Truth

Lu Yuan curled his lips slightly and cooperatively lowered his head, quickly leaving the room under the young team member's "escort."

Leaving the manor's main building went exceptionally smoothly.

Led by the young team member, they avoided the eyes of all irrelevant personnel and swiftly crossed the chaotic garden through a servants-only passage.

The rain was still falling, but it had weakened considerably.

At the manor gates, they did not head for the suffocating iron prison van from the police station.

An unmarked black carriage stood silently in the shadows.

"Consultant Lu, please."

The young team member opened the carriage door for Lu Yuan. His voice was lowered, and his tone had become exceedingly respectful.

At that moment, the tense atmosphere of the "interrogation" vanished completely.

"No one ever came here tonight."

Looking at Lu Yuan, the young team member spoke quickly in the tone of someone delivering a report. "Thorn Manor suffered a gas leak from old pipes, which unfortunately triggered a series of violent explosions and a fire.

"The Baron and his family... unfortunately all perished. There were no survivors."

With one foot on the carriage, Lu Yuan paused.

He turned back to look at the imposing, sinister manor behind him.

Under the "Blockade" of that mixed task force, several Night Watcher logistics personnel were skillfully packing the corpses of the mutated monsters into special body bags, while others were splashing around some kind of flammable alchemical potion.

It was a textbook-level cleanup and cover-up.

All the crimes, conspiracies, and Deep Sea filth that could not see the light of day would be reduced to ashes in this "accidental" blaze.

It preserved the Empire's dignity while securing the evidence they wanted.

"A perfect cleanup."

After commenting, Lu Yuan climbed into the carriage.

"To Old John's Tavern."

"Understood."

The coachman snapped the reins, and the black carriage silently slipped into the rainy night, racing toward the Night Watcher Base.

Old John's Tavern had long since closed for the night. Only the Supply Office still had a dim kerosene lamp lit.

Old Morgan had not gone to sleep yet.

Wrapped in a worn military overcoat, he was sprawled over the counter, puffing away at a map of Grim Port spread before him.

The ashtray was already full of cigarette butts, and the pungent smell of cheap tobacco filled the air.

Hearing footsteps, Old Morgan did not turn around. He merely said flatly, "You're back?"

"I'm back."

Lu Yuan walked straight up to the counter.

Without wasting words, he pulled out the letter reeking of blood and rotten fish, along with the used-up "Black Powder Type-3" shell from his pocket, and slammed them heavily onto the counter.

Smack!

The muffled sound was especially piercing in the silent basement.

"Using a living person as fish bait doesn't come cheap, Morgan."

Lu Yuan's voice was cold. Though he understood the Night Watchers' methods, that did not mean he would graciously accept being kept in the dark.

Old Morgan finally looked up.

He first glanced at the shattered iron sphere shell, and the wrinkled corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

Clearly, something so useful—and so expensive that even Lu Yuan could not analyze any new knowledge from it—was no cheap item.

Then his gaze fell upon the letter.

When he saw the Emblem of Thorns and Tentacles in the corner of the paper, Old Morgan grinned.

His teeth, yellowed from years of smoking, showed as he smiled. There was no apology in that grin, only the cunning satisfaction of an old hunter.

"Don't get so worked up, Doctor Lu."

Old Morgan exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and pointed at the letter. "The risk was a little high, but the fish took the bait, didn't it? And the bait is still hopping around just fine. It even blew up the fishpond while it was at it."

"Was this your plan, or the Night Watchers'?" Lu Yuan stared into his eyes.

"It was an entrance test, and a cleanup plan."

Old Morgan did not deny it. He picked up the letter, his gaze turning somewhat cold. "We already knew there was rotten flesh within our ranks, but we could never find where to cut. This knife of yours is even faster than I imagined."

"Since I'm both the knife and the bait..."

Lu Yuan braced both hands against the counter and leaned forward. A shrewd glint flashed through his black eyes. "What's my reward?"

Old Morgan was clearly stunned by Lu Yuan's sudden shift.

"You really are... Go on, what do you want?" Old Morgan seemed to have expected this all along.

"First."

Lu Yuan pointed at the Abandoned Bomb Shell. "Whether the points I owe are real or not, wipe them all clean."

"No problem." Old Morgan nodded. "Fine. That bomb was meant to keep you alive anyway."

"Second."

Lu Yuan lightly tapped the signature at the bottom of the letter. "This letter is what you really wanted, right? Since it's worth so much."

"In exchange..." Lu Yuan's gaze passed over Old Morgan and settled on the heavily locked iron door behind him. "I want to enter the real 'warehouse' and pick one item."

That was Lu Yuan's true objective.

Enchanted firearms were no longer enough to protect him properly.

At the Baron's place, if not for the Exorcism Gunpowder, he would probably have been torn to pieces long ago.

So he needed a genuine Transcendent item.

Old Morgan's hand, which had been wiping down a gun barrel, abruptly froze.

He raised his eyelids and studied Lu Yuan anew, as though he were meeting this young Doctor for the first time.

The Deep Warehouse was where the Night Watchers stored high-grade mutated materials and Taboo items.

After a long silence.

Old Morgan did not refuse immediately. Instead, he suddenly sighed and set the hunting rifle in his hand aside.

"I know you're resentful, and confused."

Old Morgan's voice lowered, losing its usual profiteer's air and gaining a measure of solemnity. "You must be wondering: since you have talent, why would the Night Watchers let you take such a near-certainly fatal risk instead of protecting you?"

Lu Yuan said nothing, only watched him quietly.

"Because your Path is too dangerous."

Old Morgan pointed at Lu Yuan's head. "[Eerie Knowledge Transcendent] is the most dangerous and unstable Path of them all. Especially for a 'genius' like you."

"The faster you come into contact with knowledge, and the more you understand, the more likely you are to be corrupted."

Old Morgan's eyes were somewhat clouded, as if recalling something unpleasant. "I've seen too many young people like you."

"They were brilliant, quick to learn anything, but in the end... they did not die at the hands of monsters. They became monsters themselves."

"Monsters even more terrifying than monsters."

"So letting you go this time was actually a Sanity Check for you."