Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

Staring at the spiral triangle on the screen, Wu Siyu seemed to see it spinning and moving like an optical illusion.

“Siyu, what are your thoughts?” Elder Tong’s voice pulled her back. Everyone knew about the close mental connection Wu Siyu and Gu Jun once shared so they looked at her with anticipation but she shook her head. “No idea, I’ve not seen this before.” The others were silent. They were thinking, ‘How come she did not receive the message?’ Before she arrived, they were discussing this. ‘Is it because she did not study the Seven Cryptical Book of Hsan enough? But Cai Zixuan, who stopped at chapter 3, did receive it, and Elder Tong did not, so that did not appear to be the case.’

“I didn’t sleep yesterday night, I spent the whole night watching some drama.” Wu Siyu explained. That kangaroo believed if she had fallen asleep, she would have received the signal too but now, the fact that she did not would screw with the enemy’s plan. The others looked instantly relieved. Cai Zixuan breathed out in comprehension, that would explain everything. Wu Siyu turned her attention to the three who had reached the fifth chapter: Wang Ruoxiang, her friend; Gao Yi, male, 30 plus, muscular build with a chubby face, had glasses and came from the Investigation Department; Zhang Zuodong, also 30 plus, male, a rather unassuming appearance, open and kind towards others, came from the Scientific Research Department. Both of the gentlemen had backgrounds working with the Special Mobile Force, in fact most of the members of Spell Department did. People like Xue Ba, Lou Xiaoning as well as the leader of Arctic Wolf, Yu Xiaoyoung were also present in the conference room.

Other than Wang Ruoxiang who appeared quite excited and Lou Xiaoning who was agitated, the rest looked quite at ease. Wu Siyu then moved her attention to the only new recruit in the room, Zheng Jialiang. He had studied to the fourth chapter, a young man less than 20 years old. This Zheng Jialiang was incredibly talented, he used to be a piano musician. He was accepted after layers of assessment and review. Due to his handsome looks, impeccable manners and deep knowledge, he was quite popular. Due to his young age, people called him Xiao Liang. Elder Tong and Prof Shen had deep hopes in him, seeing shadows of Gu Jun on this young man.

Before this, Wu Siyu had no opinion regarding Xiao Liang… but now that she was looking for a possible traitor, Xiao Liang earned her the deepest suspicion… However, that kangaroo did warn her from prejudice, not everything might be what it seemed.

Zheng Jialiang was eager but appeared hesitant to say anything, he knew that with his lack of experience, his opinion would not be valued much. He always said that it was a shame he did not have a chance to get to know Gu Jun, as he viewed Gu Jun as his idol.

Then there were two members who came from the Angell’s Order, Chen Zhaoliang and Yang Ying. There were so many people in the room that it was impossible for her to recognize all of them. Her main responsibility at the Spell Department was to provide food and accommodation, so technically she did not have much interaction with the members. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to feel the room but found nothing either.

“You have no idea at all?” Elder Tong asked again as confusion appeared on his face. “Nothing?”

Over the past year, it was Wu Siyu who had been holding onto hope, she had been urging Phecda to bring back Gu Jun’s body and she had been doing research on her own about the Dreamlands. Everyone knew about that so they shared Elder Tong’s confusion, because she should be the most excited of them all.

“Perhaps it was the midnight oil…” Wu Siyu pressed her forehead, “The brain is drawing a blank.”

As disappointed as Elder Tong was, he knew it was not her fault. They turned back to the discussion. The archives and Scientific Research Department failed to give any help to the analysis of this picture. In the end, Elder Tong decided for everyone to move to the Dreaming Room and check if they could still receive the signal under the surveillance of the devices.

“Siyu, especially you.” Elder Tong said, “This is perfect because you should be feeling sleepy already.”

“Oh…” Wu Siyu answered but she planned to only close her eyes and pretend to sleep later. It was 1 pm when they left the conference room, exited the building and headed towards a large dreaming room at the Dream Building. This Dream Building was a joint department between Angell’s Order and Phecda, it was specially made to commit to research into illnesses related to dream, nightmare and other sleeping disorders as well as research into Dreamlands. This dreaming room, compared to the temporary one set up back then at Eastern State’s Psychology Building, was much larger and had more equipment and devices. About 32 people would participate in this mission. Each of them laid down comfortably in a dreaming chair and put on the devices.

“My advice is for you to open yourself to the signal.” Prof Jiang told them, “If you hear any sound, just relax and listen, don’t do anything else. Since everyone is gathered here, the transmitted signal will be much stronger so perhaps we can get a clearer message this time.” Among the group, only two of them had not received the signal, one was Elder Tong and the other Wu Siyu. Elder Tong wished to hear the message for himself to make his own decision whether it was authentic or not. This was the first time Wu Siyu felt so uncomfortable lying in the dreaming chair. She narrowed her eyes and looked around, the bad feeling within her intensified…

The kangaroo told her not to enter any dream so this presented a challenge for her… She closed her eyes but she knew she could not trick the encephalography. She would have to admit that she could not sleep… If possible, she wanted to contact the kangaroo now to ask what she should do. This morning they thought they could still have another meeting tonight but she did not have the time. Gradually Wu Siyu could hear the sound of light breathing around her, the rhythm became even. People were falling asleep… Elder Tong, Wang Ruoxiang, Cai Zixuan… Lou Xiaoning, Xue Ba, Gao Yi, Zhang Zuodong, Zheng Jialiang…

Listening to these even breathing, a strange feeling enveloped her. ‘Why am I feeling drowsy? No, I must stay awake!’ Wu Siyu opened her eyes but saw only darkness. ‘Lucid dream? But I was sure I did not fall asleep… or did I?’ Now she could not even tell anymore. A blurry figure slowly appeared in the darkness. It was familiar and it appeared to be screaming frantically, “Siyu, it’s me, Gu Jun! I’m not dead, I’ve been left stranded on that island.”

Wu Siyu wanted to open her eyes but she could not, it was like the dream had claimed her. The strange feeling was muddling her thoughts and sense, preventing her from confirming whether it was Dirty-minded Jun or not. However, her instinct told her to not react to the voice no matter what.

“You don’t believe it’s me? Siyu, I can’t hold onto this connection any longer, just come and take a closer look, you’ll see that it’s me…” She could see a yellow spiral triangle behind the figure, it looked like a seal. Or a whirlpool that was sucking her in. ‘Could it really be Dirty-minded Jun? This is the real Dirty-minded Jun…? No, of course not, stop listening to it…’ She scrunched up her brows in focus as she tried to latch onto the details inside candy cotton dream…

“Siyu, please, you’re the only one who can save me. It’s me! Don’t you want to save me? Please, just look at me and you’ll know it’s me!”