Plague Doctor

Chapter 331: Around the Stone Plaque

With a buzz, Gu Jun felt his consciousness rising above the plain, torn away by the screams and the wind. He could see the monsters closing in on the agents. He saw the gun firing and flesh flying... His consciousness was soon pulled towards the mountain range. Distance became relative. In just a few moments, he arrived at the hill. The summit was barren, all the plants at the verge of death. He arrived at the hill in Jack Wales’ story and saw the stream that split the valley into two. On the opposite hill, there stood a stone plaque! Dark shadows crowded around it. The stone plaque was as large as a skyscraper, it shattered the logic of physics. The surface was covered in symbols, texts and pictures.

Gu Jun captured the likeness of the Deep Ones among the picture. There was also a large and vicious shadow.

At the bottom, there was an indescribable giant shadow... He had seen the similar shadow on the statue of the Ancient Tomb and the Inuit’s carving. It was the Great Old One slumbering at the bottom of R’yleh. This proved that the Deep Ones and Dagon were the servants of the lord of R’yleh.

“Wait... that is...” In the middle of the plaque, a twisted form of a human being was stuck there. He could recognize it as Tian Yi. However, the girl’s body was covered in scales. Without any rope attaching her to the plaque, she was somehow suspended there. Her limbs overlapped with the twisted limbs pictured on the plaque. Her face was devoid of life. Her eyes were black like the eyes of an abyss. Before her, about 20 Deep Ones stood in her defence.

Individuals in black robes stood behind the Deep Ones. They were separated into different groups. Most of them had different faces, only about 10 of them had the same wilted faces. They were all filled with fanaticism as they waved their limbs in a rhythmic and strange manner. It was some kind of ritual...

Another group which consisted of all wilted faces walked around the stone plaque. They sang the Conqueror Worm, summoning Dagon. The last group was a small cluster of individuals in red robes. They stood to the side watching coolly.

At that moment, just underneath Tian Yi, a whirlpool-like black hole appeared. It was as if the door to hell had opened. The cultists stopped their strange dancing. They walked towards the black hole without hesitation. These words were chanted firmly on their lips, “That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die. In Dagon’s name, tragedy shall come!” They walked through the black hole into the stone plaque. The moment they were swallowed up, their fanatic cries turned into extreme shrieks. The sound was only made possible by those tortured in hell. However, that did not stop the others from following the ones before them.

“Sacrifices... these people are making sacrifices out of themselves...” Gu Jun’s heart trembled from this scene. The cultists were sacrificing themselves for Dagon... The Afterlife Cult borrowed Dagon’s power to perform the ritual of the Conqueror Worm... and created this Mutated Scale Illness... He seemed to hear a voice saying, ‘Child, do you understand it now? Yes, everything we’ve done is for you.’

Something spliced through Gu Jun’s brain. Information surged into his mind from the stone plaque, instantly many things cleared. The ritual of the Conqueror Worm was made in his name... It was for the pleasure of the Son of Misfortune... The individuals consumed by the stone plaque were the sacrifice the Afterlife Cult used to gain Dagon’s blessing. The Mutated Scale Disease would not transform one into Deep Ones but the illness would cause biological complications that would lead to death. Dagon’s blessing was its pathological origin, it was a type of psychological sea worm. The Conqueror Worm was its medium. The tragedy would descend randomly on people on stage.

Tian Yi, there was nothing too special about her. She was merely the first actor to be struck down by the blessing. It had nothing to do with her background, such was the randomness of tragedy. But the moment she became Patient Zero, her existence took on a uniqueness as she became the herald of this ritual. She was already trailed the night she visited the doctor. The second day she was summoned to the riverside and brought here by the Deep Ones. She was consumed by the stone plaque. Her consciousness was blasted out of her body but she could now visit other patients’ mental world and she chose to visit her idol, Xie Yiman.

