Plague Doctor

"If you can hear us… We are… Innocent… Please do not… tell anyone else… signal weaken… Help us… Symbol…" In that moment of twilight, Gu Jun heard the mysterious signal again. It belonged to a party different from the girls. The symbol of the split cross returned. Gu Jun spotted it on the watercolor drifting through the air. A split cross was embossed on the watercolor and it was glowing strangely… An inspiration surged through his mind and he was reminded of what the woman said earlier.

'I am very precious now? After consuming me, she can arrive at this world in her real form? But why now? Is it because of this? I can receive signals other people cannot? Because my mental and physical state is unique from others? Perhaps we got it all wrong. The headache is not an evasive symptom from PTSD but a side effect from this special state I'm in…' The longer he stared at the symbol, the stronger the inspiration.

Suddenly, the watercolor was grabbed by one of the girls. She was about to tear it into pieces. Gu Jun felt a rage burning within him. "Let go off… Dirty-minded Jun's painting!" The tension in his body melted like snow. He jumped up with a snarl and swiped the girls away from him.

"Brother Dirty-minded Jun, you don't play fair. Be nice." Little Kedou said with a giggle as she attempted to snip away his finger with the dissecting scissors. Before Gu Jun could steady himself, he felt a dull pain from the back of his head. Another girl just slammed into his skull with the autopsy hammer. The girls' faces turned ghastly as they screamed at him, "Be nice!"

"Stop this play-acting!" He roared in anger. While his mind was still intact, Gu Jun used his right hand to sign out an Ancient Seal. The Ancient Seal blasted forward, carrying his accumulated anger and depression. The group of girls who was hit groaned. In a flickering moment, Gu Jun saw their small disguise wavered like a layer of skin being shed. Decayed flesh was exposed. It was dark, ugly and disgusting.

"Oh… the power of the Yith… Ha ha…" The woman commented with a smile but there was now an edge. "The bunch of worms overlooked by the master. No wait, they're less than worms."

'The Yith?' Gu Jun heard this term for the first time. 'Is there a connection between the Pnakotic Manuscript, the Yith and the House of Worm?' He also had no idea what she referred to by her 'master' but she did mention she admired a presence with 1000 faces…

There were 520 girls there but they should all be the shadows controlled by one person.

"Little Brother, do not walk in the false trail of the Yith. It's foolish to think that technology can challenge the Gods." The woman said, "'Technology' is merely a toy given to humanity for them to distract themselves by the Gods. Humanity has no idea the true power of real divinity." The piano picked up tempo. The bloated old man changed a tune and his fingers danced fast like lightning. "Would you like to know the divine secret? Come, lick my ass clean and I'll share some of them with you!" With the shrill shout, Gu Jun saw some of the girls enlarge rapidly. Their innocent faces wrinkled and took on age spots. Their skin looked like cracked oak bark. The girls morphed into strange croons.

"So this is your real appearance…" Gu Jun said hoarsely. Blood still oozed from his shoulder wound. "You are not Kedou, and not my big sister… You are the Queen of the Night, the old witch…"

"You wanted a family right? So I've come to be your big sister." The woman chuckled in a silvery tingle. The wrinkled faces grinned wildly, "Little Brother, if you prefer beautiful women, then I can take that form as well. I can become the most beautiful woman you've seen." Gu Jun scanned the surrounding girls and witches before his eyes landed on the piano, the one under the oak tree. That should be the key. He was about to rush towards it but the girls blocked his way. "What are you doing?""Big brother, don't."

"Get out of my way!" Gu Jun kicked the girls away and signed another Ancient Seal. The girls were illusions but their wails of mercy still clawed at Gu Jun's heart. The multiple usage of the Ancient Seal tired him and his muscle started to tense again…

"Little brother, my dear little brother, let us stay here happily ever after." Suddenly Gu Jun felt a pierce of pain at his stomach. One of the old witches punctured his left abdomen with his suturing needle. The witch licked the fresh blood off the needle. The female voice sang beautifully, "Your blood, it's so delicious…"

At that moment, with a loud boom, the old witch's bloated head exploded. But there was no bursting of flesh. Turns out the witch was not made of flesh. It disintegrated into black muck, like the mud from the earlier pond.

Gu Jun gasped in shock. He noticed the shot was made from a large calibre bullet, most likely a sniper rifle…

"Ah!" The woman's voice became agitated, "Curses, such annoyance. Damn, damn, damn, damn…"

"The girls and the witches are of the same origin!" Gu Jun shouted as he realized reinforcement had arrived, "They are all part of an illusion! Destroy the piano. Use missiles. Quick!" He shouted as he turned to run away so that he would not be in the missile's trajectory. Just as he finished, a mini missile arched through the air. It flew across the evil oak forest and landed squarely on the black piano.

The music stopped. The piano and the bloated old man dissolved into a pile of black mud.

All the remaining girls morphed into old witches before they disappeared one after another. The forest floor was covered in a layer of rotten mud. Eventually only a single figure remained. Her lanky body was barely covered in clothing. She had an ugly face and wrinkled skin. Her fingers were as long as claws and she stood where the piano originally was.

Bang, bang, bang!

Then came a quick succession of gunfire. Gu Jun turned to look and saw a group of people firing non stop at the old witch. It was The One from GOA. There were Lou Xiaoning, Deng Ximei, Helen Claire and Wu Siyu. 'Now these are the beauties I don't mind seeing.' Gu Jun let go of a sigh…

The gunfire did not stop. It caused the old witch to retreat. Her body twitched as bullets shot through her body.

The woman's voice turned hoarse as it cackled creepily, "Ha ha ha… my dear little brother, does this not remind you of The Magic Flute? But no matter, the game has just begun… After all, I have found you… Now, promise me, you'll be a good boy until I return to get you…. Ha ha ha…"

The ugly rotten body of the witch imploded into a pile of decayed mud.