Plague Doctor

Chapter 7: The Bloodied Words on the Walls

Translator: Larbre Studio

Editor: Larbre Studio

“The fruits of darkness sprouts, shrouded by the darkness of the Abyss. The parasites of death will live with the Heavens and Earth forever.”

In an undertone, this peculiar sentence escaped from Gu Jun’s mouth. As he spoke, an excruciating pain pierced his brains, keeping him in endless torment.

What does this mean? Who wrote these words?

Horror pounded unceasingly at his chest, surging and paralysing his mind. Vaguely, his eyes saw the bloodied words on the walls as they wormed and wriggled. Soon, it became clear. Every word was formed by countless miniscule parasites grouping together. They were from the corpses, the maggots from the bodies.

“Tyc.o.o.n Jun? h.e.l.lo?”

Suddenly, his consciousness was dragged back into reality by a concerned voice. In that instant, all the visions of the macabre scene vanished without leaving a trace. Looking at the surroundings, Gu Jun let out deep and hoa.r.s.e pants as he stared around blankly. Around him, Cai Zixuan, w.a.n.g Ruoxiang, and the rest had all stopped and turned to look at him.

“Are you alright? Is anything wrong?” Cai Zixuan asked profusely in succession while helping him to regain his feet together with Xu Hai. The sudden scream had struck them by surprise. When he cupped his head, and his expression turned white as snow, they all knew that this was not a joke.

“Have a seat.” Pulling a tall laboratory stool over, w.a.n.g Ruoxiang gestured towards Gu Jun. She may not like this man too much, but she certainly did not wish him to drop dead.

“I’m fine.” Gu Jun shook his head slightly, not taking up the goodwill. “Just imagined some things.”

That disturbing sentence plagued his mind like an unceasing nightmare.

Also, that laboratory… Did it really exist? Was it just his hallucination?

“In any case, do not be too stubborn and force yourself too hard.” w.a.n.g Ruoxiang was slightly suspicious. “Your complexion is terrible, almost as if you just got scooped out of a pail of formalin.”

Gu Jun’s lips twitched in disbelief, speechless.

What sort of nonsensical metaphor was that you idiot!

“Want some hot water?” she frowned as she continued.

Hot water? Gu Jun sighed to himself. Rule 1 of clinical medicine, the all-around medicine is hot water.

Right at that moment, the doors of the laboratory opened. Walking inside, a figure asked, “My dear students, how are your experiments going?”

The crowd turned and greeted, “Professor Gu.”

The man who walked in was between his middle-age and silver years. His hair was already half white. However, every step he took was still confident and steady. His white coat trailed majestically behind him. This man was the mentor of their group and the teacher of physiology cla.s.ses during the semester, Professor Gu Rong.

Professor Gu was famous for his easy-going personality. Often telling his students cold jokes, and even responding to the jokes his students might crack. Within the school, he was very popular. Yet, as soon as Professor Gu saw Gu Jun, the smile on his face disappeared. “Oh? Little Gu is here too.”

“Professor Gu.” Gu Jun nodded. His tone was severe and courteous, stemming from his deep respect towards Professor Gu. “Following along and hoping to learn some things.”

“Oh, that’s odd.” Professor Gu’s voice was very stiff, evidently suppressing his sullen mood. “It’s rare for you to work so hard.”

Exchanging glances, the entire crowd knew the reason for Professor Gu’s blatant displeasure. He resented Gu Jun for not living up to his potential.

In retrospect, Professor Gu was the last teacher to “give up” on Tyc.o.o.n Jun. In the past, he had shielded and kept Gu Jun under his wing. The sole reason for the school not expelling Gu Jun from the prestigious 8-year course was due to professor Gu’s efforts. Professor Gu was a teacher that Gu Jun was much indebted to.

“Don’t tell me you need to sit-in for makeup tests?” Indeed, Professor Gu was steaming mad. The moment this rascal entered his line of sight, a magma-hot anger erupted within him.

Following along to learn something? In the Gaokao exams, Gu Jun’s score positioned him as the creme de la creme amongst his peers. What’s more, he was not someone who memorised blindly and also had every single talent needed to become a doctor. If he studied seriously, it would have been no surprise for him to attain a position within this laboratory.

“Professor Gu, Tyc.o.o.n Jun, oh no.” Cai Zixuan immediately changed his terms, “Jun is indeed preparing for makeup tests.”

“In that case, get back and go read your books and notes!” At this moment, Professor Gu already lost all his expectations for Gu Jun. “The test would not include anything we’re doing inside this laboratory!”

“Indeed. Then, I shall take my leave.” Scanning across everyone present, Gu Jun turned and left.

In these past months, Gu Jun had been stricken by guilt every time he remembered Professor Gu. The latter had placed so much effort and goodwill, yet he had let him down. Now, Gu Jun was seen as a lost cause. Everything he wished to say would be futile. He had to prove that he had changed with his actions.

“Everyone, let me tell you plainly. Gu Jun is a talented man,” Professor Gu’s voice resounded loudly across the entire laboratory as if he was speaking indirectly to Gu Jun, who was still not too far away, “but he was stubborn. He refused to see the important things and successfully courted death. The most important thing in learning medicine is not intelligence, but steadfastness, carefulness, and resilience. Take him as a lesson learnt and work hard!”

