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Winnie was having a fever when she heard the news from the doctor, who came to examine her.
The doctor told her that Lisanne and her colleague were starting to develop fevers, and when things
were bad, they would even vomit. Furthermore, red markings were starting to appear on the skin of
their stomachs.
The doctor had come to find out if Winnie had the same red markings on her body.
Winnie currently could not see a thing, and she had convinced Xavier to leave her. She had no choice
but to heed what the doctor said.
Once the doctor was done examining her, she asked, “How is it? Do I have the markings too?”
The doctor uttered solemnly, “Yes.”
Winnie hummed quietly in response. It was not a surprising answer to her, so she was still composed.
However, she could hear the hesitance in the doctor’s voice. Clearly, the doctor had only told her half
the story. “Please, just speak your mind. I can take it.”
After a few days of interactions, the doctor found out that Winnie was a naturally optimistic and
confident person.
It would not even be an exaggeration to say that Winnie was the most optimistic individual among all
the patients she and her colleagues had been interacting with.
After a while of mulling over the right words to use, the doctor confessed to Winnie, “Even though the
symptoms are about the same, your condition is worse than the other two patients.”
Winnie fell silent for a while before she drew her brows together. “Is it ugly?”
Her abrupt question rendered the doctor silent for a moment, for the doctor did not know what to say to
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇther.
She was a woman as well, and she knew looks were important for women, especially for someone who
was already beautiful like Winnie. Anyone would have a hard time accepting reality after something
terrible happened.
The doctor’s silence was a quiet affirmation of Winnie’s question.
With a slight nod of her head, she then asked, “I understand. I have one more question. Is it only
appearing on the stomach? Do I have the markings on other places, like the arms, legs, or the face?”
“No,” came the doctor’s swift response. “There aren’t any markings on any other places. It’s the same
for the two other patients.”
Winnie bobbed her head. Even though she could not see anything, she could imagine the red melon-
like markings on her body.
She massaged her temples as a wave of helplessness crashed into her.
What in the world is going on? I went blind first, and now, I have markings on my stomach. What is
this? A package deal?
After letting out a sigh, Winnie asked the doctor, “Then is there any treatment plan as of now?”
The doctor immediately answered, “We’re currently studying the treatment plan in hopes of it being
able to control the symptoms and not let it mutate into cancer.”
“Okay.” The word “cancer” was a word too heavy. Turning toward the doctor, Winnie said, “I’ll leave this
to you, then. I have trust in you.”
Winnie had mentally prepared herself that her blindness would turn out to be permanent, so she had
been practicing locating people based on the source of their voices whenever people were in her room.
Now, she could accurately find the doctors upon hearing them.
Although Winnie had lost her sight, her eyes remained bright and clear. If the doctor did not stare at her
for a while, the way Winnie was looking at the doctor was as if she could actually see the doctor. No
one would notice that she was blind.
The doctor was impressed.
She was also impressed by how excellent people tended to have other excellent people as friends.
The woman next door, Lisanne, was equally mentally strong. When she found out that she had strange
red markings on her stomach, she seemed to be rather composed as well.
It was as though they were just going through a normal cold.
Once the doctor was gone, Winnie took her phone and called Lisanne.
It had been a while since they had gone into quarantine, and they were now allowed their phones in the
room.
Moreover, they were using smartphones. They could navigate their phones with voice commands.
Winnie knew that Lisanne was currently in the quarantine room beside hers, so it did not take long
before Lisanne picked up her call.
“How are you feeling, Winnie? Do you have red markings on your body too? Do you feel nauseous?”
“The doctor said I have red markings. Besides a fever, I don’t feel nauseous at all. As far as I can tell, I
think the radioactive gas takes a while before it starts affecting our bodies. We can’t tell if more
symptoms will pop up.” A beat later, Winnie continued, “What about you two? Have there been any
signs of temporary loss of sight?”
“For now, no.” Lisanne frowned. “You’re much worse off than me and my colleague, but you’re right.
The effects of Alpha radioactive gas don’t appear on us right away. We don’t know what’s going to
happen to us next, so we can’t put aside that blindness is one of the side effects. If my colleague and
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmmy conditions stabilize in the next few days, we can end our quarantine. I want to look for that
professor in Rodunst before I lose my sight. He’s the one who refined Alpha radioactive gas, and there
isn’t anyone in this world who’s more familiar with that radioactive gas besides him. If we want to solve
this problem, we’ll need his help.”
Lisanne sighed. “I hope our fevers will go down by today. If it doesn’t, our quarantine period won’t end.”
“What about the professor?” Winnie asked. “Where is he right now? He can’t be back in Rodunst
already, right?”
“Fortunately, he isn’t. He’s the one who came up with Alpha radioactive gas, and now that we’re caught
up in the matter, the higher-ups won’t let him go so easily. What I heard is that he’s willing to stay to
observe us when he found out that we’re under quarantine. However, Rodunst is worried that we’ll steal
their scientist’s research, so they’re in a hurry to take him back. The two countries are currently
discussing the matter with each other, but this isn’t something that should be dragged on for long, so I
have to get well as soon as possible.”
“I hope that’s the case,” Winnie answered. Then, she suddenly creased her forehead and continued,
“Did you tell Lucas about the mutation?”
“I didn’t need to be obvious about it,” came Lisanne’s flat reply. “I’ve already asked them to mentally
prepare themselves for the worst when I started my quarantine. Researching these things comes with a
risk, and they respected my choice from the beginning.”
“Do you regret it?”
“My god, Winnie. I’d be able to understand hearing this question from everyone else but you! You were
recklessly breathing in the gas back then, and now you’re in a worse condition than I am. Do you regret
it, then?”
Winnie chuckled. “I don’t for that, but I’m asking if you regret picking this line of work.”
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