‘An epidemic that can turn normal humans into zombies?’
The first page of the diary had already provided Gu Jun with a huge surprise.
‘There have been records of zombies in the foreign civilization, and there was an epidemic behind it?’
Naturally, the term ‘zombies’ had a different translation in the foreign language, but Gu Jun understood it clearly. In the foreign language, the word zombie had two morphemes—one meaning flesh-eating, the other monster. ‘Flesh-eating’ also carried the connotation of ‘necrophiliac’ and ‘body-snatcher’ in the foreign language. Other than that, there were many terms that had the meaning of ‘monsters’ in the foreign language, and each of them had a different connotation depending on the type of monster. The one affixed to the term ‘zombies’ meant one that had ‘long claws and sharp teeth’. It was normally associated with beasts. However, the morpheme used to describe the Necro-skins had the meaning of ‘horrifying subject’.
‘Long claws and sharp teeth...’ Gu Jun was reminded of Chen Defa lying in the morgue. They seemed to refer to the same species. Language was used to communicate information, both directly and indirectly. For example, from this watcher’s diary, Gu Jun could glean that zombies were less terrifying than the Necro-skins in the eyes of the people from the foreign civilization. At least when this diary was written, the zombies were only associated with wild beasts.
‘Is this why the watchers were placed before the infected homes? They believed the epidemic could be contained that way?’
These thoughts crossed Gu Jun’s mind before he moved onto other questions.
‘When did the zombie epidemic happen? Before, at the same time as, or after the hemoptysis?’
The diary did not have a clear date, but then again, even if it did, Gu Jun doubted he could understand it. The material of the diary itself was of no help; it was made of the same material as Raybundy’s diary and had the same yellowed coloring.
‘Maybe the diary entry will extrapolate further on this.’ With these questions, Gu Jun continued to read.
“The epidemic came from Laken City, and it carried with it some horrifying rumors. The first infected patient was confirmed about three months ago when they showed clear signs of zombification. Two weeks after that, more than five thousand people at Laken were infected. According to rumors, a large grave was dug outside the city wall. The grave went so deep that it penetrated the underground current. The bodies of the victims were supposedly all dumped down this hole.
“When they dug the first grave, they believed it was large enough to sustain them through the epidemic, but in less than a month, several more similar graves appeared outside Laken. Everyone that came from Laken had to be seriously inspected before they were allowed in other cities. In fact, our small town had a gravedigger that came from Laken. The first place he visited was Ol’ Wales’ tavern. He had tales to be shared, and after some drinks, he revealed that it was not only the dead that were deposited inside the graves. Some of them were infected patients with much humanity left in them, but they were not spared the fate of the detestable death either.
“According to the gravedigger, before they were tossed in, some were pleading and crying, and others were shouting and cursing. The worst were the ones who did not resist. It was like they had been enraptured by something else. Without being pushed, they voluntarily jumped into the open grave while chanting some kind of weird language. Before they landed on the ground, their souls had already left their bodies.
“The description chilled the tavern patrons to the bone. Was there no other solution?”
“To which the gravedigger answered, ‘You have to understand that this is to control the epidemic, and it is one approved by the group of Carlot doctors, so what better solution could there be?’
“That came as another horrifying surprise to the villagers. To think that the respected Carlot doctors would commit to something as inhuman as this. It was no surprise that many of the drinkers responded badly to this revelation. They claimed that it was fake news, and the alcohol had gotten to the gravedigger’s head. We have too much respect for the Carlot doctors to have their name slandered like that. Some even got into physical altercation with the gravedigger because of it. The guards were summoned and hauled the arguing parties out of the tavern.
“Eventually, the event settled down, and lives carried on as usual. Our little town of Warsong is quite a distance away from Laken and the rest of the civilized world, in fact. This kind of isolation helped prevent the town from being noticed by the world at large. None of the events, good or bad, had reached our little hovel before. Warsong Town had no Carlot doctors and no plague. All we had were a bunch of farmers.
“Or so we thought half a month ago, but now I am guarding the house of Mr. Chandler. The epidemic came so suddenly. It was just like how it was rumored to start at Laken. There was a strange incident that happened one night half a month ago. Many villagers reported to have experienced the same nightmare. After they woke, they all suffered from the same symptoms.”
‘Nightmares...’ Gu Jun’s brows were hiked high. The method of transmission was similar; it was also through a nightmare. The other similarities included the fact that the illness would rapidly mutate the patient’s body, and it was also deeply connected to the zombies.
“The mutation from human to zombie happened very quickly. It was as if the body was mutating every single second. According to rumors, the whole mutation takes half a month to complete. Our small town has been ravaged by the epidemic for half a month already, but I have no idea what is happening inside the house that I am guarding. After the patients were confirmed to be infected, they were homebound. We feed them daily, and any kind of interaction is forbidden.
“The patients were isolated like this because the orders given by Carlot stated that close proximity between the patients would accelerate their mutation. It was because of the corruption to their mind that elicited the mutation in their body. If they were allowed to gather and form a closer mental bond, it would cause unimaginable tragedy.
“This morning, the mayor led a bunch of people to start the progress of digging graves outside the town. Everyone was already preparing for the worst.”
Gu Jun’s heart chilled after he finished reading the first entry. It was the same Nightmare Illness for they shared the same pathology. Currently, Phecda had gathered all the patients together for convenient management and treatment, but according to this diary, that was the wrong thing to do... This would explain why even if they had cured the existing patients, the illness was still spreading.
“I need to give this information to Phecda so that the patients are isolated.” Gu Jun was worried. This now concerned more than just the patients. According to the diary, if the patients were allowed to gather and form a closer mental bond, it would cause unimaginable tragedy. Gu Jun had no intention of knowing what that ‘unimaginable tragedy’ would be. Then again, how authentic was the information from this diary. How could Gu Jun be sure that the solution provided by the Carlot doctors was the best? He decided to read the diary further before calling Commander Yao.
Gu Jun read faster, but he did not miss any details. As he read, his mind was also analyzing the information. He believed this epidemic occurred before the hemoptysis based on the respect the watcher still had for the Carlot Doctors. Even though the zombie epidemic was spreading, the people still had great hope in the Carlot doctors. Even though the diary recorded many deaths, there was no despair between the lines. The hope represented by the Carlot doctors was shining through.
The watcher was assigned to Mr. Chandler’s home. Mr. Chandler was a young man that came from the few affluent families in town. In fact, he was given the chance to apply to Carlot Academy to become a doctor, but Mr. Chandler never did leave Warsong. No one knew why and eventually chalked it up to a lack of ambition. After all, he could enjoy a life of luxury with the inheritance left behind by his ancestors.
But now, in the large manor, all the servants had been ordered away, and the spacious house became a prison for Mr. Chandler alone.
And the next diary entry recorded the ‘incident’ that happened that night.
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