Plague Doctor

Chapter 460: To Be Humans or Not

“As you wish.” Just as Keziah Mason knelt down, the tall figure waved and instantly a red light gushed towards her. The light shot at Gu Jun’s group but strangely enough, it stopped right before Keziah Mason. Wu Siyu jumped onto Gu Jun’s shoulders. Yu Chi wanted to reach out to push Keziah Mason out of the way but he was too late. Mason ballooned up and then quickly shrivelled. Her skin cracked like old tree bark and her hair grew wild like grass. Mason did not even have time to say anything and the transformation was already complete. She turned from a beautiful young lady to an old hag. She aged about several hundred years in a second. Smell of decomposition radiated from her and the green in her eyes was different. Gu Jun had seen this new sharp gaze before, it was that oak witch.

Suddenly, the witch disappeared beside them and reappeared right under the tall figure.

“My dear brother, we meet again.” The witch looked at Gu Jun and chuckled. Her face pleated in wrinkles and her nose curved in an ugly hook. Her white teeth fell out and turned yellow. She looked just like the evil witch from fairy tales. “I wanted to consume all of you earlier so that I could have the god’s blessing all to myself.” She said, “But I’m sure my God has his reason to keep all of you until now.”

Nyarlathotep did not comment anything but continued his countdown. There was a small commotion among the kneeling cultists. How could this thing be the Locust God… the blessing was unlike anything they had received in the past… Locust God should only be interested in destruction, nothingness was everything. Why would the God who had the truth of the universe in his hands be interested in the souls of a few infidels? He should have sent the locusts upon them and be done with it…

“You are not the Locust God.” A middle-aged cultist couldn’t resist raising his head to say, “You are a false God!” This time, Nyarlathotep did not even deign to react. However, Keziah Mason reached out her right hand. She closed her gnarly fingers and yanked the cultist into her grasp. Her claws gripped around the man’s head like a clamp.

“Ha ha ha…” The cultist showed no fear, only fanaticism, “The Locust God will eventually descend!”

Keziah Mason closed her hand and the man’s head cracked like an egg. The splattered mess was filled with wiggling parasites. Some of the parasites stuck to the witch’s palm. They twisted and turned. She lifted her palm to her lips. The long black tongue slurped the parasites up. The witch chewed on them and swallowed with satisfaction.

“Master, can you bequeath me the face of this ‘Locust God’? It is so fun.”

“Witch, don’t get ahead of yourself. You still have other competition.” Nyarlathotep said.

“Oh?” Keziah Mason moved her eyes towards Gu Jun, Yu Chi and Wu Siyu.

“Consciousness transfer?” Yu Chi mumbled, “Mind consumption? The witch from the future consumed Miss Mason from the past?” But it was far more advanced than the Yith’s technology, the process took less than a second.

“Or this is what it is meant to be all along?” The witch’s gaze filled with contempt. “You think that I’ve changed but the fact is I’ve merely opened my eyes to witness more. Temporal shackles do not exist. The past, present and future are merely how humanity understands the rule of the universe. These concepts are entirely pliable within the hands of God, God is the rule itself.” Her eyes then softened with pity, “Of course, I do not expect common humans like yourself to really understand it.”

“So this is really what you want?” Yu Chi still had not given up on his persuasion. “Miss Mason, don’t you despise sin and sinners?”

Gu Jun knew Keziah Mason was a lost cause. Despite what she said, the shadows from her past made her the witch that she was today.

He was more concerned about the two worlds. In the scrolls, the two mutated areas continued to expand and corrupt the land of Mo Bei. He saw the failure of the One. The ancient seal web failed to form. He saw Wang Ruoxiang, Cai Zixuan depart for the frontline… He heard Wang Ruoxiang say that she would summon Byakee to fight the flying polypus hydroids. There were not many members who had trained to the 5th chapter of the Seven Cryptical Book of Hsan. The Byakee summoned by Peacock and Malachite was merely a weak, mental projection of the real thing; to summon the real Byakee, one had to surrender one’s mind to the dark corruption of the book. This was a last resort…

“No, what I hate is weakness, and weakness is sin.” Keziah Mason explained with a smile. “Weakness, like what you are now. You are powerless when the people you care about die, you are powerless when you are going to die. Weakness, because a random illness can destroy your life so easily, even the richest man can die just like that. Doctor Gu, you should know this feeling very well. Weakness is human and human is weakness.”

Legionella pneumonia, the mutated skin disease, the thousand-eyed worm, the Conqueror Worm… The images flashed before his eyes. Gu Jun’s head cracked with pain. The ball of chaos in his mind slowly churned.

“Weakness is the inability to do anything.” The witch continued, “I am unlike you, I do not want to be weak anymore.”

“So you do not wish to be human anymore?” Wu Siyu asked.

“Of course.” Keziah Mason had no love for human life and humanity, “What is so good about being human?”

“Hmm…” Wu Siyu titled her cat’s head. “Well, I do think I have a say in that since I’ve been both cat and human. Well for one, humans have gluteus maximus and mine is quite big if I do say so myself. It is more comfortable to sit on. And when lying down, the human body is more comfortable than a cat’s body.”

The witch’s wrinkled face scoffed with derision.

“Wu Siyu, as long as you serve me.” Nyarlathotep offered, “You can take any shape you want.”

“Just the sound of that is so troublesome.” Wu Siyu curled back her ears. “Humans have spent decades evolving to its current state. You want me to start from scratch? No, thank you. Too much trouble for my comfort.”

“What are you talking about?!” Keziah Mason opened her hands. She wanted to crush this annoying cat.

“Halt. Their time is not up yet.” Nyarlathotep warned. “Tik tok. You have 30 seconds left.”

“Oh, right, there is one more benefit to be human.” Wu Siyu added, “Humans are considered to have lived a long life if he lives past 100 years old. By then, one would have gotten fed up with life already. I cannot imagine living up to 1000 years old. That would mean I have to eat 1000 cakes, my stomach won’t have space for that.” She then nodded confidently, “Furthermore, if one unfortunately dies at 20 years old, that’s like only one-fifth of a full life, when you think of it that way, those who die young only lost 4/5th of their life. That’s already a lot but if one’s life expectancy is more than 1000 years, then it’s far too easy to die before one has even reached one’s prime. The potential lost will be 20/1000! In terms of probability, being human is much more worth it.”