Duo Hawke set the empty bottle on the counter and wiped the droplets of water from his beard.
He looked quite satisfied.
“Alright, I’m off to get busy. Once you’ve memorized ten symbols, remember to blow the whistle. I’ll have some orders for you.”
He hopped down from the stool and headed toward the storage cabinet.
Halfway there, he paused and glanced back at Lu Yuan.
“Remember, for the basic symbols of Eerie Inscription: first recognize, then write, and finally engrave.”
“The order cannot be changed.”
“Don’t rush the recognition stage. It’s normal to feel uncomfortable if you stare at some of the symbols for too long.”
With that, he pulled open the storage cabinet door, and his small figure slipped inside.
The door clicked shut.
Lu Yuan walked over and pulled it open.
The inside was empty.
Copper shelves, a few empty hooks.
There was nothing there.
Lu Yuan closed the cabinet door.
On the experimental table, the bone fragment lay quietly.
The thirty-six basic Eerie Inscription symbols shimmered faintly in the dim light.
Lu Yuan sat down, picked up the bone fragment, and began to identify the first symbol.
Distorted lines unfolded before his eyes, their paths eerie and their turning points irregular.
He stared at it for about ten seconds.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered slightly.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +0.1... 2.5/50】
Simply recognizing them provided experience.
Lu Yuan moved on to the second symbol.
This one was more complex than the first. The lines suddenly diverged in the middle before merging again, forming a structure similar to a whirlpool.
He stared at it for about half a minute.
A slight ache developed deep in his eye sockets.
It was caused by the symbol itself.
As Duo Hawke had said, “It’s normal to feel uncomfortable if you stare at some of the symbols for too long.”
Lu Yuan rubbed his eyes and set down the bone fragment.
He didn't need to rush; he could take his time.
Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair, his gaze drifting out the window.
The evening light was already beginning to fade, and the lamps in the branch's inner courtyard were lighting up one by one.
Just then.
The symbiotic link suddenly fluctuated.
The Knowledge Worm jolted awake from its sated lethargy, sending out a wave of alertness.
It was as if something had pricked it.
Lu Yuan was taken aback, then quickly closed his eyes to sense through the symbiotic link.
The Knowledge Worm's perception range was broader than his.
It “saw” something Lu Yuan could not.
It was in the inner city.
More accurately...
A towering silhouette emerged in Lu Yuan's mind.
The Polymath Tower.
The Knowledge Worm was very sensitive to that direction.
And now, it sensed some kind of... fluctuation coming from there.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes and walked to the window.
He looked toward the inner city.
He could see nothing.
The last traces of daylight had not yet fully vanished. Under normal vision, the Bronze City was quiet.
The faint glow of the runes on the city walls was slowly lighting up, just like every other evening.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered briefly before a line appeared.
【Environmental Perception: Detected long-range anomalous fluctuations in knowledge density...】
Then it vanished.
The Knowledge Worm's alertness did not fade.
It shrank deep into his eye socket, its body tense, the speed of its shifting colors twice as fast as normal.
Lu Yuan stared toward the inner city for a long time.
It seemed the Polymath Tower was making another big move.
As the Knowledge Worm gradually calmed down, Lu Yuan pulled the curtains shut.
He walked back to the experimental table and sat down.
He picked up the bone fragment.
He continued to study the third symbol.
It was very late by the time Lu Yuan managed to barely memorize five of them.
‘Extremely low efficiency.’ This was Lu Yuan's assessment of his current learning.
These rotating, distorted symbols seemed to inherently resist being remembered, forcing Lu Yuan to memorize them over and over again.
This method not only drained his Sanity but was also a waste of time.
“I need to find a way.”
Lu Yuan set down the bone fragment, fell silent for a moment, and finally decided to go to sleep.
After barely memorizing the fifth symbol, the sixth one seemed to present a sense of resistance.
He lay in bed and, as usual, performed a cycle of Guard before drifting into a deep sleep.
【Sanity: 84/120】
The next morning, Lu Yuan prepared to head to the logistics area to see if there were any new potions and perhaps try to fleece a few items along the way.
The Logistics Department was very close to Lu Yuan's residence. After a short walk, Lu Yuan pushed open the department's door.
The morning light filtered in from the end of the corridor, illuminating the cluttered hallway.
Several crates of potions, some partially opened and some sealed, were stacked against the wall. A few logistics Nightwatchers were hurriedly moving things back and forth in the inner room.
Margaret stood behind the counter with three ledgers spread out before her. A pen was tucked between her fingers, and she was using her other hand to flip through the last few pages of a thick volume.
She didn't even look up when she heard the footsteps.
“Here to help?”
“Here to help.”
Margaret lifted her eyelids and glanced at Lu Yuan.
“You certainly got here fast.”
She kicked a wooden box out from under the counter.
The lid wasn't fully closed, revealing neatly arranged potion bottles and raw material jars inside.
“Sanity potions. We need to prepare forty portions for this batch. They were supposed to go out the day before yesterday, but we’ve been short-handed.”
Lu Yuan rolled up his sleeves.
He was familiar with the formula.
During his time collaborating with Laurina, he had handled batch preparations far more complex than this.
The process for Sanity potions was simple: grinding, adding ingredients, stirring, distilling, and bottling. It was all about timing each step correctly.
Margaret took a few measuring cups and a set of grinding tools from a side shelf and pushed them toward him.
