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

Night had just passed when Lu Yuan arrived at the Alchemy Workshop.

He took out a bottle of perfect-quality sanity potion from the wall of the alchemy workshop, uncorked it, and tilted his head back to gulp it down.

[Sanity: +10...89/120]

Take a quick bite while it's still light.

The inscription master was already there in front of the door on the first floor.

I gave a brief introduction to Glock last night.

The old man was named Buren, and the young man following behind him was his apprentice, named Kel.

At daybreak, Buren had Kel move the toolbox to the edge of the collapse.

When Lu Yuan arrived with Boren, Kai'er was already prepared.

Seeing this, Beren did not hesitate. He squatted down at the edge of the cave entrance, placed his cane horizontally on the ground, and pressed his right hand against the bronze ground.

The fingers moved slowly along the ground.

Kai'er squatted down beside him, silently handing him the tools.

"How is it?" Glock, who came along with them, stood behind them with his arms crossed.

The old man ignored him.

The finger slid for about a meter before stopping.

"It's broken." His voice carried a hint of solemnity.

"What's broken?" Glock took two steps closer.

"Conduction structure." The old man stood up and dusted off his knees.

"The runes on the city wall need to be transmitted, and there is a set of copper conduction channels underneath that guide the energy from the city wall to all parts of the city. When the city wall collapsed, this section of the channel was severed."

He pointed with his cane to the edge of the cave entrance, where the copper ground had turned black and discolored.

"The copper is still there, but it's already 'dead copper,' without any energy infusion, so its restriction on ghouls will be much weaker."

Glock's expression changed.

"Can it be connected?"

"The ones on the ground should be able to catch it." The old man turned to look at the cave entrance.

"But the roots of the network are in a deeper place."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Further down."

After saying that, he turned around and squatted back down by the cave entrance, placed his hand back on the copper ground, and continued to touch it.

Glock looked at Lu Yuan.

"The number of ghouls that came out last night was unusually small," Lu Yuan said.

"Let's go down there today while they're still hiding down there."

"Four to five hours at most. You must be out before sunset."

Glock nodded.

You can arrange the manpower.

Lu Yuan turned to look at Boer.

Bor was already standing there; without asking, his expression said, "If you say go, I'll go."

"Me, Bor, and three more Night's Watchmen." Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then looked at Buren. "You and Kael count as two too."

Beren didn't even look up. "Hmm."

"There's one more thing." Lu Yuan's gaze swept past everyone and looked towards the rear of the position.

The nuns are tidying up the holy artifacts from last night.

The lead nun noticed his gaze and slowly turned around.

"There's no sunlight underground," Lu Yuan told Glock. "The density of carrion fungi underground is even higher than on the surface. Without purification methods, you can't even walk."

Glock understood. "I'll go and coordinate with the church."

Half an hour later, Glock returned.

"The Church has agreed to send three nuns with the team down the cave. The one leading them is named Agnes, and she will personally lead the team." He glanced at Lu Yuan. "The remaining nun will stay on the surface to maintain the holy light barrier around the cave entrance."

"What are the conditions?"

"One rule is that if any unusual source of mental pollution is discovered below, the nun has the right to order the entire team to evacuate immediately."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Can."

Nine o'clock in the morning.

The team has assembled.

Lu Yuan, Boer, three Night Watchmen, Buren, Kale, and three nuns.

There are ten people in total.

The equipment list is very simple.

Each night watchman carries a short-barreled shotgun or revolver, with ample ammunition.

Bor brought an extra canister of copper powder and two alchemical grenades.

Lu Yuan's ammunition belt was loaded with silver-plated bullets, and he had a Potion of Devouring Ghosts, an Invisibility Potion, and a Highly Effective Healing Potion hanging from his waist.

Buren only brought his toolbox and cane.

Kel carried another, larger box on his back, his steps steady.

The nuns were not carrying any weapons.

Their weapon is themselves.

Agnes walked up to Lu Yuan.

"I'll set the pace for the cleanup. You'll be in charge of the battle command. If I say retreat, then retreat."

"clear."

"And another one." Agnes glanced at him.

"The aura around you is very complex, I won't interfere for now, but underground, don't do anything that might cause a resonance."

She turned and left after she finished speaking.

Lu Yuan stood still, his eyes slightly darkened.

But what is resonance?

Bor came over and handed him a rope.

"Tie him up, we don't know what the terrain is like down there."

Lu Yuan took the rope and tied it around his waist.

Ten people approached the collapse site one by one.

A ten-meter-wide opening gaped in the ground, with the copper floorboards at the edges cracking and sinking inwards.

Lu Yuan's gaze swept across the edge of the cave entrance and he saw the traces left from last night.

