Gary remembered the man. Despite the mask, the young and calm voice was impressive, with a power to fight fear, and those who listened to it couldn't help but believe what he said.

A few days after he went to the academy to no avail, the young doctor named Kraft unexpectedly appeared in the Salt Tide Zone, where no one in his right mind would visit, and went from house to house, claiming to help them rebuild two wells to cure their drowsiness caused by the toxic water.

"Hello, if I'm not mistaken, your name is Gary, right?"

The bird-headed man held a rectangular board of wood with a clamping structure on the upper edge that had been removed out of nowhere, so that he could hold the paper to it.

I used a question sentence, but the pen had already written something on the paper quickly, and the question just now was just a routine, and I already had a judgment in my heart.

"Ah, yes, that's me. I didn't expect you to remember. Gary closed the door behind him, blocking out the clutter of the interior.

In the salt tide area, it is not customary to invite visitors into the house to sit. Not for polite or other cultural reasons, just because the shack is too small to fit more people and has no extra place to sit.

"If I have time, I'd like to take a moment of your time and ask a few questions that might help us deal with this strange disease." Kraft dipped the tip of his pen in the inkwell Lucius was holding, "There won't be anything that isn't quite appropriate for answering." ”

As always, Gary could not find a reason to refuse the request of such a doctor who came to the Salt Tide District for free to solve the problem, not to mention that he did not have to pay anything.

Of course, there are few good people in the world who are good for no reason, and people who are so good as the saints of the church often have plans. However, Gary didn't feel that he had any good plans on him, and his working hours were getting less and less for a month, and the people in this place would definitely not be able to squeeze half of the extra copper plates.

"As long as I know." Gary nodded.

Permissioned, Kraft began his investigation with a pre-prepared question: "Does the waking time change after not drinking the water from that well?"

The first question stumped Gary, who hesitated for a moment and gave a less precise answer: "It seems a little early, but I'm not sure." It may also be unchanged, still at noon. ”

The tip of the pen draws a small cross on the paper, followed by a small horizontal bar, separated by a slash in the middle – there may or may not be there, pending further confirmation. After all, there is no accurate timing tool here, and patients answer according to their subjective feelings, which is not for sure.

On the whole paper, the first item after the dense number of names and numbers is mostly ambiguous records, and only a few indicate that they can be sure.

"I'm sorry, but I'm ...... Not sure. Gary twisted his hands, and he was a little embarrassed that he couldn't give a definite answer to the first question.

"It doesn't matter, just say what you really feel, there is no good or bad answer, and if you can't be sure, you can answer." Kraft said it didn't matter, and the tip of the pen moved to the next piece, "Have you been dreaming lately?" ”

"Dreams of any kind, such as dreaming that you are in a place that resembles your home, or waking up with no memory of the contents at all, are also counted."

The question was like a precursor to some priest or a metaphysical liar asking for money, and Gary shook his head blankly, he didn't remember any dreams, only empty sleep, closed his eyes, and woke up at dawn.

"No, not once." Speaking of this, Gary felt a chill inexplicably, as if the devil had come to take his soul in the dead of night and put it back the next day.

As he said this, he felt a special attention from the eyes behind the red lenses, staring at him like a substance, as if something invisible had descended on him.

After receiving a negative answer, the tension vanished, and the bird-headed drew a small negative sign on the paper, and there was a slight relaxation in his tone that he probably hadn't even noticed.

"That's great."

The bird's beak lifted, and Gary felt like he was smiling, but didn't understand what was "too good" about it, just because he wasn't dreaming?

"Don't mind, sometimes dreams are a harbinger of something, and it's better to have nothing happen than to have some unexplained dream, okay?"

"You're right." Gary didn't understand this twist and turn, but instinctively agreed.

"Have you been feeling sick lately? Pain, dizziness, cough, or diarrhea. ”

"Yes, I have had a sore foot recently, and it hurts even more." Speaking of this, Gary is still a little afraid.

The pain was like trying to rip off a bone, and it hurt so much that it was hard to move, but now he had to work half less every day, and he couldn't stay idle because of this.

Originally, he wanted to ask, but he was afraid that it had nothing to do with sleeping sickness, which made Kraft unhappy. But since the latter took the initiative, it couldn't be better.

"Feet show me out." This sentence was purely superfluous, and Kraft looked down to see that Gary was not wearing shoes at all, and the salty black mud of the mud on the mud flats dried and clumped on his calloused feet, and the original color of his skin was barely distinguishable.

The connecting joints between the thumb and the sole of the foot looked a little swollen, and due to the color of the skin, he couldn't see if there was any redness and swelling, so he squatted down and reached out to press it.

Gary saw that he was wearing a pair of delicate gloves of unknown leather, and subconsciously shrank his feet.

