The air inside the clinic seemed to solidify.
Lawson slumped in a chair, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at Lu Yuan like a drowning man clutching his last piece of driftwood.
The commotion he had made while pounding on the door was too great; that heavy, dull thud had traveled far in the silent night.
Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered as he looked through the crack in the door.
He keenly caught the extremely faint sound of leather rubbing coming from the shadows of the alley—the sound of the standard-issue leather armor unique to the Nightwatchers' hidden sentries.
Combined with the hand signals exchanged when the door opened and closed, it had already attracted the attention of nearby Nightwatchers.
Originally, Lu Yuan had wanted to use this to provide himself with some insurance, but now it seemed it had become a hassle.
"Shut up."
Lu Yuan pressed down on Lawson's shoulder, his voice kept extremely low. "If you want to live, don't make a sound."
Lawson gave a start, jolted by this sudden warning.
Though filled with terror, out of his trust in Lu Yuan, he clamped his mouth shut and swallowed the wail that was about to burst out.
Lu Yuan straightened his collar and pushed open the door with a composed expression, leaning half his body out of the house.
In the shadows at the mouth of the alley, a black silhouette loomed indistinctly, with an alchemical crossbow already half-raised in its hands.
"It’s nothing."
Lu Yuan waved apologetically toward that direction, his tone relaxed and natural. "Just a drunkard who probably mistook my clinic for a tavern. I’ve already calmed him down."
The silhouette paused for a moment, seemingly scrutinizing Lu Yuan's expression.
A few seconds later, the silhouette slowly retreated back into the depths of the darkness, leaving only a faint whistle to indicate "received."
The figure didn't care if Lu Yuan was lying, because he could smell other people's emotions; as long as no one was being threatened, everything was negotiable.
Lu Yuan closed the door, locked it, and drew the curtains.
When he turned around, his previous ease vanished instantly.
Lawson was trembling now, his eyes full of fear, as if he had finally found an outlet for his emotions. He said incoherently:
"Before, I was just standing by the sea."
"But starting yesterday, I dreamed I was walking step by step into the deep sea! That seawater was bone-chillingly cold, pouring into my nose and mouth!"
"Just now... I dreamed I was about to drown! That feeling of suffocation... it was too real!"
Lawson suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot, clutching Lu Yuan's sleeve. "And when I woke up, I found myself covered in water! I didn't go anywhere, so how could there be water?!"
"...Drinking the guangyin grass mixture is almost useless now!"
"I also tried intermediate holy water. Drinking it used to help for half an hour, but now... it's like drinking boiling water. It just feels hot, but it's not helpful at all!"
"Doctor Lu, I just want a peaceful night's sleep!"
Lu Yuan stood to the side, listening to Lawson's pleas without saying anything.
Because in Lu Yuan's eyes, lines of grayish-white text were rapidly surfacing above Lawson's head,
【Observation Target: Lawson (Preliminary Mutant)】
【Degree of Mutation: Deep Erosion (Accelerating)】
【Status Analysis: Flesh is transforming into 'deep sea,' soul anchors are loosening, and he is being forcibly dragged into a deep dream.】
【Fatal Weaknesses: Holy attribute items, fire.】
"The fatal weakness is the holy attribute..."
Lu Yuan looked at that line of red text, his gaze sharpening.
This situation was almost identical to Valentine's before, so did the 'Strange Dreams' also involve some kind of Eerie entity?
"Doctor Lu, you have a way, don't you? You're with the Nightwatchers now, you can get better things, right?"
Lawson gripped Lu Yuan's arm with incredible strength. "If intermediate holy water is useless, then advanced holy water! I want advanced holy water! I'll pay any amount! Please!"
Lu Yuan looked at the Lawson, who was on the verge of a breakdown, but his mind was racing with calculations.
Advanced holy water... He was also very curious about how much of a restraining effect such high-level holy items would have on the 'Strange Dreams'.
If he had the chance, he truly wanted to obtain some for research.
But it certainly wouldn't be used on the current Lawson.
"Money is no object! Just let me live!" Lawson was still shouting, as if clutching at a life-saving straw.
"But I won't give it to you."
Lu Yuan interrupted him coldly. "Not just advanced holy water—from now on, don't even touch intermediate holy water."
"Wha... what?" Lawson was stunned, the hope in his eyes instantly freezing. "Why? I have money! I can pay double!"
Lu Yuan walked to the medicine cabinet, picked up an unopened bottle of intermediate holy water, and shook it.
"Are you sure you want to drink this? If you're not afraid of death, feel free to try."
"Now look at what your body has become,"
Lu Yuan sneered and continued, "Lawson, haven't you noticed something is wrong?"
"Earlier, when you drank the intermediate holy water and felt it was hot, that was the beginning of a rejection reaction."
"If you dare to drink this bottle of advanced holy water now..."
Lu Yuan paused, his gaze carrying a hint of cruel pity. "Your esophagus will be burned through, and then the holy power will cut you into a thousand pieces until you die in agony."
"Believe me, that kind of death is worse than drowning."
Lu Yuan placed the holy water back on the table heavily with a "thud."
"Then... then what should I do? Wait to die?" Lawson slumped back into the chair in despair, feeling the chill inside him slowly devouring his sanity.
"No."
Lu Yuan turned and walked toward the stairs leading to the basement, his voice drifting back from the shadows.
"Since 'holy' cannot save you, we will try 'profane'."
"Fighting poison with poison."
"Wait here, don't move around, and don't look around."
...
Basement, simple laboratory.
Under the dim yellow light, Lu Yuan took out the glass bottle containing the 【corpse moss】 and placed it on the table along with the guangyin grass and mercury brought by Lawson.
Faced with a case like Lawson, who was undergoing deep mutation and had developed a holy rejection, conventional methods had already failed.
He had to "profane" the rules of pharmacology.
Lu Yuan stared at the materials on the table, his thoughts sinking into the depths of his mind as he activated 【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research】.
Grayish-white text danced wildly across his retinas as countless pharmacological combinations were simulated, collapsed, and rebuilt in his mind.
【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research activated】
【Analyzing target characteristics: Deep Sea Curse (Stage 2/Holy Rejection)】
【Deducing recipe...】
【Scheme Generation: Deep Sea Sedative (Improved/Hidden)】
【Principle: Abandon holy water purification. Utilize the homology of corpse moss powder for deception, supplemented by guangyin grass for suppression and mercury for solidification. Use an eerie aura to mask the deep sea aura and transform physical characteristics.】
【Estimated Success Rate: 44%】
【Note: Failure has a high probability of leading to material waste or the user immediately losing control and mutating on the spot.】
"Forty-four percent..."
Lu Yuan looked at the success rate, which was less than half, his expression calm.
For an experiment like walking on a tightrope, a nearly fifty percent chance was already considered absurdly high.
As for the consequences of failure? Anyway, it wasn't him who was taking the medicine.
Rate on N.U.