Five deep scratches, each half a finger deep, twisted and deformed the copper coin from the grip, the raised metal edges gleaming coldly in the morning light.

That big guy left it behind.

No one mentioned what happened last night.

But everyone avoided those scratches.

The sunlight shone down from above, illuminating the area several meters in front of the cave entrance.

But as you go deeper, the light is completely banished.

Lu Yuan looked down at the cave entrance.

A vast, dark expanse.

Moreover, the stench here is much stronger than what you can smell from a distance.

"Before we go down," Agnes suddenly spoke.

She took a small copper box from the inside pocket of her nun's robe and opened it.

Inside is a layer of grayish-white paste, emitting a faint pine scent.

"Apply it to the sides of your neck and wrists." She unscrewed the cap and handed over the copper box. "It's a masking balm, used by the church to enter contaminated areas. It can suppress the body temperature and blood flow fluctuations of living people, lasting for about two hours."

She glanced at the people present.

"Those things hunt by their breath. For them, a living person is like ten balls of fire."

Nobody wasted words.

The copper box was passed around among ten people.

The cream has a cool, refreshing feel, and after applying it, it feels like a thin film is covering the skin.

Lu Yuan glanced at his wrist again.

Where concealer was applied, a very faint grayish-white layer appeared on the skin surface, almost invisible.

But a line of text popped up at the edge of my field of vision.

[Status: Life force suppressed... duration is relatively long...]

"I'll get off first." Lu Yuan checked the revolver and put it back on his waist.

He didn't jump into the cave immediately, but stared at the darkness below and waited a while longer.

[Environmental Sensing: Very few pollution sources detected...]

Lu Yuan gestured to the people behind him, indicating that it was safe, but they should remain quiet.

Then he grabbed the rope and began to descend.

The movements are very slow.

Before each step, test the foothold with the toe of your boot to ensure it is stable, and only shift your weight after confirming there is no looseness.

The rope slid silently through the glove.

The cave walls are covered with grooves left by ghouls climbing up, densely packed, and in some places the bronze surface has been scratched deep by fingernails.

Lu Yuan tried his best not to touch the edges of the grooves to avoid making unnecessary noise.

Boer followed behind him, two meters away.

The short spray gun was slung diagonally across his back, his hands gripping the ropes, his face tense.

Everyone was controlling their breathing.

No one speaks.

Every movement was deliberately slowed down and made gentle.

The 12-meter distance can usually be covered in half a minute.

This time it took almost ten minutes.

Berlan was an exception. He used his cane as a fulcrum in the cave wall and grabbed the rope with one hand, descending faster than the young man.

But it was very quiet.

The old man's every movement was so precise that there was no extra sound, as if he had been doing this kind of thing his whole life.

Kai'er followed closely behind, carrying the box on her back, her steps steady.

The nuns were the last to come down.

Before their feet even touched the ground, holy light shone forth.

But it's not the kind of light film that covers a large area like last night.

They were three extremely concentrated golden orbs of light, their brightness reduced to the minimum, each hovering above a nun's shoulder, illuminating only a blurry outline within a radius of three or four meters.

Just enough to see the path beneath my feet.

The moment Lu Yuan landed, he felt a sticky sensation on the sole of his boot.

I looked down.

Scavenging fungi.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of grayish-green fungus, denser than anywhere else I had ever seen on the ground.

The thickness should be at least two to three centimeters.

Its surface is covered with velvety protrusions that wriggle slightly under the holy light.

Not just the ground.

The same is true on the cave walls.

Spreading from the feet to the top of the head, the gray-green fungal layer enveloped the entire space like a thick skin.

In some places, it is so thick that it hangs down, forming semi-transparent curtains that sway gently in the flow of air.

The stench was so strong it was almost suffocating.

This is the home of carrion fungi, and also the ghoul's favorite lair.

The thin carpet of fungus on the ground is just the tip of the trail that spreads out from here.

Lu Yuan looked around.

The space was irregularly shaped and about the width of a large room.

Some things were scattered on the ground.

bone.

Incomplete, gnawed down to fragments.

Fragments of fabric.

It has been partially digested by the bacterial layer, and all that can be seen is that it was originally clothing.

There were also dark brown dried marks.

Everywhere.

On the ground, on the walls, and even on the mushroom curtains hanging overhead.

blood.

Lots of blood.

Bor's face turned very ugly.

The broken bones and dried blood on the ground said it all.

Agnes raised one hand, and a ripple of holy light emanated from her palm.

The moment the light wave touched the fungal layer, the villi trembled violently, then quickly withered, turning from grayish-green to grayish-white, and from grayish-white to powder.

