Chapter 344 Gathering in One Hall

"The person on the wall. You have been in contact with Him. You have something of Him left on you."

His voice was very low.

"How much more do you actually know about this?"

Cameron stared at Lu Yuan with her right eye and remained silent for a long time.

His throat bobbed a few times. Lu Yuan was prepared to see "unable to speak" again.

But this time Cameron spoke out.

"He is incomplete."

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment, because he had only seen this matter in the gray and white text. Apart from that, he didn't know much about it during his interactions with it.

After a brief silence, Cameron seemed to be testing how much the contract allowed him to say.

"Not only that."

He paused for a moment, a thin layer of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"I actually know a bit about his purpose, but..."

Carme's body suddenly stiffened, the shackles clanging against the iron chair with a sharp metallic sound, bloodshot eyes welled up in his right eye, veins bulged on his forehead, and he looked as if something was choking him from within.

Carme's head slumped, her chin resting on her chest, her breathing heavy and rapid. Sweat dripped from her swollen forehead.

"I was directly involved in the fishing operation, and I had to ensure its success. I knew the consequences of failure: I and the Erudite Tower would be branded with shame, and all the sacrifices would be blamed on me, the vice dean."

"They call it violating imperial regulations."

Cameron smiled silently.

"So when I faced the people on the wall, I actually made a contract early on, but most of the questions I asked were... questions, and that was my bargaining chip for survival."

Having read this far, Lu Yuan roughly understood what Cameron's wish was.

A line of gray text jumped across the edge of my field of vision.

[Current Status of Bronze City: +1...34.2/50]

Lu Yuan snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at Cameron in front of him, and silently withdrew some of his previous contemptuous attitude towards her.

Rex spoke, and this time there was no coldness in his tone.

"Do you know K's whereabouts?"

Carme shook her head.

"have no idea."

"Yes, you have enough value now, but you'll need to stay here for a while longer."

Lu Yuan nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

The two men walked out of the detention cell, and the iron door closed behind them.

The dark silver inscriptions in the corridor pulsated slowly on the stone walls.

"How much of what he said is true?" Rick asked without turning around.

"Nine...seven floors, I guess." Lu Yuan took back the ninety percent he was about to say.

"He has no reason to lie to me. His talisman only contains this information. Klaus of the Gray Contract Society can send it to headquarters, but no one cares if a vice dean dies under these circumstances."

"Moreover, I think that Cameron's first wish is most likely the information about the man on the wall, and how he forcibly negated the restrictions imposed by the man on the wall in some way."

"Of course, it's possible that these are just some inside stories we're unaware of."

"Hmm." Rick nodded.

"The location of the seed is enough to keep him alive. Hopefully, he won't lie to us anymore and will go find Klaus."

The door to Klaus's office was open.

Three lights were on, and reports and pipeline maps were spread out on the table. Klaus was standing behind the table, talking to Glock. When he saw Lu Yuan and Rex enter, he stopped talking and glanced at the two of them.

"Is the trial finished?"

"We've reached the end of the interrogation." Rick walked to the table, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair, recounting the interrogation results point by point. He spoke slowly, pausing for a second or two between each point to give Klaus time to process them.

Cameron admitted to intercepting the fragments leaked from the Sea of ​​Knowledge and handing them over to the Gray Pact. He said someone had warned him beforehand that the leak would occur, but he couldn't say who it was; the contract sealed off that information.

When Rick got to the last point, he paused for a moment.

"The person on the wall is incomplete."

Klaus's fingers paused for a moment on the table.

"That's good news, isn't it? Anything else?"

"The last seed has hatched at the top of the Tower of Learning."

"Um?"

Klaus didn't comment immediately; he glanced down at the map on the table.

"Looks like someone's up to no good."

Lu Yuan added, "Also, Came has a more reliable plan for harvesting knowledge from the Sea than the Empire currently has. Rex has collected the swarming insects and hasn't forcibly read it yet."

Klaus glanced at Rick. Rick nodded slightly in confirmation.

"Where is K's whereabouts?" Klaus asked.

"I'm still not sure," Lu Yuan replied.

Klaus remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he straightened up and closed the report on the table.

"Let's put these aside for now. The dive can't be delayed any longer."

He glanced at Lu Yuan and Lei Ke.

"The Ascension Society and the Church have arrived, and the Earl himself has come. Meeting room, now."

The large conference room at the far end of the second floor of the branch office.

Klaus pushed open the door, and the light from the marching lights poured out, much brighter than the corridor.

The conference room was twice the size of the one we usually used. A large rectangular table was placed in the center, and a large map of the pipeline layer was spread out on the table. The locations of the copper pillars, the known strongholds of the Gray Contract Society, and the orientation of the copper walls were all marked with different colored ink.

