The purge mission concluded in the afternoon.
It had gone faster than expected.
The daytime sunlight, combined with the lingering power of the Guardian, had stripped the ghouls on the surface of nearly all their combat effectiveness.
After clearing the fungus mats from four streets in the North Ward and killing three lone ghouls, the Ninth Team pushed two blocks further west.
The rate at which the fungus mats withered under direct sunlight was faster than Lu Yuan had imagined, leaving the alchemical fire powder to handle only the residues in shaded corners and narrow gaps between buildings.
When they returned to the Alchemy Workshop outpost to summarize the situation, battle reports from other teams were arriving one after another.
The newly reorganized Third Team had cleared the fungus mats around two small collapse points to the southwest, dealing with scattered scavenger ghouls on the spot during the process.
Lu Yuan dragged away the corpses he deemed valuable and incinerated the rest.
The Eleventh Team was responsible for the border area between the inner city and the outer city, where the copper structures were so thick that the scavenger fungus could not take root at all, requiring them only to clean a few road surfaces contaminated by drag marks.
The Seventh Team, coordinating with two other teams, completed the mopping-up operations in the eastern section of the outer city.
Glock stood before the map, using a charcoal pencil to black out the cleared areas one by one.
By three in the afternoon, more than eighty percent of the red-marked areas on the map had turned black.
"The surface portion is basically cleared," Glock said, putting down the charcoal pencil, though his tone held little relief.
Everyone knew that the surface was only the top layer.
The real problem still lay beneath their feet.
Lu Yuan stood by the window, watching the street outside.
The sun was beginning to sink in the west.
Civilians were starting to appear on the streets again.
They peeked out from buildings, gathering in small groups; some spoke in low voices, while others simply stood there, staring at their surroundings with vacant eyes.
The bloodstains had not been fully cleaned.
The claw marks on the walls remained.
Smashed door panels lay crooked by the roadside, with no one bothering to set them right.
A woman stood at her doorstep holding a child, her gaze fixed on a dark red drag mark on the opposite wall that stretched from the ground all the way to the eaves.
Her lips were moving, but no sound came out.
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.
Most of the residents of this city had never seen the eerie in their entire lives.
The copper structures and rune systems of the Bronze City had operated for countless years, isolating the vast majority of supernatural threats outside the walls.
To them, the eerie was words in a newspaper, stories in a tavern, or something only the Nightwatchers needed to worry about.
But after that night, those stories became bloodstains at their doorsteps and empty houses left behind by vanished neighbors.
And then there were the churning clouds filled with black eyes that had once appeared in the sky.
Of course, that had been the power of the Guardian.
Fear does not vanish just because the sun comes up.
It simply finds a different way to exist.
Bo Er walked in from outside, holding a freshly printed newspaper.
The scent of ink was still heavy, and the edges of the paper even carried the lingering warmth of the printing press.
"A special edition," Bo Er said, placing the newspaper on the table. "People were handing them out on the street just now."
Lu Yuan picked it up and scanned it.
The front page was a public statement signed by the "Bronze City Nightwatchers Branch."
The wording was very careful.
It did not mention the word "ghoul," nor did it mention "collapse."
Instead, it used terms like "underground abnormal activity" and "localized geological shifts."
The gist of the statement was: an abnormal situation occurred in parts of the Bronze City last night, leading to animal attacks.
The Nightwatchers responded immediately and completed the disposal.
Currently, safety within the city has been restored, and all damaged areas are under repair.
Residents were asked to maintain their normal daily routines, minimize outings at night, and immediately report any abnormal situations to the nearest Nightwatchers outpost.
The final paragraph was the key.
"The Bronze City has stood until today; its walls have never been breached, and its runes have never faded. The Nightwatchers will, as always, protect the safety of every resident."
Lu Yuan finished reading and set the newspaper down.
It was well-written.
At least it would calm some people; the Bronze City was so large that despite the chaos yesterday, many areas remained unaffected.
But for those who had personally seen the countless black eyeballs churning in the sky, the phrase "underground abnormal activity" would likely only make them more uneasy.
Because they knew what they had seen.
And the newspaper was telling them those things did not exist.
"This kind of reassurance won't last long," Bo Er whispered.
"It doesn't need to last long." Lu Yuan's gaze fell on the sunlight slanting outside the window. "It just needs to hold through tonight."
Bo Er did not respond.
He merely glanced at the sky outside and then walked silently to the weapon rack to begin checking his gear.
At dusk, the supplies arrived.
This time, it was not a single carriage.
It was a convoy.
