Uriel, who stood at a height of three meters, had his body bound by iron chains, with two iron nails embedded in his eye sockets, making it inconvenient to handle. Despite feeling a mix of grief and anger, Michael chose to let Uriel hang on the cross. He decided to inform the logistics personnel only after resolving the pollution incident here.
Lu Yan returned to the ground and, suppressing his disgust, picked up the arrows scattered on the floor. His bow originally came with fifteen arrows, but due to various reasons, five had already been lost. The remaining arrows had to be cherished.
Wiping away the stains with a handkerchief and spraying disinfectant, Lu Yan carefully placed them back into his quiver. As he picked up the last arrow, he noticed a withered eyeball hanging from it.
The eyeball, half silver in color with no visible pupils, had lost its spider legs. Lu Yan detached it from the arrow, and at that moment, a mouth opened in the palm of his hand, revealing a crimson tongue, resembling a predatory frog.
Lu Yan grasped the eyeball as the fish licked the back of his hand, not out of anger but rather affectionately wrapping around his fingertips.
[System's voice resonated, "Don't spoil the child too much. This fish has hatched, and if you feed it too much, it will become dependent."]
"When this fish hatched, it was seized by three pollutants in the manor: one quarter went to the merchant, one quarter to the doctor, and the remaining half to the wife," the system added.
Lu Yan stared at the pea-sized eyeball in his hand, hesitating for a moment. "So, do I have to deal with it myself?"
[System explained, "This is a special item separated from pollutants and has no connection to human organs. Essentially, it's a fish eye."]
Although Lu Yan was aware of this, he said it mainly for the sake of scrutiny, as he had been locked up for three days last time due to a similar incident.
The fish's true form was unknown to Lu Yan. However, it tasted like thick slices of pork belly, and when bitten, it released a burst of oil. It was a bit heavy on the stomach, despite its small size.
After securing the last arrow, Lu Yan returned to the crowd. Michael raised the lantern and contemplated, "Perhaps you should all go back; this place seems dangerous."
System: [His wife's child is about to be born, and the next Red Moon is in three months. Coming back then would be too late.]
Lu Yan asked Yan Bei, "Do you want to go back?"
Yan Bei closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and shook his head slightly, "Going back alone is also risky."
[A long time ago, scientific experiments proved that plants also have emotions and can think.]
[Yan Bei, due to evolutionary reasons, can communicate simple thoughts with nearby evolving plants. Although plant thoughts are not as clear as human thoughts, they can provide some useful information.]
So, Lu Yan openly said to Michael, "I know what you're concerned about. The unknown pollutants obviously can't be handled by you alone. Both my and Qiongshu's abilities can assist you."
Michael was touched by Lu Yan's willingness to sacrifice. He approached and hugged Lu Yan, saying, "My beautiful friend from the East. After this mission, let's connect on social media."
This was Michael's highest recognition of a friend. Considering his millions of followers, he only followed nine users on social media!
The staircase to the castle's second floor spiraled around a column, making it uncomfortable to walk as it required almost a full turn every two steps.
Michael, feeling dizzy, spread his wings again and lifted each person up one by one.
If the first floor design resembled a 13th-century church, the second floor was clearly more modern, at least from the 20th century.
Lu Yan casually turned on the light switch on the wall. Surprisingly, there was still electricity, but the dim light revealed signs of neglect, occasionally flickering.
Droplets fell from the ceiling. Lu Yan looked up and collided with a bunch of eyeballs squeezed together, resembling fish roe. A faint yellow froth clung to the edges.
Even though he had a system and a slow increase in contamination level, in this moment, his data shot up by 1.5, approaching the critical 50 mark.
Taking a deep breath, Lu Yan remarked, "Why didn't you remind me to bring an umbrella?"
[System: "...I, how would I know it would start drooling when it sees people?"]
Turns out it was saliva. For some reason, it felt even more nauseating.
Lu Yan expressionlessly took out the last disinfectant tissue from his pocket, saying, "Don't look up." With the system and his slow contamination increase, he could easily break free from the eyeball's gaze, but the same couldn't be said for his two teammates.
Michael and Yan Bei, not being liabilities, obediently avoided looking up, keeping their eyes on the floor throughout the journey.
The second-floor corridor resembled an art exhibition, adorned with oil paintings on both sides.
