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

"I've invited you all here today for another important matter."

The count abruptly changed the subject.

"First, it has been confirmed that some nobles in the inner city have been corrupted and infiltrated. Baron von Linde is the most serious case and has been executed on the spot according to Imperial law. The evidence against the previous barons is all in the hands of the Night's Watch; if you need it, come to me."

"Secondly, there is another unknown force operating in Bronze City, infiltrating through a dark green liquid. Those affected are gradually becoming mutated. I advise everyone to be careful."

"Third, all nobles and members of the merchant guild present today will be investigated one by one."

"The person who wasn't present,"

The count paused for a moment.

"The Iron Guard Battalion has already gone."

As the count finished speaking, Lu Yuan was already scanning the crowd, looking them over in order of seating.

Grayish-white text appeared at the edge of vision.

First row, left side.

[Detection Target: Bronze City Nobles (Lightly Contaminated)]

Only one was slightly contaminated, which seemed alright. Lu Yuan thought, then turned his gaze to the next row.

[Detection Target: Bronze City Nobles (Contamination)]

[Detection Target: Bronze City Nobles (Heavily Polluted)]

[Detection Target: Bronze City Nobles (Lightly Contaminated)]

Three of them jumped out in a row, and Lu Yuan's eye twitched involuntarily. What on earth were these nobles doing?

My gaze continued to move backward, to the third and fourth rows, to the corners with servants, to the solitary figures, and the gray and white text within my line of sight was almost nonstop.

The area with the most light pollution levels is interspersed with areas of standard pollution, and there are also three or four areas with heavy pollution levels. The clean areas are scattered here and there.

After scanning the entire circle, more than half of the dozens of nobles and merchants had their names marked with unusual gray and white text.

Lu Yuan remained seated, his back slightly taut. He suppressed his expression, turned his head to approach Klaus, and lowered his voice to a level that only the two of them could hear.

"This is not good. Many people have been contaminated."

Klaus frowned slightly but remained silent. He pulled his right hand back from the armrest and placed it on his knee, making a very subtle gesture toward Lu Yuan: he raised his index finger slightly before lowering it.

The meaning was clear: say nothing and let the Earl handle it himself.

Lu Yuan shut his mouth.

There was a commotion in the main hall; some people turned pale, others fidgeted, and their eyes darted toward the door.

A viscount stood up; he was a middle-aged man, dressed in a well-tailored dark blue suit, his chin held high.

"Your Excellency, we've all heard about von Linde's affair, but you said it's an infiltration, isn't that a bit too broad a scope? All of you here are nobles granted titles by the Empire; to conduct such a public investigation is perhaps..."

Before he could finish speaking, the count's gaze had already fallen upon him.

The viscount's voice was lower, but he was still holding on.

"We have the right to know the basis for this investigation."

An old baron standing nearby chimed in with a comment.

"At least provide a list. Investigating anyone you suspect violates imperial regulations! Even if you're a count, you can't do that!"

The old baron hadn't finished speaking.

The side door of the main hall was pushed open from the outside.

Four people walked in.

At the front was a woman in her early forties, with a calm expression. Her gaze swept across the main hall without lingering on anyone.

Behind him followed a young man carrying a flat copper box and two Night's Watch guards. Their uniforms had no badges, but the outline of their arms indicated that their weapons were still on their bodies.

She held something in her hand, made of parchment, adorned with an imperial seal in gold and red.

She walked to the center and placed the item on the table.

"Imperial Headquarters Inspector Hilde Winter, acting on orders from the Central Command, is to investigate the entire Bronze City for any supernatural contamination infiltration. Those present are not permitted to refuse."

The sound wasn't loud, but everyone in the main hall could hear it clearly.

The viscount, who had just been speaking, opened his mouth slightly, but no sound came out.

The old baron realized that he had no choice but to accept it this time, and then sheepishly shrank back into his chair.

The imperial decree, personally signed by the central government, meant that refusal was tantamount to disobeying the imperial order, and the entire main hall fell silent.

Lu Yuan's gray and white text swept over this person.

[Target for detection: Hilde Winter (Exceptional Knowledge)]

[Human beings who study a certain kind of knowledge and achieve some level of success.]

Looking at the aura emanating from Hilde and combining it with the description below, Lu Yuan estimated that she was at the third tier.

The third-tier knowledge is extraordinary; it seems the Empire attaches great importance to this matter.

After a few seconds of silence in the main hall, a voice came from the middle of the seating area.

"I support the investigation."

The speaker stood up. He was thin, with graying temples, and dressed respectably, but he looked much older than his age.

Herbert Victor, representative of the Chamber of Commerce.

Lu Yuan remembered him; his son, Alan Victor, had died in the disappearance of the Erudite Tower. Judging from his appearance, it was clear that this incident had been a heavy blow to him.

Although the murderer has not been found yet, he probably already knows the specific reasons behind it, but what can be done about it?

Behind the Tower of Learning stood the central government, and he could only let the matter pass.

"The story of von Linde is not a rumor. If anyone here has been infiltrated without their knowledge, it's a good thing that it's been discovered."