“This is meant for me...” Gu Jun’s body was gripped by pain. His earlier suspicion was confirmed. This ritual was targeted at him. The warning he received was real. The Afterlife Cult did not control everything, if anything, they had paid heavily to gain Dagon’s blessing. Who knew how many of its members had been turned into sacrifice? This bunch of people not only wanted to create chaos and terror, they wanted to end him so that the Son of Misfortune could take over his body as a vessel. The dark force installed by the Mutated Scale Disease would sustain the Conqueror Worm and that was why the power of darkness grew within him. Over the past 2 years, the Afterlife Cult had been trying to consume, persuade, control him but it all failed... Instead, he interrupted the evils of the Afterlife Cult and R’yleh Cult again and again.

After the failure of legionella pneumonia, these people gave up the idea of winning Gu Jun over—If Gu Jun was willing to surrender to darkness, and utilize the power of the Son of Misfortune, he would be a powerful weapon, but now, wiping Gu Jun out of existence became these people’s first objective. Ending him and ending Deng Ximei, two Spirit Children who had turned against the organization. After he was gone, the Son of Misfortune would take his place...

The voice began again, ‘Child, this could have been all yours but you have given up the opportunity to become something greater... But we are not surprised, humanity is not divinity. It is your fate and our fate... For example, it was you who brought on this plague of mutated skin.” Gu Jun felt the dark energy seeping into his heart, he was dying. “It was your destruction of our communication bases that interrupted our initial ritual, but that helped start this ritual and heralded the tragedies.”

The information poured in from the plaque. Afterlife Cult’s initial plan did not include borrowing Dagon’s power. Their original plan was to use the horror collected at London and New York to summon the young of the Conqueror Worm at Li Qi Zai. To feed the worm, they would direct the worm to the nearest theatre to feast on the actors on stage. They chose to conduct the ritual at Da Hwa City because it was close to Phecda’s headquarters. They still had things to do after the ritual. The expected result was to have Deng Ximei die in their hands and Gu Jun eclipsed by the rise of dark energy within him. But Afterlife Cult did not want him dead, they still needed his body to summon the Son of Misfortune. It was why they had not attempted assassination. Without enough preparation, his death would not invoke the Son of Misfortune and a common man’s body could not support the presence of the Son of Misfortune. Therefore a better vessel had to be manufactured. The Son of Misfortune would not appreciate being limited to a single form. When the young worm consumed and digested the power of Misfortune, it would grow into the real Conqueror Worm. For this plan, the Afterlife Cult had worked for years in secret but they did not expect Deng Ximei to know the location of these communication bases.

“Ah Mei was not lying, she just wanted to have a new life...” The images on the hill blurred. Gu Jun wanted to do something but mysterious forces held him back. Deng Ximei was in danger and so was he...

This island was Dagon’s lair, it was not within the control of the Afterlife Cult or the Deep Ones. This place was not somewhere common creatures could fathom. If not for the intervention of the agents on the island, the ritual would continue and more patients would appear. More dark energy would gather and eventually the dark forces within Gu Jun would consume him... But since the agents arrived on the island, the Afterlife Cult had to change their plans.

To accelerate the ritual, the cultists sacrificed themselves. The Afterlife Cult did not have that many members left. They had already sacrificed a lot to the House of Worm. The thousand-eyed worm consisted of many cultists; Other than that, a large chunk of their members died at the House of Nightmare and on the ghost ships. Then more perished at the communication bases. For this ritual, the organization paid a lot. This was the final strike of the Afterlife Cult, it was time for a showdown. Everything they did was to summon misfortune. Once the Son of Misfortune arrived, all their failures would be worthwhile...

Tragedy, tragedy... Xue Ba heard the call and died on the spot...

If this ritual was not stopped, more would succumb to the same call.

Suddenly, Gu Jun’s mind was pulled back by a shrill yelp. The plains flashed before him. He could see Wu Siyu clutching her face in pain. Her voice was shaking, “My face... it’s changing... It’s Ah Mei’s face... Deng Ximei’s face is replacing my own...”

No, I cannot die like this...

Gu Jun’s heart tightened. He was going mad.

...

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