Plague Doctor

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Squeak, squeak.

The sign of the shop on the side of the street, “Healthy Massage And Footbath”, slanted slightly. A passing man looked curiously at the confrontation between the two men then walked past.

“Mr Gu.” The flat-head man grinned with a weird smile as if greeting an old friend. “You saw it as well. This is a public area. I have no plans to do anything that will cause trouble for myself. I just want to give you a friendly piece of advice.”

“Do I know you?” Gu Jun continued to act dumb. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m a ‘receptionist’ per se. Do you understand?” The flat-head man took a step forward. Although smiling, the gloominess in his pupils was getting heavier. “I’m an unimportant person; someone easy to deal with. Someone that you can still see. Not like those that are unseen.”

Gu Jun was no longer surprised. This was a member of the organisation that wanted to snatch away Li Yuerui’s mobile phone.

He thought that it might be the state department, but that did not seem to be the case now.

The flat-head man continued, “There are too many things you don’t know in this world. Too many people you can’t fight against. Mr Gu, you are a wise man, and you should know this is true.” There was a hint of fanaticism in his withered face. “Those documents are just a pile of trash for you. Why don’t you just hand them over.”

Gu Jun was taken aback by his sudden words. The documents? He immediately jolted to his senses. This guy did not come for Li Yuerui’s mobile phone!

Gu Jun asked a sincere question, “What documents? I don’t understand what you are talking about.”

The flat-head man continued to stare straight at him for a long while, and his expression turned a little ugly. “Mr Gu, why must you be like this? Your parents were amazing figures, but they took things that they shouldn’t.”

Gu Jun’s eyes narrowed slightly. Finally, he was sure that this guy is from Lai Sheng Technologies and Research Pte Ltd! The organisation behind the defunct company still exists!

From this guy’s words, it seemed like Mom and Dad took some documents back then... This “receptionist” came to find those documents. For some reason, Lai Sheng thought that he knew the whereabouts of the documents. It’s a pity that he did not know anything at all.

Documents? What documents? In Gu Jun’s mind, a stream of past memories started to flash.

At that time, he was still very young. His Mom and Dad never talked to him about work. They only mentioned that they do research about the ocean. They would never let him into their office. Before the fateful last trip, they had completely evacuated their home and arranged for a long-time caretaker for him. Now that he had thought about it, it seemed like they were already prepared to face an accident. The house he lived in previously was located in another city, and it was also only a rental. Afterwards, the landlord rented the house to others.

The closest that Gu Jun ever got to his parents’ work was when he boarded the Shanghai Bird to play. Even then, he didn’t have any access to secret areas.

“What are you talking about!” Gu Jun deliberately put up an act of looking extremely irritable. “You are someone from Lai Sheng Research, right? I have long suspected that my parents’ accident was not that simple! Lai Sheng, you have an inescapable responsibility! I demand an answer from you today!”

The flat-head man opened his mouth and revealed another abominable smile, “You said that as if the company killed your parents. You don’t understand. The company did not kill them. Death?” he said softly. It seemed as though he was rolling the word inside his mouth and chewing on this vague concept. “No, you don’t understand at all.”

Gu Jun’s heart seemed to be crushed by a giant boulder. A lot of thoughts surfaced in his mind in a flash. 𝑓𝑟eℯ𝒘𝗲𝑏n𝑜𝚟𝙚𝒍.𝒄o𝐦

No! Why should I believe half a word that these people say?

What is the purpose behind this guy saying these words? He didn’t know at all. As such, it was prudent for him to always remain sceptical.

Gu Jun pretended that he did not know about the existence of supernatural powers, and continued acting dumb. “Don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because you have authority! I will find the police and the media to investigate you!” He snapped a quick photo with his mobile phone. “I will dox you! ”

A passing auntie, who looked like she was out to buy groceries, walked by while carrying a vegetable basket and looked curiously at them.

The flat-head man did not care about Gu Jun taking pictures and smiled like he was watching a child throwing a tantrum. “Mr Gu, I hope that you will wise up the next time we meet again.” With that, the flat-head man turned and walked away.His silhouette gradually grew distant.

The indignant and impulsive look on Gu Jun’s face also slowly cooled down and reverted back to a calm facade. 𝙛𝔯𝒆e𝔀e𝗯𝓷𝗼𝘃e𝚕.𝒄𝗼𝗺

At least some doubts were cleared. Lai Sheng was indeed not simple. Perhaps... he suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility. After his parents’ accident, Lai Sheng had been sending people to observe him for years.

