Plague Doctor - Chapter 112

Chapter 112: Ganzfeld Experiment

Early the next morning, Gu Jun started his training with Wu Siyu and Xiao Yu. There were three main programs to their training. First was their personal skill, with the least amount of training. Second was survival training. This was a common training program for members of the Special Mobile Force. It included training for stamina, fighting, utilization of firearms, and so on. They were basically training as special agents, but the degree to which they were trained was different. After all, Xiao Xu was only ten. It was impossible to have him run for 10,000 meters with the two adults. To be fair though, Gu Jun did not run the 10,000 meters either because he was wearing the protective gear. That added to his extra weight, and he still had that brain stem tumor to worry about, so he was given lighter training. The brunt of the training fell on poor Wu Siyu. The only girl in their team had the toughest training.

In the morning, they were given not only stamina training but also classes on how to manage a team. Since the three of them were either the team leader or vice leaders, they were required to attend this class together. The class was mostly about how to manage subordinates, how to observe the changes in their S values, and how to deal with changes. Their curriculum was unusual in the sense that they not only had to learn about normal team management, they had to learn specifically how to manage a team like the Problematic Team. Their teacher was… Elder Tong.

Elder Tong had been the team leader for the Phoenix team. He used to manage more than one hundred people. He was also the last leader of this team, so he was more than qualified to mentor them.

“The S Value is a very complicated thing.” Elder Tong was very serious on the podium. He did not look as drunk as he usually was. “A low value does not necessarily mean that a person has gone mad. They have merely been given more information than they can normally handle. Only by digesting and identifying that information can you deal with the solution. So, do not be afraid when a member’s S value drops. What you need to focus on instead is how to stabilize them and how to put yourself in their perspective.”

Listening to Elder Tong’s lecture, Gu Jun silently sighed in relief. It seemed like this was not a set-up; the whole thing was real. None of them had leadership training before, but that should change after this. In the afternoon, they had firearm and vehicle training. Gu Jun had learned some marksmanship from Xue Ba’s team before, but he was now going through systematic training. He was getting to know things like the different types of guns and their ammo, their bullet caliber and force, shooting techniques, and so on.

At the shooting ground that was rolling with sand, Gu Jun practiced the use of different guns in his protective gear. The gunshots rang incessantly. Wu Siyu had her training not far away from him, but she whispered to Gu Jun, “You think I’m focusing on the gun, but actually, I’m enjoying a steamboat.”

Even though Xiao Xu was just a child, he had to train as well. However, his body was too awkward to have high accuracy. It would probably be much easier for him to calculate other people’s accuracy based on the type of gun used, the wind direction, draft, and so on.

At night, the three had to complete the third special training. It was the ‘activate, control, utilize’ mentioned by Elder Tong.

Gu Jun and Wu Siyu’s training was different from Xiao Xu. The two were led by workers to the medical experiment building that was a few dozen stories high at the base. Inside a lab on the ninth floor, they encountered Elder Tong. The old man was already drunk, his face flushed from the alcohol.

This was a lab that did not look like one. It was separated into an inner room and outer room. Gu Jun could not recognize most of the strange devices in the room, other than the computer, CAT scanner, and heart monitor. The scientists were all dressed in white lab coats. They were the Psychiatrists and Scientific Research Department members stationed at the base. Their leader was someone called Shen Yi. He was an old age about the same age as Elder Tong, but that was where their similarities ended. Shen Yi was gentle and polite; he probably had not touched a cigarette or glass of alcohol in his life. He was an expert in psychology and parapsychology. People referred to him as Prof Shen. Prof Shen was an expert whom Elder Tong had invited from the headquarters. They used to be old partners and had gone through many things together.

“Ol Shen will be helping me to cultivate your ESP,” Elder Tong said as he patted his old partner on his shoulder. His drunken face appeared to be lined with lamentation.

“I’ve read your records. You two have immense talent.” Prof Shen shook hands with Gu Jun and Wu Siyu. His eyes under the rimless glasses were not that obvious, but he looked at the two greedily.