The two of them stood one after the other at the workstation, each occupying half the table, busy with their own tasks.
There was no need for much conversation.
Preparing medicine required steady hands and a good rhythm.
Lu Yuan poured the first batch of raw material powder into the mortar and ground it several times with even pressure.
The color of the powder gradually changed from greyish-brown to light grey.
Beside him, Margaret was collecting the distilled liquid from the previous batch.
Her movements were quick; she was indeed busy.
Material consumption reports for the pipe network aftermath, potion supplies for the teams' resumed training, and coordinating logistics for the Church and Ascension Society personnel moving in.
There were three ledgers open, and the pages were mostly filled.
“Been this busy lately?” Lu Yuan grimaced at the ledgers before him.
“The cleanup in the pipe network is still winding down, and the logistics shifts have been shortened by a day,” Margaret said without looking up. “Training schedules for all teams have fully resumed, and consumption has doubled. Plus, the Church sent quite a few people over, and logistics has to handle their food, drink, and housing.”
She paused to pour the filtered liquid into a filling tray.
“We’re always short-handed.”
Lu Yuan didn't reply and continued grinding the powder.
Once it reached the right fineness, he switched to a clean measuring cup and began weighing the next batch.
The two worked quietly for a while.
The scents of medicinal powders and liquids mingled on the workstation, carrying the bitter, astringent aroma of herbs.
Margaret suddenly tilted her head.
“When you went down into the pipe network, exactly how many ghouls did you run into?”
Lu Yuan thought for a moment.
“I ran into a few large ones. I didn't count the small ones; they were everywhere in the hive, packed tightly together.”
“The hive?”
“The ghouls built a nest in the deep layers. Holes were everywhere, like a honeycomb, with pale hatchlings hanging from the walls. It seemed bottomless.”
Margaret’s hands paused for a split second.
“No wonder the cleanup crew brought back so many materials. Brain cores and such are piled all over the floor; logistics almost doesn't have room for it all.”
“Can't they be sold?”
“To whom? And right now, these things go for one point for three units. We can't even make back the cost.”
Lu Yuan didn't respond.
He had just spent one point to buy a bunch of them yesterday.
Margaret stacked the sealed potion bottles into a crate and casually flipped a page in a ledger.
“By the way, do you know anyone from the Imperial Iron Guard?”
“I do.”
“You should be careful lately. Someone from the Imperial Iron Guard came to pick up a batch of medicine a couple of days ago.”
Lu Yuan’s hands didn't stop.
“What kind of medicine?”
“The type used for suppressing pollution. Not a large amount, about a dozen bottles, but suppression meds are usually used immediately upon being picked up; they aren't hoarded.”
Lu Yuan understood.
It was likely for Wolf.
It had been nearly four days since his berserk state in the pipe network.
The fact that the Imperial Iron Guard was picking up suppression potions meant the infection inside Wolf was still active.
There were no signs of it worsening, or they wouldn't be picking up suppression meds, but there was no significant improvement either, otherwise he wouldn't need a continuous supply.
“He was placed under isolated supervision the day Klaus took him away,” Margaret said, her mouth not stopping as if she hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time. “The Imperial Iron Guard took over later. I only handle dispensing the medicine, not the follow-up.”
“He was in pretty bad shape that day,” Lu Yuan said.
Wolf's state after going berserk in the pipe network was indeed poor, but since Klaus had met with him privately, there shouldn't be any major issues.
Margaret glanced at him.
“I was on the night shift when you lot came back from the pipe network. Everyone looked like they were on the verge of death.”
She shook the medicinal powder from her hands.
“But at least nothing major happened.”
“We didn't lose anyone,” Lu Yuan said as he bottled the eleventh portion of Sanity potion and sealed it with wax.
Margaret gave a hum of acknowledgment.
The fifteenth portion of Sanity potion was bottled.
Lu Yuan melted the sealing wax, sealed the bottle, and placed it in the wooden box.
“Oh, right.” Margaret was busy, but her tone suddenly became more casual. “Some new clues were found in the pipe network layer.”
“What clues?”
“The Grey Covenant likely had more than one base underground. While clearing out the ghoul corpses, they even turned up a little something.”
“What was it?”
Hearing this, Margaret’s tone carried a hint of regret.
“You don’t know either? I’m not sure exactly what it was. Supposedly, Vice Director Klaus took it personally, and he didn’t even let Glock see it.”
“Glock is higher rank than me; if he doesn’t know, how could I?”
Lu Yuan felt a bit helpless, but he had a rough guess as to what it was—something bred within the pile of ghoul corpses.
However, it likely wasn't anything too rare or powerful.
Otherwise, the Grey Covenant wouldn't have just left it there. He didn't believe that with the strength of the Grey Covenant's leaders, they wouldn't have noticed something hidden in the corpse pile they had built.
Lu Yuan didn't say more. He set down the mortar and picked up a new one.
Margaret seemed to have opened the floodgates of conversation.
Clearly, being here alone had driven her a bit mad with work.
Now that she had finally caught Lu Yuan, she looked like she wanted to talk her fill.
‘It’s a good thing I didn’t take the position of logistics captain. Margaret gives off the distinct aura of a pack mule.’
“There’s one more thing.”
She lowered her voice slightly, even though there was no one else in the room.
“The nuns from the Church have sought out Klaus more than once recently.”
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