Chapter 202: Moratorium (7)

Mimi was transferred over to a regular hospital room. And on the second day... Nothing went wrong. Her breathing and heart rate was normal, and she ate and slept well. Zhi Xuan felt elated when she stared at Mimi’s tiny face scrunching as she slept, just like she did in the sterile room.

Zhi Xuan sat by the bedside and stared down at Mimi. The health of this mother and daughter was truly remarkable. The mother was a HIV patient, and the daughter had congenital immunodeficiency due to genetic modifications. Immunodeficiency had caused this mother and daughter a great deal of suffering.

“It’s nice to switch into a regular room, right?” asked Zhang Haoyu, Mimi’s doctor, as he stepped into the room.

“Yes, it’s really nice,” Zhi Xuan replied.

She smiled and softly rubbed Mimi’s forehead.

“It’s been a long journey. Thank you for your hard work,” Zhang Haoyu said to Zhi Xuan.

“You, too.”

Zhi Xuan bowed towards him.

“It’s almost over now, so don’t worry.”

“Doctor, I think I’m going to get the HIV cure,” Zhi Xuan said.

“Are you going to go to Beijing?”

“Once Mimi is discharged. I have this coupon now.”

Zhi Xuan held out and shook the envelope that the anonymous foreign scientist gave her.

“Take good care of it. It’s expensive,” Zhang Haoyu said, chuckling.

“I’ll take good care of it since it’s a coupon worth six thousand yuan, which is a lot of money for me.”

Zhi Xuan quickly put the envelope in her bag.

‘If they knew who that originally belonged to, I’m sure wealthy collectors would buy it for ten times that price.’

However, Zhang Haoyu didn’t feel the need to say what was on his mind.

“Mimi should be able to leave in about a month,” he said.

“A month...”

“She could just leave right now as well, but I think it would be better to observe her for a little longer.”

“Yes, we’ll do as you say. Thank you so much.”

“What are you going to do after Mimi gets discharged and you cure your HIV?”

“I’m going to breastfeed her,” Zhi Xuan replied instantly like it was already in her head.

“Great.”

Zhang Haoyu nodded like he felt bad for her.

Genetic modification, which resulted from a desperate attempt to avoid passing on immunodeficiency, led to another type of immunodeficiency.

And there was one more thing that pained Zhi Xuan, who was constantly blaming herself for being ignorant and stupid: she had yet to breastfeed her own baby.

“Babies receive their antibodies from the mother through the umbilical cord. After birth, they receive antibodies from the mother through breastfeeding. A newborn baby’s immunity is very low, and there are pathogens everywhere that are looking for an opportunity to get to the baby,” Zhang Haoyu said. “If you think about it, Ms. Zhi Xuan, it’s really fascinating. Since primitive times, mothers have not only protected their babies from external threats, but also from the invisible microworld—from bacteria and viruses.”

Hearing Zhang Haoyu, Zhi Xuan smiled bitterly.

“I’ve heard of that as well, though I couldn’t do that.”

There were two reasons why she couldn’t. The first was because Mimi was receiving nutrients intravenously to reduce the risk of infection as she was still immunocompromised, and the second reason was because Zhi Xuan had HIV. In other words, HIV could be transmitted through breastfeeding.

If they were both healthy, Zhi Xuan could have given her antibodies to Mimi to boost her immunity, giving Mimi’s body the power to fight off the world’s pathogens. But all she could give was HIV and only the virus. When she realized this, she was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt that made her whole world fall apart. It felt like the hand of the Devil was grabbing her ankle and dragging her to Hell, no matter how hard she tried to escape. A lifetime of poverty and disease: HIV, which had glomed onto her from Jieyang, the blood village in Guangdong, was about to be passed down, like poverty.

“Doctor, I thought this was my fate,” Zhi Xuan said. “I thought my fate was to live poor and sick, pass on my poverty and sickness to my children, then to die of old age.”

“...”

“But I found out that maybe that won’t happen—that some people are capable of stopping that... For me, it was like magic. It was really shocking... I don’t know if it was because I’m uneducated, but to me, it felt like they were God or an angel or something,” Zhi Xuan said. “And it just disappeared so quickly as soon as it was cured, so it’s like... It feels like a dream. Even thinking of it now, I don’t think he was a human being...”

“I’m a professor of medicine, and I’ve studied quite a bit in my life, but I think that about Doctor Ryu, too,” Zhang Haoyu said with a chuckle.

“Really? I guess I’m not the only one who feels that.”

Zhi Xuan wiped her slightly wet eyes with her old shirt.

“When Mimi is older, I’m going to send her to school. I didn’t get to go, but I’m going to let her study a lot, as much as she wants to. If I don’t have enough money for her school, I’ll even sell my blood again. There’s nothing I can do if she doesn’t want to when she grows up, but if it’s possible...” she said. “I want her to be a scientist.”

Zhang Haoyu grinned.

“She will. She has experienced both extremes of science.”

Zhang Haoyu came and sat beside Zhi Xuan.

