The streets were deserted.
The dim yellow light of the gas lamps illuminated segments of the ground, leaving wide stretches of darkness between them.
Occasionally, the sound of carriage wheels grinding against the stone slabs drifted from afar, only to fade away quickly.
The river of light overhead flowed slowly through the night sky.
The lavender glow was more pronounced than during the day, blanketing half the sky.
Lu Yuan walked behind Hoguer.
His revolver was tucked inside his coat. Counting the days, the custom weapon he had ordered should be arriving soon.
Franz and Conrad walked on either side of the group.
In addition to the four of them, three field-level Nightwatchers followed behind.
There were seven of them in total.
The group’s footsteps were light.
After turning two street corners, they arrived at Crown Cast Lane.
The alley was short, ending at a large cast-iron gate.
A copper eagle-patterned badge was embedded above the porch, reflecting a dull sheen under the gaslight.
The light in the gatehouse was on.
Hoguer stopped in front of the gate.
He looked back at everyone.
Without speaking, he made three signals with his hands.
Franz to the left, Conrad to the right, and the rest with him.
Franz and Conrad, each taking one of the other Nightwatchers, vanished silently into the shadows on either side of the lane.
Hoguer waited for about thirty seconds.
It was enough time for everyone to get into position.
He stepped forward, raised his hand, and knocked three times on the gate.
The iron gate let out a dull thud in the night.
The curtains in the gatehouse twitched. A pale face pressed against the glass to look outside.
Hoguer pulled out his Nightwatchers badge and held it level with the guard’s line of sight.
“Nightwatchers, routine security inspection. Open the gate.”
His voice wasn't loud, but it was clear in the silent night.
The guard hesitated for a few seconds before the sound of a bolt sliding echoed.
The cast-iron gate opened a crack.
Hoguer didn't give him a second chance to hesitate.
He reached out, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
Lu Yuan followed behind him.
The last Nightwatcher was responsible for controlling the guard, covering his mouth and pinning him down with almost no sound.
The front courtyard wasn't large.
It was paved with stone bricks and lined with neatly trimmed shrubs on both sides.
Directly ahead was the main building, a three-story stone structure with a faint light glowing through the pointed arch windows.
The window on the far right of the second floor was lit; clearly, that was the Baron’s study.
Hoguer didn't pause.
Leading one Nightwatcher, he hurried across the front yard and pushed open the main building’s door, their footsteps echoing sharply on the stone stairs.
Lu Yuan didn't follow them upstairs.
He headed toward the right side of the main building.
According to the floor plan, the basement entrance was at the end of the corridor connecting the main building and the annex.
Two short commands drifted down from upstairs.
“Nightwatchers law enforcement! Resist and die!”
Then came the sound of furniture colliding—not a violent crash, but more like someone knocking over a chair in a panic.
A few seconds later, it fell silent.
Clearly, they had been brought under control.
Lu Yuan didn't let himself get distracted.
At the end of the corridor was a half-open wooden door.
Behind it were stone steps leading down.
He pushed the door open and walked down.
The stone steps were steep.
Copper wall lamps were embedded every few paces, their weak candlelight stretching his shadow long.
The air changed.
The deeper he went, the stronger the smell became.
It wasn't the smell a wine cellar should have.
Beneath the sour, fermented scent of wine lay another layer of something else... an indescribable odor of decay.
Lu Yuan’s footsteps paused.
‘And the smell in the North Ward pipe network... it's somewhat similar.’
It wasn't exactly the same.
But he couldn't forget that sweet, cloying undertone.
The scent emitted by the hyphae core was exactly like this.
He reached the bottom of the steps.
The basement wasn't large.
It was about twenty or thirty square meters.
It should have been a wine cellar; several rows of oak wine racks stood against the walls, with a few dusty bottles scattered on them.
However, the wine racks had been pushed to one side.
There were obvious scratch marks on the floor in the center, indicating that something had been moved frequently.
