Plague Doctor - Chapter 203
Chapter 203: Hope of Returning
“We Zoogs are friendly and know how to treat our guests. Our friend has returned. Juniors, come and pour our honored guests some wine.” Under Peacock and Malachite’s surprised gaze, the white-furred Zoog walked out from the forest while tapping his stomach. The existence of the Zoogs was not a secret but they normally would not appear before people so this was also the duo’s first time encountering one at such a close distance.
‘Young man?’ They had been unable to tell what age the nightmare man was because his face was completely ruined, but it would not be inappropriate for this elder Zoog to refer to Atal as a young man either so it did nothing to help them get a closer gauge of the nightmare man’s actual age. To make things more complicated, they failed to envision how the nightmare man’s journey managed to entangle itself with these creatures?
“Ha ha, so now we are friends.” Gu Jun looked around. “So where are my old friends then?”
“They have returned to their own village with the rewards a long time ago.” The Old Zoog replied, “Young man, we have our food and you have your health and freedom, isn’t that a happy ending? Actually that was our plan all along sending you the black merchant’s way…”
“So you were actually taking care of me?” Gu Jun chuckled. “Do you really expect me to believe that? You should know how the black merchants treat their slaves.” His voice turned icy, “Don’t think you’ll get away with just some flowery words.”
Sound of tapping exploded around them. The Zoogs came out of their hiding places, from behind the trees, and from underground. There were millions of them, covering every spot that they could see. Their sound of argument rose over each other, “Don’t you push it!””It was us who saved you, so what if we got a few fowls from it?””How the black merchants treated you is their problem, it has nothing to do with us!”
“Mr. Nightmare man…” Peacock felt a pressure overwhelming her, there were too many of them. If they jumped at the three of them, they would not be able to fight back for long.
“Shush!” The Elder Zoog shouted over his tribe. “We have not done our best to treat our valued guest. Sir, tell us, how do you propose we settle this?” The Zoogs patted their stomach in grumbling, they were already prepared to lose at least 1000 hens, 1000 quails and 1000 fowls.
“I hear you Zoogs know the way to leave this world and reach other worlds.” Gu Jun said. The Elder Zoog was extremely cunning, so he cut straight to the point. “How can I return to my old world? Also I need you to help clear these vines away from me.” Peacock and Malachite were stunned. ‘Mr. Nightmare Man… wanted to return to the already ruined ancestral world?’
“Leave this world?” The Elder Zoog narrowed his beady eyes, his mind was calculating. “In this world, where there are trees and underground holes, there will be traces of us Zoogs. So we do know a bit about that.”
Gu Jun’s heart rose, finally he had found the hope to return home. It was true that rodent-like creatures were everywhere. Even inside the most sterile lab, it would not have surprised him to find a common house rat there.
“How about this, we will provide you with the help.” The Elder Zog patted his beard and said, “And you will offer us a little present as a sign of our friendship, we only need 3000 hens, 3000…”
“What did you say?” Gu Jun cut him off. He stared into the rodent’s beady eyes and narrowed his own. “I didn’t hear you clearly, do you mind repeating yourself?”
“I mean as friends.” The Old Zoog patted his beard, his expression unchanging, “It is only fair that we should help each other so we will try our best to help you.” The surrounding Zoogs grumbled in annoyance but the resentment was instantly silenced by a glance from the Nightmare Man. Soon they all agreed with their elder’s bright decision. Peacock shook her head lightly. Even the black merchant could not suffer a direct gaze into the nightmare man’s eyes, much less a small Zoog.
“Then how am I supposed to return?” Gu Jun asked, “I call my home Earth, it is the 3rd planet in the solar system.”
“Sir, we do not understand this talk of ‘solar system’.” The Elder Zoog paced as he patted his body and the neighbouring trees lightly. “We Zoogs like to travel around, to see the world and to listen to different sounds. Sometimes, we will be walking and suddenly we’ve arrived at a different world. We’ll normally return after a quick glance because no place is better than home. But after some time, we have mastered some kind of rules for this type of travelling. It is much easier to come back here than to leave, because there is only one Dreamlands but millions of other worlds. That is the first rule.” The Elder Zoog continued, “The second rule is about the channel that connects two worlds. The location of the channel is not totally random. For example, at a place like Plateau of Leng, the channels that appear there will be connected to an icy location in another world. But for channels at Enchanted Woods, they’ll connect to similar woodlands in another world.” Gu Jun nodded silently. That was confirmed by Peacock’s story, human beings entered Leng through the south pole and when he was on the white ship, he did travel from sea to sea.
“The third rule is that the channels usually appear at hidden spots, most common of them being inside caves. The fourth rule is that the channels are extremely unstable, they might exist for just a day or a whole month, but the more you use the channel, the faster it will collapse.”
“There is no stable channel?” Gu Jun paid attention to the Old Zoog’s eyes.
“If there is one, we have not found it.” The Old Zoog did not look like he was lying.
“So now we only need to find a channel?” Gu Jun asked, “Any channel will work?”
“That lies the biggest problem.” The Old Zoog said, and the other Zoogs concurred. “Finding you a channel is not hard, the hardest part is to map out the path, or else you might end up in a world dominated by gorillas, who knows.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Sir, you know about lighthouses, right? Not all Zoogs know what that is. When you walk into a channel, it is like you’re travelling through a dark sea, it can lead to many different worlds. Only a corresponding lighthouse can bring you back to your desired destination, you need to have something from the destination world to use as your lighthouse.”
“But anything that we bring over to this world will dissolve immediately.” Gu Jun said sadly. Then he thought, ‘Does this mean the carlot instruments bring me to the foreign world?’
“That’s why I said this is the biggest problem.” The Old Zoog clapped his hands. Gu Jun wondered if the medical tool belt would work… But before that, there was another issue to solve, “Is there any channel nearby?”
“No, there are no active channels nearby, in fact there are only a handful currently active in Dreamlands. They have different probability of appearance depending on the season as well. The Enchanted Woods has most of them appearing in spring. For now, there are 3 known channels to us, one is at Llosk, another at Valley of Narthos and the last at the Bnazic Desert.”
‘Bnazic Desert?’ Gu Jun’s eyes wandered naturally to the duo. He asked, “Which is the closest?”
“The Bnazic Desert is the closest!” Peacock said hurriedly, “We can reach that in 10 days, you’ll need more than half a month to reach the other two places.”
“She is right.” The Elder Zoog patted his head. Peacock leaped onto the chance and added, “Mr. Nightmare Man, we will head to the Bnazic Desert, yes? If possible, you should return to the tribe with us.”
Gu Jun pondered the choices. To save time, it was indeed the best option to head towards the Bnazic Desert. He could also see for himself whether the duo was telling the truth or not. Perhaps a visit to the tribe might prove fruitful too, he could gather more information from the Professors. Then something came to him, he asked the two, “Do you have anything from the ancestral world there, things like sacred relics?” Even though Peacock said that the kindles had not brought anything with them, it did not quite match up. When he and Siyu entered the Dreamlands, they had brought things with them, so if a group of people was migrating to a new place, it made no sense for them not to bring any supply with them…
Malachite frowned and was about to say something when he was stopped by his partner who said seriously, “Yes, there are such items with us at the tribe.”
Gu Jun glanced at her but could not tell whether she was telling the truth or not.
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