Plague Doctor

“Anyone who has studied the change to this country’s societal changes and industrialization should understand that the visitation of the plague is the greatest milestone in our country’s history. Let me put it this day, for years, many historical studies have proven this point: The plague is the turning point for our social lives. The plague has left a large gash on the society, but it was also the dawn of a new era!” Xue Ba’s serious voice came from the phone. Gu Jun’s jaw tightened. Yes, this was exactly what he heard. The figure in the illusory lab had said something similar.

“According to our linguistic analysis, Robert Rodgers used ‘the visitation of the plague’, the term ‘visitation’ implies the invocation of the divinity. Rodgers Jr. clearly had a positive view of this tragedy.” Gu Jun was silent. ‘Then what about now? Do the people I saw thought themselves as Gods or they were acting on God’s will?’

“The statement earlier was pulled from an argument Rodgers Jr. had with other economists regarding the impact of the Black Plague. The other party believed that the plague had hampered Europe’s progress but Rodgers Jr. inherited his father’s belief and this Rodgers Sr. was a representative economist during his time.” Xue Ba continued to elaborate. Thanks to the internet, these information could be found easily. As mentioned earlier, despite being frowned upon, this was a mainstream philosophy. From a historical analytical standpoint, many economists concurred that the Black Plague had a meaningful impact on the history of the European continent. Roald Rodgers held the belief that was supported by many of his academic peers and his belief had been studied until today.

“Rodgers Sr. believes that the Black Plague caused the decline in England’s population and that had led the country into a necessary revolution. First the Black Plague devastated the system of serfdom, greatly increasing the freedom of the people. Due to the lack of manpower during the plague, the hired had the clout to negotiate with their employees, to argue for a greater salary. The historical records showed that their income had doubled or even tripled, and that ushered in the golden era of the laborers. The schools had to open their doors to the normal citizens to cultivate them to fill in the holes that had been left vacant by the previous imperialists. Therefore after the plague, the livelihood of those living at the bottom had indeed improved, leading to the formation of a large middle class and the increased variety of economic activities.

“Other than that, the plague, which had taken away the lives of many servants of cloth, caused the power of the church to dwindle. The flagellates grabbed the priests and missionaries and whipped them out on the street. People’s faith in religion shattered and that gave way to the advancement of scientific thinking. The people even demolished jails and many owned lands for the first time in their lives… The balance of societal wealth was reordered. And during this process of building a new balance, there were many competitions that could not have arisen in a peaceful era. Many manufacturing technologies arose during these times, ushering in the industrial revolution. Once the revolution arrived, the old world was already on its death knell. The farmers and the city workers united under the same slogan, ‘What is the use of gentlemanly values to pioneer the arrival of the new world’?” Xue Ba added brusquely, “The last statement was a recorded quote by Rodgers Sr.”

Gu Jun could glean the inherent meaning. Was the death of certain people not necessary? What was a little violence, tears and tragedy compared to the rewards to be reaped? As long as you could survive, your salary would easily triple, you would finally have a house under your own name and you would have a new life. Would you not support the turning point such as the visitation of the plague?

Instantly, Gu Jun felt like he was hearing the wilted man speak: History was created by man, no, by the great among man. War is a way to change the world, and so is pestilence. Child, you are one of the great ones…

‘Get out, get out of my mind!’ Gu Jun suppressed the agitation in his heart. He looked at Uncle Dan and the rest of the team who were busy experimenting. The horrible coughs filtered into his ears. Regardless of the ‘positive impact’ that the Black Plague brought, that was no reason to create another wave of pestilence. If this epidemic swept across the globe, Gu Jun knew from reliable sources that only the rich and powerful would be the ones chosen to migrate to the south pole and it would be the general public who’d be left to die!

‘If you are so hellbent on lowering the population to welcome in a new world, then I have a suggestion for you.’ Gu Jun thought, ‘You should all commit suicide now, isn’t that a wonderful idea? Without you, the world will definitely be a better place.’ Instantly the whispering blurred but the last clear message slipped through, ‘Child, the truth belongs to those who are willing to accept the truth…’

“Ah Jun, there are too many academics in the world who support this view.” Xue Ba asked, “Can you give me a clearer direction on which party to investigate?” Gu Jun was equally stumped. Both Rodgers were historical characters and different from Angell’s Order, their philosophy and belief was part of mainstream academia. However, it was not just research papers that some of the more extreme supporters of this view were interested in. Based on Gu Jun’s illusion, in private, these people had come together to do something significant in pursuit of their shared philosophy… He described his illusion in more detail. “I believe it might be a good start to research into the descendent or the students of the Rodgers family.”

“Copy that.” Xue Ba ended the call. The command central was tasked to gain contact with the England government. While Gu Jun was on the phone, Uncle Dan and He Feng were busy conducting the medical experiment. The diffusion method was to layer a cultivation medium on the petri dish and then place some bacterial culture on it. That way the bacteria would grow on the petri dish. However, parts of the cultivation medium would be injected with the testing drug and if the drug was effective, it would form a protective circle that would stop the bacteria from growing into the medium. The team repeated this process many times with different drugs. The one good thing was due to the rapid growth of this strain, the result would come back much faster than usual.

He Feng’s coughs became more violent and he occasionally walked towards the nearby trash can to spit out his bloody phlegm. He had been running on hope that was brought by Doctor Gu’s mysterious drugs. He Feng threw himself into work so he would not succumb to despair. Time slowly passed and Gu Jun joined the ranks of the researchers. The brain-stem targeting medicine, the scale dust, they readied the culture samples for them.

Once again, Uncle Dan opened the incubator to place in new petri dishes and take out the old ones. The group stared fixedly, even Gu Jun found his eyes unable to pull away from the bacterial culture inside the latest batch of petri dishes.

“Ah, this, this…” Uncle Dan stuttered in shock, “Ah Jun, this…”