"Ouch!"
The suddenly opened door made Anvil, who was leaning against the door panel, almost fall in. He had to take a few steps back and barely managed to keep his huge body steady before colliding with the person behind the door.
"Rowan, what are you doing..." He opened his mouth to complain.
"Excuse me..." Before he could finish his complaint, the person who opened the door wore a parrot-shaped colorful beak mask on his face. "Has Mr. Sea Monster frequently overdrawn and used secret texts in recent operations?"
"Yes. It was used once when facing Issyk, and then in Graham Village." Ed recalled, "I have only seen these two times."
"There was another time - between the two operations, he used his tentacles to intercept the woodcutter and fishermen's smuggling cargo boat - at that time you had a broken leg and were recovering from injuries. He and I were the only two people involved in the operation." Bai Ya said.
"That's only three times. It won't kill him, right?" Anvil interjected, "What's more, how long has it been?"
"I tried to enter his dream, and he was also in a self-enclosed state in the dream. The light reflex test confirmed that his pupils had lost their dynamic sensing ability, which indicated that there was a serious lesion in the central nervous system."
"I'm convinced from years of experience that there were cracks in the crystallization of the sea monster's personality, and that there were complications - an avalanche chain reaction where all you see is a cascade of snow falling at the last moment."
The psychiatrist said in a calm and professional tone.
Hearing this, the golden beard on Anvil's cheek twitched a few times, and suddenly, he yelled,
"What the hell - where's Rowan? Let him speak out! Rowan!"
"Don't be like this, big guy..." Byakuya stepped forward and grabbed Anvil's wrist, trying to pull him back.
"I think the psychoanalyst's judgment is accurate."
Rowan, wearing a doctor's coat, walked out of the room, his eyes red and swollen with fatigue:
"The Kraken's condition was not surgically treatable and his organs were beginning to fail. I tried soaking his body in seawater, which improved the physical symptoms of most greyscale patients - but I also There's only so much I can do. Sorry..."
Rowan's words finally calmed Anvil down. He froze in place like a wooden stake for a while, then glanced reluctantly into the room, and finally said:
"Then how long can he live?"
"With any luck, he'll make it through tonight," Rowan replied, nudging him out with her elbow.
"Can he still talk? Can he still hear me?" Anvil muttered as he stepped back, "I'm still thinking about saying something to him, and I haven't even said goodbye to him yet..."
Rowan was silent for a long time. Ed could tell he was trying to form some words of comfort for Anvil. In the hospital, he must have had countless experiences with patients' families. As long as he wanted to, this old man could definitely speak as sweetly as caramel.
"...Sigh." But in the end, the former soldier just sighed, his voice as light as the last fallen leaf in autumn.
Everyone was speechless, and the air was deathly silent.
The ending seems to be doomed. This is not the first time that the Bureau of Investigation has lost an investigator, nor will it be the last.
Ed turned sideways and squeezed a few steps into the room. The room was filled with the disgusting smell of rotten blood and feces, as well as a little smell of incense.
The sea monster's pet turtle was still lying in the glass fish tank, curiously checking out the people not far away. Seeing Ed's arrival, it immediately shrank back and splashed a few splashes of water.
And the sea monster lay in his bathtub, eyes closed, completely unresponsive to what was going on around him. The scales on his body were rotten and smelly, and the smell was like a dead fish on the beach. At this moment, only the rise and fall of his chest could prove that he was still alive.
"No matter what, it's not time to give up hope completely." Ed turned around and suggested, "I'll keep vigil tonight. I just got enough sleep during the day."
…
after an hour……
After sending everyone away, Ed gently closed the door, took out the red-eyed spider from his pocket, and placed it on the sea monster's forehead.
[His consciousness seems to be trapped in fragments of the past. This is usually due to some kind of obsession or mental knot that triggers the compensation mechanism of the dream. If you can untie his mental knot, he might still have a chance to wake up. 】
[In addition, since you are in a friendly cognitive state in his memory, I will not adjust your image this time. You will enter this dream for the first time as Edgar Waikolo, Understand? 】
I see. Ed began to empty his consciousness, and Mentilosa's pupils merged into one again.
【》》》Attempting to invade the dreamland...》》》]
The vision filled with scarlet color, like a golden crow falling to the ground, and then an invisible force pushed Ed into the sea monster's dream.
call……
Then, he woke up and saw a face that seemed somewhat familiar——
It was a face that was not bloated and angular, slightly weathered, and the dark blue pupils were slightly bulging, but not too abrupt. He was sitting in front of his desk dressed in leather shoes. His sleek black hair above his forehead was combed back, and his hairline was enough to make most middle-aged people envious.
All in all, the man in front of me looked like an ordinary, decent middle-aged man in his early forties at most. It's just that his eyes are a little dull.
This is...Mr. Kraken? Ed was a little unsure. It cannot be ruled out that it is his relative or someone else.
But if you look carefully, you can still vaguely see from the gill sacs on his neck that are covered by the collar and the scales on the back of his hands that he is probably a sea monster.
"...Mr. Kraken?"
Ed asked tentatively. The other party said nothing.
Looking in the direction of the sea monster's gaze, he saw a thin piece of paper, and then he could clearly see the content on it——
A retirement application?
"I...can't..." the man suddenly said, his expression suddenly distorted, and veins popped out in his hands, as if he was trying his best to move away the right hand holding the penholder.
"Can't... retire... help me, Ed!" He clasped his left hand on his right hand and cried loudly.
"Keep calm, Mr. Kraken, I'll help you—"
Ed was certain that the man in front of him was the sea monster himself. He immediately reached out to help, but found that the sea monster's right hand seemed to have a huge weight at the moment. No matter how hard he tried, his right hand remained motionless and calmly signed his name on the paper——
Steve Royce
Suddenly, the sea monster's eyes regained clarity. The right hand that was as heavy as a mountain suddenly returned to its original weight. Ed did not hold back his strength and directly pushed his right hand towards the coffee cup beside him.
The coffee cup was suddenly thrown by this force and flipped over in mid-air. The coffee cup was all over the sea monster. The splashing coffee also soaked the retirement application form on the table.
“Hiss—” the sea monster made a sound of being burned, and slapped the coffee on his collar, “Sorry, I seemed to be distracted just now, I don’t know what happened... Oh my God, it seems I really should retire. ”
"You didn't get burned, did you? Mr. Kraken?"
Although he knew it was in a dream, Ed quickly took out his handkerchief and wiped it for him.
"Thank you very much. Just kidding, this little hot water is nothing..."
The sea monster said, looking up at Ed, and suddenly froze:
"...Excuse me, who are you?"
