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

Immediately afterwards, the nun pushed her hands forward.

Imprisoned, weakened, two gray-white chains of light flew toward Wolf.

The light chain ignited the moment it touched Wolf's body.

The intense heat of the furnace exploded from Wolf's entire body.

Imprisonment and weakness burned to ashes like paper, shattering at the same time.

The nun took a step back, her expression changing slightly.

Lu Yuan saw it.

The flames burning on Wolf's body, the dark red hearth fire, were mixed with a hint of grayish-green.

Heinrich, who was standing nearby, then made a move.

The armor's holy light surged, golden-white light emanating from the breastplate and arm guards, rushing towards Wolf. Instead of using his sword, he punched Wolf in the abdomen.

"Bang!"

The fist, imbued with holy light, slammed into the ground.

Wolf bent over slightly.

Then straighten up as if nothing had happened.

His face was expressionless, showing no sign of pain; he simply slapped Heinrich in the chest.

"Bang!"

Heinrich was sent flying, the holy light on his armor flashing in the air, before crashing into the wall and denting a piece of the copper coin.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out.

Bor switched to a short-range shotgun with copper ammunition and fired without hesitation, hitting Wolf in the shin at close range. Blood mist exploded instantly.

Wolf's legs buckled, and he knelt on one knee.

Blood gushed from his trousers, but the flames on his body burned even brighter.

Bor's expression changed; the gun was still pointed at Wolf, but his finger did not continue to pull the trigger.

After all, Wolf is still nominally a partner.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan knew that even someone who could withstand short-range attacks and remained silent would require using items to subdue him without killing him.

Lu Yuan decisively took out the sealing plate, pressed his thumb against the first dark red crystal, and injected rationality into it.

[Rationality: -1...-1...115/120]

After dropping five points in a row, the sealing disk was finally activated.

The dark red crystal burst forth with a blinding light.

An invisible wave enveloped an area of ​​about ten meters, where all supernatural activities were suppressed.

The nun's blessing domain collapsed instantly.

She swayed slightly and braced herself against the wall.

The white-hot light emanating from Wolf's body went out as if it had been sucked away. He let out a low groan, clutched his chest with both hands, and curled up on the ground. The heat was compressed into a half-inch area on his body surface, unable to be released.

Heinrich's holy light was also completely suppressed, and the golden-white light on his armor was extinguished instantly, but he recovered the fastest among everyone.

As the sealing disk's effects began to wane, Heinrich had already propped himself up from the wall, and the holy light shone again, though only half of what it had been before. He was the first to regain his mobility.

Lu Yuan's gaze fell on Wolf.

Grayish-white text appeared.

[Target for detection: Wolf (faith-based approach)]

While battling pollution, he is also facing challenges, but he seems to have overestimated himself...

At that moment, the gray text suddenly changed.

[Environmental Sensing: High concentrations of pollution detected approaching...]

Before Lu Yuan could react...

Rick has already made his move.

His right arm swelled up instantly, tearing the dark gray uniform from the inside. What lay beneath was not muscle and bone, but tangled and twisted gray flesh, like countless worms intertwined.

The swollen insect arm suddenly grabbed at Lu Yuan's side.

Lu Yuan instinctively activated the time synchronization function.

They moved aside.

[Sanity: -1...114/120]

But Lake wasn't arresting him.

Rex's hand passed through the air half a meter away from Lu Yuan, causing the space there to distort as if the surface of water had been struck.

The moment the ripples spread, a figure emerged from the distortion.

It lasted only a moment, then the figure sprang away, instantly disappearing into the darkness deep within the pipeline network.

Seeing this, Rick tossed the communication crystal directly to the protagonist and then stopped hiding.

The Night's Watchman's dark gray robes burst open from the inside.

The contents below surged out.

Human faces have almost disappeared. The short brown hair is still there, but everything below the face—the neck, the torso—has been replaced by countless twisted gray worms.

These insects wriggled and twisted, their dozens of tentacles reaching into the air and hissing.

In this state, Rick can no longer be considered human.

It should be said that countless insects disguised themselves as human figures.

The true face of the bizarre and extraordinary.

A torrent of fleshy worms surged from Rex's body, chasing after the vanished figure along the pipeline.

Extremely fast.

It disappeared into the darkness within seconds.

The pipeline channel is now quiet.

The sealing effect of the disc has worn off. The disc is getting hot.

Everyone stood still.

Wolf curled up on the ground, breathing rapidly.

Heinrich leaned against the wall, his armor dented.

The nun's face was pale.

Bolt pointed his gun forward.

Beren leaned on his cane. He didn't say a word.

Lu Yuan looked in the direction where Lei Ke had disappeared.

When did that thing get close?

The gray text gave no indication until it was almost touching my side, at which point the detection message popped up.

Lu Yuan stood there, cold sweat soaking through his inner lining.

"If something is unpolluted and can become invisible, and I don't stare at its location for a long time..."

Gray text is not noticeable.

Blind spots in environmental perception. The pipeline network is quiet.

The air was filled with the smell of burning.

That was the smell of flesh and leather scorched by the fire.

All sounds vanished abruptly after a few dozen seconds of chaos, leaving only Wolf's heavy breathing coming from the ground.

