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

There were two letters from Laurinna.

The first letter was very short, consisting of only one line.

"The collapse of the Old Parliament Square in the inner city exceeded everyone's expectations. Please be careful."

The handwriting is very steady, as if it was written in a few seconds in a hurry.

The second letter.

It's a bit longer than the first one.

The handwriting was messier than usual, and the ink had smudged in some places, as if the object under his hand was uneven when he wrote.

"Our medicine stock is running low, so we can't send you anything in the near future."

"The new formula based on refined sandworm oil is not progressing smoothly. The equipment is not precise enough, and I have tried three times but have not been able to stabilize the reaction temperature."

I stopped writing this line halfway through.

A dot of ink followed, as if the tip of a pen had been lingering on the paper for a long time.

Then it starts on a new line.

"In the third tower of the Tower of Knowledge, at my lab workbench, there's something I'm leaving for you."

"You'll find out exactly what it is when you get there."

"The branch assessment indicates that the inner city can no longer guarantee safety. Tomorrow or the day after, someone will escort me to headquarters."

"If you need anything, let me know before I leave."

Signature.

"Laurena".

After reading the letter, Lu Yuan folded it and put it in his pocket.

It's next to the previous one.

Bohr stood to the side and listened to all the news.

Silent for a long time.

"None of them came to Beifang last night." His voice was very low.

"Is it because they went to the inner city?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

He remembered the beehives he had seen in the abyss.

The cave entrances are layered upon each other, connecting each other from top to bottom and left to right.

A vast underground network.

The ghouls didn't disappear from the ground.

They retreated from the entrance of the North Textile to their nests and regrouped along the network towards the inner city.

They surged into the inner city.

It surged towards the base of the bronze pillar.

They, or rather, the thing that commanded them, abandoned the secondary objective of Beijing Textile.

They turned to what really mattered.

Those bronze pillars extending from the cliff face.

Lu Yuan stood by the window, looking at the lingering dust and smoke from the direction of the inner city.

The sunlight shone on the smoke and dust, giving it a hazy, warm color, like a gold covered in dust.

The copper floor beneath my feet was quiet.

The light from the runes is no longer visible.

But Lu Yuan knew that even at night, those runes might not still light up.

The energy of the runes was channeled from the inner city.

The inner city is under attack, and if it cannot withstand the attack, the outer city will fall as well.

Lu Yuan looked down at the copper coin he was standing on.

Beneath the copper coin was soil.

Beneath the soil lies rock.

Below the rocks lies an abyss.

On the other side of the abyss were those enormous bronze pillars.

The inner city was built on top of those pillars.

It was built on the lid of an abyss.

The thing under the lid is trying to remove the pillars supporting it.

But there was nothing I could do about it.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

Beijing Textile Factory is safe.

We're safe, at least for now.

But this is not a victory.

This simply means that the inner city is more important than this place.

Resources will follow the danger. Manpower, ammunition, and attention will all be concentrated in the inner city.

The priority of Beifang will be reduced again and again.

And the opening was still open.

Lu Yuan turned around.

"Bohr".

"exist."

"Count the ammunition again, everyone's, and calculate how many more nights we can last without resupply."

Boer looked at Lu Yuan with a serious expression.

"clear."

Lu Yuan walked downstairs.

Buren was still sitting in a corner on the first floor, sketching inscriptions on paper with a copper bar.

Kai'er squatted down beside him, grinding some kind of powder.

"Berlen," Lu Yuan called out.

Buren raised his head.

"Can that broken section of the conductive structure on the ground be repaired?"

Buren glanced at him.

"Probably."

"how long?"

"If it's just a temporary fix... three days." Beren's finger was still drawing on the paper. "But that only restores the surface conduction; the deeper layers can't be addressed."

That's enough.

Three days.

Lu Yuan did some mental calculations.

The ground conduction structure was repaired within three days.

Restore the coverage of the city wall runes to the North Textile area.

At least make sure the opening isn't completely open.

Then...

Then wait.

Wait until the outcome is decided on the inner city side.

Lu Yuan walked out of the alchemy workshop.

The sun is shining brightly.

But he knew what lay beneath the sunlit ground.

Every step you take is a step on the heads of people who were sealed underground hundreds of years ago.

Those people turned into ghouls.

They built a nest.

After daybreak, Buren found Glock.

Lu Yuan was organizing ammunition when he overheard the conversation coming from the first floor.

"I want to go deeper."

Beren's voice carried an barely suppressed urgency.

It was almost identical to the "I want to go back" that Kale shouted yesterday when she dragged me away from the edge of the abyss.

After getting an extra night's sleep, a touch of rationality crept into my eagerness.

"I only had time to examine one cross-section of the ground-based transmission structure yesterday; there are at least four more key nodes that require on-site investigation. And the inscription style on the bronze pillar..."

