Symptomatic Reading Method (Fifth Update, Please Follow!)

The dim afterglow of the setting sun spilled across the sea. Among the shimmering waves, several silver fish leaped from the water. The next moment, a jumping-tailed shark burst forth and swallowed them in a single bite.

"What evil flesh tome?" Xia Lun raised his eyes slightly and asked softly. "I don't quite understand what you mean."

"An evil flesh tome?" Before the doctor could answer, the priest interrupted in astonishment. "By the Eternal Bright Flame, the Wax Book Xia Lun carries is an evil flesh tome? This thing actually exists?!"

The doctor's laughter remained soft and strange. "Hehehe..." He lifted his clouded eyes. "Ah, of course it is an evil flesh tome. The genuine article."

"So what exactly is an evil flesh tome?" Xia Lun raised a brow slightly.

"When I was studying at the Monastery of the Heart of Violet Flame, I heard some secret rumors about evil flesh tomes."

The priest closed his eyes, as though recalling something.

"An evil flesh tome is a kind of book of unknown origin. They say such books first appeared during the Great Black Plague. They seemed to appear out of thin air, yet every material used to make them came from human bodies. The Wax Book you carry should be made of human oil—oh, right. It seems only lucid madmen, or dead people whose hearts are still beating, can see the words written inside."

At this point, the priest seemed to notice a flaw in his reasoning. He opened his eyes and looked at the doctor. "If the book Xia Lun carries truly is an evil flesh tome, then I shouldn't be able to see the words on it."

"Ah, naturally," the doctor said. "If Xia Lun agrees, you can look at it right now. So, Xia Lun, are you willing to let him see it? Hehehe..."

Xia Lun narrowed his eyes slightly. After weighing it for a moment, he generously slapped the damaged Prayerbook of the Drowned onto the table.

Bang.

The white Wax Book landed on the table. Xia Lun could not tell whether it was an illusion, but he inexplicably felt that the light had dimmed somewhat.

He glanced at the other two from the corner of his eye and found that both were staring fixedly at the Wax Book on the table.

Under the dim light, the uneven surface of the Wax Book seemed to pulse. Xia Lun could not help thinking of a shriveled heart covered in white mold.

"Gulp." The priest instinctively clenched his holy emblem and swallowed with difficulty. At some point, cold sweat had begun to seep from his forehead.

"Open it and take a look," the doctor urged in a completely flat tone.

The priest hesitantly looked at Xia Lun, who nodded. The next moment, the priest reached out and opened the title page of the Prayerbook of the Drowned.

As it turned, the soft, greasy title page made a sticky squelching sound. Holding his holy emblem, the priest curiously leaned forward to look. The next moment, he froze.

"There really aren't any words?!" The priest's eyes widened. From straining too hard, blood vessels crawled across his bulging eyeballs. He muttered to himself, "What kind of joke is this? This is another bad joke, right? This book never had any words to begin with, right?!"

Xia Lun said nothing. Seeing the priest's reaction, he immediately recalled the information panel's description when he had obtained the Prayerbook of the Drowned.

[To ordinary people, this is a book without words. But to those who return from death and to madmen, it is filled with blasphemous writing. Between those crooked, slanting words are accounts of bizarre and frenzied secret arts.]

Perhaps he could see the words because he had crossed over and returned to life after dying. The priest, meanwhile, was an ordinary person, so he could not see the writing.

"Not only that." The doctor raised his head, his tone as flat as a machine's. "You can try having Xia Lun copy the words down. Even if they are copied, someone like you, who has yet to see through the Three Veils, still will not be able to see them."

"Stop speaking in riddles. Let's get to the point." Xia Lun raised a hand to cut him off. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Oh, efficient. Yes, efficiency." The doctor muttered to himself. "Yes, yes. The evidence and argument are already sufficient. We should get to the point."

He slowly raised his head and grinned, revealing gaps between his teeth stuffed with orange peels. "I know you can see the words on it, and those words are all chaotic symbols that you have no way of understanding. To repay your kindness, I can teach you how to read such symbols."

"Sure. Go ahead," Xia Lun said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Having lived through two entire lives, he would never believe in something as good as a free lunch.

Rather than trust the doctor's so-called unique reading method, it would be safer to kill the monster, collect the complete set of Wax Books, and rely on the game panel to decipher them.

Besides, he could not rule out the possibility that the doctor was a hidden ally of the monster.

"You do not believe me." The doctor shook his head, his movements stiff as a human mimic's. "Mm. You think I am the monster's collaborator. It seems I need to prove otherwise."

His pupils behind the shattered lenses widened slightly. "This Prayerbook of the Drowned cannot be ignited by fire. It originally belonged to a twitchy passenger. People called him the Commodore. He was once a high-ranking noble deeply embroiled in a corruption scandal. To evade investigation, he boarded this whaling ship, intending to head for the lawless land—Pirate Port, Perilous Earth Island."

"The Commodore?" the priest suddenly said. "The one Geliide would rather sink her flagship to take revenge on?"

The doctor ignored the priest and continued speaking to himself. "I know I look suspicious, but your suspicion of me is inefficient. To improve efficiency, I will speak plainly. Whether you choose to believe this information is entirely up to you."

"Then why are you doing this?" Xia Lun could not help asking.

The doctor frowned slightly, and a hint of impatience entered his flat tone. "I have already said it twice. It is to thank you for your good deed. Every good deed must be repaid. It must."

"Please continue."

The doctor's tightly furrowed brow eased slightly. "Feel this book. Do not read it."

"Feel it?" Xia Lun repeated.

"Yes, feel it. Do not read it." The doctor's flat voice suddenly became dark, like a cold whisper from within the shadows.

"Use your eyes, nose, tongue, and skin to feel the book itself. Written symbols and self-awareness are merely fleeting illusions. Only the instant preserved by the senses is real. Knowledge will seep into your skin, burrow into your muscles, and wriggle into your mind..."

"This is the Symptomatic Reading Method." The doctor spread his arms and opened his chest, solemnly proclaiming it like a preaching priest.

As the doctor whispered, the Prayerbook of the Drowned on the table seemed to come alive. The slick, pale patterns on its cover visibly pulsed like muscle.

Almost at the same time, several lines of crimson, bloodlike text flashed across Xia Lun's vision.

[You have acquired the special specialization **Symptomatic Reading Method**!]