Plague Doctor

The encephalogram, and electrocardiogram showed no changes from usual. The vitals were moving smoothly. This was inside a single ICU room at the headquarters’ medical department. Despite the many devices, the room was quite large. It was none other than Gu Jun who laid in bed. Short black hair started to grow back after his surgeries and his sleeping face showed nothing but serenity. He was growing thin by the days. 3 nurses worked on shift to look after him. One of them, Nurse Liu was currently seated beside his bed, reading a magazine.

Nurse Liu was in her 30s and she was an experienced member of Phecda. She was once a member of Special Mobile Force and was an expert at nursing. Nursing care was quite a busy job but one could occasionally find some downtime, like what Nurse Liu was doing now. Like normal hospitals, mobile phones were banned inside ICU for the signal might disturb the devices or influence the patient’s brain recovery. The ICU at Phecda banned accompaniment of family and friends but the visitation hours were open from 16:00 to 16:30.

With Gu Jun’s popularity, there were many who requested to visit him but out of consideration for his condition, and his unique identity, not many were given that privilege. The visitation privilege was delineated into 2 levels. Level 1 visitors could only watch from outside through the window and Level 2 visitors could enter the room. The number of people with level 2 visiting privileges could be counted on one hand. They were either Gu Jun’s direct superior like Elder Tong or Yao Sinian or his very close friends.

People like Elder Tong were too busy to come visit Gu Jun daily even though he kept a constant tab on the young man. But even so, Gu Jun never lacked visitors. Wu Siyu would come visit him daily to try to attempt mental connection to draw him out. This non-traditional treatment was performed many times in the past few months. Other than Wu Siyu, the team also assigned other friends and mentors of Gu Jun like Uncle Dan, Cai Zixuan, Deng Ximei and Wang Ruoxiang to come make an attempt… but there was no noticeable result.

Cai Zixuan was another constant visitor. He’d bring his home cooked soup with him for the nurses. Poor Gu Jun could only satisfy his craving through smell. During this period, Gu Jun was attached to IV drip and glucose drip.

“Doctor Gu, see, you’re on the front page again.” Nurse Liu was reading a magazine Phecda sold to the public entitled, “Phecda Secrets”. The copy had another article on Gu Jun, who was known directly as Phecda Hero by now. Even though Gu Jun was only 22, the contribution that he had made to the world was sufficient enough for him to carry that title. In the first month of his coma, many different world leaders came to visit him and because of that Nurse Liu got to interact with some incredible characters. She was honored to be part of this team. Nurse Liu turned to study the young man in bed and she sighed. The gods always envy the young and talented.

It was about time for visitation hour. Today was the last day of 2021, she expected a large group. As she expected, Wu Siyu soon arrived and she brought many people with her. There were Uncle Dan, Lou Xiaoning, Cai Zixuan, Deng Ximei, Peacock and the rest. Since not all of them had level 2 privilege, some of them stopped outside the door and waited at the lobby.

“Dirty-minded Jun, we’re all here to come see you.” Wu Siyu pushed open the door. “Nurse Liu, how is he today?”

“The same.” Whenever Nurse Liu said that, Wu Siyu would respond with a slightly disappointed oh.

Back at the lobby, Uncle Dan made an introduction to the nurses about a new visitor, Xie Yiman, the famous actor. She was Gu Jun’s main patient during the Mutated Scale Disease crisis. She had now fully recovered. Her application to join Phecda was approved and she just officially became a member of the Public Relations Department. The organization gave her a one-time Level 2 Visitation Privilege to see if she could trigger any special reaction in Gu Jun.

“Nice to meet everyone.” Xie Yiman greeted. She walked into the room and said with a smile, “Hi, Nurse Liu.” Or at least she tried to smile. She imagined she had smiled but her face remained expressionless. Nurse Liu and the other nurses knew about Xie Yiman’s condition. Her skin transplant surgery went smoothly, she retained quite a pretty face. The minor skin discoloration could be covered up by make-up. However, she lost control of her facial muscle and it gave her an aura of aloofness.

“Doctor Gu.” Xie Yiman sidled up to the bed and saw Gu Jun who was thin as a stick. Despite her mental preparation, the disjointed image that she had of the tall and handsome Doctor Gu and the supine creature in bed caused tears to form in her eyes.

“I am Xie Yiman, I’ve come to visit you… It’s hard seeing you like this, especially since I’m such a big fan of yours. I heard that you sacrificed yourself for a mission. I wanted to give you an update about my condition so you don’t need to worry about me anymore. My skin transplant surgery went smoothly and there is no after effect from the RFL surgery. Even though I couldn’t feel and move parts of my face anymore, I can still breathe, see and eat without any problem…” Uncle Dan outside the door nodded. Xue Yiman was just 18 so she recovered very well from the surgeries. Not all victims of Mutated Scale Disease were that lucky. Some had trouble just blinking or swallowing. Those who did not undergo the RFL surgery before the ritual ended were lucky. However, even though the itchiness had faded away, they still had mutated skin on their faces so all of the victims went for skin transplant.

“I’ve joined Phecda’s Public Relations Department.” Xie Yiman wiped away her tears. “Many countries plan to give an announcement to the public regarding the Mutated Scale Disease and I will return to the camera then. That will be my first mission… Doctor Gu, this incident has changed my life, and not just because of the things that happened to my face. I’ve personally changed a lot, I found a new goal in life. I plan to study hard to join the Spell Department! Elder Tong told me I have quite a good talent since I have high spirituality…”

While Xie Yiman told Gu Jun her story, Wu Siyu held Gu Jun’s hands but she felt nothing but a pool of still water. Even the sharpness of the scalpel had disappeared. She had Xie Yiman grab Gu Jun’s hands too but that did not help anything.

Even though they did not expect much to begin with, facing this result, there was still disappointment. How would one awaken Gu Jun? They just wish for a little reaction from him. Or was the man really…

Every visitor was only given 15 minutes to stay. Soon the group returned with disappointment but Wu Siyu stayed for a while longer. Due to her unique status, she was given an extra 15 minutes to her visitation time.

…

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