Plague Doctor

Chapter 68: Ice Breaking

“Mobile phone?” Lee Yuerui asked in confusion. “The one I had in the submarine? When we got into the helicopter, Xiaotang accidentally dropped it into the sea. I have not seen it since.”

Something weighed down on Gu Jun immediately, and his brows creased. But this caused Lin Xiaotang’s lips to curl into a smile. “You are truly one iron block. Do you believe everything people tell you?”

Lee Yuerui and Wu Dong quickly asked for clarification, but Gu Jun though sighed in relief. This girl…

“Did you think we could keep the phone to ourselves after we reached Maldives and the people from Phecda came for us?” Lin Xiaotang asked her two companions. As it turned out, she had already come up with the plan when they were still on the cruise ship. She would mail the phone to Gu Jun as soon as they landed in the Maldives. She said, “If we can keep it, then it’s good, but if we can’t, then it will be Gu Jun’s problem anyway.”

Gu Jun understood the meaningful gaze that Lin Xiaotang had shot him that day when they parted. She was going to play a prank on him.

“So, did we create a problem for you?” Lin Xiaotang asked as if she was not the mastermind behind this.

“No,” Gu Jun said. In fact, they had inadvertently helped him, but he did not go into detail. He did not want to encourage someone like Lin Xiaotang. Currently, he had too many things on his plate to juggle. He did not have the time or interest to play with a little girl at her rebellious age.

“Oh?” Lin Xiaotang sounded rather disappointed. Gu Jun was not summoned by the people from the Investigation Department? It looked like she was too understated with her actions.

“So, where is the phone now?” Lee Yuerui was simply overjoyed. “There are so many memorable pictures that I want inside it.”

“It’s broken and can’t be switched on anymore. I have already handed it over to the members of the Investigation Department.” Gu Jun turned to look at Lin Xiaotang. “Mind you, the Investigation Department knows everything, so you’d better be careful.”

Lin Xiaotang was stumped, and the ire from being found out rose in her heart…

“How did you guys end up joining Phecda anyway?” This question from Gu Jun led Lee Yuerui to launch into a long story.

Due to their family background, they had always known about the existence of Phecda. In fact, Lee Yuerui’s big brother was a member of the Public Relations Department. It was through his brother that he heard about the story at Longkan, and that was the reason behind their excursion to the Longkan Submarine Volcanic Belt. After the three were brought back from the Maldives, since they had already touched upon confidential issues and Phecda was at the time hiring, one thing led to another, and there they were. Even though they were not incredibly talented, the three of them definitely knew how to party, so that led them to join the internship for the Recreation Department. After a month of training, they had officially become G Grade Members. However, Lin Xiaotang had registered for other courses at the Training Department. After all, she did not plan to stay in the Recreation Department forever.

“I feel fine just staying at the Recreation Department,” Lee Yuerui said with surprising pride. “This place suits me the most.”

As if finding his kindred spirit, the muscles on Wu Dong’s face quivered with emotion. “Yes, I can only stay at Recreation Department, and I am glad for that.”

Ever since they had seen some pictures of the Malformed Banyan Disease, not even the real thing, they had vomited their stomachs out, and at that time, they had known where they were meant to be.

“Okay then.” What else could Gu Jun say? It was one thing for Lee Yuerui, but with Wu Dong’s physique, he was meant for the Action Department, although he was not surprised by the ambition shown by Lin Xiaotang.

While they chatted, the ballroom filled up, they were the brightest young stars from the East State. Gu Jun did not need to do anything before he was surrounded by people. There were people from the Investigation Department, Scientific Research Department, and Action Department. They all came voluntarily to get to know him. Whether this was related to Sister Liang’s intervention or not, broadening his social circle was what he wanted, so Gu Jun treated them well and made acquaintances of all of them.

“Gu Jun, you have already become ‘the other kid’ for the trainers in our Action Department. When we lack in performance, you’re the one the trainers compare us to.”

“It’s the same with us in the Investigation Department. The teacher told us there was an intern from the Medical Department who had already become a second assistant in the surgical room named Gu Jun. That definitely lit a fire under our asses.”

“Looks like all the teachers have matched their scripts. Our teachers said the same thing in the Scientific Research Department.”

