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

[Detection Target: Unknown Seed]

[A seed originating from a land of ? ?. Do you seem to have seen its mutated sibling before?]

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted slightly the moment he saw the notification.

If this is true, wouldn't it mean that there is also a seed under each of the other bronze pillars?

It's already obvious what the person next to me was after.

Lu Yuan cleared his mind of distractions and pointed to that spot.

"Pry it open here!"

Heinrich glanced at him, asked no questions, and turned his head to signal two Holy Armored Knights to step forward.

The bronze sword was inserted into the seam of the bronze plate, pressing down on the hilt, and then pried open with force.

The copper coin curled up at one corner, revealing the compacted soil and rocks underneath. The knight lifted the coin, changed direction, and dug with the tip of his sword.

Beren walked over with his cane and stood by watching. He was clearly also curious about what Lu Yuan had discovered.

It wasn't dug very many times.

The tip of the sword hit something hard, and the knight used his fingers to brush away the surrounding dirt.

Something was dug out of the soil.

The fist-sized stone was grayish and heavy in the hand, showing no particular characteristics.

It looked no different from the surrounding rubble.

If it weren't for the gray text, no one would have given it a second glance.

Lu Yuan took it and flipped through it a couple of times.

It was cold, heavy, rough in surface, without pulse, and without breath.

But the gray text said it.

This is the "unknown seed".

The seed from Beifang grew into a mycelial core, destroying most of the pipe network layer.

Regardless of its state.

Take it with you first.

If we leave it here, it would be terrible if something grew there.

Lu Yuan put the stone into the toolbox and fastened the latch.

"Hurry up!"

Although the team was puzzled, they didn't ask any further questions. They only knew that the pipeline layer was not safe at the moment, so they should leave first.

The team quickly retreated along the marked route.

Wolf was helped up by the Iron Guard.

Beren ran very fast with his cane. The old man seemed to have some kind of technique when he walked, as his cane hardly touched the ground.

Heinrich led two knights to bring up the rear, Bor stood beside Lu Yuan with his short-barreled gun in his hand, and the nun followed behind Buren, bringing up the rear of the group.

The only sounds in the pipeline tunnel were hurried footsteps and breathing. The beams of the field lights flickered on the copper walls.

As the clock struck, the numbered arrows on the wall flashed by one after another.

On the way back, they only saw a few small gray-white ghouls. Bor, who was walking at the front, killed them all with one shot each.

About five or six minutes.

Burren had just opened his mouth:

"Lu Yuan, what was that thing you just picked up...?"

Grayish-white text suddenly appeared.

[Environmental Sensing: High-risk pollution detected approaching...]

The moment Lu Yuan saw the words, he didn't hesitate at all.

The thought sank into the chest.

Touched.

[Timekeeping·Static (On)]

[Sanity: -40...74/120]

Half of his rationality was instantly drained, causing noticeable swaying in Lu Yuan's vision.

A distorted ball of light, almost visible to the naked eye, spread out from Lu Yuan's center.

The next instant.

From some unknown direction, a black mass shot towards us.

An extremely strong stench exploded in the air.

However, Lu Yuan had already activated his defenses in advance. The black water stopped in the space in front of Lu Yuan, as if it had hit an invisible wall.

The liquid was twisted into irregular shapes and suspended in mid-air.

The black liquid emitted an extremely foul odor, but fortunately, the impact was weakened to a manageable level.

Stasis held up.

Bor's voice came from behind: "What is that?"

Lu Yuan did not wait for the stasis to completely subside.

[Time synchronization acceleration (enabled)]

[Rationality: -1...-1...73/120]

2

The world has slowed down.

Lu Yuan shouted to the crowd behind him.

"Assemble at the exit!"

Then it dashed forward in an instant.

In accelerated vision, everything in the pipeline network appears to move in slow motion.

The black water slowly fell behind the static field, like solidified ink sliding down from the air.

The figures behind him reacted extremely slowly—Bohr turned his head, and Heinrich drew his sword.

But Lu Yuan wasn't looking at them.

That's ahead, around the corner not far away.

A distorted figure gradually came into view.

Its skin shimmered, constantly blending into its surroundings.

Copper walls, pipes, shadows—the guy's body and the environment blended together, his outline appearing and disappearing.

But the eyes are not contact lenses.

A pair of gray eyes.

Suspended in a distorted outline, it has no pupil; its entire eyeball is gray.

Lu Yuan captured his entire appearance while in accelerated mode.

He's the same kind of guy who appeared beside me earlier and was being chased by Rick.

But it is clearly weaker.

Because this guy's camouflage wasn't thorough enough; his eyes couldn't be hidden.

The attacker clearly hadn't expected his sneak attack to be blocked.

From the accelerated perspective, Lu Yuan saw the expression on his face, if that constantly melting and twisting thing could still be called a face.

It was a shock.

But Lu Yuan had no time to appreciate it.

He had already passed by that figure, less than a meter away, and could clearly smell a decaying aura emanating from him.

As I accelerated and ran at full speed, road markers flashed by one after another, and numbered arrows became blurry lines in my peripheral vision.