Four heavy cargo carriages drove from the direction of the inner city, their wheels grinding over the gravel road with a heavy, rumbling sound.
Each carriage was weighed down low, the axles emitting overburdened creaks.
Sitting on the lead carriage was an expressionless Nightwatcher with a copper dispatcher badge pinned to his chest.
"Ninth Team?"
"Yes."
"Sign for it."
The dispatcher handed over a ledger, flipped to a specific page, and pointed.
Lu Yuan took it, looked it over, and then signed his name in the receipt column.
The first carriage was unloaded of weapons.
Lu Yuan first noticed the change in color.
They were no longer the previous silver-plated copper swords and standard-issue short-shotguns.
Instead, they were pure copper weapons of a dark red hue.
The blades of the copper swords were nearly twice as thick as before, with no plating or decoration on the surface, only the fine hammer marks left from forging.
They felt much heavier in the hand, with the balance shifted forward, making them suitable for hacking.
Against ghouls, these would definitely be far more effective than silver-plated ones.
The accompanying short blades were also cast from pure copper, with edges ground thin but thick spines.
Bo Er pulled out a copper sword and weighed it in his hand.
"Pure copper? The headquarters actually had this much in stock; from the look of it, there must be quite a lot..."
"But the cost..."
"Hmm..." Lu Yuan glanced at him. "It seems the Bronze City did have some preparations after all."
Bo Er thought for a moment, said nothing more, and sheathed the copper sword.
The second carriage unloaded ammunition and alchemical consumables.
Silver-plated bullets remained the primary ammunition, but there was a new addition: copper-cased incendiary rounds.
The casings were cast from pure copper, and the warheads were filled with concentrated alchemical fire powder.
Upon impact, the copper casing would shatter and the powder would ignite, combining the restraining effect of copper with the burning of holy light.
The quantity was not large; each person was only allocated six rounds.
But in a critical moment, six rounds were enough to change the situation.
The alchemical grenades had also changed models.
The outer shell had gone from iron to copper, and they were a size larger than the ones used last night, their surfaces carved with fine alchemical patterns that faintly shimmered with an eerie blue light.
Lu Yuan unscrewed the inspection cap of one grenade and looked at its internal structure.
The filling of alchemical fire powder was at least twice that of the old model, and it was mixed with a certain silvery-white powder.
【Target Detected: Copper-cased holy light grenade (Nightwatchers standard issue)】
【A mixture of alchemical fire powder and refined holy water. Upon explosion, it releases a high-concentration holy light shockwave, with a kill radius for low-level eerie creatures approximately three times that of the old model. The copper shell fragments themselves also possess a continuous burning effect.】
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +0.1... 11.7/100】
Lu Yuan screwed the inspection cap back on and handed the grenade to Bo Er.
"Two per person, keep two as spares."
The third carriage held heavy items.
Copper-plated barricades.
Each one consisted of an arm-thick iron core wrapped in forged copper, with tips ground into triangular pyramids and surfaces carved with alchemical patterns similar to those on the city walls.
The bases were cast iron, with ground spikes at the four corners for anchoring.
There were twelve sets in total.
Each set consisted of four crossing beams; once fully deployed, they could block a passage about three meters wide.
Connecting twelve sets in a line was enough to construct a blockade zone about sixty meters long in front of the collapse site.
Glock walked over, looked at the copper-plated barricades, and flicked the tip of one with his finger.
The copper surface emitted a heavy hum.
"Can these things stop ghouls?"
"They won't stop them," Lu Yuan said directly. "But they can slow them down."
A ghoul's skin would burn upon contact with copper; if they wanted to climb over or smash through the copper-plated barricades, they would have to endure continuous burns.
Combined with the physical obstruction of the spikes, their charging speed would be drastically reduced.
Furthermore, spiked copper was not comparable to the outer city ground, which had a pathetically low copper content.
Glock nodded and turned to arrange for men to move them.
The fourth carriage unloaded the most miscellaneous items.
Copper anchoring pins, copper wire mesh, lamp oil refill canisters, march lamp spare parts, various potions...
And several wooden boxes filled with copper powder.
The copper powder was loose; it could not only slow the spread of scavenger fungus but also cause a certain degree of damage to ghouls.
Though it was not as effective as alchemical fire powder.
Lu Yuan looked at these supplies, his mind quickly calculating.
This was an attempt to forge a 'copper wall.'
The Nightwatchers intended to build a temporary defensive line around the collapse site using copper.
They were using the restraining effect of copper to replace the already corroded copper ground.
