Lu Yuan lowered his hand, gasping for breath.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered frantically:
【Sanity: -160... 35/120】
【Warning: Sanity critically low, mental state unstable】
He felt a buzzing in his head, and the world before his eyes swayed slightly.
That was too risky.
But at least, he had survived.
Lu Yuan was in no hurry to put away the Timekeeper; instead, he turned to look at the three Pathfinders lying on the ground.
Morris's breathing was so faint it was nearly imperceptible, Heller was still twitching, and Vincent was completely motionless.
He had already seen the consequences of having one's Sanity drained back in Gelimu Port.
If they weren't treated soon, these three probably wouldn't survive the night.
Lu Yuan walked over to Morris, knelt down, and focused his mind on the metal ring.
Distribute.
A faint ripple of Sanity flowed out of his body, following that invisible connection and pouring into Morris's body.
Five points.
Morris's breathing clearly became steadier, and his eyelids flickered slightly.
Lu Yuan then transferred five points each to Heller and Vincent.
Heller's twitching stopped, and Vincent's chest began to rise and fall once more.
At the edge of his vision, the greyish-white text flickered:
【Current Sanity: 20/120】
Only 20 points left.
Lu Yuan shook his head, the moonlight before him suddenly becoming piercingly bright.
He blinked.
Gregory's corpse was squirming.
No, it wasn't the corpse moving; beneath that shriveled husk, countless tiny things were surging out.
Lu Yuan's pupils constricted, and his right hand instinctively tightened around the Timekeeper.
But in the next second, those things vanished.
The corpse was still just a corpse, lying quietly under the moonlight with nothing there.
A hallucination.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
His Sanity was too low; he had to hurry.
He crouched down and began searching through the three men's belongings.
There was a small bottle in Morris's waist pouch, identical to the one he had been given before, the pink liquid glowing faintly under the moonlight.
Heller also had a bottle on him.
Vincent's bottle was shattered, likely smashed when he was attacked by the bug, leaving only empty glass shards and a damp patch at his waist.
Two Sanity recovery potions for three people.
Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then poured a small half-bottle each into Morris and Heller, giving all that remained to Vincent.
He had the heaviest injuries and needed a larger share.
As the potion slid down their throats, the complexions of the three men improved almost visibly to the naked eye.
As for whether there were side effects, that was beyond consideration for now.
And then there was Vincent... his injuries weren't just a matter of Sanity.
Lu Yuan looked at the wound in his abdomen, his brow furrowing even tighter.
The bug's mouthparts had torn a hole the size of a bowl directly into his stomach.
The flesh at the edges of the wound was turned outward, showing an abnormal bluish-purple hue, as if it had been soaked in some kind of toxin.
Even worse, the blood vessels around the wound were turning black at a visible rate, spreading outward across his abdomen.
Ordinary bandaging to stop the bleeding would be useless.
Lu Yuan quickly searched through Heller's belongings.
In addition to that Sanity potion, the waist pouch contained several small bottles with labels unique to the Pathfinders.
Purifying agent, coagulation paste, and antidote.
Lu Yuan didn't hesitate, unscrewing the purifying agent and pouring it directly onto the wound.
As the transparent liquid touched those blackened vessels, it immediately let out a faint sizzling sound, and wisps of white smoke rose.
Vincent let out a muffled groan in his coma, his body twitching slightly.
The spread of the bluish-purple color stopped.
Lu Yuan immediately applied the antidote and then smeared a thick layer of coagulation paste over the surface of the wound.
Finally, he tore off the hem of Vincent's shirt and bound the wound tightly.
Only after finishing all this did Lu Yuan stand up and let out a long breath.
He shouldn't die now.
Just then, he suddenly noticed something unusual.
Something was moving at the edge of the pocket watch.
Lu Yuan lowered his head, thinking it was another hallucination.
But it wasn't.
Two thin, white, thread-like filaments were poking out from the gaps in the pocket watch.
Long, slender, and soft, their tips were slightly curved like the antennae of some insect.
They trembled gently in the air, seemingly sensing something.
Lu Yuan frowned and instinctively reached out to touch them.
The two antennae retracted for a moment as if startled.
But they didn't pull back completely.
Instead, even more things popped out from the edge of the pocket watch.
Dozens of tiny, white insect legs.
They were neatly arranged along the edge of the pocket watch, like the legs of some arthropod, slender and sharp.
Lu Yuan was stunned.
In the next second, those insect legs suddenly lunged forward, stabbing into his chest.
Lu Yuan's body stiffened for an instant.
But there was no pain. None at all.
Only a strange numbing sensation spread from his chest to his limbs, as if something were merging with his body.