The purification range expanded outward from her center, covering a radius of approximately three meters.

The ground beneath our feet was revealed.

It is soil and gravel.

"Purify one step at a time." Agnes's gaze swept over the surrounding fungal layer.

"The density of carrion bacteria here is much higher than on the ground, so it's impossible for me to clean the entire space at once."

"What about speed?"

"No problem with normal travel. But if I need to perform high-intensity purification for more than an hour, I need to rest."

One hour.

Lu Yuan did some mental calculations.

Including the time spent applying the concealer, it took about an hour to advance.

"continue."

The line began to move forward.

Agnes walked in the middle-forward position, and with each step she took, the fungal layer beneath her feet receded a circle.

Two other nuns stood on either side of the group, with orbs of light on their shoulders illuminating their left and right views.

Lu Yuan walked in front, with Bo Er following closely behind.

The three watchmen were positioned at the middle and end of the procession.

Buren and Kel were caught in the middle of the nun's purification zone.

After walking about thirty meters, the road forked ahead.

There are not two paths.

There are five.

Five dark, gaping passageways, varying in size, extend in different directions from the space in front of us.

The largest one is located slightly to the left of the front, and it is tall enough for a person to walk upright.

The smallest one is only half a person's height, and you have to bend over to get in.

The walls of each cave entrance were covered with carrion fungi, and the depths were pitch black.

Lu Yuan walked to the largest passage entrance, where the gray-white sign remained unchanged.

This place is relatively safe.

However, there were sounds coming from a distance in the passageway.

It was very slight, like something was wriggling.

It must be a carrion-eating demon.

Lu Yuan turned to the oldest of the three Night Watchmen, who had a scraggly beard and was missing half of his little finger on his left hand.

"You. Take one person and guard this place. Set up tripwires and copper powder barriers at the other entrances, block as many as you can. If anything comes out of any entrance, immediately raise an alarm."

The night watchman nodded.

"clear."

"The rest of you, use the main passage."

Bor took out a copper powder canister and several pieces of tripwire from his backpack.

The two watchmen began making arrangements quickly.

Copper powder was sprinkled on the ground at the four small passage entrances, and tripwires connected to bells were placed half a meter above the entrances.

It's very basic, but it's barely enough for emergencies.

However, Lu Yuan didn't care; the gray-white notification was the best warning.

After the arrangements were completed, two night watchmen were left to remain on duty.

The remaining eight people entered the main passage.

Lu Yuan walked at the edge of his field of vision, and the gray-white text flashed briefly.

[Environmental Sensing: Few pollution sources detected...]

The amount of pollution is still very small.

But that's not right.

Hundreds of ghouls crawled out of this cave last night, and the cave walls were covered with them.

Where did all those things go?

The passageway was wider than expected.

The two walked side by side without feeling crowded.

But the carrion fungus on the ground and walls was thicker.

It's so thick that it has a noticeable elasticity when you step on it, like stepping on a layer of rotten cotton.

In some places, the bacterial layer on the wall exceeded five centimeters.

Agnes' purification speed began to change.

It's not that it slows down; rather, with each step of purification, the saprophytic bacteria react more violently.

When it withers, it releases a pungent gas.

"Cover your mouth and nose." Lu Yuan didn't turn around.

Everyone did as instructed.

The Night's Watchman covered the lower half of his face with a scarf, and Buren pulled up the collar of his robe.

The nuns had no coverings.

The holy light filters out the surrounding spores, making the air much cleaner, at least within half a meter of them.

Keep going.

The passage began to slope downwards.

The slope is not steep, about 15 to 20 degrees.

But after walking for a few minutes, Lu Yuan looked back at the way he came and could no longer see the light of the entrance.

Behind them, on the cleaned road surface, carrion fungi had begun to spread again.

It was very slow, but visible to the naked eye.

Grayish-green down extends from both sides of the passage toward the middle, like two hands slowly closing together.

Lu Yuan noted this down.

We walked for about five more minutes.

Buren suddenly stopped.

"Wait a moment."

He crouched down and used his cane to part a particularly thick layer of fungus at his feet.

The cane hit something hard.

"Kail, brush."

Kel took a copper bristle brush from his toolbox and handed it to him.

Buren took it and began brushing the floor.

The saprophytic fungi hissed and contracted as if they had been scalded when they touched the copper bristles.

After brushing for about half a minute, a section of metal surface was revealed.

铜。

But it's not a copper plate from the ground.

It is a pillar.

It is about the size of a person's embrace in diameter, and it is inserted diagonally into the ground from the mud wall on the left side of the passage, with only a very short section sticking out.

Most of it was buried in soil and fungal layer, with only the section dug out by the ghouls exposing it to the air.