Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree  Editor: Lonelytree

“Prof Shen, I wish to ask you a question.”

In Phecda’s Northern Desert Division, inside the bustling ESP experiment lab, Gu Jun was accosting Prof Shen. Elder Tong was not there that morning because he had gone to intercept the internal review unit. He finally had a chance to talk to Prof Shen alone and perhaps get some information.

“Sure, feel free to ask.” Prof Shen was as kind as ever.

“I know the field of ESP has been doing research on lucid dreams. I want to ask if there is any training or test related to dreams that can help us improve our mental power or ESP?”

Prof Shen pushed on the glasses perched on his nose. He answered seriously, “Lucid dreams are a big field, but we did not arrange any related programs for you during this training because you will need actual sleep after mental power training so that your brain can achieve true rest. Otherwise, it will only have an inverse effect. If this experiment is allowed to continue, we could try experimenting on lucid dreaming in the future.”

“Then…” Gu Jun was formulating the question in his mind. Every time he was reminded of that article, he would be ravaged by a sense of anxiety. The term ‘to train our hearts to listen to the voices in our dreams’ stuck like a fish bone in his throat.

Wu Siyu glanced at him and sighed helplessly. ‘What a man.’

She came out with it. “Prof Shen, is it possible for us to receive messages in our dreams? The transmitter might not be human but some kind of signal from outer space?”

Gu Jun stole a glance at her. He uttered in his heart, ‘You are one hell of a busybody. Do you hear me?’

Obviously, Wu Siyu did not. Even if she did, she would pretend she did not.

“Siyu, Ah jun.” Prof Shen sighed with a smile. “I know you are trying your best to improve your mental power and familiarize yourself with ESP, but currently, our understanding of the human brain is very limited, meaning psychology and especially parapsychology are still considered pseudoscience by some. We still cannot figure out the part of the brain responsible for the onset of Alzheimer’s, much less dreams or ESP.”

Even though he was technically now a lab rat, as a medical student, Gu Jun couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Alzheimer’s was a nervous system impairment that normally affected the elderly. Since the first official report of it in the early twenty century, the global medical community had studied it for a hundred years already and had done endless experiments on it. Yet, they had made practically zero headway on how it was triggered, whether it was genetic, parasitic, a mutation in brain cells, or something else… an amyloid B protein avalanche, tau protein theory… low education level, high blood pressure, high blood glucose… They had come up with all kinds of hypotheses, but nothing was conclusive.

Once Gu Jun considered this, he was chilled because it was indeed a scary prospect. Alzheimer’s could be infectious? This was an unknown, but there was an existing theory that supported this, so one could not rule it out. However, if it was true, Alzheimer’s had not exploded in an epidemic, at least for now…

Otherwise, it could be as devastating for human civilization as hemoptysis was for the foreign civilization.

“So, technically, Elder Tong and I are also just going with the flow,” Prof Shen added in encouragement. “There is no need to hurry. Some things take time. With your current mental power, it should be more than enough to deal with the imminent exam.”

“No, Prof Shen, you don’t quite get it,” Wu Siyu whispered under her breath.

Gu Jun shrugged at her, telling her to stop. It looked like Prof Shen did not know more than they did, perhaps even less. The two were spared from training that afternoon and spent it in meditation. Prof Shen wanted them to be in their optimum state.

The review unit finally arrived at 4 pm.

Prof Shen led the trio from the Problematic Team and the lab members to the door of the medical building to welcome them. Gu Jun saw the group of people walk over. His gaze immediately went to the thirty or so people who were dressed in the same uniform. They were their opponents this time, the ‘Overseer Team’.

According to Prof Shen’s introduction and the internal info provided by Phecda, this was an experienced team affiliated to the headquarters’ Special Mobile Force. They had around thirty common members, and they all had high spirituality and mastery of psychology. They were mainly selected from the Medical Department and Review Department. The Overseers were designated as an adjunct unit, providing psychological, mental analytics, and S value assessment technical support. So, whenever there was a large operation where multiple Special Mobile Force units or more than one thousand members from the Action Department were required, the Overseers would join as a support group.

But this time, to quote Elder Tong, they were there to make them look ugly.

Gu Jun swept his gaze over them. There were men and women among the thirty people, and they were all over thirty years old. The unit appeared imposing in their uniform—to inspire leadership, some Special Mobile Force teams were allowed their own uniform. Naturally, the Problematic Team did not have that privilege yet.

Facing his gaze, the group responded with confident and calm nods. Elder Tong and the few leaders from the Overseers were gesturing wildly, discussing something. Gu Jun captured the sight of two familiar faces among the group trailing behind the Overseers. One was Prof Qin, and the other was Yao Sinian, the commander from the emergency command center at Gu Rong Village.

“Prof Qin, Commander Yao.” Gu Jun ignored the etiquette and walked forward to greet his two seniors.

“Ah Jun, I have not had the chance to speak with you after that last mission.” Yao Sinian’s hair was white as snow. His face was lined with more wrinkles than Gu Jun remembered. “You were sent here right after that harsh mission. It must have been difficult for you.”

“It’s all for the sake of Phecda.” Gu Jun did not dare complain before them. He noticed that Prof Qin also looked worse for wear, and there was a constant frown between his eyes. The serenity that he carried with him when he sent Gu Jun away last month had disappeared without a trace.

“Prof Qin, how are things in the Eastern State?” His heart sank with apprehension.

“Honestly, not so good.” Prof Qin sighed. His voice was laced with lethargy. “Ah Jun, for the past week, the number of people committing suicide from jumping has skyrocketed in the Eastern State. The psychiatry and psychology department at the hospitals are all full. There is a new type of psychologically mutated disease that has appeared. There is currently no effective cure, and we haven’t found its pathogenesis either. But according to some field studies, it appears to be related to an infectious nightmare.”

Gu Jun’s body quivered as his eyes widened. Earlier, he had worried about an infectious Alzheimer’s…

‘An infectious nightmare? What kind of pathogenesis is that?’

For some reason, he was reminded of that statement from the article—’to train our heart to listen to the voice in the dream’.