Plague Doctor
chapter-65

The next morning, the weather bade farewell to the continuous rainy days that had arrived at the advent of autumn. Instead, the sun came up bright that day. Gu Jun, Cai Zixuan, and the batch of interns congregated in a small conference room inside the training center. After the assessment of their S values, which was actually a small psychotherapy session as well as a half a day and a full night of rest, everyone appeared much better. It was still Brother Qiang who guided them, and even Brother Qiang looked more spirited. According to the grapevine, his wife had gone off on a case yesterday. This was probably the rest of the husband being spared from his wife’s grumbling complaints.

“These are the results of your S value assessments.” Zhou Jiaqiang handed them stack after stack of documents. Different from the personality test reports, the interns were allowed to know their S values, like blood pressure. If the S value was too low, it needed to be adjusted. The group held their results, and before they could read them, Brother Qiang skipped to the results with a big smile. “Everyone has passed! Congratulations, everyone is very normal.”

The celebrations began immediately. They all opened their reports and shared their own assessed values. Jiang Banxia, Ma Jiahua, Yang Ming, and Cheng Yifeng scored ninety-five; Zhou Yi got ninety-seven, and Cai Zixuan got the temporary highest score of ninety-nine. Of the three that was sent to the surgical floor to help, Sun Yuheng scored ninety-two, and Wang Ruoxiang got ninety. Zhou Jiaqiang smiled and watched them chat among themselves. Since one’s S value was part of personal privacy, it was the individual’s decision to share it with others. Of course, only these newbies would do something like that. After they stayed long enough in Phecda, they would naturally understand that S value was not a good conversation topic. In fact, there were rules in place to forbid one from asking others about their S value unless the other person was willing to share it on their own. This was something that he needed to warn them about later.

Now only Gu Jun’s S value remained a mystery. The rest all turned to him with curiosity. Would he surprise them again with a perfect score of one hundred?

Gu Jun studied the report in his hand and saw the mark of seventy-five on it. Other than that, there was some other detailed data that he could not understand. After all, he had not received S value assessment training before. In any case, the comments that Sister Liang left on his report must definitely be incomplete because there was no mention of ‘abnormal memory’ at all. Her comment read, “The subject is under great mental pressure and is required to attend group therapy every fortnight. Other than that, it is suggested that the subject is assigned to more group activities to expand his social circles and build more sturdy emotional bonds.”

Great mental pressure? If only things were that simple.

“Seventy-five.” Gu Jun waved the report in his hand and satisfied the others’ curiosity. The atmosphere in the room chilled instantly, and the laughter froze in the air. That was a low mark, much lower than anyone else’s. Brother Qiang had said that one would fail if their S value was lower than seventy. Everyone else’s value was over ninety, but Gu Jun, who was a genius at everything else, only scored a measly seventy-five. This child sure was carrying a lot of ideological baggage.

“Tycoon Jun.” Cai Zixuan’s concerned voice shattered the silence. “What kind of soup would you prefer later? I will cook something for you.”

“What kind of scenario were you presented with?” Wang Ruoxiang asked. “Have you lost all of your money?”

She purposely chided him.

“Nothing so special. I’m sure it was not so different from everyone else’s.” Gu Jun shook his head with a smile. The others’ concerned gazes on him warmed him like the sun. They glowed around his heart. Sister Liang obviously knew about the shattered relationship that he had with his parents, and that was why she suggested that he expand his social circle and strengthen his social bonds, but actually, being surrounded by these fellow members was already good enough for him. Suddenly, something hit him, and Gu Jun’s heart squeezed. Perhaps Carlot Academy was once as rowdy as the place before him...

“I’m sure it’s fine. Ah Jun is just under some stress.” Zhou Jiaqiang did not allow them to linger on this topic. After all, the organization had their own plans for Gu Jun. “Anyway, come and sign these contracts.”

