Laurina's Letter

There were two letters from Laurina.

The first was very short, consisting of only a single line.

"The scale of the collapse at the Old Council Square in the inner city has exceeded everyone's expectations. Stay safe."

The handwriting was steady, as if it had been written in a few hurried seconds.

The second letter was longer than the first.

The handwriting was messier than usual, with ink bleeding in some places as if it had been written on an uneven surface.

"Potion stocks have hit rock bottom. I won't be able to send you anything for a while."

"The progress on the new formula based on refined sandworm oil hasn't been smooth. The equipment's precision is lacking; I've tried three times but couldn't stabilize the reaction temperature—"

This line cut off halfway.

A blot of ink followed, as if the pen tip had rested on the paper for a long time.

Then, a new line began.

"The Third Tower of the Polymath Tower, my laboratory workbench. There is something left there for you."

"You'll know what it is once you get there."

"The branch has assessed that the inner city can no longer guarantee safety. Tomorrow or the day after, someone will escort me to headquarters."

"If you need anything, tell me before I leave."

It was signed:

"Laurina."

After reading, Lu Yuan folded the letters and tucked them into his pocket.

He placed them right next to the previous one.

Bo Er stood nearby and had heard all the news.

He remained silent for a long time.

"Not a single one came to the North Ward last night," his voice was very low.

"Is it because they all went to the inner city?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

He thought back to the hives he had seen in the abyss.

Layers upon layers of holes, interconnected in every direction.

A massive underground network.

The ghouls hadn't vanished from the surface.

They had withdrawn from the North Ward entrances back into the nest, regrouping through that network toward the inner city.

They were swarming toward the inner city.

Swarming toward the roots of the bronze pillars.

They—or rather, the thing commanding them—had abandoned the secondary target of the North Ward.

They had turned toward what truly mattered.

Those bronze pillars jutting out from the cliff walls.

Lu Yuan stood by the window, watching the dust and smoke that had yet to fully dissipate in the direction of the inner city.

Sunlight hit the smoke, casting a hazy, warm hue that looked like tarnished gold.

The copper floor beneath his feet was quiet.

The light of the runes was no longer visible.

However, Lu Yuan knew that even when night fell, those runes might not light up again.

The energy for the runes was transmitted from the inner city.

With the inner city under attack, once it failed to hold, everything in the outer city would fall as well.

Lu Yuan looked down at the copper plates he was standing on.

Beneath the copper was soil.

Beneath the soil was rock.

Further down past the rock was the abyss.

And across the abyss were those massive bronze pillars.

The inner city was built on the tops of those pillars.

It was built on a lid over an abyss.

The things beneath the lid were trying to tear down the pillars supporting it.

Yet, there was nothing he could do about it.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

The North Ward was safe.

At least for now.

But this wasn't a victory.

It only meant that the inner city was more important than this place.

Resources followed danger. Manpower, ammunition, and attention would all tilt toward the inner city.

The priority of the North Ward would continue to drop.

And this hole was still wide open.

Lu Yuan turned around.

"Bo Er."

"Sir."

"Recount the ammunition. Everyone's. Calculate how many nights we can hold out without resupply."

Bo Er saw the grim expression on Lu Yuan's face.

"Understood."

Lu Yuan walked downstairs.

Bolen was still sitting in a corner on the first floor, sketching inscription diagrams on paper with a copper rod.

Kail crouched beside him, grinding some kind of powder.

"Bolen," Lu Yuan called out.

Bolen looked up.

"That broken conduction structure on the surface... can it be repaired?"

Bolen glanced at him.

"Probably."

"How long?"

"If it's just a temporary connection... three days," Bolen's finger continued to trace on the paper. "But that's only for surface-level conduction. I can't do anything about the deep layers."

"That's enough."

Three days.

Lu Yuan calculated in his mind.

Repair the surface conduction structure within three days.

Restore the coverage of the city wall runes over the North Ward area.

At the very least, ensure this hole wasn't completely exposed.

And then...

Then wait.

Wait for a victor to emerge in the inner city.

Lu Yuan walked out of the Alchemy Workshop.

The sunlight was pleasant.

But he knew what lay beneath the ground this sunlight touched.

Every step he took was on top of the heads of people sealed underground centuries ago.

Those people had become ghouls.

They had built a nest.

After dawn, Bolen sought out Glock.

Lu Yuan was organizing ammunition at the time and heard the conversation drifting up from the first floor.

"I need to go down one more time."

Bolen's voice carried an irrepressible urgency.

It was almost identical to the cry of "I have to go back" when Kail had dragged him away from the edge of the abyss yesterday.

Except that after a night's sleep, there was a trace of rationality in his desperation.

"I only had time to see one cross-section of the surface conduction structure's break yesterday. There are at least four more critical nodes that need on-site inspection. Furthermore, the inscription style on the bronze pillars..."

