Undercurrent

Lu Yuan had just walked out of the Library's metal gate when he ran straight into Mary.

She leaned against the corridor wall, flipping a lighter deftly between her fingers with crisp clicks.

Seeing Lu Yuan emerge, she raised her wrist and checked the time.

"Exactly four hours."

A trace of surprise flashed through Mary's lazy green eyes. "I thought you'd be like those newcomers who'd just discovered knowledge—staying inside until the Book Spirit kicked you out, or getting carried out after frying your brain."

"Knowledge is alluring, but my life matters more." Lu Yuan adjusted his slightly wrinkled collar. Though his face looked tired, his gaze remained clear.

"Very sensible." Mary nodded and straightened up. "Looks like you really are suited for this path. But don't celebrate too soon. You haven't encountered the truly dangerous knowledge yet."

She put away her lighter and led Lu Yuan upstairs.

"Now for business. We investigated the matter you mentioned before, the one targeting Doctors."

Mary's voice echoed through the empty Spiral Staircase. "Your instincts were right. There really is a force secretly eliminating Doctors in Grim Port, especially those who have dealt with 'abnormal' cases."

"Although we haven't caught their trail yet, I can guarantee they won't dare make a move against you in the short term. After all, you're one of us now."

"In the short term?" Lu Yuan keenly caught the key phrase.

"The Night Watchers can't provide round-the-clock personal protection for an external consultant." Mary shrugged, her tone practical. "We'll increase the frequency of nighttime patrols passing by your Clinic. Of course, if you can step onto the Transcendence Path soon and prove your worth, we can consider moving your Clinic into the inner city. It's much safer there than the Harbor District."

Lu Yuan neither agreed nor objected.

Moving into the inner city would certainly be safer, but it would also mean distancing himself from his sources of intelligence and his current group of "experience packs."

"That's all for later." Lu Yuan stopped and looked at Mary. "I might not even live to see then. Since I signed the contract, the Night Watchers can't just watch their consultant get killed while unarmed, can they?"

He spread his hands. "So I need a weapon. A weapon capable of dealing with those people."

Mary stared at him for a while, then smiled helplessly.

"You really don't stand on ceremony."

She drew a compact single-shot pistol from the holster at her waist and casually tossed it to Lu Yuan.

It was an engraved, silver-plated pistol. Its body was covered in intricate runes, while its grip was made of some kind of black wood. It felt heavy and cold in his hand.

"This is an Alchemy Weapon, though it's an obsolete old model," Mary explained. "It can only load one bullet at a time, reloads extremely slowly, and unless you're very close, it can hardly inflict a fatal wound on a person."

"But it has one excellent trait. The silver-plated bullets and the runes on its body can inflict real damage on Ghosts and low-level Eerie creatures."

Lu Yuan accepted the pistol and examined it, feeling a measure of delight as well.

[Minor xxx, new knowledge unlocked: Engraver xx]

"This is enough."

After asking Mary for a holster as well, Lu Yuan finally returned to the Clinic.

By the time he got back, dusk had already fallen.

Lu Yuan took a few bites of cold bread, then threw himself back into the tedious work of studying and making medicine.

With the four hours of accumulation in the Library, his understanding of [Occultism] had deepened considerably. Though he had yet to break through that final barrier, the feeling of making connections by analogy made handling herbs much easier.

The mixture of Silverlight Grass in the crucible was boiling, giving off a faint silvery glow.

"It's still lacking a little heat."

Lu Yuan stared at the color of the medicine, his brow slightly furrowed.

Although the success rate had improved from before, something always seemed just a little off during the final condensation step.

"Looks like I need to raise [Basic Herbology] to Level 2 first."

Just as he was about to put out the fire and start over, the Clinic's door was violently slammed open.

Bang!

Cold wind mixed with a heavy stench of blood rushed inside.

"Doctor! Hurry! Save him!"

Two dockworkers, drenched from head to toe and reeking of fish, carried a door panel inside.

A man lay on the panel, covered in blood, his face as pale as paper.

Lu Yuan put down the test tube in his hand and hurried over.

The man lying on the door panel was unexpectedly someone he knew—Thomas.

The dockworker who had injured his leg before, and also Lu Yuan's first client.

At this moment, he was in a far more miserable state than last time.

The clothes over his abdomen had been torn apart, exposing a savage wound. Flesh curled outward, and his writhing intestines could vaguely be seen inside.

"Carry him onto the bed."

Lu Yuan directed the two men in moving Thomas onto the examination bed, then quickly cut open his clothes and cleaned the wound.

The edges of the wound bore jagged tearing marks, as though some huge mouth filled with dense, sharp teeth had savagely ripped at him.

Moreover, the skin around the wound had turned somewhat black and gave off a stench like rotting seaweed.

[Observing injury: severe laceration, accompanied by minor infection from an unknown toxin. Recommended treatment: stop bleeding, suture, detoxify.]

[Basic Medical: +0.8]

Lu Yuan's hands never stopped moving. Guided by the analysis of the injury, he used the Raven-Beak Forceps to clamp the bleeding point.

"What happened?" Lu Yuan asked as he attempted to stitch the wound.

The coworker beside him wiped sweat from his face and said with lingering fear, "We were patrolling the sea. Because of Thomas's leg injury, the boss had him do something easier—watching out for cargo falling into the water."

"Then a crate fell into the sea today. Thomas jumped in to retrieve it, but not long after he went down, a huge patch of blood spread across the water..."

The coworker swallowed. "By the time we pulled him up, he looked like this. If a ship hadn't happened to pass by, he'd have died."

Lu Yuan's stitching hand paused slightly.

Had the waters near the port already become this dangerous?

This was not a good sign.

Lu Yuan had previously heard Brent say that although those "fish" were strange, there had at least never been an incident of them attacking people after being Harvested.

For them to launch an attack in the shallow waters like this meant the situation at sea was worsening. Lu Yuan also thought of Brent's completely mutated uncle.

Things really weren't peaceful.

As he thought this, his hands kept turning under the guidance of the gray text.

"Done."

Lu Yuan tied the final knot and applied a layer of specially prepared Anti-inflammatory Herb over the wound.

"The wound looks frightening, but his internal organs weren't injured. His life is saved, but the toxin is troublesome. He'll need the dressing changed every day."

Thomas slowly woke up then, grimacing in pain.

"Doctor Lu... am I going to die?"

"You won't die." Lu Yuan tossed his bloodstained gloves into a basin. "But your luck really is something else."