, it signified the seriousness of the situation.

“Star Ocean, dispatch more disinfectant to Zhuba immediately, and accelerate the construction of the chemical plant in the Zhuba Industrial Park to prepare for quick disinfectant production.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll immediately set the construction speed of the Zhuba Industrial Park chemical plant to the highest state!”

Du Qiu looked at the topographical map of South Sudan on the command center’s large screen and suddenly furrowed his brows, asking, “Bor is more than a hundred kilometers from Zhuba with inconvenient transport. Locals from Bor wouldn’t likely trek over a hundred kilometers to Zhuba after falling ill. Especially since suspected cases appeared in Bor over two months ago. If it were ordinary transmission to Zhuba, it should have spread by now. Why did the symptoms suddenly emerge at this time, and how come the patients were soldiers from Tang Country’s peacekeeping force?”

“Sir, your analysis is correct. The logic doesn’t add up, and there may be something unusual about this virus spread.”

Du Qiu immediately ordered, “Star Ocean, monitor the surroundings of Bor within a 500-kilometer radius. Inform Iron Guard to figure out where and how the first case in Bor occurred. Also, find out how the peacekeeping soldiers got sick and whom they had contact with. I must uncover the puppet master behind this event!”

“Yes, sir.”

Du Qiu stared intently at the map of South Sudan, pondered meticulously for a while, and then asked, “Connect me to Rein Leinar’s phone.”

“Please hold for a moment. Good, it’s connected!”

“Mr. Li, is there something urgent this late?”

Only then did Du Qiu realize that in his busyness he had lost track of time; it was already 10 p.m. local time.

“Mr. President, I am deeply shocked and grieved by the Ebola outbreak in your country, and in regards to this, I would like to donate a batch of supplies to help fight the Ebola virus.”

Rein Leinar hadn’t slept yet; he had just achieved a real unification in his country and had not yet settled down when he was struck by the Ebola virus outbreak. He was extremely anxious and didn’t know how to respond to limit the losses when he received the consolatory call from Du Qiu offering donations—a real godsend in dire times.

This was the noble spirit of internationalism! Indeed, Tang Country was a dependable ally – he hadn’t chosen the wrong mountain to lean on.

Thank you to “still not found” for the 100 coin reward!