“I have just received some news,” Professor Gu spoke again after a while. In a stern voice, he declared, “The Provincial Department of Health has placed large amounts of attention on this time’s Frontier Cup and is hoping to select a team of medical talents. As for their criterion and aim, I do not know much at the moment. However, the attention is indeed considerable.”

Hearing the news, the entire laboratory fell into silence.

There was no news regarding this before. What is happening?

On the other hand, Gu Jun knocked at another door, which was a stone’s throw away, after leaving the laboratory.

When the doors opened, a young man of average stature and wearing a pair of frameless spectacles welcomed him. He gave off a scholarly and sophisticated vibe with several strands of hair standing at the top of his head, much like the famed detective Conan. This man was Zhang Lin or Brother Zhang.

Brother Zhang was 2 years ahead of Gu Jun. After he graduated from the 5-year course, he continued his Doctorate’s degree and was currently in his first year. The two of them had met in the basketball society and struck off as good friends. When Gu Jun disappeared for the past months, Zhang Lin was perplexed. Gu Jun had not contacted him at all until yesterday’s sudden call.

Walking in the laboratory, Gu Jun closed the door and asked, “Brother, did you bring the things I asked for?”

He had to rush. There was an uncomfortable sense of foreboding churning within him. He had to rush his time.

“I did bring it,” with his eyes fixated onto Gu Jun, Zhang Lin spoke. He did not let a single change of expression escape his eyes. “Are you really just doing an experiment?”

“Of course, what else can I do? Murder?” Gu Jun snorted in disbelief. “Brother, relax. I will not joke around with this. Am I that kind of person?”

Trust me. If I genuinely plot to kill anyone, there are at least 100 of more cruel and more straightforward ways. Just that not a single one would let me escape scot-free.

With a burst of self-deprecating laughter, he continued, “I also read Keigo Higashino(1), I know my limits.”

“Hm…” Hearing the successive a.s.surance, Zhang Lin finally nodded. “Alright.”

In truth, he would have relented much more quickly if it was anyone else. However, this man was Tyc.o.o.n Jun. He had to be absolutely sure.

The Cell Research Lab was not large. On one side, there were 2 straight rows of sparkling clean works.p.a.ce. On the other side, medical equipment, electric-heated thermostatic water bath, centrifuge, and other equipment covered the area. Two cell incubators were leaning against the walls at the front.

A stainless steel trolley was positioned beside the works.p.a.ce. On it was a small hand-carry liquid nitrogen tank, covered in a thick deep green sleeve.

“Cells of medulloblastoma are very rare and expensive. If not for Eastern University, you probably would have a lot of trouble trying to buy it,” he said while pointing at the liquid nitrogen tank. “These are the cells from the lab. I’ve brought them for you.”

Gu Jun walked over, looked at the liquid nitrogen tank, and took a deep breath.

To test the “human brainstem tumour targeted therapy drugs”, he planned to conduct animal experiments instead of drug a.n.a.lysis.

Drug a.n.a.lysis was still needed, but not now. The a.n.a.lysis required a certain amount of drugs for it to be accurate. Even if he had sacrificed everything within the capsules, it was not enough. What’s more, it was time-consuming and the results did not directly reflect the potency of the drug. All he would get was a very complicated list of chemicals.

That can’t give him the answer he needed. Only the experiments could provide him with a proper reflection of the drug’s efficacy.

His experiment plan was similar to w.a.n.g Ruoxiang’s conduct of nurturing the tumour on animals before treating them with the drug.

However, w.a.n.g Ruoxiang nurtured tumours on mice. For his experiment, he wished to cultivate Human Brain Tumours. Hence, ordinary mice would not be suitable. After all, humans and mice were from a different genus. Their innate immune system would exterminate the human tumour cells. He had to use nude mice with immunity deficiencies.

Human medulloblastoma cells are all within the liquid nitrogen tank. Rejuvenation had to be done before they could be used.

“Is that old Chinese Medicine Doctor you speak of really so G.o.dlike?” Zhang Lin asked as he put on disposable gloves and masks. “Is he really able to cure Cell tumour with these powdered Chinese Herbs?” His spectacles flashed with vigilance and scepticism. Deep down, he was not convinced at all. “I think he is a fake psychic. ”

However, Tyc.o.o.n Jun had also dabbled in these sort of nonsensical experiments, which resulted in Zhang Lin no longer suspecting even a single bit.

“Whether he is a miracle doctor or a fake psychic, we have to try before we know.” Gu Jun had also put on gloves and a mask. He knew that Brother Zhang was suspicious and immediately diverted the topic to other irrelevant issues. “Regardless, this old guy knows a lot. His ma.s.sage is top-notch. I will take you there when you have the time. ”

“Thanks,” Zhang Lin said and opened the lid of the liquid nitrogen tank. Immediately, a cold mist spewed out from the mouth of the container.

He held the lifting hook near the mouth of the tank and slowly lifted out a lifting tube inside the tank. As the machine emerged, the cold mist got denser.

Additional Notes

A famous mystery novel author in j.a.pan.