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

The attendant's expression remained unchanged, but the fingers resting on his left arm tightened slightly—his only response.

"Even the Great Ascendants didn't fare well." Klaus's gaze shifted slightly. "Even the special anti-pollution alloy couldn't stop its pollution."

The Ascended One's mechanical eyes blinked, and it looked down at its right wrist. The gears clicked twice, but it remained silent.

"But even with four fourth-tier beings attacking together, they still couldn't kill it." Klaus's voice lowered slightly. "So I have reason to suspect that thing might have some connection to a forbidden entity."

He paused for a moment.

"Finally, there was that sudden heartbeat. The object sealed within the Bronze City is very likely the owner of that heartbeat..."

There was a moment of silence in the room, the air thick and heavy.

Lu Yuan stood by the door, his expression not changing much, but his mind was racing.

Both the attendant and the ascendant were injured. Before he left, either of them was considered one of the most capable fighters in the city.

It's so corrosive that even a slight touch will render it unusable; it corrodes even silver alloys. The level of contamination from this stuff goes beyond just being described as "strong."

What bothered him even more were those two heartbeats.

Klaus said "like a heartbeat," something deeper.

The fragmented thoughts of the being in the mist immediately surfaced in Lu Yuan's mind.

Something is about to wake up.

In addition to the fragments of images that appeared before his eyes when he came into contact with the bronze pillar, it was clear that the piece of flesh seemed to be fully awakening.

"I just don't know the abilities or weaknesses of that piece of flesh... If we could see it and figure it out, our chances of winning might increase significantly."

"Three things to do this time," Klaus said, holding up one finger.

"First, attempt to hunt down specific individuals."

"second..."

His gaze swept across the face of everyone present.

"The number of special individuals has been confirmed."

When Klaus finished speaking, the conference room fell into a brief silence.

A moment of silence spoke volumes: everyone had considered this possibility, but no one was willing to speak it out first.

Last time, that one almost caused the deaths of four Tier 4 beings; if there's more than one below...

Adrian placed his hand on the scripture and tapped the cover lightly with his fingertips. He didn't speak, but the action itself showed that he was taking the hypothesis seriously.

"Third, confirm exactly what the sealed artifact is, and at the same time reduce the total number of ghouls." Klaus put his hand down. "I believe the number of ghouls is limited, and if handled properly, it can greatly reduce the pressure on the Bronze City seal."

The three targets were not hard to guess, but what frustrated everyone was the identity of that special individual.

Adrian was the most troubled by this. When Agnes came up, she mentioned that during their encounter, when they were exchanging angelic messages, they were subjected to some kind of extremely strong contamination, which directly caused the connection to be interrupted.

How could a Great Ghoul be contaminated to this extent? Even a fifth-order being would find it extremely difficult to sever the connection between a believer's transcendence and the object of their faith without special means.

Moreover, their faith is in the transcendent angels who are connected to all the empire.

Just as Klaus said, that thing is very likely a product of some forbidden existence.

But who exactly is sealed beneath the Bronze City?

Adrian was actually considering running away; the information he had initially received when he came to Bronze City didn't say that.

Shouldn't this be a safe, peaceful place, one of the empire's safest western capitals?

But now that a forbidden existence has been involved, even if the possibility is extremely slim, according to the Angelic Decree, Adrian cannot remain uninvolved.

Luckily, I brought some things with me...

"Next is the list of those going down for the third dive." Klaus's tone became decisive, clearly indicating he wasn't going to discuss it with the others.

"I'll lead the team myself, followed by the Great Ascendant, Adrian, the Blue Knight, the Attendant, and Margaret." His gaze swept over each person mentioned, finally settling on Lu Yuan. "Including Lu Yuan, that makes seven people."

He turned to the corner.

"Rex, you stay on the ground."

The corner was quiet for a couple of breaths.

Rick didn't look up; his muffled voice came from under the hood: "Hmm."

But the suppressed resentment in that voice was obvious to everyone.

Last time, he was at the forefront, and the swarming insects turned to ash upon contact with that contamination. He knew better than anyone what he could do down there. He couldn't do anything; he would just be another one needing protection. Swarming insects were inherently incapable of dealing with such highly contaminated units.

However, there are always exceptions. If one could reach the fifth rank, then the swarm of insects that Reck could control would undergo a qualitative change, but there are no "ifs".

Rex knew he might never reach the fifth rank in his lifetime.

"Keep an eye on all the ground collapses and defensive lines," Klaus said, not lingering on the details. "If anything happens on any side, be the first to rush in and hold them off."

Rick didn't say anything more, which was taken as tacit agreement.

"As for the other fourth-tier Night's Watch members, since they are all melee fighters, they won't go down for now," Klaus said decisively. "Do you have any further questions?"

Everyone shook their heads.

There are a total of four levels in Bronze City, with a maximum of ten. Now, seven of them have been eliminated in one go. If they still can't be killed, then there's really nothing else they can do but rely on the Guardians.

But Lu Yuan remembered the previous hint that the Guardians couldn't get out now. Fortunately, the collapse was in the inner city, so the Guardians should be able to hit it, right?

