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

into the night.

The Ninth Night.

The rustling sound continued, even more intense than last night.

It came from beneath the ground, seeping up from the soles of your feet, like countless fine threads slowly crawling on the back of a copper plate.

Lu Yuan sat on the raised wooden board with his eyes closed.

While researching defenses, they also took precautions against the appearance of ghouls.

By daybreak, Buren's shouts had alerted half the position.

"It's broken!"

Lu Yuan got up from the wooden plank. The old man had already rushed to the first-floor door, leaning on his cane.

Kai'er followed behind, her face deathly pale.

"The second segment of the transmission pathway has been completely severed." Beren's voice was urgent and deep.

"It wasn't due to natural aging; it was eroded through from the inner wall, and the entire tube has cracked open."

Lu Yuan followed the two to the location of the conduction meridians.

The crack is not large.

It is about a hand's length long and cracks longitudinally along the tube wall.

The copper at the edge of the crack had turned dark brown, and the inner wall was covered with a wet, grayish-green film.

It's still wriggling.

The soil color below the crack is wrong.

Normal soil is dark brown, dry, and has a sandy feel.

However, within a radius of about half a meter directly below the crack, the soil is black and has a greasy sheen on the surface.

I stepped on it with my toe, and it dented, with a grayish-green liquid seeping out from the edges.

"The pollutants have seeped into the soil from inside the pipes." Buren squatted down beside him, his face grim.

"The thing I spent three days fixing is ruined overnight."

Lu Yuan did not hesitate.

"Cut it off completely at both ends of the pipeline, seal the cut with copper, and discard this section of the pipeline."

Buren opened his mouth, but in the end he just nodded.

Repairing something that can't be saved is a waste of time.

Kel took out his tools and made a cut on each side of the rift.

The contaminated section of pipe was completely cut off, wrapped in tarpaulin, and thrown into a copper powder bin.

The broken part was then plugged with a special cloth wrapped with copper of roughly the same size, and then copper powder was sprinkled on it and pressed down.

And so, the breach was temporarily sealed off.

However, the rune coverage in the Beifang area is now missing a piece.

After dealing with the pipeline, Lu Yuan went to check the vertical shaft.

Lu Yuan stopped when he reached the cover plate.

Because this time there was no sound from under the cover.

The rustling sound that was everywhere last night has completely disappeared.

The copper powder ring is still there.

The area of ​​discoloration was about the same as last night and did not continue to expand.

The grayish-green filaments that had grown out of the gaps in the cover plate were still there, but they were no longer wriggling.

It looks withered.

Lu Yuan squatted down next to the cover and listened for a long time.

There was no sound at all.

He then walked to two other drainage well covers.

Equally quiet.

The discoloration of the copper powder ring slowed down significantly, and no new mycelium grew in the crevices.

All the manhole covers fell silent.

The rustling sound from beneath the ground also disappeared.

The hyphae no longer attempt to break through from here.

This is not good news.

Just as Lu Yuan was about to speak, hurried footsteps came from afar.

They were patrolmen sent out by Bor.

A young night watchman came running up, out of breath.

"The furthest eastern side of Beifang... over there at the old textile workshop..."

He bent over and took a few breaths.

"An old drain outlet has been pushed open."

Lu Yuan's face darkened.

"A grayish-green substance poured out and covered the ground, changing the color of the foundations of three nearby buildings."

Lu Yuan's expression was grim.

The message has been reported.

Clearly, the Night's Watch had not come up with a useful solution.

No wonder the mycelium wasn't moving.

It simply stopped pushing its forces towards the position.

Because it found an easier exit.

Moreover, the underground pipe network of the entire Beifang is as dense as a spider web, with dozens or even hundreds of drainage outlets, inspection wells, and ventilation openings.

It's impossible to seal it all off.

The only solution is still... go back to the catchment area and cut off the flow at the source.

"We can only postpone Agnes's situation. First, we need to shut down the pipeline."

"Take me there." Lu Yuan picked up the revolver.

Bohr is already assembling a team.

Lu Yuan led three night watchmen to the east side of Beifang.

The old textile workshop is a somewhat abandoned complex of buildings; there were very few people living here even before the war.