The Iron Guard commander's chair creaked open. He didn't stand up, but simply shifted his position, placing his hand on his sword. No one spoke again.

Lu Yuan recognized Herbert, and also recognized the other person sitting one seat away from him.

Baron Crane, the father of Philip Crane in the missing persons case, the baron who "locked himself in his study" during the investigation.

Now, pulled out by the count and sitting there, with his hands on his knees and his gaze fixed on the ground, he hadn't looked at anyone from beginning to end, clearly having lost his spirit.

The count glanced around and tapped his cane on the ground again.

"Let's begin then."

Hilde's assistant opened the bronze box.

Embedded inside were dozens of slender silver needles, each with an extremely thin body and a tiny array of inscriptions engraved at its tip, gleaming coldly under the light. Lu Yuan glanced at the number; it was roughly the same as the number of people present.

Hilde raised her hand slightly.

All the silver needles in the bronze box suddenly sprang up, dozens of them simultaneously detaching from their slots and dangling in mid-air. The inscription patterns lit up with a silvery-white light, illuminating the entire main hall for a moment, while the candlelight in the chandelier dimmed.

One of the nobles instinctively shrank back.

Silver needles shot out simultaneously, landing precisely on all non-supernatural personnel present—nobles, guild members, and servants—one needle for each person.

The needle did not pierce the skin, but hovered an inch above each person's shoulder, with the inscription forming an extremely thin detection field between the needle and the skin.

The light film adheres to the surface of the fabric with slight undulations, and the inscription patterns flow slowly within it.

A nobleman reached out to block it, but the needle bypassed his hand and came to a steady stop in its place. The two guild members behind Herbert did not move, but one of them clenched his fingers on his knee.

A commotion broke out in the main hall, but no one could tear the thing off.

Hilde stood in the center, her gaze slowly sweeping from left to right. After a few seconds, she waved her right hand downwards.

The inscription arrays on all the silver needles simultaneously yielded the results.

On the left side of the main hall, the first row features two silver-white bars and one with a dark green sheen. The second row displays dark green, light green, dark green, and silver-white bars. The third row alternates between silver-white and dark green, with light green in the corner and then dark green again further on.

Dozens of needles hung from the shoulders of dozens of people. The silvery-white needles gleamed with a clean, cold light under the lamp, while the dark green needles were covered with a layer of murky green. Some were as light as mist, while others were so dark that the inscriptions and patterns were no longer visible. The dark green covered a large area more than the silvery-white needles.

No one spoke in the main hall.

Everyone can see the color of the needle on their own shoulder, and they can also see the needle on the shoulders of those around them.

A nobleman glanced down at his shoulder, his face turning deathly pale, and he moved his chair back a bit. A female nobleman in light green beside him covered her mouth.

Further away, an elderly baron, his clothes gleaming silver, glanced instinctively to his right. The person to his right had a dark green tinge on their shoulder. Their eyes met for a second, and then the old baron moved his chair half a step further away.

The results for the two chamber of commerce representatives behind Herbert were also there: one silver-white, the other dark green. The one in dark green was pale but didn't move, his hands still resting on his knees. Herbert glanced at him, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes, then looked away.

Lu Yuan sat in his seat, the gray and white text in his field of vision almost forming a wall, which perfectly matched the result of the silver needle.

Those marked "polluted" and "lightly polluted" had needles on their shoulders that were all dark green or light green. He roughly counted them, and dark green plus light green made up more than half of them.

Hilde's expression changed. The information she had before coming was that "a small number of nobles were suspected of being infiltrated." It was a small number. She glanced at Klaus. Klaus's expression did not change, but his fingers stopped on the armrest.

The candlelight from the overhead chandelier flickered in the silvery-white and dark green light, making the main hall seem as if it were immersed in a layer of dirty water.

Then the first person got into trouble.

The baron with the darkest green hair, the one in his early forties, who had just been protesting to the count, suddenly changed color, his lips moved, but the words stuck in his throat.

"I don't know what it is. Someone delivered it to my residence about six months ago."

He stopped mid-sentence, looking down at his hands. Something was flowing beneath the skin of his left hand, dark green lines spreading from his fingertips to his wrist.

The skin was cracked, and tiny, dark green twigs squeezed out from the cracks, three or four centimeters long, with fine textures on their surface.

Von Linde's lignification was almost identical, but far less severe. It was clear that the dark green liquid had been lurking in his body for a long time, and the stimulation and fear of the testing field forced it out.

The atmosphere in the main hall instantly became tense. The surrounding nobles retreated one after another, and the chairs scraped against the stone slabs. The two deputy commanders of the Iron Guard moved immediately, grabbing the baron's shoulders on the left and right and pressing him into the chair.

Heinrich stood up, and the Holy Armor inscription on his glove flashed for a moment.

The mutation did not continue to expand; the branches stopped after sprouting three or four centimeters. Clearly, the forest seed within him was not yet mature. The baron slumped in his chair, his face ashen.

Klaus's gaze lingered on the Baron's hand for two seconds, then he pointed. "Take him away."

The Iron Guard took the Baron away.

The atmosphere in the main hall had completely changed.