Plague Doctor - Chapter 120

Chapter 120: The Illusions

Throughout the test process, Xiao Sihui maintained a wall of silence. As the leader of the review group, he had more to consider.

“This kind of test might still be affected by the familiarity between the test subjects. After all, there are still too many things we do not know about ESP,” Xiao Sihui told Elder Tong seriously. “According to their profiles, they have both interacted with spells before and have experiences akin to casting one. We only need a little proof of the existence of these spells. After all, seeing is believing, right?”

Prof Shen at the side immediately chimed in. “Leader Xiao, we have not yet started the study of spells. Our main focus at this stage is to cultivate their mental power…”

“Spell… is not some kind of parlor trick…” Elder Tong’s voice was icy. “But it is their choice whether to showcase it or not.”

Soon, Gu Jun, Wu Siyu, and the eight Overseers were led out from their rooms.

‘Attempt a spell?’ Even though ESP had been proven, the Overseers still had their reservations about the presence of spells.

“Ah Jun,” Xiao Sihui said, “according to your latest mission report, you said you once used ‘your mental power to break through the shackles of the spell unleashed by the people from Lai Sheng Company’. The Demon Hunters have corroborated that statement. I am just wondering if you can show us that power here.”

“That was not a kind of spell.” Gu Jun suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart. While they were splitting hairs, there might be a new patient of Nightmare Illness out there. “If anything, it is more like a mental attack, like using ESP to overload the opponent with information, causing their brain function to spiral out of control.”

At the side, Elder Tong’s eyes quivered slightly. He tossed back the bottle of beer as if trying to wash away the memory that returned to him.

“I can try to show it to you, but I need someone who will volunteer to be attacked.” Gu Jun made it clear. “This might cause permanent mental damage or even physical damage. I will try my best to control it, but I need all the medics to be ready.”

For the volunteer and also for himself.

Without waiting for anyone else, Xiao Sihui nodded. “I am willing to volunteer. I’ve been meaning to witness this abnormal energy in play myself.”

“Okay then.” Gu Jun’s heart loosened. He understood that Leader Xiao was not trying to make this difficult for them; he was merely doing his job. That earned him some respect from Gu Jun. The medics moved into alert. To be fair, the whole room was filled with doctors, and they were inside a building crawling with them, so the review team did not think that this could bring any danger. They thought that Gu Jun was just tooting his own horn. But Xiao Xu, Elder Tong, and Prof Shen had blanched expressions. Prof Qin and Yao Sinian felt their hearts rise to their throat.

Gu Jun was as careful as he could be. He told Wu Siyu, “If I show any trace of losing control, use your power to bring me back.”

“Okay.” Wu Siyu nodded. “You sure this will work?”

“It should.” Gu Jun was banking on this last resort. “I suppose it will be like what I did with the people from Lai Sheng Company. You can interrupt me like how I interrupted them. But there is no telling what can happen, so if things get out of control, just try your best to shut me down.”

When everyone moved into place, under everyone’s scrutiny, Xiao Sihui listened to Gu Jun’s command and walked forward to stand two meters before him and look into his eyes. Gu Jun looked squarely at this middle-aged man. He steadied his breathing and told himself, ‘Even though you do not have that Carlot Scalpel, you are not the same person you were. Your mental power is much stronger, and you have a greater mastery of ESP. You know you can do this; you can handle this level of mental attack. Alright, time to do this. I will use the few incantations at the start of the Malformed Banyan Disease spell to shatter Leader Xiao’s suspicion. Just as Elder Tong said, as important as rationality is, only chaos and distortion can break through the shackles of established human thought.’

With these thoughts bouncing in his mind, human emotion slowly escaped from Gu Jun’s face.

Xiao Sihui was staring at him, and the rest were staring at the two of them. Suddenly, a strange language emerged from Gu Jun’s lips. Those who were in the know understood that as the foreign language!

Yao Sinian could even recognize it as the spell on the fifth page of the parchment provided by Gu Jun! Over the past month, before the advent of Nightmare Illness, the Scientific Research Department in the Eastern State had conducted endless research on the foreign language writing system and pronunciation provided by Gu Jun, so Yao Sinian was rather familiar with this long string of words. But just as Gu Jun claimed, no matter how they pronounced or wrote them, there was no reaction.

