Chapter 177 The Loser
Klaus walked very fast.
It took less than ten seconds to get from the conference room to the downstairs, without a single wasted word.
Lu Yuan followed behind him, through the corridor, and down the stairs.
Seeing the deputy chief's expression, the young man at the front desk opened his mouth but didn't dare to utter a sound.
Raymond was already at the door.
He should have received the news as well.
Karl was standing next to them, and neither of them had a good expression.
Klaus didn't stop and walked straight out.
"Where?"
"North Ward, the street closest to our post." Raymond followed him. "Hogel's men arrived first and have already sealed it off."
Beifang.
The direction of one of the three Ascension strongholds that Hogel had previously marked on the map.
Lu Yuan recalled this detail without saying anything.
The four of them left the branch and walked briskly north along the streets of the outer city.
The afternoon sun shone on the gravel road, and occasionally a horse-drawn carriage would pass by.
Nobody knows what happened ahead.
The buildings are getting shorter and older.
There are fewer and fewer pedestrians.
The blockade line could be seen from afar.
Several night watchmen stood at both ends of the street, holding thick hemp ropes to prevent anyone from getting close.
Holger stood inside the ropes, arms crossed, his face ashen.
Seeing Klaus approaching, he took two steps to meet him.
"It's inside."
The voice was kept very low.
"The situation is more serious than reported."
Klaus didn't answer, but bent down and crawled through the rope to go inside.
Lu Yuan followed him inside.
Then he saw the drag marks.
A dark trail stretched out from the depths of the street, intermittent and winding, extending not far ahead.
It's not blood.
It is a substance that solidifies on the surface of a stone slab, with a color between grayish-white and some indescribable hue.
At first glance, it looks like the residue of some dried liquid, but it doesn't look like any known liquid.
The surface of that substance had a subtle sense of movement.
It's not moving, it just looks like it's moving.
The color seems to shift slightly depending on the viewing angle, giving the illusion that it is "still alive" even though it is completely dry.
Everyone present saw it.
No one came near.
Holger caught up and added in a low voice.
"It was discovered by a street vendor in Beifang just as dawn broke this morning. He followed the trail and took a few steps closer, but before he could even reach out, a stray cat touched the edge of the drag marks."
He paused for a moment.
"The cat died on the spot."
Klaus paused for a moment, but didn't turn around.
Holger continued.
"There's one more thing. The two men who patrolled last night were supposed to pass through this street according to their assignments. But when they came back later, they both said they walked through the alley next door."
His tone was somewhat strange.
"They never go that way normally, and they can't explain why themselves."
Lu Yuan shifted his gaze from the drag marks and glanced at Hogel.
There are several widening areas in the middle of the drag marks.
The crawlers stopped, struggled, and continued forward in those places.
One section was particularly wide, with surrounding rubble cleared away and messy scratches left on the ground.
It's like someone lying on the ground trying their best to stand up, but failing.
So I kept climbing.
At the end of the drag marks, less than thirty paces from the gate of the Night's Watch outpost, there was something lying on the road.
When Lu Yuan approached, the first thing he noticed was the right hand.
The body lay face down on the ground, its right arm outstretched forward, fingers spread wide, gripping tightly into the crack in the stone slab.
All the nails broke off.
The fingertips were worn down to the bone, the cut surface gleaming pale in the sunlight.
Several deep scratches were carved into the stone slab.
The direction he was pointing was directly towards the Night's Watch outpost.
He's climbing.
He was climbing until he died.
Lu Yuan's gaze shifted from his right hand to his body.
The corpse no longer resembled a human.
The damage was not caused by external injury, nor by decay; it was due to a change in the structure itself.
The skin became translucent, and the underlying tissues could be vaguely seen, but those tissues were neither muscles nor bones.
It is something that flows.
Like words, densely packed, intertwined, filling every inch of space beneath the translucent skin.
Those patterns are still moving.
Slowly, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it spread from the torso to the limbs and then dissipated.
It's like the tide gradually receding from the sea.
Knowledge is gradually fading from this body.
Where the lines flowed, the translucent skin began to crack.
Fine cracks extended from the torso to the limbs, and dark liquid seeped from the cracks, originating from the same source as the drag mark on the stone slab.
In the area from the left shoulder to the chest, the tissue has split into several pieces from the inside, with the edges curled up, revealing the fading lines underneath.
The face was almost unrecognizable.
The contours of the face were completely eroded by the lines, leaving only a blurry, semi-transparent oval.
