Plague Doctor

Chapter 364: Lantern Festival (2in1)

The strange voice made by Kedou shocked everyone in the living room. However, be it Wu Siyu or Gu Jun, other than the concern they had for Kedou, they did not feel the presence of any dark forces. When Kedou finished relaying that sentence, she started to giggle and cried out happily, “Surprise!” Her face took on the usual childlike and innocent smile, clearly this was just a game for her.

“Lee Kedou!” Mother Lee was so worried her eyes brimmed with tears. She fetched her daughter back from Wu Siyu, “You gave me such a fright.” Father Lee paced worriedly. Everything that happened so far flustered the normal couple greatly.

“It’s going to be fine.” Wu Siyu patted Kedou’s back as she consoled her aunt and uncle.

“Everything looks normal in here…” Captain Gao whispered to Gu Jun. They had just scanned Kedou’s bedroom. Both cleansing stone and assessment stone showed no response. Combine that with Kedou’s current condition, what happened earlier was not an actual mind control but more like a staged performance.

“Kedou, was it you who made that voice earlier?” Gu Jun asked as his headache intensified.

“Yes!” Kedou said proudly as if to show off, “I’ve studied it for days from your big sister. She said it was a style of singing, not many people can learn it but she praised me for picking it up so fast.” Kedou said before she continued in that strange voice, “Brother Dirty-minded Jun, don’t you think I did a good job?” Hearing that strange voice, Gu Jun’s heart responded with agitation. ‘Is this a taunt or mockery from the enemy?’

But to their relief, at least this was just a mimicry done by Kedou. However, they had no idea how Kedou managed to learn to utilize her vocal cords and throat to make such a sound. Kedou herself could not explain it either, she said she just repeated what she was told.

“Silly girl, do not use that voice ever again.” Wu Siyu advised her cousin sternly, “The big sister was playing with you, that was the sound of a pig grunting.” Gu Jun nodded, “Yes, a very ugly pig at that.” They had no idea whether this was a part of a spell or not because casting a spell required the caster to first familiarize themselves with its casting language and tone. Perhaps Kedou had only mastered the vocal condition to cast the spell but not the content of the spell itself. Maybe this was the shadow’s first step to corrupt the little girl. In any case, no one could tell whether talking in such a manner would leave a negative impact on her or not… But it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Ah?” Kedou gasped in shock. “So I was tricked?” But instead of getting angry, she started to laugh. She found the whole thing just fun. She had no idea how great the worry she had caused the adults. The concern was palpable in the air. It was as if a noose was being slowly tightened around the girl’s neck. They looked around but saw nothing.

Wu Siyu had her aunt and uncle stay in the living room while she carried Kedou to follow Captain Gao’s team into Kedou’s bedroom. Gu Jun tagged along but he paid close attention to his mental status. He’d leave should anything try to trigger his PTSD. There was nothing too special about this bedroom. The wall was painted sky blue and had paintings of cartoon characters. There was a children’s bed with a wooden partition and all the furniture was child sized. The bookshelf was lined with storybooks and toys cluttered the floor. A pile of dolls sat at the corner of the room. Wu Siyu carried Kedou over and rummaged through the room. Earlier the guards had done a bomb sweep and found nothing suspicious.

Wu Siyu had the same result. Only when she looked through the pile of dolls that her synesthesia started to act up. Her vision swam… But the feeling was not intense enough to cause actual illusion. Wu Siyu saw a blurry shadow who once visited the place. The shadow possessed… immense power.

On the other hand, when Gu Jun stepped into the room, for some reason, his childhood memory fragments and figments of foreign characters flooded his mind… His headache soon turned unbearable. His muscles tensed. Gu Jun took a deep breath before turning away from the room. After such a long time in recovery, his symptoms still showed no sign of alleviating… He could not even stand inside a room with a lingering supernatural presence.

Wu Siyu eventually sat down on Kedou’s bed and asked her for the details. Kedou described it with great amusement and interest, “I met her at the historical town! Then she came to visit me at night. She told me stories, taught me how to sing and played with me. She is a very good person!” Then Wu Siyu had Kedou retell the stories about the man-eating monster. Kedou said she liked those stories because she had not heard anything like them before.

