Hope of the Dying World

CHAPTER 42 - THE ANTIDOTE

"Yeah... Save people." He clenched his fist.

"Let's go and save them." Dr. De Vega firmly said.

Dr. Gabalfin sighed deeply and cleared his mind. "Sorry, let's go!"

"That's the spirit!"

They began to test the child's blood. It looked like he's not too affected by the disease.

"There's a small amount of purple thing in his blood." Dr. Gabalfin discussed it while looking at the child's blood test.

"I think we have to take his temperature down to at least 37.5 or 37.6°C for him to have the strength to fight what is spreading in his body." She said while looking at the chart. "The fever may be the reason why the virus was rapidly spreading to the human body so it's our first step." Dr. De Vega suggested this because of their observation in the past two months.

"Right..." Dr. Gabalfin snapped his finger as if he got the solution. "The fever weakened the infected body so... maybe... hopefully, dropping his temperature could help. Besides, he's young so there's a higher chance to recover."

Dr. De Vega secretly formed her lips into a curve while listening to Dr. Gabalfin. She was relieved that the most positive doctor was back to his usual self.

After eight hours, his body temperature dropped from 39°C to 37.5°C. Their goal was accomplished!

"He's gaining his strength." Dr. Gabalfin announced while smiling then talked with the child. "Kiddo, you'll be cured. Don't lose hope." The child just nodded because he's wearing a hospital oxygen mask.

Many patients arrived that day but sadly most of them died in an hour or two.

["SL News... It's about two months since the virus occurred in our town and there were 10, 451 cases, 8, 678 deaths, and no recoveries so everyone must stay at home, wear a mask, keep distance, and stay safe."]

Dr. Carlos De Vega contacted and called Dr. Zyrille a lot of times but she's not answering. Her phone just keeps ringing in her office.

"She's not answering her phone." Dr. De Vega said to Trestan who's with him in the secret laboratory.

"Should I take this to her then?" Trestan asked, eager to bring the solution to everyone's problem.

"No. It's quite risky. I still need your smart brain." Dr. De Vega uttered. "Just kidding." The doctor even managed to joke but Trestan just shook his head and laughed at what the doctor said.

Finally, Dr. Zyrille answered him after thirty-four missed calls.

"I'm sorry, dad. Lots of patients have arrived so I don't have time to check my phone." She sounds tired but still keeps going.

"How's the situation there?"

"It's getting worse day by day but we were observing a child who seems to recover from the virus. We just don't know..." She sighed heavily. "What to do next to completely remove the virus from the child's body."

"We completed the antidote." The doctor said on the line. Seconds passed but no one's responding to him. "

"Is... it for real?" Dr. Zyrille's voice almost crack due to the lump formed in her throat. She can't believe what she heard a while ago. "You're not kidding, right? H-How?"

"It's a long story."

"Are you sure it will work?"

"Of course."

"Thank goodness."

"I'll send it to you immediately."

"Uhm... Just leave it at home and I'll get it there. I don't want you to take a risk just to send that here."

"Fine. Stay safe."

The call ended and Trestan seemed to be in deep thoughts again.

"I wonder who brought that herb." He said holding his chin. "That person is really something. We couldn't complete the antidote without help from him or her?" Trestan looked at Dr. De Vega who also wonders about it but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"According to what you've said last week, you just saw the paper bag containing the herb and the notebook where the formulas are written, right?"

"Yeah and the missing paper where my formulas and equations were written and it has lots of corrections," Trestan added.

"Maybe that person wanted to hide his identity and he just wanted to help but I hope we get to know him because he can still help, I think? We can't tell but thanks to him, we finally made the solution to this problem." The doctor looked at the piece of paper.

Dr. Carlos De Vega knows that very familiar handwriting.