Several pieces of fabric were scattered next to the body; the texture and cut were the style often worn by the noble sons of the inner city.
On a stone slab not far to the right, there is a twisted and deformed metal button with the Chamber of Commerce's logo on it.
No need to touch it.
The scattered items were enough to confirm the identity.
Raymond stood three steps away, his face ashen, without uttering a word.
Karl took a half step back.
Holger stood at the edge of the blockade line.
Klaus squatted down.
Without touching the corpse, he slowly raised his left hand and hovered it above the body.
Lu Yuan noticed that he was wearing a ring on the ring finger of his left hand.
I've never seen this before.
The ring is made of a material that is neither metal nor stone, but a dark, almost bone-colored substance with extremely fine engravings on its surface.
Klaus closed his eyes.
Slightly spread your fingers and place your palm down.
Lu Yuan couldn't see what he was doing, but he could sense the changes around him.
At the edge of my field of vision, grayish-white text jumped out:
[Target for detection: Klaus (mysterious and extraordinary)]
[A contract was made with an extremely rare and bizarre human who still retains their human identity.]
Lu Yuan glanced at it.
"Looks like another monster."
Lu Yuan's expression remained unchanged, and he quietly took half a step back.
The texture on the surface of the ring is now shiny.
A thin layer of gray mist spread along the ring finger to the palm, then down from the fingertip to touch the fading lines on the surface of the corpse.
The moment the gray fog came into contact with the corpse.
The gray mist contracted rapidly as if it had been scalded, retreating along the fingertip back into the ring.
The patterns on the ring had mostly darkened, with only a few lines remaining faintly visible.
Klaus opened his eyes.
He pulled his left hand back and let it hang down on his knee.
It was a subconscious action.
The deputy chief of staff was far from as calm as his face suggested.
Klaus stood up.
"Don't touch it."
His voice was no different from usual. But before he said that, he paused for a moment. In that moment, his gaze swept over everyone present.
"Don't touch it, nobody."
Lu Yuan stood still, unlike the others who retreated.
Because he sensed something else on this scene.
The aura of knowledge.
The concentration is extremely high.
Even though it was already decaying, the residual concentration was still far greater than any he had ever encountered before, even dozens of times more concentrated than the insect hive students in the Tower of Learning.
At the edge of my field of vision, gray and white text began to flicker.
[Unknown knowledge detected: Knowledge inscription... Parsing failed... Insufficient knowledge... Parsing failed...]
A series of failures followed one after another.
But then...
[Taboo Studies - Seekers of Knowledge: +0.1...+0.1...+0.2...]
Lu Yuan paused for a moment.
Despite all the analyses failing, simply standing next to this corpse passively increased my experience with taboo subjects.
The fading aura of knowledge is like a shattering mirror; the complete reflection is no longer visible, but a small fragment of the image remains on each shard of glass.
The seeker's senses automatically absorb these fragments.
He calmly steadied himself.
On the surface, they were observing a corpse.
Actually, he was waiting for those numbers to finish ticking.
[Rationality: -2...-1...101/120]
Reason is being passively depleted.
This is the price to pay.
The closer you stand, the more you absorb, and the faster you consume it.
Don't miss out.
The absorption continues, and the aura fades with each passing second.
Lu Yuan stood there for a few more seconds.
In those few seconds, something else emerged from the dissipating aura.
picture.
It's not a complete picture; it's fragmented pieces.
Colors surged.
An ocean.
A blurry humanoid silhouette floated on the surface of the ocean, its posture relaxed, as if it had walked in on its own.
There was no struggle.
He was clutching a very small object in his palm.
It is glowing.
But the light changed the next moment.
The fragment, like a pendant, dragged the human figure down into the depths of the ocean.
The humanoid began to struggle, but still refused to give up what it was holding, desperately trying to swim upwards.
But the light from the fragments grew brighter and brighter, and the pulling force became heavier and heavier.
He couldn't hold on any longer.
But he couldn't let go.
The fragments stuck to my palm, as if they had grown into my flesh.
The humanoid figure was pulled into the depths, and the strangely colored seawater surged in from all directions.
The body began to swell and twist.
The skin became transparent, and the internal bones and muscles were covered and replaced by layers of text.
He's no longer like a human being.
The image is shattered.
The last segment.
dark.
A twisted body was curled up somewhere.
The fragments in my palm were shattered and burned away, leaving only ashes clinging to my skin.
But then the hand started to move.
It's not about standing up.
It's climbing.
The image completely disappears here.
