Vessel

"Sorry, I don't like raw food."

Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair, one hand still tucked into his trench coat pocket. "Besides, I'd rather see the patient first than eat."

"Do you really have a sick nephew?"

The Baron continued cutting his meat, finishing the last piece on his plate.

The Baron slowly raised his head. His somewhat cloudy eyes fixed dead on Lu Yuan, and a playful curve touched his lips.

That smile carried a condescending mockery.

"Doctor, sometimes knowing too much is not a good thing."

The Baron set down his knife and fork, then picked up a napkin to wipe away the nonexistent blood from the corner of his mouth. "Still, you're quite lucky to have gotten involved with the Night Watchers."

"Now I have to deal with you myself. What a nuisance."

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and quietly gripped the black iron ball in his pocket.

The Baron noticed Lu Yuan's small movement, but he did not care in the slightest. After all, he had received Mother's blessing.

How much could mere gunfire possibly hurt him?

"Doctor Lu, come with me. Since you're so eager to see my nephew, I'll grant your wish."

Following the Baron up to the second floor, Lu Yuan immediately felt the air grow noticeably thicker.

Oil paintings of every generation of family heads lined both sides of the corridor, but beneath the dim wall lamps, the figures' facial features looked somewhat distorted.

The farther they went, the heavier the suffocating dampness became. The red carpet beneath their feet was so wet that water could be squeezed out of it.

It made squelching sounds.

"We're here."

The Baron stopped before a heavy oak door.

The instant he pushed it open, a stench so foul it was nearly tangible rushed at them.

The curtains in the room were tightly drawn, and the air was as hot and damp as a steamer.

A massive four-poster bed stood in the center of the room. Incense burned all around it, yet it could not conceal the smell.

"This is my nephew, poor little Edward."

The Baron stood by the bed, his tone mournful, though his eyes were full of fanaticism.

Lu Yuan stepped forward.

A young man lay on the bed.

His limbs were as thin as sticks, and his skin was so pale it was nearly transparent. Beneath it, the veins had turned an eerie dark green.

But the most horrifying thing was his stomach.

It bulged high into the air, as large as that of a woman about to give birth.

Something writhed violently beneath the thin skin of his belly, occasionally thrusting out scalp-crawling lumps.

Lu Yuan focused his gaze.

Several lines of gray-white text slowly appeared in his vision.

[Observation Target: Aberrant Host (Final Incubation Stage)]

[Status: Dying / Incubating]

[Analysis: Its abdomen contains eggs originating from the Deep Sea. The host's internal organs have already been completely devoured, leaving only its outer shell to maintain vital signs as an incubation bed.]

[Weakness: Fears high-intensity holy objects]

[Warning: The Hatchling is about to burst from the body!]

"How is it, Doctor?"

The Baron's voice came from behind him, carrying a cold, sinister laugh. "Can you treat him?"

Lu Yuan turned around.

At some point, the Baron had blocked the doorway. The four "servants" had also silently surrounded him, sealing off every route of escape.

"Can't be treated."

Lu Yuan's voice was calm. His cold gaze swept over the monster on the bed before turning to the Baron.

"He isn't sick."

"But you truly are ruthless, Baron. You could even do this to your own nephew?"

The air fell deathly silent.

The Baron's elegant expression gradually stiffened, replaced bit by bit with extreme fanaticism and savagery.

"How glorious it is to offer one's flesh to Mother!"

The Baron's voice turned hoarse, and the skin on his neck began to writhe unnaturally.

"No wonder she insisted I get rid of you, Doctor Lu. Your eyes have seen far too much!"

"Children, dinner is served."

At the Baron's command.

"Riiip—"

The clothes on the four servants suddenly burst apart.

They tore off their scarves and gloves, revealing scale-covered necks and hands that had become webbed claws.

Their jaws opened as if dislocated, exposing mouths full of fine, sharp teeth. With beastlike hisses, they pounced on Lu Yuan.

At the same time, the "nephew" on the bed let out a piercing scream. His stomach suddenly split open, and several slick, mucus-covered tentacles stretched out!

It seemed like a certain death trap.

But under the Baron's gaze, the young doctor did not scream in panic. He did not even draw his gun.

He merely took a black iron ball from his pocket.

As the Exorcism Gunpowder came into contact with the nearly tangible eerie aura in the air, the once-cold sphere began to heat up!

"Since you like eating so much..."

Lu Yuan looked at the monsters rushing toward him, a cold smile curling at his lips.

"Then have a taste of this."

Lu Yuan viciously hurled the iron ball at the floor in the center of the room. At the same time, he sprang backward and kicked over the heavy oak table, using it as cover.

The next second.

"Boom—!!!"

There was no violent shockwave as expected.

What erupted was light.

A blinding flash instantly filled the entire room, illuminating the dark bedroom more brightly than the midday sun.

Then, silver powder filled the air, spreading wildly on the blast wave!

For the Mutated Creatures around them, who had lived for years in the darkness of the Deep Sea and were suppressed by holy attributes, that instant of intense light was no different from staring directly at the sun.

And the highly concentrated Exorcism Silver Powder was like intensely corrosive acid.

"Aaaahhh—!!!"

The room instantly filled with agonized screams.

The servants who had lunged halfway forward clutched their bleeding eyes and rolled across the floor.

The moment their scales touched the silver powder, they sizzled with corrosion and sent up plumes of black smoke.

Even the Baron screamed as he covered his eyes and stumbled backward.

Taking advantage of the chaos.

Lu Yuan leaned out from behind the table. The Enchanted Revolver in his hand had already been loaded.

In those eyes, calm to the point of near indifference, the screaming monsters were nothing but moving targets.

"Bang!"

The first shot precisely blasted apart the head of the nearest servant.

The explosive effect of the Enchanted Bullet blew that fish head apart like a rotten watermelon.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Lu Yuan moved through the smoke before the intense light had faded, as swift as a seasoned hunter.

Every gunshot was accompanied by the fall of a mutated servant.

In the blink of an eye, all four servants were dead.

Lu Yuan swung his gun toward the bed, aiming at the octopus-like monster that had already burst from the body and was trying to escape through the window.

"Trying to run?"

"Bang!"

The final Silver-Plated Bullet whistled out and drilled precisely into the monster's head.

With a dull burst, the Hatchling that had not even had the chance to see the world became a pile of mush.

"No—!!!"

An incomparably shrill scream echoed throughout the room.