Chapter 24: 24 hours (thirteen)

At 1:25 pm, Carriage No. 9 of the L63 train.

It has been 20 minutes since Ah Hui was seriously injured and captured. After repeated explanations by the special police, the passengers in the No. 9 carriage gradually believed that the criminal who vomited blood was a disguised patient. Some passengers began to return to their berths one after another. The once chaotic carriage No. 9 gradually returned to the order.

The passenger on the lower bunk of No. 2 was a middle-aged man. When he returned to his bunk, he suddenly found a woman lying on his bunk.

"You--" The middle-aged man was about to get angry, but suddenly he found that the woman was very beautiful. Although there was some dirt on her white sweater, her high and undulating breasts were very attractive. He slowed down and asked, "Who are you?"

"Is this your bunk?" the woman opened her beautiful eyes and asked pitifully.

The middle-aged man nodded.

"I'm from the No. 8 carriage. Our carriage caught fire, so I ran here," the woman sat upright, intentionally or unintentionally showing her graceful curves. She said in a sweet voice: "I didn't expect to occupy your bed, why don't I get up and let you?"

"No, no, no, no." The middle-aged man hurriedly pressed the woman's shoulder, and he immediately smelled a refreshing fragrance. He said magnanimously: "Just lie on my bed, I'll just find a place to sit."

The middle-aged man sat down next to the woman's plump thighs, and the woman smiled, which was very charming.

"Are you injured?" The middle-aged man looked at a blood stain on the woman's sweater, which happened to be near her towering breasts.

"This is not my blood," the woman covered her chest and threw a charming look at the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man immediately felt that half of his body was almost weak. But he heard the woman say coquettishly: "Carriage No. 8 was so messy at that time, I was so scared. I don't know whose blood was splattering on my body, which made my sweater dirty."

"It's okay now." The middle-aged man comforted the woman softly. He patted the woman's thighs casually. The soft and elastic feeling of the tentacles made his heart beat faster. He said, "I heard that the criminals have been eliminated, don't be afraid. Oh, I heard that the carriage No. 8 was burned down, so you can rest on my bed first."

"Thank you, you are such a good person." The woman said delicately.

"It's okay." The middle-aged man waved his hand indifferently.

At 1:30 pm. Commander's Office of Zhongjiang Frontline Command Center.

Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu gently tapped the table with a pencil and said with emotion: "I really didn't expect that several criminals would make such a big noise on the 163 train. Fortunately, our escort army killed the criminals. Well, how long will the train take to reach its destination?"

Minister Liao looked at his watch and replied: "It's about 6 hours left."

"Minister Liao, you must ensure that all passengers on the train arrive at their destination safely." Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Huaiyu gave serious instructions and paused. He said again: "No more people can die. Just one train has killed more than a dozen people! Should we also review our safety work!"

Minister Liao swallowed and said tactfully: "Deputy Premier Huaiyu's instructions are very correct. There are indeed some problems with our safety measures. However, time is tight. Do you see if we will summarize the lessons after the train arrives at the destination?"

Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu waved his hand: "You can summarize any time. Now I only need all the passengers of the l63 train to arrive in Zixing County safely!"

"Yes!" Minister Liao replied loudly.

A soft knock came from the office door.

"Please come in." Deputy Premier Zhang Huaiyu responded.

Zhang Wenbin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health, hurried in. His face was full of sorrow and his expression was heavy.

"Vice Premier Huaiyu, I just received a message from the Ministry of Health," Zhang Wenbin gasped and said: "In Yiyang, in five major cities in China, nine patients with pneumococcal plague were found at the same time."

"What?" Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu stood up suddenly, looking extremely shocked.

"According to the current situation we have, 6 of these nine pneumoplague patients are all workers who go out to work in Zhongjiang City." Zhang Wenbin looked worried. He hesitated for a moment and said: "Although we have implemented an emergency plan to prevent the spread of major diseases in Zhongjiang City, there are thousands of people going out every day. Once these people hide carriers of pneumoplague bacteria..."

Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu waved his hand and interrupted Zhang Wenbin: "Let's do this, let's call the members of the command center to hold a meeting and study this matter."

At 2 pm, the conference room of the command center.

Zhang Wenbin first informed the members of the meeting that patients with pneumoplague were found in other cities in China. At the same time, he also emphasized that 6 of the nine pneumoplague patients were residents of Zhongjiang City. Although the other three were local residents, the route of infection was questionable - the meaning was self-evident.

