Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Once the electrophoresis machine began to analyze the samples, the only thing left to do was to wait. Since Zhou Wen had nothing to do, he went to the reagent preparation room for the time being.
Primers like those in DNA amplification experiments needed to be designed and manufactured, which made the process quite complicated and tedious. In addition, DNTP and TAQ enzymes also needed to be prepared in advance. Under normal circumstances, one would have to wait until one graduated from school before getting a chance to explore this sort of process. However, since he had already come to the testing center, Zhou Wen wanted to seize the opportunity to learn about it in advance.
There were two other people in the reagent preparation room as well- Bian Wenhao and Su Qi. They had met each other yesterday. After finding out that Zhou Wen was coming over for an internship, they were quite enthusiastic. After all, they were excited about the chance to guide him and act as his mentor.
“Pass me the reagent number three…”
He was referring to the red bottle…
“The primers here are basically designed by the Institute. All we have to do is just configure them.”
“Ok,” Zhou Wen replied. He followed all the steps, and enthusiastically learned them.
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was time for lunch. Zhou Wen went downstairs and accidentally ran into Wu Yan along the way. He asked, “Senior sister, besides extracting DNA, are there any other tasks that I can do?”
Wu Yan tucked her hands into her pockets and joked, “What? Are you too free now?”
Zhou Wen replied with a chuckle, “Not really. But you know, I can complete the amount of work you guys need two days to do in two hours. What should I do after that?”
Wu Yan pursed her lips and smiled, saying, “Your main job is to extract high-concentration DNA samples. Get this done, and after that, you can do whatever you like.”
Zhou Wen nodded enthusiastically. “Really? So, is it okay for me to hang out at the front end of the clinic?”
Wu Yan nodded in reply, “Yeah! But you must be on my beck and call.”
“Sure, no problem.” Zhou Wen was over the moon. From Zhou Wen’s point of view, there was a fundamental difference between the work arranged for him and the work he took the initiative to do.
Zhou Wen then enquired about the working hours. He was following the schedule of the PCR group. Basically, he would be working for five days a week and eight hours per day. Also, he would be working shifts.
After his meal, Zhou Wen went to the reagent preparation room to study. At 3:30 p.m., the results of the amplification product analysis of the white mouse DNA were finally out. They were great!
After reading the analysis data, Zhou Wen took the report and went to Zhang Shuguang’s office, which was located on the sixth floor. Unfortunately, Zhang Shuguang was not in his office, but he saw Wu Yan writing materials in the small office next door. Xu Jiajia and Dong Wenying were also there.
Zhou Wen knocked on the door and walked in. He waved the report in his hand and said, “Leader Zhang is not here; what should I do?”
“He’s in a meeting. You can pass it to me.” Wu Yan took the report and flipped through it with a satisfied look in her eyes. Then, she stuffed the report into the folder on top of her desk.
Zhou Wen wanted to consult her about some personal questions about his contract, but Xu Jiajia and the others were there, so he opted not to discuss it now. Instead, he said, “Should I take my leave?”
“Wait a minute. I want to ask you something.”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Are you a member of the party?”
“No.”
“Alright. That’s all.”
“…”
Zhou Wen was leaving the office when Xu Jiajia and Dong Wenying followed him from behind. As the three of them walked together towards the integrated lab, Zhou Wen casually asked, “You guys aren’t busy today?”
The general office’s main task was to carry out some data analysis. It was regarded as the logistics of the PCR group. Dong Wenying replied, “Today is a study day.”
“Oh…”
In general, political and business studies were conducted regularly within the hospital. Of course, it was just a formality. Hence, the chatter between Dong Wenying and the others inside the office was actually considered ‘studying.’ After all, it could be passed off as a discussion on ideological trends.
When they arrived at the general office, Zhou Wen smiled. “I’ll treat everyone to dinner tonight. Is everyone free to join?”
Wei Zhaogong smiled. “Jiang HeXuan and I will join.”
Zhou Wen looked at Xu Jiajia and Dong Wenying and asked, “What about you guys?”
Both men nodded their heads.
“Alright then; that was a quick decision.” Zhou Wen then went to inform Wu Yan, and she readily agreed too.
…
They got off work at 5:30 p.m. sharp. Zhou Wen was not familiar with the hospital area, so he let Wei Zhaogong and the others choose the dinner venue. Finally, Xu Jiajia chose Gourmet Seafood City on South Street.
When Zhou Wen heard that it was a seafood place, his liver ached. However, since he had offered to treat them to dinner, he could not act stingily. If he did not have enough money for the dinner, he would have to swipe his credit card and pay for it later. He would have to wait for next month’s salary to fill up the hole in his pocket.
They hailed two taxis to bring six people to the dinner venue. Xu Jiajia seemed to eat there quite frequently, so she was very familiar with the directions to the place.
Upon arriving, they took the elevator up to the third floor and arrived at the seafood buffet restaurant. Seeing that it was a seafood buffet, Zhou Wen felt relieved. He then asked the price, which turned out to be 150 yuan per person. So, for six people, it would be a total of 900.
He had just enough money in his card, so everyone entered the restaurant after he paid the bill at the counter.
