Plague Doctor

Chapter 95: A Song

A cloud of black ravens flew through the gray sky. They gave off an ugly caw, causing the mist around the team to thicken even further.

“Those are people from Lai Sheng Company,” Gu Jun said softly. “I can recognize them. They were wearing clothes like that from my memory.”

Technically speaking, the figures were blurred behind the mist, but their apparel was distinctive enough for Gu Jun to recognize them easily. The rest of the Demon Hunters were already in battle mode, other than Lou Xiaoning of course. The marksmen had their guns aimed at the enemies around them, but as the mist thickened, the figures disappeared behind the giant trees, making them hard to track.

“They’re disappearing...” Yang Henan, who had rapidly set up the sniper rifle, cursed. Even the heat sensor could not look through the creepy giant trees. The group was still catching their beath, but the hissing of the beasts appeared to sound more and more threatening. Gradually, some animals walked out from the mist. Now they all had a closer look. It was unclear whether they were abnormal creatures or an unidentified animal. They had the slick bodies of wolves, but each one was the size of a brown bear. The fur was more like black spines, and the exposed jaws and dripping saliva sent chills down their spines. Before Xue Ba could come to a conclusion, suddenly, the mutated pack of wolves pounced at them. They came from everywhere.

“Assault team. Open fire!” Xue Ba ordered immediately. His face was set with determination. “The rest of you, stay back. Do not waste ammo.”

Zhou Yi, Gao Mingpeng, and the rest pulled the trigger. There were two members positioned on each of the four sides. They all opened fire, and the sound of gunshots echoed through the air. The shell casings rained onto the shrine. The weapons that had defined human history for so long exploded in sparks. The recoil pressed into the members’ muscles, causing their already sore bodies to feel like they were about to tear open into pieces.

However, the beasts did not seem to understand the meaning of fear. Even though the frontline was a blurry mess of guts and blood, those on the back scampered forward to replace the fallen. The dying wails of their kin and the heavy stench of blood only sent the mutated wolves into a deeper maddened trance. They moved faster, and more and more of them stalked out from the mist. They were like a rolling wave of feral madness.

“Sh*t!” Lou Xiaoning cursed loudly. Uncle Dan was responsible for keeping watch over her. This kind of beast had a thick hide; a shot to their body would not be able to take them down. Their weakness was a shot to the head. However, the beasts moved incredibly fast, and the Demon Hunters were in a very bad state. It was impossible to hope that every bullet would be a headshot. As the leader of the marksmen, Lou Xiaoning had the best accuracy. If she was not incapacitated, she would have been a great contributor. To be forced to watch on the sidelines, it must have eaten deeply at her heart.

Lin Mo and the other members of the Scientific Research Department were shocked. From the giant trees to the shrine, there was already a huge trail of dead beasts.

‘Are they really born without fear? That is totally against the rule of nature...’

But Gu Jun was thinking, ‘Are these things even real?’

That suspicion crossed Xue Ba’s mind as well. Instantly, he had Zhou Yi draw one of the wolves into the shrine and only downed it then. The duo moved toward the body while they provided cover for each other. Xue Ba kicked at the dead wolf. It was corporeal; this was not an illusion. This was bad news because the wolves were still coming strong, but they had already exhausted half of their ammo. It was a matter of time until they ran out.

“Prepare to cut through the enemy ranks!” Xue Ba shouted and then turned to ask for Gu Jun’s opinion. “Which way should we go?”

“I don’t know...” Gu Jun’s mind was blank except for the feeling of agitation. Xue Ba had to rely on his own instincts. He chose to charge in the direction opposite from the dead tree. Gu Jun and Zhou Huohuo carried Lin Mo, who had crawled onto the stretcher. The team moved their way out of the shrine as they shot through the wave of wolves. But right at that moment, a strange voice came from the mist. It appeared like the people from Lai Sheng Company were chanting something in the foreign language. It sounded like a song. It was not clear, but it managed to slip into everyone’s heart. The sense of vertigo and agitation in Gu Jun deepened. He mumbled, “This sounds like... a song from the other world...”

