The Ritual

[Brain Storage Area. The opening chapters are a little slow. When you begin to stare at this book, the Ancient God begins rifling through your mind.]

On the porch floor lay a "fish."

More precisely, it was the corpse of a dead fish with a human face.

Grayish-brown scales gleamed wetly in the firelight. Its cloudy eyes stared fixedly at the ceiling, and its features vaguely resembled those of a human. The stench of rot mixed with the salty reek of seawater, drilling straight into his nose.

Lu Yuan stared hard at the thing by his feet, covering his nose with one hand as his voice tightened.

"Getting transported is one thing... but is this really not too bizarre for an opening scene?"

The logs in the fireplace crackled, and dim yellow firelight cast twisted shadows across the walls.

As an unlucky Mineral Hunter, Lu Yuan had been hiding from a black bear deep in the mountains one second, only to be dragged into this damned place the next.

Compared to that man-eating bear, this thing in front of him was disgusting, but at least it was dead.

At least he did not have to worry about dying the next second.

Frowning, Lu Yuan cautiously raised his foot and gave it a light poke.

The "fish" did not move.

"Really dead?"

He waited a while longer. Only after confirming that the thing was completely still did he pick up some clothes nearby and wrap them around his shoe. Bracing his foot against the "fish's" side, he slowly pushed it aside.

The slick sensation traveled up through his sole, raising goosebumps all over Lu Yuan's body.

As for whether the smell was contagious—he was past worrying about that. He had already inhaled more than enough since appearing here.

After finally shifting the heavy, slimy corpse into a corner of the porch, Lu Yuan felt as if the fishy stench radiating from the "dead fish" was about to pickle him through.

Only after making sure he had not directly touched any of that murky slime did Lu Yuan turn to inspect the house.

Past the entrance was a somewhat spacious porch. To the left stood a shoe cabinet and several small cabinets. On one sat a copper rotary telephone, beside it a notebook filled with numbers and names.

The first floor had no traditional living room. Most of the space had been left open, packed with jars and bottles of all sizes and two small beds placed side by side.

A slightly yellowed curtain hung between the two beds.

A dim yellow lightbulb dangled overhead, swaying faintly whenever there was the slightest disturbance.

The shelves were packed with glass bottles of various sizes, containing unknown plant roots and stems soaking in liquid. Some even appeared to hold the organs of some animal.

Lu Yuan leaned close to a wide-mouthed bottle thick with dust, squinting at its yellowed label.

It was a string of characters he had never seen before, resembling some kind of Latin script.

"I can't make heads or tails of this..."

Lu Yuan frowned. This was not good news. If he could not understand the language or writing, whether he could survive in this world would be a problem.

But the instant that thought surfaced in Lu Yuan's mind, it felt as though something had grown inside his brain, followed by a wave of dizziness.

Then something eerie happened.

The unfamiliar characters before him began writhing, spinning, and breaking apart like living creatures.

In just two seconds, those worm-like words forcibly rearranged themselves into Chinese characters Lu Yuan recognized.

[Sun-dried Red Leaf Grass roots and stems]

At the same time, a small black box suddenly appeared in the lower-right corner of Lu Yuan's vision. A line of grayish-white text quietly emerged, then vanished in the blink of an eye:

[Imperial Language—Reading: +1, 1/1000]

Lu Yuan froze for a moment and instinctively rubbed his eyes.

A hallucination?

He quickly looked at another bottle beside it.

The twisting and recombination of the words happened again. It still took some effort, but it was noticeably faster.

[Three-Leaf Hemp extract (used to soothe pain)]

[Imperial Language—Reading: +1, 2/1000]

"Built-in translation, and it even has proficiency?" The panic in Lu Yuan's heart eased slightly. "So being transported really does come with a cheat."

In this eerie, unfamiliar place, being able to read meant having the ability to obtain information. Put simply, at the very least, Lu Yuan would not starve to death.

After passing the clinic, Lu Yuan carefully made a circuit around the building and quickly confirmed one thing:

This really was the home of that "fish."

The desk in the first-floor bedroom held everyday necessities, along with piles of worn clothes and scattered odds and ends.

Some old newspapers had been tossed into a corner, thick with dust.

The second floor, meanwhile, was crammed with all kinds of books, though he did not examine them closely.

That was because inside the notebook on the desk in the first-floor bedroom, Lu Yuan found several sheets of neatly written paper. They roughly recorded information about the owner of the house and his recent movements.

The first point counted as good news:

The guy who had already turned into a "fish" seemed to be a Doctor, and he had a fairly good reputation in the area. Lu Yuan could tell from the scattered patient notes and fee records on the pages.

The second point was less good news than an unexpected windfall.

Because one of the pages contained a notice.

It read: [I am traveling to the royal capital to further my medical studies, and the clinic will be temporarily closed. If I do not return for an extended period, I have entrusted a friend to look after it. —Laisen]

Lu Yuan glanced back at the dead-eyed "fish" in the corner and smacked his lips.

Because right up until the moment Lu Yuan had been summoned here, this Doctor himself—or rather, that "humanoid monster fish"—had been lying obediently at the entrance.

Furthering his studies? In a sense, perhaps he had already "graduated."

It was a terribly flimsy lie. If any neighbor paid attention, the lights in the house would eventually expose his whereabouts. But it seemed he had no neighbors.

Then Lu Yuan realized this was the perfect cover for him.

"Since the Doctor chose to tell everyone he'd 'entrusted a friend,' why don't I pretend to be that friend from now on?"

In a place where he had no identification documents whatsoever, the identity of the Doctor's friend could spare Lu Yuan countless troubles.

The premise was that Lu Yuan had to find out what exactly this unlucky guy named Laisen had gotten himself involved with, and whether he had truly only told a lie rather than actually made a friend.

Lu Yuan sat back down in the chair and opened the notebook. Rather than reading from the beginning, he flipped straight to the final pages.

December 15th (two days ago)

"My periods of clarity are growing fewer and fewer... the sea in my dreams is calling me... my periods of clarity are growing fewer and fewer... I have a feeling I do not have much time left... I hope that ritual can save me..."

The handwriting was messy, and parts of the paper had even been punctured by the pen tip. It was clear that the writer had been in an extremely uneasy, frantic state.

"A ritual?"

Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat as he continued flipping backward.

December 3rd

"Damn it! The 'Strange Dream' from the Iron Whale is actually contagious! So many Doctors came into contact with those crewmen... why was I the only one infected... Do I have to go to the Night Watchers too? No, they'll dispose of me! Luckily, I still have some Silverlight Grass. I still have time!"

November 21st

"The Iron Whale brought back more than just ore. It seems to have brought back some kind of disease as well? As soon as the crewmen fall asleep, they dream of the sea. Some even dream of becoming fish and are starting to lose their grasp on reality... The medicine I prescribed can only delay their condition. Damn it! Why haven't the other Doctors come yet?!"

Lu Yuan snapped the diary shut, his face turning slightly green.