Bear School Astartes

"Spreading plagues using pills shaped like those from the Good Golden Cup Church, covering up the traces, and gaining influence through chaotic situations?"

Mentos speculated aloud.

Lann neither agreed nor disagreed, but inwardly he was around seventy percent certain.

The scent within these pills was exceedingly concealed, even the extraordinary senses of a Demon Hunter could only detect the unusual smell once the pill was crushed underfoot.

Hunters in Yan’an could sense through smell that Lann’s blood was very singular, devoid of external injections.

But their keenness was limited to blood; beyond that, they weren’t exceptional.

The cluttered room made the search quite troublesome, and Lann spent several hours rifling through households in the alley.

As expected, he found several more small triangular oil papers, each wrapping peculiar pills.

He collected samples one by one, only turning to leave once he confirmed there was nothing further to discover.

In the deep, eerie night of Yan’an, he returned to the house Mark had vacated, replenishing today’s mental exhaustion swiftly using [Meditation].

The next morning, he returned to the research hall in the same manner as the day before to fulfill his duties as a Hunter.

None of the others in the research hall noticed any difference in Lann.

But on the streets outside Yan’an, with few people around in the morning, Lann saw large groups appearing to leave.

Even standing far away, those people seemed to emit a scent of blood, conducting their departure in complete silence.

Even their horses made no sound, as if everything proceeded in silence.

This should be the personnel participating in the great hunt.

Lann merely glanced from afar while passing, but he didn’t see Simon among them.

Which was normal, Simon’s primary investigation was here, yet he had that magical [Blue Spirit Medicine] to avoid detection.

In truth, Lann felt he needed that thing for his upcoming actions, but considering the special items of Yan’an were mostly produced by the Healing Church or associated with it.

And since the Healing Church was such a despicable thing...even as a Demon Hunter, Lann dared not gulp it down like Simon.

His body was quite ’pure’ indeed.

As Lann stepped onto the wooden floor, returning to his workplace after a night, he saw Adeline escorting Maria down the spiral staircase, heading outside.

Upon seeing the Demon Hunter enter, Maria nodded at him indifferently.

"Ah, Lann, you’re here?" It was Adeline who greeted him with a smile from behind Maria, "Maria’s off to partake in a hunt, I was just concerned about what would happen to the research hall without a Hunter!"

"Really?" Lann raised an eyebrow watching Maria, "The Church has summoned so many Hunters, yet they’re taking one from the research hall?"

Maria said calmly, "This has long been arranged, and I’ve prepared for it."

She adjusted her trench coat and single-shoulder cape, turning to advise Adeline.

"If all goes smoothly, the time on the road might be longer than the hunt itself. At most, we’ll return two days later. Shouldn’t be any issues in such a short time, right?"

Despite not turning her head for the latter part, Lann still waved his hand.

"Of course, no problem, I know this is your reminder to me."

"Better be."

Maria stated nonchalantly, finally just resting her hand atop her three-cornered hat adorned with swan feathers, she turned and left the research hall heading outside.

Before the door of the research hall, Lann and Adeline watched her figure disappear along the winding path, only closing the door with a creak once she was out of sight.

The hall reverted to darkness, brimming with the odd scent of medicine and faint wailing.

"Veteran Hunters are off to hunt," Lann lowered his hand from the closed door, speaking softly, "As a rookie Hunter, I’ll be quite busy."

"It’s just two days after all." Adeline couldn’t detect the undertone; she simply comforted the Hunter as always. "Or do you need any help?"

Lann gently waved his hand, "No, this matter...let me handle it alone."

Having said that, the Demon Hunter headed deeper into the research hall; his determined and steady footsteps seemed not at all like a new Hunter who had only wandered this complex building once the day before.

Adeline felt puzzled, unclear why she had such a feeling.

Clearly, yesterday Lann still needed guidance from her or Maria.

But just as Adeline’s earnest heart prompted her to approach Lann with care.

"Adeline."

