Plague Doctor

Dawn had already broken but the woods were oppressively quiet like it was still midnight. Or rather, the night's trace had not fully faded away yet. A low chirp echoed between the trees as if birds were searching for missing families. But they did not dare to be too loud for fear of attracting danger in the darkness.

The mouth of the cave was small. Autumn did not take away the life that covered the outer walls of the cave. There was a thick layer of lichen that grew from the ceiling to the ground. It reached into the cave, creating a habitat for wild grasses and vines to grow. It would appear like only these small plants were the ones able to flourish in this dangerous environment. The cave was not a named one, it was well-hidden inside a deep forest. The forester responsible for the area did not really know much about it. He said that the cave was not deep, it was a straight line into the end. The senior forester added that the cave sometimes would act as a temporary home for bats and wild boars to birth their young. He normally stayed away from it because pregnant wild pigs could be very territorial. 

He had no idea what was happening inside the cave now, the thing hiding inside it was far more dangerous than any boar in the world. 

The caterpillar tracks rolled on the ground and they crunched the leaves noisily. That and the sound of engines shattered the silence. The multi-purpose drone tank which had rocket launchers, bombs, 360 degree camera and cleansing stone slowly moved into the cave. Initially, the plan was to have the Zoog scout out the place first. No matter how advanced the tank was, it did not possess spirituality unique to life; furthermore, the tank would create so much sound. Once it was employed, the enemy would know their presence. A dark place like the cave and a mission for infiltration, it was perfect for the Zoogs. However, not one Zoog was willing to accept the mission. They'd rather die on the autopsy table, at least that would be a quicker death. Even after much persuading, their stance did not change.

"No, no…" Babyfat was already shaking when Gu Jun approached him.

At the moment of twilight, the Zoogs followed the horrible smell and stopped 100 metres away from the cave. They saw with their own eyes the Black Billy Goat enter the cave. It appeared to be a nocturnal creature. Each of its mouths was holding a dead carcass. Different from last time, Babyfat noticed that the creature's prey had gotten larger. This time there were even a few dead deer. 

Did the Black Billy Goat realize it was being tailed? The Zoogs could not tell. But the thing did not open its eye again. However, after the Black Billy Goat entered the cave, the moment before dawn, the Zoogs heard a horrible wail coming from inside the cave. It sounded like all the dead animals had come alive. They were looking at their bodies being consumed by the unknown creature. After the spine-tingling scream, the cave was silent. And the silence spread throughout the forest. The Zoogs did not dare to make any noise either. They lifted their claws to close their mouth and made themselves as silent as possible. Babyfat was very afraid. Every rustling of the wind and crunching of the leaves was a hit at his weak heart. The fact that they managed to stay there until the team arrived was already very impressive.

Now the humans wanted them to enter the cave? Wasn't that no different from telling them to go die? No, they refused to. Since the Zoogs were so adamant, Gu Jun did not force them. He communicated with the Action Department and decided to send in the drone tank first. He also did not want the Zoogs to die for no reason. Furthermore, he knew that if one of the Zoogs died, it would heavily impact their morale. They would groan about their fate and maybe start an opposition. News travelled fast within the Zoogs.

Now, the area had been heavily surrounded by Phecda members. The drones circulated in the sky and there were devices to monitor the situation underground. They would be alarmed if anything tried to break through the ground. About 100 metres away from the cave, there were members from Eastern State Action Department, Ancient Seal Department and Medical Department. However, the leaders were still the MP unit as well as the One. 

Everyone watched as the tank drove into the cave. The camera on the tank relayed the signal back into the monitors. The signal was stable. The best result was for the tank to discover the Black Billy Goat asleep. The tank would slowly ease in until it was close enough to the target to allow the bombs to explode. It would hopefully kill the monster without injuring too much of its body. A battle could be avoided that way. 

But for Wu Siyu, there was a better result. The tank rolled in to find the Black Billy Goat already dead. The scream the Zoogs heard was not the animals coming back to life but the Black Billy Goat wailing before death. That way, they'd save the bombs and would have a well-preserved body. However, neither Gu Jun nor Yu Chi were that optimistic. The latter scratched his cheeks anxiously as he checked the cave and then the screen. The technological level of Mysterium World and Phecda World was not that different. The tank was the most advanced military grade drone they had. After the tank entered the cave, it continued to move slowly. The darkness did nothing to hinder the night vision camera. The cave was deeper than the forester suggested. The stone wall showed signs of corrosion. The lichen that grew into the cave started to wilt to become an ashy wall. 

The camera did not pick up any bats, not even a dead one. Soon Gu Jun frowned. The people around him all felt chills. The cave walls were slathered with white sticky liquid. The liquid kept dripping onto the ground as well as onto the tank. It blurred the camera. But for now, they could still see that there was a soft tissue behind the sticky liquid. It looked like flesh or membrane, it shrunk and tightened like it was alive. On the surface of the soft tissue, there were tube-like objects. They were pulsing red, it was unclear whether they were vines or some kind of blood capillaries. This whole cave appeared to have been transformed into a womb. 

The tank continued to roll deeper into the dark cave.