Plague Doctor

Chapter 530: Can A Person Strangle Themselves?

On the 8th day, the quest completion rate was 73.2 percent.

On the 9th day, the quest completion rate was 81.6 percent.

On the 10th day, the quest completion rate was 90.1 percent.

There were only 49 hours left to the quest. If he could maintain this speed, he wouldn't need the entire 15 days. Gu Jun would complete the autopsy quest on the 12th day but when the clock struck midnight at the end of the 10th day, the effect of Burning the Midnight Grave Wax ended. The effect could only last for 10 consecutive days before the human body limit was reached. Staying up for a whole month with only half an hour of sleep each day? That was only possible if one was not human.

Gu Jun still wanted to stay by the autopsy table even after the effect was over but the drowsiness claimed him. He teetered over to the couch and told the others weakly, "Wake me up after another 12 hours…" He already had the plan in mind. If he slept for 12 hours, he would still have 37 hours left. Then it would be the final rush to the finish line. Considering his body condition and speed, he'd rest 1 hour after every 10 hour of work. Mathematically speaking, he should have enough time.

When he reached the couch, Gu Jun's eyes could barely open. His head spun and his scalp numbed. It took effort even just to formulate a thought…. When Gu Jun hit the cushion, he slept easily. This was the first time he was able to fall asleep so quickly. There was no dream and everything went dark. Gu Jun had no idea how long he had slept before life returned to his mind. Shadows danced in the light, he was stuck between dream and reality. 'Is this an illusion?' Gu Jun believed he saw a hand choking the neck on the same body. The hand gripped tightly. The man whom the neck belonged to struggled and moaned in pain. He couldn't struggle loose no matter how hard he tried. The choking closed off the oxygen. The man lost energy and consciousness…

Suddenly, there was a piercing chill and then a sudden warmth before Gu Jun was pulled back to reality. He sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes. The old ceiling of the morgue looked down at him.

"Ah Jun?" Uncle Dan's voice came. Uncle Dan instantly walked over. Wu Siyu, Wang Ruoxiang, Yu Chi and the rest were also there. Yu Chi asked anxiously, "Captain Gu, you're finally awake?" Hearing that, Gu Jun knew he had overslept. "How long have I been asleep?" He asked.

"Almost 17 hours." Yu Chi said hurriedly as he came forth to help Gu Jun up from the couch. "After the 12 hour limit, we'd call you every one hour but you wouldn't respond no matter what. You got us all nervous, we don't have much time left."

Everyone was nervous but Yu Chi was the most desperate one. He was also the one who shouted Gu Jun's name the loudest every time. He even suggested using a defibrillator but was denied because Gu Jun's vitals were just fine. Yu Chi heard from the Zoogs that it was Wu Siyu's kiss that woke up Gu Jun from his coma last time. Therefore, he requested Wu Siyu to do it again. Wu Siyu refused. Yu Chi thus decided to do it himself but he was held back by Feng Peiqian. "Captain Yu, if you do that, you'll put Captain Gu in a nightmare, that'll make things worse!" But Yu Chi was still eager to try. If it was a nightmare, wouldn't that wake the man up sooner?

Wu Siyu's unwillingness was not out of shyness. She would see it as eating salt in front of a crowd, there was nothing shameful about that. She did not want to do it because she believed Dirty-minded Jun needed this sleep. As a professional sleeper, she believed 12 hours was not enough to recover. If he was forcibly woken up when he needed a longer resting period, he would spend the waking hours blurrily. Without enough sleep, one wouldn't be energetic. Therefore, she was not in a hurry to wake Dirty-minded Jun up. A good sleep would provide better efficiency. Wu Siyu's words were convincing and thus the others waited until Gu Jun woke up on his own.

"I'm feeling quite rested now… There's still time." Gu Jun stood up and tried his limbs. His body hadn't yet fully recovered, he was only 60 percent back to his usual form. Dirty-minded Yu's tactic was right. If he had woken up sooner, he'd be unable to focus. But even so, they only had 30 hours left, it was time for the last burst of progress. This was a test of stamina, determination and spirit.

Before he returned to the autopsy table, Gu Jun had to use the bathroom. Along the way, he pondered the dream that he had, could a person strangle themselves? The answer had to be no. Just like how a drowning person would struggle for air, that was the body's mechanical response. Humans did not need to manually control breathing, it was a constant progress. When the oxygen was cut off, the hand would naturally let go. During university, they had attended a class on this. The lecturer urged them to try if they did not believe it. With much coaxing, Cai Zixuan volunteered. In the end, when his face was red, he had to let go of his hands.

But in that dream, the hand strangled himself. The hand was short and stubby, it looked very familiar. When he reached the autopsy table, Gu Jun stared at the dissected Black Billy Goat's leg but he thought about those pictures. They were all from Tan Jinming. Considering the tragedy that might have happened, Gu Jun took a deep breath.

The hand was strange, that hand… did not show normal dark corruption.

For 2 days, the number of abnormal babies continued to climb. Yesterday, another 10 strange murder cases happened around Eastern State. The victims all died from the same cause and the suspects were all negative selections and they all disappeared after their crimes. The investigators and the Zoogs looked for clues but not one suspect was captured. With surveillance and satellite, looking for someone should be easy, much less a group of killers. No matter where they were hiding, they should not be able to disappear without leaving behind any trail.

"Let's begin, it's the last 30 hours." Gu Jun accepted the Carlot Scalpel handed to him by Uncle Dan. He focused on the leg and continued the dissection on the back of the calf that he had not finished. The last 30 hours, they had no time to lose.