In 2047, in the Republic of Duong Lan pressed between the sea and limestone mountains, chief scientist Trinh Ky An signs his name to the White Blood trial file, certain that one injection will erase cancer. The first patient is cured in three days—then bites through the throat of the on-duty nurse, and the outbreak kills no one but turns the infected into pale, blood-thirsty creatures whose wounds close too fast to die from. Fleeing with the half-awake child who whispers numbers, Ky An discovers that White Blood was never a mistake: it works exactly as designed, by someone who wanted something far removed from a cure.