Lu Yuan looked down at the insect legs embedded in his chest, a strange expression on his face.
He remembered the prompt the system had given him when he first saw the Timekeeper.
【Timekeeper (Special): A pocket watch made from the corpse of a special insect...】
The corpse of an insect.
This thing... had come to life?
Lu Yuan looked at the two antennae that had already retracted and tried to trigger the Timekeeper with his mind.
The pocket watch responded immediately.
He didn't need to hold it; with just a thought, the ability would respond.
Lu Yuan noted this change in his heart, not delving deeper for the moment.
There were more important matters at hand.
He walked toward the outside of the courtyard.
The night wind swirled with sand and dust, blowing from the direction of the town.
Lu Yuan hadn't gone far before he saw several flickering lights approaching.
It was the light of sandworm oil lamps.
Clearly, the commotion at the Mayor's house had awakened the people of Sandworm Town, and combined with his own unexplained disappearance, Herman must have figured out that something had happened here.
He had brought several young men from the town, carrying oil lamps and walking in a hurry. Seeing Lu Yuan walk out of the courtyard, his pace quickened significantly.
But when he entered the courtyard and saw the carnage inside, his steps faltered.
"This is..."
"The killer who murdered the Mayor."
Lu Yuan pointed at Gregory's corpse, his tone flat.
"He was also the one who created the source of pollution."
Herman was stunned.
He slowly walked over to that shriveled corpse, knelt down, and used the light of the oil lamp to carefully examine that face, which had withered beyond recognition.
He remained silent for a long time.
The flame of the oil lamp flickered in the night wind, casting a very long shadow.
"His name was Gregory, a traitor of the Ascension Society."
Lu Yuan's voice came from behind him, devoid of any emotion.
"He defected from the capital three years ago and hid here to conduct experiments. All of the Mayor's mess of research was guided by him from behind the scenes."
He paused, then pointed at the puddle of drying flesh on the ground.
"This is the parasitic matriarch he cultivated. The bugs that crawled out of the Mayor's chest, as well as the one inside Reid, were all its offspring."
Herman's fist slowly clenched, and after a long while, he finally spoke.
"...Did the Mayor know?"
"I'm not sure," Lu Yuan shook his head, "but he certainly participated in the experiments. Whether he was deceived or was an active collaborator no longer matters."
Herman didn't say anything.
He stood up and turned to look at the three Pathfinders lying on the ground.
"These three are the Empire's Pathfinders; they've been tracking him," Lu Yuan explained. "There was a slight accident when we moved tonight, but it's finally settled."
Herman gave Lu Yuan a look.
His gaze was complex, filled with gratitude, relief, and some other indefinable emotions.
"Help me find a place to settle them."
Lu Yuan interrupted whatever he might have been about to say, his tone calm.
"I'll handle their injuries. Once they wake up, they'll leave on their own."
Herman nodded and didn't ask further.
He waved his hand to the people behind him.
Several young men stepped forward, carefully lifting the three Pathfinders.
Lu Yuan watched their departing figures and then glanced over the remains in the courtyard.
"Don't burn the corpses, and don't disturb this place. There might be some data that needs to be preserved."
"I know," Herman's voice was somewhat raspy.
He gestured for the others to handle it while he remained where he was.
He just stood beside Lu Yuan, silent for a while.
The night wind howled, kicking up fine sand that pelted the two of them.
"Thank you."
Herman finally spoke.
Lu Yuan didn't say a word.
"The Mayor..."
Herman's voice grew even lower, as if he were talking to himself.
"He was always competitive since he was a child; he wanted to be first in everything. Later, when he became Mayor, he always wanted to make a name for himself, to prove he wasn't any worse than those transcendents."
He let out a bitter laugh, his smile tinged with sorrow.
"I didn't expect it would end up like this."
Lu Yuan looked at him.
Under the moonlight, the old merchant's back seemed somewhat hunched.
"He was used."
"I know," Herman nodded, "but for some things, you can't blame anyone else."
He was silent for a moment, then looked up at Lu Yuan.
The complexity in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a sense of solemnity.
"Mr. Lu, Sandworm Town owes you. I will remember this."
Lu Yuan turned around and walked toward the outside of the courtyard.
His footsteps made a faint rustling sound on the sandy ground.
"Once you've recovered, take me to the Bronze City."
His voice drifted through the night, calm and devoid of much emotion.
"Then we'll be even."
Herman stood where he was, watching that figure gradually disappear into the darkness for a long time.
The wind and sand howled.
The light of the oil lamp flickered gently in his hand.
Rate on N.U.
