Mutated Lausen

Moreover, this was currently the only plan that could save Lausen while allowing him to obtain more mutation data.

"Let's begin."

Lu Yuan skillfully set up the crucible and added the raw materials one by one.

As the flames rose, the silvery liquid began to boil.

"I can't use Holy Water as a catalyst this time..."

Lu Yuan carefully controlled the heat, rapidly stirring with a glass rod. "I'll have to use Mercury as a stabilizer instead."

He added two drops of Mercury.

"Sizzle—"

The liquid instantly became viscous.

"Finally..."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, picked up a small pinch of blackish-green Corpse Moss powder with tweezers, and sprinkled it in.

Since Lausen's soul had already been connected to the Deep Sea, there was no need to try cutting it off. He needed to deceive it instead.

If Lausen's nature could be transformed from human to Eerie... could it lessen the disturbance of the Strange Dream?

As the powder dissolved, the liquid in the crucible instantly calmed, turning into a dull, lifeless dark gray.

It emitted an unsettling fishy stench.

Lady Luck seemed to be on his side. The liquid neither exploded nor turned into useless sludge; it stabilized instead.

[Pharmacognosy activated. You have discovered an ingenious method of combining medicinal ingredients...]

[Crafting successful!]

[Item obtained: Deep Sea Sedative (Improved/Concealed Version)]

[Pharmacology: +5, 8/50] (Pharmaceutical crafting)

[Pharmacognosy: +2, 2/30] (Understanding medicinal ingredients)

"It worked."

Lu Yuan poured the liquid into a bottle. Looking at the murky gray fluid, the corner of his lips curved upward.

When he returned to the first floor, Lausen was sitting upright in a chair, looking somewhat dazed.

"Drink it."

Lu Yuan handed him the potion, which looked like a bottle of muddy ash water.

Lausen looked at the foul-looking medicine, which even carried a fishy odor, and hesitated for a moment.

"Are you sure this thing works?" he asked tremulously.

"Do you have another choice?" Lu Yuan offered no further explanation.

The suffocating sensation of impending drowning rising from deep within his body left Lausen no choice.

He snatched the bottle, tilted back his head, and drained it in one gulp.

"Urgh—!!!"

The instant the liquid entered his throat, Lausen's eyes bulged violently.

He felt as though he had not swallowed medicine, but an ice-cold block of ice.

After the ice entered his stomach, it instantly burst into countless icy currents that crazily burrowed through his entire body.

"Aaaahhh!"

Lausen collapsed onto the floor, frantically clawing at his neck and arms.

"Endure it." Lu Yuan watched coldly, Holy Water clenched in his hand and ready to splash it at any moment.

But Lu Yuan did not act, because the changes had begun.

As Lausen clawed at himself, the hard white keratin covering his neck and the backs of his hands began peeling away in large chunks.

Like a snake shedding its skin.

Fresh red flesh was exposed to the air.

Then, a layer of fine gray-black patterns resembling fish scales emerged beneath his skin.

They did not grow outward, but swiftly receded beneath the skin.

A few minutes later, Lausen stopped screaming and fainted.

His skin now had an unhealthy pallor and felt somewhat rough.

But the terrifying white keratin had completely vanished.

From the outside, he merely looked like an ordinary man suffering from a serious illness.

"It actually worked?"

Lu Yuan checked Lausen's pupils. After confirming they had not dilated, he dragged him onto the empty hospital bed.

The next morning.

The fog over Grim Port remained thick, and seagulls cried outside the window.

Lausen suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

He instinctively touched his neck, then looked at the backs of his hands.

No keratin, no scales—only slightly pale skin.

"I... I'm still alive?"

He turned and saw Lu Yuan sitting by the table, holding a slice of bread and watching him quietly.

"How do you feel?" Lu Yuan asked.

Lausen took a deep breath.

That ever-present suffocating feeling, as though someone were strangling him, had vanished.

In its place was an unprecedented clarity, along with a... cold tranquility.

"The water isn't pouring into my nose anymore..."

Lausen's voice was distant, his gaze deep and hollow. "I floated up... Doctor Lu, in my dreams, I'm no longer the drowning man."

"I saw a magnificent city sunk beneath the sea. The buildings there were crooked, but I heard bells..."

"Those bells... sounded very pleasant..."

The bread Lu Yuan had been about to put into his mouth stopped midway.

Gray-white words flickered wildly at the edge of his vision:

[Heard tales of the Deep Sea. Sanity check in progress... Check passed.]

[Sanity II: +1, 39/43(-1) (Experience)] (The Sanity value has been changed here. It can't be altered for now. As for why the difference is so large, just assume the protagonist slept for a few extra days...)

Lu Yuan's heart shook violently.

Simply listening to Lausen describe his dream could increase Sanity experience? And reduce his Sanity cap?

Lu Yuan instantly realized the severity of the situation.

The contamination level of the Strange Dream was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

"Enough."

Lu Yuan stiffly interrupted Lausen's murmuring.

He did not want Lausen to notice anything unusual, much less allow his Sanity cap to keep deteriorating.

"I'm not interested in your dreams. As long as you don't lose control, it doesn't matter even if you dream that you're a fish."

After being interrupted, Lausen's dazed expression swiftly faded.

He blinked. The confusion in his eyes disappeared, replaced by that familiar shrewdness—colder than before, if anything.

He stood up, straightened his expensive suit, which had become wrinkled from sleep, then touched his smooth neck.

The fear and despair of facing death were gone.

"Doctor Lu, your medicine... works very well."

Lausen did not fall to his knees in tearful gratitude. Instead, he regained his composure and even showed a proper smile. "It seems the return on this investment of mine is quite high."

"This only suppresses it." Lu Yuan paid no attention to the shift in Lausen's attitude. "If you don't want to turn back into what you were last night, you'll need to come see me for a dose every three days."

"I understand."

Lausen nodded. He walked to the door and put on his top hat.

"Thank you for your craftsmanship, Doctor Lu."

He turned around, reason gleaming in his eyes. "If you need anything, you may come to me at any time. I will do everything within my power to help."

"And the materials from before—we'll provide you with twice as much."

"Keep an eye out for other tenants like you nearby, and get me as many materials from Mutated Creatures as possible," Lu Yuan replied.

"Rest assured. You'll get what you want."

Lausen pushed open the door and stepped into the morning mist.

His back was straight and his stride steady. He did not look at all like a man who had just crawled back from death's door.

Lu Yuan watched his retreating figure, narrowing his eyes.

Lausen might have stepped onto the path of Transcendence in an Eerie manner.

Though it was not yet certain, one thing was clear: Lausen's "status" within the Strange Dream had improved considerably.

Lu Yuan did not know whether that was good or bad, but cooperating with him was not necessarily a bad thing.

From now on, he could obtain Intelligence from the Harbor District without interruption, and his exploration of the Strange Dream could accelerate as well.

After all, over the past few days, Lu Yuan had discovered that he had been pinned to the beach again. Even now, he did not know why he had suddenly been able to move before...

Lu Yuan closed the door, glanced at his Sanity cap, which had returned to 44, and stuffed the remaining bread into his mouth.

"Not bad."