He looked at Thomas, his gaze carrying a hint of inquiry.
"What did you see in the water?"
Thomas's eyes were vacant, as if he still hadn't recovered from the terror.
"Eyes..." he muttered to himself. "All eyes... When I fell into the sea, the bottom was covered in eyes..."
Thomas wasn't going to die, but he wouldn't be moving anytime soon either. After pooling together ten silver shields for Lu Yuan, the two deeply grateful coworkers carried Thomas out on the door panel.
It seemed the bond between them was quite strong.
The clinic returned to its usual silence.
Lu Yuan sat behind the counter, his fingers lightly stroking the cold, silver-plated body of the pistol.
Thomas's encounter confirmed his suspicions—in the places where the light didn't reach in Gelimu Port, a storm was brewing.
Those things in the deep sea were no longer satisfied with wandering the depths; they were starting to test the shallow waters, perhaps even the land.
"All eyes..."
Lu Yuan recalled Thomas's description, and the scene he had witnessed while disposing of the corpse that night involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Those eerie green points of light in the darkness were also eyes.
【Gelimu Port Status: +5, 30/50】
The system prompt surfaced silently.
Lu Yuan glanced at the experience bar and made his calculations.
This information was valuable.
Not only could it be used to farm experience for information, but perhaps it could also be traded for something from the Nightwatchers.
After all, as a consultant, reporting such abnormal movements was part of his responsibility.
Just then, a newspaper was shoved through the crack in the door.
Lu Yuan walked over to pick it up and noticed an unfamiliar face delivering it.
The deliveryman saw Lu Yuan and called out, "Brent asked me to tell you that he's still settling things at home. He'll come by in a couple of days to thank you in person."
Lu Yuan gave a word of acknowledgment.
It seemed the kid was indeed loyal, not forgetting his "boss" even at a time like this.
That night, Lu Yuan did not force himself to stay up late making medicine.
He extinguished the lights early and lay in bed, trying to keep himself in a state of light sleep.
The sea began to howl once more...
The next morning, the mist remained heavy.
【Sanity II: 21/48】
His Sanity had dropped a bit again, but at the same time, he was one step closer to level three.
Lu Yuan looked exhausted. Despite his best efforts to sleep lightly, the Strange Dreams continued to torment him.
He likely wouldn't be getting good sleep for a long time to come.
He packed the bottle of freshly made, low-quality guangyin grass mixture into his bag, locked the door, and changed the notice at the entrance to:
【Clinic hours recently changed to after noon. For urgent matters, please find me at Old John's Tavern.】
Afterward, Lu Yuan headed straight for Old John's Tavern.
This time, he navigated the hidden door with practiced ease and arrived at the underground base.
Mary was sitting in the mission hall, which resembled a factory workshop, holding a steaming cup of coffee and flipping through a document.
Seeing Lu Yuan enter, she raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"So early? Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"No thanks."
Lu Yuan pulled out a chair and sat opposite her. "I have new information."
He recounted Thomas's attack exactly as it happened.
This included the jagged nature of the wound, the type of toxin, and Thomas's description of "all eyes."
He didn't exaggerate, providing an objective description of the injury and his deductions from a doctor's perspective.
As Mary listened, her lazy expression gradually vanished.
She set down her coffee cup, her expression turning serious.
"An active attack in the shallow waters..." Mary's fingers lightly tapped the tabletop. "And in broad daylight."
"What does that mean?" Lu Yuan asked.
"It means some things are coming out," Mary said in a low voice. "Damn it, I need to notify them immediately..."
She stood up and paced the room for a few steps.
"This information is very useful. Our people will go verify it. If it's true..."
Mary's expression looked a bit strained.
"We really don't have enough manpower..."
Mary turned back to look at Lu Yuan. "As a consultant, you've done very well. Once this is verified, a contribution will be recorded for you."
She pulled a stamped voucher from a drawer and handed it to Lu Yuan.
"With this, you can go to the supply depot and collect two boxes of bullets—the silver-plated kind. Consider it an advance; don't make a scene about it."
Lu Yuan took the voucher, a satisfied curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
In a critical moment, two boxes of bullets were far more useful than gold shields.
"Anything else?" Mary asked.
"No." Lu Yuan stood up. "I'm going to the library."
Watching Lu Yuan's departing back, Mary thoughtfully tapped her chin.
"This guy... he adapts really fast..."
...
Returning to the library, that familiar cold aura washed over him.
Ink, the book spirit, was hanging from a lamp stand dozing. Seeing Lu Yuan enter, the spirit took a careful sniff, lifted an eyelid, and didn't even bother to greet him.
"Another liar."
Lu Yuan knew he was still in debt, so he said nothing and walked straight to the bookshelf from yesterday.
His current goal was clear: max out his experience for Forbidden Lore - Gazer and unlock that so-called transcendent pathway.
He picked up a copy of the Illustrated Handbook of Deep Sea Creatures (fragment) and began flipping through it quickly.
Although the content in these books was still superficial, with the help of his translation ability, Lu Yuan could always decode information unnoticeable to others from the lines of the illustrations and the sequence of the words.
"I have to say, this translation ability is truly powerful."
Lu Yuan remarked inwardly.
【Forbidden Lore - Gazer: +0.2...】
【Forbidden Lore - Gazer: +0.3...】
Time flew by.
When Lu Yuan closed the last book, the experience bar at the edge of his vision finally jumped to the critical point.
【Forbidden Lore - Gazer: 9.9/10】
Just one last point.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and turned his gaze toward the deepest part of the shelf, where an inconspicuous thin volume with a black cover sat.
It was the one he hadn't had time to read yesterday.
The title was Edge of Whispers and Sanity.
He reached out, and the moment his fingertips touched the spine, a faint electric sensation spread through his body.
"This is it."
Lu Yuan opened the pages.
This time, the words were no longer static. They seemed to possess a life of their own, writhing and reorganizing frantically across his retinas before finally transforming into a flood that surged into his mind.
【Forbidden Lore - Gazer: +0.1】
【Conditions met, level increased!】
【Congratulations, you have stepped onto the threshold of the "Forbidden".】
【Forbidden Lore - Seeker: 0/50】
【Forbidden Lore: Seek the truth of the world, find all reality; this is not something humans should do. Pitiful intruder, good luck.】
【Your Sanity resilience has been greatly improved. Your eyes will be able to see some of 'His' 'traces'.】
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