Plague Doctor

Chapter 376: Water Color

“Ah Jun? Ah Jun? Are you alright?” There were so many beauties but it was Uncle Dan who got to him first. Uncle Dan lifted Gu Jun into a seating position to inspect the wounds on his stomach and shoulder. “Thank God the wounds are not deep…” Gu Jun did not present a pretty picture. His whole body was covered in bruises, mud and leaves. Who knew what kind of torture he was put through?

“Everything went too smoothly for too long.” Wu Siyu held his arm and commented with regret, “We should have taken a closer care of you.” Deng Ximei studied him quietly, her eyes shining with concern.

“I’m fine…” Gu Jun allowed himself to be carried to the spot covered with surgical cloth. Uncle Dan and the other medical units like Sam Watt and Karina Sokolova came to address his wounds. They gave him a shot of morphine and then worked to cleanse, suture and bandage his wounds.

Then, he had Lou Xiaoning fill him in on what happened. His memory fragments were correct. 3 hours ago, he succumbed to madness after his interaction with Little Huili. As he raced out of the Psychology Building, he chanted an unknown spell to summon an abnormal large black bird and rode it into the sky. After Wang Ruoxiang at the Spell Department was given a look at the recording, she confirmed that the bird was not Byakee. The land’s travellers concurred that the summoned creature was not a nightgaunt as well.

The black bird flew exceptionally fast, but it was not fast enough to escape a missile. However, the command central did not order an attack due to the cargo it carried. Instead they used the satellite to trace its movement and discovered the bird eventually landed at the forest north of Eastern State. The One was immediately sent out on a rescue mission. When they arrived, Wu Siyu and Deng Ximei immediately picked up Gu Jun’s trail. The team soon found him and arrived at the nick of time.

Comparing notes, Gu Jun realized that he had arrived at the forest for quite some time already. He probably laid beside the pond for hours before he gained his consciousness. Or perhaps the witch needed these few hours to manifest her power at this place. And it was her power that blurred Gu Jun’s sense of time. As evidence, earlier, the sky through the foliage was dark and starless but now the warm sunlight streamed through.

“Hey, speaking of which, this has to be a supernatural incident, right?” Lou Xiaoning commented as her left eye gave Gu Jun a once-over, “So how come you didn’t seem to be affected by PTSD?” That observation inspired the rest. Their emotions took a roller-coaster ride. Gu Jun clearly appeared to have lost his mind earlier but now he had calmed down.

“He does feel quite different…” Wu Siyu said contemplatively as she used the antiseptic tissue to clean Gu Jun’s face. “Hmm, I can’t explain it well but I guess it’s a good thing?”

Wu Siyu was not a person who was normally at a loss of words. She often had a unique perspective regarding issues that would have stumped normal people. But now, even Siyu could not give an explanation to this situation. That went to show the complication of the situation.

“It’s hard to explain…” Gu Jun said. He chose not to reveal the mysterious signal. “But I believe that I have not lost my mind… That witch was a cultist and not my big sister. But she did not belong to the R’yleh Cult either. Her goal is to eat me and she worships an entity that has a thousand faces…” He shared the information that he had just obtained. The information was relayed back to the headquarters. Elder Tong was quite happy to hear that Gu Jun’s PTSD appeared to have recovered somewhat.

“Another cult?” However, Elder Tong was equally saddened by this news. Then again, it could not be said that he was surprised, these cults were like cockroaches.

“I’m not even sure there is a big organization behind this.” Gu Jun shared his own thought, “I feel like the single witch is the mastermind behind all these…” Gu Jun studied the black mud and the eerie oak trees around him. A spill crawled through his spine. ‘Is it over? Is the incident over? No, the witch has not officially ‘arrived’ at this world. We probably just managed to vanquish some of her invading shadows. But her shadows were already powerful enough to inflict 520 girls with Tourette Syndrome and kill 7 hospital staff…’

Gu Jun had no idea how she managed all that. He was sure the witch would return. Her parting words was, ‘I’ve already found you’. Was he something like a key, an anchor or a connection device? His presence attracted the witch from another dimension like a flower attracting the attention of bees…

While he percolated over these things, Deng Ximei and the rest picked up his backpack, the Carlot Instrument and Wu Siyu’s watercolor from the ground. Gu Jun’s heart quivered, the strange feeling returned. Perhaps due to the proximity of so many other people, the signal was weak… The crowd disturbed his ability to intercept the signal. ‘I have to get to the bottom of this signal. That appears to be what the witch is after. I have to find out what’s behind it before the witch returns… or I might not be so lucky next time.’

With that in mind, once Uncle Dan and the rest were done with the simple bandage and wanted to take him back to the base for a more detailed inspection, Gu Jun pulled himself up to grab his backpack. He then said, “Guys, I need to be away for a while. Please do not follow me. Trust me.”

Uncle Dan and Lou Xiaoning frowned.

“Let him go then.” Elder Tong’s voice crackled through the communicator. “Kid, you’re supposed to be on holiday. Sigh.”

“Then you have to be careful.” Wu Siyu noticed her watercolor Gu Jun was holding. ‘Is it because of the signal?’

“Sure.” Gu Jun nodded before he wobbled deeper into the forest. However, something just didn’t sit right with Wu Siyu. Seeing Gu Jun walk away, suddenly a flurry of anxiety arose within her. She was reminded of the sweetness and concern they shared on the night he first visited her family. Her body moved to catch up to him. “Dirty-minded Jun!”

Gu Jun halted and turned around to see his lover running towards him. He planted a kiss on her forehead and held her hands. “Just wait for me. I promise it won’t take long.” He then waved at Deng Ximei and the rest standing behind Wu Siyu. After one last look into Dirty-minded Yu’s eyes, Gu Jun turned to head into the forest. Trudging through the muddy ground, and occasionally scanning the watercolor, he tried to trace the direction of the mysterious signal.

…

He walked around trees, natural caves and ponds. He found himself getting closer to the source of the signal. The theme of the watercolor was the sky. Wu Siyu used brilliant colors and lines to evoke the transient clouds and nothingness. At that moment, the scenery in the painting started to move to form an indescribable ball of chaos…

“If you can hear us… We are innocent…” Gu Jun saw the split cross shining on the painting against. Suddenly, light burst through the painting and blinded his eyes.

‘What’s happening?’ His arms shook involuntarily. Gu Jun looked on with shock as his hands that held the painting started to disappear. To be more precise, his hands were reaching into the painting…’Is there a different dimension inside the painting? No, this painting, it is a channel that connects to a different dimension.’

“No, wait, the channel is not the painting but the symbol!” Gu Jun gasped as the reality hit him. The split cross burned with a vengeance and a force yanked him forward. The next moment, the man disappeared into the painting. The watercolor fluttered to the ground and the forest returned to its silence.