Lawson

The matches occasionally crackled and popped.

The room was quiet, except for the occasional sound of Lu Yuan turning pages and Lawson's somewhat heavy breathing.

"I keep having the same dream lately..." Lawson finally spoke.

But upon hearing the word "dream," Lu Yuan slammed the book shut and subconsciously looked up.

Lu Yuan suddenly had a bad feeling.

"At the beginning of my dream, I always stand on the beach at night, walking on the sand, the waves getting my goatskin shoes wet, and then I wake up here."

Lawson looked at Lu Yuan and continued.

"After that, whenever I fell asleep, I would dream that I was on the beach, listening to the sound of the waves and looking at the sea illuminated by the moon. It felt pretty good at first, since not everyone has the opportunity to see the sea up close at night."

"but..."

Lawson's face was deathly pale in the firelight, and his eyes revealed deep fear.

"I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to the sea."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, because he had already guessed what Lawson was going to say next.

Lawson, the "Different Dreamer," has definitely been infected with this thing.

An uneasy feeling began to rise in Lu Yuan's heart.

The situation that Grim Port will face in the future may far exceed Lu Yuan's imagination.

The "Strange Dream" may have already swept through the entire port.

Lu Yuan sat in the shadows, his mind racing, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest, without interrupting Lawson's narration.

Because he was observing.

[Observation subject: Lawson. Recalling the deep sea, the alienation symptoms are subtly increasing.]

Lu Yuan had no intention of interrupting the recollection, because he was preparing to see just how many more characteristics the 'Strange Dream' still possessed.

If just recalling memories can actually accelerate the infection process, that's just terrifying...

"In the dream that followed, the sea drew ever closer, the water almost completely engulfing me, icy cold!"

"I can no longer tell whether I'm actively approaching the sea, or whether the ocean is trying to swallow me!"

Lawson's face was pale, and his voice trembled slightly. After pausing for a while, he continued.

"Anyway, now I dream about that damn ocean every time I fall asleep! All I want now is to get a good night's sleep!"

"Have you seen other doctors?" Lu Yuan finally asked.

"Yes, I've been to church and seen Dr. Brin." Lawson's tone gradually calmed down, as if he had let go of some burden.

After Lawson calmed down, the previously visible entries disappeared.

"Has the alienation stopped?" Lu Yuan wondered.

"What did they say?" Lu Yuan leaned on his notebook and wrote down "emotions, memories" for reference.

"The church's doctors are still the same old doctors. They said I've been afflicted by something in the darkness, and at least fed me a few cups of holy water! They also prescribed a bunch of ridiculously expensive but completely useless medicines." Lawson's tone became noticeably louder as he said this.

"I never want to drink that holy water again in my life, no matter what it's made of."

"Where is Dr. Brin? What did he say?" Lu Yuan then asked.

"Dr. Brin... he only prescribed some medication and told me to stay away from the sea and preferably leave Grimport for a while." Lawson said, clearly having a headache.

He was clearly very dissatisfied with Dr. Brin's medical advice. After all, how could a landlord who relied on low-rent housing possibly leave his own low-rent housing?

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan asked, "After drinking the church's holy water, did you feel your symptoms lessen?"

"For example, have your dreams become shorter or have you stopped dreaming altogether?"

Lawson thought about it carefully.

"It seems to have some effect. After drinking the holy water, the scenes in my dreams that night did become very blurry."

"But what I want isn't procrastination, but to blast this damn dream out of my head!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan wrote in his notebook

"Church, Holy Water"

From Lawson's words, we can infer that the church's holy water may have a certain suppressive effect on such dreams.

The effect was not obvious, probably due to dilution... I can go to the church to check on it later.

"What about Dr. Brin's method? You haven't tried it at all?" Lu Yuan put down his pen and continued.

"I've tried. I've recently moved away from the seaside and am currently staying in the Inner Harbour, but getting a low-rent landlord to leave for an extended period of time is simply impossible." Lawson put down his teacup and snorted.

"If I dare to leave even a little bit, those bastards in the low-rent housing will definitely make a complete mess of my place! They'll even keep delaying paying the rent!"

"As a landlord, it is my responsibility to maintain my property."

"So how do you feel now that you're away from the port?" Lu Yuan was too lazy to pay attention to Lawson's arrogant attitude; he seemed to be someone who valued money over life.

Silently labeling Lawson in his mind, he then asked:

"And I need to know when you started having this dream."

"Being away from the port was a little better, but the dreams continued as soon as I fell asleep," Lawson continued. "Around mid-November, I remember those were the days when the Iron Whale was returning to port, and afterwards I would dream about the sea."

"Before having this dream, did you encounter anything strange? Or did you go to sea or something?" Lu Yuan tried his best to extract useful information from Lawson.

"No, this dream came suddenly. Before that, everything was normal. I was greeting guests and seeing off a group of guests." Lawson was clearly getting impatient.

"So Dr. Lu, are you going to ask how long you intend to wait, or do you have any solutions for my illness?"

Faced with Lawson's questioning, Lu Yuan was not in a hurry, but simply reassured him:

"Don't rush, Mr. Lawson, there are only a few questions left."

"During the Iron Whale's docking, did you receive any of their crew members? Or any unfamiliar faces?" Lu Yuan shifted his position on the sofa.

"Another question, Lawson, besides yourself, have you heard of anyone else who has had similar symptoms? Including your tenants?"

Lawson, suppressing his emotions, replied:

"I've never hosted the crew of the Iron Whale. They always docked in such a secretive way that it was never my turn to do business with them. As for unfamiliar faces..." Lawson seemed to have thought of something.

"I did receive a few unfamiliar faces; I kept running into them during that period. But what does that have to do with my illness? Did they infect me? Then why are my tenants healthy?"

"And Dr. Lu, do you have any ideas? If not, you'd better say so, it's getting late."

Lawson looked displeased, dissatisfied with Lu Yuan's barrage of questions.

"I can't guarantee it, but there's a medicine you can try." After writing "slow infection" in his notebook, Lu Yuan got up and took out the mixture of Light Silver Grass that Laisen had left over from the medicine cabinet.

Lu Yuan had no idea what the mixture was made of.

However, the diary entries reveal that this medicine is very effective against "strange dreams." Although it cannot cure the condition, it can at least delay it for a while.

This can also verify whether Lawson's dream is indeed a different dream.