Plague Doctor

Chapter 368: The Call of the Girls

From Phecda, the leader of the medical unit was Professor Peng Jianlong, and the leader of the investigation unit was Wang Ke. With a wealth of societal experience, the hospital directors and department heads saw with one glance that most members of the medical unit were too young to be experienced medical staff. They were probably just interns. Nervousness was plain on their faces. However, among them, there was a young woman named Jiang Banxia who stood out from the others. She appeared calm and collected. After a brief greeting, Prof Peng and Captain Ke asked for details from Liu Guolin and Yu Chunhui, the two on-duty emergency room doctors.

Of the 3 patients, Liu Guolin only consulted Guo Qinying, the other two girls were Yu Chunhui’s patients. When Doctor Yu consulted the second girl, he did not think much of it either but when the third girl with the same symptoms appeared, the alarm bell rang in his head. Once he went through the hospital records and saw there was a previous patient with similar symptoms, he realised instantly how serious the situation was. However, the reason this incident was picked up by Phecda was because many parents from this district called the Phecda hotline to ask for help with similar problems.

“At the time, the patient looked healthy in my eyes...” Liu Guolin said with regret. “She did not have any motor tic or other strange manifestation. So I thought she was just playing a trick on her parents. I did not consider the possibility of Tourette...” And so far, none of the 3 girls showed any tics since their hospitalization.

“Doctor Liu, Doctor Yu.” Wang Ke said, “We need you to remember as many details from the consultation you had with the patients as you can. We will record them down.”

Currently there were 15 sick children at Nan Xiang City and there were also some at Eastern State. This was working up to be an epidemic. However, Tourette Syndrome was not supposed to be contagious. While the exact cause is unknown, it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Therefore, in this case, supernatural forces had to be involved. That initiated Phecda’s quick response. The headquarters said that this was probably related to an incident that recently happened at Shen Hai City. Wang Ke did not know the details but he knew it was related to Gu Jun...

They chose to visit this hospital because Nan Xiang City had the most recorded patients and Third People Hospital had the earliest recorded patient.

The medical unit launched into work. It pained everyone’s heart that these innocent girls were targeted. However, they had examinations to conduct. Was this illness contagious? And if it was, what was its transmission method? Was it virus, bacteria, or parasite... they had to check for everything. After the people from the disease control centre collected their samples, Prof Peng led his people into the quarantine rooms for medical enquiries.

Honestly, Doctor Liu could not be blamed in this case because it was really hard to tell there was anything wrong with the three girls just from observation alone. Other than tiredness, and shyness from being surrounded by so many strangers, there was nothing wrong with them. Their enquiries led to nothing but it caused Wang Ke to frown when he heard their discovery. All of the parents said that the girls started to make strange noises after their parents told them bedtime stories and put them to bed. The motor tics of blinking also only exacerbated at night.

“Tourette Syndrome consists of both acute and latent types.” Outside the room, Superior Zhang told Liu Guolin who just finished his recording. His face was lined with confusion, “There is normally a stage of onset. Gaining such conspicuous motor tic in just half a day is not normal...”

“Superior Zhang, since supernatural forces are involved, it’s beyond our comprehension already.” Liu Guolin grumbled, afraid that he’d carry the blame. He knew the severity of the situation. He was worried that he’d be made into the scapegoat, that he would be blamed for the incorrect diagnosis...

“That’s right.” Yu Huichun had the same worry. He glanced at the people in Phecda uniform from the corner of his eyes. He complained in a whisper. “Phecda did not give us any warning to be on the lookout for Tourette Syndrome. This is their mistake, it’s hardly our fault...”

“Is this time to talk about things like that?!” Leader Zhang exploded, “If this turns out to be another tragedy like legionella pneumonia, just imagine the scope of the tragedy we’re in! I know what you’re thinking! You’re scared that Phecda will shift the blame unto you, aren’t you? Let me tell you, they are not like us, they sincerely have the public’s interest at heart!”

Liu Guolin was annoyed by the lecture but he knew better than to retort. Zhang Dongliang was much slicker than he was and knew how to survive in different situations. However, he was also a good and professional doctor and he had taught Liu Guolin a lot. For example, in terms of prescribing medication, it was Zhang Dongling who taught him to base it on the patient’s dressing. If they were well-dressed, prescribe the expensive drugs; and if they were normally dressed, prescribe the cheap drugs. Like what Zhang Dongliang said, the world was not black and white, it was mostly grey.

Therefore, Liu Guolin was not surprised that Zhang Dongliang tried to butter himself up to Phecda. Compared to Superior Zhang, he was still too fresh in this game of society... If he had stayed longer yesterday night, perhaps Phecda would have intervened earlier and he’d be spared the blame.

“Xiao Liu, Xiao Yu, I know work must be hard on all of you considering the stress we suffer daily.” Superior Zhang sighed, “But there are different scales of severity, and this is right on top.. In such situations, it’s pointless to focus on the small things.”

“Superior Zhang, then what should we do now?” Yu Chenhui asked.

“We’ll start with the examinations like MRI, CT scan and so on... to see if we’re really dealing with Tourette.” Superior Zhang was about to continue when a strange sound interrupted him. It startled Prof Peng inside Guo Qinying’s room as well as Wang Ke who was interviewing the other hospital staff. The strange voices drifted into all of their ears and it appeared to emit from all three quarantine rooms at the same time.

Little Qin Ying’s face twisted into indescribable ugliness, her throat evoked a strangling voice. Phecda members like Jiang Banxia and the doctors like Liu Guolin finally understood the concern of the girls’ parents. They too could not describe this sound, it was like the sound of something wiggling in the deep abyss...

This was not Tourette Syndrome... A vocal tic did not sound anything like this...

The three girls called after something unanimously. Suddenly, it hit Wang Ke and Jiang Banxia. They were summoning a person’s name.

“Gu Jun... Gu Jun...”

Wang Ke was immediately reminded of the Malformed Banyan Disease. When part of the patients saw Gu Jun, they’d become agitated and screamed at Gu Jun, calling him, ‘the thing inside the banyan tree’.

...

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