Moreover, looking at the current personnel configuration, most of them have remote means and can hold their own for a while if they are taken out individually. Klaus's ability, together with the Bone Ring, can be used for both close and long-range combat. The Great Ascended are assumed to have remote capabilities, and Adrian's Holy Light in the Scriptures naturally counteracts pollution.

Although the Blue Knight's swordsmanship is close-quarters combat, her rapier moves are extremely cunning and fast. Most importantly, she is immune to the pressure from the copper pillar and can do things that others cannot under special circumstances.

The servants unleashed a long-range attack with purple light, while Margaret suppressed the attack with her water-based abilities.

A very reasonable lineup; I'm now one step closer to collecting all the keys.

As for whether or not he could kill that so-called special individual, Lu Yuan already had the answer in his heart.

If we still can't beat them, we might as well consider running away.

As the meeting adjourned, everyone went off to prepare.

Klaus was the last to leave. Before leaving, he nodded to Lu Yuan, signaling Lu Yuan to be prepared. After all, Lu Yuan was currently the lowest level. If it weren't for Lu Yuan's repeated emphasis on having special methods, Klaus would never have brought such a burden along.

Lu Yuan was well aware of Klaus's thoughts. He was indeed the weakest, but he had the timer, so if they really ran, he would definitely not be the slowest one.

He quickly returned to his room on the east side of the branch.

As soon as the door was opened, the table and windowsill were spotless, indicating that someone had come to clean up after he left.

Lu Yuan ignored all of that and went straight to the second floor, to the alchemy platform, where he rummaged through the bottom and found a bunch of strange materials related to ghouls.

He grabbed a handful of ghoul brain cores. This time, Lu Yuan planned to use only the larger ghoul brain cores as raw materials and inscribe strange runes on them.

In the ghoul-infested underground, this aura enveloped him, allowing him to blend into the crowd of his kind and making him difficult to spot alone.

Therefore, the brain nucleus must be brought along on this trip.

Not only for safety reasons, Lu Yuan also had another reason that he couldn't tell anyone.

Bronze pillar.

During the first two dives, the key fragments left by the city builders were embedded inside. There were five fragments, and he had already obtained two of them. The remaining three were scattered in different bronze pillars.

If he encounters a new bronze pillar this time, he will have to touch it up close.

Of course, Lu Yuan first prepared to check the information of that special individual. If it was confirmed to be related to the taboo, then he would definitely find Klaus for help immediately to explain the existence of the fragment.

Then they need to gather together quickly, otherwise Bronze City might really be doomed. But considering the promises of the Guardians and the Wall People, there might still be hope.

But if it has nothing to do with the existence of taboos, then it doesn't really matter; the weakness of gray and white text will be its most severe father.

Lu Yuan held the copper needles with steady fingers, his movements practiced and skillful, without a single unnecessary motion.

He paused halfway through.

His gaze fell on his left leg.

The drowning person was still there. Quietly pressed against the skin, without making a sound.

In the thick fog of returning to the city, the moment the aura of that passing being swept over, it stirred for a moment.

It was immediately suppressed by authority, but that reaction showed that it was aware of the strange atmosphere in the outside world.

The underground is full of eeriness and pollution. Will it be drawn to something else in the future?

Lu Yuan stared at his left leg for two breaths.

He wasn't sure if the aura of the brain core could cover up the extraordinary fluctuations of humans, but he knew that an extra layer of cover was better than none.

If something really goes wrong, the authority will keep it in check, and it won't be able to cause any trouble.

He pulled his thoughts back and continued with his work.

Time passed second by second, and seventeen more brain cores appeared on the table. Their gray-brown shells were engraved with dense, eerie inscriptions and exuded a faint ghoul aura.

He inspected them one by one, found no flaws, and then put them into his leather pouch.

Footsteps came from outside the door, and someone called out that everyone was there and they were just waiting for him.

Lu Yuan followed him downstairs.

The lobby on the first floor of the branch office was emptied, and the people who had descended gradually arrived. Several items were laid out on the long table, and Klaus stood by the table, waiting for the last person to arrive.

In the center of the table was a long, rectangular alloy box, grayish-white in color, square-shaped, more than a person long and more than half a person wide.

It appears to be a coffin.

"Arthur rushed to finish it." Klaus raised his hand.

Arthur stood by the table, arms crossed, and without much small talk, reached out and lifted the lid.

The inner walls were lined with a layer of mithril, the silvery light shimmering softly under the lamp. Several silver-plated partitions divided the interior into separate compartments. The walls were engraved with seals and suppression inscriptions, some of which were written in an old style, his own handwriting.

"If we catch that thing, we'll stuff it in," Arthur continued. "It can block most of the pollution and limit self-healing abilities. It'll hold out in the short term, but don't expect it to last long."

Some people find this thing inconvenient to carry around.

"There's no other way." Arthur closed the lid. "Only this can hold that kind of thing." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the several fourth-tier beings present. His words were blunt. "There's one more thing. If even this can't contain it, then it's not something you should be dealing with. Report back as soon as possible whether you're considering abandoning Bronze City."