Plague Doctor

Chapter 70: Isolation Camp in the Mountain

When Gu Jun was led out of the Surgical Floor, it was right at midnight. The sky was as dark as ink, and the bird calls from the surrounding mountain lent an eerie atmosphere. He had a deeper introduction with the three members from the investigation department. There was Captain Wang Ke. The other man was called Cao Yichong, and he was slightly younger, just over thirty. The woman was called Tang Ziyin. She was young, probably just several years older than Gu Jun was. She sported a short bob. She walked ahead to the vending machine to buy some bread and several bottles of mineral water. The three of them escorted him into a police car, the kind that looked like a normal police car. It had the symbol of the normal law enforcement, no sign of it being from Phecda. Those who walked in and out of the Surgical Building were confused when they saw this, but before they could ask anything, the police car had already sped away. After leaving the medical department, the police car did not head toward the city but instead headed deeper into the mountains on the northeastern side.

“Captain Wang, may I know what is going on?” Gu Jun was seated at the back. Next to him was Wang Ke. Cao Yichong drove while Tang Ziyin took the passenger seat.

“There is still quite a distance to travel.” Wang Ke took the bread and mineral water that Tang Ziyin had just bought and handed them to Gu Jun. “Doctor Jun, you should have some food in you, and then get some rest.”

Gu Jun was not familiar with Wang Ke’s personality, but this appeared to be a man with a warm heart but cold exterior. At least from the way they treated him, it did not appear like they saw him as some kind of massive criminal.

‘I should stop fretting myself about this. After a long day of surgery, all this thinking is hurting my brain.’

He munched on the bread and took sips of water. Then he leaned against the cushion and went down for a wink. No matter what, he needed the time to rest.

However, as tired as he was, he was unable to fall asleep. The car rocked harder and harder as they went deeper into the mountain. To get an idea of their direction, he would intermittently open his eyes to look out the car window. The car was definitely moving into the secluded mountain range; they were not heading toward the Investigation Department. Wang Ke did not stop him even though he knew Gu Jun had been stealing glances.

The mountain road was treacherous, and the shadows of the trees rose up like hands of ghouls. The shrill call of the insects echoed to the night. The darkness had shrouded everything in a mist of dangerous mystery. Occasionally, a bird’s call shattered the night. It was unclear whether it was the call of a nocturnal bird or the warning of some unknown presence. The car drove for an hour before the road smoothed out as they reached flat ground. Gu Jun saw blurry lights down the distance; it looked like a village. After driving for a while, they finally reached their destination.

“Doctor Gu, this is the place we have temporarily set up the patients of the Malformed Banyan Disease after their operation. All the victims that have left the Medical Department have been isolated here.”

Deep inside the mountain, there was a base surrounded by wires. The exits were guarded by patrols and members from the Action Department. The police car went through several checkpoints along the way before they managed to pass the isolation gate. Gu Jun kept glancing out the car window. The spotlights lit up the area, giving Gu Jun sight of military green barracks, but more of them were blue and white simple boarded accommodation.

Hearing the introduction from Wang Ke, Gu Jun asked, “May I know how many patients are here?”

“Several thousand.” Wang Ke did not give the exact number. Looking out at the boarded houses outside the car, the strong jaw quivered with sadness. “They are victims taken in from around the Eastern State. The epidemic travelled from village to village, and all of the infected villages had banyan trees in them. There is no exception.”

Gu Jun thought to himself. With the transmission method of the Malformed Banyan Disease, the villagers had to make personal contact with the tree with the virus to get infected, so this did not make sense. Even if there was a big banyan tree in the village, it was impossible to expect every single villager to go and touch it for no reason in the window of a few days, unless something else had prompted them to do so.

“Doctor Gu, I believe you have stumbled upon the discrepancy already,” Wang Ke said darkly. “We from the Abnormal Energy Investigation Group never believe in such coincidences.”

“Hmm…” Gu Jun nodded silently. After they exited the car, Gu Jun was led into a standard barrack. There were about ten people bustling about inside it. Some were studying on the computer or poring over documents while others were in a deep discussion. After they saw the group walk in, everyone stopped and greeted Wang Ke with a “Captain Wang”. These should be the rest of the members of this sub-unit.

‘It is already 1 am, but they are still working hard. Did something change for the worse regarding the situation?’

“Doctor Gu, we first need you to watch several snippets of surveillance footage.” Wang Ke had a chair pulled over for Gu Jun. He was placed before a computer screen. Before he had the chance to settle in the seat, about five people came to surround him. They regarded him openly, and Gu Jun could see the alarm in their eyes.

“Play the video,” Wang Ke said as Tang Ziyin started to operate the machine. The monitor lit up. It showed the corridor on the sixth floor of the Surgical Building. It was filled to the brim with patients of Malformed Banyan Disease lying in bed. The medical workers were hurrying about, and right then, Zhou Jiaqiang came into the screen leading a group of interns. Suddenly, a patient started to scream wildly at them.

Gu Jun was not surprised. He was prepared for this because he had already noticed the surveillance camera installed in all the corridors of the Surgical Building. Three patients of the Malformed Banyan Disease acted up when he was around. If this did not attract these people’s attention, the people from the investigation department would be sitting on their asses.

As he expected, after the footage of the corridor ended, Tang Ziyin played the footage from inside the surgical room, and this video had audio. It was the pained and agitated wails of Patient 25. “You… the thing inside the banyan tree! No, don’t…”

This cry caused the air inside the barracks to freeze. At this point, the video froze. More than ten pairs of eyes from the Investigation Unit stared at Gu Jun.

“Doctor Gu, this ‘thing inside the banyan tree’ is something part of what the victims of this illness saw in their hallucination. These victims are spread across the country, and the only common thread among them is that they all have quite high spirituality. But after their surgery, they could not remember what they saw during their hallucinations.” Wang Ke shared some of their investigation results. “We suspect that this has something to do with abnormal energy. We have cooperated with the psychology group from your Medical Department to make some trails, like hypnosis to find the forgotten memory during their hallucination, but we ended up with nothing. The memory that they had right before and after their attack has completely disappeared.”

This was the first Gu Jun had heard about this. He frowned slightly. ‘Even the implicit memory has been wiped clean…’

“A few days ago, the Medical Department gave us a new clue. The psychology group believes you are the ‘thing inside the banyan tree’ that part of the high spiritual victims of this Malformed Banyan Disease refer to; you are their stress trigger. It was because of you that their mental state broke down and exacerbated the state of their illness. Due to the suspicion surrounding this problem and combined with your abnormal activity and possibility of an unusual childhood activity…”

At this point, the faces of the people around him did not change, but it was this lack of change that weighed down on Gu Jun.

‘Unusual childhood activity?’ Gu Jun thought. ‘What are they suspecting?’

“Therefore,” Wang Ke said after a pause, “we have conducted a small experiment. Play the video.”

Gu Jun understood everything then, this experiment should have everything to do with him.

But inside his heart, he still carried some seed of hope.

‘After those three patients, I have not triggered any response in any other person. There can’t be so many patients with high spirituality, right? Perhaps there’s something else behind this.’

At the same time, a new video played on the screen. Inside an empty small room, a patient fitted with a fake right leg was seated on the only chair. He looked at the camera nervously.