Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

When Gu Jun stood at the location he once assumed in his illusion, he confirmed that yes, this was indeed the place. The corridor between two giant bookshelves and 6 to 7 metres away from the podium. The only thing missing was the shadow. Gu Jun turned back to look. He still could not see the shadows on the ground. Yu Chi, who had moved further on, turned to look over. After a brief pause, Gu Jun continued to move. He approached the podium until he stood right beside it. This podium was relatively small. When he stood next to it, he took in more details of the machine on the podium, details like its giant glass tubes and metallic beams.

Perhaps it was due to the close proximity, the longer he studied the machine, the stranger he felt. Some of the details gradually materialized in his mind… He saw himself lying inside the glass shuttle, manipulating the metallic beams with both of his hands…

“Ah…” Gu Jun’s brain pulsed with pain. He was suffering from hyperemia. His heart tightened and his heart rate rose.

“Captain Gu?” Yu Chi next to him immediately asked with concern, “Are you alright?”

“It’s just that I am seeing something, but I’m still fine…” Gu Jun pressed his hands against his skull but that did not do anything to help lower the cerebral pressure. Illusions swam around him. He could see the intricate parts within the machine start to turn and activate like cogs. ‘This machine is still usable…’

Suddenly, there was a series of strange creaking and cracking. Some of the tubes at the top of the machine lit up. Instantly, the machine took on a variety of colors. Gu Jun’s eyes widened involuntarily as he heard Yu Chi gasp beside him, “The machine… the machine is activating! Captain Gu, is this your doing?”

“No, I didn’t…” Gu Jun answered immediately but he caught himself. ‘How can I be sure that I am not responsible for this…’ But the truth was even if he was responsible, he had no idea what was the mechanism behind it. In any case, an intense feeling compelled him to say, “Wait, Captain Yu, let’s just see what will happen first!”

The light of the machine brightened in intensity. It covered the surrounding inscriptions, lines and carvings on the podium with its brilliant hues. With the podium as the centre, a circular dome of light was formed. It was about 10 metres in diameter. Gu Jun looked around in confusion. He noticed spatial ripples within this place. There was clear distortion. It was like everything was changing yet everything was still the same.

In an instant, Yu Chi suddenly disappeared, the man just dissolved into thin air. Gu Jun’s heart sank and the headache intensified. ‘What has happened to Captain Yu? What’s happening to this space, this time…’

Gu Jun’s head slumped. A simple thought weighed down on his mind. He could feel its palpable heaviness that he could barely lift his head. ‘This is not normal, it shouldn’t be like this. There is another force in action…’ The shadows, he finally saw it. He had two shadows and they were tangling together. One was his own and the other belonged to the witch. The witch was still following him, she trailed him into the library. She had been lying in wait, waiting for a chance to strike.

This spatial distortion weakened Gu Jun and the witch used this opening to attempt to take control over his body. She wished to consume him, that was her plan all along. However, this time, her plan might not end up a failure…

“I knew you’re here all along…” Gu Jun gritted his teeth. He resisted the pain and hissed angrily, “Get out!”

The witch did not respond or answer. But at that moment, Gu Jun saw something that startled him. In the corridor between the bookshelves, a figure was walking over. It was a man, he wore a cotton outfit from a strange culture. He was unkempt and his skin was a sickly purplish color. His sharp eyes spoke of suspicion and warning.

‘It’s me, it was me…’ The epiphany dawned on Gu Jun, ‘It has always been me.’ The shadow, the shadow that he encountered back then, was himself. This was two versions of himself crossing paths in their different timelines. There was no present, this was a conversation between the future and the past.

“Who are you?” At that moment, the man, or more precisely, the nightmare man demanded. Gu Jun remembered this conversation. He knew the nightmare man would then ask, ‘Who are you? Why are you doing this?!’

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?!” The man challenged. His tone was suppressing great anger and anxiety. Gu Jun remembered at the time, he was still under a great mental corruption, “These information, do you think I will believe them blindly? Also why go through all these troubles, why not just tell them to me directly? What do you want from me?”

Gu Jun opened his lips to say something but it was that moment that the witch summoned her power. His head split and his body teetered… His hands went to his head and his words became intermittent, broken and distorted. “…Mask-bearer… Not evil… Sweet dream, use sweet dream… change…”

But, wasn’t that what he was supposed to say from the start?

The nightmare man frowned. Gu Jun knew very well that the man had heard every word. His headache grew more serious. Perhaps it was a side effect from the cross-temporal conversation or it could be because he was conversing with himself. There were two individuals but only one brain between them. So technically, he was forcibly inputting information into his mind…

“…Phecda Chaos… Secret Spell… Wearing a Mask… Gu Jun…” Actually Gu Jun wanted to identify himself as Gu Jun but as he remembered, he only managed to utter the name. The witch’s power was awakening, he could not stay in this state any longer. Even though he had more things to say to that man, he could not do it. The super temporal space collapsed and the nightmare man disappeared. Gu Jun blinked his eyes in pain. He finally saw Yu Chi again. Probably only a few seconds had passed in this timeline. Gu Jun noticed Yu Chi was in the middle of raising the shovel as he attempted to cut off one of the glass tubes. This was definitely not a common archaeological protocol. But he did it to save Gu Jun.

“Wait…” Gu Jun hurriedly stopped him. The machine had stopped working, the lights faded away. However, he still needed to fend off the witch’s corruption. His status had not fully recovered so he stuttered, “Captain Yu, I’m fine… Listen to me, this machine can enable cross-dimensional conversation… I just conversed with myself from the past… Does that mean that we can use this machine to form a closer communication with the mysterious signal?”