The Last Gentleman

In the damp, fishy-smelling laboratory, an ancient being who needed the "Old System Calendar" to calculate its life span suddenly sensed a prying gaze from behind.

Hmm? Has something interesting been sent here?

The being paused its writing with tentacle-like fingers, turning its head. The gills on its neck slightly opened, revealing an oceanic world teeming with eerie fish through the gaps.

As it twisted its head—a face too grotesque for the human eye to process or words to describe—there was a soft pop! A tiny, grain-sized fish eye burst open in the experimental jar behind it, and the sense of prying vanished.

However, in this single jar, there were thousands more of these tiny fish eyes.

The being ignored it, returning to its critical data recording work.

…

*[Perspective Shift]*

Listening to the epic sounds of the sea, gazing at the terrifying form far beyond comprehension, Yi Chen almost instantly lost control of his consciousness. His vision was frozen; he felt like a helpless fish ready for slaughter.

In his field of view, the unknown entity recording data seemed to notice his gaze. It slowly turned, a simple movement that stirred an unprecedented fear in Yi Chen’s heart.

This ancient, primal emotion felt like a pair of giant hands clutching his soul, ready to tear it apart at any moment. The turning of its head felt like a countdown to death.

At that critical moment, a familiar chaotic noise echoed through his consciousness:

“William, wake up!”

Along with the voice came a powerful pulling sensation. A hum resonated as Yi Chen's consciousness broke free from the abyss filled with scales and a pungent stench. He tore through the narrow rifts of time and space, returning to the Green Lake.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in his familiar body, deep at the dark bottom of the lake. The “Watcher’s” giant eye had been completely drained, lying like a deflated balloon on the lakebed, devoid of life.

The fully sated little "Grape" had returned, hiding beneath his flesh, entering a strange state of incubation. It left a single message:

“I need a longer rest. Don’t call me unless there’s a life-threatening crisis.”

With that, the connection in Yi Chen’s consciousness weakened to one-tenth, leaving only a faint sense of the small fleshy ball in his abdomen, quietly nurturing and growing.

Yet, the crisis in Green Lake Town had not ended. The giant eye was only a “Watcher.” Its death merely freed the townspeople from their chains, making them more liberated… and those infected with "Ichthyosis" might become even more frenzied.

At the same time, merfolk lurking in Green Lake turned their gaze to the unfamiliar human at the bottom—instinct driving them swiftly toward him. Their numbers left no escape!

At the critical moment, a white blur dove into the lake with blinding speed. The white light sliced through the shoals of fish. Two powerful claws latched onto Yi Chen's shoulders, digging into his flesh and bone.

Before he could even feel the pain, an unimaginable force pulled him up from the lakebed. Any merfolk attempting to block the way was shredded by invisible wind blades.

Splash! Water splashed everywhere as Yi Chen was yanked out of the lake, skimming the ground, finally being dropped at the back door of the Green Shade Inn.

Thud! He braced himself against the wall, barely able to land. Looking up, he saw that his rescuer was a white-feathered owl. Before he could express his thanks, it had flown away.

Just then, the innkeeper opened the back door, pulling Yi Chen inside.

The innkeeper’s previously dull eyes became sharp and clear.

“You… actually did it! Kadacy, quickly take Mr. William to the basement to recover.”

“Got it!”

Kadacy, his slender sister dressed in a white dress, easily hoisted Yi Chen over her shoulder, guiding him down a dark passageway to the basement. She brought some dry towels and carefully wiped him down.

Surprisingly, though he had been submerged in the lake for so long, his clothes remained dry. A simple wipe of residual moisture left them as good as new. The only concern was the wound on his shoulder from the owl’s claws, where a bit of lake water had seeped in.

Kadacy dabbed at it with a towel, then pressed her cold lips to the wound, sucking forcefully. All the blood and tainted lake water were drawn out, preventing infection.

“This should be fine now. I'll go upstairs to get some snacks, so wait here for me,” said Kadacy before leaving.

Yi Chen sat alone on a chair in the basement. Although his recent adventure to the lake's depths hadn’t caused any physical harm, his mental state was far from good. Persistent ringing in his ears, a slightly swollen feeling in his head, and sudden flashes of the abyssal lab would cross his mind unbidden. Before he realized it, a trickle of blood ran from his nose, and the intense dizziness nearly toppled him from his chair.

"Is this a side effect of mental intrusion?" he pondered. "I didn't even open my eyes, yet I was still affected... I only managed to defeat the ‘Watcher’s Giant Eye’ thanks to Little Grape."

The Giant Eye, which spread ichthyosis and ruled over Green Lake Town, was merely a small creation of the lab. I'm so weak right now, he thought. There must be ways to grow stronger in this world, and perhaps the organization has those methods.

After his near-death experience at the lake's bottom, Yi Chen wasn’t fearful; instead, he felt driven to explore the world even further, eager to grow stronger and uncover more secrets.

Just then, Kadacy entered the basement with a special bowl of fish soup. It was thick, bubbling, black in color, filled with fish heads that looked as if they'd been radiated, crowding the bowl. The smell was like a dead fish that had drowned in a foot bath and gone unnoticed for a week.

“This is a special preparation from my brother. He said that if you made it back alive, this fish head soup would be of great help to you.”

“Oh… okay.”

Yi Chen took the oversized bowl of fish soup, cautiously touching its thick surface with a finger to make sure his internal plant powers wouldn’t reject it. Then, pinching his nose, he gulped it down. As his stomach churned, the constant ringing in his ears began to fade, and the swelling sensation in his head gradually subsided.

“This stuff is amazing!”

As Yi Chen marveled at the odd yet effective delicacy, a loud voice from above echoed through the inn, reaching his ears clearly—and audible throughout the entire town.

"All assessors, please note: head to the eastern town exit as quickly as possible. The organization’s carriage will be waiting there for you, with a time limit of ten minutes. Failure to arrive in time will result in disqualification."

“Has the assessment ended early?”

Hearing the announcement, Yi Chen immediately perked up and hurried back to the inn. Green Shade Inn was located near the southern town exit, quite far from the eastern exit where they were meant to gather. The town was in disarray, with a significant risk in traveling. Moreover, Little Grape was in a special state and couldn’t assist him visually.

“Mr. William, to reach the eastern exit, you’ll either need to pass through the town center or take a detour around the lake. It’s dangerous. Let us take you there.”

“Won’t that be too risky? If there are organization personnel at the eastern exit, they might attack you.”

“As long as we don’t get too close, it should be fine.”

Yi Chen accepted their help; he indeed needed the siblings’ assistance. Using a disguise, he lay flat on a wooden cart, pretending to be a corpse, as the siblings pushed him towards the eastern entrance. Due to the dangerous, fully mutated diseased patients in the town center, they opted for the lake route. The journey was smooth; no townspeople would question the siblings, considering their high status.

As the carriage gradually came into view, the siblings stopped.

Before parting, realizing that the path to “cure the diseased” was inevitable, they understood that if they met again, they could very well be on opposing sides. They simply shared a silent hug, refraining from saying any formal goodbyes.

However, as Yi Chen embraced the innkeeper, the latter gently patted his back, whispering into his ear:

“Hurry and leave, Mr. William. You’re the strangest human I’ve ever met, different from anyone else. Perhaps you truly have a chance to heal this incurable world. If we ever meet ‘again’, please… don’t hesitate. Kill us immediately.”

Yi Chen didn’t respond; he met the innkeeper’s gaze for a second before turning away and running toward the gathering point.

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