Plague Doctor

Chapter 344: Changes in the Brain

After his friends left, the nurses switched off the lights and exited so that Gu Jun could rest. In the quietness, he closed his eyes. Gu Jun knew he needed to rest but the sleep won’t come. Wu Siyu’s face appeared before his eyes and his lips curled into an involuntary smile. ‘Dirty-minded Yu, thank you for everything. It must have been hard on you for the past few months. Enjoy yourself at the dinner...’

Gu Jun knew Lucky was in good hands. This giant rat was more than just a simple abnormal creature. Phecda might collect a sample of his fur and saliva for research but they would not do more than that. After all, Lucky was a VIP here. His request, provided that they did not cross the line, would all be entertained, for it was important for humanity to form a relationship with the Zoogs tribes. With regards to the very luxurious gifts he had promised, Gu Jun would think about it later...

Contemplating these things caused a headache to surface but considering his condition, a headache was nothing to worry about. He was given a brief on how his life was saved earlier. “I’ve gone through an ECMO. This life has truly gone to hell and back...” He also knew about the PEEK polymer in his skull. He reached out to touch it. It did not feel any different. He looked at himself through the mirror, he did not appear any different either. However, it did not stop the knowledge that there was something fundamentally different about him. Actually, if he was given the choice, he’d go for the titanium skull, purely because it’d look cooler... With that in mind, Gu Jun chuckled self-deprecatingly. Suddenly a numbness took over his arms and a weight crushed his heart.

“I’m in a very horrible state now, it’s even worse than when I was the Nightmare Man, but something is also very different in this case...” Gu Jun turned to the system but once he tried to do so, the headache intensified.

The system had turned into a ball of chaos....

“The system is broken.” Finally, everything returned to him. “After it collided with the power of the Son of Misfortune, the system exhausted itself and disintegrated.” In this dangerous world, even the system could die. This meant that he could not examine his physical vitals and mental corruption status anymore. He also lost his mission list and the mental rewards that he had obtained in the past. The greatest aid in his journey disappeared. The system was created by the Son of Steel to deal with the Son of Misfortune. It collapsed because its job was done. Gu Jun could sense the agitation, which had been bothering him, disappear...

The Son of Misfortune’s shadow departed from this world. The Afterlife Cult was demolished, at least for now. All of its members sacrificed themselves to Dagon. The Son of Misfortune failed to descend hence they were unable to revive.

‘Mom, dad, the Seagull... I guess this is goodbye.’ With these thoughts in mind, Gu Jun was faced with mixed emotions and a pounding headache...’I better don’t push myself since I just woke up or I might go under another slumber. I should take a rest now.’

However... the power of the system did not seem to dissipate completely, after all, that ball of chaos still remained. Therefore, Gu Jun still had access to skills like Hands of Dexterity and Strong Heart. Furthermore, he still shared a sweet dream connection with Lucky. Whether the system would return, that was a worry for the future.

Gu Jun slowly turned around to calm his thoughts and dropped into a tired slumber. His sleep was not peaceful. It was as if he was subconsciously afraid that he might not wake up next time. He came to after a short rest and forced himself back to sleep. This repeated itself multiple times until he opened his eyes to see the clock on the bedside table show that it was already 2 am on January 1st. The new year had arrived.

After an uneasy sleep of 8 hours, Gu Jun did feel better. With nothing else to do, the thoughts from the previous night returned to his mind. The sweet projection of the Pnakotic Manuscripts given to him by Atal was not part of the system, he wondered if it was still there or not...

The blurry ancient scroll was still there but once he reached for it, the headache stopped him. The scroll looked like it was about to crack. He gave out a breath and halted his action. Now was not the time to push himself.

“I should go back to sleep then...” Gu Jun turned away from the clock. But this time, he was visited by the faces of Tian Yi and Xue Ba. The updates that he was given crowded his mind. Ever since the battle at Isla Salas y Gomez, the world had enjoyed 3 months of peace. The legionella pneumonia was completely curbed. Despite the lack of vaccine, there were no new recorded patients. All quarantined areas were open back to the public and reconstruction was underway.

Mutated Scale Disease was taken care of as well. The various governments planned to make an announcement about it soon. They were now discussing the content of the announcement. Due to the heavy sacrifice on the island, the countries’ attitude towards global safety and supernatural energy had a drastic change. International cooperation became more common. Both GOA and WMO progressed smoothly. An international navy had surrounded Isla Salas y Gomez but they failed to find any abnormal channel or phenomenon.

When he was talking to Elder Tong earlier, Gu Jun warned, “Just stick to observation... Do not do anything drastic, we, humans do not have the power to face Dagon...”

Dagon was not a normal Deep One, the latter was merely the former’s worshippers. Humanity should not go after Dagon, that would be equal to actively seeking death. Elder Tong shared Gu Jun’s opinion but to have every country in the world agree to a decision was basically impossible.

“Ah Jun, leave these things to us, you need your rest.” Elder Tong said, “Your health is too important for us and this world.”

Over the past 2 years, mainly it was people from Afterlife Cult and R’yleh Cult that surfaced from darkness. After the latest two wars, these two cults had pretty much been levelled. However, there were other cults to worry about. For example, the Yellow Brotherhood...

Gu Jun hoped but did not believe that the peace would last.

He had a feeling that his convalesce was going to take some time. His headache suddenly returned. His temples pulsed and he swore he could feel the PEEK polymer sinking into his skull.

“I should sleep. Tomorrow... no, later today, I’ll start the rehabilitation exercise...”

...