Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

“Mr. Nightmare Man, look, this is the carved picture left behind by Phecda Hero, Gu Jun,” Peacock said with clear reverence. Gu Jun inspected the rock sitting on the yellow sand as he slowly walked over. The night was falling as darkness swept over the desert. However, the imprint on the stone was still quite obvious. The Ancient Seal looked like a pair of antlers or a tree branch; There was a main trunk down the middle, three horizontal lines on the left and three on the right. The closer he walked, the greater the pressure on his mind, he did not like this seal, or rather, the dark energy inside his body did not like this seal. When the seal was carved onto the stone, it appeared to possess some kind of unique power.

“What is the meaning of this picture?” Gu Jun purposely asked Peacock. Based on the traces on the carving, it seemed like the seal had been there for a long time already.

“We view this as a kind of blessing.” Peacock explained with pride. “Over the past 300 years, it has been accompanying our whole tribe. Even through our most difficult time at the Plateau of Leng, we did not lose this relic, it is our symbol.”

300 years. Gu Jun frowned, Barzai the Wise had been missing for 300 years, Peacock said their tribe migrated into this world 300 years ago. 300 years ago, the Ancient Seal appeared at the summit of Hatheg-Kla, were all that related somehow…? The other rocks around it were normal boulders, only this rock had the Ancient Seal on it. Gu Jun walked forward and bent down to touch the uneven surface of the rock, he could not sense anything but that feeling of disgust heightened. In fact, it felt like he was not touching a rock but some kind of slimy liquid.

It was also then that he realized that within a nick on the rock, there was something slightly glowing, making the impression on Gu Jun that the inside of the rock was made of different material from the outside. It looked like… Opaline. Gu Jun had no idea why opaline could be found inside this stone but it did differentiate this rock from the rest. More chaotic thoughts rumbled in his mind and Gu Jun turned to ask, “Where are the other relics?”

“The others…” Peacock hesitated, “I have only heard about them but have not really seen them, they are only accessible to the tribe leaders.”

“Bring me to them.” Gu Jun looked around. “After I’ve seen the relics and ensure that they are fine, I will hand over the Pnakotic Manuscripts.” After Gu Jun had calmed down, he decided it was better to just play along. If Peacock really was hallucinating, he would get more information that way. Peacock immediately turned to grumble to the air behind her before turning back to say, “Mr. Nightmare man, I hope you are a man of your words. This way please.”

Gu Jun followed her, trailed by Malachite. As anxious as the Zoogs were, they were not going to miss out on something so exciting so they followed sneakily behind. Perhaps in Peacock’s imagination, the city was a sprawling town where it could fit 30000 people but they had led Gu Jun for less than 20 metres before they stopped still right next to the lakeshore. Peacock raised her head to look at something. “We’re here at the temple.”

Ever since her arrival at the City of Kindle, her mental state was not that normal, or perhaps it had always been that way. Gu Jun followed them into the ‘temple’ and was then led walking several times in circles. Perhaps they were going through some ritual or they were passing through the security inside the temple, regardless, after all that, the ‘leader’ finally ordered for the other relic to be brought forth—Peacock dug out something from a patch of dry grass and handed it to Gu Jun. It was a large scale. Gu Jun studied it and frowned. The scale was about the size of an A4 paper and was as thick as a thumb. It was sturdy and had layers of smaller shining scales. When it caught the light, it shimmered like metal.

“Have you guys seen this thing before?” He asked the Zoogs, this should be a scale from some kind of creature. The Elder Zoog moved forward and gave it a touch and a sniff. Then he patted his head to say, “No, but I’m sure it’s not fish scale, it does not have that disgusting fish smell.” The Zoogs all claimed that this was the first time they had seen something like this. They did not expect a treasure like this would be hidden at the settlement, it would trade for quite a bit of fowls from the black merchants.

“According to legend, this is a scale left behind by a patient of the Mutated Scale Disease.” Peacock elaborated, “An important patient.” But she had no idea who that patient was. Other than Gu Jun and Wu Siyu’s name, none of the characters in Peacock’s tale of the old world had any names or titles to them. Gu Jun had her ask the ‘professors’ and he got the same answer.

“What other relics are there?” He asked.

“The leader hopes the Zoogs can leave first.” Peacock relayed the message from the air behind her. “Because this is related to the secret of our people…”

Gu Jun nodded and had Malachite lead the unwilling Zoogs away but technically they had just moved about 30 metres away. Peacock rummaged through the grass for another item. It was a piece of badly kept beast hide but she treated it with utmost care. “This is the last sacred relic.”

Gu Jun accepted it, this was the skin of some unknown creature. It was old but still sturdy. There were two rows of bloody sentences on it and they were written in Chinese.

“Secret Spell Appear, Death Follow Suit, Shadow Demon Dance, Madness Reign Supreme; Phecda Chaos, Tragedy Birth, High Treason, Big Collapse.”

“What is the meaning of all these?” Gu Jun narrowed his eyes and the illusion started to dance at the corner of his vision. “Peacock, tell me everything that the leader and the professors are saying about this.”

This was the first time Peacock heard these secrets as well and the more she listened, the darker her expression became. “After the ten thousand kindles migrated to Leng, they tried different methods to preserve their knowledge and history, writing on beast hides is one of them. But as time passes, this small piece is all that is left.”

Then a startle came over her like she had been physically slammed into. She gasped in shock. “Professor Bright Gem, are you sure? But! Okay…

“Professor Bright Gem said that actually the last leg of the Golden Era was not as peaceful as we thought.” Peacock sounded lost like she did not believe the words that left her lips. “According to legend and research, ‘Phecda Chaos and High Treason’ refer to a group of internal traitors among the precursor organization to the International Supernatural Alliance, the Phecda Organization. These traitors caused a horrendous tragedy which heralded the age of Collapse.”

Near the end, she was basically grumbling. In Peacock’s knowledge, human beings were extremely united, Phecda and the International Supernational Alliance were hope leading humanity forward.

“Treason?” Gu Jun’s heart bled like it was being pierced. Complicated emotions raged in his heart as he contemplated this possibility. He was not familiar with the International Supernatural Alliance since it had not yet formed in his timeline but when the Spell Department was formed, it would mean a large intake of new members…

Furthermore the traitors might not just be among the new members, the stance and thinking of the existing members could change at any moment, or perhaps they had a spy within Phecda for a long time already.

Serious Update: The Income from Webnovel is literally not enough to warrant bank transfer. Our team has gone down from 2 to 1. The latest income is only 90 usd for a full month of work, 3 hours per day, 7 days per week. If I am going to continue, that will mean picking up my editor’s job, increasing the work hours further. It is simply impossible to accommodate that. Unless there is increased monetary support through patreon or kofi, I’ll literally be forking out money to sustain this project, which honestly is just dumb. I need to pay my bills, I can’t live on air. The projected goal on patroen is 200 usd per month to keep project going. Yes, this is a blatant bottom line. Unless the goal is reached, the project will be slowed down or stopped indefinitely.