Chapter 578 - Anomaly (1/2)

“There is no fixed Dharma called Supreme Enlightenment, and there is also no fixed Dharma the Tathagata can expound. Why? The Dharma the Tathagata expounds cannot be clung to and cannot be expressed; it is neither Dharma nor Not-Dharma…” For a moment, the food company’s second-floor corridor sounded as though an accomplished monk was giving a lecture. It was serene and solemn as a melodious voice echoed, but one would discover that the content wasn’t so if they listened carefully.

“The patient describes her mobility and mental state to be normal. Everything that’s normal is very normal. Her medical history states that she has seen her son every day for the past seven days. The frequency is at least once. Her son…” Shang Jianyao read out the contents of the medical record as if he were reciting Buddhist scriptures.

Furthermore, in order to match the Diamond Sutra scene he had chosen, he forcefully cut off the sentence and added the vocabulary in a special tone to accentuate the patient’s situation.

As the saying goes: Love whatever job you take up. Zen Master Redemption was a staunch believer of this mantra.

As for whether it would appear incongruous because of this, he didn’t mind. He just needed to express the meaning and act realistically.

Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong didn’t think highly of his fantastical attempt. This was because this was Iron Mountain City’s Second Food Company in the psychological trauma of an Awakened, not the Buddhist Holy Land in reality.

Everything here was a result of the room owner’s experiences. Anything beyond this range was made up by his subconscious; it wasn’t the same as the real situation.

Therefore, unless the room owner had encountered a strange incident back then and had a certain level of self-awareness regarding this, the medical record from another Buddhist Holy Land—Long River City’s United Steel Plant—shouldn’t induce any special changes.

As he read, the cyborg monk Zen Master Redemption became increasingly solemn.

He felt the gaze in the dark becoming increasingly obvious and increasing in number. The gazes came from the room beside him, the ceiling above, the darkness in the stairwell, and the mottled spots on the walls.

Shang Jianyao was delighted instead of being shocked. To him, changes meant that his idea was on the path to success.

Of course, this could go both ways. This might bring about latent clues and benefit Shang Jianyao. On the other hand, there was a certain probability that the anomaly here would go from not having any ill intentions to a murderous attempt of killing the chanter. Shang Jianyao might thus end up trapped in this psychological trauma and become a vegetable or die in reality.

According to the plan, Jiang Baimian would shake him awake once she discovered the sudden change in his expression to see if they could grab back a portion of his consciousness.

Zen Master Redemption maintained his compassionate and calm state as he recited the contents of the medical record.

At this moment, figures walked out of the room where the professional woman—Liu Lu—was. Their eyes were turbid and bloodshot—Heartless.

These Heartless didn’t attack Shang Jianyao. Instead, they walked to his side and sat cross-legged around him like mountain ghosts undergoing enlightenment.

“Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti…” Amidst Zen Master Redemption’s Buddhist proclamation, the professional woman named Liu Lu—who was wearing a white shirt and a blue suit—came to the corridor.

She looked at the cyborg monk and stood there in a daze.

Almost at the same time, Shang Jianyao noticed that the woman’s eyes were different from before. Her eyes were abnormally turbid, and the dense blood vessels made her look ferocious.

She has become a Heartless! Just as this thought flashed through Shang Jianyao’s mind, he heard a boom.

Iron Mountain City’s Second Food Company building collapsed! Chunks of reinforced concrete peeled off, falling into the incomparably dark abyss with numerous surrounding buildings.

This building wasn’t the only one that collapsed; the world was no exception!

As the psychological trauma collapsed, Shang Jianyao vaguely saw green light fly out from different parts of the food company’s building and burrow into the Six Senses Beads in his hand.

After the anomaly ended, he realized that he was standing at the entrance of Room 522. In front of him was a dark sea. On it cruised a cruise ship covered in barnacles, and behind it was a door that led to the corridor.

…

At the bonfire in the real world.

Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong stood beside the grayish-green jeep and stared at Shang Jianyao inside. Suddenly, they smelled a fresh scent.

It was as if autumn and winter had finally passed, and spring had arrived. The grass was growing, and the orioles were flying.

The two of them subconsciously looked around and realized that green shoots were sprouting from the trees that were nearly barren, instantly taking shape.

On the ground beside him, weeds drilled out of the dry soil and condensed droplets of dew.

This… Long Yuehong blinked and saw that things had returned to their previous state.

This was the periphery of Old Mountain in late autumn.

Jiang Baimian cast her gaze at Shang Jianyao in the car and saw that he had opened his eyes at some point in time.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped.

Although this action was baffling, it calmed Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong down significantly.