It was not meant to exterminate the ghouls underground; with the numbers seen last night, that was not something the people on the surface could solve.
But if it was just to plug the hole and suppress the ghouls' expansion speed, it was a reasonable attempt...
However, Lu Yuan suddenly realized that he would not have the assistance of Laurina's potions tonight...
He could only hope that everything would go smoothly.
At least until a better solution was found, they could not allow a repeat of last night's events.
After the supplies were unloaded, another group of people arrived.
They were not Nightwatchers.
Five figures approached on foot from the direction of the inner city.
At the head was a middle-aged man wearing deep grey robes; his left arm, from sleeve to fingertips, was encased in a dark silver metal shell, with small gear structures visible at the joints.
Behind him followed four figures in black robes.
They wore bird-beak masks.
They followed silently, their steps so synchronized they did not seem like humans walking, but rather four machines driven by a single command.
Descendants.
The mechanical augmentation project of the Ascension Society.
Looking at this setup, it seemed the Nightwatchers had reached another cooperation agreement with the Ascension Society.
Seeing this, Glock hurried forward to meet them.
"Is this support from the Ascension Society?"
The middle-aged man nodded.
"Coordinated by the branch," he said, his voice steady as the gears in his left hand turned. "Four Descendants to assist with night defense. I will be in command."
"Your code name?"
"Hertz."
He did not offer a further self-introduction, his gaze sweeping over the Nightwatchers present before landing on Lu Yuan for a brief moment.
Lu Yuan did not mind, his eyes scanning the four Descendants.
【Target Detected: Descendant (containing special fluctuations) × 4】
【Characteristics: Creations stripped of most flesh and will, retaining only basic neural reflexes and an instinct for obedience. Arms contain transformable weapons; a complete human face no longer exists beneath the masks.】
【Weaknesses: Rigid movement patterns, lack of independent judgment; will fall into chaos if the commander is killed.】
Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight.
It seemed the Ascension Society had discovered something new; these Descendants appeared to be slightly stronger than the ones he had seen in Gelimu Port.
However, four Descendants were only roughly equivalent to the firepower of one standard team.
They could hold for a while longer, but they would not change the fundamental situation.
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.
Something was better than nothing.
Glock quickly made arrangements.
The four Descendants were split into two groups, paired with two Nightwatchers teams and deployed at two different directions of the North Ward collapse site.
Hertz himself remained in the rear, responsible for maintaining the command chain of the Descendants.
As for exactly how the Descendants would fight, Glock did not ask.
They were not Nightwatchers; they had their own methods of combat.
As long as they could hold off a few more waves, any method was fine.
The sun began to set.
The light on the horizon turned from gold to orange-red, then to dark purple.
The entire Alchemy Workshop outpost entered a pre-battle state.
Glock made the final markings on the map and then stood up.
"All teams, attention."
His voice was not loud, but everyone on the first floor stopped what they were doing.
"Tonight's mission is simple."
He tapped the location of the North Ward collapse site on the map with his knuckle.
"Hold the defensive line. Do your best to prevent the ghouls from breaking through the blockade zone, and do your best to stop the scavenger fungus from spreading outward."
Do your best.
Not "must," not "absolutely."
"Do your best."
The wording itself explained everything.
"Kill them if you can; if you can't, stall them."
"Before dawn, do not retreat if you can help it!"
No one spoke.
Glock looked around and nodded.
"For the Empire! Move out."
The Ninth Team was assigned to the front of the collapse site, the same spot as last night.
It was also the direction of the greatest pressure.
Assisting them were two Descendants.
Lu Yuan raised no objection.
The front meant being the first to engage, which also meant being the first to gather intelligence.
To him, this was not entirely a bad thing.
If something truly existed underground, his team's chance of survival would at least be slightly higher.
By the time the team reached the North Ward collapse site, the sky had turned completely dark.
But this time, it was drastically different from the previous night.
March lamps were set every five meters along the blockade zone, their light forming a bright arc that illuminated the entire area in front of the collapse site.
The copper-plated barricades had already been installed by the vanguard.
The twelve sets of barricades were arranged in an arc, their copper spikes facing the collapse site, their bases anchored to the copper ground with spikes.
The gaps between the barricades were connected with copper wire mesh, which was also dusted with a layer of copper powder.
From a distance, it looked like a dark red low wall, shimmering with a steady metallic luster under the light of the march lamps.
Ten paces behind the blockade zone was the firing position.
Embrasures made of half-height sandbags were set up, with ammunition crates and spare supplies stacked behind them.
Rate on N.U.
