New Potion

The air in the clinic seemed to have frozen solid.

Lausen slumped in his chair, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lu Yuan like a drowning man staring at his only piece of driftwood.

The commotion when he had slammed into the door had been too loud, the heavy thud carrying far through the silent night.

Lu Yuan's eyes shifted slightly as he looked through the crack in the door.

He keenly caught an exceptionally faint sound of leather scraping from the shadows of the alley—the distinctive standardized leather armor of a Night Watcher Hidden Sentry.

Along with the hand signals he had made while opening and closing the door, it had already drawn the attention of the nearby Night Watchers.

Lu Yuan had originally wanted to use this as a safeguard for himself, but it now seemed to have become a nuisance.

"Shut up."

Lu Yuan grabbed Lausen's shoulder, keeping his voice extremely low. "If you want to live, don't make a sound."

Lausen jolted at the sudden warning.

Though terror filled his heart, out of trust in Lu Yuan, he clamped a hand over his mouth and swallowed the wail that was about to burst out.

Lu Yuan straightened his collar and calmly pushed open the door, leaning half his body outside.

In the shadows at the mouth of the alley, a dark silhouette flickered in and out of view, the Alchemy Crossbow in its hand already half-raised.

"It's nothing."

Lu Yuan waved apologetically in that direction, his tone relaxed and natural. "Just a drunken idiot. He probably mistook my clinic for a tavern. I've already calmed him down."

The dark figure paused for a moment, seemingly studying Lu Yuan's expression.

A few seconds later, the silhouette slowly retreated into the depths of the darkness, leaving only a faint whistle to signal that it understood.

The figure did not care whether Lu Yuan was lying, because it could smell other people's emotions. As long as no one was being threatened, everything was negotiable.

Lu Yuan shut the door, locked it, and drew the curtains.

When he turned around, none of his earlier ease remained.

Lausen was trembling now, his eyes full of fear. As if he had finally found an outlet, he spoke incoherently.

"Before, I was only standing by the sea."

"But since yesterday, I've been dreaming that I'm walking step by step into the Deep Sea! The seawater is freezing, pouring into my nose and mouth!"

"Just now... I dreamed I was about to drown! That suffocating feeling... it was too real!"

Lausen suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot as he clutched Lu Yuan's sleeve. "And when I woke up, I found my whole body soaked! I hadn't gone anywhere, so how could there be water?!"

"...Even Silverlight Grass Mixture is almost useless after I drink it!"

"I tried Intermediate Holy Water too. It used to work for half an hour after I drank it, but now... it's like drinking boiling water. It only feels hot, but it does nothing!"

"Doctor Lu, I just want to sleep peacefully!"

Lu Yuan stood to one side, listening to Lausen's pleas without saying anything.

Because in Lu Yuan's eyes, lines of grayish-white text were rapidly appearing above Lausen's head.

[Observation Target: Lausen (Preliminary Variant)]

[Corruption Level: Deep Erosion (Accelerating)]

[Status Analysis: The body is transforming toward the "Deep Sea," the Soul Anchor is loosening, and he is being forcibly dragged into the Deep Dream.]

[Fatal Weaknesses: Holy-attribute items, Flame.]

"His fatal weakness is holy attributes..."

Lu Yuan stared at the red line of text, his gaze sharpening.

This was almost exactly the same as Valentin's previous condition. Did that mean the Strange Dream also involved some kind of Eerie entity?

"Doctor Lu, you have a way, right? You're one of the Night Watchers now. You can get better things, can't you?"

Lausen gripped Lu Yuan's arm tightly, with astonishing strength. "Intermediate Holy Water is useless, then give me Advanced Holy Water! I want Advanced Holy Water! I'll pay any amount! Please!"

Lu Yuan looked at Lausen, who was on the verge of collapse, while rapidly calculating in his mind.

Advanced Holy Water... He was also very curious how much restraint such a high-level holy item had against the Strange Dream.

If he had the chance, he truly wanted to get some for research.

But he absolutely would not use it on Lausen in his current state.

"Money isn't a problem! As long as it keeps me alive!" Lausen was still screaming, as though he had seized a lifeline.

"But I won't let you use it."

Lu Yuan coldly cut him off. "Not just Advanced Holy Water. From now on, don't even touch Intermediate Holy Water."

"Wh... what?" Lausen froze, the hope in his eyes instantly solidifying. "Why? I have money! I can pay double!"

Lu Yuan walked to the medicine cabinet, took an unopened bottle of Intermediate Holy Water into his hand, and shook it.

"You're sure you want to drink this? If you're not afraid of dying, go ahead and try."

"Look at what your body has become now."

Lu Yuan sneered and continued, "Lausen, haven't you noticed that something is wrong?"

"When Intermediate Holy Water felt hot before, that was the beginning of a rejection reaction."

"If you dare drink this bottle of Advanced Holy Water now..."

Lu Yuan paused, a trace of cruel pity in his eyes. "Your esophagus will be burned through, and then holy power will slice you into a thousand pieces until you die in agony."

"Believe me, that kind of death is worse than drowning."

Lu Yuan slammed the Holy Water back onto the table with a bang.

"Th-then what should I do? Wait to die?" Lausen collapsed hopelessly into his chair. He could feel the coldness inside him swallowing his sanity bit by bit.

"No."

Lu Yuan turned and headed toward the stairs leading to the basement, his voice drifting from the shadows.

"Since the 'holy' cannot save you, then we'll try 'Blasphemy.'"

"Fight poison with poison."

"Wait here. Don't move around, and don't look around."

In the basement's simple laboratory.

Under the dim yellow light, Lu Yuan took out the glass bottle containing [Corpse Moss] and placed it on the table together with the Silverlight Grass and Mercury Lausen had brought.

For a case like Lausen's, with severe corruption and Holy Repulsion, conventional methods had already failed.

He had to commit a little "Blasphemy" against the rules of pharmacology.

Lu Yuan stared at the materials on the table, sinking his thoughts deep into his mind as he activated [Forbidden Studies—Deep Study].

Grayish-white text flashed wildly across his retina as countless pharmacological combinations were simulated, collapsed, and rebuilt in his mind.

[Forbidden Studies—Deep Study Activated]

[Analyzing Target Characteristics: Deep Sea Curse (Second Order/Holy Repulsion)]

[Deriving Formula...]

[Formula Generated: Deep Sea Sedative (Improved/Concealed Version)]

[Principle: Abandon Holy Water purification. Use the shared origin of Corpse Moss powder for deception, supplemented by Silverlight Grass suppression and Mercury solidification. Conceal the Deep Sea aura with an Eerie aura, transforming bodily characteristics.]

[Estimated Success Rate: 44%]

[Note: Failure has a high probability of rendering the materials useless, or causing the user to lose control to corruption on the spot.]

"Forty-four percent..."

Lu Yuan looked at the success rate of less than half, his expression calm.

For an experiment like walking a tightrope, a chance approaching fifty percent was already absurdly high.

As for the consequences of failure? The one drinking the potion was not him anyway.