Guardian Takes Action

The second group consisted of two people.

An older man, his left arm in a sling across his chest, the bandage soaked in blood.

The other one was younger, with a pale face and unfocused eyes, his right hand still clutching an unsheathed bronze sword.

When Lu Yuan was treating their wounds, the older one spoke up.

"We are the Seventh Squad."

His voice was hoarse, as if he had been shouting all night.

"Of the twelve men, only two returned. Who leaked the intelligence?"

[Basic Medical: +0.1...2.8/20]

Lu Yuan did not answer.

The third group consisted of only one person.

He walked in alone, covered in blood, but most of it wasn't his own.

He only said one sentence after entering.

"I'm the only one left in the Eighth Squad."

Then he sat down against the corner of the wall and stopped talking.

Lu Yuan listened while treating the wounded.

Intermittent conversations came from all directions, and pieced together, they formed the whole picture of tonight's events.

"The Third Squad was wiped out. They were on their way to the inner city when all the lights went out, Ghoul rushed out of the alleys, giving them no chance to fight back."

"The Eleventh Squad was down to just its captain. He carried a dead man for three blocks before reaching the outpost."

"No news from the Fifth Squad yet. Their area is the most severely affected by the collapse."

"The intelligence is completely wrong... They said the Ghoul were concentrated at the Collapse Pit, but the road is full of ambushes..."

Someone lowered their voice, their tone heavy.

"I heard the collapse in the inner city is even larger than in the Outer City; all three areas are large-scale, and the amount of water gushing out..."

He didn't finish speaking.

But everyone understood.

The squad inside the city is in an even more dangerous situation.

"I hope the captains over there are all doing well."

Someone whispered something in the corner. No one answered.

A few seconds of silence followed.

Then the older Night Watcher from the Seventh Squad suddenly looked at Lu Yuan.

"I heard you led a team to the North Spinning District?"

"Yes."

How's the situation over there?

"The Collapse Pit is huge, and the main force of the Ghoul is underground, with an extremely high density." Lu Yuan's tone was calm. "We can't stop it; we have to retreat."

The Night Watcher nodded, as if it were expected.

Then he asked a question.

"Are you guys back?"

"Nine went out, nine came back."

The Alchemy Workshop fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't deliberate silence.

Everyone paused for a moment at the same time.

The hand bandaging the wound stopped, the cloth wiping the weapon remained still, and even the person who had been resting with their eyes closed against the wall opened their eyes.

"Not a single one is missing?"

The one speaking was the sole surviving Night Watcher from the Ninth Squad.

He looked up at Lu Yuan, his eyes filled with something very complicated.

"Not a single one is missing."

No one spoke.

Boer sat in the corner, head down, without interrupting.

But his grip on the hilt of the bronze sword tightened slightly.

After a few seconds, the older Night Watcher gave a wry smile.

"No wonder the Deputy Chief appointed you as the team leader."

Lu Yuan didn't reply and continued with his work.

While everyone was taking a short break, Lu Yuan was the first to notice something was wrong.

It's not a sound.

It was a feeling of oppression.

An extremely strong aura of Mutation surged in from the inner city.

Pure Contamination.

Pure evil.

It was so strong that even ordinary people could sense something was wrong.

[Sanity: -2...41/120]

The moment Lu Yuan saw the notification, his pupils contracted sharply.

"How is that possible?!"

Then Lu Yuan suddenly stood up and rushed to the window.

Others noticed it too.

What is that!?

Someone cried out in surprise.

Lu Yuan pushed open the window and looked towards the inner city.

The sky has changed.

A black, cloud-like mass was rapidly spreading from the direction of the inner city.

It is something that is alive.

The dark clouds surged and expanded, spreading outwards in all directions at a visible speed.

Then Lu Yuan could see what was inside the clouds.

Eye.

Countless dark eyes.

They were embedded in the churning black clouds, large and small, densely packed, with no whites of their eyes, no pupils, only pure, bottomless blackness.

Every single eye is moving.

They are staring.

Gazing at the city below.

Gazing at everyone in the city.

That feeling of being watched isn't fear; it's something deeper.

It was as if I suddenly realized that I was standing on an endless Deep Sea, and something was slowly rising from the surface.

He couldn't see its whole picture.

He could only see its eyes.

Countless eyes are opening.

[Rationality: -2...-2...37/120]

Everyone inside and outside the Alchemy Workshop was stunned.

The wounded were no exception. The Night Watcher with a broken leg stood on one leg, supporting himself against the wall, clutching his bronze sword, his eyes fixed on the slowly rotating Black Eyeball in the sky.

"What's this..."

Someone's voice was trembling.

Within seconds, the dark clouds had covered most of Bronze City.

The moonlight was obscured, and the world fell into darkness.

It's not the darkness of night, but a murky, malicious gloom born from being watched by countless eyes.

Immediately afterwards, a loud bang came from the direction of the inner city.

Boom--!

It is the impact generated when some kind of force is released.

The walls of the entire Alchemy Workshop were trembling, and the bottles and jars on the shelves were clanging.

At the same time, gray-white text was frantically jumping around at the edge of Lu Yuan's field of vision.

[Detection Target: Guardian]

[Beyond Cognition]

Lu Yuan's heart sank.

Guardian.

He had seen this aura before. At the entrance of the Alchemy Workshop, the white-haired old man simply stood there, and the Vice Dean of the Tower of Erudition fled in panic.

But that time, the Guardian did not make a move.

This time is different.

From the center of that churning black cloud in the direction of the inner city, an invisible wave suddenly spread out.

All the eyes in the clouds began to pause, scanning what lay beneath the Bronze City.

Then, the Ghoul outside began to hiss.

It was a scream of pain and despair.

Lu Yuan rushed to the door and looked out at the perimeter of the outpost.

At the edge of the Marching Lamp's beam, several remaining Ghoul were undergoing drastic changes.

Their limbs convulsed, and large black scorch marks appeared on their grayish-red flesh.

That invisible force is dismantling them from the inside out.

A Ghoul's body began to collapse, its muscles dissolved, its bones softened, its skin ruptured, and dark brown liquid seeped from every pore.

In the blink of an eye.

A complete Ghoul turned into a pool of steaming pus.

More than one.

Every Ghoul in sight was going through the same process.

Hissing, collapsing, dissolving.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch, simultaneously draining all their vitality.

In the distance, more screeching sounds rose and fell on the streets, then faded away one by one.

Lu Yuan stood at the doorway, looking at everything before him.

He knew the Guardian were very strong.

But he hadn't expected it to be this strong.

It's not targeting any one animal or group; it covers the entire city.

"Guardian..."

A trembling voice came from behind me.

Lu Yuan turned around and saw the older Night Watcher from the Seventh Squad staring intently toward the inner city, his eyes red-rimmed.

"This is the aura of the Guardian!"

His voice was hoarse, filled with an indescribable excitement.

Following closely behind, the second wave of changes arrived.