“I have invited you all here today because of another matter.”
The Count’s tone shifted sharply.
“First, it has been confirmed that some among the inner city nobility have been infiltrated by mutation. Baron von Linde was the most severe case, and he has been executed on the spot according to imperial regulations. As for the other barons purged previously, all evidence is in the hands of the Nightwatchers. If you wish to see it, come to me yourself.”
“Second, an unidentified faction is active in the Bronze City, using a deep green liquid for infiltration. Those affected gradually undergo mutation. I advise you all to watch yourselves.”
“Third, every noble and merchant representative present today will undergo a screening, one by one.”
“As for those who are not present...”
The Count paused.
“...the Iron Guard has already gone to find them.”
As the Count spoke his final words, Lu Yuan was already scanning the room, sweeping his gaze across the attendees in the order of their seating.
Grey-white text surfaced at the edge of his vision.
First row, left side.
【Target detected: Bronze City noble (lightly polluted)】
Only one lightly polluted... it seems things aren't too bad, Lu Yuan thought as he shifted his gaze to the next row.
【Target detected: Bronze City noble (polluted)】
【Target detected: Bronze City noble (severely polluted)】
【Target detected: Bronze City noble (lightly polluted)】
Three popped up in a row. Lu Yuan’s eye twitched involuntarily. What on earth were these nobles doing with their lives?
His gaze continued to move back—third row, fourth row, those with attendants in the corners, those sitting alone... the grey-white text in his vision almost never stopped.
Light pollution was the most common, interspersed with standard pollution, and there were three or four severe cases. Those who were clean were scattered few and far between.
After a full sweep of dozens of nobles and merchant representatives, the number of people marked as anomalous by the grey-white text exceeded half.
Lu Yuan sat motionless, his back tensing slightly. Keeping his expression neutral, he leaned toward Kraus, his voice dropped to a whisper only the two of them could hear.
“It’s not good. Many people are polluted.”
Kraus’s brow furrowed for a moment, but he didn't speak. He withdrew his right hand from the armrest and rested it on his knee, making a tiny gesture toward Lu Yuan: he held a finger up vertically, then flattened it.
The meaning was clear: don't say a word, let the Count handle it.
Lu Yuan fell silent.
A commotion broke out in the hall. Some turned pale, while others shifted restlessly, their eyes darting toward the door.
A viscount stood up. He was a middle-aged man in a well-tailored deep blue formal suit, his chin held high.
“Lord Count, we have all heard of the business with Baron von Linde. But when you speak of mutational infiltration, isn't that... a bit too broad? Everyone seated here is a noble granted a title by the empire. To conduct a public screening like this is somewhat...”
Before he could finish, the Count’s gaze fell upon him.
The viscount’s voice dropped significantly, but he stood his ground.
“We have the right to know on what basis this screening is being conducted.”
An old baron nearby chimed in.
“At least provide a list. If you just check whoever you suspect, wouldn't that be a violation of imperial regulations? Even if you are an Count, you cannot do this!”
Before the old baron could finish his sentence...
The side door of the main hall was pushed open from the outside.
Four people walked in.
Leading them was a woman in her early forties. Her expression was calm, and her gaze didn't linger on anyone as she scanned the hall.
Following behind her were a young man carrying a flat copper case and two Nightwatcher guards. There were no badges on their uniforms, but the contours of their arms suggested they were never far from their weapons.
She held a document in her hand, made of parchment and adorned with the gold and red seals of the empire.
She walked to the center and placed the document on the table.
“Hilde Winter, Inspector from imperial headquarters. Acting on a Central Decree, I am here to conduct a screening for transcendent mutational infiltration throughout the entire Bronze City. No one present may refuse.”
Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the hall heard it clearly.
The viscount who had just spoken opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
The old baron also realized that this was mandatory. He shrank back into his chair with a look of embarrassment.
A warrant personally signed by the imperial center—refusal was equivalent to defying an imperial decree. The entire hall fell silent.
Lu Yuan’s grey-white text scanned her.
【Target detected: Hilde Winter (Knowledge transcendent)】
【A human who has studied a certain type of knowledge and achieved partial success.】
Looking at the aura emanating from Hilde and combining it with the text description, Lu Yuan estimated she was at rank 3.
A rank 3 Knowledge transcendent... it seemed the empire was taking this very seriously.
After a few seconds of silence in the hall, a voice came from the middle of the seating area.
“I support the screening.”
The speaker stood up. His face was gaunt, his hair grey at the temples, and although his clothes were decent, he clearly looked much older than before.
Herbert Victor, representative of the Great Merchant Association.
Lu Yuan remembered him. His son, Allen Victor, had died in the Polymath Tower disappearance case. Looking at him now, it was obvious the incident had taken a heavy toll.
Even though the culprit hadn't been found yet, he likely knew the specific cause. But what could he do?
The imperial center stood behind the Polymath Tower; he could only let the matter pass.
“The matter with Baron von Linde is no rumor. If anyone here has been infiltrated without knowing it, it’s for the best that it’s discovered.”
The Iron Guard commander’s chair creaked. He didn't stand up, merely shifted his posture and rested his hand on his saber. No one else spoke.
