The Image

The gates of the Viscount's Residence closed behind him.

As Lu Yuan stepped down the stairs, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"Etc!"

He is Viscount.

He strode out of the corridor, his arrogance vanished, replaced by anxiety.

"Is there any clue about my daughter?"

His voice sounded somewhat uneasy.

"What did you find? Is she still alive?"

Raymond stopped and turned around.

"It's still under investigation." He said calmly, "We'll let you know as soon as we have any updates."

"Under investigation?" The Viscount took a step forward. "What exactly have you found out? Can you give me a straight answer?"

"Viscount."

Raymond looked at him calmly.

I understand how you feel, but this is all I can tell you right now.

The Viscount wanted to say something more.

Just then, a clear bell rang out from inside the house.

It's a rotary phone.

The butler strode over to answer the call, and after a moment, his expression changed slightly. He then beckoned to the Viscount.

"Sir, it's your phone."

The Viscount paused for a moment, glanced at Raymond, and then turned and walked towards the living room.

Lu Yuan noticed that the expression on his face became very complicated after he answered the phone.

It sounded like surprise.

Or perhaps... fear?

The call was very short, less than a minute.

The Viscount put down the phone, stood there silently for a few seconds, and then walked upstairs without looking back.

"Master?" The butler followed, "The Night Watcher..."

Let them go.

The Viscount's voice came from the stairs, somewhat ethereal.

"I have other things to take care of."

The footsteps faded into the distance.

The butler stood there, looking somewhat embarrassed, and bowed slightly to Raymond.

"Please, everyone."

Raymond didn't ask any further questions and turned to walk out the door.

Lu Yuan followed behind, but his mind was still on the phone call he had just received.

Who called?

That could cause such a drastic change in the Viscount's attitude in an instant.

He kept this question to himself for the time being.

The carriage was already waiting outside.

The two got into the car and drove towards the Inner-City Outpost.

The Inner-City Outpost is an unassuming two-story building that looks like an ordinary shop from the outside, but inside it serves as the Night Watcher's temporary base in the Inner City.

When Lu Yuan and Raymond arrived, there were already two people waiting inside.

A man and a woman, both dressed in Night Watcher uniforms.

The man was in his early thirties, with a burly build, and an old scar on his face that stretched from his eyebrow to his cheekbone, which looked like a knife wound.

His aura was restrained, but Lu Yuan could sense that he was a man who had experienced blood and fire.

The woman was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a slender figure and neat, short brown hair.

She was holding a leather Notebook and writing something in it.

Seeing Raymond enter, the two of them looked up simultaneously.

"Team leader."

The scarred man nodded, his gaze lingering on Lu Yuan for a moment.

"This is Lu Yuan?"

"Karl," Raymond said curtly, "Stop talking nonsense."

Karl grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

"I've long admired your name."

He reached out his hand to Lu Yuan.

"Eight hundred points for a promise, the whole branch is talking about it. My name is Karl, I'm in charge of dealing with the enemy."

Lu Yuan shook hands with him.

"Hello."

The woman beside him closed her Notebook and looked at Lu Yuan.

"Helen," she introduced herself, her tone flat, "Intelligence analysis."

Lu Yuan.

After a brief introduction, Helen got straight to the point.

"Captain, there's trouble at the Baron's Residence."

"How so?" Raymond asked.

"The residue at the scene was too faint to analyze its composition," Helen said, "But it wasn't a complete loss."

She opened her Notebook.

"The Baron is acting very strangely. He's locked himself in his study and won't see anyone, but after hearing that we are the Night Watcher, he suddenly changed his attitude."

"What's the meaning?"

"He said there are some things he has to tell you in person." Helen looked at Raymond, "Only to you."

Raymond frowned slightly.

"What did he discover?"

"I don't know," Helen shook her head. "He wouldn't tell us, insisting on seeing the captain in person."

Raymond remained silent for a few seconds.

What about the Merchants' Guild?

"Not yet," Karl continued. "Ryan and the others should be here soon."

"We can't wait any longer." Raymond turned to Lu Yuan. "Let's go to the Baron's Residence first."

He looked at Helen and Karl.

"You wait here for the Merchants' Guild team. Contact me immediately if you have any news."

The two nodded.

Raymond and Lu Yuan got back into the carriage and headed towards the Baron's Residence.

The Baron's Residence is smaller than the Viscount's Residence, but its facade is still impressive.

The carriage was parked at the door, where the butler was already waiting.

"Captain Raymond?"

"It's me."

The housekeeper looked haggard, as if he hadn't slept well for several days.

"Master is waiting for you in his study. Please come with me."

He led Raymond and Lu Yuan into the mansion.

Unlike the Viscount's Residence, the atmosphere here is much more oppressive.

The corridor was quiet; servants hurried past with their heads down, and no one spoke.

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere filled the air.

The butler stopped at the door of the study.

"The master is inside."

He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice.

