Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

From maritime warfare, Phecda salvaged plenty of the Deep One’s carcasses. There were in total 165 sets of them, 21 of them were relatively intact, while 3 were completely unharmed. As promised, they reserved one for Gu Jun. One month had passed since then. The autopsy department had done numerous autopsies on these mutated creatures. Experts like Xiao Huiwen had had his fun. The tragedy of Gu Jun willy-nilly naming the unknown parts was avoided this time. This kind of mutated creature posed multiple biological problems and there was still no concrete evidence to prove that they were mutated from human beings.

Analysis of their DNA was still ongoing but current autopsy results showed many similarities between the Deep Ones and human beings, an example being their reproductive system. When the headquarters received the call by Gu Jun that morning, they were confused, why the sudden urge to perform an autopsy on the Deep One now? Regardless, they abided by his request. They immediately sent people to transfer the Deep One carcass reserved for him. It was transferred from the Medical Department to People’s Hospital. Experts like Xiao Huiwei and He Tao tagged along.

Inside a morgue at People’s Hospital, the sting of Formalin permeated the air. Shadeless lights lit up the autopsy table. The Deep One’s carcass was placed on top of it. It was about 2 metres tall and its skin was covered in greyish-green scales. This Deep One died from a gun shot through the heart. Therefore, the carcass was relatively well-preserved. A group of people in masks and scrubs stood around the table. They were none other than Gu Jun, Cai Zixuan, Uncle Dan and the rest.

“Gentlemen, if there is no accident, we will be posted here for the entirety of the coming week.” Gu Jun told everyone. He only rested for less than 4 hours after the long day but a new battle already began. His aim was to complete this mission with 10 stars to acquire the best reward. However, it did not escape Gu Jun’s attention that in this one week, no one knew how Xie Yiman’s condition would progress, anything could happen.

“Come and rest if you’re tired.” A sofa was placed by the wall and Wu Siyu made herself comfortable. “I can squeeze out some space.” To prevent possible illusory intervention, Deng Ximei and the land travellers were there as well. After all, they were more familiar with spells and the Ancient Seal compared to Phecda’s other common members. Kathlyn stared at the carcass of the Deep One and she mumbled, “Oh my god…” Although she could not tell what kind of malevolent god would create this kind of dark creature.

Gu Jun studied the strange fish head and the protruding eyeballs. For some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity with it as if he had seen the face before…

‘I’ll find out further once I cut it open.’ Gu Jun thought as he placed his four Carlot instruments on the metal tray. Scissors, scalpel, tweezers and the hammer with the long handle. He told the others that the hammer was a gift from Lucky, a product of Dylath-Leen.

“Where should we start?” Xiao Huiwen asked. Due to the time constraint, they did not have a meeting beforehand. “I suggest we start from the limbs as a warm up.” Xiao Huiwen had the same suggestion when Gu Jun operated on the zombie last time.

“We’ll start with the face.” Gu Jun announced as he used his hand to touch the scaly face. This time he was not the first to conduct the autopsy on the Deep One. He watched recordings of other autopsies before coming here so he felt there was no need for any warm up. If this creature could trigger his illusion, the earlier it came, the better. The scales soaked in Formalin were still surprisingly tough. As Gu Jun brushed his hand through them, they felt strangely familiar to Xie Yiman’s diseased skin…

‘Is it really mutated from humans? But the creature’s gills, webbed limbs and cranial shape suggest that this is a completely different kind of species. If this was originally a human, the transmutation would not have happened through just a dermatological illness, it must have gone through other mutations, growth and keratinization which require time.’

The biologists conducted a simulation on this but they failed for there were simply too many unanswerable theoretical problems. Furthermore, there was another big conundrum, which was how far down into the sea this creature could dive? The difference in depth would bring a huge difference. The sea brought with it the factor of underwater pressure. Without any equipment, the deepest depth a human being could dive was 125 metres. In comparison, with its unique biological evolution, the whale could dive for more than 2000 metres underwater. Based on the Deep One’s biological structure, it should be able to dive up to 500 metres in depth only but during the marine war, the military submarines spotted signs of the Deep Ones at depth of more than 1000 metres.

People thought the name ‘Deep One’ came from Gu Jun’s inspiration but Gu Jun himself knew the nomenclature came from the system and there had to be a reason behind it. However, the problem was Gu Jun could not confirm it was indeed a Deep One lying on the autopsy table. In any case, Gu Jun had two goals for this autopsy. One was to find out the connection between the Deep One and the skin disease; and two was to find out the mystery behind the Deep One’s diving capability. Even if he could not get to the bottom of either truth, some clues would be better than nothing.

“Let’s begin.” Gu Jun used the medical marker to draw out a line on the scaly face. Then he grabbed the scalpel and clicked open the mission in his mind, “Mission accepted! Current completion rate: 0 percent. Current remaining time: 167:59:59”

“Hey!” Xiao Huiwen urged nervously but Gu Jun was moving too fast. “Ah Jun, what kind of vivisection are you planning to make?”

“Isn’t that the shape of the prodromal erythema?” Cai Zixuan recognized the impression drawn out by Gu Jun’s marker, despite the difference in the facial structure of the human face and fish face.

“Yes, you’re correct” Gu Jun nudged the tip of the Carlot Scalpel into the gap between two scales. The sharp point failed to pierce through with the first thrust so Gu Jun applied greater pressure.

“Be careful! You have to handle the pressure more carefully.” Xiao Huiwen could not help but warn. He was more nervous than the young man holding the knife. “There are many nerve endings in its face!”

The scales were tough and tenacious, making it difficult to cut through. If the applied force was too small, the incision would not be made; if the force was too large, the scalpel might break, or the scalpel might push too deep thus destroying the internal nervous system and circulatory system.

Xiao Huiwen knew how difficult this autopsy would be. Even the experts who practiced on the Deep Ones daily still had trouble with this. But under their stunned gaze, Gu Jun’s first cut was firm and confident. He increased force and instantly, the strange scalpel pierced through the layer of scales.

…

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