But now, the temperature in the lab suddenly dropped. Yao Sinian was covered in chills, and the people around him frowned deeply.

“Mutated seeds break through decayed mud like battle axes, disintegrating decay,” Gu Jun chanted slowly. The adjustment to grammatical structure and vernacular was all purely based on his instinct, but by the end of this first sentence, an agitation rose in his heart. An illusion appeared at the periphery of his vision, and the darkness in his heart was awakening. “Decay replaces fragrance, millions of descendants gathered around dirty blood…”

Xiao Sihui was given a direct view of the change in Gu Jun’s eyes. A tornado swept within them before turning into an abyssal whirlpool. The moment Xiao Sihui saw that whirlpool, he was yanked down by an invisible hand, and eerie illusions overwhelmed him.

Endless cadavers filled up a cramped stone room. The spiral staircase that led to the toil was covered in decaying flesh and blood… The rotting flesh was gyrating, writhing, moving, and boiling… It broke out from the mud and burst toward the top of the staircase. All kinds of madness was spreading around, covering the world with darkness.

Death, death, death… Ruin, ruin, ruin…

“Ah…” Xiao Sihui suddenly yelped in horror. He wanted to turn his head to avoid the ghastly sight, but he found that he was unable to move. It was already too late; he was deep inside the abyss already. The people from the review group were stunned by their leader’s reaction. Xiao Sihui’s facial muscles were twitching. His mouth opened, and a croaking voice escaped. He wanted to say something but could not. The Overseers quickly moved into action. Even though the chill affected them too, they had not lost their mobility.

At the same time, Elder Tong cried out hoarsely. “Ah Jun, that’s enough… Stop!”

Hearing the shout from Elder Tong, Gu Jun’s heart shook. He wanted to stop himself, but the power of darkness had taken over.

“Creature of worm and maggot…” His voice slowed down, but the chanting had not stopped. There was a struggle within it. “Breaking through the barrier…”

Xiao Sihui’s face was distorted. His body bent backward at an impossible angle. On the other side, Yao Sinian suddenly let loose a growl as his hands reached for his head.

“Siyu, go and pull Ah Jun back!” Elder Tong ordered urgently. “This has gone out of control!”

Prof Shen and the rest were worried, but there was nothing they could do but to physically pull back the Overseers who attempted to jump on Gu Jun. Wu Siyu instantly jumped into motion. Honestly, she did not know what to do. She tried to take Gu Jun’s earlier advice. She focused and called his name, giving him a lifeline. “Ah Jun, wake up! If you do, I will take you to a feast. Wake up now!”

Bodies, so many dead bodies…

Suddenly, the illusions assaulted her. Resisting the splitting headache, Wu Siyu shouted loudly, “Wake up!”

Gu Jun felt a force pulling him back from the edge of the precipice. He yanked at it, and the abyss sank away beneath him!

“Phew, phew…” The spell was broken. Blood drained from Gu Jun’s face. He panted heavily. His heart was still trying to suppress that agitating darkness, and that was just from the first few sentences of the spell. He had not even completed casting the whole spell…

This was due to the latent power in his body. If not for the past month’s training and Wu Siyu’s immediate help, the result might have been disastrous.

“Ah…” Xiao Sihui immediately crumpled to the ground. His convulsing face was filled with blankness as his spirit was finding its way home.

“I warned you all about the danger of spells!” Elder Tong scolded angrily, but he soon calmed down. “Otherwise, wouldn’t we have shown that to you all last month? Why the need to go through the special training? Why the ESP experiments? Activate, control, utilize—that is the process. First, activate it, then learn to control it, and only then one can utilize it! Rampant usage without the knowledge of how to control it will only bring tragedy to both the user and the target. Now do you get it, Ol Xiao?”

Xiao Sihui was helped into a chair by his people. He was still quite out of it. His breathing was too hard for him to speak. The people from the review group surrounded him. The question on their mind was… ‘What exactly had their leader seen that they did not?’