Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

When the prayer abruptly ceased,

Du Wei was seized by a chilling sensation, yet through his Spirit Vision, he detected no malevolent presence behind the door.

More importantly, he had already pushed the door open a crack.

Peering through the gap, the entire hospital room was pitch black, devoid of any light; the windows seemed to be sealed shut, and aside from a sliver of light reflected by the door, nothing within was discernible.

At this moment, the only sounds Du Wei could hear, apart from Ryan's approaching footsteps from behind, were his own breathing.

The hospital room, however, was dead silent.

It was as if the person inside was holding their breath at this very moment, not daring to make even the slightest noise.

Something felt very wrong…

Du Wei furrowed his brow, his peripheral vision catching Ryan moving to his side as he pushed the door fully open.

In an instant, he heard a fear-soaked voice, suppressed to its limit.

"Don't... don't come any closer..."

The voice was hoarse, exceptionally sharp and grating.

In Du Wei's line of sight, he also saw the outline of a figure curled up in the corner.

Immediately, he felt for the light switch on the wall and lightly pressed it.

There was a click.

The light turned on, bringing the entire room into view.

Apart from one sealed window, the room was devoid of any beds, not resembling a hospital room at all but more like a prison cell.

Upon seeing the woman curled up in the corner more clearly, Du Wei's expression instantly became rigid.

This person was dressed in a nun's habits, hunched over, head bowed, face obscured, but her exposed hands were covered in scars from severe burns.

Severe burns, once healed, can result in the melting of soft tissues, which is why burn victims often require surgical correction and cosmetic reconstruction post-recovery.

Mrs. Taylor also suffered from burns, but her hands did not exhibit such severe damage.

Du Wei's gaze was icy as he directly asked, "You are not Mrs. Taylor; who are you really?"

Upon hearing this, the woman's body tensed, and in a raspy whisper, she replied, "I... I am Taylor. Who are you?"

At that moment, Ryan also entered the room, asking with surprise, "Director, Head of the Hospital, what are you talking about?"

Du Wei ignored him instead, staring intently at the woman, his voice devoid of warmth, "If you are Taylor, then who is the head of the hospital I met during the day?"

The woman shuddered, then lifted her head with a tremulous tone, "She is the Deputy Head Marilyn Manson."

As she lifted her head, Du Wei could see her features clearly.

Her entire face was grotesquely disfigured, starting with her eyes—one eye was gone, the socket caved in, the skin fused together like a membrane.

The end of her nose was melted away, the lower half of her lips partially gone, and the burn scars extended down past her throat, where they were hidden by the collar of her clothing.

Du Wei narrowed his eyes and continued, "As far as I know, decades ago, this psychiatric hospital used to be a church, and Mrs. Taylor was one of its few survivors and became the head of the hospital as a result. But you, obviously, do not fit the bill."

Though Hill Psychiatric Hospital encountered strangeness, during the long gap, it was assuredly functioning normally.

And no normal psychiatric hospital would have someone with such severe burns at the helm.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This is simply the consensus among most people.

The woman who claimed to be Taylor responded bitterly, "I did not deceive you. I have indeed been the head of the psychiatric hospital ever since it was built, and I was not like this before."

Du Wei, noncommittally, "Is that so? How did you end up like this, then? It sounds like there might be other reasons?"

The woman did not answer but countered with a question, "You must not be an ordinary person, right?"

Du Wei nodded, "That's correct, I am an Exorcist from the church..."

"An Exorcist? Have you finally noticed the abnormalities here?"

The woman's tone was unusual as she tremulously stepped forward, scrutinizing Du Wei closely.

"How can I be sure of your identity? Do you have any proof from the church?"

"Of course!"

Du Wei stepped back with an expressionless face and took out his Exorcist certification.

"Now, do you have any further doubts?"

Ryan, standing by, touched his head and said, "Director, weren't you a doctor? How did you become an Exorcist all of a sudden?"

Without turning his head, Du Wei replied, "It's a part-time job."

Ryan uttered an "Oh" and fell silent.

After confirming Du Wei's identity, the woman relaxed and said, "Mr. Exorcist, I have no more doubts. And I haven't deceived you; I truly am Taylor, the director of this psychiatric hospital."

Du Wei shook his head and said, "What about your reasoning? If that Director Taylor is an Evil Spirit, I can understand the discrepancies between your previous words and my understanding. But if you are the real Director Taylor, you should have conveyed a message to the outside world when the hospital started experiencing abnormalities, shouldn't you?"

The woman gave a bitter smile and said, "Indeed, the abnormalities started a week ago, but it's not that I didn't want to convey the message; I simply couldn't get it out."

Du Wei narrowed his eyes, "Why not?"

The woman said painfully, "Because we are in her dream."

"The entire psychiatric hospital has become her dream. And now, the events of the past are continuing; the ritual is about to be completed. She is soon going to transform into something else, jumping from the dream into reality. By then, we are all going to become a part of her."

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Upon hearing this, Du Wei felt a storm surge within him, breaking the calm on his face for the first time.

He was inside Marilyn Manson's dream?

This...

Wasn't this almost the same as the incidents he had experienced before?

The same dreaming, the same jumping from dream to reality.

The only difference was that Marilyn Manson's dream was terrifyingly excessive.

Thinking this, he composed himself and asked, "How did Marilyn become like this?"

The woman answered, "She dug out the head of her sister, who died in a fire decades ago. Since then, she has become abnormal. She told me about the dreams she has been having every day. And now, everything is confirming her dream."

Du Wei remained silent, considering the veracity of the woman's words.

All along, the Spirit Vision had only allowed him to see the abnormal corpses and that eye, other than feeling a certain Strangeness.

As for the nun, she had no perception at all.

If he has been in a dream all this time, then all the anomalies could be explained.

He had been oblivious to the darkness beneath his own light.

Du Wei took a deep breath and silently said to himself, "When I saw the vision of death, I should have thought of this."

"To prevent being influenced by the nun, I have been consciously avoiding confronting her, from memories to information."

"Even inside the psychiatric hospital, I was deliberately avoiding her."

"And when I did face the nun, it was during a dream."

"But the latter part of the death vision, the one who uncovered the drawing, definitely wasn't me."

As he pondered this in his heart, Du Wei's gaze grew colder.

The death vision was a peculiar anomaly that occurred in his Spirit Vision, and after his death, the Spirit Vision should have disappeared. The vision should not have continued.

At the time, he thought it was the Evil Spirit that killed him, possessing his body, but now it seemed entirely different.

The continuation of the death vision was built on the foundation of his own Spirit Vision.

And other than himself, the only other entity that could use the Spirit Vision was the Evil Spirit, Du Wei.

In a sense, the Evil Spirit Du Wei, with an identical personality and memories, was his other side.

It seemed he hadn't completely died after all...

However, it appeared that unless he himself died, there would be no possibility for him to emerge again.