A Hospital in Another World?

Garrett instinctively stepped back.

It wasn’t out of disgust, but rather to keep as much distance as possible from the source of infection, to avoid getting covered in pathogens from the patients—or their family members. After all, he didn’t have any no-rinse sterilizing gel on him; wherever he went, he had to be careful about what he touched.

Madam Beland was immediately helped up and taken to the ward. Garrett watched her go, then turned his gaze towards the entrance of the hospital, feeling the weight on his shoulders as heavy as a mountain with the endless stream of patients being brought in.

He had never shouldered such a burden before.

In his past life, he was just an associate chief physician in the emergency department. Upon identifying a suspected case of a virulent infectious disease, all he had to do was report it—the director, the dean, the CDC would take it from there, following the protocols to deal with it.

Moreover, he was in emergency surgery, surgery! The first batch of colleagues dealing with infectious diseases were basically from internal medicine... Even when it came to his turn to step in, he had internal medicine doctors for consultations, laboratory, ultrasonography, radiology doctors to provide reports, anesthesiologists to monitor the patient’s vitals...

If that wasn’t enough, there were other hospitals in the city, and in the event of a major disaster, medical personnel from the province or even the whole country would come to support!

Even in Hartland City, he had his mentor, the bald bishop, and many teachers and friends he could rely on. But now, he was the one standing at the forefront, facing this epidemic, facing countless diseases, pain, and death!

He was the head of the Public Health Department, the first dean of the infectious disease hospital. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him.

Garrett felt as if he was standing alone in the heart of the Qiantang River, facing the surging tides head-on. The tides were roaring, initially just a line, gradually constricting towards the funnel, the waves growing higher and higher, like charging horses, like giant elephants, roaring down upon him when they reached him, almost submerging him:

"A patient in Room 43 on the first floor is suffering from severe abdominal pain, almost passing out!"

"A patient in Room 57 on the first floor has abdominal pain and bloating, their belly is so swollen, they’ve rolled off the bed three times!"

"A patient on the second floor in Room 17 is vomiting blood!"

"Three more patients have passed out! We don’t have enough medical staff!"

"Sir, should we go to the medical branch for help?"

"Sir..."

"Sir..."

I must hold on, I cannot panic... Garrett silently encouraged himself. Stay calm, stay calm, the core issue now is, what exactly is this disease?

Abdominal pain, diarrhea, most likely an intestinal infectious disease. But at the same time, there’s bloating and constipation... Typhoid or paratyphoid? Bacterial dysentery? Bacterial food poisoning? Cholera? Pseudo-cholera? Bacterial infectious diarrhea? Viral gastroenteritis?

Garrett filtered through these options in his mind. He no longer looked at the endless stream of patients at the entrance of the hall, turning instead and running towards the wards. As he briskly walked, he asked:

"Are the sample test results out yet? Have the results of the stool microscopy for the patients come out? What about the bacterial culture results? — Tell them to hurry! Speed up!"

After speaking, he had already rushed into the first ward. Previously, he had been in the map room, or what could be considered the command center of the infectious disease hospital, checking the sources of all the cases: the majority were from those twelve buildings owned by that noble, and even those who fell ill outside were residents of those buildings. Were there new patients around those who fell ill outside? Should they seal off and isolate along the trajectory of the patients?

Garrett was still unclear about these. For now, all he could do was to have the mage tower accelerate the production of disinfectant, speed up the disinfection, while also placing an urgent order with Thunder Tower. As for determining exactly what the disease was, the test results could only provide some reference, as their culture and microscopy methods were very crude, lacking many reagents.

The other part of the key information came from examining the patients.

He personally came for the examination! These students were not professional medical students, he personally examining could see more than the students!

Garrett hurried into the ward. The first few rooms on the first floor housed patients who had already been treated by various temples and were now either cured or showing signs of recovery, resting in their beds. Garrett directly bypassed these rooms and went straight to Room 4.

The ward was in chaos.

The hospital was understaffed, unable to assist every patient to the bathroom, so they placed a wooden basin or bucket at the head of each bed, letting them draw the curtains and relieve themselves. Garrett looked over each bed:

Watery stool, watery stool, black stool, bloody stool... this one had nothing, constipation, bloating, this one too was bloating, this one had bloating, abdominal pain...

"How are you feeling? Stomach pain? Where exactly does it hurt? Lie down flat, let me examine you..."

The middle-aged woman curled up on the bed was already gasping for breath. Garrett pressed down with his hand, and she only hummed weakly in response. Garrett pressed harder, then quickly released, causing the woman to struggle in pain—rebound tenderness. Fortunately, it wasn’t board-like abdomen, no obvious signs of peritonitis.

Garrett comforted her with a few words, then moved on to the next patient. This one had abdominal pain, bloating, moderate fever. Garrett asked further, not only was there constipation, but there hadn’t been any gas passed either...

