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

Most of the bookshelf had collapsed, books were scattered all over the floor, and several books were pierced by branches, their pages tangled with the gray-green branches.

Franz flipped through the books he could, one by one. When he got to the fifth book, he paused, looked closely at the grayish-green powder clinging to the pages, scraped some off with his fingernail, and smelled it.

He frowned.

"It smells sweet," he muttered. "It doesn't smell like a normal plant."

Lu Yuan inspected the wreckage of the desk and the cabinet.

Ledgers, family letters, mineral transaction records, and unrelated social correspondence.

The sealing wax on the sealed letters features an eagle pattern, a family crest.

I opened and read a few of them; they were all normal business correspondence.

No exception.

There was a small, locked iron box on the mantel.

Lu Yuan took out a copper needle and pried it open in a few seconds.

There was a stack of receipts inside.

Multiple large financial transactions within three months, of varying amounts, were made with the recipients all using aliases, none of whom used real names.

There was also an empty wallet.

Lu Yuan flipped through it; there were creases on the lining, indicating that cards or pieces of hard paper had been clipped there, but the items were no longer there.

'Someone cleaned it beforehand.'

I flipped through it for about twenty minutes.

Aside from the plant fiber fragments in the basement and the receipts in the study, there is no other evidence directly pointing to the Grey Contract Society.

There is nothing that can explain the origin of lignification and alienation.

Holger looked at the items found during the search, his expression cold.

"It's too clean. Either he cleaned it himself, or someone else cleaned it for him."

"Interrogate that nephew," Lu Yuan frowned. "The one in charge of the accounts."

Holger nodded.

"Walk."

Lobby.

The six people were pressed into a row.

Two butlers knelt on the left.

A man and a woman; the man was in his fifties with a tense, aged face, and the woman was around forty, with hunched shoulders and trembling.

Several disarmed private soldiers squatted on the right.

They were all young, pale-faced, and their hands were tied behind their backs.

There is a person sitting on the far right.

He was pinned down in a chair by himself.

Eric.

Early twenties, thin, with short brown hair.

von Linde's distant nephew, the baron's accountant.

He wasn't trembling, but all the color had drained from his face.

Holger crouched down.

Look at him at eye level.

His tone carried a subtle sense of pressure.

"Your uncle betrayed the empire and made a deal with the supernatural, turning into a tree. Then I cut off his head, and the tree died too."

A cold glint flashed in Hogel's eyes, and he paused for a moment.

You have one chance.

"Only once."

Eric's Adam's apple bobbed.

"I said."

His voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.

"I'll tell you everything..."

Holger didn't urge him.

Eric, seeing Holger's unhurried manner, gritted his teeth and began to explain.

First, there's the Gray Covenant storyline.

The Baron and the Grey Contracts made their connection with a clear purpose: to smuggle ore to evade taxes, provide warehouse locations, and handle part of the cash flow.

Eric was in charge of the accounts, and he knew every single transaction with the Grey Contract Society.

Amount, time, and pseudonym of the contact person.

He provided seven aliases and three warehouses. Start and end dates.

Holger listened and took notes.

These are genuine pieces of evidence from those who have assisted the Grey Contract Society.

Warehouses, funds, and liaisons are enough to create a complete chain of interests.

"besides."

Eric swallowed hard.

"Someone contacted my uncle about six months ago, but I don't know who they are."

His gaze drifted away.

"I've never met the other person. My uncle doesn't let me get involved. Every time that person comes, my uncle tells me to stay away."

"But I know where the funds are going."

"At the beginning of each month, a fixed sum of 30 gold coins would be deposited into an untraceable account. After withdrawing the money, my uncle would personally go out and return with a black wooden box."

He gestured.

"Palm-sized, made of wood, sealed with wax."

Holger stopped writing.

"What's inside?"

I peeked once.

Eric's voice lowered.

"A small bottle of dark green, thick liquid."

He wrinkled his nose.

"I smelled a sweet scent."

"I don't know what that thing is, where it comes from, or what it's used for."

He lowered his head.

"All I know is that my uncle started acting strangely after that."

There was a two-second silence.

"There's one more thing."

Eric spoke faster and faster.

"My uncle said that once when he was drunk."

"When that tree wakes up, all the rats in Bronze City will have to kneel before me."

Holger finished writing the last word.

"That tree," he repeated.

They didn't ask which tree it was, nor did they ask what "woke up" meant.

He closed the notebook and stood up.

"Have you clearly explained all the accounts you handled and the people you dealt with?"

Eric nodded.

"Who was involved in the transfer of funds?" Holger asked in a low voice.

"Butler Ludwig," Eric tilted his head, gesturing to the kneeling butler on his left. "He's in charge of the Baron's daily affairs and has also dealt with visitors from the Grey Contract Society. And Jon."

His gaze shifted to a private soldier on the far right, a burly man in his mid-twenties with a square face and an old scar on his neck.

"He was in charge of guarding that batch of goods in Warehouse No. 3, and he knows exactly what was inside."

Holger's gaze lingered for a moment on the butler and the private soldier named Jon.

"Where are the others?"

"No one else knows," Eric said.

"Anna only takes care of internal affairs; the remaining two private soldiers are just for guarding the gate."

"I've said everything I needed to say. I just want a clean break..."

Holger did not act immediately.

He walked up to the male butler.

Squat down.

"Ludwig. You're in charge of daily affairs, how many times have you seen the Grey Contract Society members come to see the Baron?"

The butler's lips trembled, clearly knowing there was no escape now.

"Three...three times."

"When?"

"The first time was four months ago. The next two times were at the beginning of the month."

"What does a person look like?"

"I couldn't see his face clearly. He was wearing a hat and was very short."

Holger glanced again at the private soldier named Jon.

