Plague Doctor

The dream solidified. Gu Jun saw himself landing on a spacious marble platform, the grand City of Dusk expanding before him. The platform had an intricately carved balustrade. They were adorned by beautiful urns which contained perhaps water or wine. On the other side of the platform, there was a marble staircase that led seemingly endlessly down into the city street. The streets were paved. Green trees lined the sides. There were also flower beds as well as ivory statues. Some of the buildings Gu Jun saw included temples, towers, bridges, arches, pavilions and fountains… Every building in the city was glowing like the sun. The sight of them warmed one's heart. Walking through it would be like walking through heaven. 'Am I in the City of Dusk?'

Gu Jun tried to move his arms and could feel the presence of his limbs somewhat. It was much better than a dream but less connected than when he entered the Dreamlands physically. It gave him the impression that should he jump, he could leap into the air. But when he tried to walk towards the staircase and down towards the street, he realized the small distance was something that he could cross. He tried running, flying, jumping and got no closer to the staircase. He could not leave this platform. After many trials, he could feel his connection to this place getting weaker, soon he'd wake up.

Gu Jun then immediately understood he was not really at City of Dusk yet. Perhaps he was merely given a clearer projection. 'Could this be the 1 communication instance with City of Dusk from the mission reward? This is it?' This thought made Gu Jun anxious and the anxiety made him feel even less concrete. He hurriedly took a deep breath to calm down…

If a person's heart rate started to race when they were dreaming, the frantic breathing and increased blood pressure would disrupt the sleeping process. It was why people would wake up at the most crucial moments in wet dreams. So to extend the dream, one had to be calm. As expected, when he calmed down, the sense of corporeality returned. Gu Jun studied his surroundings. Even though he needed to calm down, he still needed to be fast. It was not easy to gain this chance of communication. Did the foundation know about his arrival? Should he try to summon them? But how would he do that?

He tried to focus his attention on the city. The place was pulsing with life but there was no one on the streets.

"Hello, is anyone there?" In the end, he had to shout. His voice echoed down the street. "I've arrived, I'm here!" Even though the action did not match the overall serenity of the location, it accomplished its intended effect. Gu Jun noticed the street that was connected to the staircase start to ripple. A few figures flickered into existence. He could not look at them clearly, like they occupied a different dimension. However, that was similar to when he encountered the foundation last time. Gu Jun was overjoyed, he knew the connection was made.

"Hello?" He shouted.

"Gu Jun… Nice to meet you…" The figures were unable to get on the platform. They stopped on the street. The long staircase separated the two parties. The voice was still the mature male voice that Gu Jun heard last time and it sounded like it came out from an old radio as well. The voice was intermittent and rather throaty. "I'm glad that you can manage this communication… Your world is being corrupted by darkness… We do not understand it fully, we merely have visions of it…."

"How can we stop the birth of new abnormal babies? How can we save them?" Gu Jun asked, "Is this contagious?"

"It can be defined as contagious… Your world… Shub-Niggurath's energy, evolution…" Even just those few phrases took a toll on the connection. The figures flickered. The voice became even harder to read. Clearly it was not easy sending these messages. Gu Jun's head buzzed, taking them in. "…Positive, negative, stabilizing selection… Abnormal predictions…"

A big stone fell on Gu Jun's heart, this was contagious. The medical team from both worlds had analysed more than 1000000 samples, but they could not find the transmission method. The mothe.

To be continued, please go to 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍.𝚌𝚘𝚖 to read the full chapter.