"Don't move, I'll press it and tell me if it hurts?"

This place is called the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and as soon as he pressed it, Gary showed a visibly pained expression. Kraft let go of it and pressed it all the way up until his ankle hurt.

"Joint Sand." He said that this is another name for gout in this side of the world, Wendeng Port, because the uric acid finally condenses into tophi in the joints, and the things that are squeezed out after inflammation and ulceration resemble sand and small stones, "What have you eaten recently?" ”

It is not uncommon in port cities that a large amount of seafood in the diet, coupled with the increase in purines caused by drinking beer, and the metabolite uric acid is not high.

This time Gary reminisced for a short time, and after a little recollection, he replied: "Bread, some cheap fish, and shells that my wife picked up at the beach."

"Eat less from the sea, drink more water, and don't drink beer. It's best to change the staple food. "There is no symptomatic drug, so we can only start from the aspect of dietary regulation, which can be somewhat controlled.

Gary, who received the answer, didn't have much joy on his face, and asked blankly, "Is there no other way?"

"Not yet." Of course there is, but not now, and neither do I.

As is customary, the somewhat hygienic Kraft can't wait to take off his gloves and throw them in the rhubarb bin. I was about to do it, but I realized that this was not a hospital, and the rubber gloves on my hands were not disposable.

With his right hand in the air and a clipboard and pen in his left hand, he asked Lucius for help: "Give me a little piece of linen, thank you."

After wiping his gloves and throwing the linen into the nearby garbage heap, Kraft was about to explain his diet control before turning back to Gary, but quickly realized that it didn't make sense at all.

In Wendeng Harbour, some of the cheap fish and ubiquitous shellfish are among the most cost-effective sources of protein and fat for the heavy manual workers at the docks, and it seems unrealistic to find an alternative, or simply rely on a lot of starchy food, even brown bread.

"Drink plenty of water, I'll come back next time, tell me if there's anything uncomfortable." Writing the abbreviation "Joint Sand" on the last blank space, Kraft said goodbye to Gary and led Lucius to the next shack.

It's terrible, I hope this is over soon, he thought, knocking on another door.

The arduous work did not stop until the evening, with small stacks of paper in tight bits of information.

The two of them returned to Kraft's new home to rest for a while, changed out of the black robe and bird's beak mask, and went to find a place to eat and relieve the fatigue of the day

As usual, one serving of grilled fish, vegetable soup, and pretty good white bread per person, Kraft's own default reasonable dinner was nutritious and moderate. He took a sip of the soup and said, "We'll check again in two days."

"It's so short, I guess it's not too obvious as it is today, right?" Lucius, who had just stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth, almost didn't throw it up, he wasn't a well-trained person like Kraft, even if he walked a lot, he was very tired for most of the day.

Kraft pushed away the soup bowl and recalled the few sheets of paper he had put together today, feeling that he had lost his appetite, and that he had to turn them into color-coded floor plans, and much more that he had asked of himself.

"It was a very important experience, Lucius. I'm not talking about a full day of trekking through the salt tide zone, but about sorting out the case of a massive illness caused by a new substance. ”

The numbers after those names were the numbers for each shed in his memory, and he tried to map the information he had gathered to the map in his mind. It's not very evenly distributed, but I can't see anything for the time being.

"We need to collect information frequently, use these things to describe the continuous development process, record the outcome, look for some general patterns, and summarize the countermeasures to prepare for this situation in the future."

"Later?" Lucius heard the implication, "Do you think there will be a lot of this kind of thing in the future, so many that you need to organize a special category?" ”

"Why do you think this is almost over?" The boss came over with Lucius's share of the grilled fish, and Kraft stopped the conversation, "Anyway, let's do it first, it's better than nothing, do you need me to pay you a salary?" ”

"Forget it, I think you have a point." Lucius picked up the grilled fish and took a bite, because someone was treated, this was the third serving, and with the vegetable soup to relieve the greasy, he might be able to eat all the labor back.

He chewed heavily, halfway through it before noticing that the food in front of Kraft hadn't moved much, "Aren't you hungry?" ”

"Hey, just remembering something." Leaning back in his chair, Kraft sighed, "I don't think there are things I can cure, or that no matter how good my medical skills are, it's useless. ”

"Which do you say?"

"It's not any one, it's big and small, it's all about the same in nature. I can fully understand that I can't get rid of the obstacles alone, but I often have unrealistic illusions. ”

"What you're talking about today has the flavor of those people in the academy who are engaged in philosophy." Lucius put down the gnawed fish bone, "Have you considered giving it to me if you don't eat it?" ”

"Forget it, let's eat." Kraft also tasted the grilled fish, and it tasted just right. The day's work begins and ends with a dinner.