Plague Doctor - Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Storm

Figures trapped in a haze of somnambulance walked out from the withered forest, many of them were dressed in doctor’s coats. They stepped onto the decayed soil and slowly shuffled their way forward. When Gu Jun saw these familiar faces, his heart sank. ‘Are these parts of the illusion?’ The risk was too high for him to find out.

“Siyu, we have to go and wake them up!” This should be their first time entering the dream, so if they did not follow through with the whole nightmare, especially the last part where they spoke to Ol’ Uncle Dog, then perhaps they would be spared from the Nightmare Illness.

Gu Jun now realized that the Nightmare Illness was definitely related to spell and spells had the ability to mutate one’s nervous system.

“Okay!” Wu Siyu replied in a hurry, “But how are we supposed to do that?”

“Shout at them!” Gu Jun could not tell for sure but he barged out from his hiding spot, yelling loudly, “Zixuan! Monitor!” However Cai Zixuan did not appear to notice him, the former just kept on walking… Wang Ruoxiang though did turn her head around for a moment, a sign of her high spirituality, but she seemed to peer through Gu Jun before resuming her walk with the rest of the group.

“Wake up, you are in the middle of a nightmare!” Gu Jun pulled on Cai Zixuan and whacked the man on his balding head. “Snap out of it!” A grimace of pain appeared on Cai Zixuan’s face, “Hmm…” he would feel that in the morning but for the moment, the slap did nothing to stop him. More and more people were pouring out from the forest, the number had almost reached 100 and there were still more of them. Gu Jun and Wu Siyu could stop their two friends but how were they going to stop the others?

“Siyu, hold these two back.” Gu Jun hissed through his teeth. “I’m going to go burn that accursed house down!” That might be the only way to stop this. He rushed back to grab the sword, bow and other items before rushing to posit himself before the wooden manor. Wu Siyu had already manufactured some fire arrows earlier, now Gu Jun lit the soaked bandage and aimed the arrow at the withered branches that seemed to reach towards the roof of the manor. The first arrow lodged between the branches. The dried branches were perfect kindling and they took up the flame almost immediately. The second arrow shot through the window of the second floor. The glass broke with a satisfactory shatter and licks of flame started to appear inside the house. The last arrow was sent flying through the gaping front door, the flame had now reached its most destructive height!

Strangely enough there was still no sign of Ol’ Uncle Dog nor the other cultists.

“Get back, get back!” The people were dangerously close to the fire. Gu Jun quickly turned around to stop the people from walking into a fiery death. But ultimately he only had a pair of hands, he could not stop everyone. Thankfully, just as the old manor was getting swallowed up by the fire, all the dreamers showed signs of slowing down. Some still looked quite bleary but others appeared to be waking up. At that moment, to Gu Jun’s pleasant surprise, Wang Ruoxiang called out with confusion, “Gu Jun?”

“Wait, you can see me?” Gu Jun was rejuvenated with joy. ‘It was effective, burning the house down was effective!’ He said in a hurry, “Wang Ruoxiang, you’re in the nightmare, but it is time to wake up!”

“Nightmare? And you’re in it?” Wang Ruoxiang seemed to be thinking about something before she responded in an airy voice, “Then it has to be real…”

“Of course, it is!” For some reason, Gu Jun felt his instinct compel him to say this, “It is already 7 am, time to check on the lab rats, and then journey to the library or you might lose your favourite spot. You know you have to study to deal with the upcoming exam. What about your thesis? It is due today, but you have not started on it! You are going to fail! You need to wake up to complete it!”

A shudder went through Wang Ruoxiang, her figure flickered in and out before she suddenly disappeared.

“Siyu, that works!” Gu Jun said hurriedly, “Try to make them panic, that should trigger their reflective consciousness!” He then turned to Cai Zixuan to demonstrate. “Your soup pot is overflowing and the stove is left burning, you’re going to burn down the whole hostel. Phecda is sending people over to check the absurd usage of electricity, they’re going to confiscate your pots and cooker!”

“Ah…” Cai Zixuan gasped in shock. “Wait, Tycoon Jun? How…” He was still looking at Gu Jun before he was plucked out of existence. On the other hand, Wu Siyu shouted at the crowd. “Careful, you’re about to roll down from your bed!” The warning was surprisingly useful, a large number of people disappeared at once. Gu Jun couldn’t help staring at her to which the lady just shrugged and said, “That is the thing that I’m most afraid of when I’m sleeping.”

The two hustled among the crowd and busied themselves for about 10 minutes. They managed to wake some up and the rest had disappeared on their own. Gu Jun took in the deep breath and he noticed finally there was a change in the sky, it had turned from pure white to a darker grey. “The time for nightmare probably has passed.”

“Oh.” Wu Siyu was drained and tired. “Does that mean we have stopped the epidemic from spreading at least for tonight?”

“Probably so…” Gu Jun nodded but he did not feel any relief. “If we failed to intercept them, the Eastern State’s medical team would have collapsed. Probably our action at Wrangel Island has forced the bastards’ hands, they have countered by upping their game.” That was entirely possible, they had lost Wrangel Island and a group of members, Gu Jun had slipped through their fingers, becoming something harder for them to control. For the R’yleh cult, this was not a good thing. He was fighting against time and so was the cult. It would soon be time for them to settle the score.

“They probably did not expect us to enter the dream world.” Gu Jun said heavily, “Thankfully we have successfully burned down that accursed house…” At that moment, Wu Siyu pointed before her with a blanched face, “Dirty-minded Su, look…”

Gu Jun turned his head back and saw that the raging flame had disappeared and on the collapsed ruin was now another old manor. It was 3 story tall, had strange architectural design, old and the front door was left open… It was a copy of the one that they had just burned down, down to the smallest detail. Welcome to the dream world.

“Fuck it! We’re going to burn this one down too.” Gu Jun said angrily, “I want to see how many times it can regenerate itself.” However, before he could do anything, there was a rumbling in the sky. There were no signs of rain clouds but a storm started to pour. The lashing wind and piercing rain ravaged the island. The already dying plantation was no match for the force of nature. As the captain predicted, the storm had arrived. The rain whipped their faces and bodies. The chill soaked into their bones. Even though they should be dreaming, the sensation could not have been realer.

“Well, isn’t this perfect…” Gu Jun grumbled.

“Can’t say that we weren’t warned.” Wu Siyu was shivering from the cold but her head was turned towards the open door. “For some reason, I feel like the house is calling after us…”

Gu Jun felt the same pull as well, could that be a trap? He had no clue but he was certain that they were going to discover something inside the house, there would be no reward without taking risk.

“I guess we shall go in to take a look.” If they stood out in the storm, they were simply going to get soaked to their death. The house would at least provide shelter. Furthermore, they could not wait any longer. They might not be able to handle the next 3 am. They had to deal with this before the next batch of patients arrived.

So the pair carefully made their way to the old manor through the storm. They took caution of their surroundings but nothing happened and before long, they arrived at the open door. They shared a look and took the first step together into the shadowy embrace of the old manor.

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