Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

“Who are the traitors? Do you have their names?” Gu Jun enquired. Peacock was still in denial, she shook her head and said, “According to Professor Bright Gem, that part of the legacy has been lost in time but the statement, ‘secret spell appear’ should be a description of the traitorous party. It seems to suggest that it was a secretive infiltration, rather than a sudden riot.”

Gu Jun went into silence. ‘This “secret spell” might not carry its literal meaning, it might be a code name…’ He pursued a few more questions but the ‘leader and professors’ could not provide him with any more useful information. “Keeping a legacy alive is hard work during the nomadic years.” Peacock sighed. “Especially when it comes to secrets that are only accessible to the leaders and professors. Mr. Nightmare Man, please understand our difficulty.”

“Of course,” Gu Jun lifted his head to the sky, night had arrived. However the Bnazic Desert was different from the other places at Dreamlands, the night here appeared to possess its own phosphoresce that Gu Jun could see the churning sand around him clearly even without the use of any light source.

“Sir, what about the Pnakotic Manuscripts?” Peacock’s voice was laced with clear anticipation. Gu Jun did not respond. All he did was pace around the rock while holding the scale, and the beast hide…

“Peacock, can you give me a projection of your sweet dream?” He asked. If he could take a glimpse into one of her sweet dreams, he would be able to glean more information from her. However, Peacock said none of her people knew how to do that.

Gu Jun wondered if this whole City of Kindle was just a part of Peacock’s imagination like how it was for the young guard at the haunted manor. However, unlike the guard, Peacock was physically existing in Dreamlands, not just a figment of imagination…

‘You are being played for a fool…’ Gu Jun took a deep breath as he tried to suppress the whispers of the darker side of his spirit. He thought to himself, ‘I am a doctor so I should look at this objectively and from a medical standpoint. In that case, this is nothing unusual. Both Peacock and Malachite suffer from classic schizophrenia.’

Schizophrenia is a fairly common mental illness, hallucinations and illusions are the main symptoms. For hallucination, paranoia was the most common manifestation. Peacock suffered from paranoia even when she was in a perfectly conscious state. The destruction of the human world, the imminent genocide of the land’s travelers, she believed all these things with all her heart. Even her life goal, memory and intelligence had been all affected by it. To put it simply, she had lost her mind. It was a cliché for people who had seen ghosts in a horror movie to turn out to have schizophrenia, but for Gu Jun’s sake, he really hoped Peacock’s whole imagination was part of a horror movie plot or else he’d be in huge trouble…

“Peacock, will you dream when you sleep?” He asked. Gu Jun wished to explore this phenomenon further from a medical standpoint.

“Of course.” Peacock answered plainly although she did not quite get the reasoning. Gu Jun nodded silently. The activity of dream came from the subconscious. What was in her subconscious? Her real childhood? Gu Jun did not think Peacock grew up in this ‘City of Kindle’, in fact he did not think they departed from this place to Dylath-Leen either because there was literally no sign of human population here.

“Are there any houses with beds here?” He asked, “It does not need to be a big one, as long as it is large enough for you to lay down comfortably.” He turned to the rest. “The rest of you can stay here.”

“…” Peacock’s expression shifted as a blush rose to her face. “Sir, what are you planning?”

“You think so little of me?” Gu Jun sighed. “I am just preparing to give you the Pnakotic Manuscripts but to do that, we require a quiet environment and for you to be in a relaxed state.” Actually that was not his real plan, his real plan was to hypnotize Peacock and take a dive into her subconscious, just like how Sister Liang did with him.

“Ah, okay.” The blush did not recede from her face. “I’m so sorry for misunderstanding your intention! Please don’t mind me.”

“It’s fine.” Gu Jun waved his hands. If she was caught in this nervous state, he would have more work to do. “Let’s get moving, before I change my mind.”

So Peacock led him in a few more circles before they arrived at a small room. The leader and the rest waited outside. She was quite nervous. With confusion and excitement, she laid down on the small wooden bed inside the room—in reality though she had lain down among the sands but from her expression, you wouldn’t think she was feeling the grating from the sands. To facilitate this treatment, Gu Jun sat down on the sand as well—taking a seat next to the wooden bed.

Due to his psychological and psychiatry training, he knew how to make suggestions and initiate hypnosis but the problem was he could barely make eye contact with his subject much less provide other reassurances like a smile. In any case, the first step was to get Peacock to unwind completely so she would be susceptible to the hypnosis. He mimicked Sister Liang’s technique and began by discussing Peacock’s hobbies, avoiding any topic about the tribe.

“I do not have many hobbies.” Peacock said with a regretful smile. “Who has the time for that…” It was not easy to have a well-guarded person open up their heart, Gu Jun now understood the difficulty Sister Liang must have had with him.

“I’m sure there’s something that you do to keep yourself occupied when the day’s work is done.” He tried to form a bond with Peacock. “You can tell me anything, nothing will leave this room.” He lacked no authority around Peacock but what he needed now was trust. He tried to open his heart in the hopes that Peacock would do the same.

“Hmmm….” Peacock gave a long sigh as if a big burden had been removed from her shoulders. Then she started to talk. “Actually I like to sing, I’ve liked to sing since I was young. I don’t think there’s a reason for it. I know how to sing every single song of our tribe…”

“What about the songs of the other people?” Gu Jun tried to lead her away from her identity as Peacock from the City of Kindle.

“I did learn quite a bit when I was on dispatch missions.” Peacock said softly, “Ulthar has wonderful music, it probably has to do with their peaceful lifestyle.” Gu Jun chatted about different music and songs with her, occasionally reminding her to relax. Gradually he noticed a softness appear on Peacock’s face and her eyes turned glassy. She had entered the state of hypnosis. Her mind was conscious but different from normal. It was time for the second stage. Gu Jun began, “Peacock, now I need you to close your eyes, open your mind and listen to my voice. I will try to connect with your subconscious so that I can share with you the manuscripts, I am sure we can do this.”

“Hmm, okay…” Peacock answered with her eyes closed. Gu Jun reached out to place his hand on her forehead. That did not jostle Peacock awake, which was a good sign. Gu Jun knew now was the time to tap into the girl’s subconscious. “I need you to look into yourself.” He began slowly and weirdly enough, it was Gu Jun who was feeling nervous. “Forget about Peacock for a moment. Instead I need you to imagine a red door before you in the darkness. Do you see the door? Good, now I need you to slowly walk towards it…”

“Oh, I do see it. Okay…” Peacock mumbled.

Gu Jun slowly closed his eyes. A flickering bond allowed him to see the frame of a red door before him as well. The door was open and light spilled out from inside it.

“Walk into it. Let us see what is behind that door….” As he said that, he could feel Peacock’s consciousness walking into the red door. Suddenly it felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his mind and everything became heavily distorted.