Turning Point

Confinement did not last long.

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

The person who walked in was not Hans, but a woman.

She looked to be around thirty years old, dressed in a sharp bartender's outfit, toying with a lighter in her hand, her red curly hair tied up loosely behind her head. Her gaze was lazy, but Lu Yuan smelled a dangerous aura off her—the kind of "scent" left behind after long-term dealings with the Eerie.

"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 snapped open and shut between her fingertips, making crisp clicks. "Lu Yuan, male, Easterner. Claims to be a friend of Doctor Laisen, entrusted to take over the clinic. Arrived at Grim Port the day before yesterday."

She raised her eyelids, those green eyes staring fixedly at Lu Yuan. "Your record is very clean, as clean as a blank sheet of paper, but I'm curious. How does a newly arrived outsider manage to keep a straight face when facing a deeply mutated Aberrant, and even launch a counterattack?"

The interrogation began.

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

"When Laisen wrote to me, he mentioned the 'strange illness' here," Lu Yuan said, half-true and half-false. "As a doctor, although I haven't seen it, I made some psychological preparations. As for the fight... that was survival instinct."

"Survival instinct?"

Mary sneered. "An ordinary person's survival instinct is to scream and wait for death, or desperately run away from there, rather than brandish a scalpel to slice an Aberrant's throat."

She leaned forward, her oppressive presence soaring instantly. "Spit it out. When you faced that thing, did you hear any voices? Or see any hallucinations?"

This was a sanity test.

Lu Yuan knew it very well. If he said yes, it meant he had already been contaminated, and what awaited him was most likely a bullet.

"No."

Lu Yuan answered decisively. "Aside from being ugly and stinky, that thing only left people feeling sick."

Mary stared into his eyes for a full ten seconds, seemingly trying to find a trace of lying in his pupils.

But Lu Yuan's gaze was clear and calm.

Sanity II: 15/48 (Experience)

His sanity really hadn't dropped; he wasn't lying, just stating the facts.

"Very good."

Mary withdrew her gaze, her tone softening slightly. "It seems your mental resistance is very high. That's a scarce talent in Grim Port."

Next, she asked a few questions about Pharmacognosy and Anatomy.

For Lu Yuan, who possessed the [Pharmacology] experience bar, this wasn't difficult. Combining his previous hands-on experience, although his phrasing wasn't flowery, it excelled in being precise and logical, causing Mary to nod repeatedly.

"Alright, it seems you really are a doctor."

Mary closed the file. "The test is over. You can go."

Lu Yuan stood up, but didn't move immediately.

"Is that it?" he asked.

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

"I've also helped you solve a bit of trouble and provided first-hand intelligence regarding 'Alienation'." Lu Yuan looked at Mary, his tone calm. "And right now, I am facing mortal danger."

"What do you mean?"

"Brent's uncle mutated at home. This means the Source of Pollution is right at the port, and most likely spreading." Lu Yuan paused, tossing out his bargaining chip. "Laisen complained to me in his letters that quite a few doctors have inexplicably 'gone missing' or 'met with accidents' recently. He was terrified back then, and crucially, Laisen is truly dead. Don't tell me you Night Watchers didn't know."

"So someone is targeting doctors."

Lu Yuan looked straight into Mary's eyes. "Or rather, someone is targeting those who can spot 'anomalies'. Now Laisen is dead, and I've taken over the clinic. Will I be next?"

The air in the room froze instantly.

The laziness on Mary's face vanished. She re-examined the young Easterner before her, a hint of solemnity added to her gaze.

"You're smart, and very sharp."

Mary was silent for a moment, then spoke slowly. "Indeed, doctors in Grim Port have been dying a bit too fast lately. Not just doctors, scholars, alchemists... anyone who has touched 'Knowledge' is meeting with misfortune."

"Because we're short-handed."

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

"Although the Night Watchers are powerful, we can only pull out swords at present, not dredge up enough usable brains." Hans said very bluntly. "We need doctors, logistics personnel who can handle contamination and analyze pathology. But those famous senior doctors have either been roped in by the church or scared off long ago."

He walked up to the table, pressed his hands on the surface, and looked at Lu Yuan.

"Lu Yuan, since you've laid it all out, I won't hide it either. Interested in joining the Night Watchers?"

"Join you?" Lu Yuan frowned. "Sorry, I just want to live. I don't want to engage in close-quarters combat with those monsters."

"No, as a 'consultant'."

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

He lowered his voice, his tone carrying a trace of temptation:

"Don't you want to know why you can see those things? Or rather, don't you want to master the kind of power that can truly counter the Eerie?"

Lu Yuan's gaze flickered.

"Power?"

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

Mary took over the conversation, her voice low:

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

"Some gain power by devouring monster flesh and blood; that's the 'Alienation Path', low-level and disgusting."

"Some make deals with the Eerie; that's the 'Eerie Path', powerful but prone to madness."

"Some are naturally favored by deities; that's the 'God-Chosen Path', short-lived."

"And there's that bunch of lunatics in the church, gaining power by worshipping deities; that's the 'Believer Path'."

At this, Mary paused, giving Lu Yuan a deep look.

"But there is another path, the most special and extremely miscellaneous one. It requires neither flesh and blood nor faith; it only requires..."

She pointed at her own head.

"Knowledge."

"Gaining power through reading, studying, and analyzing the taboos of the world. We call it—the [Knowledge Path]."

Boom!

It was as if a bolt of lightning flashed across Lu Yuan's mind.

[Forbidden Studies]!

That skill where experience points increased simply by reading forbidden books and observing monsters!

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

If previously he had only been mindlessly grinding experience, then right now, a door leading to a new world slowly opened before him.

"Knowledge is power..." Lu Yuan muttered to himself.

Yet in the gray-white text prompt, there was a second half he didn't say out loud: knowledge is also pollution.

"How about it?" Hans watched Lu Yuan's shifting expression. "Join us, and the Night Watcher Library will be open to you. All the answers you want are there."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath.

Protection, salary, and... channels for leveling up.

This was a condition he could not refuse.

"How is the salary calculated?" Lu Yuan raised his head, reverting to that merchant's facade.

Hans and Mary exchanged glances and both smiled.

"Weekly salary of five Gold Shields. Missions paid separately."

"Deal."

Lu Yuan reached out and shook Hans's callous-covered hand.

Joined Faction: Night Watcher (External Consultant)
Unlocked New Map Permission: Night Watcher Library
Acquired Key Intelligence: Transcendence Path System

In his field of vision, the experience bar jumped happily.

Lu Yuan knew that from this moment on, he was no longer a fake doctor shivering away inside a clinic.

He had officially stepped onto this path of no return leading toward the abyss—or godhood.