Plague Doctor

Chapter 91: Explosion

After Lou Xiaoning’s right eyeball was removed, her strange moaning stopped. Instead, a dullness came over her. The field of abnormal energy had disappeared, so the team could look at her now. Gu Jun continued the last step of closing the wounds in the eye socket; he was using catgut. Finally, he applied some antibiotics into the conjunctival sac and then stuffed it with cotton to make a pressure bandage over the single eye. Finally, the operation was officially over. Just as Gu Jun sighed in relief, the system pinged in his mind.

“You have participated in a successful two-star surgery, enucleation of an abnormal eye. Personal contribution: seventy-five percent, rank 1.

“Your mastery of Hands of Dexterity has increased by one thousand points. Your current level is level two (25,000/30,000 Mastery)

“Current quest accumulative contribution: 185 percent. Difficult quest completed!

“Quest reward waiting to be accepted: One Carlot Scalpel. Please click to receive your reward.”

Gu Jun had almost forgotten about the quest. Only then did he realize that he was still within the quest’s time limit. Even though he wanted to know what was so special about the scalpel, he could not retrieve it before the Demon Hunters. The mastery of Hands of Dexterity had increased probably due to the fact that was his first ocular enucleation, and he did it under the influence of some darker power. He then moved the foot that had crushed the eyeball. He first took a glance at it; the eyeball was now a mess on the ground. Crystalline liquid and blood splattered on the ground, but the maddening horror that it inspired had disappeared without a trace.

Xue Ba, Uncle Dan, and the rest saw this as well, but none of them said anything. After all, they had almost lost their minds earlier. Theoretically speaking, this kind of magical object that could trigger madness in others had extremely high research value, but considering their circumstances, what Gu Jun had done was the most correct choice.

“It was this stone path that stopped me from helping immediately,” Gu Jun admitted truthfully. “The feeling took over me, and it turned me against the rest of you by manipulating the bad blood that we had.”

“I believe you.” Xue Ba nodded sincerely. He had experienced the power of the eyeball himself. He knew what kind of strange effect it could have on one’s mind. The others nodded in agreement. After all, everyone had been victims of that illusion. Zhang Huohuo covered the thing on the ground with a cloth. Just as Gu Jun and Uncle Dan removed their gloves, Lou Xiaoning groaned with pain as if her soul had returned to her body.

“Ouch… F*ck.” Finally, a normal human yelp escaped from her mouth. She glanced at the straps on her and the team crowding around her. She chuckled bitterly. “You b*stards are here, so that can only mean I have not reached heaven. I’m still stuck in this godforsaken place…”

The team were tickled by her. Uncle Dan recounted the events earlier with as light of a tone as he could. Then, Xue Ba sked, “What did you see earlier?”

“I don’t know… I can’t explain it…” Lou Xiaoning’s face was twisted in pain. Her left right was colored with confusion. “There was a blast of white light and then dancing of shadows… Then I suddenly could not move like I was trapped inside a dream that I could not wake up from… It was all very surreal…”

Xue Ba nodded slightly and gave Yang Henan a look. ‘Watch over her. No one can tell what has changed within her, if anything.’

Most of the times, madness would not manifest itself physically. Lou Xiaoning was now also a target of close scrutiny.

“It’s okay. I know the rules,” Lou Xiaoning observed astutely. She did not struggle from the straps and sighed casually. “I need to rest anyway.”

In any case, they still needed to deal with the red door. This time, Xue Ba led Gu Jun and three marksmen down to the red door to inspect it again. Other than looking through the keyhole, Gu Jun studied everything. He touched everything within his grasp, even pulling down the two oil lamps, but nothing happened.

“Ah Jun, what do you think?” Xue Ba asked seriously. “Would you like to chance a glance through the hole?”

He was not joking. After all, Gu Jun had been proven to be different from them. They would go mad from looking through the keyhole, but Gu Jun might trigger some mechanism. Of course, this was not an order. He was merely asking for Gu Jun’s opinion, or more specifically, asking him for any inspiration.