Brother Qiang handed them the contract. Even though it was just going through the motions, he still requested that they go through the clauses closely before they dropped their signature. Then again, would the contract really be binding considering that they would be working for the country’s secret organization? Regardless, they listened to Brother Qiang’s advice and went through the contract silently page by page. Gu Jun studied it to the utmost detail. As he expected, the clause with regards to possible injuries at work and mental stress went very in dept. The overall meaning was, “Party B has worked hard for the country, and the Medical Department of Phecda is sad that it has come to this end as well, but we warned you about the risks involved.” Still, the compensation fee was incredibly high...

When the group signed the contract, Zhou Jiaqiang collected them all and walked out of the conference room, seemingly to hand the contracts over to other employees. When Brother Qiang returned, he no longer had the contracts but instead came back with the phones that were confiscated a month ago and brand-new work IDs that belonged to them.

“Okay, from today onward, all of you are officially Grade G Members of Phecda! You will have access corresponding to a Grade G member. I have not officially introduced this to you, but the membership levels at Phecda range from Grade A to Grade G and then intern. I am a Grade F member, just one grade higher than all of you.” Brother Qiang scratched his face that was filled with pimple scars and sighed laughingly. “I have worked here for decades, but I am just a Grade F member, so I hope none of you will follow in my footsteps.”

The conference room was filled with laughter. At that moment, be it a clinical group or miscellaneous group, everyone was filled with a sense of confidence and passion. This atmosphere inspired Cai Zixuan to get into a poetic mode, and he recited, “Young we were, schoolmates, at life’s full flowering; Filled with student enthusiasm, boldly we cast all restraints aside.”

That only got them to laugh even harder. The weight lifted off Gu Jun’s shoulders. Why would he need group therapy? Zixuan was a walking stress reliever.

After having their laugh, Zhou Jiaqiang had everyone settle down. “Now I will introduce the layout of Phecda to you. This will be the last lecture I give you. Later in the day, there will be an ice-breaking session for new members of each department. It is your choice to join it or not, but I personally suggest you all attend it. It is only good for you to broaden your social circle. Oh, Ah Jun, you have to go and participate to help relieve your stress.”

“Okay.” Gu Jun nodded. It looked like things had been slowing down recently, or else they would not have time for ice-breaking. But for some reason, he still felt unsettled. There had to be a reason the Afterlife Cult chose this moment to come back into the spotlight.

“Brother Qiang, I wish to go as well.”

“Me too.”

They were all youngsters. Of course, they would not miss out on the fun. By then, Zhou Jiaqiang had already switched on the hanging screen in the room and started to broadcast the internal promotional video. A light background music drifted through the room. Other than Gu Jun and Wang Ruoxiang, everyone else was having fun. Even though the promos were rather cliched, it was understood that was never the government’s strong point.

“There are about thirty departments in total within Phecda,” Zhou Jiaqiang explained as he clicked on the remote. “There is no difference in standing between departments; they simply have different responsibilities. Our medical department is one of the bigger departments, responsible for curing and saving patients; you have already come into contact with the review department as well, responsible for the various assessments, reviews, and examinations.”

The group listened carefully, especially Gu Jun. Ever since he joined Phecda, he had been trying to find out about this. Finally, one puzzle was solved.

“The review department is in turn reviewed by the psychology group of our Medical Department and the Investigation Department, because the reviewers need to be reviewed themselves. The Investigation Department is another big department.”

Zhou Jiaqiang pressed on the remote, and the image on the screen changed. The picture that appeared showed members in black uniforms. The men looked tough and the women handsome; they looked like quintessential police. Then Brother Qiang said, “The Investigation Department is basically our law enforcement, and they have many different investigation groups like an external investigation group, internal investigation group, and abnormal energy investigation group...”

Abnormal Energy Investigation Group? That piqued Gu Jun’s interest immediately. What did he mean by ‘abnormal energy’?

Right then, Senior Ma helped him as well as everyone else by voicing that question. “Brother Qiang, what is this abnormal energy?”