Plague Doctor

Chapter 132: Mental Erosion

Translator: Lonelytree 

It was originally a sterile surgical room, but now it was more like a scene from inside a sanatorium. The medical crew gripped their heads and wailed in pain. Veins popped on their blanched faces, but the spirit was rapidly receding from their eyes. Places like the headquarters and psychology department were all shocked by this development!

The screams from the surgical room lassoed around every researcher’s heart. What was happening? Chen Wenwei’s EEG showed a chaotic range of waves, forming an incoherent chart on the monitor.

“Drag them out of there now!” Prof Qin shouted through the microphone. There was a group of Action Department members in sterile uniforms waiting outside the room, ready to tackle any emergency, but at this moment, they were doubled-over with grimaces of pain on their faces. At the same time, the people behind the camera saw Gu Jun, who was the only one standing, rush toward the surgical table. He grabbed a clean cotton ball from the nearby tray and shoved it into Chen Wenwei’s mouth. He pushed and pushed until the strange mumbling could not be heard anymore. The people everywhere were shocked. Gu Jun… could still move?

Not only that, Gu Jun seemed to still have control of his own body and possessed enough self-consciousness to shout, “Turn your heads away from him. Do not listen to him! Think about something else!”

As he yelled, he mixed a shot of drug with dolicaine and tetracaine at the anesthetist’s table. He aimed it at the lower part of Chen Wenwei’s ear, right above the mastoid. The sharp needle glinted as it plunged right through the man’s skin, reaching the foramen jugular. The drug was pumped into the patient’s body. Since the anesthetic that was supposed to dull the nervous system had lost its effect, Gu Jun attempted a sectional blockage to the nervous system. If he could numb the glossopharyngeal nerve, then Chen Wenwei’s tongue would flop into activity. The sentence was a spell, and that would lessen its effect.

“It’s a mental attack!” Gu Jun shouted. “Command, do not let anyone in here!”

Inside the conference room above them, Prof Qin immediately stopped the Action Department team that had just arrived from barging into the room. He shouted, “Halt, listen to Ah Jun!”

Prof Qin understood some of it. The patient was releasing an abnormal and strong brain signal, causing disturbances to everyone inside the surgical room. Gu Jun had managed to survive due to his strenuous mental power training or perhaps some other reason. But the people from the Action Department only had normal training. Yes, their mental power was better than average, but it was still not enough to face this challenge. If they barged into the surgical room, it was more likely that they would end up being a hindrance before they could get anyone out.

However, inside the surgical room, several nurses had already collapsed to the ground. The others were barely holding on as they supported themselves on the nearby devices and stools.

“Ah Jun, when can the people go in? Tell me!” Prof Qin’s voice rang out in the surgical room.

“I…” Gu Jun was barely hanging in there. His brain was slammed around by the mental attack, and the pain was intensifying. He trained his focus to one specific point. He reached for the leucotome and took a deep breath. An unfamiliar feeling came from his grasp, but he had studied the surgery before, and he had seen Surgeon Si use it earlier. He retracted the metal ring and reached the leucotome deeper into the patient’s brain. Now was not the time to be concerned about accuracy anymore. No matter how precarious it was, the only solution was to complete the operation.

Gu Jun’s mind focused and clicked to accept the mission.

“Difficult Mission: Accumulate personal contribution value of one hundred percent by performing two-star surgeries (success) within a day. Reward: one pair of Carlot Dissecting Scissors.”

“Mission accepted!”

He yanked at the leucotome’s brace. He could feel a force travelling up his arm like he could feel the metallic ring spinning, turning, and scrambling with surprisingly even energy.

Snip!

More soft tissue in Chen Wenwei’s prefrontal lobe was destroyed. The chaotic gaze became more lifeless, and no more voices came out. But in that fleeting moment, Gu Jun seemed to hear a pleading voice from Chen Wenwei. “Doctor Gu, save me…”

‘Is it ESP?’ He could feel the young man’s emotions—fear, horror, loss, and pain. His fear of having to fight for his own survival in an unfeeling city, his anxiety about his future, his memory of his family, and his desire to return. For some reason, a small balcony appeared before Gu Jun like a mirage.

“Brother, hang in there!” He gritted his teeth, and the pain sharpened his focus. He pushed the device deeper and pulled on the brace again. With another crack, another nervous fiber was ruined. Then, Gu Jun slowly removed the leucotome from the patient’s cranium. He could feel the mental pressure slipping away, so he shouted, “Come in now. Save them!”

“Get in there!” Prof Qin ordered. The team outside the room immediately burst in. They were all hit by a sudden bout of light-headedness, but none of them were overwhelmed by it. Disregarding standard procedure, they placed the medical crew onto stretchers and rushed them out.

“I’m fine… Go save the others first…” Si Kouxian said slowly as he lay on the stretcher. He was still conscious enough to speak. However, the first assistant, Song Yilong; second assistant, Chen Xinfei; the anesthetist, Guo Jun; and the mechanical nurse, Huang Yanyu—these four crew members who were closest to the patient had no color on their faces. Saliva trickled out their open mouths, and their facial muscles were convulsing.

The other neurologists outside the corridor knew the severity of the situation when they saw this. Their symptoms suggested acute brain hemorrhage. The medical crew who were just performing an operation minutes ago now had to be rushed to the adjacent room to be operated on.

The whole building mobilized. The people from other departments were sent over to help.

Right then, the stand-in surgical team walked into the room. With heavy expressions, they walked unhesitatingly toward the surgical table. The main surgeon was Gao Guohong, the first assistant was Ding Ming, and Gu Jun took over the role of second assistant. He was helping the crew fill up the skull and with the sutures.

The people behind the camera could see how steady Gu Jun’s work was. He was practically the most reliable at the operation table. The others were influenced by an invisible mental disturbance in some way, and that was evidenced by their shaking hands. Most of the more delicate procedures were directed by Gao Guohong but performed by Gu Jun. The youngest person in the room had become the steadiest presence there, inspiring the rest.

After closing up the side cranium, Prof Qin asked Gu Jun for his opinion. “Ah Jun, do you think we need to continue this surgery?”

“Of course, we need to finish it,” Gu Jun answered seriously. “Only then we will know the result.”

Therefore, a severe silence landed in the surgical room. The nurse helped turn and fix the patient’s head to the other side, and the crew got back to work. Surgical knife, saw, and drill… the devices did their job. The skull was revealed again, and another hole was drilled.

The medical crew kept their heads blank except for one goal, which was to finish the operation! Just as Gu Jun said, they had to finish it.

They owed it to Surgeon Si and his crew. Even if they fell, a third batch would be ushered in to complete the surgery. This was because they needed to complete this lobotomy to know its effectiveness in curing Nightmare Illness.

In human medical history, this was how treatments and cures were found. It was not through some blessing from God, nor was it through bargaining with the devil. It was through clinical trials like this. The road to convalesce was paved with the blood, sweat, tears, and flesh of both the patients and medical practitioners.

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