Lu Yuan stood still, his expression unchanged.
My back was soaked with cold sweat.
At the edge of my vision, the grayish-white text flickered a few times:
[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +0.1...1.1/100]
The breath has dissipated.
The numbers stopped changing.
Lu Yuan took a step back.
The movements were natural, no different from others who kept their distance out of instinctive discomfort.
No one noticed what he saw or absorbed in those ten seconds.
Before turning his gaze away, Lu Yuan noticed one last detail.
Allen stretched his right hand forward, where everyone could see it.
But the left hand is different.
He clenched his left hand into a fist and curled it up in front of his chest.
But through his inquisitive mind, he vaguely sensed a faint trace of knowledge remaining in the palm of his left hand.
It almost completely dissipated, leaving only a trace.
The texture of that aura is the same as that of the seashell in the Viscount's collection room.
It has turned to ash.
Clearly, he did not accept the so-called "invitation".
Lu Yuan kept this judgment in mind and remained silent.
After Klaus issued the blockade order, he turned and walked back.
The body must not be touched for the time being. Do not move it. Seal it in place and wait for someone to handle it. By the way, Klaus needs to question certain people: Did Bronze City really inspect it?
The entire area marked with drag marks was sealed off, and a reverse search was conducted along the route.
Notify the chamber of commerce representative, but first confirm the level of danger before allowing family members to approach.
He paused for a moment as he passed by Lu Yuan.
"What did you see?"
Everyone else retreated, but Lu Yuan stood still for a few more seconds.
Klaus noticed.
Lu Yuan hesitated for two seconds.
"The things on the corpse are dissipating," Lu Yuan continued. "My knowledge of the supernatural is extraordinary; I just sensed something very strange, but I can't recognize it."
He paused for a moment.
"The direction is deep into the outer city."
Klaus's gaze shifted slightly to the southwest.
That direction leads to one of the Ascension Guild's outer city outposts, which Hogel had marked.
But he didn't say anything.
Just nodded.
"Let's go back."
Outside the blockade, Raymond and Lu Yuan stood side by side for a while.
The streets were quiet. The setting sun slanted through the gaps between the low houses.
"You should hold back your abilities," Raymond said.
"The pollution is very serious, be careful not to see anything you shouldn't."
"Yes, I will," Lu Yuan replied in a low voice.
When I returned to the alchemy workshop, it was almost dark.
Laurinna had several sealed bottles in front of her at her worktable; the fishy smell of sandworm blood had faded considerably.
She looked up when she heard the door open.
His gaze lingered on Lu Yuan's face for a moment.
Then he got up, walked to the medicine cabinet, took out a bottle of sanity potion, and placed it on the table.
"I drank it."
Lu Yuan uncorked the bottle and drank it all in one gulp.
[Sanity: +10...111/120]
He sat down by the window.
Those fragmented images still lingered in his mind; clearly, the son of the merchant guild hadn't been able to withstand it.
And we didn't encounter that sound, or whether we were pulled up.
He recalled his experience at the Viscount's mansion.
I was drawn into the sea of knowledge by the seashell.
The voice said, "Not enough. You're not qualified."
Then he vomited it out.
So who exactly is the owner of that voice? The master of the Sea of Knowledge? What kind of being is that? Why would I be taken care of alone?
Lu Yuan sat on the chair for a long time, until it was completely dark.
Laurinna tidied up the worktable.
"I've made a new batch of medicine that might be useful to you. Remember to pick it up tomorrow morning."
"You don't look well, you should get some rest."
After speaking, Laurinna turned and went upstairs.
Lu Yuan did not move.
The bronze runes on the city wall glowed in the distance, and a faint light shone through the windows, casting blurry shadows on the floor.
He did not light the oil lamp.
My gaze unconsciously fell on the windowpane.
But something caught my eye out of the corner of my eye.
His silhouette was reflected in the windowpane.
The faint light from the city wall runes shone through from the outside, giving the outline a dark gold edge.
But beyond the edge, there is another layer.
It's very faint, almost invisible.
The shape of the shadow is changing.
It's not a problem with the lighting, nor is it a problem with the angle.
Something that doesn't belong to him is growing out of the edges of the outline.
The gray text did not appear.
No prompts, no warnings, nothing at all.
Lu Yuan stared for a few seconds, then fell silent.
Then he stood up and went upstairs.
Back in the room, no lights were turned on.
I walked to the window and drew the curtains.
Without light, there is no shadow.
In short, whatever it is, be careful.