Kedou was quite excited in her recounting of the tales. “The monster came from the sea. It was huge, as tall as the sky! With one yawning of its mouth, it swallowed up the whole city! But it is fine because everyone lived happily ever after inside its stomach. Oh, there is another one about a couple. They have been in love for a long time. On the day of their wedding, the monster came to visit and swallow them! They too had their happily ever after inside its stomach.” Kedou recounted several similar tales, they featured the sudden appearance of the monster and the people it swallowed having a happy ending in its stomach.

When Gu Jun heard Wu Siyu’s retelling in the living room, his heart chilled… The so-called big sister was growing the seed of darkness inside Kedou’s mind.

“Kedou, have you ever since that big sister’s face before?” Wu Siyu asked, “Erm, I mean, has she ever taken off the smiling buddha mask?”

“Hmm? No, big sister said it’s more fun to keep it on.” Kedou giggled. “But she promised she’d take it off later tonight!”

…

After the investigation wrapped up at Lee Family, Captain Gao sent Gu Jun, Wu Siyu and the Lee Family to the Phecda safehouse. This incident shocked the people at headquarters. Elder Tong personally made the call to get more details from Gu Jun and Siyu. Other than proving that Gu Jun’s recent paranoia was not completely unfounded, the situation could not have been worse. After all, Kedou, their target this time, was only 5, but history showed that the R’yleh Cult was not above harming children. Both Deng Ximei and Gu Jun were perfect examples…

‘Gu Jun’s big sister? Is that another Spirit Child?’ But according to Deng Ximei, there was no such character. Due to the uniqueness of Gu Jun’s talent, the cultists wouldn’t have assigned any other Spirit Child to be his stepsister.

The Investigation Department was stumped. They had already checked Gu Jun’s family background when he first joined Phecda. They found nothing then and they found nothing now. Regardless, they tried their best. Even the recently formed The One unit from GOA joined in the investigation. But naturally Gu Jun was banned from participating in any of these…

On the next day, the preliminary investigation came up with nothing. Kedou’s condition was stable. They were unsure how the enemy appeared inside the child’s bedroom, it could be a mental connection or a type of spell. Since yesterday night, a gloom hung over Gu Jun. He was angry at the enemy but more at himself for being so helpless. His girlfriend’s cousin was being targeted by the enemy but he could do nothing but to wait for that suspicious signal to return.

What did the ‘small new year present’ mean? There should be more to this than that…

“Dirty-minded Jun, come, let’s leave this place.” Around 3 pm that afternoon, Wu Siyu came to visit Gu Jun. She pulled him towards the door. “I’ve reported this to the superior. We will continue with our holiday, in fact, I’ve already booked a suite with a great lake view.”

Gu Jun frowned. “At a time like this?”

“It’s Chinese Valentine’s today.” Wu Siyu looked at him and shrugged. “Yes, I’m going to take the initiative this time. The news said that the next time two Valentine’s overlaps will be in the year 2041. That’s 19 years later. Just imagine how old and weak we’ll be by then…”

Gu Jun studied her beautiful face, her twinkling eyes and his blood boiled. “Yes, we might be older then but I’m sure we’ll still be able to enjoy certain pleasure.” This time, it was he who dragged her along. “The bastards wanted us to worry, then we should do our best to enjoy this Valentine’s.”

“It’s only 3 pm now. It’ll take one hour to reach the hotel.” Wu Siyu commented. “If we move fast, we will have plenty of time.”

Gu Jun’s brows raised with interest. But he only replied with a mysterious smile. “Have you arranged for Captain Gao’s team to stay away from the hotel door?”

“Erm, I don’t think so.” Wu Siyu admitted, “Will that be necessary?”

“Well, it’s best if we do not disturb anyone, especially considering the plans that I have in mind.” Gu Jun answered wickedly.

The duo burst into giggles. They raced down the corridor and left the depressing base to head towards the outside world.

No one came to disturb them after they checked into their suite. One was 22, the other 21, there were plenty of activities to be done on such a special Valentine’s.