After finishing all that, he returned to 9 Knights Road.
Gordon read, and Vera watched the house.
"Books, books." Vera sat beside Gordon with her chin propped on her hand, sounding as though she were describing someone whose body had been possessed by books.
"This book is important." Gordon kept browsing, kept reading, his eyes bright. "It's Symptoms of Source Substance Pollution. It records a lot of people like you."
"Like me..." Vera murmured. "So I'm not the only unlucky person in the world."
"Right," Gordon said. "Source substance changes our perceptions and habits. If it integrates well, fine. If it doesn't, we have a problem."
"..." Vera turned her gaze toward the book.
"Look... it says here that some people are always furious and angry, some are afraid of the dark, and some gradually lose their memories. Others love eating, just like you."
Vera lowered her head.
"So how do you treat it?" she asked.
"Let me finish reading."
Gordon spent several hours engrossed in the book.
Night fell, and Vera had already fallen asleep.
Meanwhile, he had compiled detailed notes, including source substance names, manifestations of pollution, triggers, case studies, and his own hypotheses.
Winslow only wanted reading notes, but Gordon was already planning treatments for source substance pollution, hoping to bring a little progress to medical history.
"I've figured it out," Gordon said with feeling.
"!" Vera opened her eyes.
She was very sensitive to those words.
When Gordon said he had "figured it out," it generally meant someone was about to suffer.
This time, that someone seemed to be her.
"Treatment is possible. One approach is harmonization." Gordon pointed out the distinctive features of several cases. "You can consume other source substances to restructure an existing one and change its properties. Another approach is suppression, using Suppressant Mixture or Clarity Salt. But the former depends on a lucky find, and the latter treats the symptoms, not the cause."
"..." Vera folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. "So there's nothing we can do."
"There is."
"You just gave me two methods. One's impossible to find, and the other doesn't do much."
"Those are just the existing methods," Gordon said. "Now we need to find a third. The only problem is that I need to locate the source substance in your body first."
"Huh?"
Gordon could see source substance.
But if fabric covered his target, he couldn't see it.
For example, when he had first searched for the source substance in the Spider Aberration, he couldn't see anything once the thick white cloth covered him.
Once it was lifted, he could see it before long.
Clearly, mysterious and powerful though his ability was, it had considerable respect for fabric.
So...
If they laid everything bare, Gordon could probably see what source substances Vera had.
"Yes!" Gordon said. "Let me examine the source substance in your body, Miss Cateret."
"Examine." Vera's brain hadn't caught up with the conversation yet.
"A medical examination," Gordon said.
Vera thought for a good while.
In the end, she placed the Black Piercer beside the table rather than using it to whack Gordon. After all, she sometimes wore nothing but bandages in this house. There was no need to hide everything.
"Where first?" Vera asked.
"Your eyes." Gordon decided to start somewhere least likely to get him beaten.
Vera turned toward Gordon, their eyes meeting.
Gordon leaned closer.
He could feel both their hearts speeding up.
Medicine!
Gordon, medicine!
He tried to concentrate.
At first, he only examined her pupils, but then he got a little too close.
Vera's gray eyes were beautiful but not gentle. There was always a cold undertone to her expression, and the closer he got, the more apparent it became.
"Your heart's beating fast." Even Vera could hear it.
"I'm exercising my heart muscle."
"Have you looked enough?" She was beginning to believe that, although Gordon might be a doctor, he was probably a scoundrel first. Getting this close...
"I see it." Gordon abruptly grew serious.
After observing for a while, he finally made out the faint structure of the source substance at the back of Vera's eyes.
It resembled a scarlet chain hidden in her optic nerves.
[Distorted medium source substance-"Fate-Biting," used to destroy predetermined fate. Nothing is unbreakable. Forge your own path forward.]
This was Vera's source substance.
She wouldn't beg for mercy. She would only bite.
Beside it was a smaller, hazy thing: Vera's second source substance, already completely integrated with her primary one. That was good. Integrated source substances generally didn't cause trouble.
So the real problem lay with the third source substance.
"They've integrated very well." Gordon withdrew his gaze.
"..." Vera's eyelashes fluttered. "You know two of my source substances have integrated..."
Gordon seemed to have discovered her secret with a single glance.
"Yes. Next, I need to examine you to find where your third source substance is hiding. Any ideas? In your belly?" Gordon asked.
"Mm..." Vera instinctively covered her tummy. "Start somewhere else."
She placed both hands on the table.
Her fingers were long, with well-defined joints, but years of gripping and swinging a sword, climbing walls and railings, had left them beautiful rather than soft. That was the only way Gordon could describe them. Just like Vera herself.
"Watch out for wear on your wrist joints," Gordon said. "Next is..."
Vera pushed her chair back. She hesitated, but still untied her boots and set them aside.
Her feet.
Gordon examined them carefully.
They gave off a moderate scent, one that made Gordon... feel very calm and content.
Obviously, they couldn't smell fragrant, but they didn't stink either, since Vera paid attention to hygiene at 9 Knights Road.
Their contours were clean and sharp, her toes neatly aligned, curling slightly beneath Gordon's gaze. The tops of her feet were thin, and her fair skin revealed faint blue-green veins. But Vera ran all over the city, so calluses were inevitable.
"Have you looked enough?" Vera said.
