Plague Doctor

“Death… Gu Jun, I know you but you do not know yourself… but you will, you will…” The stone stage was crumbling. Mr. Wang Erde crawled backwards as he screamed. Gu Jun’s eyes turned as sharp as a guillotine and Wang Erde’s beady eyes instantly exploded with veins. Horrid wails escaped from his throat, the other pink artificial ear fell to the ground.

“Curses, curses…” Wang Erde scratched at his disfigured face, leaving behind one after another bloody gashes. He scratched at himself like his life depended on it, peeling off his own skin and flesh. His wails of pain mingled with his crazed laughter. This indescribable phenomenon chilled everyone present… Just how could one reach this stage of madness.

“Is the King of Yellow not here, death has not arrived… But the crown of the King is already on your head…” Mr. Wang Erde’s hands suddenly went to his neck. Despite his small stature, the man was quite powerful. With a few twists, he snapped his own neck. Blood burst out and his whole body started to convulse into a strange state. With a few final maddened croaks, the light in the beady eyes faded. Mr. Wang Erde was dead, killed by his own hands.

Following the death of this madman, the other white-masked figures dissolved into nothingness… This surprised the Phecda members, from the beginning, it was all the work of one Mr. Wang Erde? Or the other yellow figures had been transported elsewhere? The ripple in the dimension slowly stabilized and the image of the giant open air arena blew off like a fog. Suddenly, they realized they were in the middle of a desert and the rising sun was coming up the horizon.

Peacock and Kathlyn who were still catching their breath looked around. Kathlyn was sure this was not the desert outside of Warburton and Peacock confirmed this was not the Bnazic Desert. Their cars and other items reverted to their normal state. If not for Zheng Jialiang and Mr. Wang Erde’s bodies, the whole incident felt like a dream, which in a way, it was.

Gu Jun closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to tamper the darkness in his heart. This Nightmare Wonder had depleted about 18 percent of the corruption rate. The two sweet dream bubbles could not shelter him for long, he mostly depended on Wu Siyu’s cotton candy dream to survive the showing. Dirty-minded Yu’s sweet dream was one hell of an antidote to the darkness. But after using the Eye of the Abyss, his corruption rate increased by 3 percent so he was now at 6.1 percent. In his mind, the notifications kept pinging.

“Abyssal mission, ‘Deplete corruption rate by 10 percent within a week completed’. Mission completed before the allocated time limit, completion rating 10 stars.

“Mission reward to be retrieved: Unknown, please click to accept your reward.

“Your mental corruption rate has lowered back to the safe zone, warning off.

“Mastery of Strong Heart has increased by 20000 points, and levelled up! Current level 2 (0/300000 Mastery)”

‘A 10 star completion rating reward? I don’t think I’ve scored that high before… Also the skill, Strong Heart, finally levels up, it does feel like the heartbeat is more pronounced…’

“Dirty-minded Jun?” Wu Siyu’s voice drifted over. “Is it okay now? Can we look at you now?’ Like the other Phecda members, she had no idea what happened earlier. She only knew Gu Jun had used a super powerful spell, which meant that it came with a great sacrifice.

“It’s okay now, I’m fine.” Gu Jun turned around to answer. Seeing everyone in a safe state, the pressure slid off his shoulders. He wiped at his eyes that were clouded by blood and requested, “Zixuan, mind coming over to help me with the sutures?”

Wu Siyu, and Cai Zixuan immediately rushed over while Xue Ba took out the satellite phone to contact the headquarters. Lou Xiaoning led the rest to maintain the order among the public.

“Ah, Tycoon Jun…” As one of the medics, Cai Zixuan was given a medic kit. With Wu Siyu’s help, he put on the gloves and used cotton balls to clean away the blood before using needles to start the sutures. His hands were shaking… Not because of how scary his friend’s face was or the difficulty of the suturing but the ache in his heart. Gu Jun was such a pretty sight to look at but now, he was going to be used as something to scare little children into doing their homework.

Whimpering echoed among the children of the public as repeated proclamations of ‘Oh My God’ escaped from the lips of the adults. Kathlyn and Tom saw the tattooed man curl up next to his girlfriend, probably afraid that Gu Jun might remember him. The things that happened today would change these people’s lives.

“My appearance is a bit different.” Gu Jun told his friends. “But I am still the same person.”

“Compared to a kangaroo, I’m relieved that you’re at least still a human.” Wu Siyu studied him closely, “In terms of appearance, nothing a trip to Korea can’t fix, right?”

Gu Jun chuckled out loud before breaking into a guffaw. “I’m sure there are other ways…” The two’s banter lightened the mood and their worry about Gu Jun slowly turned into something acceptable. After all, Siyu was right. The important part was that Gu Jun was still alive, everything else could be dealt with later.

“You reminded me of a quote.” As Cai Zixuan stitched, he lamented, “But no perfection is so absolute that some impurity doth not pollute.”

“Who is that from?” Gu Jun groaned, he had had enough quotes from Phecda Hero to last him a lifetime.

“Shakespeare, of course.”

Gu Jun looked at his good friend, thankful that he had not changed, well except the number of hairs on his head as well as his skill as a doctor. The stitchwork on his eyelids was much more stable than Gu Jun remembered.

Wang Ruoxiang and Gao Yi waited patiently for their next order when Xue Ba suddenly shouted happily, “We’ve gained contact! We’re currently at the Gobi Desert, Phecda is sending in people to come get us already.”

“What’s the update back at the Spell Department?” Wu Siyu asked.

“Elder Tong said thanks to your warning, the attempted riot has been stamped before it got the chance to fester. Thankfully, it did not have the chance to cause much damage.” Xue Ba walked over and handed the phone to Gu Jun, “Ah Jun, Elder Tong wishes to speak with you.”

Gu Jun accepted the satellite phone and placed it next to his ears. “Hello?”

“Ah Jun?!” Elder Tong’s raucous voice slammed into his eardrum. “Is it really you?! For real?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Gu Jun chuckled again, he really did miss this old man. Listening to the old man’s roaring laughter and seeing the calm that settled around him, Gu Jun’s heart warmed even though he knew there were still plenty else to be done. Things like cleaning up the traitors, curing the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan training syndrome, researching the technique and utilization of the Ancient Seal… He also did not believe Wang Erde was the only member of this ‘Brotherhood’.

Afterlife Cult, R’yleh Cult and now another addition of the Yellow Brotherhood. The world was heading south and the future was unknown but as Gu Jun took in the familiar faces around him, he knew he could carry on. Like the lesson taught to the land’s travellers by the professors, those with power should stand forth to protect the powerless.