“Have you heard of the Ganzfeld Experiment before?” Elder Tong asked the two as he reached for the bottle. “Ganzfeld is a German word. It means entire field. This is the most common experiment used in ESP. It is used to prove the existence of ESP.”

Gu Jun shook his head. He had been given lessons on formal psychology and psychiatry. There were no classes on parapsychology.

ESP, also known was the sixth sense, was a field of study in parapsychology.

“What is it?” Wu Siyu had no idea either.

“Well, you’re going to find out.” Elder Tong did not explain much. He told the lab members, “First, Gu Jun will be transmitter, and Wu Siyu will be the receiver.”

While the two were confused, Wu Siyu was led by the members into the small inner room. Through the glass, one could see that she was taken to lie on a couch in the middle of the room. The lab used a ping pong ball that was cut in half to cover her eyes and secured them with medical tape. She was equipped with devices like a brain wave regulator and a pair of headphones. The members switched on a red light inside the room, and then they retreated out of the room and closed the door.

“Hmm…” Wu Siyu appeared to be uncomfortable. She was originally lying still, but now she appeared like she could not help herself from tossing.

“White noise is now being played in the headphones,” Prof Shen explained to Gu Jun. “The frequency of the white noise is consistent, but because human ears are sensitive to high frequency sounds, it all sounds like static to us. In any case, the purpose of this is to eclipse her senses. The goal of experiment is for you to randomly pull out a picture from the selection of four, and then use your mind to transmit that image to her.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Gu Jun was befuddled.

“Think about Wu Siyu in your heart. Use your consciousness and spirit to bring this image before her eyes. And then, we will have her select the possible image that she saw from a set of pictures. We will first have five sets of tests.”

Once Prof Shen said that, Elder Tong burped. “Based on probability, the accuracy of this experiment should be around twenty-five percent, but over the years, in experiments around the world, there have been records of thirty-two percent accuracy; in Phecda, we used to score a thirty-five percent accuracy average. Do you know how abnormal that is?”

Gu Jun understood it immediately. If there was no influence of ESP, then the number would not be so variant from the average. After all, this was not a small sample size but tens of thousands. If the transmitter and receiver were two strangers, then the result in Phecda would appear even stranger…

Gu Jun’s interest was piqued. Actually, he had seen the power of non-verbal psycho-activity before. He had experienced it personally when he triggered the spell on the giant stone inside the abnormal space. He did not suspect the presence of energy in brain waves or other form of consciousness, but he questioned whether he could form such an ESP bond with Wu Siyu.

“Both of you have unusual talent in this.” Elder Tong’s eyes were dancing with excitement. “Let’s see how high you can score.”

Gu Jun was forcibly removed from his protective gear by the lab members. Now, he had no idea why he had worn it the whole day. It was quite the burden… Elder Tong must have played a prank on him.

He was asked to sit on the couch in the outer room and was equipped with the testing devices. There was a monitor placed before him. It showed four random pictures. The top left was the forest, top right the sea, bottom left an apple, and bottom right a dog. The ganzfeld experiment at its early stages faced the problem in the lack of random pictures for its picture bank, but that could be easily solved now with advancement in technology.

“Let’s start now,” Elder Tong shouted.

“Okay.” Gu Jun reached for the mouse and clicked on the store. Then he stared at the verdant picture on the screen and tried to relax. He pictured Wu Siyu’s sight and voice in his mind, and then he quietly chanted, “Wu Siyu, listen to my voice. It’s the picture of the forest, forest, forest…”

At the same time, Wu Siyu was lying motionlessly inside the inner room. It was unclear what was going through her mind and whether she received any transmission or not. Even though the lab members were also observing, they stood quite far away lest they interrupted Gu Jun.

“Elder Tong.” Prof Shen mumbled to his old partner. “After so many years, the day has finally come.”

“If the result is over forty-five percent,” Elder Tong said, looking at Gu Jun with melancholy, “it will prove we were right all along.”