Plague Doctor

Chapter 79: Mad Arab

Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Lonelytree

After the initial wave of shock, Xue Ba spoke into the communicator. “Team B, come here to meet up immediately. Snipers, provide support while on the move!”

“Copy that. Rendezvous in four minutes,” the leader of team B, Yang Henan, answered. “Move, move, move.”

“Captain, all those small rocks have completely submerged,” Lin Mo said severely. This change made him want to raise his middle finger. They had studied the stone wall for so long, but nothing had happened. Yet, once Gu Jun got near, it crumbled. What kind of reasoning was behind this? They were all looking down the underground tunnel, wondering where it led.

“Ah Jun, what is going on? What was the meaning of that sentence?” Xue Ba’s bushy brows were creased together. His sharp gaze cut a clear meaning of warning; it was not the time to play. Even though he already felt like splitting up was not a good idea, Gu Jun was still surprised by this occurrence. In that moment, there were many thoughts that crossed his mind, but none stuck long enough to mean anything. Seeing the suspicion on Captain Xue’s face, he was not offended. Phecda had just been ambushed by the Afterlife Cult, and it did not help that he came from a background related to them. It was reasonable for Captain Yan to suspect him, considering the circ.u.mstances.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons, even death may die,” Gu Jun said.

When the group heard that, a chill ran up their spines.

“What, that’s impossible?” Xue Ba was shocked. When he saw the confused faces around him, he said urgently, “Haven’t you guys heard of this, oh wait, this is Grade D information… Never mind, it is an emergency now. This is the couplet written by Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab. He once dreamt about a place called the Nameless City, a ruin deep inside a desert. I am telling the truth! If you don’t believe me, you can go check it when you return. Oh, but none of you will be able to have access. Sigh!”

The burly man was about to scratch his hair out. Truthfully, no one doubted his knowledge. They mainly frowned due to shock.

“Who is this Mad Arab?” Gu Jun was even more confused. Dreamt? He had dreamt about visiting the big banyan tree that was connected to Gu Rong Village before.

“We don’t have much information on him. He’s a legendary character from ancient times. According to legend, he wrote a tome called the Necronomicon, but no one ever found it.” Then, not knowing whether the signal could still be intercepted or not, Xue Ba continued to report back to the command center. “Command central, this is Xue Ba. Gu Jun confirms that the foreign character is related to the couplet by Abdul Alhazred, or the Mad Arab… It is thus suspected that this place is related to the Nameless City.”

“F*ck!” Lou Xiaoning grumbled under her breath.

Lin Mo shook his head and sighed. “What the h.e.l.l is this? I knew I should not have studied science.”

“This already got you stunned?” Uncle Dan tried his best to bring the mood up. “This is not the most shocking thing I’ve seen. You should have been in the dream that I had that one time with Kim Kardashian.”

But the group was no longer in the mood to laugh.

‘So, an ancient character from legend?’ Gu Jun looked at the dark entrance with contemplation. He still had no idea how everything was connected. This was definitely not a coincidence. He had triggered some kind of mechanism, but how? By having the foreign characters translated? By having someone read them out loud like open sesame? But he repeated it again, both aloud and in his heart, but nothing else happened. It befuddled him further…

Four minutes later, all members of Team B arrived safely. The videos that they captured earlier were still distorted, but Xue Ba had already removed his protective helmet and looked through the binoculars. The rotten tree trunk had fallen on its own. The tree hole had disappeared. Xue Ba then ordered the group to set up a defensive perimeter around the underground tunnel. They decided to hunker down there for now. Inside this high wall cage, there was no high vantage point or hiding point. If an enemy arrived now, like from above, they might need to retreat into the tunnel. Of course, the enemies might come out from the tunnel too, so two members were a.s.signed to guard the entrance. Since the air was breathable, they did not need to worry about oxygen, but their food supply would only last a week. Now was truly the moment that tested Xue Ba’s intelligence…

Should they enter the tunnel to explore or use the C4 to blow down one corner of the wall to see what was beyond it? But in their previous inspection, they failed to gauge the thickness the wall.

“Do you guys feel like… there is something watching us?” Uncle Dan suddenly asked. “I’m not trying to make joke or scare you. It’s my instincts talking.”

“Yes, I feel it too,” Lin Mo said with a frown as he carried the life detection radar, sweeping the ground. Yang Henan, Zhou Yi, and other members expressed the same feeling. Even though it was still silent around them, they could not shake the feeling that something was watching them from the dark.

Gu Jun held the mini rifle tightly, and the anxiety in his heart doubled. The other reason for his apprehension was due to his system quest list for the day.

Normal Quest: Complete one emergency rescue today. Reward: one box of human brainstem tumor-targeting drugs.

Difficult Quest: Complete two-star surgeries (success) within three days with personal contribution totaling over 150%. Reward: one Carlot Scalpel.

Abyssal Quest: Finish a full autopsy on a zombie within a week. Reward: Unknown

After some time getting used to the system, Gu Jun realized that the system quests were closely related to his life, especially the normal and difficult quests. He normally would be placed in situations where he had the chance to complete them, but now he did not wish for that chance to appear.

Thinking back to yesterday’s surgery, Gu Jun turned to the black decayed ground. He asked, “Captain Xue, is it possible that there is something underground? Things like subterrain giant worms?”

Xue Ba quickly turned to ask, “Lin Mo, do you have anything over there?”

Lin Mo was still moving around with his life detection radar. “Nothing… but the result is not a guarantee. You guys know about the abnormality of this place…”

Before he finished, the dirt underneath his feet burst open, and the rest of his sentence was swallowed by a scream. “Argh!”

Gu Jun’s heart squeezed. Ten meters away from him, a giant monster’s head poked out from under the ground. The toothy jaw already chomped over Lin Mo’s lower body. There were cl.u.s.ters of small worms wiggling in its saliva—they were its young. The subterrain giant worm looked just like the one he had seen in the files. The skin was dark-red and was covered in a layer of wrinkly skin. It gave off an imposing presence.

“Motherf*cker!” Lou Xiaoning growled. Anger colored her pretty face. As she raced over, she raised the ninety-five auto and aimed it at the giant worm’s body that protruding out from the ground. The rounds fired, and the place echoed with gunshots.

The part of the giant worm’s head fired into a mess of flesh and blood. It let go of its prey from pain and quickly crawled back underground. Zhou Yi, Uncle Dan, and the rest hurried to pull over the screaming Lin Mo. The protective gear around his feet was already corrupted, exposing the messy wound underneath. They were all bite marks from the wounds, none from the gunshots. As they expected, the bullets could not pierce the giant worm.

“Retreat!” Xue Ba ordered. Calmness was on his face. “Retreat into the underground tunnel! We will stay right at the entrance!”

There was no choice but for them to enter the tunnel. If they stayed outside, they would only be picked off one by one by the giant worms, and they had no idea how many worms were there.

“Ah Jun, get over here and help!” Uncle Dan was screaming. He was dragging Lin Mo into the tunnel with the help of the nurse, Lin Huohuo. Now was the time for the medics to work. The members retreated in order.

Gu Jun raced ahead as he responded, “Coming!”

They needed to stop the bleeding, inject anesthetic, and then they had to conduct an immediate surgery. They had to pull the parasites out before they had the chance to dig into the deeper tissue. As Gu Jun ran, he thought back to the various images from the previous day’s operation. At this moment, he was surprisingly collected.