Chapter 37: ck Something, Having the Shape of a Finger


    The next morning, the ship seemed to have arrived off the coast of the fishing vige.


    Dr. Fernando noticed that the sound of the engine had stopped and the view from the ind from the cabin hadnt changed.


    When he went out on a deck where the sea breeze was blowing, he found soldiers pulling out rubber boats and equipment and preparing to go ashore.


    [This doesnt look like the ce in the photo though.]


    Fernando looked around, but all he could see was a white sandy beach and palm trees.


    [Are we going tond here? I dont see any viges nearby]


    ording to a soldier who happened to be nearby and answered his question, the n was tond a short distance away, build a base camp and then for the vige.


    [After all, theres a possibility that the information is a trap and we might be attacked.]


    The soldiers expression as he answered him was stern.


    He must have been thinking that they were in enemy territory.


    Dr. Fernandoter learned that he was a member of the Navys Elite Special Forces unit called SBS, the Special Boat Squadron.


    Dr. Fernando volunteered to join the scouting party.


    The captain of the unit was reluctant to ept it, but he convinced him that he was the only one who could medically verify the condition of the corpse.


    The soldiers were amateurs when it came to infectious diseases.


    He did give a lecture on board just in case, but he still isnt sure how well that would work in the field.


    [First of all, I want all the scouts to wear these.]


    Valuable full-body protective suits, N95 masks,tex gloves, and boots that he had gathered from the university hospital.


    He found it difficult to procure them though, as there are only a few of them in all of Sri Lanka, so they now only have 8 sets of them in total.


    In addition, sample collection equipment and firearms must also be carried by military personnel.


    Since it would be impractical to walk through a jungle in full protective gear under the zing sun, they decided the group to split into three rubber boats and move ashore along the coast.


    After crossing a small sandbar, the vige finally came into view.


    And there, they also saw corpses lying on the beach.


    The information in that photo was indeed true.


    [Theyre all ck.]


    Dr. Fernando muttered to himself as he saw those bodies.


    Beforending, the team members again checked each others full-body protective suits.


    If the air tightness of their equipment is breached, they wouldnt be allowed tond.


    With a ssh, the soldiersnded on the shallow sandy beach, and with well-trained movements, they spread out and moved to take precautionary actions around the perimeter.


    Meanwhile, Dr. Fernando carefully made his way to a nearby ck corpse.


    The corpse, arge man wearing a crude T-shirt, was lying face-down, with his face not in view.


    His right hand is clutching on the sand, as if he had just died.


    [They dont stink.]


    If the information they received is correct, these corpses should have been dead for several weeks.


    Since the corpses had been left under the hot sun without being buried for all that time, Dr. Fernando was prepared to arrive at corpses that were in a terrible state of dposition.


    The N95 mask they brought certainly was a high-performance mask, but even after looking at all of the corpses, the dposition doesnt appear to have progressed at all.


    Is it possible that some conditions happened to coincide and the dposition didnt progress?


    Or perhaps, could it be that these corpses had actually survived until very recently, and the corpse in the photograph was a different one from these?


    As Dr. Fernando pondered about this, he came to the conclusion that there might be other survivors in the vige.


    Having this in mind, Dr. Fernando called the Captain on the radio and received an immediate response.


    [Whats the matter?]


    [I think the corpses are too fresh. The dposition hasnt progressed. There may be survivors in the vige.]


    [Understood. What should we do?]


    The Captain was quick to make his judgment.


    Dr. Fernando, feeling reassured, issued a request and a warning.


    [Call out loudly and ask if there are any survivors. However, dont touch anything in the vige.]


    [Understood. There are Tamils in our unit. I will have them call out in Tamil.]


    [Please do so.]


    Half an hourter, five more ck corpses were found in the vige, bringing the total to eight, including the corpses on the beach.


    As Dr. Fernando collected samples from around the vige, heid the corpses on the beach for a full-body examination and noticed several oddities.


    [None of these corpses had dposed.]


    [Yeah. There are also not many of these. If the list is correct, there must have been 30 people living in the vige. Judging from the number of houses, there certainly should have been at least that many.]


    [The age and gender of the corpses also seemed to be one-sided. The corpses here are only middle-aged men. Where did all the women, children and elderly go?]


    [They may have made them escape? Or perhaps, they may be hiding somewhere.]


    [Hiding? Where in the world would they hide]


    [These small northern viges were sometimes used as rebel strongholds. In such cases, the women, children and elderly who couldnt fight in the vige would flee to a shelter and wait for the men to return. Sometimes, they would even hide for weeks]


    The Captain red sharply through the thick jungle behind the vige.


    [In that case, it will be impossible to find them right now. Lets go back to base camp.]


    [I suppose youre right. We cant go into the jungle with these god-awful clothes on. Well, I guess its a good thing you wont be bitten by insects with this thing on.]


    The Captain pleasantlyughed after insulting his full-body protective suit.


    [So, what about these corpses?]


    [It pains me to say this, but we will need to leave them as they are. The camp doesnt have the facilities to keep such arge number of bodies sterilized. We will analyze the samples first.]


    They cant just bring the corpses and risk their camp from being infected.


    At that moment, someone shouted Uwaahhh! over the radio.


    [Whats the matter!?]


    [No, I just felt like a corpse grabbed my leg. It was just my imagination!]


    [I think its that so-called rigor mortis. The rest of the team should check their boots. Check the rest of your clothing for holes too!]


    The Captain has all members of the team cross-check the airtightness of their full-body protective suits again.


    [All clear. No holes found!]


    [Alright! Be careful!]


    [My apologies!]


    "


    "


    The man who had caused that ruckus breathed a sigh of relief and thanked his lucky stars that the surface of his book was only ckened in what seemed to be a finger.