Chapter 10
Corpse Room No. 66
With the experience from the first extraction, it did not take long for Lucy to remove the other eyeball as well. After that came the third small blue dot, located in the heart of the mutated female corpse.
After using the short saw from the toolbox to sever the root stem running through the corpse's chest cavity, a still-beating heart was immersed in preservation fluid. The fresh blood seeping from its surface spread dark red streaks in the solution, but was quickly neutralized by the fluid.
The corpse, having lost its eyeballs and heart, twitched and convulsed a few times as if in a final spasm of life. Its raised head suddenly drooped, the sharp wail came to an abrupt stop, and the entire body went completely limp like a lump of rotting flesh, collapsing onto the iron tray.
But Lucy had no intention of stopping. She reached out and picked up the No. 1 scalpel, now slippery with blood, and gently sliced through the thick layer of fat on the corpse’s abdomen.
The organ unique to the female body came into view.
After severing the surrounding connective tissue, Lucy placed it into a jar as well.
Having completed all this, Lucy opened the iron door of Corpse Room No. 66 and pushed the silver dissection table to tip both the corpse and the iron tray into the large crimson recycling bin at the entrance.
As the lid of the bin closed, everything returned to normal.
"System!"
Blue characters flickered.
[Name: Lucy Felicia]
[Level: Apprentice (Mental Strength: 7.1)]
...
[Contamination Value: 48% → 52%]
[Academic Points: 2]
The contamination brought by dissecting the corpse had far exceeded expectations. Even the upgraded Bramble Loop Meditation could not prevent the value from climbing.
She had originally thought that with the upgraded meditation, she would not need to worry about contamination surpassing safe levels for a while. Now, that seemed quite naive.
Extracting four enchanted organs at once brought a level of contamination that meditation alone could not offset.
However, today's gains were proportional to the risks.
Although she did not yet know the market value of enchanted organs, she was certain they would at least cover the cost of the corpse, which had been 50 units of magic sand.
But one problem still lay before Lucy: should she hand these organs over or not?
It was not that she had any particular obsession, but the system required dissecting enchanted organs to earn Academic Points.
She had to strike a balance between turning them in for magic sand and keeping them for her own Academic Points.
After much thought, Lucy decided to hand over the eyes and the heart.
These three organs were marked as small light spots by the system, which perhaps correlated with their rarity. Besides, it would also be useful to see how the West Tower rated enchanted organs.
As for that enchanted uterus, Lucy planned to take it back to her dormitory for personal dissection.
Having made up her mind, Lucy began cleaning up the blood and fragments of flesh in Corpse Room No. 66 while waiting for the next corpse to arrive.
It was not until the hourglass clock pointed to the three o’clock mark that Karen’s voice rang out again:
"There are no more corpses for today. The West Tower will close before nightfall, and everyone must leave."
Upon hearing this, a series of iron doors opened in the previously quiet lower floor.
The apprentice trainees, their faces filled with terror, scrambled out of their respective corpse rooms and hurriedly fled the West Tower.
The iron door of Corpse Room No. 66 was opened as well, but Lucy showed no intention of leaving.
She first glanced at the last corpse room where Karen was located, but ultimately walked toward the adjacent Corpse Room No. 65.
Standing at the entrance, Lucy raised her hand and knocked on the iron door.
Knock knock knock!
"Who?"
A low, cold voice came from behind the door.
"Good day, senior. I am an apprentice from Corpse Room No. 66. I was just assigned to the West Tower today."
After a brief silence, the cold voice replied:
"State your purpose."
"I have some questions I would like to ask you. Of course, I will offer appropriate payment."
This time, the silence lasted even longer.
A full five minutes passed. Just when Lucy thought the other party had no interest in making a deal, the iron door finally opened a crack.
"Ten units of magic sand. Ten minutes. If you accept, come in."
Outside the door, Lucy nodded.
"A very reasonable price."
With that, she reached out, pulled the door open, and stepped into Corpse Room No. 65.
Inside the Tower, there was little need to worry too much about one’s personal safety. Most areas prohibited apprentice witches from openly harming one another. If someone did make a move, they had to be prepared for an investigation by the Tower.
As for covert means, as long as nothing suspicious was discovered by the patrolling Iron Crows, no one would pursue the matter.
The layout of Corpse Room No. 65 was identical to that of No. 66, with the same walls and dissection table. The only difference was that the shelves inside were filled with various tools and personal belongings, clearly indicating that the owner of this room had been here for quite some time.
Out of courtesy, Lucy only gave the shelves a quick glance before focusing her gaze on the room’s owner.
He appeared to be only a couple of years older than she was, with neat brown short hair, an ordinary face, and a cold, stiff expression.
Years of working in a corpse room left few with a cheerful demeanor.
"Apprentice Lucy."
"Hain."
After a brief introduction, Hain calmly extended his right hand. Understanding the gesture, Lucy took ten units of magic sand from her purse and handed them over.
After verifying the amount, Hain spoke:
"Ask your questions directly. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to answer everything, nor can I promise the accuracy of what I do say. After all, like you, I’m just an apprentice. I’ve only been here a year longer."
Lucy was prepared for this.
The information from Karen would undoubtedly be more extensive and accurate, but as a Tier-3 apprentice, buying information from him would cost several times more.
Moreover, Lucy was not looking to uncover any core secrets; she simply wanted to learn the most basic common knowledge about the West Tower.
For this, Hain, an apprentice who had managed to survive working in a corpse room, was clearly the more suitable choice.
Though Hain’s practice of taking payment first before answering was somewhat shameless, Lucy still nodded in agreement to the terms of the deal.
"I’m not sure what exactly to ask. How about this: could you explain the rules of the West Tower in detail?"
Hain was silent for a moment, then spoke:
"Actually, in the West Tower or rather in the entire Tower of the Four Sages there aren’t really any fixed rules. If you can survive the protection period, you should already be familiar with the taboos listed on the last page of the Black Book. Once assigned to a laboratory, as long as you complete your tasks on time, almost no one will bother you."
"But since you asked, I’ll mention a few... Never enter the West Tower after sunset. Never go to the second floor before becoming an official apprentice. Never attempt to provoke any of the flesh constructs. And most importantly, always ensure you have enough magic stones on you to pay any fines."
Hain spoke slowly. Listing over ten taboos took nearly seven to eight minutes, but Lucy didn’t rush him, instead committing each one to memory.
"Where do the corpses we dissect come from? Does the corpse room process many each day, or is it usually like today, with only one?"
"There are several sources for the corpses. The majority come from apprentices stationed in various outposts who kill them. Another portion comes from tasks issued by the Tower and from random hunts," Hain explained. "Most of the time, there’s just one corpse a day, sometimes none at all. But when a convoy returns from an outpost, we can be busy for several days in a row."
He paused, then added with a cold sneer, "That’s also when it’s most dangerous for us, because when the number of corpses increases, any anomalies hidden among them can sometimes slip past the screening done by official apprentices and make their way into the corpse rooms through the pipelines."
Lucy asked, "You mean it’s the apprentices who inspect the corpses?"
"Of course. We can’t expect the great and almighty witches to handle that themselves… Time’s about up. I can answer one last question."
Lucy nodded and posed the question she truly wanted to ask:
"Is there a way to take dissected enchanted organs out of here?"