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Chapter 36: 36

At the entrance of the morgue, there were two mobile stretcher beds . Gu Jun casually walked in and was suddenly greeted by a cold gust of air .

Gu Jun looked around . This was actually the first time he had set foot in this place . It was not very spacious . The ceiling lights were dim, and two large stainless steel body refrigerators adorned both sides of the morgue . Each has ten mortuary cabinets and cabinet doors . They were firmly sealed, and it was a mystery if there was a body inside .

In front of him, there were some tool cabinets, as well as a few mobile stretcher beds and a few blue medical screens . Apart from that, there was nothing much .

Although the morgue was portrayed as a horrifying place in all kinds of horror movies, it was actually so small and nothing fear-inspiring .

From the moment Gu Jun walked through the door, his heart sank . As he took a step closer to the left refrigerator, the sense of oppression grew even heavier with a trace of turmoil swirling inside . Warning bells were sounding in his heart, and he became more cautious . “I’m deliberately taking the initiative to trigger an unknown vision, I wonder if I can bear it?”

It must be made known that after every vision, pain would explode across his brain nerves, and his whole person would feel utterly drained of mental strength .

Gu Jun cautiously stopped his footsteps and opened the system interface to check the host’s status . Both his heart rate and blood pressure were rising, which proved that triggering illusions did have an effect on his body . “Heart rate is 100 BPM, which is the borderline of the normal range . It’s still acceptable for now . ” He continued to walk forward while paying attention to the heart rate indicator .

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One step, heart rate: 115 BPM

Two steps, heart rate: 130 BPM

Three steps, heart rate: 145 BPM

Gu Jun sucked in a deep breath . In the span of a few steps, his heart rate suddenly became too fast as though he did some vigorous exercise . These numbers were approaching the danger zone . His heart thumped violently in his chest, and a sense of deja vu plagued his vision . It was as if he had been here before, that this was not the first time this happened .

Three and a half steps, heart rate: 150 BPM .

The morgue was right in front of him . Although the sight had not turned into a vision yet, Gu Jun had a sense of certainty knowing what he was supposed to do .

“According to the previous increase in heart rate, the vision should be about 160-180 BPM which is slightly dangerous . It may be a case of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia1, but my heart has no history of diseases . For occasional instances of overclocking, it should be able to hold out even if it continues for a few hours . ”

1

Gu Jun gingerly raised his right hand and pressed his palm against the stainless steel surface of the mortuary cabinet . The skin of the palm felt a sudden iciness . The cold immediately wormed in flowing through the superficial fascia, deep fascia… piercing straight to the bone!

1

His heart rate was 185 BPM, and his heart thumped ferociously as though it wanted to jump out of his chest . He felt abnormal cramps and increased difficulty in breathing . The scene in front of him blurred and was illusory . Everything seemed to have gone far away, yet they seemed to be incomparably close as well .

His inference was right . As long as the three conditions were satisfied at the same time, the corresponding hallucinations can be triggered .

The chaotic bright and shadowy vision gradually stabilised and grew distinct .

Gu Jun saw a majestic church located in an unfamiliar city somewhere . The church did not belong to any architectural style he was familiar with . It was carved out of huge rocks . Every pillar and every glass window was exquisitely crafted, the steeple towering straight into the sky . A flock of black birds flew past the majestic structure .

How could it be a church? This was beyond anything he imagined, and furthermore, it was such a magnificent and huge church .

He thought the three pages of diaries would take him to a hospital, morgue, or a place serving similar functions .

“Why? What’s the connection?”

Fiercely resisting the acute pain in his head and heart, Gu Jun’s consciousness gradually approached the church . He hazily passed the high, arching steps, walked through a row of exquisite statues, past the towering main entrance . He arrived inside the church and suddenly saw a scene that left chills running down his spine .

Underneath the soaring vault, hundreds of thousands of faint silhouettes were present in the spacious church ground . All of them were prostrating on the ground, facing toward the seat of God right ahead of them .

He saw… that some of those people had distorted limbs, some were lacking heads, some only left with a skeletal frame .

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No matter whether they were headless or not, they were all deeply prostrating against the ground, utterly motionless . Their facial features couldn’t be seen at all, but from their prone forms, a fanatical kind of piety, grotesqueness, and even madness, could be detected .

“This is not a morgue, but here is…” Gu Jun suddenly came to a realisation, “the dead’s resting place . ”

He suddenly remembered the words of the dying man from Lai Sheng, “Death? No, you don’t understand . ” The man’s playful tone when using the word “death” seemed to portray an entirely different understanding of the concept .

He remembered the Malformed Banyan, the dozen faces on the tree, were they really dead?

“ARGH!” Gu Jun’s heart twitched again, and could no longer withstand the impact of these visions . His palms pulled away from the surface of the mortuary, and the vision instantly dissipated like smoke . He was trembling all over, wheezing, and gasping for air . He tried turning around, but was unable to maintain his balance, unsteadily falling forward . His palms pressed against the surface again, but this time the ice-cold sensation had vanished, and no illusions appeared .

The three pages of diaries in his mind also seem to lose a certain level of lustre . It appeared that the number of times a related object could trigger an illusion was not unlimited .

These three pages of diaries were temporarily unable to trigger any illusions .

“Next time, I must prepare quick-acting cardiac medications before triggering the visions . ” Gu Jun clutched his heart and leaned himself against the morgue for a while, waiting for his heart rate to slowly go down . He was exhausted, but he was unable to rid his mind of the vision from just now .

“Where was that? What were those people worshipping? What kind of church is that?”

Gu Jun thought about it for a while but were unable to figure anything out . Furthermore, this was still a morgue . After he caught his breath, he turned and quickly walked outside .

“Could it be that the Lai Sheng Company and Malformation Banyan disease were related to the church?” Gu Jun thought while walking . “A church meant having a set of followers and a deity . ” A notion reared its head in his heart . “Could Lai Sheng company be a kind of secretive cult? Mom and Dad… could they be members of the cult?”

The more he thought about it, the more of a chill spread throughout his body . Secret societies usually valued family inheritance from generation to generation .

Could it be that I was predestined to be a member of Lai Sheng before I was born?

2

“Doctor? Are you a doctor?” the security guard uncle at the entrance asked loudly, interrupting Gu Jun from his thoughts . “What are you doing over here?”

“I walked into the wrong place . ” Gu Jun didn’t say anything further, merely hastening his footsteps and briskly walked out of the underground parking lot .

He gazed at the pitch-black night sky, only sensing an oppressive solitude bearing down on him by the inky darkness . The multitudes of stars vanished to god-knows-where . The vision of the church seemed to linger at the back of his mind like a never ending nightmare . He gazed at the night sky for an answer, but the only thing he seemed to see was himself kneeling under the vault along with his parents and other pious disciples .

Gu Jun sucked in a long, deep breath and mulled to himself for a long time . He took out his mobile phone and took a look . It was almost eight o’clock in the evening . Finally, there were some new updates on the WeChat group . Professor Gu, Wang Ruoxiang and Cai Zixuan had all ‘@’ him and sent out the address of where the dinner was going to be held .

“Roger, heading over right now . ” Gu Jun tapped his keyboard and sent the message in WeChat .

He walked some distance to the street outside the square in front of the hospital’s main entrance . He flagged down a taxi and got in the car to head to the restaurant .

episodes of rapid heart rate that start in a part of the heart above the ventricles