"Denied," Glock interrupted him.

Bolen's mouth hung open.

"You saw the situation in the inner city last night."

Glock's tone left no room for negotiation.

"The branch hasn't sent any orders yet. I don't know if we're supposed to hold or withdraw. Under these circumstances, I will not authorize anyone to go down into that hole."

Bolen stood there, his cane thumping once against the floor.

"Grand Captain Glock, you don't understand the value of those inscriptions—"

"I don't need to understand," Glock looked at him. "I need you alive to complete the mission assigned by the branch and then fill out your mission report."

"As for the value of the inscriptions, we will go to confirm it ourselves once this matter is resolved."

Bolen's face flushed red. He opened his mouth but said nothing for a long while.

Kail stood behind him, tugging at his sleeve.

The old man stubbornly refused to budge.

Lu Yuan walked down the stairs.

"Bolen."

Bolen turned to look at him.

"You said yesterday that the broken conduction structure on the surface can be repaired," Lu Yuan shifted the topic back to the mission. "Can you see the things you want to see during the repair process?"

Bolen was stunned for a moment.

"...I can see part of it. The cross-sections, the pathways, the stylistic features. The samples on the surface are part of the same system as those underground, just at the terminal ends."

"Then repair it on the surface," Lu Yuan glanced at Glock. "No going down the hole."

Glock looked at Lu Yuan and remained silent for a moment.

"You can go no further than thirty meters from the edge of the hole," Glock said before turning to leave.

Bolen watched Glock's retreating back, then looked at Lu Yuan.

He muttered something under his breath but didn't argue further.

He turned to Kail and said, "Go bring the tools over."

Around ten in the morning, people from the branch arrived.

It wasn't just one person.

It was a carriage accompanied by four Nightwatchers.

The leader was a middle-aged officer with a unit insignia on his shoulder that Lu Yuan hadn't seen before.

He held a stamped document and went straight to Glock.

Lu Yuan didn't approach them.

However, the space on the first floor of the Alchemy Workshop wasn't large, and the conversation was clearly audible.

"Orders from the branch. Immediately reassign one-third of the current strength from the North Ward position to return with the carriage to the inner city to assist in the defense of the Old Council Square."

Glock took the document and glanced at it.

"Counting the wounded, I have nineteen people here. One-third is six. If you take six, I'll have thirteen left to guard a collapse hole plus a three-hundred-meter perimeter."

"The branch's position is that there have been no large-scale surges from the North Ward collapse hole for the past two nights, so its priority has been downgraded," the middle-aged officer's tone was strictly professional. "The inner city's Old Council Square area is in desperate need of manpower."

Glock didn't speak.

He placed the document on the table and remained silent for about five seconds.

"I'll provide the men," his voice was flat. "I'll decide which six."

"Fine. Depart within half an hour."

After speaking, the middle-aged officer unloaded three wooden crates and two ammunition bags from the carriage.

"These are the supplies you requested earlier. Ammunition, copper powder, sandworm oil, mithril, and alchemical weapons."

He paused for a moment.

"There are no potions. The inner city intercepted all of them."

Glock's expression soured, but he nodded and didn't press further.

The carriage waited at the door.

Glock took less than ten minutes to finalize the list.

Six people.

Three were drawn from each of the Eleventh and Seventh Teams. After they were taken, the two teams could still maintain a minimum combat structure.

Lu Yuan noticed that the Ninth Team was not touched.

When Glock walked over, Lu Yuan happened to be counting the newly arrived ammunition.

"I didn't move your people," Glock said.

"I noticed."

"It's not to do you a favor. The Ninth Team just went down the hole yesterday and is in the worst state. They wouldn't hold up if I sent them to the inner city."

Lu Yuan didn't respond.

He knew that wasn't the only reason.

But Glock didn't need a thank you.

The six Nightwatchers packed their gear and boarded the carriage.

Before leaving, one of them passed by Lu Yuan and patted his shoulder.

It was the gunner from the Eleventh Team on the west side of the position. The partner whose Sanity test had shown deep orange had already been sent away; this was his teammate.

He didn't say a word.

He just patted him and got on the carriage.

The carriage drove toward the inner city and soon disappeared at the end of the street.

The entrance to the Alchemy Workshop suddenly felt much emptier.

Lu Yuan turned to scan the position.

Of the two Nightwatchers left on the surface for guard duty before they went down the hole yesterday, one was from the Ninth Team.

After his shift ended last night, Glock had reassigned him to fill a post on the east side.

The other was the one who had been sent away this morning because his Sanity was flashing red.

Standing at the door, Lu Yuan counted the remaining people.

Glock.

Bo Er.

Himself.

