Lu Yuan's lips curled slightly as he lowered his head cooperatively, quickly walking out of the room under the "escort" of the young team member.
The process of leaving the manor's main building was exceptionally smooth.
Under the guidance of the young team member, they avoided the gaze of all irrelevant personnel, following a passage reserved for servants to quickly cross the chaotic garden.
The rain was still falling, but it had significantly lessened.
At the manor entrance, they did not go to the suffocating iron prisoner carriage from the police station.
A black carriage without any markings was parked quietly in the shadows.
"After you, Consultant Lu."
The young team member opened the door for Lu Yuan, his voice low and his tone becoming extremely respectful.
At this moment, the hostile atmosphere of the "interrogation" had completely vanished.
"No one ever came here tonight."
The young team member looked at Lu Yuan, speaking quickly in the tone of someone reporting for duty, "Thorn Manor suffered a series of violent explosions and fires due to a gas leak in the old pipes.
"The Baron and his family... unfortunately, all perished. No one survived."
Lu Yuan paused as he stepped onto the carriage.
He turned back, looking at the towering and gloomy manor behind him.
Under the "lockdown" of the mixed squad, several Nightwatchers logistics personnel were skillfully loading the corpses of the mutated creatures into special body bags, while others were splashing some kind of combustible alchemical potion.
This was a textbook example of a purge and cleanup.
All the sins, conspiracies, and those invisible deep sea filth would be reduced to ashes in this "accidental" fire.
This preserved the face of the Empire and secured the necessary leverage.
"A perfect cleanup,"
Lu Yuan commented before climbing into the carriage.
"To Old John's Tavern."
"Understood."
The coachman flicked the reins, and the black carriage glided silently into the rainy night, galloping toward the Nightwatchers base.
At this time, Old John's Tavern had long since closed, with only the Supply Exchange still lit by a dim kerosene lamp.
Old Morgan had not yet slept.
He was draped in a worn military overcoat, leaning over the counter, puffing smoke over an unfolded map of Gelimu Port.
The ashtray was already overflowing with cigarette butts, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of cheap tobacco.
Hearing footsteps, Old Morgan didn't even turn his head, merely saying flatly, "You're back?"
"I'm back."
Lu Yuan walked straight to the counter.
Without any nonsense, he pulled the letter smelling of blood and rotten fish from his breast, along with the spent casing of the "Black Gunpowder Type-3" from his pocket, and slammed them heavily onto the counter.
Bang!
The dull thud sounded particularly sharp in the silent basement.
"Using a living person as bait, this appearance fee isn't cheap, Morgan."
Lu Yuan's voice was cold; although he understood the Nightwatchers' methods, it didn't mean he would graciously accept being kept in the dark.
Old Morgan finally looked up.
He first glanced at the burst iron sphere casing, the corners of his wrinkled eyes twitching slightly.
Clearly, he knew exactly how expensive something so effective—which even Lu Yuan couldn't extract new knowledge from—really was.
Then, his gaze fell upon the letter.
When he saw the thorn and tentacle emblem in the corner of the stationery, Old Morgan grinned.
He revealed a mouth of teeth yellowed by long-term smoking, his smile devoid of any apology, instead carrying the cunning and satisfaction of an old hunter.
"Don't be so angry, Doctor Lu."
Old Morgan exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and pointed at the letter, "The risk was a bit high, but the fish bit the hook, didn't they? Besides, the bait is still alive and kicking, and he even blew up the fish pond in passing."
"Was this your plan, or the Nightwatchers'?" Lu Yuan stared into his eyes.
"It was an entry test, and a purge plan."
Old Morgan didn't deny it as he picked up the letter, his gaze turning somewhat cold, "We knew for a long time there was rotten meat inside, but we couldn't find the place to make the cut. You, this blade, are even sharper than I imagined."
"Since I'm the blade and the bait,"
Lu Yuan leaned his hands on the counter, tilting his body forward, his black eyes flickering with a hint of shrewdness, "then what about my reward?"
Old Morgan was clearly taken aback by Lu Yuan's sudden transition.
"You really are... Fine, tell me, what do you want?" Old Morgan seemed to have expected this.
"First."
Lu Yuan pointed at the discarded bomb casing, "Regardless of whether the debt was real or fake, clear all my points."
"No problem." Old Morgan nodded, "Fine, that bomb was meant to save your life anyway."
"Second."
Lu Yuan's finger lightly tapped the signature on the letter, "This letter is what you really wanted, right? Since its value is so high..."
"In exchange..." Lu Yuan's gaze moved past Old Morgan toward the locked heavy iron door behind him, "I want to enter the real 'Warehouse' and pick one item."
This request was Lu Yuan's true objective.
Enchanted firearms weren't enough to ensure his safety anymore.
In the Baron's manor, if it weren't for the exorcism powder, he would have likely been torn to shreds.
Therefore, he needed a truly transcendent item.
Old Morgan's hand, which was wiping a gun barrel, suddenly stopped.
He lifted his eyelids, reassessing Lu Yuan with a look as if he were meeting this young doctor for the first time.
The Deep Warehouse was the place where the Nightwatchers stored high-level mutated materials and forbidden items.
After a long silence.
Old Morgan did not refuse immediately but suddenly sighed, setting the shotgun aside.
"I know you have resentment in your heart, and you're also confused."
Old Morgan's voice lowered, losing the usual merchant-like tone and gaining a touch of gravity, "You must be thinking, since you have talent, why would the Nightwatchers let you take such a suicidal risk instead of protecting you?"
Lu Yuan didn't speak, just quietly watched him.
"Because your path is too dangerous."
Old Morgan pointed to Lu Yuan's head, "【Eerie Knowledge Transcendent】. This is the most dangerous and most unstable path among all pathways. Especially for a 'genius' like you."
"The faster you acquire knowledge and the more you understand, the greater the probability of your contamination."
Old Morgan's eyes were somewhat clouded, as if recalling some unpleasant past, "I've seen too many young people like you."
"They were brilliant and learned everything quickly, but in the end... they didn't die at the hands of monsters; they became monsters themselves."
"Monsters even more terrifying than the real ones."
"So, letting you go this time was actually a 'sanity check' for you."
Rate on N.U.