"No approval," Glock interrupted him.

Buren's mouth was still open.

"You saw what happened in the inner city last night."

Glock's tone left no room for negotiation.

"The branch hasn't issued any instructions yet, and I don't know whether to hold or retreat. Under these circumstances, I won't approve anyone going down into the cave."

Beren stood there, his cane tapping on the ground.

"Captain Glock, you don't understand the value of those inscriptions..."

"I don't need to understand," Glock said, looking at him. "I need you to live, complete the tasks assigned to you by the branch, and then fill out the mission reports."

"As for the value of the inscription, we will go and confirm it after this matter is resolved."

Beren's face flushed red, and he opened his mouth but didn't say anything for a long time.

Kai'er stood behind him and tugged at his sleeve.

The old man stubbornly refused to move.

Lu Yuan walked down the stairs.

"Berlen".

Buren turned to look at him.

"You said you could repair that broken conductive structure on the ground yesterday," Lu Yuan shifted the topic to the mission. "Will we be able to see what you want to see during the repair process?"

Beren was taken aback by what he heard.

"...We can see a part of it, the cross-section of the fracture, the direction of the veins, and the standard features. The samples on the ground and those underground are from the same system, just the end."

"Then we'll repair it on the surface." Lu Yuan glanced at Glock. "No going down into the cave."

Glock looked at Lu Yuan and remained silent for a moment.

"You can only go this far within a 30-meter radius of the cave entrance," Glock said, then turned and left.

Beren looked at Glock's retreating figure, then glanced at Lu Yuan.

He muttered something under his breath, but didn't argue anymore.

He turned to Kel and said, "Go and bring the tools over."

Around 10 a.m., the branch staff arrived.

It wasn't just one person.

It was a carriage and four night watchmen.

The leader was a middle-aged military officer, whose number on his shoulder was unfamiliar to Lu Yuan.

He held a stamped document in his hand and went directly to Glock.

Lu Yuan did not move closer.

However, the space on the first floor of the Alchemy Workshop is not large, and voices can be heard very clearly.

"The branch command immediately dispatches one-third of the existing troops at the North Textile position to return to the inner city by vehicle to participate in the defense of the old council square."

Glock took the document and glanced at it.

"Including the wounded, there are a total of nineteen people here. One-third is six people. We'll take six of them away, and the remaining thirteen people will guard one collapse site and a 300-meter perimeter perimeter."

"The branch's message is that there hasn't been a large-scale outflow at the North Textile Collapse Site for the past two nights, so the priority has been lowered." The middle-aged officer's tone was very businesslike. "We urgently need manpower in the direction of the old council area in the inner city."

Glock did not speak.

He placed the document on the table and remained silent for about five seconds.

"I'll provide the men," he said calmly. "I'll decide which six."

"Okay. We'll leave within half an hour."

After the middle-aged officer finished speaking, he unloaded three wooden crates and two ammunition pouches from the carriage.

"These are the supplies we applied for earlier: ammunition, copper powder, sandworm oil, mithril, and alchemical weapons."

He paused for a moment.

"The potion is gone. It's all been intercepted in the inner city."

Glock looked a little grim, but he nodded without asking any further questions.

The carriage was parked at the door waiting for someone.

Glock finalized the list in less than ten minutes.

Six people.

Three squads are drawn from each of the eleventh and seventh squads. After the draw, the two squads can still maintain a minimum combat formation.

Lu Yuan noticed that the Ninth Squad was not selected.

As Glock walked over, Lu Yuan was counting the newly arrived ammunition.

"I haven't touched your men," Glock said.

"I saw it."

"It's not that I'm taking care of you, it's just that the Ninth Squad just went down into the cave yesterday and is in the worst condition. Even if they were pulled out to the inner city, they wouldn't be able to hold on."

Lu Yuan did not respond.

He knew that wasn't the whole reason.

But Glock doesn't need him to say thank you.

The six Night's Watchmen packed their gear and boarded the carriage.

Before leaving, one of them passed by Lu Yuan and patted him on the shoulder.

He's the gunner of the 11th squad on the west side of the position. The one with the deep orange sanity test yesterday has already been sent away. This is his partner.

He didn't speak.

After taking the photos, I got into the car.

The carriage headed towards the inner city and soon disappeared at the end of the street.

The area in front of the alchemy workshop suddenly became much emptier.

Lu Yuan turned his head and glanced in the direction of the position.

The two night watchmen who stayed on the ground to keep watch before going down into the cave yesterday, one of them was from the Ninth Squad.

Last night, after my shift ended, I was transferred by Glock to fill in on the east side.

The other one is the one whose rationality was highlighted in red this morning and who was sent away.

Lu Yuan stood at the door and counted the remaining people.

Glock.

