Plague Doctor

“Chicken thigh?” Wu Siyu saw the confusion on the Zoog’s face so she changed her tack to mimic a chicken. She even clucked a few times before tapping on her calf. “Chicken thigh! Fried, steamed, braised… any kind you want!” Suddenly the Zoog plopped down from the tree. He looked pleadingly at her while tapping his head as if saying something.

‘Hmm? Why did it suddenly come down from the tree?’ The Zoog used his paws to pat himself and the trees around him. Wu Siyu did not understand him but did sense something. ‘Pillow? O wait, that’s the Nightmare Man! Chicken thigh? So he does get me after all! Wait, dead rat?’ Her eyes danced around before guessing, “So, you’re here to find the Nightmare Man, which is Gu Jun, to ask him for chicken thigh. You do not mean any harm so please don’t cook you…”

“Oh!” Everything fell into place then. So the Zoog was so scared he fell down from the tree. Her offer of gifts was perceived as bodily threats. Then didn’t that mean her chicken acting was a complete failure? O well.

“No, I’m not going to cook you!” Wu Siyu explained with sincerity but Lucky closed his palms and begged with mercy. She sighed, “I’m not going to eat you, I already know what you taste like. For your information, you taste nothing like rats but more like cats.” She meowed. “Cats?” Well, that only made Lucky shiver even more in fear… This won’t do.

‘What would a normal person do at a time like this…’ Wu Siyu studied the sky. Her senses could see the signal waves coursing through the air and an inspiration dawned on her. She instantly pulled out her phone. She grabbed it when she left the ICU earlier. She went online to search for pictures of chicken thigh, especially ones that were juicy and crispy. She showed the pictures to Lucky, “This one!!” The Zoog’s eyes lit up when he saw the pictures. His paws went involuntarily to his mouth.

“I know…” Wu Siyu put up a picture of her and Gu Jun together. “Dirty-minded Jun!” Then she added a picture of two mice holding hands, “We’re very good friends!!” She pointed at Lucky and then showed the picture of the chicken thigh again. She passed him the phone in a show of friendliness. “I’ll give you the chicken thigh that he owed you.”

Lucky somewhat got her message. His fur coat relaxed and the fear in his eyes faded. Then came another series of tapping. Wu Siyu listened to him quietly. She slowly picked up the difference in the rhythm… It was like she was tuning in better to the Zoog’s intention. She could hear the sound of laughter between friends. She nodded. “Yes, friends!” She showed him a corresponding picture and added, “We will give you the chicken thighs but Dirty-minded Jun is now in a coma. I’m sure you saw him earlier. We need to wake him up first, then I’ll bring you to Kentucky immediately.”

Lucky paused but it was unclear whether it was due to hesitation or confusion.

“Gu Jun!” Wu Siyu tapped the picture of the man on her phone. “Sleeping!” The picture of eyes closed. “Wake him up!” The picture of eyes open. Lucky patted himself for a while. Through her senses, Wu Siyu felt like Lucky claimed he could not guarantee whether he could wake Dirty-minded Jun or not but the debt made by humanity had to be paid…

“We’ll not turn away from our promises. Some chicken thighs are nothing to us.” Wu Siyu looked at the sky, it was now late afternoon. The desire to sleep would increase with nightfall. Dirty-minded Jun might decide to sleep right into the new year… Well, not on her watch! Wu Siyu knew time was of the essence. They had to wake Gu Jun up before midnight.

“Follow me.” Wu Siyu grabbed her phone back and pulled the Zoog up into a hug. She raced towards the hospital. “We’ll go save him first!” Initially Lucky struggled but he gave up after finding out he was held too fixedly in place. Zoogs were not used to being in the presence of so many people, that was not the habits of the Zoogs. Therefore, when Wu Siyu ran into the elevator and there were some other people inside it… Lucky froze into place and looked for all intent and purpose, a plushie.

“Quick, quick…” Wu Siyu mumbled as she fixed her eyes on the lights above the door… The elevator took forever before it reached the 10th floor. Once the door opened, she burst her way through while hugging Lucky. Her destination was the ICU.

“Siyu?” Nurse Liu was still there. When she saw Wu Siyu run over, hugging some kind of strange plushie in her arms, Nurse Liu frowned… But that was not the end of the surprise. Suddenly Nurse Liu saw the eyes of the plushie move as it turned over to study her… It was alive! Nurse Liu was dumbfounded, so did the other nurses on duty. They saw the big rat struggle in Wu Siyu’s arms…

One of the nurses came to and hit the emergency button. “Alert, Wu Siyu has arrived with an unknown organism!”

Wu Siyu was stopped by the guards outside the door. She said in a hurry. “There’s no time to explain. This is a Zoog. Just report it to your superior. The Zoog, Lucky is here to find Dirty-minded Jun, he knows how to wake him up!” Dirty-minded Jun kept the sweet dream he shared with Lucky a secret so she did not bring that up either. As preposterous as that sounded, this was Wu Siyu so the guards and nurses followed her instruction. Wu Siyu paced anxiously in the lobby. The doctors in the same building rushed over. Liu Mingfeng, Lee Cheng, Zhang Zeli were among them. They were confused. ‘What is that thing? Is it contagious or not? What’s a Zoog?’

Many people were clueless about the presence of Zoogs and the golden aloe so they had no idea what Wu Siyu was up to. They had tried so many things but failed and she was now saying a big rat could succeed where they failed? Regardless, the superior soon responded with the order for them to cooperate fully with Wu Siyu and the Zoog!

The sky darkened. Once Wu Siyu got the clearance, she burst through the door. She hugged the Zoog as she ran to the bedside. She looked at the sleeping man, “Lucky, please.” She placed the Zoog beside Gu Jun’s head. At the same time, the medical workers gathered outside the door. More doctors were rushing over. The late comers looked at each other, asking for updates. But Liu Mingfeng and the nurses could only shake their heads. They too had no idea what was happening.

Lucky extended his paws and started tapping on Gu Jun’s forehead. This caused the doctors’ hearts to wrench. This was the 13th day after Gu Jun’s cranial reconstruction surgery. A normal patient would have to take care of their wounds for at least 3 months post-op, the wounded area was particularly sensitive to trauma…

However, the big rat seemed to get into a rhythm as it continued to tap on Gu Jun’s forehead. It appeared to be dancing. Wu Siyu stood there silently. She looked at Gu Jun and then at the encephalograph, yup, she still did not know how to read it… One hour later, with the tapping carrying on incessantly, suddenly… She tasted a long-awaited sting on her tongue. It was the taste of salt!

“Huh?!””The frequency is rising!” Due to the sudden change in the encephalograph, the medical workers’ eyes widened. This proved that the patient’s consciousness was awakening…

“Dirty-minded Jun, Dirty-minded Jun!” Even Wu Siyu detected the jump in the previously static line. The line was peaking more constantly now! Her emotions gushed forward but suddenly Lucky stopped. Dirty-minded Jun was still unconscious. She felt like it was still missing something, something crucial. Then, it hit her. With everyone looking on with shock, Wu Siyu pushed Lucky aside, leaned over and planted a wet kiss on Gu Jun’s pale lips.

On the encephalogram, the frequency recorded the highest peak. The patient… The patient was waking up!

“Ergh…” A low groan escaped from the throat. Everyone heard it clearly, it was Gu Jun’s voice!

…

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