Homo Sapiens

Fang Xinxin was admitted to a private ward.

As her family member, Fang Xinwu stayed in the guest area.

He sat by the man-made lake in a small park. The temperature in Hongsawaddy was already high by the end of March, and the annual rainy season was beginning.

However, Yunxiang Sanatorium was situated at an altitude of about two thousand meters, making the average temperature quite pleasant. This was precisely why the sanatorium had been built here.

From a bench by the artificial lake, one could overlook the nearby Xingwei Town and the river that flowed through the small city.

The climate here was very similar to Yunnan, and there was a sizable population of ethnic Chinese living in the area.

Mao Shuihe, who had gone to the cafeteria for beer and fried skewers, returned carrying a large bag of beer, spicy peanuts, and skewers. ”Brother, I bought some good stuff.”

Fang Xinwu glanced at one of the paper boxes and saw fried locusts, fried silkworm pupae, and fried mealworms. Eating insects wasn’t actually that unusual in Southeast Asia; a significant portion of the local population consumed them.

Recently, Qingye Group had acquired a large shipment of palm oil from Java and Malaysia through barter. As a result, Aoyama Supermarket had stocked a lot of cheap palm oil on its shelves.

Coupled with the fact that many insect farms had begun mass-producing edible insects, restaurants and snack shops everywhere had launched a series of insect-based dishes in response to the low price of the raw materials.

Fang Xinwu picked up his chopsticks and popped a crispy fried locust into his mouth. After being deep-fried, the locust tasted similar to fried chicken.

”Here, Brother.” Mao Shuihe opened a glass bottle of Qingye beer and handed it to him.

There were quite a few people eating in the small park. This was mainly because the meal plans provided by the sanatorium were bland and focused on balanced nutrition, naturally lacking things like fried skewers and beer.

Not far away, two young men were also feasting.

They chatted in low voices as they ate.

”Brother Xiao, I don’t think it’ll be that easy for Ai Qingling to get approved back in Huaguo. Didn’t Old Fourth join some kind of patient support group before? Maybe we can offer a transit service.”

The burly man, who was munching on a Haitian artificial meat patty, swallowed it in a couple of bites and took a swig of Qingye Cola. ”BURP... Ah Cheng, what’s your plan? We can’t get into smuggling.”

”Of course we can’t smuggle, Brother Xiao,” Ah Cheng explained. ”We can make referrals and bring people over. After all, a lot of people back home are terrified at the mere mention of Old Street. If they want to get treated, they’ll definitely need someone familiar with the situation to guide them.”

After hearing him out, Brother Xiao thought it made sense.

”Besides, there are all sorts of procedures for entering the country. We can split up. I’ll go back to Huaguo to find clients, and you and that rascal Old Fourth can receive them here.”

Brother Xiao nodded. ”That’s true. It’s good for Old Fourth to start over here. After all, he’s too ashamed to go back home to Zhanjiang.”

Getting AIDS, once the news spreads in a small town, is basically social suicide.

After graduating from university last year, Old Fourth, who liked to sleep around, went back to his hometown to take the civil service exam. But during the physical, he was diagnosed with AIDS. He instantly became infamous in the city of Zhanjiang.

His other classmates avoided him like the plague, and only Brother Xiao and Ah Cheng kept in touch.

This month, Ai Qingling appeared out of nowhere, creating a huge stir on the international internet.

After careful consideration, Brother Xiao and Ah Cheng decided to accompany Old Fourth to Hongsawaddy themselves. This was mainly because Brother Xiao was from Dali in Yunnan, and his father had some friends in Old Street.

Having settled on their business plan, Ah Cheng chugged another mouthful of cola. ”Brother Xiao, your father said it’s chaotic here, but I don’t feel it at all. What gives?”

”Hongsawaddy probably cleaned the place up. It really used to be chaotic here. The stories about organ harvesting weren’t an exaggeration.”

Nearby, Fang Xinwu was even more aware of the changes. The transformation could almost be called abrupt.

Of course, this change was actually a good thing for Huaguo. After all, the long-standing chaos in Old Street and the Golden Triangle had made the border security situation extremely severe.

Now, the ”flour” industry in Old Street had been almost completely wiped out. The people involved in that business had all but vanished over the past six months.

This was a matter of great concern to Fang Xinwu, as it involved a large number of people.

From his understanding, it was highly unlikely that Hongsawaddy would just support this bunch of scumbags. They had probably been disposed of secretly.

In truth, intelligence officers, including Fang Xinwu, were extremely curious about how the Mao Gu Corps had defeated Wu Kailuo’s forces. However, the story had been exaggerated to mythical proportions within Hongsawaddy, obscuring many of the details.

Over the past four months, the warlord factions in regions like Kachin State, Rakhine State, Old Street, and the Golden Triangle had rapidly crumbled under pressure from the Burma Army.

These events were indeed quite conspicuous.

Unfortunately, the global situation was currently in a state of semi-isolation.

Hongsawaddy’s self-imposed isolation coincided with major changes both at home and abroad, so it hadn’t faced much external interference.

However, the major world powers were still highly vigilant, and some clandestine investigations were surely underway.

Wary of the undercurrents swirling within Hongsawaddy, Fang Xinwu, despite actively gathering all sorts of intelligence, leaned toward observing social changes, production and construction, and daily market activities. He avoided prying into areas clearly marked with ”No Entry” signs.

For instance, his current presence at Yunxiang Sanatorium was to investigate the facility’s specific internal operations.

After several days of covert observation, he discovered that as news from Northern Shan gradually filtered back, more and more AIDS patients were choosing to come here with their money for treatment.

At the same time, he also noticed that quite a few people back in the Yunnan region had already spotted the business opportunity in this.

Based on his many years of experience in Southeast Asia, Fang Xinwu knew that greed was a desire most people found hard to resist. He estimated that a large number of groups offering medical referral services or smuggling Ai Qingling would soon spring up back home.

This would definitely become a new industry.

Although it would inevitably involve some gray areas, Fang Xinwu didn’t feel uncomfortable or show any signs of outrage.

Compared to the ”flour” business, the business of new medicine was at least about saving people, not harming them.

Having clawed his way up from the bottom, Fang Xinwu understood the harm of a disease called poverty.

Being able to casually eat fried skewers and drink beer was still no easy feat for the vast majority of people in this country.

「Seven days of treatment flew by in an instant.」

The AIDS virus in Fang Xinxin’s body was essentially cleared by the third day. After four consecutive days of tests showed no trace of the virus, the sanatorium issued a certificate of cure.

Of course, as a precaution, the sanatorium offered a complimentary follow-up examination. A month later, she could take her certificate of cure to any branch of Qingye Hospital for a comprehensive blood test.

The moment she received the certificate, Fang Xinxin was so moved that her eyes filled with tears. ’I feel like I’ve been given a new life.’

If she hadn’t been so young, naive, and vain back then, dating that ”sea turtle” boyfriend, she would never have suffered such torment and devastation.

The gifts granted by fate are perhaps already secretly marked with a price.

Fang Xinwu could only patiently console her. Regarding the ordeal of this distant relative, he could only sigh inwardly at how fate toys with people.

”By the way, Xinxin, you still need a follow-up test next month. You’ll have to stay in Hongsawaddy for a while. Just think of it as a vacation to relax and clear your mind!”

”Thank you, Brother Xinwu,” Fang Xinxin said gratefully.