Plague Doctor - Chapter 473

Chapter 473: Two Clues

Gu Jun was silent after he finished the last passage of The King in Yellow. Dirty-minded Yu, Zixuan, monitor survived, but Si Kouxian, Ma Feng and many more… He ultimately gave a long sigh. Life moves on. But in the end, he still had no idea what happened to the giant meatball that looked like a dark forest. The book did not mention it again. It exploded? Disappeared? Or was it still there?

Shub-Niggurath… A force not weaker than Nyarlathotep?! Many thoughts and emotions bounced in Gu Jun’s mind. Before Sanders, he was careful not to stress that he was Gu Jun inside the book. If this was a trick, then he’d play along for now. He was sure he would find his way home. Since Nyarlathotep had failed once, it could fail again. Based on what Keziah Mason said, defeating Nyarlathotep was exactly the thing that interested it.

Sanders advised Gu Jun many times to stay at the sanitorium to rest but Gu Jun insisted on leaving. Sanders finally agreed that he’d help. Then Gu Jun was led away from the room and sent back to his cramped prison. When the nurse came with his pills, Gu Jun refused to take them. That placed a lot of pressure on the nurse. But other than that, Gu Jun appeared very normal. He cooperated fully when the staff came to survey his situation. However, in his heart, there was an unshakeable conviction.

The Stanford Prison files prove that the environment can slowly change a person’s personality and a situation can influence a person’s behavior. Once he assimilated into this character of a mental patient, and allowed himself to be told of his conditions by others, he might really go insane after a few days. Therefore, no matter how cooperative Gu Jun was, he refused to take the drugs and believed inherently that he was mentally sound. He told himself repeatedly, ‘I am not crazy, I am really Gu Jun.’

While the staff was not watching, Gu Jun tried to use spells and the Ancient Seal. To Gu Jun’s consternation, he was unable to do so. Gu Jun gave it some thought and believed this was another trap to toy with his mind. Since his body could be reinvented with no PEEK polymer, a reconstructed finger and healed scars, it wouldn’t be too hard for them to strip him off of his spell casting ability. That was a way to deepen Gu Jun’s self-doubt but the man swore to not fall for it.

For the next 3 days, Gu Jun either slept, or exercised while waiting for his lawyer to finish the procedure. On the 4th day Gu Jun arrived at this world, or the 8th day Jim Mazurewicz was admitted into Arkham Sanatorium, he was released. He had nothing when he was admitted, so he left with nothing. Gu Jun merely changed out of his patient’s garb into casual clothes, the clothes Jim wore when he was admitted, red jacket, jeans and sport shoes.

Then, he walked down the halls of the forced admission rooms with Sanders. This was not the first time he walked down this corridor but every time, the place was eerily quiet, like there was no patients being kept here. But beyond the steel doors, Gu Jun could sense many dangerous presences. Arkham was a complicated place much less its sanitorium. At the waiting area, Gu Jun encountered the Mazurewiczs, his reincarnated body’s adopted parents.

Bob Mazurewicz, a rotund middle-aged man. He had an honest face and ran a small convenience store at Arkham. From what Sanders told him, Gu Jun knew Bob was a kind person who had no enemy at Arkham. He supported local charities and viewed Jim as his own child. Jennifer Mazurewicz, a middle-aged woman, the actual boss at the convenience store. Famed for her kindness too but she was more tactful than her husband and she was the decision maker around the house.

“Jun.” Once the couple saw their adopted son, they called his nickname and hurried towards him. Even though Gu Jun had requested for discharge through legal means, they still worried about his condition and they bombarded him with their concerned questions.

“I have amnesia.” Gu Jun explained, “That’s the only problem but the doctors said I will slowly recover.” Regarding his ‘parents’, no matter how kind they seemed, Gu Jun kept his guard around them. He did not know the Mazurewicz at all but he believed there was a reason why he was reincarnated into this family. Gu Jun looked around, “Where’s my big sister?”

Now Gu Jun had two clues to understand this new world, one was the King in Yellow, the other was Hannah Mazurewicz, could she be Keziah Mason?

“Hannah is busy at work.” Jennifer answered, “But we’ll have dinner together.” Gu Jun nodded silently. No matter how busy she was, she should have cleared time to celebrate her younger brother’s discharge from the hospital, that showed how ‘well’ this sibling’s relationship was.

Hannah Mazurewicz, 24, a graduate of Miskatonic University’s journalism degree. She was now a reporter at Arkham Honest Daily. He heard from Sanders that Hannah was extremely clever. After her high school graduation, she was offered the scholarship to join Harvard and Stanford but she chose Miskatonic University because she wanted to stay close to home. But in this world, Miskatonic University was not that far behind the other famous academic faculties. Miskatonic University, was one of the Ivy Leagues, it had a long history and was famed across the world.

At Massachusetts, Miskatonic and Harvard were the two frontrunners for old money to send their children. The first time Jim Mazurewicz encountered the King in Yellow was at Miskatonic University’s library. Gu Jun also realized something else. The King in Yellow Sanders brought him at the sanitorium was not the one from Miskatonic University but a copy he bought online. Gu Jun couldn’t help but wonder if the book at Miskatonic University had the same content.

After leaving the Arkham Sanitorium’s gates, Gu Jun turned back to look. Now, he saw that this sanitorium was built in the 19th century and it still maintained the Victorian architectural style. When it was first built, to separate the mentally unstable from the normal patients, it adopted the prison-like layout. It spread out from the centre into many different wings. There were exercise fields inside but it looked oppressive on the outside.

When he was on the way out, he did not see any patients walking around, only the doctors and guards. They wore thick white masks and had bored gazes. Gu Jun had a feeling that one day he would return to this place. But now, he, Sanders, Bob, and Jennifer got into a black car. Bob drove and they left this sanitorium.