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

The hall fell silent for a few moments.

Klaus held his teacup and silently took a sip.

The meeting room had been quiet for long enough for the group to ponder. The leaders from the chamber of commerce exchanged glances, none of them willing to speak first.

The nobles in the outer city turned slightly to the side, pretending to look at the tea in their cups, while the older ones in the inner city simply lowered their eyelids, their faces somber, as if waiting for someone else to step forward.

Klaus wasn't in a hurry.

These people may be cunning, but they're not stupid.

They had already guessed part of what was buried beneath the Bronze City since the first ghoul disaster.

Because they had already guessed it, they were even less willing to gamble their entire fortune.

You can guess what's going to happen, but whether you actually gamble or not depends on whether the gambling table is still there.

The oldest member of the chamber of commerce finally couldn't hold back his anger any longer. He coughed, picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip, and spoke in a very low voice.

"Lord Klaus, we understand what you're saying, but we need to know how much longer the city can hold out."

We're contributing money and manpower, but we need to know which hole we're filling, right?

Klaus didn't answer, and slowly put down his teacup.

He didn't even look at the person directly, but simply spun the cup halfway around on the table, as if he were thinking about something that had nothing to do with the people in the room.

A nobleman from the outer city chimed in, his words carrying a roundabout meaning: city defense was the Night's Watch's duty, and they were willing to help, but to what extent they would "help" was something they needed to see clearly first. In other words, they wanted to wait and see.

As Klaus listened, the slight smile on his lips faded even more.

He knew these people too well. They used "see clearly" as a shield, but deep down they were all thinking about their escape routes. But where were their escape routes? The city gates were closed, and there were strange things everywhere. If they really wanted to run, where could they run to? When he sealed off the city, he had already blocked that path for them.

But he didn't intend to say a word about it.

Now that I've pointed it out, these people are furious and embarrassed, which makes things even more troublesome. It's just a pity that I don't have the authority to convict them. If only those other people were here...

Klaus thought to himself.

Just as things were at a standstill, the side door of the hall was pushed open from the outside.

A night watchman strode in, his boots making a rapid sound on the stone floor. He clutched an open book in his hand, his face grim. When he reached Klaus, he spoke in a low voice.

"Lord Klaus, an urgent report has arrived from underground."

Both sides of the long table turned their gazes in unison.

Klaus glanced at the man, neither telling him to step aside nor to lower his voice, and spoke in a flat tone.

"Speak up, say it out loud."

The night watchman paused for a moment, then understood. He opened the book, looked up, and shouted to the crowd in the hall.

"First, the number of ghouls contaminated by the forest seed underground is increasing. These infected ghouls have shown organized attack behavior and are launching an attack on the temporary underground bronze blockade line. The temporary protection will not last long."

The already quiet sounds in the hall were suddenly silenced.

"Several new collapses have appeared in the second pipeline layer, but they are not secondary collapses of the old collapse points. They are brand new ones. The old collapses that were backfilled and sealed off may collapse again at any time due to the tremors. If all the old collapses crack open, the number of collapses in the city may be as high as nearly ten."

The old chamber of commerce leader, who had previously said he "had to give a bottom line," stopped his water glass at his lips, but didn't drink it.

"Finally, the newly identified collapse points are two in the inner city, two in the outer city, plus the main collapse point in the old council square, making a total of five. The Holy Armored Army, the Iron Guard, and the Night's Watch brothers are patrolling below the pipe network layer. They have taken temporary measures after discovering them, but it's only temporary. It won't last long."

The night watchman closed the book and said nothing more.

The hall was eerily quiet.

The nobles sitting below exchanged bewildered glances, and those who had been beating around the bush earlier now looked increasingly grim.

Five openings.

Five cracks have already appeared, plus the old cracks that could collapse at any moment, making a total of almost ten.

The ghoul disaster that struck Bronze City last time is still fresh in our minds.

That time, aggregate ghouls overflowed from the main collapse vent; those things are not something ordinary people can touch.

If it weren't for the guardians' intervention, the inner city would have faced a far greater threat than the outer city. That time, thousands of residents died in the collapsed areas to the north and south, but the inner city suffered almost no casualties; all the dead were knights who guarded their homes.

That was the result of the Night's Watch's extremely rapid deployment.

What about this time?

A younger nobleman from the outer city couldn't sit still any longer. His lips moved slightly, but the words that came out were tinged with panic.

"So... what do the Night's Watch intend to do?"

Klaus did not answer him.

He glanced at the messenger who was still standing there, and spoke. His voice was not loud, but every word carried the necessary composure.

"Order: Several fourth-tier captains are to immediately lead their teams to the various collapse points to stop the ghouls from overflowing as much as possible. Glock is already at the main entrance of the Old Council Square; send people to fill the rest of the entrances."

