Mina

The endless rain had stopped, but Grim Port was finally shrouded in cold, damp Gray Mist.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Clinic's front door shook from the pounding, while Brent's tearful voice came from outside. "Doctor Lu! Open the door!"

Lu Yuan frowned and opened the door.

Brent, soaked to the bone, rushed in with Mina wrapped in an overcoat on his back.

His eyes were bloodshot like those of a frightened beast, and he nearly dropped to his knees the moment he entered.

"Save her... Doctor Lu... Mina's not going to make it!"

Lu Yuan said nothing. He stepped aside to let him in, then shut the door behind him.

Brent placed Mina on a chair.

Where was the obedient little girl Lu Yuan had met before?

Her entire body was curled into a ball. She clawed desperately at her ears, her nails even tearing through the skin as blood ran down her auricles.

Her eyes had rolled back, and muffled screams and incoherent babbling kept spilling from her mouth.

"Stop singing... It hurts... Go away!"

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened.

He strode forward and grabbed Mina's wildly flailing arms.

The next moment, gray-white words instantly appeared above the girl's head.

[Observation Target: Mina (Spirituality Rampage)]

[Status: Severe Mental Contamination / Auditory Overload]

[Talent Analysis: Echo of All Things. Her individual intuition was naturally extremely high and had not been contaminated. She could hear the whispers of different entities and locate the source of "filth" through sound.]

[Warning: Due to her current lack of protection, she was like a lavish meal drifting across the sea, highly likely to attract predators.]

"What an outrageous talent..."

Lu Yuan's eyes shifted slightly as he looked at the words.

In Grim Port, a place filled with fog and the unknown, having someone who could give advance warnings or even locate Eerie entities would greatly improve their chances of survival.

Especially if Mina could help him find the source of the Strange Dream, the chances of his cure would increase dramatically.

With that in mind, Lu Yuan gave Brent an order before turning toward the alchemy table.

"Hold her down. Don't let her move around."

Lu Yuan's Deep Study ability had already activated.

The knowledge he had learned and encountered before automatically rearranged itself in his mind, ultimately deducing a completely new solution.

[Plan Generated: Targeted Spirituality Suppressant (Improved)]

[Principle: Calming Flower soothes the brain. Mercury powder is used to forcibly "settle" Spirituality, while a high-concentration sedative seals the user's five senses and Spirituality channels.]

[Estimated Success Rate: 78%]

[Note: This is a customized plan and is unsuitable for others.]

A success rate close to eighty percent was enough for Lu Yuan to give it a try. Without further hesitation, he took out a dried Calming Flower, pinched a small amount of Mercury powder between his fingertips, and finally mixed in half a tube of concentrated sedative.

As it heated, the liquid in the bottle turned a deathly dark gray.

[Pharmacology: +2]

With the increase in skill experience, Lu Yuan knew clearly that he had succeeded.

"Pry open her mouth."

Lu Yuan walked over with the bottle in hand.

Brent steadied himself and tremblingly pried apart his sister's clenched teeth.

After confirming the temperature, Lu Yuan poured the gray medicine down her throat.

The effect was immediate.

Within just a few minutes, Mina's tightly wound body went limp. The hand clawing at her ears fell weakly to her side, and her ragged breathing gradually steadied.

She fell asleep, temporarily free from the torment of those voices.

Seeing Mina finally sleeping peacefully, Brent's taut nerves finally snapped. He slumped into a chair, and some of the terror faded from his eyes.

Lu Yuan did not speak at once. Instead, he slowly wiped the bottle in his hand until Brent's breathing had calmed somewhat before speaking.

"This medicine can only let her sleep for a while. When she wakes up, if the source isn't dealt with, she'll suffer even more than she is now."

As he spoke, Lu Yuan turned to Brent. "The medicine I gave you last time should have been able to suppress it for a while longer. For it to suddenly flare up this badly, what happened?"

Brent's body stiffened. He did not answer Lu Yuan's question about Mina's condition.

Instead, after a long silence, he rose to his knees and slammed his forehead heavily against the floor with a dull bang.

"Doctor Lu! Please let Mina stay here! I'm begging you!"

He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and pleaded incoherently. "Let her be your servant, or do cleaning work! Just let her hide in the Clinic. Don't send her away!"

Lu Yuan frowned. Brent's mental state was clearly wrong. How had he gone from being such a shrewd child to this in only a few days?

Still, Lu Yuan looked at the terrified boy before him and spoke.

"I think you should explain yourself. This is a Clinic, not a place for looking after children."

"And if you're worried about her situation, I can prescribe a few bottles of medicine for you to take back. Why must she stay here?"

"We can't go back... We can't go back..."

Brent raised his head, his eyes filled with despair. "If I take Mina back, she'll be taken away! Just like Little Tom next door!"

"Taken away?" Lu Yuan keenly caught the key phrase. "By whom?"

"No, it's the Church... those priests!"

Brent swallowed, instinctively lowering his voice.

"For the past few days, people from the Church have been wandering around the docks and the slums, saying they're looking for children 'favored by Angels' and want to take them to the Church to enjoy a good life."

"That's why I never dared take Mina outside."

As he said this, a trace of relief entered Brent's voice.

"Just yesterday afternoon, the Church's priests came to the downstairs of our cheap rental building."

"They were holding a Bible. That book was sinister! Whenever it got close to certain children, its cover would glow red."

"At the time, only Mina and Little Tom next door were nearby! But that book lit up!"

"I was terrified. While they were still upstairs, I took Mina and climbed out through the back window... If we hadn't run, I was afraid Mina would have been taken away too..."

"Doctor Lu, Mina is my only family... Please help us."

Brent's voice was full of pleading, and his eyes were filled with fear.

"Only this place... Doctor Lu, you belong to the Night Watcher. This neighborhood is Night Watcher territory! Even the Church wouldn't dare storm into a Night Watcher Clinic to search for someone!"

After hearing him out, Lu Yuan tapped his fingers lightly against the table, a trace of understanding flashing through his eyes.

So that was it.

After the shock of her uncle's death, Mina had only just awakened her talent, and those people from the Church had already caught her scent.

That glowing Bible was clearly an alchemical item used to find gifted children like Mina.

This so-called "favor of Angels" was merely an excuse to cover up their child-snatching.

Still, it matched Lu Yuan's impression of the Church.

A group of monsters that ate people whole without even spitting out the bones.

That also explained why Brent was acting like a startled bird, desperate to stuff his sister into the Clinic.

He had no one to rely on in the slums. When facing such a Colossus, his only way to survive was to find a stronger patron.

And now, Lu Yuan was that patron. Perhaps not strong enough, but absolutely the strongest one Brent could find.

Most importantly, taking Mina in would benefit both Lu Yuan and the Night Watcher.

And it would disgust those Church bastards too. Why not?