Plague Doctor

Chapter 151: Patterns of Corruption

Translator: Lonelytree

The cerebral dura was perfectly preserved due to Gu Jun’s careful handiwork. Therefore, the interior of that abnormal scalp could be seen clearly. On the surface of the bone, there were many small and crowded scratches. It was as if someone had carved them there.

‘Is it some kind of picture or language?’ Gu Jun took the scalp from Cai Zixuan. He looked at it with a frown before giving it a quick swipe. “These are not carved onto here. They are caused by bone deformities.”

This reminded Gu Jun of osteoporosis, a common symptom among victims of secondary hyperparathyroidism. A low bone density meant that the x-ray images would come back perforated and blurry. The countless small empty holes where the bone ma.s.s had eroded had an eerie similarity to the children’s game of connecting the dots. The x-rays of the zombie corpse had yielded similar x-rays, but no one could expect…

The corrosion in the scalp would form such exquisite lines and patterns. Studying the bone, the illusions suddenly pulled at Gu Jun. He felt the world spun for a moment before everything steadied itself again. He placed the scalp down and turned to the cracked skull on the autopsy table. The grayish-white cerebral dura was still enveloping the brain. “Get the brain!”

Uncle Dan and Du Mingjun were quite excited. Even though w.a.n.g Ruoxiang and Cai Zixuan had no idea what was happening, they could guess that this was an important discovery. They continued to provide aid to Gu Jun. After they successfully peeled back the layer of cerebral dura, the brain that was filled with black cerebral arteriovenous capillaries was exposed.

When the secret in the scalp was exposed earlier, a commotion had spread through the headquarters and Eastern State’s command center. While Gu Jun’s group continued the autopsy, people from the Scientific Research Department had been sent in to retrieve the scalp to perform more scanning and photographing so that they could produce a more detailed picture. Amplified through the computer, they could see the pattern of the corrosion more clearly. To everyone’s surprise, the pattern looked curiously like the internal structure of a computer chip, or something more advanced than that.

“This couldn’t be the result of natural bone erosion…”

“Bone erosion is caused by the loss of bone density, but the bone density of that corpse is much higher than a normal human being.”

“Secondary hyperparathyroidism can cause thickening of the skull through hardening of bone cells, so irregular erosion has been recorded in the past…”

The sound of discussion pervaded the conference room at the headquarters. Some were arguing noisily while others were quiet with their own thoughts. Xiao Huiwen’s heart sank. No matter how serious secondary hyperparathyroidism got, it would not cause symptoms as severe and as eerie as those found in the zombie corpse. The deeper they ventured into these abnormal creatures, the more they realized how little they knew about them. This was not a good sign.

“Elder Tong, what do you think?” Many of the Investigation Department turned to Elder Tong for his opinion.

“If you ask me…” Elder Tong’s voice was dull with disappointment. These questions had arrived late by too many years. “Zombies have shown the ability to produce hallucinations and invade people’s dreams, so they must have a unique store of mental power. Perhaps it is these patterns that provide them with that mental power. Just like how the vessels in our body provide our organs with blood, these patterns provide the zombie with mental power.”

At Eastern State, Yao Sinian, who had rushed back into the command center due to the new discovery, heard Elder Tong through Skype. He sighed softly. “Guo Tong, your team’s role has become far more important now.”

In the field of spells, Phecda was only slightly better than a blank slate.

Back in the morgue, Gu Jun calmed himself down for the next step of the autopsy, which was the removal of the brain. He moved the head of the zombie to the edge of the table and allowed gravity to pull the brain out. He used his left hand to catch the brain while his right hand used the scalpel to remove the olfactory epithelium… Then, more severance was done on the different cerebral structures, nerves, arteries, and veins before he slowly and carefully removed the intact brain. The group could not help holding their breath. The brain had been safely extricated from the skull. The interior of the skull had not been cleaned, but some of the spots had already exposed those strange patterns. It would appear like the patterns covered the whole inside of the zombie skull. Their eyes shifted slightly. Just what kind of supernatural explanation would be behind something like this?

Holding the brain in his hands, looking at the coral-like brain matter and the trails of the veins, the feeling of illusion intensified. He adjusted the organ in his hands before taking another look, and suddenly, a message jumped out at him.

It was an Arabic number, 176! It was situated right in the middle of the brain.

“Is that a number?” Uncle Dan gasped in shock. “Wait, is that the number we’ve been looking for‽”

“Do not look at it!” Gu Jun shouted urgently as he moved the brain to the side, burying it away from Cai Zixuan and w.a.n.g Ruoxiang’s sight. This number was most likely a part of the Nightmare Illness, so the more they knew about it, the deeper their connection would be to the Nightmare Illness and the easier they would be infected. With her sense tingling, Wu Siyu stood up from her couch and walked over. She was ready to provide mental support for Gu Jun.

“The same goes to you.” Seeing her walk over, Gu Jun demanded that she stop. He then pushed the brain closer to the cameras. This was currently the only thing that they could understand, a number. Inside that nightmare, Ol’ Uncle Dog had not revealed a new number to any of the new batches of patients—a number that would suggest the longitude of his coordinates. Now, Gu Jun wondered if the reason was that Ol’ Uncle Dog himself did not have that information because the information was stored somewhere else, like inside the brains of other zombies. After all, Ol’ Uncle Dog might not be the only zombie behind the pathogenesis of the Nightmare Illness.

The atmosphere at the Eastern State command center and headquarters boiled from this discovery. No one expected a breakthrough would come like this.

“176!” Yao Sinian had his people move into action. “Try this as the longitude.”

Even though it was not a complete set of numbers, if this was truly the longitude marker of that small island, they would be able to narrow it down to a very small part of the map. The emergency unit immediately combined this latest discovery with the previous northern lat.i.tude of 74°31′12″. The triangulation put them at a spot near the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean.

However, when they turned to the satellite images, they frowned. Phecda had not paid attention to this location before because it was barren. There was no island, not even a cl.u.s.ter of reefs. Occasionally, there might be sleets of iceberg during the winter climate. So, how could the mysterious island be situated there?

But at the same time, Phecda knew that this could not be a coincidence. A number wouldn’t be hidden inside the brain of a zombie for no reason. If the mysterious island did exist on Earth, chances were, it was somewhere around that area. The satellite images showed that nothing should exist there, but human knowledge also said that abnormal creatures like zombies should not exist either, so it would behoove them to check everything out.

With that in mind, Yao Sinian made many calls. After confirming with the headquarters, he sent a group of Phecda’s scouting armada over to the location to investigate. The national satellites, missiles, and aircraft carriers would provide support. This was their chance to stop the spread of Nightmare Illness.

Back in the morgue, the more Gu Jun studied the number inside the brain and the strange patterns inside the skull, the sharper the jolt of pain in his mind. The acc.u.mulated illusions started to overwhelm him… He heard the whispering of strange voices travelling into his mind, meeping, blibbering…

It did not sound like any human language or the foreign language. It was not even the R’yleh language. It was the language of the zombies.