Lu Yuan followed Klaus and Rick inside, glancing around the room.

Everyone has arrived.

Klaus walked to the head of the table and sat down, in front of him was the map covered with markings.

Lu Yuan sat down to his right, Glock sat to his left, the communication crystal was placed on the corner of the table, and Rex did not sit down, but leaned against the corner of the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his dark red pupils shimmering slightly under the light.

His complexion was much better than a few days ago, and his human form remained stable, with no apparent abnormalities.

A tall, thin figure sat on the left side of the conference room.

Lu Yuan's gaze lingered there for two seconds. That thing was hard to describe as "human." Most of its body was a bare metallic color, and intricate mechanical interlocking structures could be seen at the joints of its shoulders and arms, opening and closing slightly with the rhythm of its breathing.

His face was almost blank, and no expression could be seen on the extremely smooth metal panel. His eyes were silver-gray, and his pupils did not change with the light.

He was alone, without any attendants.

Grayish-white text jumped out at the edge of my field of vision.

[Detection Target: High Ascendants (Ascension Guild)]

[A non-human being who has almost entirely transformed himself into a mechanical structure possesses extremely strong resistance to strange phenomena and contamination. But aside from lacking a human identity, everything seems to be going well?]

Lu Yuan's gaze lingered on the gray and white text for a moment.

"It seems the leader of this Ascension Guild's headquarters is no pushover..."

Adrian sat opposite the Ascension Society.

The archbishop hadn't left the Night's Watch branch and was already waiting here.

He was still wearing that plain dark gray coat, his face kind, and he nodded slightly when he saw Klaus enter. He tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table, a habitual gesture.

But the look he gave the Ascension Society was tinged with undisguised disdain. His lips twitched slightly for a moment before returning to a kind smile. Agnes had arrived at some point and was now standing behind him, her black hood pulled up, her long, moon-white hair tucked inside. Her expression was calm, and she didn't say a word.

Count Helmut himself was present at the side of the main seat.

He held a silver cane upright in front of him, his hands folded over the top of the cane, his upper body slightly leaning forward, his cloudy eyes fixed on the map on the table, lost in thought.

The attendant stood half a step behind him, dressed in a dark gray robe with a narrow-bladed longsword hanging at his waist. He still had that same smiling face, no matter the occasion.

The last figure appeared at the doorway.

Arthur Heinz walked in front, his face serious, wearing a white belted military uniform, with a gold-embroidered red shawl trailing behind him, just like the last time on the battlefield, the formal attire of an imperial special envoy inspector.

He glanced at Klaus after he came in; Klaus was organizing the markings on the map and didn't look up.

But what truly surprised Lu Yuan was the person who followed half a step behind Arthur.

It's the dean.

With gray hair, a kind face, and wearing the standard robe of the Tower of Learning, he walked at a leisurely pace.

But he looked much older than the last time I saw him. The wrinkles on his face were deeper, and his originally thin figure had become even more gaunt. He looked like he had been worn down by something during this time.

His gaze was indifferent. When he entered the room, his eyes swept across the table, and when he saw Lu Yuan, he was clearly stunned.

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment when he met his gaze.

The last time I saw this person was on the spiral staircase of the main tower of the Tower of Learning.

He and Laurina went to the dean for help. The dean gave Laurina a silver medal and said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine, and you'll be fine too," before turning and walking up the stairs.

The white robe gradually blurred in the blue light and shadow; that was the last time Lu Yuan saw his back.

After that, the dean never appeared again. The Tower of Learning first said he was unwell, then said he had a mission, and then simply stopped mentioning it.

The leak of the Sea of ​​Knowledge, Arthur's intervention, and the arrest of the vice dean—these events occurred one after another, yet the dean never showed up.

Lu Yuan had always believed that he was dead.

But now that he was standing here, the dean seemed very tired. After nodding slightly to Lu Yuan, he found a seat and sat down on his own.

Grayish-white text appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

[Target for Detection: Dean of the Tower of Learning (Exceptional Knowledge) (False Believer)]

[A human being who dedicated his life to knowledge, yet retains a certain ancient aura... how tragic.]

The gray and white text seems to convey some kind of message.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

There were ten people in the conference room, at least half of whom were superhumans of the fourth rank or above. The aura they unconsciously released made the air feel heavy. Everyone was present, and the light from the marching lights pinned each person's shadow to the wall.

Then came a brief silence.

Waiting for Klaus to speak.

Klaus stood up.

Without wasting words, he placed his finger on the marked location of the bronze pillar on the map and began to speak.

"There's something wrong with the bronze pillar; it's related to the ghoul incident from last time."