But.
The man on the deck was dead, yet the word "suppressant" stirred the crowd again.
"What is a suppressant. Can a suppressant stop the virus in the body from mutating?"
"No. You clearly have medicine. Why won't you use it on us."
"Yeah, we do not want to die. Give us the medicine. What is a suppressant. Can we buy it from you?"
"I have many contribution points. If you sell me the suppressant, you can have all my points."
However—
There was no such thing as a suppressant here.
The team members hurried to explain. "There is no suppressant. Do not listen to that man. Some of our own teammates are injured too, and we do not have any cure. If a suppressant existed, we would have given it to them already."
"But how do we know you are not lying. Maybe you plan to inject your people after we all mutate."
"You saw it yourself. There is no time to wait. If we had medicine, we would have used it. That man was trying to rile you up." The team kept explaining.
Many still refused to accept it. They clung to maybes. Maybe there was a cure. Maybe if they begged hard enough, someone would hand it over. People dropped to their knees in front of the base members and knocked their heads against the deck, pleading for the life saving suppressant to be used on them.
Even Lao Shi's girlfriend clung to Lao Shi, pestering him for a suppressant. But Lao Shi really did not have one. "I am not lying to you. I really am not. There is no such thing here."
Even if there were, it would be far above Lao Shi's clearance. Which meant the same thing as having none.
The girlfriend would not accept it. She sobbed. "You do not love me anymore, Brother Shi. Without a suppressant I will die. I do not want to turn into a horrible bug. I would rather die than become that."
Lao Shi's heart softened at her tear stained face, but he truly had no suppressant. Lao Shi did not have one. That did not stop eyes from turning toward the person in charge on the ship, which meant Captain Zhang.
Captain Zhang was speechless and cursed. "What are you staring at me for. Where am I supposed to find suppressants for you. We are on the water. You think you can wait until we get back to a base."
They could not wait. Every one of them had left base knowing this mission might be their last. No one had packed some mythical suppressant. If you got hurt, you might die. That was the hard truth.
His words, though, also confirmed something. Suppressants did exist somewhere. They just would not get them in time.
And if suppressants existed, was it really true that there was not a single dose on any of these ships? The unspoken truth was simpler. Too many were injured, and there would never be enough.
As soon as that thought took hold, Lao Shi's girlfriend started wailing again. "Brother Shi, forget everyone else. Save me first. My dad told you with his dying breath to take good care of me. You cannot betray him."
Speaking of taking care, that dragged in another story.
It happened when the first flood hit, after the poisonous fog ended and before the insect disaster. During a mission, Lao Shi was caught in an accident. His colleague, the girlfriend's father, saved him and died. The girl had no mother and no other family. That colleague had often worried aloud about what would happen to his daughter if he died. Then he really did die because of Lao Shi. With such a plea, how could Lao Shi refuse.
When Lao Shi and Ling Jiang met again, Lao Shi told Ling Jiang clearly. Lao Shi did not love Ling Jiang any less, but he could not ignore his colleague's last request.
That was why their breakup never turned into a fight.
Truth be told, Ling Jiang never believed Lao Shi's story. In the elevator, if the pampering look in Lao Shi's eyes held not one trace of love. Then Ling Jiang was blind.
So Ling Jiang cut off her last hope for Lao Shi and decided all that time had been wasted.
None of that was a valid reason for Lao Shi to demand a suppressant. The base would not allow it either.
Lao Shi said, "I promised your dad to take good care of you. Within what I can do, I have done so. I really do not have a suppressant."
Lao Shi's girlfriend shoved him away and shouted, "You cannot let go of your ex. You think I ruined your love. If you never liked me, why promise me anything. Face it, you are just a scumbag."
She had barely finished accusing Lao Shi when her body began to react. One after another, across the decks of all the ships, the injured began to mutate under everyone's eyes.
The shouting and tears vanished from people's minds. Captain Zhang glanced at Lan Jin. Bolts of lightning fell again, clearing the decks of the fresh monsters.
There were not that many civilians left, but only Lan Jin actually struck them down. When it was over, Lan Jin felt hollowed out. Captain Zhang quickly handed her three thunder type crystals. Lan Jin sat right there and drew in their energy. Once she absorbed them, her strength returned. All around, the teams rushed through emergency decontamination.
In the middle of this, the only surviving infant among the civilians blinked awake and ended up in front of Lan Jin.
Lan Jin was briefly speechless. "Why are you giving her to me."
Captain Zhang answered as if it were obvious. "You have a child. Only you have hands on baby care. She looks three to five months old. Please take her for now."
Captain Zhang tucked the child into Lan Jin's arms. The baby never stopped crying, which frayed everyone's nerves, not only Lan Jin's.
"Why is she still crying. Could she be infected. Check her, Sister Lan. What if she mutates."
"Mutate my foot. She was hungry and probably needed a diaper."
However, on the ships—
No, on all the ships, there was not a single item for an infant.
Of course not. Who brings a baby on a mission. It was normal to have nothing.
If they were in their rooms, Lan Jin could sneak something from her space to feed the baby. But the decontamination was not done. She could not return to her room. No one could. So the little one in her arms could only keep crying from hunger for now.