"You could wear softer shoes at home." Gordon raised his gaze, then stopped.
Vera stopped too.
They both knew what was left.
Now Vera really hoped he would find the source substance in her belly. Because if he didn't, the next step... would probably be...
"Your abdomen." Gordon's voice was perfectly serious. "So far, it doesn't seem to be in your limbs or eyes..."
"Hurry up. It's not your first time." Vera closed her eyes and gripped the hem of her top with both hands.
Then...
She revealed it.
Gordon took a deep breath.
"Why are you breathing in?" Her eyes remained closed.
"To supply my brain with oxygen."
"You didn't need this much oxygen when you were reading."
"The circumstances are different."
She was clearly a little nervous. Her abdominal muscles tensed slightly in anticipation, then relaxed from fatigue after a while.
Gordon did his utmost to concentrate.
Unbroken Strings scanned her breathing, heartbeat, and muscle tremors, listening to the faint stirrings between her organs.
Before long...
Gordon finally noticed a subtle flicker of flame hidden between her stomach and diaphragm.
Unlike Vera's cold, deadly Fate-Biting, this source substance looked more volatile and more active.
[Explosively burning small source substance-"Burning Instinct," used to retain and store vast amounts of energy. With a monster's resolve, devour everything and endure pain and bitter winters.]
Gordon took a deep breath.
This was the source substance that couldn't integrate.
For one thing, it wasn't very compatible with Fate-Biting. One advocated biting first and asking questions later; the other advocated eating first.
For another, its own properties were highly unusual. It was always burning and consuming.
"...Are you done examining me...?" Vera braced herself, waiting for Gordon to put his hands on her.
"Done," Gordon said. "Yes, yes, it's over, Vera."
She turned around, fastened her buttons, then turned back.
She had actually considered the possibility of Gordon touching her and had even intended to give him permission aloud.
Now, as long as she straightened herself out fast enough, the embarrassment couldn't catch her.
"What did you find?" she asked.
Vera fell silent for a moment.
"...I thought more source substances meant more strength," Vera said. "Everyone says the more source substances, the better. I earned that source substance through my own efforts. I ate it."
"Don't refine source substances indiscriminately again. Only salesmen want you to think that way. More source substances aren't necessarily better."
"Can you treat it?" That was still what mattered to Vera.
"..." Gordon thought. "The source substance has already formed a connection with you. Dig too shallow and we can't remove it; dig too deep and you're gone. But we may be able to manage these abnormal urges."
Symptoms of Source Substance Pollution recorded most of the Logris Empire's cases from the past three hundred years. It was practically a miracle of a book.
The book explicitly stated that appropriate behavioral management could lessen or even reverse source substance pollution.
"How do you manage hunger?" Vera asked. "You can't control hunger."
"That's exactly the problem. You assume hunger is your default state," Gordon said. "You think being hungry means you should eat, and keep eating, without any restraint. Once you've eaten too much, you frantically take commissions, fight monsters, and wear yourself out. Over time, you've learned to defend your illness."
"Mm..."
Vera dimly glimpsed a direction she had never imagined before. There was everything in that direction except food, which made it terrifying.
"It's time to turn over a new leaf, Vera," Gordon said eagerly. "Rebuild proper human habits, manage your appetite, go to bed early and get up early, make peace with yourself, and stop guarding your food."
"Awrr."
Gordon took out a small notebook.
"Starting today, we'll record your health, including how much you eat, your thoughts on hunger, how long you sleep, whether you have nightmares, how often you use your source substances, your mood each day... During the two-week Rescue Festival holiday, we need to find your healthy rhythm."
[Vera's Health Management Log. It will record many, many things.]
"Whine...?" Vera made another curious sound. "Every day?"
"Every day."
"Even one bite?"
"Yes."
"What if I sneak food?"
"Especially then."
Then, ignoring Vera's expression, Gordon took out a sheet of paper.
He wrote elementary arithmetic problems on it.
7+8=
13-5=
6×4=
36÷6=
He wrote twenty questions.
"What's this now?" Vera was shocked.
"Intelligence training."
"I'm not stupid." She protested firmly.
"I know, but I've noticed that sometimes you get very 'spaced out'!" Gordon said.
"That's hunger."
"Hunger doesn't make you stare at the wall and drool."
"The wall's fault."
"There's nothing wrong with the wall. It's the source substance draining you, making you unable to concentrate. Your attention scatters, your memory blurs, your emotions become difficult to control... Thinking about math can make you more rational."
"Why?"
"Source substance pollution fills your head with hallucinations, while math fills your brain with pain. Stable pain can suppress unstable hallucinations!" Gordon said.
Vera stared at the first question.
She was silent for a long time.
"Seven plus eight," Gordon prompted.
"Fifteen."
"Very good," Gordon said. "Miss Cateret has defeated her three-year-old self."
Vera's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"...Keep going," Gordon said.
She lowered her head and wrote.
She worked through the first few problems quickly, but paused a little longer when she reached the two-digit calculations.
Gordon didn't rush her, only took notes beside her.
Her breathing gradually steadied.
Her heartbeat returned to normal.
Vera finished a page and put down her pen.
It was like a dream, even if the whole thing was completely reckless.
But she really did seem to be... less hungry, and her mind seemed a tiny bit sharper too?
Before you continue