Plague Doctor

Chapter 241: Lai Hwa Tree

Since Gu Jun completed the abyssal mission under the allotted 100 hours, he got a completion rating of 10 stars. This was the first time Gu Jun got a 10 star rating. He knew the reward was going to be good. However, since the reward was not specified, he found a secluded spot at the base before he pressed the button in his mind to accept his reward. Instantly a white glow suffused his mind, rejuvenating his body.

“You have obtained 3 sweet dreams; you have obtained 1 Carlot Autopsy Hammer; You have obtained one Lai Hwa Tree seedling.” To Gu Jun’s surprise, there were only 3 rewards. The sweet dreams were still the same blank sweet dream bubbles; he pulled out the Carlot hammer, the hilt was 24 cm long and the diameter of the hammerhead was 2.5 cm wide. The hammerhead was joined to the hilt, it was hefty and sturdy. It had a smooth surface and was quite easy to use. It could not be considered long for an autopsy tool, but just for that fact, it was just compact enough for Gu Jun to carry it on his person.

The most surprising reward was definitely the Lai Hwa Tree seedling. Rewards he had received so far had all been shapeless items that only existed in his mind or medical instrument and medicine. Seedling was something that could grow into a tree and this was the first time Gu Jun obtained a living organism as a reward.

Lai Hwa Tree was a translation from the foreign language, the term Lai meant barren field, while Hwa meant flowering, so together it meant blossoming flowers at barren wastelands, turning desert into oasis. ‘Lai Hwa’ carried the meaning of ‘life’ in the foreign language, so the Lai Hwa Tree was the equivalent of a life-giving tree in the foreign culture. Other than that, the term was also a ‘spell’, not a bad but good kind. Based on an educated guess, Gu Jun believed the foreign civilization to view this plant as one blessed by supernatural power, namely, the Goddess of Life.

‘Lai Hwa’ had manifold meaning in the foreign language and with that, a dangerous uncertainty. Even though it was part of a 10 star rating reward, Gu Jun did not manifest the seedling into existence.

“Living organisms are different from an inanimate object,” Gu Jun thought cautiously, “especially for this kind of foreign organism that does not exist on Earth.” Lai Hwa tree was a plant of good luck in the foreign culture, or at least it was once, but would it carry the same meaning on Earth?

In terms of best case scenario, its leaves, fruit and other parts would have miraculous uses. Crucial material could be derived from the plant like how salicylic acid, the main component in Aspirin manufacturing, was derived from willow bark.

But worst case scenario, it would contain plant viruses that could infect Earth’s microorganism, flora and fauna. Gu Jun was reminded of the Malformed Banyan Disease, the banyan trees, the Son of Misfortune and Landon’s love of trees. There was no telling whether the Lai Hwa Tree was a tragedy or blessing... but Gu Jun believed the system would not give him random reward, it would show its use sooner or later. Personally, he believed the seedling was a blessing, but for now caution was necessary.

“Lai Hwa Tree, Lai Hwa Tree... if only there are books I can read on this plant...” However, Gu Jun was so busy during the week that this issue was pushed to the back. For now, he was more focused on Wang Ruoxiang’s treatment, and the solution would not come from the tree, the hammer but the sweet dream bubbles. Gu Jun requested Elder Tong to allow him to bring Wang Ruoxiang on a nature walk around the park, his real purpose being to talk to her in private. Elder Tong approved.

“Monitor, this is a method that I’ve picked up when I was in Dreamlands.” He explained the concept of sweet dream bubbles to Wang Ruoxiang and how she could be summoned there through forging of mental bonds. With the aid of this ‘psychological shelter’, she would not be under so much pain during the cleansing session. Therefore, she could go through a longer treatment, thus bringing about a more effective result.

With Wang Ruoxiang’s ingenuity, she grasped Gu Jun’s plan without the need for him to go into details. “You only have 3 sweet dream bubbles left, are you sure you want to waste one on me?” She believed these bubbles could be used for greater purposes like creating secret communication channels between mission members that could cross great distance. Just think about it, if radio signals went down and the members were separated from each other, the bubbles would come in handy for information exchange.

“Don’t you worry about that.” Gu Jun sighed helplessly, “That’s for future us to worry, we need to deal with your imminent problem now.”

It was worth noting that Wang Ruoxiang had indeed touched upon the rarity of blank sweet dream bubbles. After Gu Jun returned from Dreamlands and his mental corruption rate lowered to normal, the reward of the daily Abyssal Mission reverted to normal autopsy-related ones. Gu Jun had the notion that he would not be receiving any new sweet dream bubbles any time soon, so he needed to ration out the existing three that he had. It was why he did not form a sweet dream bond with Wu Siyu even though her cotton candy dream was extremely resistant to mental pressure. However, as a friend and a doctor, he had to help cure Ruoxiang’s training symptoms.

“Okay then.” Wang Ruoxiang nodded, her eyes shining with appreciation. “You can begin now.”

“First, I need you to tell me a sweet dream of yours.”

“How about world peace? That is the most important dream on my mind now.”

“At least that does not sound like the sweet dream of a Brotherhood member, if anything, it’s more like the answer of a pageant queen.” Gu Jun chided her. He opened a sweet dream bubble in his mind and entered the playhouse. After the audience member sat down, he started the play. How would one imagine world peace? He conjured up a group of people from different nationalities holding hands and singing on stage. At the same time, he summoned, “Wang Ruoxiang, Wang Ruoxiang.”

He had not bridged a mental bond with Wang Ruoxiang before, but thankfully they were physically close to each other. Soon the audience member took on the appearance of a pretty woman. Her beautiful face looked around in confusion, “Gu Jun? Is this it? Is it working?” Her voice was rather echoey but it was unclear whether it was due to her state of mental corruption or their weak bond. Regardless, Gu Jun knew the sweet dream had been established, this had become Wang Ruoxiang’s domain.

In the dream, he explained to her how it worked and then reminded her to keep it a secret. He did not know how to create blank sweet dream bubbles and he wanted to keep the whole thing a secret from Phecda. Wang Ruoxiang gave her promise, knowing the complicated bureaucracy of the organization. In the next two days, Gu Jun summoned Ruoxiang into the sweet dreams at different times to strengthen the stability of the dream and their bond.

The 4th round of the cleansing treatment came as scheduled. It was also the first time the spell department used the opaline stone in conjunction with the cleansing treatment. During this treatment, Wang Ruoxiang’s treatment time was longer than the collective time of her previous three sessions and she showed conspicuous less pain and resistance to the stone. The opaline stone showed that her corruption rate had lowered from medium yellow to dark blue. It was very successful.

“The higher the corruption, the harder it would be to cleanse but it’ll be much easier from now on. Of course, her will of steel has worked wonders as well.” Gu Jun did tell the truth, he merely omitted some details.

Yao Sinian was very satisfied. Out of his trust in Gu Jun, he did not question the sudden improvement in the result. Furthermore, the explanation given sounded valid. 2 days later, which was 2 weeks since the rescue mission, the headquarters finally announced their administrative decision regarding this incident.