Plague Doctor

Chapter 170: Sweet Dreams

Translator: Lonelytree

The mist floated on the ocean surface but strangely enough, it appeared to be unable to float onto the deck. Right next to one of the masts, the wooden barrels were spilling over with glittering treasure. Gu Jun eyed the scrolls and books among them and the desire to acquire them rose in his heart.

“Hey, dirty-minded Jun...” Wu Siyu called after him. Reminded of what the old captain mentioned, ‘as long as the speaker is willing to be understood, the listener will naturally understand’, she controlled her intention and asked softly, “Do you think we can knock out this old man and hijack this ship as well as its treasures for ourselves?”

“That’s an idea.” Gu Jun shook his head with a chuckle, “But I don’t think that’s a good one.” The old man’s expression did not change, showing no sign whether he had overheard the two’s conspiracy or not. However, Gu Jun believed this would not be the old man’s first time offering transport to passengers from different worlds. Gu Jun and Wu Siyu were not his first passengers and most probably others had thought about taking advantage of the seemingly frail old man before. Gu Jun turned to glance at the half open cabin door, might the screams belong to the fools who were mad enough to attempt to rob the captain?

“Hmm.” Wu Siyu followed Gu Jun’s gaze and the possible consequence crossed her mind, “Fine... caution appears to be a virtue at the moment.”

“In any case, we should go for the spell books.” Gu Jun began. “That is what we need the most now, not just for this mission but for future ones as well. Furthermore, it will be instrumental to Phecda’s research into spells.” Wu Siyu nodded. “Alright then. Perhaps I can wheedle a deal out of the old man. It is fairly common for shops to offer free samples with their purchase, right? Buying books, gifting food, that sounds logical enough to me.” Gu Jun had no guarantee that was the case, but he turned to the old man and said, “Old Sir, we would like the spell books, the kind that can help us understand spells, learn spells and provide us with the power to defeat our enemies. The literature is best written in the language we can understand and... the sacrifice needed to cast the spell be kept to the bare minimum if possible.”

“You sure are a fussy buyer but... I do happen to have something here that fits your description.” The grey-bearded man answered swiftly. The pair saw the old man reach out his wrinkled right hand and poked into the barrel filled with mystical writings to pull out a book about 8 cm thick. The pages were yellowed and there were some strange and mysterious patterns on the cover, accompanied by some ancient writing...

“That is written in Oracle Bone Script.” Wu Siyu recognized the writing immediately, after all, she was from Shen Hai City’s relic division. “Xuan? It seems to spell the character 玄.”

Even though Gu Jun did not have that much archaeological knowledge, he was familiar with Chinese history to recognize Bone Oracle Script, he just could not read them. ‘Bone Oracle Script, is it? Looks like the tome is written way back in the Early Qin dynasty, at the early formation of our culture.’ Gu Jun could not say he was that surprised. Humans had interacted with occultism when they were still Neanderthals, so their presence among the ancient civilization was not that surprising.

“I suppose you can call this... the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan.” The old man continued evenly. “Unfortunately this is just a copy, the original consists of seven separate scriptures but their current location is unknown... Fret not because this copy is more than enough to satisfy your earlier requirement, especially at a time like this.”

Gu Jun’s heart was racing, Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan? The old man appeared to be able to read his mind. If they were given a spell book from the foreign world, then it would be accessible to him only but if it was a spell book researched by their ancestors, then perhaps it would be accessible to Wu Siyu and even the whole Phecda. Gu Jun used to think that while humanity might have dappled in occultism but no civilization had come up with actual spells before but that appeared not to be the case. Perhaps it merely did not have the luck to enjoy the flourishing magic appeared to have had with the foreign civilization. The reason? Well, it would be a wonder if Gu Jun knew. Perhaps it was lost between generations or replaced by technology... Regardless, he knew he needed this spell book.

“Is there any spell in this book that we can master now?” Gu Jun collected his wits so not to get ahead of himself.

“Any kind of spell book requires time to study and learn.” The old man lectured. “In fact, the same tome might provide different enlightenment depending on its reader.” Wu Siyu’s eyes widened but there was something else on her mind, “Sir, we’re going to take this book, do you have any free gift to go with it?”

This time, the question finally stumped the old man. He paused before saying, “I can gift each of you a choice of weapon, a set of clothes, some tools and a set of food. Your clothes should not even exist here but the ship has casted a protective charm over them, but they will disappear once you disembark from the ship.”

“Okay...” Wu Siyu turned her eyes to the sky, who knew what had popped into her mind from that statement.

“Old sir.” Gu Jun had no idea what the captain wanted in return so he planned to tease out his bottom line slowly, “How about we trade with you this medic kit?” Of course, it did not contain the three Carlot instruments.

