Symptom Reading

The sunset cast a hazy yellow glow across the sea. Among the glittering waves, several small silver fish leaped from the water. A moment later, a Jump-tail Shark burst upward and swallowed them in one bite.

"What Evil Flesh Codex?" Xia Lun raised his eyes slightly. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Evil Flesh Codex?" Before the Doctor could answer, the Priest cut in, astonished. "By the Eternal Flame, that Wax Book Xia Lun has is an Evil Flesh Codex? Those things actually exist?!"

"Heh, heh, heh..." The Doctor's laugh remained soft and strange. He lifted his clouded eyes. "Ah, of course it's an Evil Flesh Codex. The genuine article."

"So what exactly is an Evil Flesh Codex?" Xia Lun raised an eyebrow.

"When I was studying at the Heart of Purple Flame Monastery, I heard some secret rumors about the Evil Flesh Codex."

The Priest closed his eyes, seemingly searching his memory.

"An Evil Flesh Codex is a book of unknown origin. They say these books first appeared during the Great Black Plague. They seemed to come out of nowhere, but every part of them was made from human bodies. The Wax Book you have is probably made from human fat. Oh, and apparently only lucid madmen or dead people whose hearts still beat can see the words on its pages."

At that, the Priest seemed to spot a flaw in the explanation. He opened his eyes and looked at the Doctor. "If the book Xia Lun has really is an Evil Flesh Codex, then I shouldn't be able to see the words on it."

"Ah, of course," the Doctor said. "If Xia Lun agrees, you can take a look right now. Well, Xia Lun, will you let him see? Heh, heh, heh..."

Xia Lun narrowed his eyes. After weighing it for a moment, he placed the damaged Prayerbook of the Drowned squarely on the table.

Thud.

The white Wax Book landed on the tabletop. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Xia Lun felt the light dim a little.

He glanced at the other two from the corner of his eye and found them staring fixedly at the Wax Book.

In the dim light, the book's uneven cover seemed to pulse. Xia Lun couldn't help thinking of a shriveled heart covered in white mold.

"Gulp." The Priest instinctively tightened his grip on his Holy Emblem and swallowed hard. Cold sweat had appeared on his forehead without him noticing.

"Open it," the Doctor urged, his voice utterly flat.

The Priest glanced hesitantly at Xia Lun. Xia Lun nodded, and the Priest reached out and opened the Prayerbook of the Drowned to its first page.

The soft, greasy page made a wet, sticky sound as it turned. Clutching his Holy Emblem, the Priest leaned in for a curious look. Then he froze.

"There really aren't any words?!" The Priest's eyes widened so much that veins of red spread across them. "You've got to be joking. This is another bad joke, right? There were never any words in this book, were there?!"

Xia Lun said nothing. The Priest's reaction immediately reminded him of what the Information Panel had told him when he obtained the Prayerbook of the Drowned.

[To ordinary people, this is a book without words. But to those returned from death and the mad, its pages are filled with blasphemous writing. Those crooked lines describe bizarre, maddening Secret Arts.]

Perhaps he could see the writing because he had died before crossing over and coming back to life. The Priest was an ordinary person, so he couldn't see it.

"There's more." The Doctor raised his head, his voice still as flat as a machine's. "You can have Xia Lun copy the writing. Even then, someone like you, who has yet to see through the Threefold Veil, won't be able to see it."

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

"Oh, efficient. Yes, efficient," the Doctor muttered. "Yes, yes. The evidence and reasoning are sufficient. We should get to the point."

He slowly raised his head and grinned, revealing bits of orange peel wedged between his teeth. "I know you can see the words, and to you they're all incomprehensible, chaotic symbols. To repay your kindness, I can teach you how to read them."

"Sure. Go ahead," Xia Lun said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Having lived two whole lives, he wasn't about to believe in a free gift.

Rather than trust the Doctor's "unique reading method," it would be safer to kill the monster, collect the complete Wax Book, and let the Game Panel decipher it.

Besides, he couldn't rule out the possibility that the Doctor was a secret ally of the monster.

"You don't believe me." The Doctor shook his head, moving as stiffly as an Impostor. "Hmm. You think I'm working with the monster. It seems I need to prove otherwise."

His pupils dilated slightly behind his cracked lenses. "This Prayerbook of the Drowned won't catch fire. It originally belonged to a nervous passenger people called the Brigadier General. He was once a high-ranking nobleman embroiled in a corruption scandal. To evade investigation, he boarded this whaling ship, bound for the lawless pirate haven of Perilous Earth Island."

"The Brigadier General?" the Priest suddenly asked. "The one Geliide wanted revenge on so badly she was willing to sink her flagship?"

The Doctor ignored the Priest and continued. "I know I look suspicious. But suspecting me is inefficient. To improve efficiency, I'll tell you plainly. Whether you believe what I say is up to you."

"Then why are you doing this?" Xia Lun couldn't help asking.

The Doctor frowned. A trace of impatience entered his otherwise flat voice. "I've told you twice. To thank you for your kind deed. Every kind deed must be repaid. It must."

"Please, go on."

The Doctor's frown eased slightly. "Feel the book. Don't read it."

"Feel it?" Xia Lun repeated.

"Yes. Feel it. Don't read it." The Doctor's flat voice suddenly grew dark, like a chilling whisper from the shadows.

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

"This is Symptom Reading." The Doctor spread his arms and opened his chest, making the solemn declaration like a Priest delivering a sermon.

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

At almost the same moment, several lines of blood-red text swept across Xia Lun's vision.

[You have acquired the special Specialization "Symptom Reading"!]