“This guy...” Gu Jun scrunched his eyebrows together, digging deep into his memory.

In a class during junior high, as he listlessly looked out of the window, he saw a tall man standing across the street and looking back at him. Was it this guy?

On the basketball court of high school, he noticed a tall and thin member amongst the audience when he was playing. Could it be him?

“Lai Sheng understands me very well, but why don’t they know that I have no idea about the documents? Why are they only looking for me now? Did something happen?”

Fresh questions poured into his heart causing a treacherous mist that was shrouding it to grow heavier.

Gu Jun cautiously tried to use his mobile phone to search the man on the internet. Unsurprisingly, his searches yielded no results.

The evening afterglow gradually faded. Gu Jun left Fortune Alley and took a taxi back to Eastern University Medical College. Along the way, he was busy digging up possible memories. Documents, documents, documents... It was like a mantra repeating in his mind, but not even the foggiest of clues appeared.

Alighting at the dormitory area, Gu Jun quickly walked to his dormitory building.

Soon after, Gu Jun pushed open the dormitory door and safely returned to his haven. In addition to him, there was only Cai Zixuan who was still asleep in bed.

“Hmm... Tycoon Jun?” Cai Zixuan raised his head and groggily muttered. “Where did you go to fool around this time. Just now, Professor Gu said in the WeChat group that there was no practice last night. He told us to rest well. The skill competition is pushed ahead of schedule. It’s tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I saw it.” Gu Jun nodded. Professor Gu’s notification was very sudden. All the teachers, including himself, were caught by surprise.

From picking people for the Frontier Cup to holding a city-wide clinical competition, and pushing the competition ahead of schedule.

It seems that the lack of medical “slaves” in the mysterious organisation was indeed very dire. They were urgently recruiting manpower.

“Then you should go to bed early.” Cai Zixuan grumbled, and his stomach let out a rumble. He then dreamily added, “There is bread for dinner.” A rumbling sound filled the air again.

Gu Jun was not hungry and did not feel like sleeping either. He looked around for a self-defense weapon that he could carry with him. This was so that if he was attacked by Lai Sheng, Gu Jun would not be left in such dire straits where he would not even have a brick to protect himself. However, he couldn’t just bring a knife out to the street either. If he did, he would be detained by the police even if Lai Sheng Company does not look for him.

Scalpel? It was too short.

He thought for a while and finally thought of a more suitable weapon. Alas, he did not possess it.

Gu Jun thought about it again, before fishing out his mobile phone. He accessed the address book, looked for the contact “Wang Ruoxiang”, and dialled it. The number had only been added a few days ago.

Beep, beep, da. The call connected, and Wang Ruoxiang’s beautiful voice came out from the receiver. “Hello?”

“It’s me, Gu Jun.”

“I know. What’s wrong?”

“Class monitor, do you have an anti-rapist spray?” Gu Jun decided to go straight to the point. “Can you lend me a bottle? I’m feeling a little... insecure recently.”

“I don’t have one.” Wang Ruoxiang’s reply was straight to the point as well. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Is that so...” Gu Jun was at his wits’ end. “I feel that, theoretically, you are someone who would be easily harassed. Shouldn’t you consider ways to protect yourself.”

Wang Ruoxiang answered indifferently, “I have black belt in karate.”

Gu Jun was silent. Two thoughts flashed through his mind. The first, no wonder her strength was not much worse than that of the 180cm+ males. The second was that it was a miraculous stroke of luck that Tycoon Jun did not insist on pestering her back then, else he might have been smashed to bits. “Then, can you teach me a few moves? Forget it, how about you become my bodyguard?” he asked.

“Why do you need an anti-rapist spray?” Wang Ruoxiang asked curiously. “Shouldn’t you be the one that people use the anti-rapist spray against?”

Tongue-tied by her venomous words again, Gu Jun sighed. “Pardon me for bothering you.”

“The competition is tomorrow. Have you received the news yet? Why are you still not resting?” she asked again. This time he could hear goodwill.

“Yep, I’m going to bed now,” Gu Jun answered and hung up the call. He then searched around the bedroom again, and his gaze locked onto the wooden broom that was leaning against a corner of the wall.

He walked over, picked up the broom, and vigorously waved it back and forth a few times.

“I think it’s best to find time to buy a baseball bat,” Gu Jun muttered to himself. So be it. If people see me as a chuunibyou, at least I have some form of guarantee about my safety.