Plague Doctor

Gu Jun sat primly on the plastic chair, looking as unimposing as he ever could but the bloodied bandage stood out like a sore thumb. Before him, next to Yu Chi stood a 25 years old woman. She was quite pretty in her denim get up. Her name was Feng Peiqian, a member of Icebreaker. She was a biologist and shared a good relationship with Yu Chi.

“Captain Yu, you mean… You saw this person rummaging through trash on the street so you brought him home and now he’s your friend?” Feng Peiqian studied the man cautiously. He did look the part of a drifter but the face spoke of something more civilized. She could not get a good read on this man…

“Hello.” Gu Jun greeted her dumbly.

“That’s right. He has no official ID and he only remembers his name is Ah Jun. I feel a sort of bond with him so I thought I would keep him company. It’s good karma.” Then Yu Chi moved to chase Feng Peiqian away. “Peiqian, go back to work. I have a feeling something is about to happen… Don’t worry, I’m not crazy. Ah Jun and me will be fine…” Gu Jun kept a silly smile on his face. Yu Chi advised against hiding him in the bathroom because Feng Peiqian was a brilliant investigator. If she found something overly suspicious about Gu Jun, she’d report it to Mysterium and that would lead to a whole lot of trouble. However, now Gu Jun wished he’d gone into hiding because he realized that this Captain Yu really did not know his way around women. Even a blind man could tell Feng Peiqian had some affection towards Yu Chi.

“Erm… Shouldn’t we bring Ah Jun to the hospital? He’s bleeding.” Feng Peiqian turned around to look at Gu Jun. She did not want to leave.

“It’s fine. He said it’s been like that for days already…” Yu Chi pushed her all the way to the door. “Ah Jun has nothing to do with Mysterium…” With a bang, the steel door closed. Yu Chi ran back to the table. “Women can be really troublesome… already told her we’re fine…”

“Erm…” Gu Jun hesitated to speak, in the end, he shrugged. No wonder this man was single at 29. “Do you think she bought our story?”

“Of course not.” Yu Chi took out the hidden document and said hurriedly, “Peiqian will get people to check your background, she’ll suspect you’re a cultist sent to spy on me. Naturally she will not find anything on you, which will only arouse her suspicion further. This place will be monitored, people will be sent over so we need to hurry. Just ignore them for now…”

At least Captain Yu still knew his job. Gu Jun nodded. ‘So I am now a suspected cultist. Well, to be fair, I was once a young cultist.’

“Captain Yu, why do you think the signal will weaken once we share it with others.” Gu Jun picked the cakes that Feng Peiqian brought to eat. ‘Today’ he only had two eggs at Mr. Joyce’s. He was quite hungry. The cakes were delicious so he enjoyed it very much.

“I’ve been wondering about that too…” Yu Chi scratched his head and his expression pained. “Is it possible that the more people who know about it, the more it will approach reality? If the four worlds coincide, which will be the reality? Which world will fade into hallucination? This kind of pondering is beyond us… It is of a much higher dimensional thinking…”

“Captain Yu, we could try to see this from an understandable angle.” Gu Jun had to interrupt the man by handing him a cake. If Captain Yu continued to hit his head against this mental wall, he’d really go insane. Gu Jun shared his thought, “Is it possible that it mimics internet speed? There is a limited bandwidth and the more people who use it, the slower it’ll become. And those who do not have good receptive power will hog and slow down the speed? But if we’re the only ones who use the internet, then the speed will be fast.”

“That’s possible.” Yu Chi swallowed the cakes without chewing. His mind was still on the questions. “Then will the receptive power increase if people like us gather together at one stop? Our encounter… is not a coincidence. Like a magnet, we’re attracted to one another through our connection. How do you explain our paths crossing at a big city like Le Ning City? This is not a coincidence…”

“I’ve not experienced that weird sensation since I got here.” Gu Jun said, “But I also feel the most present here.” He felt the least grounded when he was at the Massachusetts World, he felt most like himself when he was here.

“The lack of the sensation might not equal to a lack of signal, it might be because the signal has stabilized instead…” Yu Chi said hurriedly and maddeningly, “Captain Gu, don’t you think your headache has lessened? We need to figure out a way to intensify the signal. To do that, we need to conduct experiments. Location might be important. I have an idea. We’ll go to the countryside and find a high spot away from the crowd. We’ll set up receivers there.”

The ‘receivers’ were similar for both Gu Jun and Yu Chi. They were some kind of visual medium, like television, pictures, drawing. They saw and heard the signals through similar mediums, the difference was Gu Jun could transmigrate through them while Yu Chi would see illusions about Gu Jun.

“Okay, let’s give it a try.” Gu Jun nodded as he reached for another piece of cake. “But let me finish first.”

“Hurry up,” Yu Chi looked at the cakes anxiously. “Peiqian always brings too much… how did she expect me to finish that much…”

“Well, I’ll help you finish them this time…” Gu Jun gobbled everything up because it was already dusk. Then the two of them grabbed the documents, a stack of documents, radio and equipment like flashlight. They placed everything in Yu Chi’s white car which was parked not far away. Their destination was Peach Mountain which was adjacent to Le Ning City. It was far enough from the metropolis and had a high elevation. They drove along the deserted highway. It was too late for that many cars.

Along the way, Gu Jun and Yu Chi who drove, did not speak because they needed to rest to clear their minds. They were already quite drained from a whole afternoon of chatting. If the sensation arrived, they needed to be mentally sound to receive it. When the car arrived at the foot of Peach Mountain, the sky already darkened. A veil of darkness fell over the jungle which echoed with the chirps of unknown creatures. The uncle who guarded the gate stopped them, “We’re closed! No more entry!” Yu Chi explained urgently, “We just want to go star-gazing.”

Yu Chi ignored the man and stepped on the oil. Gu Jun could only mouth an apology at the poor uncle through the window.

“Aiz, such ridiculousness!” The uncle groused as the car sped up the mountain. “Two men coming to stargaze at night. What is the matter with the world these days?”