The low brick house had broken windows and a roof that had mostly collapsed.

The drainage outlet is located in the northeast corner of the workshop complex.

A square opening, about half a meter in size, should have been covered with a copper coin.

But the cover plate had broken into several pieces and was scattered around.

A grayish-green substance gushed out from the inner wall of the drain and spread outwards along the ground.

The coverage area has a radius of approximately ten meters.

It's a thin layer, like a net that's slowly unfolding.

The surface has the distinctive gray-green patterns of mycelium, which are still slowly spreading.

At the foundation of the nearest brick house, the gaps between the bricks have been filled with grayish-green filaments.

"Try to avoid running into them," Lu Yuan quickly instructed.

He squatted down and looked at the inside of the drain.

It was pitch black inside, and you could hear very faint wriggling sounds.

It is still being transported out from deep within.

"Burn it with fire, then seal it with copper powder to isolate the area, and notify Glock."

At Lu Yuan's command, sandworm oil began to be sprayed onto the spreading mycelium.

Once the fireproofing is complete, a match is lit.

The green mycelium began to curl at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, this thing doesn't seem to be very afraid of fire.

Because even as the sandworm oil that was waiting to adhere to them was almost completely used up, these mycelia were still not completely dead...

Lu Yuan's expression was grim, and he ordered the night watchmen to sprinkle copper dust.

When the copper powder was poured in, the edges of the gray-green bacterial layer showed a noticeable shrinkage reaction.

Copper is still useful.

But it only slows down the process, it cannot eliminate it.

Lu Yuan stared at the dark, gaping drain.

The mycelium in the pipeline is far smarter than he thought; it's another tough battle ahead.

It was almost noon when we got back to the Alchemy Workshop.

As soon as Lu Yuan went upstairs, he heard the commotion outside.

It wasn't the sound of footsteps.

It was the sound of wheels.

Many wheels.

The heavy sound of crushing gravel on the road came from the south.

Lu Yuan walked to the window.

The convoy.

Four heavy cargo wagons led the way, followed by six military wagons covered with tarpaulins.

The carriage was low to the ground, and the axles creaked.

Under the canopy of the military vehicle, one can see neatly arranged figures.

Next to the lead carriage, riding a horse, is Glock.

There were two other people next to him.

A figure clad in full silver-white armor, with a winged emblem of holy light cast in the center of the breastplate.

Holy Armor Army.

The other was wearing a dark gray standard long coat, with a badge on the collar that Lu Yuan had never seen before—a silver sword on a black background, with a gear pierced through the blade.

Judging from their appearance, they should also be troops directly under the Imperial command.

The convoy stopped in front of the Alchemy Workshop.

Glock dismounted and nodded to Lu Yuan.

"They're here."

The commander of the Holy Armor Army dismounted first.

He was in his early thirties, with a serious face, and each plate of his silver-white armor was engraved with tiny holy light inscriptions.

"The Seventh Platoon of the Holy Armored Army, ordered to support the North Textile Defense Zone." His voice wasn't loud, but it was clear. "Company Commander, Heinrich."

The one from the Imperial Army also came over.

He was a bit older, around forty, and had a faint old scar on his face.

"Imperial Iron Guard Battalion, Second Detachment." The voice was deeper than Heinrich's. "Detachment Commander, Wolf."

Iron Guard Battalion.

Lu Yuan had seen this organizational structure in the Night Watch's internal documents.

The special operations forces directly under the Empire are not subject to the command of any local branch and only obey orders from headquarters.

The fact that the Iron Guard Battalion was transferred here shows that headquarters is finally taking this seriously.

Glock walked up to Lu Yuan and lowered his voice.

"Fifteen Holy Armored Soldiers and twelve Iron Guards. Add that to our manpower, and that's enough."

He pulled a list out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"Ten canisters of mithril, five exorcism grenades, ten scrolls of holy light, two boxes of copper-cased incendiary bombs, four thousand silver-plated bullets, and a number of potions."

Lu Yuan glanced at the numbers.

This is a completely different concept from the pitiful inventory on the previous front lines.

"That's enough this time." Lu Yuan breathed a rare sigh of relief.

During the unloading, Bor watched as crates of weapons and ammunition were carried off the truck.