“The inception of life echoes from the darkness and voicelessness of the stone tunnel,

“Vipers, worms, and demons dance in mother’s dream,

“From morning til night, pain, pain, pain.”

“How come...” The team moved for about ten steps. It should have brought them out of the shrine, but when they looked around, they realized with shock that they were still standing at the shrine. It appeared like they had circled their way around even though they were sure that they were heading outward. The bullets could fly out, and the beast could charge in, so it was not a spatial problem. That left the possibility that they had fallen for some kind of mental trick.

Xue Ba ordered the team to retreat into the spiral staircase, but the opening had disappeared without a trace. The whole experience felt surreal. It was like they knew they were dreaming. They snapped themselves out of it, only to find themselves trapped in another dream. It was then that the Demon Hunters realized the limitation of their team as well as Phecda. When facing enemies wielding the abnormal energy, they were powerless.

“It’s the song!” Xue Ba shouted until his veins around his neck popped. He tried to use loud volume to disturb the mental hold the enemy had over them. “Focus on something else instead. Filter out the song!”

They had no idea what the song meant, but the melody had a pull on their soul. It was basically impossible not to submerge themselves in the sweet lullaby.

It was unclear whether it was due to his high spirituality or his understanding of the foreign language, but Gu Jun was affected by the song the most. There were already some hallucinations appearing in his vision. The song sounded louder and sweeter.

“The nightmare grows stronger day after day, awaiting the day it is born into the world.

“Mother, great mother is thinking day after day, whether her womb is housing a young creation of life or the dead seed of a zombie.

“Mother’s thoughts of melancholy,

“The birth of life cannot be separated from pain;

“Mother’s thoughts of serenity,

“The birth of life cannot be separated from pain.”

“The birth of life cannot be separated from pain,” Gu Jun mumbled without knowing it. Suddenly, the flickering hallucinations all came into focus. They did not appear to be hallucinations but suppressed memories brought back up to the surface.

‘This shrine...’ Gu Jun remembered it now. This was the location where the people of the foreign civilization had their coming of age ceremony. The stone tunnel that connected Rikers to the shrine, the stone room, the spiral staircase, they were all part of the ceremony. Unlike human civilization, which liked to build upward to reach toward the God in heaven, the people of the foreign civilization believed that the Goddess of Life provided everything through the land beneath their feet.

The ten thousand steps stone tunnel was a descent into her embrace. Entering the stone room was a symbolic return to the earth mother’s womb, and climbing up the spiral staircase was the process of being reborn. The taboo was moving down the spiral staircase. Pushing apart the altar was also a part of the ceremony, symbolizing the difficulty of birth. The swaying and fragility of the stone staircase was part of the intended design. This was because it was meant to symbolize the fragility of the mother during the birth; the welcoming of new life was at the same time an injury to the mother. This song was sung by young men and women during their coming of age ceremony as they completed their rituals.

‘But why would I know all this?’ Gu Jun was confused. ‘How come it feels like I’ve participated in this ceremony personally before? Is it from my childhood?’

The howling of the beasts, the ringing of gunfire, and the singing from the mist mixed into a strange choir. Suddenly, there was a chilling and powerful summon that even Xue Ba and the other Demon Hunters could hear. “Gu Jun, open your eyes. Look around you. Open your eyes!”

The summon smashed heavily on Gu Jun’s heart like a hammer.

At the same time, following the summon, the people in black walked out from the mist surrounding the shrine. They came from different directions but walked in a strangely unified gait. The snipers unloaded their bullets, but the bullets flew through them. There were no screams; they appeared to be mere illusions.

The beasts were still raging, but they did not seem to care about the people in black. Xue Ba, Zhou Yi, and the marksmen’s expressions were tight. The team had finished their store of automatic rifle ammunition. They reached for assault rifles like the one given to Gu Jun, but even the ammo for those was running low.

“Gu Jun, open your eyes. Look around and see what you really are.”

The figures in black materialized out from the mist and approached the shrine. At the same time, the Demon Hunters realized with apprehension and shock that all these people shared the same face.