Bol.

Yourself.

Including the remaining three members of the Ninth Squad, the remaining three members of the Eleventh Squad, and the four members of the Seventh Squad.

Thirteen.

Add Buren and Kel, and there are fifteen active ones.

There was another nun up high.

One of the Ascended Ones was previously rendered useless, and the remaining one was also injured.

The Ascension Society said they would add two new ones, but we haven't seen them yet.

The wounded soldier would hide in the ruins on the east side of the position during the day and only appear at night.

It is not under Glock's jurisdiction, nor does it take orders from anyone.

But it's still there.

Even considering his fighting ability, he's equivalent to one person.

Buren and Kale are not considered combatants.

The nuns are not under his jurisdiction.

In reality, there were thirteen people who could handle guns.

Guard a collapsed area.

"Bohr".

"exist."

"come over."

Lu Yuan summoned Bo'er to the second floor of the Alchemy Workshop.

Unfold the simple map of the Beifang area.

The results of Bor's ammunition count yesterday are in.

With the silver-plated bullets and the newly arrived supplies, a total of four hundred rounds have been fired.

Twenty-four copper-cased incendiary bombs.

Ten copper powder jars.

Two barrels of sandworm oil.

There was also a small amount of mithril and a few alchemical short weapons.

It looks like it was taken from the inner city's armory.

"How long will it last?"

Bohr thought for a moment.

"It depends on the intensity. If it's like the first two nights, it'll last at most two nights. But if it's like the second night... even one night is uncertain. However, with mithril, it should be able to last a little longer."

Lu Yuan looked at the map.

Previously, Glock's defenses were a fan-shaped area radiating outwards from the hole, extending 300 meters outwards.

There is one firing point on the west side, the north side, and the east side, with two layers of depth.

It can be just enough to cover nineteen people.

There are thirteen people now.

It's not fully covered.

"Abandon the west side." Lu Yuan drew a line on the map with his finger.

Bor looked up at him.

"The west side is towards the old dyehouse, and there are buildings blocking the view, so the view is the worst there," Lu Yuan continued.

"But because of the poor visibility, the probability of ghouls coming around from that side is low, and they are very sensitive to human scent, so they are unlikely to turn around."

"But what if..."

"If they learn to turn, even thirteen people guarding three sides won't be enough to hold them off."

Bohr shut his mouth.

Lu Yuan remarked two firing points on the map.

One at the front of the cave entrance.

One on the east side.

The front retains three barricades and the main firepower, while the depth is compressed to 150 meters.

On the east side, two people were deployed as a flank for surveillance, along with tripwires.

The north side is protected by a cluster of buildings, with no fixed firing positions, but a mobile sentry post is stationed there.

"The Ninth Squad will guard the front, while the Eleventh and Seventh Squads will be combined to guard the east flank and add mobile sentries."

Bohr looked at the map for a while.

"How should the ammunition be distributed?"

"Sixty percent to the front, thirty percent to the east, and the remaining ten percent to be kept in the alchemy workshop as reserves. All the copper-cased incendiary bombs will remain on the front; I have them."

"Where's the copper powder?"

"Use four cans to cover the front as a blockade, two cans to the east side, and keep the rest."

Bohr didn't ask any more questions.

He copied the markings from the map into his notebook and went downstairs to set them up.

Lu Yuan stood alone by the second-floor window.

Outside the window, Beren had already brought Kel to the vicinity of the cave entrance, where he squatted down and started looking for copper coins.

Lu Yuan walked to the window and took out Lauren's letter from his pocket.

Turn it over.

The back is blank.

Lu Yuan found a charcoal pencil on the table.

A few lines of text were written on the back.

"If possible, I need more of the 'Demon-Loving Potion' or other large-scale lethal drugs, even if the conditions for their use are more stringent."

"We need intelligence: how much has the actual control area of ​​the inner city shrunk? How many more days can the North Textile Logistics Line sustain itself? The movements of the Church and the Ascension Society within the inner city."

Write down whatever comes to mind, as much as you can.

"There's no rush regarding the sandworm oil."

The last line.

"Be careful on the road."

Lu Yuan folded the letter and went downstairs to find the middle-aged officer who had delivered the ammunition.

The carriage hadn't left yet; they were loading the luggage of the six people to be transferred.

"Could you deliver a letter to me?" Lu Yuan handed over the letter.

"Send it to Laurina, the alchemist at the Night's Watch's inner city stronghold."

The middle-aged officer glanced at him.

"Are you Lu Yuan?"

"right."

The officer put the letter in his pocket.

"I delivered Lauren's letter for her before," he said, his tone more casual than before. "She's been incredibly busy in the inner city; she made all those potions for you by working through the night."

Lu Yuan did not respond.

The officer didn't say much, turned around and got into the carriage.