No gas passing? Garrett took out the 【Endless Ink Pen】, quickly performing a magical X-ray for the patient. In the meditation environment, he could see the liquid levels, vague outlines of the peritoneal lines, dilated ascending colon with gas, and free gas under the diaphragm. There were signs of peritonitis, but not severe, it looked like acute intestinal obstruction, but something seemed off...

"Garrett, how are things now?" Priest Matthew rushed over in a hurry. After bringing the patients, he had been busy in the ward, healing one after another until he was down to his last two healing spells before stopping. He was older than Garrett, with more experience, and had been pondering since they brought the patients over. Seeing Garrett, he asked out of the blue:

"What exactly is the disease?"

"Yes, what exactly is the disease?" A bishop from the Temple of the War God also followed up with a question. Garrett looked up and couldn’t help but smile. The one who came was the one who had watched him write medical records that night, grinding him to explain the records. He nodded in greeting:

"Bishop Sullivan!"

"Mm, mm." Bishop Sullivan nodded absentmindedly: "What do you think this disease is? Cholera?"

"It’s not cholera." Garrett quickly answered: "There’s constipation, bloating, black stool, but no rice-water stool. Cholera can probably be ruled out... Let me think again..."

"Then typhoid?" Another priest from the Spring Water Temple also spoke up. Garrett continued to shake his head:

"It doesn’t seem like it... The incubation period of typhoid, oh, the time from infection to onset, is quite long. Patients usually come in dribs and drabs, with varying severity. Like this situation, with a very sudden onset, sending a large number of patients in a few hours, typhoid can’t do that..."

"Then is it food poisoning?" Another booming voice joined in. Garrett looked up and quickly saluted:

"Master Tolga!"

"Don’t waste time!" Master Tolga waved his hand. He immediately turned to the ward, swiftly casting two spells. White light swirled, and the patients’ pain was immediately alleviated, already able to sit up halfway. Master Tolga asked solemnly:

"Are there enough hands now? Do you need me to call more people? — By the way, what’s going on with these people? Did they all get a bad stomach? Is the water source contaminated?"

"We’re also considering water source contamination." Garrett respectfully answered: "But the main characteristics of gastrointestinal food poisoning are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, not including constipation and bloating. What disease causes both constipation and bloating, I’m still investigating."

"So is the water source contaminated or not?"

"Water supply is also being tested. But Master, water source contamination is just a symptom, we still need to find out what exactly contaminated the water source and how to treat it specifically. Calling more people—of course, is good, but without finding out the cause, just calling people may not be enough!"

"Not enough?" Master Tolga raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how many people from the medical branch are here?"

"I..."

All I know is, in the worst-case scenario, out of Nevis City’s 500,000 people, half could get infected!

Garrett bowed his head without retorting. Meanwhile, a series of footsteps were already hastily approaching in the corridor:

"Sir, the number of patients has exceeded 200 now!"

"People in the quarantine area are starting to show symptoms!"

"Another 15 patients are critical! They urgently need treatment!"

"More patients keep coming..."

"Water from 10 households’ patients has shown abnormal bacteria! Bacterial culture and tests are underway

!"

"Sir, should we test the entire building’s pipes?"

Garrett pondered for a moment, then slowly lifted his head. "Those twelve buildings—how many households are there in those twelve buildings? How many people live there?"

Master Tolga also followed his gaze. The young man who ran over with a notebook, panting and sweating, flipped through a couple of pages, his lips moving silently, quickly giving an answer:

"Approximately 900 to 1200 households, with a total population of 3,600 to 6,000 people."

At least 3,600, at most 6,000 people. Garrett turned to Master Tolga:

"Even without considering the spread of the epidemic, we need to prepare for 1,000 to 3,000 people falling ill within one or two days. The three churches, plus the medical branch, do we have enough healing power?"

Master Tolga was immediately silenced. When he came in just now, he had glanced around, everything he saw was severe cases. The Magic Council had estimated before, during an epidemic like the Black Death, the Magic Council could treat up to 500 in a day. And the remaining 500, 2,500, and even more patients as the epidemic spread...

"So what do you plan to do? Can your infectious disease hospital handle it?"

He asked with concern. Garrett bowed deeply:

"Master, please bring as many colleagues from the medical branch as you can. As for the rest—please give me a little time, I’m going to the laboratory to see if I can find out the culprit of this epidemic!"

Garrett turned and hurried to the laboratory. Donning protective gear, passing through the airlock, entering the red zone, as soon as he stepped into the room, he heard several students in heavy epidemic medical gear still in the mood to argue:

"You did it wrong!"

"You’re the one who did it wrong! How did it change after culturing?"

"You must have slipped!"

Garrett: "…What’s going on?"

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