Plague Doctor

Gu Jun did not go through the copies for it would lower his preconception of the original. The information would be the most impactful when observed from the first stimulus. When the third 24 hour ended, the completion rate was at 63 percent, they had finished the dissection of the Deep One's stomach and spine.

Over the past three days, Xie Yiman's condition proved stable after the RFL surgery. In contrast, patients who did not undergo the surgery were still tormented by itchiness. Some of the patients had entered the second stage. The medical team decided to perform the full surgery on them. The control groups who went for dermotomy and skin transplant showed the same negative result as well, all 15 patients suffered from mind-breaking itchiness. The newly grafted skin cells soon showed signs of disease. Therefore, the medical team could confirm that the source of illness was not dermatological but neurological. Of the patients who received the same treatment as Xie Yiman, another 15 were selected for skin transplant, and the result was still being observed. Xie Yiman was not part of the 15 for she was still recovering and Gu Jun was busy with the autopsy.

The bad news was that new patients continued to appear and they were no closer to discovering its pathological trigger or origin. The number of patients within the country had reached 371, while globally, it had shot past 2000. Public figures from the entertainment industry, the sports and the literary world succumbed to the illness. If this continued, it was only a matter of time until all leaders from various industries fell under the grasp of the illness…

Now it did not sound that unbelievable that this would eventually be featured in the land traveller's legacy as the feared Mutated Scale Disease. In less than a week, the tragedy was already bursting at the seams. This was especially true in western countries when annual events like film festivals and fashion galas were suddenly cancelled. Despite the PR's teams' reassurance, the public's interest was piqued. A rumor circulated that something horrendous was happening. A stream of terror and panic flowed through the crowd.

Another dawn broke. The original files on Jack Wales were sent to People's Hospital by a Special Task Force. When Gu Jun walked into the empty conference room, he was greeted by a huge stack of files. The files had been sealed up for more than a century. The old manila folders were moldy. Naturally they were all written in English. Even though his English level was passable, the command central also sent over a translated version for him to use as reference.

"Time to study." Gu Jun pulled over the chair and skimmed through the files. They included Jack Wales' personal service filles, a detailed interrogation recording, medical report, and investigation report…

The whole incident was shrouded in mystery, the biggest one being the issue of time. The incident began on 5th October 1914, at the time, the first world war just started. The German fleets were still active around the Pacific Ocean and Easter Island was one of their supply pitstops. On that day, the cargo ship escorted by Wales' team was captured by a German fleet to the east of Eastern Island. According to Wales, he managed to escape in a lifeboat 5 days after he was made captive. He floated on the sea for days before the small boat stranded on the swampy ground of the unknown island. He stayed on the boat for 3 days before disembarking to explore the island. He encountered Dagon as he crested a hill. He immediately turned and ran back to the boat and escaped back to the sea.

Half a month had passed since his capture so the day Wales escaped the island should be around October of 1914. However, when Wales recovered at the Los Angeles Hospital, it was already 16th of April in 1920. According to the captain of Iron Rain who rescued Wales, they rescued him on the 23rd of March in 1920 around the eastern sea of Easter Island. He was half-hallucinating when he was rescued. He would chuckle mindlessly. His clothes were tattered and his beard needed a trim. It looked like he had been stranded on the sea for a very long time. So where had Wales been for the missing 5 years? Did he stumble upon another island, or there was no island to begin with and Wales had been floating on the waves? The most possible scenario accepted by the Pentagon was that the marine had landed on the uninhabited Isla Salas y Gomez which was close to Easter Island. Trapped on the island for years without company, he missed out on news like the defeat of the Nazi and the ending of World War One. The solitary confinement broke his mind and that was how he came up with so many unbelievable stories.

These were the suspicions and speculations the interrogators assigned to Wales' case had.

Gu Jun though believed that perhaps Wales did just spend less than a few days on the mysterious island, or the time flow on the island was different than the rest of the world. The island might be an abnormal space. The north pacific ocean, Easter Island, and Isla Salas y Gomez…

Phecda had entered a joint investigation with FBM to investigate these locales. Then Gu Jun turned to look at Jack Wales' service profile. He was a marine lieutenant, born on 8th June 1879. Looking at the faded black and white picture of the handsome young man, Gu Jun's mind wavered. It was as if the fear tormenting Wales reached out to him through the picture. This feeling confirmed that Wales was not making up stories. Putting away the file, Gu Jun picked up the interrogation records. The records were split into many different parts, like how Wales was captured by the German, how he managed to escape and on. The focus was on whether to send Wales to military court. The interrogation did not focus much on the sea monster for it was not deemed important.

"Conversation recording with Lieutenant Jack Wales- Island. Information Number: 86-478-0951. Date: 4-27-1920.

Investigators: Robert Baldwin and Margaret Berry

Baldwin: Can you describe for us that island?

Wales: I am not sure it was even an island. I have no idea how big it was. The location where my boat stranded was a dark swamp. The ground was slick with mud and the air was… indescribably horrid. The black mud was littered with carcasses of various fish and animals… It was like they were placed there for some sort of native sacrifice…

Baldwin: Sacrifice? Why would you have that impression?

Wales: On the fourth day, I decided to move deeper into the island. I made the tallest peak on the island my destination. After 4 days of hiking, I finally reached the foot of the hill… When I reached the peak, I saw… a large stone plaque standing on the opposite end of the hill. The plaque had many inscriptions and carving… Oh God, do you really need to know these things. That plaque has to be the creation of the devil…

Berry: Mr. Wales, please calm down, you are very safe now.

Baldwin: Can you describe for us the inscription and carving?

Wales: I've never seen that type of language before, they looked like hieroglyphs or some kind of aquatic symbols… The carvings were strange and distorted… They are the creation of the cursed occult! God, please forgive me…

Baldwin: Sir, can you give us more details about the carving?

Wales: Their ugliness is beyond our human comprehension. They have human frames but are covered in scales. They had webbed limbs and their heads were the appearance of fish with bulging eyes… In the carving, they were brutally murdering a giant whale… I do not wish to think of those things anymore, in comparison, human sins appear to be so inconsequential….

Berry: Then the Fish God, Dagon that you mentioned appeared?

Wales: That monster, that giant monster… I do not wish to think about it anymore… It will drive me mad, really…

Berry: Sir, calm down. The Nazi regime has collapsed, you're home now, no one can harm you anymore.

Wales: No, no…. I'm not afraid of the Germans, no…"

After reading the files, the connection Gu Jun had with Wales tightened and so did the agitation in his heart. The carving on the stone plaque was clearly depicting the Deep Ones and the inscription was probably the Deep Ones' language. Gu Jun wished he'd know what was written on the plaque.

Gu Jun took a deep breath and turned the page over to continue to read.

…

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