What was stored in Warehouse No. 3?

Jon's face turned pale.

"A wooden crate. Sealed." His voice was soft. "They wouldn't let us open it. But when we moved it, we could feel liquid sloshing inside."

"Lapis Lazuli Water?"

Jorn lowered his head even further.

"I don't know what to call it. I'll just keep moving it, I... I want a quick and painless end..."

Holger ignored him and simply stood up.

Verification complete.

Eric's account and the testimonies of the two men corroborated each other.

He stuffed the notebook into his pocket.

Then he grabbed Eric by the collar and pulled him up from the chair.

Eric had no time to react, but he knew he was probably going to die, and his survival instinct made him struggle.

Holger ignored Eric's struggles and dragged him upstairs.

At the entrance to the study.

The withered wreckage was still curled up in the very center.

That's your uncle.

Holger lifted Eric up with one hand, facing the withered tree whose shape was almost unrecognizable.

"I'll give you a quick death."

As he spoke, Holger pressed Eric down onto the bed.

The last remaining dry branch was sharp enough.

It pierced through Eric's body in an instant.

Eric opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

His eyes widened, his whole body trembled, and he let out a sob.

And then there was no more light.

Holger released his grip expressionlessly and straightened up.

He went downstairs.

The butler, Ludwig, was dragged to the second-floor corridor. The old man didn't utter a sound until he died. His eyes were still open as he fell, staring at the ceiling.

Jon struggled unwillingly.

The burly man's neck veins bulged, and his mouth was gagged, causing him to utter muffled sobs.

Conrad pressed down on his shoulder from behind, and Holger's knife flashed.

The body was dragged into the study.

three people.

All of them were directly involved, as identified by Eric, and this was confirmed after cross-verification.

Holger bent down, wiped the blade clean with the rag next to the wreckage, and sheathed it.

The housekeeper huddled in the corner, too frightened to speak.

The young private soldiers looked ashen-faced, and one of them had a wet patch on his trouser leg.

Conrad glanced at Holger.

"What should we do with these?"

Holger glanced at the housekeeper and the two private soldiers.

"For those who are not directly involved, gag them, tie them up, and take them back to the branch. Klaus will decide what to do next."

Conrad nodded and swiftly untied the rope from his waist.

The whole process took less than ten minutes.

The traces at the scene were rearranged.

All the bodies were concentrated in the study and the second-floor corridor.

The scene is as follows: The Baron goes berserk in the middle of the night, and the people in the mansion are killed by the out-of-control wooden structure.

Klaus's pre-prepared obituary template was no longer needed.

Assassination turned into execution. The procedures changed accordingly.

Tomorrow morning, the Bronze Gazette will not publish an obituary announcing "unfortunate death," but rather a public announcement from the Night's Watch—

Baron von Linde violated Imperial law by contacting the source of the mutation without authorization, causing his own mutation to spiral out of control. During the out-of-control process, several people within the manor were killed. The Night Watch discovered the anomaly during their patrol and, in accordance with the law, killed the mutated entity.

The wording needs no embellishment; the facts themselves are the best cover-up.

No one would ask about the details of a mutant.

After the cleanup was completed.

The four of them met in the lobby on the first floor.

Holger leaned against the wall, Franz stood in the doorway, and Conrad squatted on the floor wiping the blood from his hands. The wounded Night's Watchman was placed in the next room; his shoulder wound had already been given a simple bandage.

Holger looked at Lu Yuan.

"What about the basement?"

Klaus put Lu Yuan into this line tonight for this very moment.

Lu Yuan recounted the discoveries made in the basement, one by one.

The remaining crystal water, four or five wooden boxes, with grayish-green dried powder hanging on the inner walls, were the same as the composition of the previous Gray Pact Society stronghold. It was a pity that the items had already been moved away.

At this point, Holger nodded.

Expected.

"There are others."

Lu Yuan took out the thumb-sized piece of wood from his pocket.

"Found it in a hidden compartment behind the wine rack. It was also some kind of plant tissue, already dead."

Holger took it, flipped it through his fingertips, and handed it to Franz.

Franz leaned closer to the wall lamp, looked at it for two seconds, and then smelled it.

"It tastes just like the tree upstairs." He frowned slightly.

Lu Yuan continued.

"There's still a lingering aura in the hidden compartment. It's a bit strange; I can't confirm whose it is."

"Someone tried to cover it up, but the cellar is a sealed space, so it wasn't completely aired out."

Holger did not respond immediately.

Franz returned the shards to Hogel, leaned back against the doorframe, and lit an unlit cigarette.

"So the Gray Contract Society connection is confirmed," Hogel said slowly. "The warehouse, the funds, the contact person—the things my nephew entrusted to us, plus the remnants of the glass water in the basement—that's enough."

"But the baron's transformation was not the work of the Grey Contract Society."

He glanced at the fragments of plant fiber in his hand.

"The Gray Contract Society is listed in the Empire's archives, but it doesn't possess this ability."

Conrad looked up. "Just how many men is that baron involved with?"

No one answered.

"Go back and report to Klaus." Holger put the fragments and receipts into his inner bag. "Let him decide the rest."

He scanned the area.

"Franz will stay and wait for someone else to take over."

Franz nodded, dangling a cigarette from the corner of his mouth, offering no objection.

The study was sealed off, the entire mansion was designated a restricted area, and samples of the baron's remains and wood dust from the floor were taken and sealed.

Conrad walked in front.

Lu Yuan and Hogel were behind.

When I stepped out of the Baron's gate.

Holger looked at Lu Yuan and said something.

"Your approach is truly extraordinary."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment, offering no reply.

The two walked side by side past a gas lamp. Conrad stopped ahead, signaling Lu Yuan and the other man to hurry up.