Files

The first page was a cargo manifest.

[November 21 · Arrival at Port]

[Core Cargo: Unknown Raw Ore (Codename: Deep Blue)]

[Description: An unknown ore accidentally recovered by the Iron Whale during an ocean patrol. Dark blue throughout, with extremely high energy readings.]

"Ore?" Lu Yuan's gaze shifted slightly.

Turning the page, he found an [Anomaly Report].

[November 22 · Assessment]

[This ore displayed extreme instability in a land environment. The special energy it emitted caused the surrounding population to experience "mass hysteria," with symptoms including hearing singing, dreaming of the Deep Sea, and varying degrees of declining sanity.]

[Investigation revealed that the ore seemed to contain some kind of curse. Some personnel who came into contact with it experienced unusual dreams. The means of transmission remained unknown, as did any treatment.]

At this point, part of the mystery in Lu Yuan's heart was solved. So the source of Laisen turning into that dead fish had been this batch of ore.

But what followed was helplessness.

"Unknown transmission, unknown treatment. That means even the Night Watchers have no way of dealing with this illness."

"Can I solve it myself?"

Lu Yuan doubted himself somewhat. Strange Dream now clung to him like a parasite in his bones. Even though his sanity had leveled up, its upper limit still had not recovered.

At this rate, sooner or later, every last shred of his sanity would be drained away. In the end, he would become a dead fish like Laisen, rotting and stinking.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuan lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long while.

"I'll take it one step at a time."

At the end of the file was an [Emergency Transfer Order].

[November 24 · Decision]

[Given the danger and immense research value of the "Deep Blue" ore, Headquarters has decided to cease storing it in the port warehouse. Tests have shown that the Deep Sea environment can effectively suppress the ore's activity.]

[Order: After resupplying, the Iron Whale is to immediately put to sea once more. Mission objectives: 1. Conduct isolation experiments in the open ocean and analyze the ore. 2. Attempt to locate the ore's place of origin.]

Lu Yuan's gaze swept over the final personnel list.

[Personnel Aboard: All crew members of the Iron Whale + the Night Watchers' Fifth Elite Squad (Captain: Gao Wen)]

"So that's how it was..."

Lu Yuan closed the file, his knuckles turning faintly white from the force of his grip.

No wonder Mary had said they were short-handed.

One of the Night Watchers' elite main forces had actually gone to sea with that ship. They had thought it was an expedition, or perhaps a search for treasure.

But...

Lu Yuan stood in the dim Archive Room, chills rising layer by layer along his back.

If what the file said was true, then that ship should now have been carrying a full load of heavily armed elites, riding the waves across the sea.

Yet what he had seen in his dream was an almost scrapped "corpse."

Had some kind of mutation occurred at sea?

Lu Yuan did not know, but one thing was certain: the Iron Whale had most likely met with disaster.

There were other possibilities, though, such as the traces of human activity he had seen on the island.

Lu Yuan sighed. After investigating for so long, he had only found the source. He still had no way to resolve it.

"I should head back first."

When he left the base, the sky was still dim. The street lamps on both sides of the road gave off a faint glow as scattered raindrops fell at an untimely hour.

It was going to rain.

He quickly returned to the clinic.

Lu Yuan took off his coat. Being completely powerless against Strange Dream left him somewhat irritated.

Just as he was about to close the shop and rest—

A deathly pale hand suddenly reached through the gap in the door and clutched the doorframe tightly.

"Help... help..."

An extremely weak voice came through the sound of the rain.

Lu Yuan paused. Rather than helping immediately, he cautiously stepped back half a pace, one hand resting on the grip of the gun in his coat.

"Why does someone always come at night?"

The door was pushed open bit by bit.

A man drenched from head to toe and wearing an overcoat stumbled inside.

His face was filled with terror, and his abdomen bulged in an eerie manner.

"Doctor... save me..."

The man raised his head, his eyes full of despair. "Take it out... please..."

Trembling, he lifted his clothes.

Lu Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

A black line lay plainly across the man's stomach—an exquisitely precise Surgical Suture.

"Doctor, please save me..."

The man cried out, whether from fear or pain, before finally passing out.

Lu Yuan carried the man onto the Small Bed. Several Gas Lamps fitted with Concave Reflectors focused their light onto a single point, illuminating the body before him.

After taking protective measures, Lu Yuan steadily used the Scissors to cut open the black suture line across the man's abdomen.

As the flesh was peeled back layer by layer, violent ripples appeared in Lu Yuan's usually still eyes.

There was no infection, nor was there any mutated parasite.

Inside the opened abdominal cavity, where the left kidney should have been, there was instead a Mechanical Device slowly operating.

Brass-colored miniature gears meshed and turned amid the flesh.

Several Dark Red tubes, like blood vessels, were inserted into the surrounding arteries, continuously filtering the host's blood.

At the core of the device, a Blue Stone pulsed rhythmically, emitting an endless hum.

[Contact with Mechanical Prosthesis (Defective)... Analyzing...]

[Analysis: This was a mad attempt to use an Alchemical Machine to completely replace human organs, thereby achieving a certain degree of advancement.]

[Warning: Current medical standards cannot reverse this. Forced removal will result in the host's immediate death.]

"Turning people into machines?"

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling a chill run down his spine.

Even he had not expected that someone in this era would use alchemy to conduct such a mad experiment.

More importantly, judging by the degree of wound healing, this surgery—which should have caused an immense rejection reaction—had actually succeeded.

"But the man before me can't be saved either."

Lu Yuan made his judgment.

This thing had already completely fused with the man's body.

Lu Yuan swiftly cleared away the necrotic tissue around the wound, then threaded the needle again and stitched the abdomen shut as quickly as possible.

This man could not die.

At least until Lu Yuan found out who had implanted this thing in him, he had to stay alive.

Lu Yuan removed his bloodstained gloves, walked to the sink, and turned on the tap.

The sound of running water was especially clear in the silent rainy night.

Just then—

Boom!

The clinic's originally sturdy oak door suddenly exploded with a deafening crash. The entire door panel fell like it had been struck by a battering ram, splinters flying everywhere.

A cold wind mixed with rain instantly poured in.

Lu Yuan abruptly shut off the tap. As he turned, his right hand had already reached for the Revolver in his coat.

At the entrance stood four or five figures in matching Gray Coats.

They wore heavy Gas Masks and goggles, holding exaggerated Steam Blunderbusses that gave off an overwhelming sense of menace.