Lu Yuan recognized Herbert, and he also recognized another person sitting two seats away from him.
Baron Klein, the father of Philip Klein from the disappearance case. He was the baron who had “locked himself in his study” during the investigation.
Now he sat there, brought out by the Count, hands on his knees and eyes fixed on the floor. He hadn't looked at anyone from start to finish, clearly having lost his spirit.
The Count scanned the room, tapping his cane once more against the floor.
“Then let us begin.”
Hilde’s assistant opened the flat copper case.
Inside were dozens of long, slender silver needles. Each needle was extremely thin, with tiny inscription arrays carved into the ends, glinting coldly under the lights. Lu Yuan glanced at the quantity; it was roughly the same as the number of people present.
Hilde raised her hand.
The silver needles in the copper case all shot upward, dozens of them simultaneously leaving their slots to hover in mid-air. The inscription patterns lit up with a silver-white light, illuminating the entire hall for an instant, even causing the candle flames of the chandeliers to dim by comparison.
Some nobles instinctively shrank back.
The silver needles shot out simultaneously, accurately positioning themselves above every non-transcendent organization member present—nobles, merchant representatives, and attendants alike.
The needles did not pierce the skin. Instead, they hovered an inch above each person’s shoulder. The inscriptions formed a paper-thin detection field between the needle and the skin.
The light membranes rippled slightly against the surface of their clothes, with inscription patterns flowing slowly within them.
One noble reached out to block it, but the needle swerved around his hand and settled steadily back in its original position. The two merchant representatives behind Herbert didn't move, though one of them clenched his fingers tightly against his knees.
A wave of commotion swept through the hall, but no one could pull the things away.
Hilde stood in the center, her gaze slowly sweeping from left to right. After waiting for a few seconds, she swept her right hand downward.
The inscription arrays on all the silver needles provided their results at once.
In the first row on the left side of the hall, two needles were silver-white, while one glowed with a dark green light. In the second row: dark green, light green, dark green, silver-white. In the third row, silver-white and dark green appeared alternately. Over in the corner, it was light green, and further down, dark green again.
Dozens of needles hovered over dozens of shoulders. The silver-white needles emitted a clean, cold light under the lamps, while the dark green needles were wrapped in a layer of murky green. Some were as faint as mist, while others were so thick the inscription patterns were barely visible. The dark green needles far outnumbered the silver-white ones.
No one in the hall spoke.
Everyone could see the color of the needle on their own shoulder, and they could see their neighbors' as well.
One noble looked down at his own shoulder, his face turning deathly pale as he pushed his chair back a good distance. A noblewoman next to him, marked with light green, covered her mouth.
Further away, an old baron with a silver-white needle instinctively looked to his right. The person next to him had a shoulder glowing dark green. Their eyes met for a second, and the old baron moved his chair half a step further away.
The results for the two merchant representatives behind Herbert were also there—one silver-white, one dark green. The one with the dark green needle turned pale but didn't move, his hands still resting on his knees. Herbert turned to look, a flash of disappointment crossing his eyes before he looked away.
Lu Yuan sat in his seat. The grey-white text in his vision was practically scrolling like a wall, matching the results of the silver needles with high precision.
For those marked as 【polluted】 or 【lightly polluted】, the needles on their shoulders were all dark or light green. He did a rough count; the dark green and light green combined made up more than half.
Hilde’s expression changed. The intelligence she had received before coming was that “a small number of nobles were suspected of being infiltrated.” A small number. She glanced at Kraus; his expression hadn't changed, but his fingers had stopped moving on the armrest.
The candle flames of the chandeliers overhead flickered in the silver-white and dark green light. The hall felt as if it were submerged in a layer of filthy water.
Then, the first person suffered an incident.
It was the baron with the thickest dark green light, the one in his early forties who had just protested to the Count. His face changed color, his lips moved, but the words were choked in his throat.
“I... I don't know what that thing is. Six months ago, someone sent it to my mansion...”
He broke off mid-sentence. He looked down and saw his own hand. Something was flowing beneath the skin of his left hand, dark green patterns spreading from his fingertips to his wrist.
His skin cracked, and tiny dark green branches squeezed out from the fissures—tender shoots three or four centimeters long, their surfaces covered in fine, dense textures.
It was almost identical to Baron von Linde’s woodenization mutation, though far less severe. Clearly, the Forest Seed had been dormant in his body for a long time, and the stimulation of the detection field and his own fear had forced it out.
The hall became instantly tense. The surrounding nobles scrambled back, their chairs scraping loudly against the stone floor. The Iron Guard commander’s two lieutenants moved immediately, flanking the baron and pinning his shoulders to the chair.
Heinrich stood up, the Holy Armor inscriptions on his gauntlets lighting up for a moment.
The mutation did not expand further. The branches stopped after growing three or four centimeters. Apparently, the Forest Seed inside him wasn't yet mature. The baron slumped in his chair, his face ashen with despair.
Kraus’s gaze lingered on the back of the baron’s hand for two seconds before he raised a finger and pointed.
“Take him away.”
The Iron Guard hauled the baron out.
The atmosphere in the hall had changed completely.
Rate on N.U.
