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

The expressions of the nobles who were found to have dark green skin began to turn ugly.

From the initial panic, looking down at his shoulders, his face pale and at a loss, it slowly transformed into something else.

They began to look at each other. The person next to them was dark green, the person opposite them was also dark green, and the viscount in the back row, who usually mocked them at the ball, also had light green on his shoulders.

So many people have been contaminated.

Some people's backs slowly straightened up.

An elderly viscount, his face flushed and red with anger, stood up. He was in his early sixties, with a white beard and a loud voice.

"That's enough!"

The main hall fell silent for a moment.

"I'll tell you what it is, it's just a kind of herb." The old viscount's voice drowned out all the whispers. "Someone sent it to us, saying that drinking it would prolong life and increase strange powers. I drank it. I admit it."

He glanced at his colleagues in the main hall, whose shoulders were covered in green.

"But so what? Who else here has drunk? Step forward!"

There was a two-second silence.

A voice from the back row said, "I had one too."

Slightly to the left, another one: "Sent to your residence half a year ago. Your health has indeed improved considerably after using it."

A younger viscount stood up, clenching his fists, his face flushed: "No adverse reactions whatsoever. I've had much better energy for months. What crime is this?"

The fourth, the fifth.

Then a voice came from the merchant guild's seats. A merchant guild member stood up and spoke in a voice a few decibels lower than the nobles, but every word was clear.

"Someone in the chamber of commerce has received them too, it's not just me. These things circulate within the chamber of commerce circle."

Herbert pursed his lips and frowned upon hearing this, clearly not expecting the Chamber of Commerce to be so corrupt. However, he did not stand up, but simply closed his eyes in resignation.

More and more people stood up. They stood there with different expressions, but the same meaning.

With so many of us, are you planning to arrest us all?

If all the imperial nobles and key figures of the merchant guild were arrested on charges of "being alienated and infiltrated," the political and commercial order of the inner city of Bronze City would be directly paralyzed.

Clearly, that's what they're betting on.

The commander of the Iron Guard rested his hand on his sword, his gaze sweeping over the men who had stood up, but he did not draw his sword. He was waiting for orders; once the Earl gave the order, the Iron Guard would not care about such matters.

Hilde stopped what she was doing. The silver needle was still hanging in mid-air, the inscription light flickering in the main hall. She did not take the needle away, nor did she continue. She turned to look at the Earl. The Imperial Headquarters Inspector was waiting for a local lord's decision.

Agnes of the Church remained expressionless, but the two monks behind her tucked their hands into their sleeves—a gesture of preparation for battle for the Church. The Church did not take a stand in political matters, and she remained silent, but the monks were already ready.

The male representative of the Ascension Society remained motionless, his hands clasped on his knees. The young woman's smile deepened slightly before she withdrew it. The political crisis among the nobles was merely intelligence to the Ascension Society.

Calvin leaned back in his chair, his monocle reflecting the light, his expression indifferent; after all, no one from the Tower of Learning was present today.

The main hall was silent for a few seconds, with the standing and seated people facing off against each other through the silver pins floating in mid-air.

The count stood in the center, not looking at the nobles who had stood up.

His gaze fell on the tip of the cane, as if he were thinking about something, then he looked up at Klaus.

Klaus nodded slightly, his meaning clear: you make the decision, I'll back you up.

After a brief silence, the count spoke with a hint of anger.

"A bunch of traitorous good-for-nothings, take them all down."

Before anyone could react to the Earl's order, the main hall erupted in chaos.

You can't do that!

"This is a frame-up!" someone cursed, and the chair was pushed over.

The bronze handrail slammed against the stone slab, the sound echoing through the dome. Someone knelt down, their voice trembling: "Your Excellency, my family has served the Empire for generations..." Before they could finish speaking, they were pulled by the person next to them.

"I want to appeal to the Imperial Central Government! You have no right to..."

The old baron, who was the first to stand up, shoved aside the Iron Guard soldiers who approached him. "You dare touch me?!"

The entire Iron Guard stood up. The commander drew his sword, the sound of which drowned out all other sounds. At the same time, flame patterns began to appear on their bodies, and waves of heat swept through the entire venue.

Two lieutenants grabbed the shoulders of the nearest nobleman and pushed him back. Some of the nobleman's attendants tried to step forward to protect their master, but were pushed away by the Holy Armor Army.

Heinrich's armored army sealed off all exits, and the armor inscriptions gleamed coldly on his gloves and arm guards.

The chaos in the main hall had reached its peak.

Klaus moved at that moment.

Instead of getting up to participate in the suppression, he moved Lu Yuan half a step behind him. The movement was small but decisive, and Lu Yuan hadn't fully reacted yet.

Almost at the same moment, the smile on the face of the servant behind the count vanished.

He suddenly stepped forward, blocking the count's path. A faint purple light emanated from his body, seeping out from beneath his skin and spreading outward along the muscle lines—an extremely thin membrane of light.

The next moment he suddenly made his move, his palm thrusting out towards the shadow on the left wall of the main hall.

