Simulation Game: Crisis Management

Chapter 587 - 266: Biological Attack

Gu Ji’s heart skipped a beat.

In his mind, the famous anthrax attack in the United States popped up instantly.

The attackers used anthrax bacteria, hiding anthrax powder in letters sent to several news media offices, resulting in 5 deaths and 17 infections.

On a normal day, he might not necessarily have thought of this matter.

But in the last scenario, he was killed by someone using anthrax virus, and coupled with two consecutive anthrax-related historical markers, Gu Ji became extra cautious.

He swallowed hard.

Carefully, he stuffed the files into an envelope, then locked the office door, took out his phone, and called Jiang Chengxun at the Seoul CDC.

"You need to come over immediately, I might be facing a biological terrorist attack, yes, I suspect it’s bacterial..."

After hanging up, Gu Ji turned to look at Jang Siyun, who was drinking coffee outside the window, and dialed again.

When this guy saw the phone number, he was startled at first, thinking Gu Ji needed something from him, and immediately got up from his desk, instinctively reaching to unlock the office door.

Gu Ji raised a hand, signaling him to stop, then pointed to his phone.

Understanding the gesture, Jang Siyun answered the call.

"Senior, what’s wrong?"

"Evacuate the office immediately, no, evacuate everyone on the entire floor of the police department office, and have the building management turn off the central air conditioning. I might have been hit by a biological attack, there’s an unknown white powder in the package on my desk!"

"What!? Senior, I’ll find someone to rescue you right now!"

"I’ve already called the CDC, just follow what I said!"

Gu Ji glared and interrupted Jang Siyun, taking a photo of the label on the package and sending it over, "Also, don’t hang up the phone, help me check the sender’s information and address on the package label, including ground surveillance. I need to know who else has come into contact with this package!"

"Okay, okay, senior, I’ll do it right away! Nanzhu, Shengtai, come with me..."

Jang Siyun put his phone on speaker mode, tucked it into his pocket, and quickly explained to the two.

Through the glass, Gu Ji could hear their surprised exclamations.

Especially Secretary Pei Nanzhu, who was looking at him with a face full of grievance and self-blame, after all, she was the last person to handle the package and personally placed it on the office desk.

After all the subordinates had left the large office.

Gu Ji slowly turned the door knob, closed it, walked to the public work area, and picked up a bottle of disinfectant alcohol spray, beginning to spray it on himself.

Only at this moment did he dare to slightly relax his breathing, taking a deeper breath.

Facing a biological terrorist attack, the first thing to do is stay calm, assess the situation, then protect yourself, utilizing environmental facilities and personal items to shield your body and cover your nose and mouth to avoid or minimize pathogen invasion and inhalation, and immediately move away from the source of contamination.

Luckily, Gu Ji had been frequently active in hospitals and other MERS hotspots lately, fearing he might contract the MERS virus, paying close attention to personal protection.

Thus, in public places, he never took off his gloves and mask, not even in his own office.

Otherwise, at the first second of opening the package, he might have inhaled the powder.

Don’t be fooled by the small amount that spilled out.

Never underestimate this thing.

As is well known, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and others used in biological attacks are all invisible to the naked eye. The so-called white powder is just their carrier.

Take the US anthrax attack incident as an example.

Just one gram of anthrax powder could contain 10 billion spores, and just one ton of dry powder could turn a metropolis of a million people into hell on earth.

This is why Gu Ji had Jang Siyun and the others leave first.

He was 100% sure that some of the white powder spilled from the package had fallen on him; if he left the office directly, they would easily be infected as well.

Every three minutes, Gu Ji sprayed himself with alcohol all over again.

He still couldn’t be sure if the white powder was the same anthrax bacteria as from the last scenario, and if so, alcohol would have very limited killing ability against it.

Especially weaponized anthrax.

This stuff is specially designed in laboratories for biochemical warfare, with extremely strong survival abilities, adhesion capabilities, and resistance to drugs.

It’s so abnormal that it can survive in soil for decades, live in leather products for 90 years, and only by exposing it to sunlight for 100 hours, boiling for 40 minutes, steaming at 110°C for 60 minutes, or soaking in formaldehyde solution for over 15 minutes can the spores be eradicated.

During WWII, the British Army deployed weaponized anthrax on Gruinard Island, killing all the organisms on the island within days. The island remained contaminated for decades afterward.

It wasn’t until 1986 that 280 tons of formaldehyde were used to eliminate the anthrax bacteria on the island!

So if disinfection isn’t timely, it will continue to spread.

Due to the horrifying nature of biological attacks, they are hailed as "the poor man’s nuclear weapon."

Because to achieve a 50% mortality rate within a square kilometer, using conventional weapons costs 2000 US Dollars, using nuclear weapons costs 800 US Dollars, using chemical weapons costs 600 US Dollars, but a biological weapon only costs 1 US Dollar.

This is why anti-terrorism departments worldwide pay such close attention to biological attacks.

After about ten minutes, Jang Siyun sent a message that everyone on the entire police department floor had evacuated. His superior, Sun Zaisi, also reached out via phone to inquire about Gu Ji’s current situation, comforting him not to be afraid, and that the chemical defense unit had been notified.