The sealed plate is hot.

When Lu Yuan stuffed it back into his coat pocket, a blister appeared on his finger from the burn of the copper surface.

The luster of the first crystal had completely faded, leaving only two with a faint dark red hue.

The white-hot light on Wolf's body finally went out, and the gray-green color faded away as well. The furnace patterns on his body surface went completely dark, indicating that he had obviously exhausted his energy.

The person was curled up on the ground, breathing rapidly.

The wound on his calf caused by the Bolt copper bullet was bleeding, and the dark red blood seeped into the gaps in the copper surface along the trouser leg, glistening in the light of the marching lamp.

Everyone stood still.

Wolf goes berserk, an unknown entity approaches, and Rick's true form is revealed.

Three things, piled up together.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

After a brief silence.

The two from the Iron Guard Battalion were the first to move. The one with the scorched forearm and the one who had been thrown and hit the wall struggled to his feet and his first instinct was to walk toward Wolf.

Both men's uniforms had scorch marks on the front, but neither paid any attention to their injuries.

Lu Yuan was the first to speak.

"Rake was secretly planted by Klaus."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear in the quiet pipe network tunnel.

"I suspect someone is behind this, and he's here to help."

Lu Yuan didn't explain further.

Bor finally lowered his gun, breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the wall, and put the safety back on the short-range shotgun.

Heinrich stood upright, leaning against the bronze wall. A dent in his armor was creaking, and a faint holy light flickered, indicating that it had partially recovered.

He listened to Lu Yuan's words, his brows furrowed slightly, but he didn't reply, clearly somewhat dissatisfied with Klaus's arrangement.

The nun stood in the corner, her face paler than before.

"The nun helped treat Wolf's leg injury."

Lu Yuan spoke to the nun.

The nun nodded, unconcerned. She stepped forward, clasped her hands together, and pale golden light of blessing seeped from her fingertips, covering the wound on Wolf's calf.

As the golden light faded, Wolf's bleeding stopped.

But it only stopped the bleeding. Wolf's leg wound still looked alarming. It was clear that if the situation hadn't been under control, Bor would have simply switched to silver-plated bullets and raised the muzzle a little higher.

Wolf can then say goodbye to this world.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and took out the communication crystal that Lei Ke had given him before leaving.

Use your reason and speak to it.

"Glock, Lu Yuan reporting."

A few seconds later, Glock's voice came through, intermittent, clearly indicating strong interference near the copper pillar.

"...Received, please proceed."

"Wolf has gone berserk and has been subdued, but is seriously injured. Meanwhile, an unknown entity has appeared in the pipeline and is being pursued by Rex. We are preparing to evacuate."

There was a two-second silence inside the crystal.

Glock's voice rang out again:

"Withdrawal agreed. The support team is already on its way. Rejoin the relay point along the original route."

He paused for a moment.

"Be careful." Lu Yuan put away the communication crystal.

By this time, Buren had finally grasped the current situation.

"This bronze pillar won't cause any problems for the time being, so we can ignore it for now."

"Okay, let's retreat!"

Lu Yuan led his team to prepare for the retreat, while his gaze fell on Wolf once again.

Gray and white text appeared

[Detection Target: Wolf (Faithful Path) (Heartfire Transcendent) (Severely Injured) (Advanced)] (Note: There are many branches of Faithful Transcendent. I did not have a unified format before. From now on, all Faithful Transcendent will be referred to as Faithful Transcendent. Detailed branches will be introduced and mentioned below.)

[A believer who has completed the trial? He has passed His test through unwavering will and immense strength, and is now advancing.]

Lu Yuan paused for a moment.

A test? An advancement?

"That wasn't a loss of control. It was a trial?"

Lu Yuan looked down at Wolf's face.

"It seems we've misunderstood something... But his trial involves allowing mycelium to enter his body? Shouldn't that stuff have been completely contaminated the moment the core dies?"

As Lu Yuan was thinking, two Iron Guard soldiers had already helped him up, one on each side. The one with the charred forearm put Wolf's hand on his shoulder, while the other supported his waist. The two worked together seamlessly.

Wolf's head was drooping, and his breathing was slowly becoming steady; clearly, he was gradually recovering.

Lu Yuan was just about to turn around when he saw this.

Something flashed through my mind.

"Wolf was infected by fungal hyphae in the Beifang pipeline network, and has had no symptoms for several days after returning to the surface."

"As soon as it entered the pipe network and approached the copper pillar, it suddenly went berserk."

Why?

He glanced back at the space behind him filled with bronze pillars.

Under the light of the marching lamps, the dark gold inscription patterns on the surface of the bronze pillar seemed to flow slightly.

"There's a mycelial core beneath that copper pillar at Beifang Textile Factory."

"And what's underneath this bronze pillar?"

"Could there be one too? Just not fully grown yet?"

"etc!"

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks.

Turn around decisively.

Everyone looked at him.

Lu Yuan offered no explanation and strode back to the space where the bronze pillar was located.

He crouched down, his gaze sweeping across the ground.

Lu Yuan didn't overlook any potential cracks, from the base of the copper pillar to the seams in the ground.

Just as Lu Yuan was wondering if he had made a mistake in his judgment.

The gray text reappeared.