"After the young master disappeared, the master locked himself in here and wouldn't see anyone. Sometimes at night, you could hear him talking inside, like he was arguing with someone. But there was clearly no one else in the study..."

Raymond nodded, pushed open the door, and went inside.

Lu Yuan followed behind.

The study was dark, with the curtains drawn tightly, and only a single oil lamp on the table emitting a faint light.

The Baron sat behind his desk.

A man in his forties, thin, wearing a wrinkled shirt, with messy hair that looked like it hadn't been styled in a long time.

His eyes were bloodshot, his eye sockets were sunken, and he looked very haggard.

He looked up when he heard the door open.

"You're Raymond?"

"Yes."

The Baron stared at him for a few seconds, then slowly stood up.

I have something to tell you.

His voice was hoarse, but his tone was very serious.

"About my son."

Raymond remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

The Baron walked to the window, his back to them.

Two days before Philip disappeared, he received an invitation.

"I know," Raymond said calmly. "The signature is Victor Howard."

"You've investigated?" The Baron gave a wry smile. "Then you should know that this person doesn't exist at all."

"Yes."

"But my son doesn't know," the Baron's voice deepened, "He changed completely after receiving that invitation."

He turned around, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He became very excited, saying it was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and that he was about to witness "true knowledge."

Lu Yuan's heart sank slightly.

Knowledge.

It's knowledge again.

"I asked him what he meant, but he wouldn't say," the Baron continued, his face dejected. "But that night, I heard him talking to himself in his room."

What did he say?

The Baron remained silent for a few seconds.

He said, "I am finally qualified to step into the Sea of Knowledge."

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Raymond and Lu Yuan exchanged a glance.

Sea of Knowledge.

These three words, spoken by an ordinary nobleman, carry entirely different weight.

"And this too."

The Baron took a piece of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to Raymond.

"I found it in his room. It should be part of the invitation; he tore it off, but not completely."

Raymond took the paper.

It was a corner of the invitation, with only a few words on it:

"... to open the path to truth for you..."

The handwriting is beautiful; it's the kind of calligraphy that comes from professional training.

"I knew something was wrong with the Tower of Erudition all along." The Baron's voice suddenly became agitated.

"That place has never been an academic haven! Every time my son comes back from there, he says strange things! Things about 'knowledge' and 'costs'..."

His eyes were slightly red.

"They took my son away, didn't they?"

"We're still investigating." Raymond carefully put the paper away. "I'll take this with me."

"Investigate..." the Baron murmured, "Investigate..."

He suddenly grabbed Raymond's arm.

"Please, find him."

"Let me know whether you're alive or dead."

"I want to know... what exactly happened."

Raymond looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds.

"I will."

As Raymond emerged from the study, he looked at Lu Yuan.

Go check on Philip's room.

Lu Yuan nodded.

Philip's room is on the second floor, at the very back.

Pushing open the door, Lu Yuan immediately saw those colors.

It's paler than the Viscount's Residence's.

It looked like paint diluted countless times, almost melting into the air.

But the direction is the same.

Starting from the bedside, passing through the door, it drifts towards the main entrance.

[Forbidden Studies - Seeker: +0.1...0.1/100]

The fact that the experience bar is active indicates that you can use your abilities.

"He went out on his own," Lu Yuan said, looking around the room.

Raymond stood in the doorway but did not come in.

Is there anything else you can tell from this?

Lu Yuan stood in the center of the room, watching the colorful traces that were about to disappear.

He thought of his new ability.

Maybe... we can give it a try.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes.

He mobilized the newly acquired power within him, extending his perception into the "past".

[Sanity: -8...59/120]

My vision began to distort.

The world became blurry, as if a layer of water rippled over my eyes.

Then, the screen appeared.

The image is not clear.

It is a distorted afterimage, a conjecture.

He saw a young man.

She was around twenty years old, wearing a bathrobe, and standing by the bed.

There was another person standing in front of him.

Black robe.

I can't see the face clearly.

There was only a blurry outline.

They are talking.

Lu Yuan couldn't hear any sound, but he could see their lips moving.

The young man's expression changed.

Confuse.

Surprise.

Hesitate.

Then came the wavering.

The man in black robes took something out of his robes.

Very small.

It looks like a stone.

In that instant, the image suddenly became clear.

Lu Yuan saw the surface of that thing clearly.

Flowing, colorful patterns.

Sea of Knowledge.

Things related to that Taboo.

The young man hesitated for a moment.

Then he reached out and took the thing.

The next second, his expression changed.

It's not fear.

It's fanaticism.

His eyes widened, his pupils contracted sharply, as if he had seen something unbelievable.

He was smiling.

He laughed hysterically.

Then his body began to contort.

Winding lines emerged from beneath his skin, like some kind of runes, or like some kind of worms swimming in his veins.

Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

But in the next instant...

The lines stopped spreading.

It was as if something was suppressing this force from the outside.