I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

The three nuns didn't ask any further questions, nodded slightly, and walked along the alleyway towards the church's premises.

The greyish-white figure gradually disappeared into the twilight, soon vanishing around the street corner.

Only two people remained in the square.

Agnes glanced at Lu Yuan.

"Come with me."

She turned and walked towards the south side of the square.

Lu Yuan didn't ask where they were going, and followed them.

The two walked through a narrow alley at the edge of the square and made two turns.

The lights of the church's temporary residence were already faintly visible, and the outline of the largest church under construction was very conspicuous in the night.

But Agnes did not go to the church.

She went around to the back of the church and stood in front of a two-story stone building.

The building is small, with the exterior walls painted with the same white plaster as the church, but it was clearly renovated later. The windows were replaced with pointed arches, and a small emblem of holy light was nailed to the door frame.

Push the door open and go inside.

The first floor is a simple reception room.

A table, four chairs, and a print of an angel hanging on the wall.

In the corner sat a tin stove, its chimney protruding from the wall, the embers in the firebox already extinguished.

Agnes sat down at the table.

Take off the hood.

The pale gold eyes stood out sharply in the dimly lit room.

Lu Yuan sat down opposite her.

The two stared at each other across the table for a few seconds.

Agnes spoke first.

"I've kept my promise to you."

She paused for a moment.

"I won't ask what you did on the top floor of the third tower."

Lu Yuan did not respond.

Agnes's gaze did not waver.

"I only want to know one thing."

Her voice lowered slightly.

"Do you have any way to help me enter the ocean of knowledge?"

When those words were spoken, the small building fell silent.

From a distance outside the wall, the occasional sound of hammering could be heard coming from the direction of the church compound, probably because the nighttime construction had not yet been completely finished.

Lu Yuan looked at Agnes.

Her expression remained unchanged.

But there was something in those pale golden eyes that Lu Yuan rarely saw in her.

It is a restrained desire.

Lu Yuan remained silent for a few seconds.

"I can't be sure. You should know that you are a believer in the extraordinary, and the sea of ​​knowledge is an absolute forbidden zone for you."

"When you set foot in that place, the existence you believe in may crumble, and you should understand what that means."

Agnes did not answer Lu Yuan directly, but instead asked another question.

"I know, so do you have a way? You can answer no."

Looking into Agnes's eyes, Lu Yuan finally sighed.

"I can't give you an answer," Lu Yuan said after thinking for a moment.

"But I might know someone who can help you."

These words made Agnes hold her breath for a moment.

"But not now," Lu Yuan continued. "I can only give you an answer after Bronze City is completely stable."

Lu Yuan wasn't lying, because he did know who could help Agnes.

A.M.

André Maurice. A pseudonym; his true identity remains unknown.

I have no idea where they went.

When I see him again, I might ask him how to resolve Agnes's situation.

Agnes just stared at Lu Yuan.

Something was churning in her pale golden eyes, but she ultimately suppressed it.

"OK."

There is only one word.

Clean and efficient.

The room was quiet for a while.

Agnes stood up.

"You should go now."

Lu Yuan nodded upon hearing this, and just as he turned to walk towards the door, Agnes's voice came from behind him.

"Oh, right."

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks.

"When you get back, you'd better prepare yourself, like getting some sanity potions."

Agnes's tone returned to its previous businesslike manner.

"The ghouls in the collapsed area have almost all disappeared in the past few days."

Lu Yuan frowned slightly.

"disappear?"

"Yes." Agnes's voice carried a rare hint of seriousness. "But they're not dead."

"You've been down there, so you should know what's hidden down there."

"Therefore, the area around the plaza may be reopened after the collapse."

She walked to the window and looked out towards the distant square.

"An exploration team will be formed at that time, and all parties will send people down."

She turned her head and glanced at Lu Yuan.

"You might be chosen."

Lu Yuan remained silent.

Agnes gestured with her chin toward the door.

"Alright, that's all."

Lu Yuan did not linger.

Pushing open the door, the night breeze blew in my face.

He pulled the church hood down again and walked back along the narrow alleyway he had come from.

The streetlights were on in the distance.

The warm yellow light fell on the stone pavement, casting a long shadow on him.

After leaving the inner city, Lu Yuan turned into a small, still abandoned building.

Take off the white church robe, fold it neatly, and stuff it into your small bag.

He changed back into the Night's Watchman's dark gray coat.

Then continue heading towards Beifang.

It was very late at night.

There were almost no pedestrians on the streets.

Occasionally, one can see patrolling watchmen walking under the lamplight in the distance, their silver badges reflecting a cold light.

Lu Yuan walked in the darkness, several things swirling in his mind.

The ghouls disappeared.

This is not good news.

No one knows what lies hidden in the endless abyss beneath the Bronze City.

However, the problem with the Bronze City walls was partially resolved.

Even if a ghoul wave breaks out, there won't be a situation that's too difficult to deal with.

And there's the Tower of Learning.

Hey.

I hope everything goes well.

Outside the Alchemy Workshop.

Many night watchmen continue to diligently ensure the safety of the surrounding area.

Glock has not returned yet.

The Night Watchmen, armed with short-barreled sprayers, perked up upon seeing Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan didn't pay attention to any of this, and simply nodded as a greeting.