Several wooden crates were piled in the corner.
The lids weren't fully closed.
Lu Yuan walked over and lifted one.
It was empty.
A very thin layer of greyish-green powder remained on the inner walls.
‘Glazed Water.’
The residue left after drying.
It was consistent with the components Bo Er had previously found in the warehouse basement.
He lowered the lid and checked several other crates. All four or five wooden crates were the same—empty, with a thin layer of greyish-green residue on the inside.
Clearly, these were used for transport, and the contents had already been moved.
Lu Yuan stood in the center of the basement. At first glance, he didn't see any obvious traces.
But Lu Yuan didn't just look passively.
He closed his eyes.
His perception expanded.
The river of Sanity surged in his mind as the Knowledge Seeker’s perception radiated outward from his body.
The scents in the basement were peeled away layer by layer. The Glazed Water residue...
Beneath those scents.
There was another layer.
Extremely faint.
A scent that was almost completely covered.
It was a trace so light it was nearly dissipating into the space.
It carried an aura Lu Yuan had never encountered before.
If the cellar hadn't been a sealed space, this aura might have already vanished completely.
‘It seems someone deliberately masked their aura, and it doesn't seem like the Grey Covenant...’
There was something else.
‘Who? The Church? The Ascension Society? Or something that existed even earlier?’
Lu Yuan stood up and walked slowly along the wall.
His fingers slid lightly over the stone surface.
As he walked behind a row of wine racks, his fingertips touched something that felt wrong.
There was a very shallow crack in the stone wall, different from the texture of the other walls.
Lu Yuan pushed the wine rack aside.
On the stone wall behind it was a shallow hidden compartment.
It was about the size of a palm, embedded in the wall.
There was only one thing inside.
A small wooden fragment, about the size of a thumb, with fine patterns on its surface that looked like bark.
Lu Yuan took the fragment out.
The moment it touched his hand, greyish-white text emerged.
【Target Detected: Unknown plant fiber (Dead)】
Lu Yuan’s fingers tightened.
‘Plant fiber.’
‘Bolen’s report mentioned that the Grey Covenant’s molted shell materials contained trace amounts of plant-like fibers, the source of which has never been identified.’
‘Now the same thing has appeared in Baron von Linde’s cellar.’
Just as Lu Yuan tucked the fragment into his inner pocket...
A sound came from upstairs.
It wasn't the kind of sound that should come from a normal control procedure.
The sound of furniture shattering and heavy impacts.
Then, a short, sharp scream.
Lu Yuan reacted instantly. He shoved the fragment into his pocket, drew his revolver, and turned to head upstairs.
He took the stone steps two or three at a time, through the corridor, the side door of the main building, and up the stairs.
Second floor, toward the study.
The door had already been kicked open.
Lu Yuan rushed to the doorway.
The room was in shambles.
The desk was overturned, chairs were smashed into pieces, and a copper desk lamp lay on the floor, its oil spilled everywhere as flames danced on the stone slabs.
A Nightwatcher was slumped in the corner, his shoulder torn open by something, a wound so deep the bone was visible.
Gritting his teeth, he pressed down on the wound, blood seeping through his fingers.
Hoguer stood in the center of the room, his blade unsheathed, the edge coated in a layer of black liquid.
And by the window...
Baron von Linde stood there.
Or rather, the thing that used to be Baron von Linde stood there.
Hoguer’s blade had left a deep wound on his body, slashing diagonally from his right shoulder to the side of his neck.
It had nearly severed his head.
But he didn't fall.
What seeped out of that horrific wound wasn't blood.
It was a greyish-green viscous liquid, oozing out like resin.
The skin at the edges of the wound was changing at a visible rate, hardening and turning rough.
Patterns resembling tree bark spread outward from the wound, covering half his neck and crawling up his jaw.
Greyish-white text emerged at the edge of his vision.
The text flared up.
