Plague Doctor

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Do demons exist on earth?

What kind of demons? Metaphorical demons? Or religious devils?

Gu Jun knew that his way of interpreting this word, “demons”, was a part of the test. From the interviewer’s perspective, the candidate’s understanding of the questionnaire could reflect the person’s consciousness, personal attributes, and beliefs. 𝑓𝙧𝘦𝘦we𝘣𝙣𝘰𝘃𝗲l.com

The demons that were on his mind right now were religious devils. However, he was unsure about this understanding. At the moment, were there any demons that were unable to be understood by science?

If it was a few months ago, he would have said not. Now, it was different. Just as the timing was passing the 5-second mark, he replied, “Yes.”

The moment he replied, the 3 interviewers swiftly scribbled on the documents in front of them. Gu Jun had no idea what was the ideal answer. Conventionally, a solution similar to the perfect response would yield 2 points, a vastly different answer would be 0points, lastly 1 point for a neutral reply.

The square-faced man on the left asked again, “Do u wish to go to Heaven after death?”

“Yes”

“A stray dog dropped into the ocean and drowned. Does that make you sad?”

“Yes.”

“A stranger passing away compared to a dog’s passing. Which of the 2 tugs your heart more?”

Now, that’s a really odd question. Based on the different scenarios, the answer would drastically change. Immediately, multiple considerations drowned Gu Jun’s mind.

What if that stranger is a murderer? What if the dog is my best partner for years? Why didn’t I think of a good man and an evil dog? Do I believe that dogs are kinder than man?

Is it my personal attributions and understanding of the world?

After some thought, Gu Jun had to choose, “Somewhere in between.”

“Do you enjoy intense emotion and passion?”

“Somewhere in between.”

“Do you think a maniac is despicable?”

“Yes and no, somewhere in between.”

Regardless of how Gu Jun responded, either frowning in thought or the answer quickly slipping out of his mouth, the 3 interviewers remained cold and expressionless. The square-faced man speaking had remained monotonous with an un-fluctuating tone.

“As a doctor, will you save the life of an evil man?”

This stumped Gu Jun again. This was a question of his morals. As a medical practitioner, the correct answer was to save this man. They should do their job and leave the judgement to the law practitioners. However, there was no way that reality would be this simple. Times where he would wish to not save someone was bound to occur. Gu Jun replied, “Somewhere in between.”

“Do you think your past is real?”

Yet another odd question leaving Gu Jun with much to think about. He had even linked his thoughts to the double-slit experiment of quantum mechanics. Then, he replied, “Somewhere in between.”

“Is knowledge the greatest power?”

Deep in thought for 2 seconds, Gu Jun replied, “No.”

“Do you crave for power?”

“Yes.”

“The meaning of life, the limit of science and the truth of the universe, do you care about them?”

“Yes.”

“For these answers, will you risk everything?”

Gu Jun fell into silence again. Risk everything? This was a weighty and absolute statement, however, if he could really get all his answers.

He replied, “Somewhere in between.” He could ignore his own safety, but he did not wish to hurt others.

“Do you trust in familial relationships?”

“Yes.”

“Do you trust friendship?”

“Yes.”

“Do you trust love?”

Gu Jun’s quick answers stalled. Love? This thing is so much more complicated.

He believed that there were criteria to all love, but would everything that met the requirements be considered love?

He replied, “Somewhere in between.”

“Do you believe that there are more esoteric philosophical truths than humans on this earth?”

Pausing for a while, Gu Jun’s thoughts circled wildly. Humans are such a minuscule portion of life, how could we have already understood everything on this earth?

He replied, “Yes.”

“Do these truths surpass the importance of your family, friends, and lover?”

Suddenly, a dense dark cloud loomed over his heart and formed without his knowledge. With a light sigh, he replied, “Somewhere in between.”

Again, another stroke was written onto the document by the square-faced man.

As the questions were asked one after another, Gu Jun replied everything within 5 seconds. Towards the end, they all fell into a trend of morally grey questions. Even Gu Jun could sense his own thought model. However, it was foreign to him and not the same as his own perceived morals.

He had also gotten a far more profound understanding of this unusual personality test.

Usual tests were like the “Cattell’s 16 personality factors questionnaire”, testing for 16 different personality types like Social Boldness, Emotional Stability, Reasoning, Abstractness. There were also other tests like Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, testing Introversion and Extroversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism. Also, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and many more.

