Plague Doctor
chapter-250

Translator: Lonelytree

Bloody Lung Disease, Mutated Scale Disease, Petrification Disease. Not long after his return from the Dreamlands, Gu Jun warned Phecda of these three diseases using the name of Atal. Due to the many outbreaks of legionella pneumonia over the globe, he suggested Phecda to start a disease control team which would specifically monitor the national reporting of legionella pneumomia. Heeding Gu Jun’s warning, Phecda communicated with the national disease control centre multiple times but the inevitable still happened.

The lab at the outbreak source just came out with the PCR result, the bacteria was legionella pneumophilia and it was identified as a new strain. Serology test and bacterial culture result needed some more time but the prospect was not good. After Gu Jun received Elder Tong’s call, the group ended their holiday and headed back to the Spell Department. By then San Hai City was officially on lockdown. However in the past 24 hours, many suspected pathogen carriers would have travelled to other cities already. Since the manga con did not require ID to enter, there was no way of telling who had attended the con. Furthermore, that was merely the confirmed activity of one patient, Shen Haoxuan. What about the other 35 passengers on the bus with him?

This kind of investigation work could not be done by a single person or organization. Now Phecda, disease control centre and other national departments were working overtime to triangulate and identify every pathogen carrier through information collecting and surveillance. They were fighting against time to isolate these people. Other preventive measures were taken as well. Necessary lockdown was in place should other cities show signs of outbreak. This placed a giant strain on every government department, especially the ones with limited manpower. Take for example San Hai City, the local manpower alone was barely enough to enact the ordered measures.

“Elder Tong, we have to opt for the most stringent disease control measure.” Gu Jun was unwilling to suggest that but considering the severity of the situation, he needed to make himself clear. “The bloody lung disease is more than capable of wiping out an entire civilization...” Fear was sometimes the best motivator. The staff working at Jiang Xin Hospital were all infected, so did the other patients at the hospital. Among the disease control centre members who were sent there, the leader He Feng already showed early symptoms even though he wore grade 3 protective gear. According to the land’s travellers’ story, humanity eventually retreated to the City of Kindle at the south pole and in the end only 10000 people managed the migration to Dreamlands.

Was Bloody Lung Disease haemoptysis...? No, this was not haemoptysis, but it might be a precursor to it. At least it showed that some organization was experimenting with the creation of haemoptysis. To Gu Jun’s knowledge, the International Supernatural Alliance had not been built but Bloody Lung Disease had already appeared... the future had changed, the timeline described in the land’s travellers’ legacy was no longer useful...

Gu Jun had many questions but there was no time for him to sit down to chew over them. That afternoon, after they returned to the Spell Department, Gu Jun, Uncle Dan, Lou Xiaoning, and the land’s travellers wrote down their will before they departed towards San Hai City. They were accompanied by a larger team sent from the headquarters. Wu Siyu, Cai Zixuan and the rest were requested to stay back at the base for precaution because no one knew where the epidemic might strike next.

The Problematic Team’s mission was not only to investigate the possibility of supernatural influence but also to test to see if the Ancient Seal technology worked on the patient’s treatment. Gu Jun had little hope about that, he knew the Ancient Seal did not have that kind of power, but since the headquarters wanted to give it a try, he could only hope that he was wrong.

By 2 pm of the same day, Jiang Xin Hospital surpassed 500 cases. Other hospitals at San Hai City had reported similar cases. Due to its quick spread, this incident could not be dealt from the dark like the Malformed Banyan Disease and Nightmare Illness. Therefore, the public was notified, put on lockdown and evacuated. To be fair, in this process there was no weak link. From Huang Lin’s alertness, to the disease control centre’s quick response, and the combined epidemic control efforts of the many government departments, everyone had worked hard to keep the damage to the minimum. If Doctor Huang Lin failed to report the situation on time, or if the disease control centre had ignored her report, or if the leading expert, He Feng did not treat this seriously... Things might be 10 times worse than it was.

This legionella pneumophilia strain was simply too powerful. Despite their best effort, there were over 3000 recorded cases already and the number was still climbing. Perhaps the next day they would wake up to 30000 cases or even more...

On the plane heading towards the military base closest to San Hai City, everyone was silent. Before the plane landed, everyone put on the custom-made full body protection airtight suit. It came with an oxygen tank so that they would not come into contact with the air of the city.

In the car leaving the military base, Gu Jun watched outside the window as his heart grew heavy. The city was turned upside down due to this sudden outbreak. As they approached Jiang Xin Municipal, he heard the city-wide broadcast echoing in the air, “Please return home immediately. Please do not panic. Please wait for evacuation notice and arrangement. Please return home immediately...”

When they officially entered Jiang Xin Municipal, it was already late afternoon. Gu Jun was hit by a strange feeling. It was something akin to déjà vu, he felt like he had been to this place before even though he was sure that he had not. He stared at the empty streets...

Suddenly he saw a banyan tree by the roadside and then another rolled past the car window. This small town had many banyan trees.

‘Is it because of the banyan trees?’ Gu Jun thought to himself when the car passed a seaside highway and then it hit him. He frowned as he pulled out a black and white picture in his mind: in front of a large and twisted banyan tree by the seaside, several people in olbo either stood or sat in rows. There were male and female but they all had the same wilted face. The Afterlife Cult. ‘This picture was taken here...’ Gu Jun made that confirmation and then a ball of fire started to burn within him. This couldn’t be a coincidence, the Afterlife Cult must be behind this epidemic.

Gu Jun instantly ordered for a change of the route. He was in a different car from the rest who was heading towards the hospital. He asked the driver who was a local, “Is there a big banyan tree that grows by the seaside here?”

“You mean the one by the lighthouse?” The driver replied, “That tree is our city’s landmark.”

‘Lighthouse?’ Gu Jun ordered the driver to make that their destination. Inside the car with him were Peacock, Aquamarine, and Gold. Soon the old banyan tree came into their view. It was practically similar to the one in the picture albeit with some added age to it. A narrow pebbled path winded out from behind the tree, and a 4 story tall white-walled lighthouse stood at the end of the path. The light at the top of the building winked weakly.

The alarm for city-wide lockdown rang then. It collided with the crash of the waves against the shore. Even through the protective suit, Gu Jun could smell the blood carried on the sea breeze. Gu Jun took a deep breath, shouldered the oxygen tank, readied his automatic rifle and led the way down the pebbled path towards the lighthouse.