Lawson

The fire crackled occasionally.

The room was silent, except for the intermittent sound of Lu Yuan flipping pages and Lawson's somewhat heavy breathing.

"I've been having the same dream lately..." Lawson finally spoke.

Upon hearing the word "dream," Lu Yuan slammed the book shut with a snap and subconsciously looked up.

Because Lu Yuan suddenly had a bad premonition.

"At the start of the dream, I'm always standing by the sea at night, stepping on the sand. The waves soak my goatskin shoes, and then I wake up."

Lawson looked at Lu Yuan and continued.

"After that, whenever I fall asleep, I dream of appearing by the sea, listening to the sound of the waves, looking at the ocean illuminated by the moon. It felt okay at first; after all, not everyone gets a chance to see the sea at night up close."

"But..."

Lawson's face appeared pale in the firelight, his eyes revealing deep fear.

"I found that I'm getting closer and closer to the sea."

A chill surged through Lu Yuan's heart upon hearing this. He had already guessed what Lawson would say next.

'Strange Dreams'. Lawson was definitely infected with that thing.

A sense of unease began to rise from the bottom of Lu Yuan's heart.

The situation Gelimu Port would face in the future might far exceed Lu Yuan's imagination.

'Strange Dreams' might have already swept through the entire port.

Lu Yuan sat in the shadows, his mind racing as his fingers lightly tapped the armrest, not interrupting Lawson's account.

Because he was observing.

【Observation target: Lawson. Recalling the deep sea; mutation symptoms are slightly increasing.】

Lu Yuan had no intention of interrupting the recollection, as he wanted to see how many more traits the 'Strange Dreams' hid.

Recalling a memory could actually increase the infection progress; that was simply too terrifying...

"In the dreams that followed, the sea got closer and closer. The seawater almost completely submerged me—it was freezing to the bone!"

"I can no longer tell if I am moving closer on my own, or if the sea wants to swallow me!"

Lawson's face was pale, his voice trembling slightly. He continued after a long pause.

"In short, I dream of that damned sea whenever I fall asleep now! I just want to have a steady, peaceful sleep!"

"Have you seen other doctors?" Lu Yuan finally spoke.

"Yes, I've been to the Church, and I've also seen Dr. Brent." Lawson's tone slowly calmed down, as if he had dropped some heavy burden.

As soon as Lawson's emotions stabilized, the prompt that had been visible disappeared.

'Has the mutation stopped?' Lu Yuan thought.

"What did they say?" Lu Yuan held his notebook and wrote down 'emotions, memories' for reference.

"The Church's physicians just said the same old thing—that I've been troubled by something in the darkness. They made me drink at least several cups of holy water! They also prescribed a bunch of expensive medicines that didn't help at all." Lawson's tone rose significantly at this point.

"I never want to drink that holy water made of who-knows-what again in my life."

"What about Dr. Brent? What did he say?" Lu Yuan asked next.

"Dr. Brent... He only prescribed some medicine and told me to stay away from the seaside recently, and that it would be best to leave Gelimu Port for a while." Lawson clearly had a headache regarding this.

He was obviously dissatisfied with Dr. Brent's advice. After all, how could a landlord who relied on tenements leave his own property?

Lu Yuan heard this and asked, "After drinking the Church's holy water, did you feel your symptoms lighten?"

"For example, did the duration of the dreams shorten, or did they stop altogether?"

Lawson thought carefully.

"It seemed to have some effect. On the night I drank the holy water, the dream scenes indeed became very blurred."

"But what I want isn't a delay; I want to blast this damned dream out of my head!"

Lu Yuan wrote 'Church, holy water' in his notebook.

From Lawson's words, it could be inferred that the Church's holy water likely had a suppressing effect on this kind of dream.

But the effect wasn't obvious, probably due to dilution... he could find time to visit the Church later.

"Then what about Dr. Brent's method? You haven't tried it at all?" Lu Yuan stopped writing and continued.

"I've tried. I've stayed away from the seaside lately and am staying in the inner harbor, but for a tenement landlord to leave for a long time—that's simply impossible." Lawson put down his teacup and snorted.

"If I dare to leave for even a little longer, those bastards in the tenements will definitely make a mess of my houses! They'll even delay the rent further and further!"

"As a landlord, it is necessary for me to maintain my property well."

"Then how did you feel after moving away from the port?" Lu Yuan didn't bother to address Lawson's lordly posturing; the man seemed to value money over his life.

Silently labeling Lawson in his heart, he continued asking:

"Also, I need to know when you started having these dreams."

"Staying away from the port indeed made it slightly better, but the dreams continue as long as I sleep." Lawson continued, "Around mid-November. I remember those few days the Iron Whale had just returned. After that, I started dreaming of the sea."

"Before you had these dreams, did you encounter anything strange? Or did you go out to sea?" Lu Yuan tried to squeeze as much useful information as possible from Lawson.

"No, the dream appeared suddenly. Before that, everything was as usual. I received guests and sent them off." Lawson was clearly getting impatient.

"So, Dr. Lu, how much longer are you going to ask? Or do you have a solution for my illness?"

Facing Lawson's questioning, Lu Yuan was not in a hurry, only speaking soothingly.

"Don't be anxious, Mr. Lawson. There are only a few questions left."

"While the Iron Whale was docked, did you host any of their crew? Or any new faces?" Lu Yuan changed his posture on the sofa.

"One more question, Lawson. Besides yourself, have you heard of anyone else having similar symptoms? Including your tenants."

Lawson suppressed his emotions and replied:

"I haven't hosted any crew from the Iron Whale. Every time they dock, they're extremely secretive; I never get a chance for that business. As for new faces..." Lawson seemed to recall something.

"I did host a few new faces. I encountered a few during that period. But what does that have to do with my illness? Could they have infected me? Then why aren't my tenants having any problems?"

"Also, Dr. Lu, do you have a way or not? If not, it's best to say so. It's getting very late."

Lawson looked displeased, dissatisfied with Lu Yuan's barrage of questions.

"I can't guarantee anything, but I have a medicine here you can try." After writing 'slow infection' in his notebook, Lu Yuan stood up and took out the guangyin grass mixture left over by Laisen from the medicine cabinet.

Lu Yuan didn't know exactly what the composition of this mixture was.

However, the records in the diary revealed that this medicine had a good effect on 'Strange Dreams'. Although it couldn't cure it, it could at least delay it for a while.

At the same time, it could verify whether what Lawson had was indeed the Strange Dreams.