He tapped Lu Yuan's shoulder.
"Be very careful."
After saying that, he turned and left, saying nothing more.
Only the sound of footsteps remained in the corridor.
Raymond waited for a moment at the top of the stairs.
Once the others had moved far enough away, he said to Lu Yuan in a low voice:
"Eight o'clock tomorrow morning, meet at the branch. Bring whatever you can carry; we're going to take a look in person."
"Where?" Lu Yuan asked.
"The three disappearance sites," Raymond replied with a hint of helplessness. "At this point, that's all we can do..."
Lu Yuan thought for a moment.
"I have a request."
Raymond looked at him.
"Access to the archives," Lu Yuan said. "I want to look some things up."
Raymond didn't ask what he wanted to search for.
"I'll have a word with the person in charge."
"Thanks."
Raymond also tapped his shoulder before turning to leave.
Lu Yuan stood in the corridor, not leaving immediately.
The people from the imperial headquarters had arrived, going straight to the Polymath Tower without seeking out the Nightwatchers.
They even brought people from the Ascension Society to be stationed there openly.
This indicated that they didn't care about the disappearance cases.
They cared about what the Polymath Tower had produced.
And the involvement of the Ascension Society meant that the experiments at the Polymath Tower might have already reached some kind of intersection with them.
Lu Yuan kept this deduction in mind and walked down the corridor.
As he passed the front desk, the young Nightwatcher on duty called out to him.
"Mr. Lu Yuan?"
Lu Yuan stopped.
"There's something for you. It just arrived this afternoon, transferred supplies."
The young man pointed behind the counter.
Four wooden boxes were stacked in the corner, varying in size, with the largest one reaching waist-height. They were all tied with thick rope, and a uniform shipping manifest was pasted on the lids, the paper slightly yellowed.
Lu Yuan walked over and glanced at the sender's information on the shipping manifest.
Sandworm Town.
He paused for a moment.
Then he reached out to lift the smallest box and gave it a shake.
The contents were wrapped in cloth, making no clashing sounds.
The other three boxes were clearly much heavier.
One person couldn't move them all at once.
"Sign for them, please." The young man handed over a pen and a logbook.
Lu Yuan signed his name, put the small box back, and looked at the remaining three.
"Could you please arrange for someone to deliver these to the Alchemy Workshop?" Lu Yuan said to the young man. "Sometime today is fine."
"No problem," the young man made a note in the logbook. "I'll have the relief shift bring them over when they arrive."
"Thanks."
Lu Yuan walked out of the branch.
Outside, the sunlight was already slanting toward the west.
Lu Yuan walked back to the Alchemy Workshop along the cobblestone path.
At the moment, Laurina was at the workbench with a row of vessels laid out before her.
"A few boxes will be delivered later," Lu Yuan said. "Please help me receive them when they arrive."
"Hmm? What did you buy?"
"Some small things a mayor I met before promised to give me."
Laurina nodded and didn't press further.
Lu Yuan sat down on the other side of the workbench.
He didn't start working immediately.
There was too much in his head, all jumbled together, and he couldn't untangle it all at once.
However, Lu Yuan didn't plan to think about it for the time being; he would grind some experience first.
His gaze then fell upon the bundle of silver leaf grass on the table that hadn't been processed yet.
His fingers pinched the leaf stalk, and with a gentle tug, the complete leaf came off.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text occasionally flashed.
【Medicinal Herbology: +0.1...19.2/50】
The light outside the window slowly dimmed.
Lu Yuan processed the silver leaf grass and ground a batch of mineralized salt.
【Pharmacology: +0.1...32.4/50】
Laurina leaned over to take a look while he was grinding the salt.
"Use a bit less force. If the mineralized salt particles are too fine, it will affect the dissolution speed."
"How fine is too fine?" Lu Yuan's movements slowed down.
She reached out and pinched a bit in the mortar.
"This is just right. Don't grind it anymore."
Lu Yuan stopped.
After it became completely dark, Lu Yuan tidied up the workbench and went upstairs.
Laurina remained downstairs and did not follow him.
He turned off the lights, leaving only a small oil lamp.
Lu Yuan continued his cultivation of Guard.
He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.
His consciousness sank deep into his mind, searching for the direction of that river.
Sanity was not static; it was always flowing.
After the incident at the viscount's manor, he had found the 'flow' for the first time—where Sanity flowed out from and where it flowed to.
But that feeling was still very faint.
Tonight, it was a bit clearer than last time.
The slowly turning object deep in his mind had a more definite direction.
It wasn't much faster, but the outline of the 'riverbed' was slightly clearer than before.
【Guard I: +0.1...+0.1...1/10】
【Sanity: -1...-1...79/120】
As the Sanity value continued to drop and eventually came to a halt, no matter how much Lu Yuan tried to perceive it, there was no reaction at all.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes, knowing that he had reached his limit.
He felt a bit helpless.
But it was unavoidable.
Outside the window was the night of Bronze City.
There was no moon today, but the runes on the city walls emitted a faint, eerie glow.
The streets outside were quiet.
Lu Yuan took a notebook from his pocket, flipped to a blank page, and began to write under the oil lamp.
When he wrote the name Morris, he paused for a moment.
The surname reminded him of another person, the pathfinder captain, Morris.
He had dealt with him in Sandworm Town, and the man had given him a Sanity Ring and a map.
A coincidence?
He drew a question mark next to the name.
Then he continued writing.
When he wrote about the disappearance of the three noble scions, his pen hovered over the paper without descending.
He remembered the scene he had seen at the baron's manor using his ability.
The figure in black robes handed over a shell fragment. Philip took it, fine lines crawled under his skin, and his body began to twist.
The seal suppressed the reaction, and with empty eyes, Philip walked out on his own.
Three invitations, three people—it was highly likely the same process for all of them.
And what Morris had done to him in the bookstore was essentially the same, only gentler.
But it was also a screening.
His pen stopped again.
He recalled the system's detection in the bookstore.
【Detection Target: ? (Knowledge transcendent)】
At least five factions were jumbled together in Bronze City, and he didn't even know the name of one of them.
Lu Yuan closed the notebook and set it aside.
He stood up and walked to the window.
In the absence of moonlight, the light from the oil lamp shone from behind him, casting his reflection on the window glass.
He took a look.
Then his gaze froze.
The edge of the reflection... was a bit thicker than yesterday.
It wasn't an illusion.
He had noticed it last night as well, but at the time, he thought it was a hallucination caused by his Sanity being too low.
But now his Sanity was at 79; he was as sober as could be.
That layer of thickness was still there.
It was as if something extremely thin was wrapped around the outline of his shadow.
Lu Yuan stared for a few seconds.
Then the feeling vanished. The reflection returned to normal.
It was as if nothing had happened.
He was silent for a while.
No greyish-white text popped up.
Then it was still safe for the time being.
Some things are better left unseen until the time is right.
He extinguished the oil lamp.
The bronze-colored light from outside reflected on the ceiling.
He only hoped that this incident wouldn't be too 'intense,' allowing him enough time to improve himself.
Rate on N.U.
