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

The second group consisted of two people.

An older man, his left arm in a sling across his chest, the bandage soaked in blood.

The other one was younger, with a pale face and unfocused eyes, his right hand clutching an unsheathed bronze sword.

When Lu Yuan was treating their wounds, the older one spoke up.

"We are the seventh squad."

His voice was hoarse, as if he had been shouting all night.

"Of the twelve men, only two returned. Who leaked the intelligence?"

[Basic Medical Care: +0.1...2.8/20]

Lu Yuan did not answer.

The third group consisted of only one person.

He walked in alone, covered in blood, but most of it wasn't his own.

He only said one sentence after entering the room.

"I'm the only one left in the eighth squad."

Then he sat down against the corner of the wall and stopped talking.

Lu Yuan listened while treating the wounded.

Intermittent conversations came from all directions, and pieced together, they formed the whole picture of tonight's events.

"The third squad was wiped out. They were on their way to the inner city when all the lights went out, and ghouls rushed out of the alleys, giving them no chance to fight back."

"The eleventh squad was down to just its captain. He carried a dead man for three blocks before reaching the outpost."

"There's still no news from the fifth squad. Their area is the most severely affected by the collapse."

"The intelligence was completely wrong... They said the ghouls were concentrated at the collapse site, but the road was full of ambushes..."

Someone lowered their voice, their tone heavy.

"I heard the collapse in the inner city is even larger than in the outer city; all three are large-scale, and the amount of debris gushing out..."

He didn't finish speaking.

But everyone understood.

The squad in the inner city is in an even more dangerous situation.

"I hope the captains over there are all doing well."

Someone whispered something from the corner. No one answered.

A few seconds of silence followed.

Then the older night watchman from the seventh squad suddenly looked at Lu Yuan.

"I heard you led a team to the Beifang District?"

"Yes."

"How's the situation over there?"

"The collapse is huge, and the main force of the ghouls is underground, with an extremely high density." Lu Yuan's tone was calm. "We can't stop it; we have to retreat."

The Night's Watchman nodded, as if it were expected.

Then he asked a question.

"How many of you came back?"

"Nine went out, and nine came back."

The alchemy workshop fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't intentional silence.

Everyone paused for a moment at the same time.

The hand that was bandaging the wound stopped, the cloth used to wipe the weapon stopped moving, and even the person who had been resting with their eyes closed in the corner opened their eyes.

"Not a single one is missing?"

The one speaking was the sole surviving member of the Ninth Squad, the Night Watchman.

He looked up at Lu Yuan, his eyes filled with something very complicated.

"Not a single one is missing."

No one speaks.

Bohr sat in the corner, head down, without interrupting.

But his grip on the hilt of the bronze sword tightened slightly.

After a few seconds, the older night watchman gave a wry smile.

"No wonder the deputy chief of staff appointed you as the team leader."

Lu Yuan didn't reply and continued with his work.

Just as everyone was taking a short break, Lu Yuan was the first to notice something was wrong.

It's not a sound.

It was a feeling of oppression.

An extremely strong aura of alienation surged in from the inner city.

Pure pollution.

Pure evil.

It was so strong that even ordinary people could sense that something was wrong.

[Sanity: -2...41/120]

The moment Lu Yuan saw the notification, his pupils contracted sharply.

"How is that possible?!"

Then Lu Yuan suddenly stood up and rushed towards the window.

Others noticed it too.

"What is that!?"

Someone cried out in surprise.

Lu Yuan opened the window and looked towards the inner city.

The sky has changed.

A black, cloud-like mass was rapidly spreading from the direction of the inner city.

It is something alive.

The dark clouds surged and expanded, spreading outwards in all directions at a visible speed.

Then Lu Yuan saw what was inside the clouds.

eye.

Countless dark eyes.

They were embedded in the churning black clouds, large and small, densely packed, with no whites of their eyes, no pupils, only pure, bottomless blackness.

Every eye is moving.

They are staring.

Gazing down at the city below.

He gazed at everyone in the city.

That feeling of being watched isn't fear, it's something deeper.

It was as if I suddenly realized that I was standing on an endless deep sea, and something was slowly rising from the surface.

He couldn't see its whole picture.

He could only see its eyes.

Countless eyes are opening.

[Rationality: -2...-2...37/120]

Everyone inside and outside the alchemy workshop was stunned.

The wounded were no exception. The Night Watchman with a broken leg stood on one leg, supporting himself against the wall, clutching his bronze sword, his eyes fixed on the slowly rotating black eyeballs in the sky.

"What is this...?"

Someone's voice was trembling.

Within seconds, the dark clouds had covered most of the Bronze City.

The moonlight was obscured, and the world went dark.

It's not the darkness of night, but a murky, malicious dimness born from being watched by countless eyes.

Immediately afterwards, a loud bang came from the direction of the inner city.

boom--!

It is the impact generated when a certain force is released.

The walls of the entire alchemy workshop were trembling, and the bottles and jars on the shelves were clanging.

At the same time, at the edge of Lu Yuan's field of vision, gray and white text was jumping wildly.

[Detection Target: Guardians]

Beyond comprehension

Lu Yuan's heart sank.

Guardians.

He had seen this aura before. At the entrance of the Alchemy Workshop, the white-haired old man simply stood there, and the Vice Dean of the Tower of Learning fled in panic.

But that time, the guardians did not make a move.

This time is different.

From the center of the churning black cloud in the direction of the inner city, an invisible wave suddenly spread out.

All the eyes in the clouds began to pause, scanning what lay beneath the bronze city.

Then, the ghouls outside began to hiss.

It was a scream of pain and despair.

Lu Yuan rushed to the door and looked out of the outpost.

At the edge of the war lamp's beam, several remaining ghouls were undergoing drastic changes.

Their limbs convulsed, and large black scorch marks appeared on their grayish-red flesh.

That invisible force is dismantling them from the inside out.

A ghoul's body began to collapse, its muscles dissolved, its bones softened, its skin ruptured, and dark brown liquid seeped from every pore.

In the blink of an eye.

A complete ghoul turned into a pool of steaming pus.

More than one.

Every ghoul in sight was going through the same process.

Hissing, collapsing, dissolving.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch, simultaneously draining all their vitality.

In the distance, more screeching sounds rose and fell on the streets, then faded away one by one.

Lu Yuan stood at the doorway, looking at everything before him.

He knew the Guardians were very strong.

But he didn't expect it to be this strong.

It's not targeting any one animal or group. It covers the entire city.

"Guardian..."

A trembling voice came from behind me.

Lu Yuan turned around and saw the older night watchman from the seventh squad staring intently toward the inner city, his eyes red-rimmed.

"This is the aura of the Guardian!"

His voice was hoarse, filled with an indescribable excitement.

Then, the second wave of changes arrived.