Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Every time he tried to focus, a dull ache throbbed behind his eyes, as if some mechanism was protecting him, preventing him from seeing what was inside.
But Lu Yuan still caught fragments.
A shrouded silhouette.
Curled up, massive.
Belonging to no living creature.
Nor did it belong to any creature one could imagine.
The way the silhouette curved was twisted, like a piece of paper folded upon itself.
The silhouette did not move.
But Lu Yuan knew it was alive.
Because those chains were trembling.
Then, its head turned.
It noticed him.
Across countless layers of chains, across a city without end.
Across a dissipating eerie green gap.
He saw him.
【You have glimpsed an existence within the Forbidden】
【Brave human, to dare gaze upon His silhouette with a body of flesh and blood.】
【Your human identity is transforming... transformation failed...】
【Sanity: -20... -15... 60/120】
At the very moment Lu Yuan saw Him, the runes of Bronze City, which had been silent for an unknown amount of time, erupted with a startling brilliance.
Immediately afterward, a violent tremor followed, and this ancient city that had stood on this plain for ages unleashed its latent power.
Majestic and vast.
A pure, holy aura enveloped the entire city.
But the tremors on the ground did not stop.
Accompanied by a loud bang.
The eerie light reached its peak and then dissipated.
At the same time, Lu Yuan's vision was irreversibly severed.
Then a voice came.
It was not heard through his ears.
It appeared directly in his mind.
"Save me... leave..."
Low, slow.
A long silence separated every word.
'I can... grant you... everything... you desire...'
Lu Yuan stood in place.
His face was expressionless.
He felt no fear.
Nor was he shaken.
He only looked toward that direction coldly.
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +1... +1...】
The moment the voice rang out, Forbidden Lore began to surge.
Lu Yuan knew what he was facing.
This was an opportunity, but it could also kill him.
That silhouette wrapped in chains was still writhing.
Those eerie green eyes were still burning.
The voice continued to echo in his mind, over and over.
'...everything...'
The corner of Lu Yuan's mouth twitched involuntarily.
【Sanity: 30/120】
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: 11/100】
The vision shattered.
Like the surface of water being pierced, the images all broke into countless pieces in an instant and then vanished.
Lu Yuan closed his eyes.
A feeling of dizziness flooded his heart once more.
A wave of intense nausea made Lu Yuan quickly reach for the last bottle of Sanity potion given to him by Captain Morris, the pathfinder of Sandworm Town.
Without any hesitation, he downed it.
【Sanity: +15... 45/120】
As the potion was consumed, a sense of clarity immediately surfaced.
It barely managed to suppress the physical discomfort.
Lu Yuan slowly lay down.
The images he had seen earlier still lingered in his vision.
It was quiet for a long time.
'So that's how it is.'
Morris's organization approached the forbidden and tracked the voids not out of a quest for knowledge.
But for a trade.
They had found something locked away.
And then they made some kind of exchange with it.
'Heh.'
Lu Yuan gave a cold laugh in his heart.
It sounded like an ideal.
In practice, it was a business transaction.
He was not surprised.
From Gelimu Port to Bronze City, from the Nightwatchers to the Polymath Tower, every organization he had seen eventually circled back to the same thing.
Trading with things beyond human cognition, then pretending it was called a "mission."
Morris was no exception.
It was just that his trading partner was locked inside a city.
'For now.'
Lu Yuan glanced at his right palm.
It was perfectly clean.
The power from that city of chains had not been inscribed into his body.
It wasn't because he had refused.
It was because something else had already taken the spot.
'A locked taboo tried to leave a mark on me, but it was blocked by another unknown existence.'
Lu Yuan closed his eyes.
'Whose pawn am I, really?'
There was no answer to this question.
At least not tonight.
Meanwhile.
Inside Bronze City, countless figures flashed through the darkness.
Innumeral 'hissing' sounds rang out.
Then, a foul stench began to spread.
Knock, knock.
"Lu Yuan, get up quickly, something seems to have gone wrong with Bronze City..."
Laurina's anxious voice sounded from outside the room.
Lu Yuan turned his head to look at the still-drawn curtains, where a faint eerie light still seeped through the gaps.
"Hmm?"
Lu Yuan opened the door and looked at Laurina standing outside, gesturing for her to come in and speak.
Laurina was currently wearing a silk nightgown and holding a small box in her arms.
She walked in with a nervous expression.
"The runes of Bronze City just fully lit up!"
Laurina looked at Lu Yuan and continued.
"I've read about this in books, the last time this happened in Bronze City was to defend against something."
"The runes of Bronze City fully lit up?"
Lu Yuan strode to the window and pulled the curtains open.
He saw that Bronze City, which should have been plunged into darkness, now had its streetlights flickering on one after another.
In the distance, he could constantly see Nightwatchers rushing into the darkness.
An eerie blue glow still clung to the ancient city walls.
Before Lu Yuan could discern anything else.
Bang!
Bang!
A series of gunshots exploded around the perimeter of Bronze City.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan immediately realized something.
"Let's go! Light the lamps first!"
Lu Yuan retrieved his revolver from under the pillow, hurried downstairs, and quickly took out a portion of refined sandworm oil.
He poured it onto the kerosene lamp.
As the pearly white light illuminated every corner of the Alchemy Workshop.
Lu Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Laurina, who followed him down, looked at the lamp with some heartache.
'What a waste...'
As the light brightened the surroundings, Laurina noticed that Lu Yuan's usually normal complexion had become extremely pale.
He was deathly white, and cold sweat was visible on his forehead.
"What did you do?"
Laurina's expression shifted as she looked at Lu Yuan.
"You're overextending your Sanity like this, aren't you afraid of losing control?"
Lu Yuan waved his hand.
"It's fine, the consumption from my transcendent pathway has a certain resistance to this situation."
Lu Yuan's words were half-true.
But then, Lu Yuan's expression became solemn.
【Environmental Perception: Detected mass faint pollution... Detected a sea of faint pollution, it is recommended to stay away.】
A very abrupt greyish-white prompt surfaced.
"Take the lamp and go upstairs, take all the sandworm oil with you, and remember, don't come down for anything!"
Lu Yuan's sudden seriousness made Laurina realize something was wrong.
Laurina took two small, round bottles of potion from the box in her arms and handed them to Lu Yuan.
"These are very effective against the eerie, but they must never be used against the wind, the range is about five meters."
After Laurina finished speaking, she poured out two small bottles of refined sandworm oil and placed them on the table, then took the remaining oil and the lamp and hurried upstairs.
Lu Yuan quickly placed the potions Laurina gave him and the oil onto his belt.
【Target Detected: Eerie-Bane Potion (Created by Laurina)】
【A special potion made from eerie blood and special materials through Eerie Alchemy, it can cause significant damage to any low-level eerie things, be careful not to poison yourself.】
Lu Yuan's eyes lit up when he saw this prompt.
【Target Detected: Unnamed (Created by Laurina)】
【An improved 'Stealth' Potion, it seems capable of shielding perception?】
He quickly packed the potions, counted his silver-plated bullets, and placed several bottles of perfect quality Sanity potion into his waist bag.
A knock at the door rang out immediately.
"Lu Yuan, emergency assembly! Fast!"
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