“The media has been going crazy over this baby and hurting it, calling her a singularity or a cursed baby and whatnot, but I don’t think that,” he said. “As you also know, this baby was saved by the greatest scientist in the world with the best technology. What this baby has is a blessing.”

* * *

Jessie, an editor and reporter for

Science

, a prestigious academic journal, was interviewing some scientists in China. Originally, her reason for being here had nothing to do with Young-Joon; it was actually because she had heard that

Nature

had a scoop. She dug into it, and what she found was shocking. Rumors were slowly spreading that China was transplanting organs from executed prisoners into patients without permission, which was what Jessie was originally here to investigate.

But after she arrived, she realized that the scoop had changed. All of a sudden, He Jiankui announced the news of a genetically modified baby at the GSC International Conference in Korea. There was also an anthrax attack, but Young-Joon stopped it and came to China. Then, the most unimaginable things began happening, one by one, in a short period of time.

First, A-GenBio sued Atmox for ten billion dollars and crushed them. Then, a few days ago, He Jiankui was sentenced to death. After that, West China Hospital in Sichuan announced a possible cure for Mimi, the genetically modified baby.

And today, a stunning paper was published on BioRxiv, the bio-archive. The papers’ first authors were Jacob, Clay, Wang Zhubing, the second author was Zhang Haoyu, the third author was Dong Weimin, and the corresponding author was Young-Joon. Zhang Haoyu and Dong Weimin were from West China Hospital, but the rest of them were from A-GenBio. Jacob, Clay, and Wang Zhubig were young scientists in their twenties and thirties, but they had written an incredible paper.

‘Although, I think they had a boost from the corresponding author.’

Jessie was mused as she read the paper that was published in the bio-archive. The reason why Jacob submitted this paper to the bio-archive first before submitting it to

Science

was probably part of Young-Joon’s plan to get a jump on it before the Chinese government could use it politically.

‘But I’m a little disappointed that a paper of this magnitude wasn’t first released by Science.’

Actually, Jessie had tried incredibly hard to meet with Young-Joon in China, but all her attempts had failed. It was because Young-Joon was so busy, and he was jumping all over China, from Beijing to Sichuan.

‘I contacted his secretary’s office at A-GenBio to get his schedule, but even she didn’t know his schedule.’

Jessie recalled something that happened the other day.

—We don’t know either... He’s so busy in China that his plans change daily. He calls me on the day of to let me know of his schedule.

That was what Jessie had heard from Secretary Yoo Song-Mi, who sounded like she was going to cry. Jessie could roughly figure out what was going on. It was understandable, as Young-Joon’s insane schedule consisted of pushing for the death sentence as He Jiankui’s punishment, destroying Atmox, and curing genetically modified babies.

‘But I got him now. I’m finally at West China Hospital.’

Jessie clenched her fists.

‘The paper was released yesterday, and the announcement of possibly curing the baby came out the day before, so he must still be here, right?’

—Jessie!

Samuel, the chief editor for

Science

, called her.

“Yes?”

—We got a hold of Doctor Ryu! He’s going to do the interview, I talked to him myself. Go do the interview! Hurry!

“Ouch... My ears hurt. Talk slower.”

—You can’t let

Nature

beat you!

“Don’t worry. I’m already at West China Hospital.”

—Why are you in Sichuan?

“Because Doctor Ryu was here until the other day. They said he was doing some research.”

—He’s in Guangdong now.

“Ah, crap...”

—He’s having a meeting about the mosquito extinction project. He’s testing it on two islands in Guangdong.

“He really is roaming around China like a runaway train... The people in his office are going to cry.”

—What?

“Nothing, never mind. Anyway, I have to go to Guangdong, right?

—Yeah. Get there as soon as possible.

* * *

A province in China was a large administrative division, roughly the size of a state in the United States. Guangdong Privoice was located in the southeastern part of mainland China, and it was the most populated province with a whopping one hundred ten million people. The reason for this was because it was China’s largest industrial area, and many people came here to find work. In addition, it was so humid and hot that it stayed around ten degrees Celsius even in the winter.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

A large population in such a climate: as one could imagine, it was a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“During the height of the dengue epidemic, thirty thousand people were infected here. It wasn’t that the health authorities were slow or wrong in their response, but it still spread very quickly. It’s just that this region itself is vulnerable to mosquitoes,” said China’s health minister, who came to greet Young-Joon himself.

“Thirty thousand...”

“And this province has had the highest GDP in China for the past thirty years. It’s about ten percent of China’s total GDP, and it’s close to Russia’s total GDP as well.”

“That’s impressive.”

“The health authorities are always keeping an eye on it because that’s the kind of place this is.”

Guangdong was China’s most important economic core. And with this population and climate... Once a mosquito-borne disease broke out, it would spread like wildfire. If the health authorities hesitated in their response, even a little, it would spiral out of control. And because of its location, it would become a national disaster.

“I said that I was going to eradicate mosquitoes on the two islands in the east of Guangdong, right?” Young-Joon asked.

“Yes, you did,” the minister replied.

“Why don’t we target all of Guangdong?”