As it was dinner time, the restaurant was packed with people. Xu Jiajia scanned the restaurant with her sharp eyes and shouted, “Hurry up, grab the crab … ”
Then, everyone went about on their own. The restaurant had a wide variety of dishes with all kinds of seafood like oysters, mantis shrimp, prawns, octopus, flower crabs, tiger crabs, beltfish, and many more. They were all piled up like mountains.
There was sashimi, fried steak, scallion with dumplings, stir-fry vegetables, desserts, etc. It was all very dazzling and overwhelming.
Once all the food in the pot was cooked, everyone couldn’t care less about their image, and they all gorged themselves. The atmosphere gradually grew livelier throughout the meal. Everyone talked and laughed, and that bit of social gap from yesterday soon disappeared.
Jiang Hexuan and Zhou Wen excitedly regarded each other as townsmen. Dong Wenying’s face was flushed red when she said to Zhou Wen, “I’m also your senior…”
Zhou Wen nodded modestly and lifted the glass of red wine and said, “Come, senior sister, I’ll drink to you.”
“Cheers!”
When one ate at a buffet, one had to eat more food and drink less alcohol to get their money’s worth. In this case, the girls definitely could not hold up their end. They would have to rely on the three guys to get the job done.
After Wei Zhaogong finished off a flower crab in his hand, he suggested, “Shall we head out for a smoke?”
“Let’s go.” The three men got up and left their seats. There were no toilets in the shop, so they had to go upstairs to use the public restroom.
They grabbed three cards at the entrance and headed out. Then, they lit up their cigarettes as soon as they were out the door and talked and laughed all the way up the stairs. The men stood by the small smoking area outside the restroom, smoking, and chatting.
Suddenly, two men came in around the corner. One of them was a middle-aged man in a suit who seemed drunk. He staggered forward with the help of another man.
“Slowly, slowly… Be careful …”
“Ugh…” the man who had drunk too much vomited before he reached the toilet. The vomitus was yellowish-white and filthy.
Zhou Wen and his two other companions were disgusted, and the cigarettes in their hands were no longer enjoyable. So, they put them out and walked towards the toilet.
Zhou Wen happened to be at the end of the line. When he passed by the puddle of vomit on the floor, he took a slight glance at it and noticed dark red filaments on the surface of the vomitus.
What the f**k?!
He squinted and stopped in his tracks. The red filaments enlarged in front of his eyes, and just as he had expected, it was blood.
“Gastrointestinal bleeding?”
Zhou Wen was puzzled and used his Truevision to get a closer look. Under the powerful penetrating ability of this attribute, the blood threads on top of the vomit, which were difficult to be seen with the naked eye, could be seen clearly.
Zhou Wen was stunned! There were many thread-like viruses in the blood, and these thread-like viruses were degrading the white blood cells in the blood.
This reminded Zhou Wen of the terrifying Ebola virus, as the virus seemed to have the same characteristics and solubility. He immediately retrieved his N99 mask from his storage and put it on.
“Zhou Wen, what are you doing?” Wei Zhaogong, who was at the entrance of the restroom, saw that Zhou Wen didn’t follow behind him. So, he turned his head to call out to him.
Zhou Wen turned his head towards the vomit on the floor and said, “Look! That person just vomited blood! The color of this blood is a bit strange. It doesn’t seem like it’s ordinary gastrointestinal bleeding. It looks more like a viral infection.”
“Where?” When Wei Zhaogong heard the word “virus” and immediately walked over. His professional habit kicked in when he heard the word ‘virus’ muttered, and he quickly whipped out a disposable surgical mask from his pocket and put it on. He then squatted down and stared at the vomitus on the ground.
“It really is blood… But blood from the stomach that has been dissolved by stomach acid will usually turn a little brownish. It may not necessarily be a virus.” As soon as Wei Zhaogong finished speaking, a disgusting vomiting sound echoed from the toilet. “Ughh… Ughhh… UGHHH…”
“We better be careful. Wait here; don’t let anyone step on the vomit.” Zhou Wen turned around and paced into the restroom. Jiang Hexuan, who was at the urinal, looked at him curiously and asked, “What are you guys doing out there?”
Zhou Wen shook his head and strode towards the squatting pan cubicle at the far end of the restroom. The man in the suit who had just vomited blood was leaning against the door, vomiting into the squatting pan; the vomitus was splattered all over the place. Even his friend, the bespectacled man, was standing a meter away, looking disgusted.
Zhou Wen took a closer look and found that the vomitus had a large amount of thread-like virus in it, which was very scary.
“F**k!” Zhou Wen was too shocked. The amount of Filoviridae virus was way too terrifying. He turned towards the man with glasses, who was standing by the wall, and shouted, “Your friend is vomiting blood, and yet you’re standing there doing nothing.”
The man in glasses responded with an “Ah” and immediately ran towards his friend, “What’s wrong with you, Editor Liu?”
Zhou Wen then spoke fiercely, “Wait a minute. Don’t help him yet.” The man in glasses was so frightened by Zhou Wen’s serious expression that he was at a loss for words. He didn’t know whether to help or not now.
Zhou Wen checked his pocket, but he could not find any gloves. He turned around and asked, “Jiang Hexuan, do you have gloves?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
Without a word, Jiang Hexuan immediately pulled out a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket and quickly walked over to Zhou Wen and shoved them into his hands.
As a person who dealt with viruses all day long, it was normal to carry masks and gloves in your pocket, right?