【Target Detected: Baron von Linde (Mutation in Progress)】
【A human who has gained power by accepting an unknown curse, though unfortunately, he has not yet mastered this power skillfully.】
【Weakness: Fire】
The Baron’s head, hanging precariously beside his shoulder, looked hideous. His pupils flashed with rage, and his mouth opened and closed.
“They promised me... power... eternal...”
Before he could finish his sentence.
The Baron moved.
He was faster than Lu Yuan had expected.
The Baron snatched a short sword that looked like an ornament from behind the overturned desk.
But judging by the cold glint on it, it was clearly a real combat weapon, with the family’s eagle crest engraved on the guard.
The Baron slashed with a backhand, the blade whistling through the air as it aimed straight for Hoguer’s throat.
Hoguer tilted his head to dodge, bringing his own blade up to parry.
The two weapons collided with a sharp metallic ring.
The Baron’s footsteps followed through.
A second strike. A slash.
A third strike. A thrust.
The Baron’s movements weren't particularly sophisticated, but they were crisp and efficient.
The traces of formal training were obvious. Inner city nobles, even those who dealt in minerals, never skipped their swordsmanship lessons.
Hoguer retreated two steps, parrying the third strike while simultaneously delivering a counter-slash.
The blade sliced through the Baron’s forearm.
The skin split open.
What seeped out wasn't blood.
It was greyish-green slime.
The skin at the edges of the wound began to woodenize, bark-like patterns spreading from the cut to cover half his forearm.
The Baron glanced down at his arm.
He didn't panic.
Instead, he laughed.
That smile looked exceptionally twisted in the flickering light of the burning lamp oil.
“Look... this is what they gave me...”
The woodenization began to accelerate.
It spread from his forearm to his shoulder, and from his shoulder up the side of his neck.
The skin on half his face turned rough.
A dark green wooden tumor bulged in his left eye socket, squeezing the eyeball until it was sunken in.
His right arm suddenly swelled, the skin bursting open.
Inside wasn't flesh and blood, but greyish-green wood.
The wood was densely entwined, hardening into a coarse branch-like growth.
The branch-like growth swept toward Hoguer.
The strength behind it had completely changed.
Hoguer braced himself to block, his blade and the wooden branch colliding with a heavy, dull thud.
He was knocked back two steps, his soles carving two white marks into the stone floor before he stabilized himself.
Hoguer’s expression changed as he felt the force.
“The Bronze City actually didn't perceive you?”
The Baron laughed maniacally.
“This is the power Him bestowed upon me! Die, all of you!”
At that moment, Franz rushed in from outside. Holding a short-gun, he closed in and fired a shot.
Boom!
The bullet embedded itself into the Baron’s woodenized chest, but it didn't penetrate. The wooden fibers were layered and dense, trapping the slug like a suit of armor.
The Baron’s body grew harder and harder, looking less and less human. Wherever he walked, greyish-green filaments poked out—the wooden fibers were attempting to take root.
Lu Yuan finally found his opening. His revolver, now loaded with copper-cased incendiary rounds, was already aimed.
Bang!
A burst of hot, orange-red flare erupted from the muzzle.
The incendiary round hit the Baron’s right shoulder.
Flames exploded on the woodenized surface, the sound of scorching and wood cracking echoing simultaneously.
The impact knocked the Baron’s body back a step, and a string of flames flared up on the branch-like growth on his right side.
Hoguer’s blade was already there.
The moment the branch cracked from the heat, he spun and exerted force, his blade precisely embedding itself into the wound on the Baron’s neck that was already deep enough to show bone.
This strike was delivered without a shred of hesitation.
Squelch—
The blade sliced through the final layer of muscle that hadn't fully woodenized and through the cervical vertebrae.
The Baron’s head detached from his torso.
It spun through the air, hit the wall, and clattered to the floor, rolling twice before coming to a stop face-up.
On that half-woodenized face, the remaining right eye was still darting around.
The mouth was still opening and closing.
It was still saying that same word.
“...Power...”
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