Listening to the people’s admiration-filled jabs, Gu Jun only knew that was a thing. He even heard through the grapevine that he had already been selected as the reserve to join the Special Mobile Force. On the other hand, Lee Yuerui, Wu Dong, and Lin Xiaotang were pushed by the crowd to the outer fringe. Even if they shouted, no one gave them any thought. Although the three of them came from a powerful background, and they would be in the spotlight in a normal setting, no one would care about them here. After all, the Recreation Department was unique in its own way. Even the most common auntie could hold a powerful post—provided enough Phecda members liked to have a motherly presence around.

“Jesus Christ, the man sure is popular.” Wu Dong’s eyes widened. Gu Jun was surrounded by at least three layers of people, and the crowd was only getting bigger! Wu Dong puffed his cheeks and told his buddies, “When I saw Doctor Gu that first day on the deck, I knew he was meant for great things, or else I would have beaten him to a pulp them.”

“Yeah right…” Lin Xiaotang grumbled with a pout. Internally, she swore that she would have to rise from the Recreation Department soon.

Lee Yuerui saw the opportunity at hand. After all, he was an expert at interpersonal relationships. He went to grab a tray of drinks and mixed into the crowd, saying, “Drinks, anyone interested in a drink?”

Once he mixed in, he said with a chuckle, “I, Lee Yuerui, have known Ah Jun for a long time already. Indeed, you can call us old friends, haha. By the way, have I told you about the incident that happened at the Longkan Volcanic Belt with me and Ah Jun? You have to be at least a G-Grade member to know about this. Oh, the memories…”

He started to paint the picture again. It drew in the attention of the people from different departments, especially the ladies, who chimed in once in a while. But Gu Jun was rather apprehensive of this. Certain things were only meant for private knowledge. News was like a disease; the more it spread, the harder it was to predict how it would become. Seeing Lee Yuerui’s lips that could not close, Gu Jun scrolled over the various sutures in his mind before finally deciding on the simplest continuous suture. It was the quickest after all.

…

The ice-breaking party at the five-star hotel lasted from noon until night. Everyone grabbed hold of this precious downtime and had their fun. There was only one ice-breaking party after all, and for all they know, they would be tossed into endless high-stress work the next day again. The party ended way after midnight. Gu Jun’s group took the van that they came in back to the Medical Department’s base. That night, Gu Jun had a nice sleep in the dormitory. Even though there were still many mysteries, it was a consolation to reunite with Lee Yuerui and his friends.

The next day, the refreshed group was assigned to their official posts. They all became intern doctors. Gu Jun, Wang Ruoxiang, Cai Zixuan, and Sun Yuheng were to report to the Surgical Floor to help, and Gu Jun had to draw out some time to continue some other training.

It was coming to the end of September. School had already started for Eastern University, and they were still students there, at least on paper. In reality, however, they were all on unlimited study leave. Gu Jun was still assigned to the orthopedic unit led by Zhu Ruiwen and continued his role as the second assistant. When he was free, he would be called to the other surgical rooms to help. After the last batch of Malformed Banyan Disease patients, there was no sign of new victims. However, the Surgical Floor was not only open to the victims of the Malformed Banyan Disease. On the last day of December, there were fifty-six members from the Action Department who were helicoptered in for emergency treatment.

Gu Jun saw at the busy corridors in shock that most of the members were already confused or sedated. All of them suffered from serious external wounds. Some had broken limbs, others had their stomach festered into a mess, and the most severe cases came with half of their bodies missing.

These were not wounds suffered in a gunfight; this appeared more like the result of a frontal confrontation with a savage beast. The problem was most of the Action Department members were equipped with heavy artillery. Not one or two people were heavily injured but fifty-six. In that case, how many had died at the scene?

When Gu Jun rushed to the consultation office of the surgical room. The atmosphere there was heavy. This time, everyone in the surgical room would be their colleagues.

Zeng Yizhu and Lee Hwalong were looking through the information of the victims. Seeing him walk into the room, Surgeon Zhu handed him a stack of documents from the table. “The members were all ambushed by the same kind of abnormal creature. There is a distinctiveness to their wounds. Ah Jun, you’d better look over the information first.”

“Okay.” Gu Jun accepted the files. Abnormal creature? Was it that kind of ‘monster’?