Their goal is the stones in the toolbox. No doubt about it.

"Wolf was unresponsive outside for several days, but went berserk as soon as he got near the bronze pillar. This wasn't a coincidence; there were seeds buried beneath the pillar, and the leaked scent from those seeds triggered the mycelium within Wolf's body."

"So Wolf's infection was orchestrated? But that's difficult. How do you control Wolf's infection without revealing it, and then still get him involved in the mission?"

"So, by carrying the seeds, it actually protects others; it's highly unlikely to chase those without seeds."

"The main problem is that we can't judge this guy's strength. If he's also at the fourth tier, even if our entire group goes in, we won't be enough to fill a gap. We can't afford to gamble."

"run."

The acceleration lasted for about twenty seconds.

The pipeline passageway receded rapidly beside us.

The sound of footsteps blended together in the accelerating world. With each step, Lu Yuan was losing his sanity, and he could feel something being slowly drained from his mind.

We can't continue like this.

[Time synchronization acceleration (off)]

[Rationality: 49/120]

Lu Yuan could clearly feel that his body was already overloaded.

My knees went weak, my heart was pounding, every breath felt like I was swallowing fire, and my chest was burning with pain.

But Lu Yuan did not stop.

Follow the numbered arrows that were carved earlier, and run towards the relay point.

Finally, light appeared ahead.

The lights of the marching lights, many of them, are densely arranged on both sides of the pipeline channel.

There were also footsteps and the sound of Glock.

"Who's up ahead!"

Lu Yuan burst out of the pipeline tunnel.

He stumbled slightly, then braced himself against the wall to steady himself.

He didn't stop to catch his breath.

"Lu Yuan".

Lu Yuan's voice was hoarse.

"There are enemies in the pipeline layer. They are superhumanly mutated, can become invisible, and have ranged attack capabilities."

"That's their goal."

Lu Yuan patted the toolbox.

"What was dug out from under the copper pillar is related to the mycelial core of Beifang Textile."

"The others retreated behind."

Glock's expression darkened. Behind him stood a support team of six, fully armed and exuding a dangerous aura.

"How did you escape?"

Glock did not approach immediately, but instead watched Lu Yuan warily.

"Timekeeping".

"That's right, are you injured?"

After hearing the time signal, Glock quickly stepped forward.

"I'm fine, but the people behind me might be! If we bump into each other, they might not be able to win."

"Lu Yuan, you stay here. I'll take some men to meet you."

Glock didn't hesitate and turned to prepare to arrange for someone to go in and meet him.

Then he stopped moving.

Because he saw something approaching from the darkness deep within the pipeline.

At this moment, Rex had completely abandoned his pretense, and his eerie and extraordinary aura of pollution emanated without any concealment.

[Environmental Sensing: A high-risk pollution source has been detected approaching... Please stay away...]

Lu Yuan instantly became alert and looked behind him.

In the distance, a figure emerged from the light.

It's Lake.

His dark gray uniform was gone, replaced by a human-shaped silhouette pieced together from gray strips of flesh.

Very incomplete.

A piece was missing from the right shoulder, revealing something wriggling underneath.

But you can tell it's Rick; his short brown hair is still on top of his head, in clumps, stuck to his gray, fleshy scalp.

The body was still slowly wriggling, and things kept rising and falling beneath the skin.

Glock's hand rested on the weapon at his waist.

"They're one of our own," Lu Yuan said.

Glock glanced at Lu Yuan, released his hand, but didn't completely relax it.

It was obvious that what was in front of them didn't look like anything good.

And is this person even in the team?

Glock's expression changed slightly as he stared intently at Rex in front of him.

Rex walked into the light range of the relay point and stopped.

The gray strips of flesh on its body were even more clearly visible under the light.

They were strands, like thick earthworms twisted together, some still wriggling, others already set in their original shape.

Then he spoke, his voice was normal, but it didn't match his appearance at all.

"The one we were chasing was very strong, a fourth-tier, mutated extraordinary being. We didn't catch it, but we severely injured it. It's not easy to deal with."

"I smelled a similar scent on my way here, but he's already gone. How did you escape?"

"I have extraordinary items."

Lu Yuan answered, calming his breathing.

"Also, I roughly know why they came."

Lu Yuan took the stone out of the toolbox.

"This is very likely their target. There are probably also some under the other two bronze pillars, but after all this commotion, they may have already been taken."

Rick took the stone.

The gray "finger" flipped it over twice.

Those "fingers" are as slender as normal human fingers, but the patterns on their surface are those of an insect.

I glanced at it twice.

Then it was thrown back to Lu Yuan.

"Take it first."

Turning around, I stepped back into the darkness deep within the pipeline network.

"I'll go pick them up."

Glock instinctively asked, "Rake?"

But Lake's figure had already disappeared out of the reach of the marching lights.

Glock looked in that direction. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He turned and glanced at Lu Yuan.

"What exactly is he?"

Lu Yuan did not answer.

Standing at the relay point, clutching the stone in his hand.

My breathing finally slowed down.