Plague Doctor

Gu Jun had no idea how long he slept and whether he had been given emergency rescue. When he woke up, he was still blurry. He opened the new system and checked whether the autopsy quest had really been completed. After he read through all the messages, he calmed down. It was really completed. 'That was 15 days of non-stop working, it's a new record.' Even though Gu Jun was desperate to get the well-earned reward, he wanted to get to know the situation first. He wanted to open his eyes but realized he could not. Then he noticed he felt disconnected to the rest of his body, his presence was weak. His heart sank. This reminded him… of his experience as the Nightmare Man but even worse. He could not even move his eyes. Furthermore, he could not hear any sound around him. He was conscious but not aware. 

'Am I in a coma?' That worried Gu Jun. He tried to struggle or scream but the darkness was complete. 'This is bad… Is it from overworking?' As a medical student, Gu Jun knew how deep the damage 15 days of nonstop working would have on his body. It was a miracle that he did not die beside the autopsy table. Even if he turned into a vegetable, he wouldn't be surprised but now, it was not yet the time for him to fall. 

Every day, 50000 abnormal babies entered the two worlds. Even though it was already less than the number during the peak, the negative selection babies also showed clearer signs of innate defect, most of them had clear physical disfigurement. Furthermore, there were about 10 new murder cases happening daily at Eastern State and it was on the rise. The missing negative selection suspect was already over 100 people. Neither Phecda nor the Zoogs could find them. Therefore, the Investigation Department came up with a hypothesis. Was it possible that the suspects had exploded and blown into the wind as black dust like the Black Billy Goat? Or they had liquified? That was the only explanation why they could not be found until now. 

Ever since the shadow with Shub-Niggurath's energy appeared, more than several ten thousand families had been affected in less than a month and the situation was worsening by the day. How could he fall at a moment like this… 

Gu Jun cleared his thoughts and focused on the latest system message, "Click to accept your rewards: 1 instance of communication with the City of Dusk; 1 medical skill; unknown." Just reading the words excited Gu Jun. The harder the mission, the greater the reward. He was eager to grab the two first rewards and he also anticipated the unknown reward. 'Hopefully this reward can resolve my current state…' He thought to himself. He wished that he wouldn't be turned into a cat. Different from Dirty-minded Yu, he wouldn't feel safe being a cat, after all in horror movies, cats were signs of bad luck… 

With his mind made, Gu Jun focused his mind to 'click'. There was instantly a buzz and a golden light washed away the darkness like dawn coming after a long night. Gu Jun was bathed in a warm light. The sun caressed his body, entering his pore, bringing life to his every cell. 

"Ah…" Gu Jun could feel himself being reactivated. The extreme lethargy from the endless workload was washed away like spring bringing life back. He was reminded of the Goddess of Life fountain at Carlot Academy, pure, clear and bright. The power of the City of Dusk was very similar, probably perhaps they were both forces that came from the lightness in humanity. Gu Jun was like a baby baptized in light and was reborn. He could feel the power of the Son of Misfortune which lingered within him fading away. It felt like some kind of shackles had fallen away, it made him feel more autonomous and transparent. 'Is this the system reward, or is it just the state I'll be in whenever I receive the reward?' 

Gu Jun somewhat got it now. He was not in a coma but a dream. He was in the state he needed to be to accept the reward. This way, his body would be able to absorb the energy blast from the City of Dusk quicker and better. This was a cleansing brought by the autopsy quest… Gu Jun wondered. To have a better digestive effect, then I should make use of the breakthroughs I made in my quest. With that in mind, he unloaded the memories from the recent Black Billy Goat autopsies… The skin, the bone, the regenerative fluid, the abnormal gland, the adrenal gland… The various organs, layers and structure of the goat's leg rushed around him like waves. There was no savage slamming of waves, instead the water submerged like a healing pool. 

He would gain strength from the autopsy and reach into the truth of life from the autopsy. Gu Jun felt that when he was inside the underground tunnel at the banyan tree space. That was the way of the Carlot Doctors. Before his autopsy science skill reached level 2, before this baptism, Gu Jun's progress halted. But now some new understanding entered his mind. They were hard to explain but he understood them better. 

This baptism… was it not similar to the baptism at the Goddess of Life fountain? 

The confirmation entered Gu Jun's mind and his surroundings changed. In the blurry light, the memory of the Goddess of Life fountain appeared. It was much realer than the one in his vision. He realized it was not Carlot Academy around the fountain. However, the buildings were equally imposing, familiar and graceful… This was the City of Dusk. The Goddess of Life fountain at Carlot Academy was remade at the City of Dusk?

The previous question Gu Jun had returned, 'were there foreign world citizens among the Rudolph Carter Foundation? Or Spirit Children who were connected to the foreign world?'

Gu Jun knew that the world who had summoned the Son of Misfortune and was destroyed by the malformed banyan disease still existed. As his mind fluttered, the scene around him solidified. Gu Jun's senses of his body returned, but something about it still felt unreal. Then it dawned on him. He was dreaming, he was floating in essence…

'I'm dreaming… lucid dreaming.' To be fair, Gu Jun had not arrived at Dreamlands through lucid dreaming before. Every time, he ventured there physically through the channels. But now he was clearly lucid dreaming as he headed towards the City of Dusk.

Does this mean the City of Dusk was situated at the Dreamlands?