“I have no need for them.” The old man rejected without the need to think. Gu Jun’s heart sank, the Carlot instruments were very important to him, they could help stabilize his mental state but it appeared like there was no other choice, “How about this dissecting forceps?”

“No, I don’t want that.” The old man shot him down again.

Gu Jun thought about it. “I have some diaries, and letters in my mind, would those work?” The old man still responded with a headshake so Gu Jun offered, “There is a presence of dark consciousness within me, how about that?” The old man replied, “No, I have no interest in that at all.” Gu Jun was reaching his wit’s end. “I have a brain tumor, would you want that?”

“Ah?” It was not until now that Wu Siyu found out about Gu Jun’s fatal illness. Her brows rose in surprise. “For real?”

“Yes, but it’s stabilized for now.” Gu Jun nodded but Wu Siyu still gave a long sigh.

“No, why would I want that?” The old man retorted.

“Old Sir, in that case, why don’t you tell us directly what is there for us to give you?” Finally Gu Jun relented.

“You can offer me...” The grey-bearded old man said slowly, “your sweet dreams.”

Puzzlement was clear on the pair’s faces so the old man explained, “To dream is an ability, even more so when the dream is a sweet one... Nightmare has its own power, so does its opposite. But everyone has a limited amount of sweet dreams to dream and when all the sweet dreams are gone... one will lose the ability to dream. And those who lost that ability will be summoned by the dream...”

“You mean.” Gu Jun seemed to acquire some kernels of truth from the old man’s words. “The dreamless will be summoned away by the dreamer weavers?”

‘Was that what happened with the Nightmare Illness? All of the patients’ sweet dreams have been taken away? So they could only repeat the same nightmare whenever they sleep?’

The old man did not respond as if realizing he had already revealed too much.

“What kind of influence it will have us should we give you our sweet dreams?” Gu Jun moved onto the other question. He needed to complete this mission, he had to.

“You will not be affected for quite a long time.” The old man assured, “I only need 100 sweet dreams.” Gu Jun was silent, 100 sweet dreams, from his childhood to his current age of 21, had he dreamt that many sweet dreams before? ‘Bloody hell, now is not the time to dawdle, as long as it would not affect this current mission.’ Gu Jun’s mind was made up, he took a deep breath and told Wu Siyu in a serious tone, “Siyu, I’ll surrender all 100 of them.”

“I knew you would say that.” Wu Siyu’s tone lacked surprise.

“Just hear me out first.” Gu Jun stressed. “I am not long for this world.” Even though the physical tumor had stabilized, now he had the psychological tumor to wrestle with. “So I am obviously the clearer candidate, the mission will be too dangerous if both of us are put under duress, at least one of us has to be in prime condition and return with the result... and you are more suitable for that job than I am.” He had a feeling that they would need to utilize more spells when they arrived at that island and the corruption of his mind would only deepen. Probably that was why the ship allowed two passengers to board, one was destined to be the sacrifice.

“But I do not think so.” Wu Siyu looked him in the eye and argued in a rare serious tone, “Because between the two of us, if I have to bet which one of us will survive, my money will be on you. You’re good at spells and have shown again and again you know how to take care of yourself, I on the other hand, have not. If this is how I can contribute, I am more than glad to do it.”

“Aiz, it is not a scrumptious meal on offer here, why are you fighting over this with me?” Gu Jun was not going to waste time on this. He turned back and announced, “Sir, I will offer you 100 sweet dreams of my own! Take them!”

Wu Siyu cried out, “Hey, we were not done discussing it!”

“Very well.” The old man nodded easily. “Your sweet dreams are more valuable after all.” The old man then reached out his right hand and pressed it on Gu Jun’s head. Instantly Gu Jun felt like explosions had gone off inside his brain. Fear and pain from a thousand nightmares filtered into his brain at the same time, the scream escaped from his lips before he could stop himself!

“What...” Wu Siyu was in shock. She saw silvery strands being pulled out of Gu Jun’s head. The strands were radiating a colorful warmth, they sang of security and bliss. For Gu Jun, it was as if the world around him had faded away and it was being replaced by darkness. The happiness of his childhood, every happy moment of his life... they were slowly being replaced by pain and terror...

It was right then that he felt a connection with Landon, the man who had sacrificed everything to serve a greater purpose... Sacrifice is inevitable!

Some images suddenly gushed out of his heart, resisting the external force that was working to claim him, it was the Son of Steel.

“Your sweet dreams...” The grey-bearded old man was shocked, this was the first facial expression he had shown. “What is this power of yours?!”