"These are religious paintings, likely from the Renaissance period based on the style. However, the brushstrokes and artistic style don't match any known school from my memory," commented Yan Bei, who was a painter before, and the Renaissance period's artworks were unavoidable in his studies.
As they advanced, the paintings became increasingly bizarre. Lu Yan asked the system, "Can I see these?"
[System: "Sure, it's free. If it feels off, drink some sedatives."]
So, Lu Yan continued to look. Initially, the corridor displayed simple religious stories, followed by depictions of demons in hell. Further on were some inexplicable and eerie images.
These paintings were likely portraying parts of deep-sea creatures, featuring huge fish eyes with sharp spikes or half-decomposed fish bellies filled with human remains. The artworks had the creator's name left in the corners.
Approaching one, Lu Yan examined it closely. The creator was the owner of this manor, the boss of an ocean shipping company.
"Is this some kind of deep-sea worship?" Lu Yan asked.
[System: "No, this is simply madness."]
The last painting used an upward perspective. The owner knelt before a massive black tentacle-wrapped stone pillar, adorned with monstrous eyeballs resembling the eyes of some cold-blooded creature.
These paintings had been hanging on the walls for who knew how long, covered in dust due to lack of maintenance.
However, Lu Yan still felt the painter's devoutness through the paintings, despite the dusty layer.
[If this were a game, there'd probably be a question mark above this painting, indicating it can be searched.]
[Even though this isn't a game, you have me. Tear this painting apart, and you'll find what you're looking for.]
Lu Yan took out the red dagger, facing the puzzled gazes of the others, and cut through the canvas. The reddish-brown paint flowed like blood from the canvas wound.
As he tore the oil painting, Lu Yan discovered a yellowed photograph hidden inside the frame.
The system sneered, [A precious image of a cult gathering, where everyone pictured can be executed according to the law.]
The picture depicted a whaling ship with the English inscription mostly obscured.
Four men stood on the edge of the ship, all wearing cheerful smiles.
Most faces in the photo had Western features, making the lone East Asian stand out. It was Lu Cheng. The shooting time in the bottom left corner coincided with Lu Yan's birth month.
Michael asked in confusion, "Lu, how did you know there was something inside the painting?"
Lu Yan replied, "Instinct."
He pocketed the photograph, his expression heavy with silence. Michael sensed his distraction and tactfully refrained from further questioning. Having secrets was normal; digging too deep wasn't a good habit.
At the end of this oil painting corridor were three small frames placed on a fire cabinet. Lu Yan glanced at them, furrowing his brows.
The first painting depicted a golden-haired six-winged angel, its face obscured, pierced through the body by a golden sword. The head split open, revealing a crown of trees growing from within. The once pure white wings had turned mostly black.
In the second painting, a tree resembling the banyan tree from Luochuan Botanical Garden had a pained human face on its trunk, and black flowers bloomed in its canopy.
The third painting portrayed a person buried underground, face unseen, with his chest slashed open. Countless grotesque tentacles emerged from his stomach, covered in tumors, filling the entire blank space of the painting.
These paintings seemed like prophecies of their deaths. Yan Bei touched them and remarked, "The paint hasn't dried; they were just finished."
All the paintings used dark colors, with the red flesh parts standing out vividly. Michael, feeling irritated, tore all three paintings to pieces, exclaiming, "What nonsense, playing with supernatural themes."
[The doctor, in his lifetime, was also a member of the Truth Society. Besides that, he was indeed your colleague, an experienced obstetrician and gynecologist.]
[However, with his wife in the basement not delivering and the doctor gaining extra hands, he developed other hobbies, such as dissecting corpses and painting.]
"Did Ule take his talents?" Lu Yan asked.
The system scoffed, [Compared to his wife and the merchant, the doctor did retain some sanity. But does an incomplete evolved being have that kind of intellect?]
[The one who took Uriel's talents is in the Truth Society.]
[The doctor is currently in the surgery room on the third floor, implanting brain flowers in himself. Yes, because all the other corpses in the castle have been dissected, he developed a fascination with dissecting himself. Uriel left a strong psychological impact on him. He still refuses to go to the first-floor hall, fearing Uriel's feigned death.]
[Doctor. Contamination level: 7019.]
[Talents: Cutting, Genetic Fusion.]
[Mutation direction: Alienation, Mental Disturbance.]
[Defeat him, and you can obtain the key to the basement.]
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