Plague Doctor

Wang Ruoxiang rushed down the corridor towards the patient’s ward. After briefing the command central, Elder Tong ordered her to initiate contact. Was this a new symptom of the patients’ Locust Sickness? However, of the 900 plus patients, only 150 people showed this symptom. It appeared like hallucination but the patients were kept in isolated rooms. They did not have contact with anyone, not even the medical workers, after being quarantined. So if this was a ruse, how did they manage to come up with the same statement, claiming that they had turned into a kind of creature that travelled from the future without any interaction?

“Yith”, that was what they called themselves. The word bore no meaning in the human dictionary. Currently, the 150 patients were extremely quiet, they sat on their beds awaiting contact with human beings. These people requested for a face-to-face interview, that was stated clearly in the surveillance. “We know what is happening, we have the same enemy, the flying polypus hydroids.”

‘Flying polypus hydroids’, they came up with the name so easily even though these creatures were just named by Deng Ximei moments ago, and the naming was only just temporary. When asked, Deng Ximei did not know how she came up with the naming convention, it was simply the first thing that came into her mind. However, from the looks of it, there was more to this than that. At least, one thing was for sure, these patients were not hallucinating.

When Wang Ruoxiang arrived at the lobby outside the wards, she was greeted by many of her colleagues. Cai Zixuan accosted her to say, “They have not uttered another word since.” As a doctor from the Spell Department, Cai Zixuan participated in autopsy on Headmaster Chui and so on, the information he knew was only a little less than Wang Ruoxiang.

“I’ll go and talk to them.” Wang Ruoxiang went to the dressing room and put on a thick anti-radiation suit and an opaline bracelet. These patients had not eaten any abnormal soil, so their bodies had not transmuted into an incubator for the parasitic locust and thus did not possess the ability to self-destruct. However, Phecda could not be sure whether these patients were a source of locust radiation or not, therefore, any contact carried a risk. With everyone, including the people at command central, watching, Wang Ruoxiang and 4 members from the Ancient Seal Department pushed open the ward entrance and entered the room where Math Teacher Fan Jianguo was isolated.

Fan Jianguo was a middle-aged man in his 40s. He had medium build and wore a pair of black rimmed glasses. His face was rather haggard-looking but the addiction-induced madness was gone. Teacher Fan just awakened from an induced coma. The muscle relaxants shouldn’t have lost their effect so soon, this was scientifically inexplicable. After reviewing the timeline, Teacher Fan was the first surviving patient to show signs of abnormality so the command central chose to speak with him.

The Ancient Seal members held their pistols guardedly at Teacher Fan. The latter regarded them with evenness. “Hello.” Teacher Fan said, his eyes glowed with an inhuman radiance.

“Hello.” Wang Ruoxiang narrowed her eyes. She stopped 3 metres from the bed. “Do you mind telling us what is going on?”

Teacher Fan’s voice was as still as water, “We will reveal to you some but not all. After all, we are uncertain about some details as well. The Yith and humanity are not enemies. We bear no hostility against your civilization, only curiosity. Furthermore, we share the same enemy.”

“The Yith, is that your biological name?” Wang Ruoxiang asked, “And what do you mean when you say you come from the future?”

“Yes, we have been longer in existence than you do and we populate this planet earlier than humanity.” Teacher Fan explained, “That was more than several hundred million years ago. When we first arrived at this planet, we had a war with the flying polypus hydroids. At the time, we won but the flying polypus hydroids possess a uniqueness that we Yith are unable to fathom. Their setback was temporary and when they returned, we would fall. We saw our race’s downfall. Therefore, we used time travel and consciousness exchange technology to attach ourselves to a different organism in the future.”

Wang Ruoxiang frowned deeply. So did plenty of people who heard this at the command central… What the man said sounded right out of science fiction. Several hundred million years ago? The earliest dinosaur fossil was dated only 1.6 hundred million years ago. The earliest sign of human civilization according to the academic was formed less than 6000 years ago.

However, Elder Tong’s interest was piqued. He personally believed that Teacher Fan was not crazy. This was not a trick by the cultists either. What Teacher Fan said could explain the situation that happened to him earlier, the exchange of quarantine circle to life circle… was it not the Yith’s doing?

“Humans, we’ve always been friends.” Teacher Fan added, “The Ancient Seal that you’re using is part of our technology.” Hearing that, Wang Ruoxiang frowned deeper and the other members picked up their guards… “The thing around your wrist that you call a rationality assessment stone is part of our technology as well. Pnakotus, that was once our home.”

Pnakotus, the Pnakotic Manuscript, the connection was made instantly in Wang Ruoxiang’s mind. According to Gu Jun, he obtained the Pnakotic Manuscript from the Great Atal, and that was where the Ancient Seal technology came from. These patients were not suffering from delirium, they knew a lot.

“How do you expect us to trust you?” Wang Ruoxiang demanded, “Since you claim to know about our situation, then you should know why we can’t place our trust in you so easily. If the Yith does exist, how can we know that you are them?” Wang Ruoxiang was particularly dubious especially after her experience with the Yellow Brotherhood. Now she understood the burgeoning behind Gu Jun’s paranoia.

Before this contact, the command central had already begun their analysis. Was the Yith real? If they were real, were these patients really Yith? Or cultists masquerading as the Yith?

They knew quite a bit about the Locust Sickness’ influence on the patient’s biological make-up but they did not have sufficient knowledge regarding its mental influence. Could the carriers have taken control over the mind of the infected patients? Could this be a ploy by the Flying Locust?

Teacher Fan answered serenely. “We have always valued rationality and caution, we appreciate to see them reflected in humanity.”

“Then, I have a few questions that I hope you can answer.” Wang Ruoxiang took out the list of questions given to her by the command central, “Do you have any treatment solution to the Locust Illness? Why do you choose to attach yourself to the patients, can you possess the minds of any other humans? Or there is a special reason to possess these patients? Can you help us defeat the flying polypus hydroids? Solve the two mutated areas? Settle this tragedy? What is your goal?”

She asked many questions, she hoped for positive and trustful answers… Sadly, humanity was currently too weak. She prayed for hope, even from this questionable source.

The answer that she got from Teacher Fan though was completely unexpected, “Doctor Wang, you know of the green-banded broodsac, right? In this case, we Yith are the birds who had consumed the infected amber snails.”