A voice, calm to the point of being cold, suddenly called to the Blood Saintess beside her.

Adeline turned and saw, standing in the doorway of a usually locked room on the first floor, a clergy in white robes with half his body visible behind the slightly open door.

In the dim light overshadowing the door, the clergy watched the Blood Saintess with unusual eyes.

"The Hunter...Lady Maria, she’s gone?"

His tone was filled with cautious probing.

"Yes," Adeline responded as if it were only natural. "Do you need the Hunter’s help? I can find..."

Adeline was about to say she’d call Lann over, but the white-robed clergy quickly interrupted her.

"No, no, no. There’s no need for a Hunter."

After receiving Adeline’s answer, the clergyman’s eyes appeared increasingly peculiar when looking at her.

At the same time, his originally rigid face revealed a hint of a stiff smile.

"I need you."

"Me? You mean you need my help?" Adeline was even a bit flattered, having always thought scholars and Hunters were impressive.

"Yes, you." The clergy nodded affirmatively, "Do you remember the experiment I mentioned to you earlier that required your cooperation? The time is now."

"Come. Come help me, Adeline."

Mumbling dreamily, the clergy fully opened a door that was usually kept locked.

His white robe was largely immersed in the dense darkness, including half of his face.

And Adeline, caught in a flattering bewilderment, somewhat hesitantly walked inside.

-----------------

Lann didn’t waste any time today in the complex pathways of the research hall.

Mentos had already completed the map entry yesterday, and the two of them had devised an action plan together.

Even yesterday, during a few hours of [Meditation], Lann utilized his computational abilities to analyze the spiral staircase in the research hall.

Lann’s knowledge of architecture was limited, but having taken a stroll through the research hall yesterday, he knew enough about the building itself.

So, according to Mentos’s analysis, the switch for this spiral staircase attached to the huge pillar was likely at the top of the column.

...Lann couldn’t comprehend the architectural concepts of the Yan Nan People; he was simply amazed.

Nevertheless, having realized the urgency of the situation and with today designated for action, there was no longer a need for excessive caution.

With his mobility, he actually had no use for such things as stairs to traverse the floors within the research hall.

The Demon Hunter moved non-stop and stood directly in front of a locked room on the third level.

Maria had just briefed him yesterday about the few requirements for working in the research hall, but today, he intended to completely disregard them.

There were very few clergy at the third-floor level.

Lann reached out and pushed the door; the thick wooden door, embedded with frosted glass, remained unmovable.

However, the Demon Hunter’s actions did not pause for a moment.

He reached for his dagger from the armored belt at his waist with a reverse grip.

The blade of the [Demon Wolf’s Fang] shimmered with a dim azure reflection.

The blade slipped into the gap slightly above the door lock, then drew downward, almost effortlessly and silently, cutting through the door lock’s structure.

Lann pushed the door open and slipped inside.

Everything proceeded smoothly and steadily.

Upon entering, the dim lanterns continued to provide illumination, with the air thickening with strange medicinal scents and the smell of gray blood patients’ blood.

As expected, this was a laboratory.

Inside, there was much equipment used by the clergy of the Healing Church for research, including microscopes and various organ samples preserved in formalin.

The scientific level of the medical research equipment here practically matched that of Lann’s home world in the eighteenth century.

It far surpassed the Victorian Era characteristics of the current city.

Furthermore, the Yan’an equipment inevitably possessed some expertise in mysticism as well.

What was unexpected... was that...

As soon as Lann walked in, he frowned.

Because he hadn’t anticipated that the third-floor laboratory in the research hall would be so... blood-soaked.

Besides a few protected areas, blood spilled unabashedly from the experimental subjects.

And without a doubt, the subjects were those gray blood patients clad in hospital gowns, heads wrapped in rough cloth sacks.

They were strapped to iron hospital beds, while more patients lay piled on the floor as if discarded trash.

Their flesh intermingled, limp limbs contorted into bizarre angles in the heaps.

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