Plague Doctor

Professor Qin’s words stopped for a moment. In that instant, tension skyrocketed in the atmosphere within the room. The students’ hearts raced uncontrollably. With that one sentence, it was if they were transported back to the day when they were waiting for their Gaokao results to be released.

“Everyone passed.” Professor Qin’s wrinkled face smiled gently and warmly as he delivered the good news.

Immediately, the suffocating tension dissipated, and rays of relief shone on everyone’s faces. As the torture of waiting morphed into blooming happiness, Sun Yuheng, Yang Ming, and everybody who were gathered broke into bright smiles and laughter. On the side, Cai Zixuan lamented yet again, “Ah, such are the plans of fate.”

YES! While Gu Jun’s expression remained unchanged, his heart was screaming with joy and relief. Finally, the massive burden and pressure in his heart were lifted. Being admitted into the department was a giant step in his plans.

“Starting tomorrow, you will all officially be a trainee of the Phecda Division of Esoteric Studies or Phecda for short. Your training begins tomorrow within the Phecda’s Eastern Province Branch. You all will be assigned to the Medical Studies Department.”

Phecda Division of Esoteric Studies? Finally, they learnt the name of this mysterious department. Was the name influenced by the quote from Dream of the Red Chamber, “The Heaven’s Secrets shall not be revealed”? 1

Professor Qin continued, “Tomorrow, all of you will begin your 1 month straight and confined training. Later, the vehicles we have arranged will bring you back to your respective schools. Please pack your necessities before going to the headquarters. Also, remember to inform your family members. This month, there will be no telecommunications allowed. During your time outside, do not reveal any secret. If that is understood, let’s get going.”

Everyone nodded solemnly in acknowledgement. As the crowd left the room, Professor Qin called back Gu Jun again, “Gu Jun, you stay for a while.” Soon, only the two of them were left within the room.

Professor Qin sized up Gu Jun again, and a long sigh escaped him. “Your brain stem tumour is stable, and the medical board believes that you are still able to work. In the next few months, you will undergo regular scans for your brain. Should your condition worsen, you will stop working immediately.”

“Understood.” Gu Jun could hear the empathy within Professor Qin’s tone. Seems like Phecda also did not have a concrete treatment for his tumour and also did not possess the foreign medicine he had.

Seeing that Professor Qin didn’t seem to want to talk about his parents, Gu Jun took the initiative,” Professor Qin, do you know about my parents?”

“About Lai Sheng Company and your parents, these intelligence documents are not made available to staff with your level of authority.”

Professor Qin’s expression stiffened, and his tone was very stern. From his voice, he made it clear that there was no room for rhetoric. “Don’t ask anymore, and don’t talk to others about it. If you have the authority to access the information in the future, you will naturally find out. I can only say that the review department thinks you are poorly informed about this case. They have concluded that you have an independent personality, and your little involvement with this sensitive case does not affect your work for Phedca. However, you will receive more frequent reviews than others, and will also face more difficult challenges while climbing up through the ranks.”

Gu Jun nodded silently. In truth, he had already expected all of this.

He had suspected that the abnormally large amount of questions and tests he was subjected to was due to a deep-rooted worry and suspicion that the interviewers had. Most likely, the activities within his subconscious had even sprouted speculation that he had mental disorders.

Seeing how they were apprehensive of admitting him into Phecda, he could easily deduce that Lai Sheng Company was definitely not an ally. The fact that Phecda had chosen to take him in showed 2 things. First, they had the confidence that they could control him. Second, Gu Jun’s results had passed their criterion. Possibly, some other unknown aspects of him were considered beneficial to the organisation.

“Professor Qin, can we see our own interview results?” Gu Jun popped up another question. He too was curious about his personality type.

“Your interview results are all considered a restricted document.” Again, a stern voice denied him. Professor Qin explained further, saying, “Only high-rank officials can apply to the department to view it. While I can do so, you all are not able to at the moment. Phecda has several sub-departments which are independent. We cooperate together, but do not interfere with each other. The interviewers were from the Human Resource Department, and the incident at Longkan Seafloor Volcanic Belt is under the jurisdiction of the Investigation Department. We are from the Medical Department, do you get me?”

“Understood.” Gu Jun nodded again. Then, his brows furrowed once again. “Then, what about the corpse guides?” The grim cold expression was still etched deeply in his mind.

“They are also from the Medical Department.” Now, the familiar warm and kind smile returned to Professor Qin’s face. “Rascal, no more questions. Just listen to Phecda instructions for now.”