"It should have been done sooner..." he muttered to himself.

Lu Yuan didn't say anything; his attention was on something else.

Glock handed over more than just a list.

There was also a copy of the day's newspaper.

The ink smell is very strong, and the edges of the paper aren't even completely dry. It was reprinted.

The front page featured a eulogy framed in black.

"Deepest condolences to Baron von Klein and three senior officials of the City Hall for their heroic sacrifice in the support operation..."

The wording is very particular.

"...Baron von Klein was killed in action while organizing the transfer of supplies to the outer city. His companions, Leonhardt, the deputy director of the City Hall’s Urban Construction Department, Drake, the head of the Water Department, and Blum, the liaison officer for the outer city, also died in the attack."

"Bronze City will forever remember their sacrifices and contributions."

[Current Status of Bronze City: +1, 9/50]

After Lu Yuan finished reading, he put the newspaper down.

Baron von Klein.

He was most likely among the people who frequented the outer city's drainage facilities late at night.

Water Supplies Department Manager. Outer District Liaison Officer.

All of these positions are directly related to pipe networks and drainage systems.

"In danger."

A very clean way of putting it.

It was as clean as the last announcement about "unusual underground activities".

It seems that Klaus made the move.

Take advantage of the arrival of reinforcements to weed out those who are dishonest.

With the four corpses pushed towards the danger, no one could say anything.

There were further updates in the newspaper.

The city hall issued a statement expressing its deepest condolences for the deaths of the four men and announcing that the positions would be temporarily managed by the Night's Watch until new appointments are made.

The Night Watch branch is temporarily under its management.

Klaus regained control of the outer city's infrastructure.

The maintenance of pipe networks, drainage systems, and copper structures—things that were originally scattered among various departments of the city hall—have now all returned to the Night Watch.

Glock stood to the side, clearly having also read the newspaper.

The two exchanged a glance.

"There's also some activity at the Tower of Learning," Glock said in a low voice.

"Klaus took this opportunity to renegotiate the terms with the people in the Tower. The specifics are unclear, but I heard that his attitude was much softer than before."

He paused.

"At least in the short term, the Tower of Learning will not cause us any more trouble."

Lu Yuan folded the newspaper and placed it on the table.

He doesn't care about politics.

But he is very concerned about the consequences of these changes.

Control of the pipeline network has been regained. The resistance at the Bo Xue Tower has decreased.

The support has arrived.

The window is now.

in the afternoon.

Second floor of the Alchemy Workshop.

Lu Yuan, Glock, Heinrich, Wolf, and Buren were sitting around the pipe network sketch on the table.

"The target is the water collection chamber." Lu Yuan pointed to the location on the sketch with his finger.

"The mycelium spreads upwards and downwards simultaneously from here. By sealing this area, both directions are cut off at the same time."

His finger moved to the right side of the water collection chamber.

"This passageway is key. Dark green vines are emerging from this direction, having bypassed the copper frame, and the mycelium is most likely related to these vines. The minimum requirement for this mission is to give Berlun room to maneuver."

"Of course, ideally, I'd like us to be able to penetrate deep into the pipeline network and eradicate the source..."

"I'll engrave the sealing inscription on the copper frame," Buren continued. "Half an hour."

Heinrich looked at the sketch.

How many hostile targets are in the pipeline network?

"I'm not sure," Lu Yuan continued.

"Last time we went down there, the depths were disturbed and a large number of ghouls and masked dogs surged out. This time, the mycelium has been spreading for so many days, the number will only be more."

"But the width of the pipeline channel is limited, and the number of people rushing in is also limited. The key is speed. Go in, clear the site, seal off, evacuate, the faster the better."

Wolf, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"The Iron Guard is responsible for suppressing the passageways, the Holy Light of the Holy Armored Army is effective against those things, and they are responsible for close-range protection around Buren. You Night Watchmen are responsible for perimeter security and escape routes."

A very simple division of labor.

"There's one more thing," Lu Yuan said. "There are quite a few mutated things in the pipeline network, and they might have changed again now, so these things might not exist outside."

Heinrich's brow twitched, but he didn't ask any further questions.

"When will we take action?" Wolf asked.

"Tomorrow morning."