Then he went back to his room.

Prepare to carefully explore the path of the worm of knowledge left behind by Laurinna.

Lu Yuan still vividly remembers the power of the knowledge insect.

Furthermore, the scenes in Laurinna's laboratory deepened Lu Yuan's understanding of the Knowledge Worm.

As long as there are any systematic units in the brain.

The worms of knowledge can invade and devour his knowledge, refining and feeding it back, until all the knowledge in his mind is consumed and he can no longer comprehend the worms feeding back knowledge.

His life came to an end.

That would cause almost irreversible damage.

But that's not the scariest part.

Lu Yuan sat at the table, took out a notebook from his pocket, and turned to a blank page.

The sound of hammering could be heard sporadically outside the window; workers were still repairing the lampposts on both sides of Beifang Street overnight.

Some lamps have been fitted with new gas lamp covers, while others are being reconnected to try and get the lampposts that the ghouls broke off lit again.

Lu Yuan ignored the voices.

He wrote the first line in the notebook.

"The insect of knowledge does not choose its host."

This was the piece of information in the footage from Laurinna's laboratory that alerted Lu Yuan the most.

The parasites of the knowledge worm are not limited to humans.

It doesn't care what species the host is, or even whether the host has language ability.

It only recognizes one thing, whether there is a systematic knowledge structure in its brain.

A blacksmith who has learned the complete forging process, a warhorse trained with complex commands, and a hunting dog that has been tamed and knows how to find food.

As long as those experiences form a framework and logic in your mind.

The insect of knowledge can find the entrance.

This means that its ecological niche in the sea of ​​knowledge is far higher than Lu Yuan had previously thought.

Moreover, the insect of knowledge is not a product of accidental failure.

It is one of the native species of the sea of ​​knowledge.

They feed on knowledge and live in knowledge.

Lu Yuan put down his pen and looked at the words on the paper.

According to the logic of the remaining images from the laboratory, after the reproductive cycle of the Knowledge Worms ends, if the new swarm cannot access any knowledge sources, it will die along with its host.

In other words, this thing is naturally limited outside the ocean of knowledge.

It won't survive long outside of an environment with a sufficiently high concentration of knowledge.

That's why Laurinna's mentor conducted those experiments in the Tower of Knowledge, which is the place with the highest concentration of knowledge in the entire Bronze City.

Those students who are parasitized are the perfect breeding ground.

"Laurena's method: knowledge anchoring."

In the remaining footage from the laboratory, he captured Laurena's core thinking in dealing with the Knowledge Worm.

Domestication and contracts.

Laurinna took out the largest piece of knowledge from her mind and tied it to the Worm of Knowledge.

With the addition of external knowledge nourishment, the host can continuously acquire purified knowledge without worrying about being hollowed out.

Lu Yuan paused for a moment after writing this.

genius.

This idea is simply ingenious.

They transformed a deadly parasite into a tool for continuously refining knowledge.

No wonder Laureina is number one in the Alchemy Tower.

This kind of thinking cannot be conceived by intelligence alone; it also requires an almost obsessive understanding of knowledge itself.

Of course, the problems are also obvious.

That is, Lu Yuan didn't see how to contract and tame the insect of knowledge.

Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair with a hint of helplessness.

However, there is also good news: Laurina uses her own alchemy as an anchor, resulting in a very small number of Knowledge Worms in the Contract.

So there were only twelve.

But I'm not worried about that at all.

the reason is simple.

His anchor point is not a specific discipline.

It is taboo subject.

Pharmacology has boundaries, alchemy has boundaries, and epigraphy has boundaries.

But taboo studies are not included.

Its essence is to understand everything that shouldn't be understood.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, Lu Yuan can contract an unlimited number of knowledge-generating insects.

Moreover, all one needs to do is share one's systematic knowledge of taboo subjects with the worms of knowledge, and what the worms of knowledge will feed back will be purified taboo knowledge.

This will be a huge boost to your experience bar.

Moreover, Lu Yuan possesses something that others don't.

That is the ocean of knowledge.

It is important to know that there is a natural connection between the insect of knowledge and the sea of ​​knowledge.

However, Lu Yuan was a little confused as to why the Worm of Knowledge couldn't directly devour the Sea of ​​Knowledge.

If we can figure this out, we might be able to improve the restrictions on the "insect of knowledge".

Moreover, if I could bring back a bit of the aura of the sea of ​​knowledge, or something more specific.

The insect of knowledge may achieve a qualitative breakthrough.

As Lu Yuan thought of this, the tip of his pen hovered over the paper for two seconds.

Then he suppressed the thought.

The Knowledge Worm Path has just unlocked its basics; the first worm hasn't even been tamed yet.

They were already thinking about evolution.

This is not seeking knowledge, it is greed.

Greed on this path is tantamount to suicide.

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +0.5...26.4/100]

The gray and white text floated quietly at the edge of my field of vision.

Taboo studies have increased in popularity simply through systematic analysis and deduction.

Lu Yuan glanced at it but didn't pay it any mind.

His attention fell on another problem.

I seem to have no idea where to start.

Moreover, the person who knows this method best is not here now.

Even if she were here, she wouldn't be of much help; it seems that Laurina has completely erased this memory.