“Definitely not!” Gu Jun replied without hesitation. He did not hide his thoughts anymore. “Guys, I am a movie buff, and in most horror movies, doing something like that is no different from asking for death. Most often, the correct solution is to turn around and walk away.”

Xue Ba and Gao Mingpeng were stunned. ‘What does this have to do with any movies?’

Zhou Yi glanced at Captain Xue. It seemed their team had gained another member who would launch into nonsensical non-sequitur.

“But since our exit has been blocked, the only way is forward. Blow it down.” Gu Jun studied the red door that was 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall. “We’ll use C4 to blow it down.”

The group was both intrigued and apprehensive. The suggestion provided was irrevocable.

“What if that is exactly what the enemy wants us to do?” Xue Ba’s face was lined with creases from all the thinking. “To get us to release the thing from behind the door?”

“If that is their goal, I believe Lai Sheng Company has more than enough of their own explosion to do so,” Gu Jun said seriously. “Furthermore, I think I have an idea of what their goal is now, Captain Xue. The red door is not as important as it appears. Their goal is to sow the seed of fear and suspicion within us.”

His eyes swept over everyone there.

“Along the way, we have encountered so many sudden incidents, and that caused us to be more cautious. To be frank, it also meant our S Value has dipped. They want us to lose our mind. These negative emotions will also feed the stone path. I am not so sure about their final goal, but I believe…” Gu Jun paused for a moment. “They want to transform me into a different person. The reason probably has something to do with the fact that I was once a Spirit Child. That is the other reason I refuse to look through the keyhole. I do not think the enemy is after my life but my soul, and looking through the door will be no different from handing them the victory.”

Gu Jun spoke with utter severity. Maturity and trustworthiness that did not befit his age colored his face. His words sounded persuasive from both his tone and the content of his words.

“Hmm…” Xue Ba nodded slightly. If they continued to waste time like this, the declining supplies and the increase in number of injured members would gradually hack away at their mental defense. That was especially so when they had Gu Jun in their midst, a person that came from a sensitive background. During the next tragedy, the team might collapse. Then, the group would turn their fear and resentment on Gu Jun. Even he would not be able to stop the chaos then; it would be a horrifying situation. A man without his sense was no different from a beast, and that was probably what the enemy wished to see.

“Get the explosives ready.” Xue Ba had made the decision. He straightened up. Time was ticking. “Blow a path open.”

Gu Jun nodded with excitement, his eyes blazing. He could not wait to see this door being blasted into smithereens. “They might have spells, but we have explosives.”

Since the team captain had made the decision, the members moved to oblige. The only objection came from Lou Xiaoning, who wanted to set up the bomb herself, but she was ultimately left strapped to the stretcher. The Demon Hunters moved into action. Zhou Yi and a few others went to grab the one of three remaining remote detonator and one kilo of C4. They attached it to the red door. The two oil lamps had already been removed by Gu Jun earlier.

The teams cooperated to move Lin Mo and Lou Xiaoning over a hundred meters back from the bottom step. The sight of the red door was blocked by the sloping stone ceiling. With the range of the explosion they employed, their current position should be safe enough.

“Everyone, ready.” Xue Ba held the denotator and informed the rest. The assault team led by Zhou Yi guarded at the front. Their eyes were trained forward, their guns pointed ahead. Once the explosion faded away, they would storm into the room while Yang Henan and the rest provided cover. Xue Ba started the countdown.

“Three, two…”

At that moment, everyone was as serious they had ever been. Gu Jun stood in the middle of the group. His lips curled into a derisive smile. ‘Whispers, red door, let’s see how you fare against an explosion.’

“One!” Xue Ba pressed on the detonator.

Following a loud boom, the team felt the whole stone tunnel shake. The air appeared to have stilled. Ahead came the sound of something crumbling. It echoed for a long time. The explosion was huge.

“Charge!” Xue Ba picked up the rifle and personally led the assault team to storm into the room. Their eyes were blazing with fire no weaker than the one from the explosion.

When they rushed down the steps, they saw it was already a mess around the ten thousandth step. Some of the stone walls had collapsed, and the red door had disappeared, leaving behind some broken red wooden chips on the ruined ground.

‘They have spells, but we have explosives.’