Chapter 2: Eruption
May 29, 2015, Tianhai Business Tower, Block B, Room 401, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 1 PM.
Li Fengyi was hosting Sun Feigang, a client from a water conservancy company in Changchun, in a meeting room surrounded by transparent glass. Through the glass, he noticed several employees at their desks coughing violently. With a client present, the staff’s lack of manners annoyed him. Apologetically, he said to the middle-aged Northerner, “Please have a seat, I’ll go check on them.”
Li Fengyi seethed inwardly, “I’ll deal with these little troublemakers later.”
He pushed open the glass door of the meeting room, approached Ma Li, who was coughing the hardest, and asked, “Not feeling well? Want to see a doctor?”
Even through her thin spring blouse, he could feel the heat radiating from her body. Ma Li, racked by coughing, did not respond. As he moved in front of her, he was startled—her usually pale face was flushed dark red, her eyes tightly shut, and blackish-red blood was seeping from her nose.
“What?” Li Fengyi cried out in alarm, shouting, “Quick, call 120!”
No one moved for a moment. Li Fengyi looked around the 50-square-meter office. A few people’s shoulders were shaking with ever-worsening coughs, while four others stood helplessly at their workstations, watching their colleagues.
He subconsciously glanced back at Sun Feigang, who looked on in confusion.
“Sun Xiaoshan, call 120. The rest of you, get everyone some hot water, and bring some tissues,” Li Fengyi ordered.
He had no idea what else to do. The business deal seemed hopeless now, and he could only attend to the crisis at hand.
The staff began to act. Sun Xiaoshan tried dialing repeatedly, but after several attempts, he shouted, “Mr. Li, I can’t get through—it’s busy!”
“Damn it, what are those people at 120 doing?” Li Fengyi cursed. “Keep trying. Call 110 as well.”
The violent coughing grew louder and more frequent. Li Fengyi worried they would damage their throats. The afflicted ignored the hot water and tissues, intent only on coughing.
Swallowing hard, Li Fengyi called out, “Tian Ming, go get building management and have them send some people to help.”
Even without touching Ma Li, standing beside her, he could feel her body growing hotter.
After a while, Tian Ming ran back in a panic. “Mr. Li, it’s the same everywhere—the other companies, the management staff, everyone’s like this.”
“An epidemic? Some kind of outbreak?” Li Fengyi didn’t have time to think. He still remembered some protective measures from previous outbreaks. He quickly shouted, “Everyone, grab a cloth, wet it, and cover your nose!”
He tore a piece from his pure cotton shirt, dampened it, and handed a cloth to Sun Feigang in the meeting room, pressing another tightly to his own nose.
After a moment, muffled by the wet cloth, he shouted, “Carry them all into the meeting room and open the doors and windows for ventilation!”
Including the client, six people fumbled to open the doors and windows as loud coughing echoed down the corridor.
Everyone was anxious, clutching wet cloths to their faces. With difficulty, they carried the six sick colleagues to the meeting room, seating them and offering hot water and tissues.
“Sun Xiaoshan, keep calling 120,” Li Fengyi commanded, then picked up his phone to call home. His housemate was at work, but his girlfriend was still home.
His wife, panicked, said the friend in the other room was also coughing, wouldn’t open the door, and wouldn’t speak. Muffled coughing sounded over the phone.
Li Fengyi instructed her to take the elderly and the child into a room, lock the door, open the windows, wet a cloth and cover their mouths and noses, and not go out. Hearing his steady voice, Wang Shujuan calmed down and followed his instructions.
Seeing him make phone calls, the others began calling home as well. Only Chu Zhen, whose family was in Anhui, got through; her father said her mother was coughing, as were many neighbors.
“Is this nationwide?” Li Fengyi wondered, listening to the flurry of calls. “What’s going on?”
He instinctively glanced at Ma Li’s computer. It was 3:30 PM—an hour and a half had passed.
He opened a browser. News sites were full of reports of violent coughing across the country and even abroad. Many sites had only half-updated news, and some displayed nothing, as if abandoned by their administrators.
Suddenly, government notices flashed across all sites. Thanks to past epidemic experiences, the country had established a robust disease control system. The notice stated that outbreaks had been reported worldwide, instructing everyone to remain indoors and await rescue. Any acts of looting would be dealt with severely. Medical institutions at all levels were already mobilized. People were urged to trust the government.
Soon, similar notifications came by text message.
Li Fengyi noticed there was no mention of the military.
Suddenly, car horns and the sounds of collisions echoed from Dongsi North Avenue, less than fifty meters from their building.
“My mother and little boy are at home. I need to pick up Li Yutian and get home quickly,” Li Fengyi thought, rising to address his colleagues. “I just checked online—this is happening worldwide. Most of you aren’t from Beijing and can’t get home immediately. If you have family, relatives, or a girlfriend in Beijing, go to them now. If not, come with me.”
He turned to Sun Feigang. “Mr. Sun, do you have friends or relatives in Beijing?”
Sun Feigang shook his head.
“Come with me, then. We’ll assess the situation and decide what to do.”
Xu Bofeng, already settled in Beijing with his family in Shijingshan, decided to head home. The ones who followed Li Fengyi were Sun Xiaoshan, Tian Ming, Chu Zhen, Sun Feigang, and Huang Shunyi.
Sun Xiaoshan, of average height, had grown up an orphan in a welfare institution, earned a master’s in mechatronics, and had worked for Li Fengyi for three years since graduation.
Sun Feigang was a water engineer from Changchun, in town to discuss water control electronics. Tian Ming was a hardware engineer, Chu Zhen a clerk, and Huang Shunyi a Windows software engineer.
After everyone left, Li Fengyi glanced back at the six still coughing in the meeting room, gasping for breath. Picking up a whiteboard marker, he wrote a few words on the glass wall, telling them that 120 had been called. If they improved, they should seek out friends or relatives; if they had nowhere to go, they could find him at No. 5, Beijia He Pingli North Street.
Before closing the company door, he apologized to his staff. He locked up and hurried to catch up with the others.
Having seen many disaster preparedness campaigns, the group avoided the elevator, choosing the south stairwell. Even separated by the lobby, they could still hear the relentless coughs from other offices. The corridors were filled with bewildered people.
As they stepped out of Block B’s entrance, a red Mazda 6 roared past and crashed into a pile of cars with a tremendous bang.
“Don’t drive,” Li Fengyi shouted. “The roads are bound to be jammed!”
Chu Zhen pursed her lips, thinking, “Does the company even have a car? Still trying to impress the client at a time like this.”
Once they passed through the main gate of the business tower and stood on Dongsi North Avenue, the group was stunned into silence.