He didn't glance at either side of the long table as he said this.

Their stance was crystal clear; the Night's Watch had already staked everything.

The messenger accepted the order and turned to leave, but then stopped and turned back.

"Lord Klaus, we don't have enough fourth-tier units."

His voice was somewhat stiff.

"We can barely manage the five collapses right now, but if the number expands to ten, we simply won't have enough manpower. Moreover, new collapses are very likely to appear during this period, which we can neither stop nor repair in time."

Klaus listened but did not answer directly.

His gaze slowly shifted from the messenger to both sides of the long table.

Without him saying anything, the people below were already panicking.

If they continue to play dead, they might wait for the collapse to suddenly occur at their own doorstep, leaving everyone around them vulnerable. But if they were to actually invest their entire fortune, it would require a huge sum of money and effort, which would be equally devastating for these families, whether large or small.

There are only two paths ahead.

Either continue playing dead and wait for the collapse to come to you on its own.

Either give up your share and become completely tied to Bronze City.

The entire room was filled with grim expressions, except for Count Helmut, who calmly hummed in response.

He sat at the head of the long table, his fingers resting on the armrest, glancing down at the people below who were sweating profusely, his expression showing a hint of displeasure.

The nobles and merchant leaders in the outer city followed his gaze and roughly understood what was going on.

This time, there's no escaping it.

The count spoke, his voice not loud, but it held sway over the entire hall.

"I'll send some of my knights out first."

With those words, all eyes below turned to him.

The Earl's private cavalry is something that most of you have heard of.

That force was no less powerful than the Night's Watch, and some of them were even stronger than some of the Night's Watch captains. However, their numbers were not large. The Earl's willingness to lay out his own things first was a way of putting everyone on the table.

Klaus immediately stood up.

"Your Excellency is magnanimous, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Empire and the Bronze City." He bowed slightly in the direction of the Earl, his tone perfectly measured. "Your magnanimity is evident to all present."

The count snorted, ignoring the remark, and simply picked up his teacup.

The people below looked at each other, their expressions changing several times. The count had already come out; if they kept hiding and didn't move, how would they survive in the city from now on?

A merchant guild leader was the first to speak up, saying he could provide a team. Before he finished speaking, the nobleman from the outer city who had been pretending to be dead also chimed in, saying he could also muster some men.

They expressed their opinions piecemeal, one after another.

Not many were produced.

Klaus knew perfectly well that what these people had contributed was nothing compared to the wealth they held in their hands, but he wasn't going to press them any further.

Because it is not needed.

Cutting meat with a dull knife, take it slow.

As the situation in Bronze City deteriorates day by day, this group will voluntarily add more people to the table.

What he wanted was never the current number of troops; what he wanted was attitude, the attitude that these people had tied their entire fortune to Bronze City.

Once they're tied up, they won't be able to escape even if they want to.

Klaus sneered inwardly, but showed no sign of it on his face.

After everyone finished expressing their opinions, he put down his teacup and stood up.

"From now on, the fate of Bronze City will be directly linked to yourselves."

His gaze swept across each face, neither fast nor slow.

"I urge you all to defend your homeland and safeguard the empire."

These words sounded righteous and grand, but those below felt a chill run down their spines. Those four words, "From now on," were not mere politeness; they were a clear indictment of their names, nailed to the walls of the Bronze City.

Klaus looked away.

Everyone stood up. The sound of chairs being dragged echoed throughout the hall, and some people were already hurrying towards the door, probably calculating how to reassign people after they got back.

Klaus spoke again.

"There's one more thing."

The person who had walked halfway stopped.

"From today onward, everything that happens in Bronze City will be posted at the Night's Watch branch. If you have any questions, come to the branch."

As soon as he finished speaking, a nobleman from the inner city frowned.

"Why can't it be posted publicly inside the city?"

Klaus glanced at him.

He didn't speak.

The man opened his mouth, then swallowed the rest of his words, lowered his head, and quickly walked out of the hall.

Once the door closed, all the footsteps in the hall disappeared.

Klaus stood in front of the empty long table, not leaving immediately.

Squeezing out this little bit of savings is just a way to prolong life.

The real Achilles' heel is neither in this room nor in the hands of those nobles.

It is underground, and on top of the 100-meter-high main tower of the Tower of Learning, two entities that neither can touch are locked together, one doesn't tell him the truth, and the other doesn't stand on his side at all.

He wouldn't mention a word of this to those people earlier.

Klaus picked up the now-cold cup of tea on the table, took the last sip, and put it back.

He turned and walked towards the office.

The night was deep outside, and the lights in the branch were on one after another. The sound of the night watchman running back and forth came from the end of the corridor, muffled and urgent.

Urgent reports from underground kept pouring in.

Unlike the chaos in Bronze City, Lu Yuan had already covered nearly half the distance.