A pale purple force struck the stone wall, shattering the tapestry and sending fragments flying. A clear handprint was left on the wall, but no one was there.

All the chaos in the main hall ceased in that instant. The Iron Guard's swords froze in mid-air, the nobles' struggles stopped, and the Holy Armor Army's inscriptions flickered silently. Everyone's gaze turned simultaneously to the wall where the tapestry had been shattered.

There was silence for less than a second.

Then a voice came from the shadows on the other side of the main hall; it was a woman's voice.

The tone was inexplicably alluring, like a coquettish plea, yet also like a mocking laugh.

"Oh dear...why aren't you welcoming my older sister?"

The position of the sound has changed, from the right side to the upper center.

"Why are you attacking so fiercely..."

Everyone's eyes followed the sound, but they couldn't find its source. Lu Yuan's gray text danced wildly at the edge of their vision, but there was no indication of its origin.

Lu Yuan already knew who the newcomers were; they were clearly from the Gray Pact Society, because only they could evade the gray and white text prompts.

"But how dare the Gray Contract Society?"

Before Lu Yuan could figure it out, a figure emerged from the shadow of the dome chandelier, stepping through the air as if walking out of a non-existent wall.

Its figure flickered continuously, each time blurring its outline for a moment before solidifying again, with the solidified position always deviating from the previous one.

Lu Yuan also saw clearly that the person who came was a woman, with an exaggerated figure that did not resemble the proportions of a normal human being, like a carefully designed shell.

She wore a vertical half-mask, grayish-white in color, covering the right half of her face. The left half of her face, which was exposed, was stunningly beautiful, with her eyebrows and eyes curved and a smile on her lips, but there was no warmth in that smile.

She landed in the center of the main hall, standing ten paces away from the Earl.

The attendant's gaze suddenly sharpened, all expression vanished from his face in an instant, and the pale purple light emanating from his body intensified several times over. He glanced back at the count and gestured for him to leave.

Her threat level was beyond the scope of his ability to attack while protecting the Earl.

The count's face darkened, and the corners of his mouth tightened, but he did not hesitate and took two steps back with his attendant.

The woman tilted her head, revealing a half-smile beneath her mask.

"Don't be so nervous."

Her gaze slowly swept across the main hall, from the Earl to Klaus, from Hilde to Agnes, from the Ascendants to Calvin. Finally, it landed on the nobles being held down by the Iron Guard.

"Let me introduce myself..."

He raised his left hand, his fingers curling slightly, as if he were waving hello.

"Grey Covenant, 'Jie'."

He paused for a moment.

"You can also call me '10'."

Target detected: Ring (Mysterious and Extraordinary) (Contamination)

A strange human seems to have embarked on a path of no return.

Just as Lu Yuan had a clear look, Jie's figure flickered again.

This time there was no movement, only a flash, but everyone in the main hall felt something. A very faint but omnipresent force emanated from her, resonating with something else.

[Environmental Sensing: Numerous pollution sources detected... Please be careful.]

The first to react was Baron Budding, who hadn't had time to be taken away yet. Before the two Iron Guards could even drag him out of the main hall, the Baron's body suddenly stiffened, and the tender branch on the back of his hand grew rapidly in an instant, from three or four centimeters to the length of his forearm. The end of the branch burst open, and dark green leaves unfolded one by one.

The two Iron Guard soldiers were thrown back, but they reacted quickly. The furnace fire in their bodies suddenly ignited, and a violent temperature instantly suppressed the growth of the branches.

Then came the second, and the third.

All the nobles found to have a dark green tinge simultaneously began to change; their skin cracked, and wood-like patterns emerged from the cracks, spreading extremely rapidly.

Someone fell off a chair, their twisted limbs crashing onto the table; someone's left arm was completely covered by a woody, grayish-green hard shell; someone let out a hoarse cry, the sound changing halfway through, turning into a trembling sound that didn't belong to a human throat.

The dark green member of the Chamber of Commerce was not spared either; his right hand fingers began to deform, and the woody protrusions at the joints tore the cuffs.

He looked at his hands, his lips trembling, unable to utter a sound.

The Iron Guard Battalion was initially pushed back by many, but they quickly recovered.

A lieutenant used his sword to cut off a branch that had sprung up, and new shoots immediately sprouted from the cut. The commander roared, "Rebels, execute them on the spot!"

As he finished speaking, inscriptions resembling ashes appeared on the bodies of the Iron Guard soldiers, and a dark red light spread along their skin.

The furnace fire was fully ignited and entered a scorching state.

But several thick branches had already embedded themselves in the stone pavement and started to extend downwards.

Those nobles with silver-white tassels on their shoulders were now caught in the middle of the rampagers, their faces filled with panic, as if asking, "What are we going to do?"

Some people simply huddled under the chairs, while a noblewoman slumped to the ground, her attendant shielding her with his body.

The old baron, who was the first to pass the test, was grazed on the calf by a twig, tearing his trouser leg. But he didn't back down; instead, he grabbed a young nobleman next to him and shoved him against the wall: "Don't just stand there like an idiot, run!"