Unlike the conventional test, the test he was doing seemed to measure his understanding of human beings, aliens, material, spiritual, right and wrong, and others. From these, they then assessed his personality type from the unknown personality types within the secret department.

By the time the question and answer ended half an hour later, Gu Jun had answered possibly more than three hundred questions.

“Do you think you are important?”

“Somewhere in between.”

When Gu Jun finished answering this question, the man with a square face nodded slightly. “Okay, the test is over.” Despite that statement, the test did not end there. He continued saying, “Gu Jun, I will now say a word. After which, you have to use this word to construct a sentence quickly within 2 seconds.”

Gu Jun nodded. This was a projective test, to stimulate and bring out the subconscious thought processes of a person.

“Alright, then we shall begin.” The square-faced man then said, “Noble.”

“This is a noble piece of work.” As Gu Jun spoke, he realised something peculiar. He mentioned, “noble work” and not a noble person.

“Indescribable,” the interviewer continued.

Some thought later, Gu Jun said, “that lady had an indescribable beauty.”

Did this reveal his subconsciousness? No, he had thought about this. This was his conscious answer.

Evidently, the interviewer had noticed it too. 2 seconds was already a very short period. It was already more succinct than the 3 seconds that were used for word relation tests. In that timing, it was rare to see anyone be able to consciously think before answering, even if the thinking was involuntary. Should the answers be thoughtful, there was no way for the test to reveal the subconsciousness of the testee.

“Gu Jun, please reply within 1 second of hearing the question.” The square-faced man had no choice but to make an additional request.

The man with deep wrinkles glanced at the woman with the long face on the right. This was the first time Gu Jun saw them with such a rich expression.

What they wanted to reveal was his subconscious.

Knowing this, Gu Jun thought quietly to himself.

Alright, I can’t behave so rigidly, otherwise, what would they think of the previous interview?

“Death,” the square-faced man continued.

“Life or death, this is a question,” Gu Jun immediately responded. Alas, it was still his conscious answer, and it was affected by Cai Zixuan’s Shakespeare quote.

Again, the square-faced man did not record it down. This time, he took a stack of white paper and a ballpoint pen. Holding them, he walked over and passed it to Gu Jun. “Gu Jun, let us use the drawing method. I will show you some images on the screen. You just have to look at the screen, speak your thoughts on the images and keep drawing on the paper. Do not think, do not stop.”

“Okay.” Gu Jun received the pen and paper. He knew, even if he drew nonsensical doodles, it would be an excellent material to analyse his subconsciousness in the eyes of psychologists. He had no doubts about the department’s capabilities in this field.

With a deep breath, he looked at the screen. As the square-faced man pressed a button on the controller, it lit up.

The first picture was of a dull sky, covered in a dense blanket of dark clouds.

“Sky, dark clouds,” looking at the screen, Gu Jun said as his hands began drawing lines on the paper. As his consciousness was focused on describing the image, his rapid drawings were left to his subconsciousness.

The image on the screen changed, it was a bloodied execution table; a pile of dismembered corpses; a cerulean blue sea; a close up of a housefly; black and white image of a girl by the walls...

Without stopping, Gu Jun kept describing the changing pictures while keeping up the drawing. In the process, he did not know what he was painting. However, his mind was getting a bit irritable.

As the process continued, the man with a square face kept his eyes glued on the paper in Gu Jun’s hand. Slowly, the ridges that formed on his forehead deepened. Both the deep wrinkled man and the long-faced woman stood up for a closer look.

“Gu Jun, thank you. You can stop now.”

The screen became dark, snapping Gu Jun out of his focused state. “Oh...” After scribbling for this whole while, his right hand actually felt very tired. Wiggling his wrist, he found that the expression of the interviewers had drastically changed. Gu Jun’s heart sank and pounded heavily.

Just what did I draw?

He glanced down onto the paper. On this plain white sheet, a line of blue ballpoint pen writing was frenziedly scribbled. The handwriting formed a line of foreign words.

A line of foreign words which he could read.

Ominous, creepy and twisted.

“The fruits of darkness sprouts, shrouded by the darkness of the Abyss. The parasites of death will live with the Heavens and Earth forever.”