After Deputy Minister Zhang Wenbin reported, the conference room fell into death silence, and all the staff felt a heavy pressure - no one expected that the pneumococcal plague would begin to spread out so quickly. If this momentum could not be curbed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"How many pneumoplague patients are present in Zhongjiang City now?" asked Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Huaiyu.

Professor Zhong Nan, head of the Capital Medical Expert Group, reported: "As of 12 noon, there were a total of 135 patients with pneumoplague in Zhongjiang City."

"So many?" Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu was very shocked. The number of pneumoplague patients counted at 5 pm yesterday was only 27. Unexpectedly, hundreds of pneumoplague patients were added overnight! Could it be that pneumoplague began to break out on a large scale?

Professor Zhong Nan nodded silently, his tone was extremely heavy: "Our expert group predicts that in the past few days, the pneumoplague will likely break out on a large scale in Zhongjiang City, and the situation in the future will be very serious."

A layer of fine beads of sweat oozed out from Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu's forehead. He frowned and thought for a while, then turned to ask Gao Fei: "Director Gao, report to us about the situation after the implementation of the emergency plan to prevent major diseases."

Gao Fei opened his notebook and started reporting: "At 7 o'clock last night, our municipal police, health bureau and the municipal government office jointly established a leading group for the implementation of the plan. He immediately deployed the following aspects. First, all schools were suspended, some factories and mining enterprises were temporarily suspended, and all gatherings were cancelled; Second, a number of farmers' markets with poor ventilation conditions were closed, and large entertainment venues were temporarily suspended. Third, 10 reporting hotlines were opened, and special personnel were responsible for answering clues about citizens' reports of suspected pneumoplague patients; Fourth, all long-distance buses, ships, trains, and aircraft passenger ticket sales points were connected to the command center. Only citizens who issued specific inspection reports and verified by the command center can purchase passenger tickets for going out. This workload is very large. Currently, all long-distance buses, ships, and flights are basically suspended. It is estimated that the first batch of passengers can go out as soon as tomorrow morning... "

Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu frowned and pondered after listening to Gao Fei's report, but Governor Qin asked with concern: "How are the citizens' current emotions?"

"Not good." Gao Fei said with a wry smile: "The 10 reporting hotlines we have opened have answered nearly 5,000 calls now - 10 calls are almost blown up! After verification, most of these so-called reports are baseless suspicion and even malicious slander. If anyone coughs in public, they may immediately be reported to the command center as suspected patients. Because of the report, colleagues turned against each other and neighbors became enemies. These have consumed a lot of our energy. However, even if we do our best, we cannot control the extreme panic of the entire Zhongjiang City citizens."

"Where are grassroots administrative officials?" Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Huaiyu asked sternly: "What are our grassroots officials doing? Why are they not appeased the emotions of citizens?"

Gao Fei hesitated for a moment and said the truth: "The grassroots officials are also panic. Due to Mayor Li's suspension, the municipal government lacks strong leadership over the grassroots institutions, and the grassroots administrative agencies are now very chaotic."

"Governor Qin, it seems that the personnel issues in Zhongjiang City cannot be delayed anymore. We must arrange effective cadres to come to Zhongjiang to preside over the work as soon as possible!" Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu gave instructions to Qin Shengchang.

Governor Qin nodded: "I will arrange this matter as soon as possible."

"Vice Prime Minister Huaiyu," Minister Liao suddenly raised a sharp question: "According to the estimates of the Capital Medical Expert Group, the pneumococcal plague is likely to break out on a large scale in the last few days. So, should we temporarily block Zhongjiang City and ban Zhongjiang citizens from traveling for a period of time?"

Everyone was shocked - Zhongjiang City has implemented an emergency plan to prevent the spread of major diseases in less than a day, and has it reached the point where Zhongjiang City is going to be blocked?

Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Huaiyu frowned into the character Sichuan, and hesitated. Although the highest leader of Zhongjiang City had this plan in an emergency, it was not easy to make up his mind to implement it. Zhongjiang City has a population of millions. Once the blockade of Zhongjiang City is announced, it will be difficult to control the situation even if the troops are dispatched. Maybe there will be a possibility of large-scale riots. Even if the riots of millions of people can be calmed down, they will inevitably flow into blood... However, if Zhongjiang City is not blocked, once the pneumoplague breaks out on a large scale, although strict physical examination measures have been implemented for citizens leaving the country, it is difficult to ensure that no plague bacteria carriers have been inspected. If these plague bacteria carriers are spread throughout the country, the consequences will be very terrible...

After a long time, Vice Premier Zhang Huaiyu raised his head with difficulty. He smiled bitterly and said, "I think this issue should be reported to the Central Committee. Please ask the Supreme Command to make a decision."
Chapter completed!