Setting Out and the State of Withered City

Lin En nodded with a wry smile and said:

"That's right, the Wailing Crystal haven't fully arrived yet, and we can't trust the local Night Watcher, so we can't conscript any more people."

"With the manpower that our workshop is barely maintaining right now, even if we send out all our resources, we can only form three small teams. Each team consists of one Third Order Transcendence being leading two Second Order and three first- First Order beings, making a group of six. Including Advisor Lu Yuan, who is in our group, there are only seven people in total."

"So we prioritized the tasks. The first thing we asked the City Hall to do was to immediately issue an order that all steam boilers and steam pipelines in the city must not be shut down or shut off under any circumstances, unless it is a normal shift, even if it alerts the enemy. We must immediately strengthen the guard and carry out patrols."

"I just had the City Hall staff translate this order into their official wording, and after everyone glanced at it and confirmed that there were no problems, it has been issued and implemented directly."

"The second thing is to solve the problem of manpower shortage. We have rearranged a simpler and faster route for the projects that Herbert has been involved in, with the Waterworks reservoir, the sealed drinking water pipeline and the city's high points such as the Clock Tower as the core."

"Because Consultant Lu Yuan can see traces of that residual black aura, we can only ask Consultant Lu to come with us and assist us throughout the process to see if there is any similar black aura in these places."

"If there is a target, identify it immediately. Our team will move in to handle and capture them. There are steam carriages on the road outside. If we act quickly, we can basically clear out all the places along this route in a day and a night!"

Lu Yuan glanced down at the shortcut routes that Lin En and his team had rearranged on the map, nodded to confirm that nothing had been missed, and then stood up decisively, saying:

"I understand everything. Let's not waste any more time and set off now."

As the winter night in Watch City was filled with howling winds and snow, Lu Yuan, Lin En, and the others pushed open the door of the Iron Furnace Street workshop and stepped into the cold wind to prepare for their departure. Meanwhile, on the border of the Land of the Dead Silence, far from Watch City, the heavy night had also completely fallen.

AM, a member of the Forbidden Society who disappeared after the Battle of Bronze City, is now standing quietly on a cliff high ground on the border of the Withered City with two other people.

A biting night wind, carrying Gray Mist, swept in from the depths of the Wasteland. AM stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the distant land that had been completely Mutation. As far as he could see, the bodies left behind on the Wasteland were twisting and contorting wildly.

The dark red ground undulated and writhed, lifting up the Flesh that had been lying dead in various parts of the Wasteland. Their joints cracked and popped as they struggled to their feet and came back to life.

Looking at the bizarre scene that was completely out of control, AM couldn't help but click his tongue and mutter to himself:

"It's completely over. It seems a new Taboo has indeed descended. I just don't know which one it is this time."

AM composed himself, his gaze shifting from the writhing, crawling corpses in the distance, and continued speaking:

"Prepare to report to the Imperial high command that the Withered City has been completely breached and can no longer be sealed off."

"The Withered City is now indefensible; at best, it can only provide a brief delay, allowing those old fogies in the central command to quickly devise a countermeasure."

At this point, AM paused slightly, turned her head to look towards the desolate Snow Mountain- capped mountains in the northeast, and added:

"Also, have people be extra vigilant about the Visarion Empire, and guard against the Visarion Empire using this as an opportunity to launch an attack on our empire. The Northern Territory absolutely cannot be compromised."

Just as AM was speaking, the shadow on the ground behind him suddenly rippled slightly, and a dark figure silently emerged from the shadows, bowing respectfully and saying:

"Sir, the information you provided has been thoroughly investigated."

The dark figure handed over a rolled-up Parchment Scroll with both hands and placed it steadily in AM's hand. This was not one of the two attendants accompanying AM, but a shadow formed purely of shadow.

AM reached out and took the Parchment Scroll containing detailed information. He unfolded it in the dim light and began to read. As he looked, a slight smile crept onto his lips, and he spoke with great interest:

"I never expected that our number seven Lu Yuan, would actually run off to the Knight Academy. Is he still in Watch City?"

"It seems the Night Watcher Headquarters has high hopes for him, protecting him so well, and he really did escape quickly."

AM's gaze swept down the writing on the Parchment Scroll, and then she asked another question:

"Has his specific Pathway still not been confirmed?"

The dark figure kneeling behind him lowered his head and replied in a deep voice:

"It's not fully confirmed yet, but we can make preliminary judgments in the following three directions."

"The first direction is Ancient Language, because there are many subcategories under Ancient Language, and the specific branch is not yet clear, but his ability is likely to be one of the Ancient Language."

"The second direction might be Dark Sacrificial Studies, but his performance doesn't seem quite right."

"Finally, there's a slight possibility that it involves Forbidden Studies that has disappeared for a long time."

"Based on our Third Master's deduction, Lu Yuan's Knowledge Path is most likely one of the three mentioned above."

After hearing this report, AM slightly tightened his fingertips, completely destroying the Parchment Scroll in his palm and crushing it into crumbs. He then gave a curt reply:

"Knew."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dark figure behind him who had handed AM the Parchment Scroll began to collapse and liquefy at the edges, flowing silently down the ground and shrinking back, melting and disappearing directly into the shadow beneath AM's feet, vanishing completely without a trace.

AM casually brushed the scraps of sheepskin from his palm, turned to look at the other two people standing behind him who had ignored their previous conversation, and said:

"Alright, stop watching. Let's head to Watch City now; a new show is about to begin."

"Whether a new god will emerge in the empire depends on this. It seems that the success of our Forbidden Society's plan also rests on the shoulders of a certain person."

AM threw his head back and laughed heartily. His cheerful laughter echoed far and wide in the cold, Wasteland night wind. With a flick of his sleeve, he turned and quickly left the border of the Withered City with the two people beside him.

Behind the departing figures of AM and his companions, the massive ancient city that spanned between two towering cliffs was now completely destroyed and crumbled.

Numerous grayish-brown, twisted fungi and corrosive, dark red fleshy veins were spreading and climbing densely across the towering city walls, corroding the magnificent pass that spanned the natural barrier into a riddled mess. The tall, heavy city body undulated and pulsated slowly in the night, following the contraction of the fleshy veins.

Behind that ancient city, which was once an impassable barrier, the entire border town, which had originally covered a vast area, had now become completely desolate.

The collapsed streets and alleys of the city were filled with wandering, undead, or rather, things that had been completely corroded and turned into mobile sources of Source of Pollution, and could no longer be called human.