Turning Point

The confinement did not last long.

About half an hour later, the iron door opened again.

The person who entered was not Hans, but a woman.

She looked to be around thirty, dressed in a neat bartender's uniform and idly playing with a lighter. Her curly red hair was casually pinned behind her head. Her eyes looked languid, yet Lu Yuan caught a dangerous scent from her—a "smell" picked up from dealing with the Eerie for a long time.

"I'm the person in charge here. You can call me Mary."

The woman pulled out a chair and sat down, tossing a file onto the table. The lighter clicked crisply between her fingers. "Lu Yuan, male, Easterner. Claims to be Doctor Laisen's friend and was entrusted with taking over the Clinic. Arrived in Grim Port the day before yesterday."

She lifted her eyelids, her green eyes fixed on Lu Yuan. "Your record is clean. Clean as a blank sheet of paper. But I'm curious—how did an outsider who had just arrived manage to face a Deep Aberrant without changing expression, and even fight back?"

The interrogation had begun.

Lu Yuan adjusted his posture, making himself appear neither nervous nor arrogant.

"When Laisen wrote to me, he mentioned the 'strange illness' here." Lu Yuan spoke with a mix of truth and lies. "As a Doctor, although I'd never seen it before, I made some mental preparations. As for the fight... that was survival instinct."

"Survival instinct?"

Mary sneered. "A normal person's survival instinct is to scream and wait to die, or run for their life. Not swing a scalpel at an Aberrant's neck."

She leaned forward, and the pressure in the room suddenly intensified. "Tell me directly. When you faced that thing, did you hear any voices? Or see any hallucinations?"

She was testing his sanity.

Lu Yuan understood clearly. If he said yes, it would mean he had already been contaminated. A bullet would most likely be waiting for him.

"No."

Lu Yuan answered without hesitation. "Other than being ugly and stinking to high heaven, that thing was only disgusting."

Mary stared into his eyes for a full ten seconds, as if trying to find even the slightest trace of a lie in his pupils.

But Lu Yuan's gaze was clear and calm.

[Sanity II: 15/48 (Experience)]

His sanity had indeed not dropped. He was not lying; he was merely telling the truth.

"Very good."

Mary withdrew her gaze, her tone softening slightly. "It seems your mental resistance is quite high. In Grim Port, that's a rare talent."

Then she asked several questions about Pharmacognosy and Anatomy.

For Lu Yuan, who possessed an experience bar for [Pharmacology], this was not difficult. Drawing on his previous hands-on experience, his wording was not particularly elegant, but it was precise and logical enough that Mary nodded repeatedly.

"All right. It seems you really are a Doctor."

Mary closed the file. "The test is over. You may leave."

Lu Yuan stood up, but did not move immediately.

"That's it?" he asked.

"What else? Do you want me to buy you a drink?" Mary raised an eyebrow.

"I helped you solve a bit of trouble, and I provided firsthand information about 'Alienation.'" Lu Yuan looked at Mary, his tone calm. "And now, my life is in danger."

"What do you mean?"

"Brent's uncle mutated at home. That means the Source of Pollution is in the port, and it's most likely spreading." Lu Yuan paused before laying down his bargaining chip. "Laisen complained in his letter that quite a few Doctors had recently 'disappeared' or 'met with accidents' for no apparent reason. He was terrified at the time. Most importantly, Laisen really is dead. Don't tell me you Night Watchers didn't know."

"So someone is targeting Doctors."

Lu Yuan looked directly into Mary's eyes. "Or rather, someone is targeting people who can detect 'abnormalities.' Now that Laisen is dead and I've taken over the Clinic, will I be next?"

The air in the room instantly froze.

The languid look vanished from Mary's face. She studied the young Easterner before her again, her expression now carrying a hint of gravity.

"You're smart. And perceptive."

Mary fell silent for a while before speaking slowly. "It's true. Doctors have been dying a little too quickly in Grim Port lately. Not just Doctors—Scholars, alchemists... anyone who has come into contact with 'knowledge' has been meeting with trouble."

"Because we're short-handed."

At that moment, Hans pushed open the door and walked in. He had clearly been listening outside all along.

"The Night Watchers may be powerful, but right now, we can draw swords, not enough brains." Hans spoke bluntly. "We need Doctors. We need support personnel who can handle contamination and analyze pathology. But all the renowned Doctors have either been won over by the Church or fled in terror long ago."

He walked to the table, bracing both hands against it as he looked at Lu Yuan.

"Lu Yuan, since you've laid it all out, I won't beat around the bush either. Are you interested in joining the Night Watchers?"

"Join you?" Lu Yuan frowned. "Sorry, I just want to stay alive. I don't want to wrestle those monsters in close combat."

"No. As a 'consultant.'"

Hans dangled the bait. "You need protection; we can provide it. You need money; we'll pay double. Most importantly..."

He lowered his voice, a trace of temptation in his tone.

"Don't you want to know why you can see those things? Or, don't you want to wield the power that can truly fight the Eerie?"

Lu Yuan's expression shifted.

"Power?"

"In this world, the only way to fight monsters is to become a monster... or surpass one."

Mary picked up the thread, her voice low.

"We call this power the 'Transcendence Path.'"

"Some gain power by devouring monster Flesh. That is the Alienation Path—crude and disgusting."

"Some make deals with the Eerie. That is the Eerie Path—powerful, but likely to drive you mad."

"Some are born favored by the gods. That is the God-Chosen Path—short-lived."

"And those lunatics from the Church gain power through faith in gods. That is the Believer Path."

At this point, Mary paused and gave Lu Yuan a deep look.

"But there is another Path, the most special and also the most mixed. It requires neither Flesh nor faith. It only requires..."

She pointed to her head.

"Knowledge."

"Gain power through reading, research, and analyzing the Taboo of the world. We call it—the [Knowledge Path]."

Boom!

It felt as though lightning had flashed through Lu Yuan's mind.

[Forbidden Studies]!

That skill whose experience increased as long as he read forbidden books and observed monsters!

So this was the so-called [Knowledge Path]?

If he had merely been grinding experience blindly before, then now, a door to a new world was slowly opening before him.

"Knowledge is power..." Lu Yuan murmured.

But there was another half to the gray-white text prompt that he did not say aloud: Knowledge is also contamination.

"What do you say?" Hans watched Lu Yuan's changing expression. "Join us, and the Night Watcher Library will be open to you. You'll find every answer you want there."

Lu Yuan drew a deep breath.

Protection, salary, and... a way to level up.

These were terms he could not refuse.

"How is the salary calculated?" Lu Yuan raised his head, putting on that merchant-like expression again.

Hans and Mary exchanged glances, then both smiled.

"Five Gold Shields a week. Missions are paid separately."

"Deal."

Lu Yuan extended his hand and gripped Hans's large, callused one.

[Joined Faction: Night Watchers (External Consultant)]

[Unlocked New Map Access: Night Watcher Library]

[Obtained Key intelligence: Transcendence Path System]

In his vision, the experience bar gave a cheerful little bounce.

Lu Yuan knew that from this moment onward, he was no longer a fake Doctor who could only hide in the Clinic and tremble in fear.

He had officially set foot on this one-way road to The Abyss—or godhood.