Plus the three remaining members of the Ninth Team, the three from the Eleventh Team, and the four from the Seventh Team.

Thirteen.

Adding Bolen and Kail made fifteen able-bodied people.

There was also a nun on the high ground.

One of the Descendants from the Ascension Society had been scrapped earlier, and the remaining one was wounded.

The Ascension Society had said they would send two new ones, but they were still nowhere to be seen.

The wounded one huddled in the ruins on the east side of the position during the day and only appeared after nightfall.

It wasn't under Glock's command, nor did it listen to anyone.

But it was still there.

Counting its combat strength, it could pass for one person.

Bolen and Kail didn't count as combatants.

The nun wasn't under his jurisdiction.

In reality, there were thirteen people who could carry a gun.

Guarding a single collapse hole.

"Bo Er."

"Sir."

"Come here."

Lu Yuan called Bo Er to the second floor of the Alchemy Workshop.

He spread out the simple map of the North Ward area.

Bo Er's results from counting the ammunition were already out.

Between the silver-plated bullets and the newly arrived supplies, they had a total of over four hundred rounds.

Twenty-four copper-cased incendiary rounds.

Ten copper powder canisters.

Two barrels of sandworm oil.

Additionally, there was a small amount of mithril and a few alchemical short weapons.

It looked like they had been scraped together from the inner city's armory.

"How long will this last?"

Bo Er thought for a moment.

"Depends on the intensity. If it's like the first two nights, two nights at most. If we get a surge on the scale of the second night... holding for even one night would be precarious. But with the mithril, we should be able to hold out a bit longer."

Lu Yuan looked at the map.

Glock's previous defensive line was a fan-shaped area radiating three hundred meters out from the hole.

There was a firing point each for the west, north, and east sides, with two layers of depth.

When they had nineteen people, it was just enough to cover it all.

Now they had thirteen.

They couldn't cover it anymore.

"Abandon the west side," Lu Yuan drew a line on the map with his finger.

Bo Er looked up at him.

"The west side is toward the Old Dye House. There are buildings in the way, so the visibility is the worst," Lu Yuan continued.

"But precisely because visibility is poor, the probability of ghouls circling around from that side is low. Besides, they are very sensitive to the scent of humans; there's a high probability they won't turn corners."

"But what if..."

"If they've learned how to turn corners, thirteen people won't be able to hold three sides anyway."

Bo Er fell silent.

Lu Yuan marked two new firing points on the map.

One directly in front of the hole.

One on the east side.

The front would keep three rows of barricades and the main firepower, with the depth compressed to one hundred and fifty meters.

The east side would serve as a flank guard with two people and tripwires.

The north side would use the building clusters as a natural barrier, with no fixed firing point but a mobile sentry instead.

"The Ninth Team will hold the front. The Eleventh and Seventh will merge to hold the east side and the mobile sentry."

Bo Er looked at the map for a while.

"How do we divide the ammunition?"

"Sixty percent for the front, thirty percent for the east. The remaining ten percent stays in the Alchemy Workshop as a reserve. All copper-cased incendiary rounds stay at the front, with me."

"What about the copper powder?"

"Four canisters for the front to lay down a blockade line, two for the east, and keep the rest."

Bo Er didn't ask anything else.

He copied the markings from the map into his notebook and went downstairs to set things up.

Lu Yuan stood alone by the second-floor window.

Outside, Bolen had already taken Kail to the vicinity of the hole and was crouching on the ground, touching the copper plates.

Lu Yuan walked to the window and pulled Laurina's letter from his pocket.

He flipped it over.

The back was blank.

Lu Yuan found a charcoal pencil on the table.

He wrote a few lines on the back.

"If possible, I need more Eerie-Bane Potions or similar wide-area lethality potions, even if the usage conditions are more stringent."

"I need intel: how much has the inner city's actual control area shrunk? How many more days can the North Ward logistics line be maintained? What are the movements of the Church and the Ascension Society in the inner city?"

"Write whatever you can, as much as you can."

"The matter with the sandworm oil isn't urgent."

The final line read:

"Stay safe on the road."

Lu Yuan folded the letter, went downstairs, and found the middle-aged officer who had delivered the ammunition.

The carriage hadn't left yet; it was being loaded with the luggage of the six reassigned men.

"Help me deliver a letter," Lu Yuan handed the letter over.

"Deliver it to Laurina, the alchemist at the Nightwatchers inner city outpost."

The middle-aged officer glanced at him.

"Are you Lu Yuan?"

"Yes."

The officer tucked the letter into his pocket.

"I've delivered Laurina's letters for her before," he said, his tone a bit more casual than his previous professional demeanor. "She's busy as can be over in the inner city. All those potions you have were made by her staying up all night."

Lu Yuan didn't respond.

The officer didn't say more either and climbed into the carriage.