“Hm... alright. I will.”

“Go on now.”

Gu Jun left the holding room and followed Wang Ruoxiang and Cai Zixuan out of this old office building. They got on to the vehicle and headed back to the Eastern University.

After leaving the holding room, Professor Qin came to the temporary archive room on the third floor of the building. He picked up the interview results of the nine freshmen and went to the consulting room next to it. Following behind him were the five judges from the previous competition, all of whom were senior members of the medical department. Like Professor Qin, they all had sufficient authority to view the transcripts of these freshmen. However, this was not a complete file for they were still restricted from viewing some even higher level secrets.

Out of these recruited nine freshmen, there were six men; Gu Jun, Cai Zixuan, Ma Jiahua, Sun Yuheng, Yang Ming, and Cheng Yifeng;

There are also three ladies; Wang Ruoxiang, Zhou Yi, and Jiang Ban Xia.

The consultation room was simple and elegant. Professor Qin and the others sat along a long table, drinking tea and looking at the same nine stacks of documents.

Sitting in the main seat, Professor Qin’s aged face was solemn as he carefully read every item on the document.

Out of the nine freshmen, Ma Jiahua, Yang Ming, and Chen Yifeng stood out amongst the heavy competition and were an elite compared to the nation-wide medical practitioners. However, if they were compared to the members of Phecda, they were mediocre and average at most. No exceptional talents were discovered during their psychomotor tests, which made them suitable to be a regular member only.

Sun Yuheng was confident, disciplined, extroverted, and displayed a talent in various fields. He was a potential seedling for training. Perhaps, he may even be developed into a future leader.

This girl, Jiang Banxia, was unique. Among all the freshmen, she was the only one trained in traditional Chinese medicine from the Eastern Province’s Traditional Chinese Medicine College. This type of talent was especially rare, and she had even possessed superior memory skills, high enthusiasm, proactive attitude, and a bubbly personality. This was the type of talent favoured by Phecda.

In the eyes of Phecda, Wang Ruoxiang was the 2nd best within her selected peers. Born into a middle-income family, she had not experienced any life-changing difficulties, but was a resilient, independent, and intelligent young lady. She was equipped with highly superior creativity and insightfulness. These types of people were always able to think out of the box and suggest unique and unthought-of answers and solutions. However, this was a double-edged sword. Those who were very creative and even romantic in thinking needed to undergo rigorous mental training to stabilise their thoughts, otherwise, they had the tendency to overthink and had disastrous results.

Sipping his tea, Professor Qin asked, “What do you all think of Cai Zixuan?”

Cai Zixuan has outstanding social boldness and was highly amiable. He was also intelligent and responsible. Although his results did not indicate a high talent, such people always played the role of an indispensable adhesive in the team. While they do not tend to make it big, they were flexible and could be deployed in most situations.

This was also one of their favourite types of freshmen, easy to manage and easy to arrange.

Therefore, the other judges all praised him and spoke enthusiastically “Yes!”

“Not bad, but just a little too old. Look, even his head is balding.” ƒ𝘳ee𝔀e𝚋n૦𝐯el.c𝗼𝓂

“I want this person. I like this kind.”

“What? Elder Zheng, every time there is a new student, do you ever dislike a single one? Which one do you not want?”

“I don’t want this Jiang Banxia. I don’t even know anything about Chinese medicine!”

“Haha!” Professor Qin laughed lightly. They had to make the arrangements before the training began. After all, each position would require a different set of training.

However, the most significant debate would not be over Cai Zixuan.

Leaving Cai Zixuan’s documents aside, he picked up the last one. On the cover page, a young handsome face was seen. The name, Gu Jun.

Gu Jun...

Looking at this document, Professor Qin’s tired eyes flashed into attention. His slightly trembling hands tapped around the table for his cup, but he could not find it. His breath was quick, and his eyes glued to the papers in his hand. It was to be expected. In the face of such results, every single member of Phecda would be overwhelmed by excitement and inexplicable fear.

As the other judges flipped open Gu Jun’s data, their eyes also lit up.

His performance in the competition coupled with this data...

Even perfection would be an understatement.

Phecda, also known as Gamma Ursae Majoris, is symbolic of the Secrets of Heaven and Fate in Chinese Constellation and Astrology Studies. The name of the star in Mandarin, Tianji Star, draws parallels to the most intelligent people within Ancient China, especially their successful Ministers and Generals, like Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms Period.