Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

The other party was ultimately just an outsider. Even if the situation escalated and reached the Alliance, as the rightful city lord, he would still hold the upper hand.

"Do it!"

"Who dares?" Jiang Bai squinted his eyes, releasing the Spiritual Energy field.

Killing was far simpler than intimidation—he only hoped these people wouldn't be foolish enough to force his hand.

Seeing that the guards, who were initially poised to charge, suddenly stopped in their tracks, the city lord became frantic and stomped his feet. "Go! What are you waiting for?!"

His chubby fingers even directly pointed at Bai E. "He's not inside his Mecha now—no matter how strong a Mech Pilot is, his body is still made of flesh!"

Before the words finished, a pitch-black shadow instantly shot out from his fingertip.

Bai E, ever vigilant, reflexively slashed with his sword—a Longsword imbued with enchantments had appeared in his hand without anyone noticing. It deflected the incoming dark claw blade in an instant.

"Clang!"

The terrifying clash of metal reverberated sharply, piercing through everyone's eardrums. Bai E hoisted his sword and sneered coldly at the city lord, who merely appeared human, "So, you finally couldn't resist revealing yourself, could you?"

His Bug Race detector had already alerted him long ago. However, given that a large group originating from Thorn City had emerged, pinpointing the exact culprit was difficult.

Bai E had been waiting all along—for this, or these bugs, to take the initiative to reveal themselves.

But what he didn't expect was that the bug disguised as a human turned out to be the city lord himself!

The sudden turn of events between the two caused the initially chaotic groups to plunge into terror. Everyone stared in horror at the old city lord's pitch-black claws protruding from his hands.

Those weren't organs human bodies should possess—they were the chitinous shells only ever seen on bugs before.

Immediately, a few among the informed recalled the intel brought back by the competition squad sent to the Alliance—

A mutant bug had managed to disguise itself as a human and infiltrate human society.

Such mutants had only been confirmed to exist in one place: Eternal Night City, to the far north.

And now...

Had these mutant bugs already infiltrated Thorn City as well?

The city lord, whose disguise was now thoroughly exposed, gave up all pretenses.

The position of city lord was, of course, the perfect cover, but now that his adversary was determined to strip him of his title, there was no point in maintaining the pretense.

Seeing his identity exposed, he had to seize this opportunity to create as much destruction as possible.

As he had declared, he thought Bai E, separated from his Mecha, was at his weakest.

If he could kill Bai E now, there was still a chance for him to rise again.

The city lord's disguise was compromised? Then he'd simply change to another identity.

Changing identities required time, but he had plenty of that.

On one condition... he absolutely had to eliminate this human, who had just destroyed his broodmother and posed a lethal threat!

"Swish, swish, swish!" The pitch-black bone blades glinted in the twilight, each strike laden with menace.

Bai E dodged continuously, occasionally using the enchanted Star-Eater Blade in his hand to parry.

The appearance of bugs within Thorn City needed to be prolonged to make the severity of the situation sink in for its inhabitants. This would make it easier to secure full cooperation from the entire city later.

Operating alone provided flexibility, but when coordination was needed, lacking a team could expose drawbacks.

This was the first city in his rescue mission, and the circumstances here would offer invaluable lessons for the rest of his journey.

From afar, Thorn City's officials stared at the electrifying two-person battlefield with wary expressions, murmuring in awe.

"The city lord... What happened to him?"

"Is this some new type of human augmentation technology? Why haven't we heard anything about it?"

"I never thought the city lord was this powerful!"

"What city lord? That's not human—it's a bug!"

"A bug!"

"A bug!? How could it possibly be a bug?! How could a bug look like the city lord?"

"You haven't read the report from the squad returning from the imperial capital, have you? New variants of bugs have emerged that can perfectly mimic human appearances and infiltrate our society. They were exposed during a competition at the Alliance's summit—this was when the entire Alliance learned of this revelation."

"Why didn't we know this?!"

"Of course you didn't know! The city lord ordered all informants to keep quiet the moment he received the news!"

"Oh~ That explains it!" Someone suddenly realized. "The city lord himself had already been replaced and disguised by a bug—that's why he completely suppressed the information."

"No wonder this esteemed guest directly targeted the city lord upon arrival—it turns out he could tell the city lord was a bug all along! Wait! If bugs can disguise themselves as the city lord, doesn't that mean they can disguise themselves as any one of us?!"

The moment someone voiced this disturbing possibility, the previously close-knit team scattered in all directions.

Everyone worked to create distance from the others, fearing that someone near them might be another bug's disguise, ready to strike when least expected.

After all, even that lone individual capable of destroying a bug nest was engaging the bug-disguised city lord evenly—if more disguised bugs attacked, how could they possibly defend themselves?

However, Bai E didn't leave them to stew in fear for long.

Allowing this bug to demonstrate its true form was merely to deepen Thorn City's awareness of the threat.

Seeing the crowd had fully grasped the gravity of the situation, Bai E unleashed his full strength.

The enchanted Star-Eater Blade swept out with an endless stream of sword shadows—a devastating attack that instantly dismembered the disguised broodmother into shredded flesh.

In the end, the mangled form riddled with wounds collapsed to the ground, revealing the unmistakable octopus-like head for all to see.

Seeing this, the officials completely shed all doubts. "So it's true!"

"The old city lord really was a bug!"

"Bugs truly have infiltrated human society!"

The officials stared in horror, their thoughts frozen and their minds scattered.

Countless gazes turned to the outsider standing before them, hoping this noble fighter—a man who had eradicated bug nests and uncovered the fake city lord—would help free Thorn City from this shadow of danger.

With a single hand, Bai E lifted the octopus-headed corpse and tossed it at their feet. His steely gaze swept across the faces of their fearful crowd, as he spoke in a low, steady voice: "You should all understand the current situation by now, correct?"

"Yes, yes, we understand!"

The man who had been the first to step forward now came to the forefront, respectfully replying to Bai E, "My lord, we've only just learned about what transpired during the Alliance competitions in the imperial capital."

He pointed to the corpse of the octopus head, his face filled with lingering fear. "Previously, we were all deceived by this fake city lord and entirely unaware of the truth. We beg for your mercy, my lord—please save Thorn City in the name of the Alliance! I represent the entire city in thanking you for your heroic intervention today!"

"That is precisely the reason I came." Bai E nodded and strode toward the city. "I can identify whether there are still hidden bugs among your population, but I need everyone's full cooperation."

"Of course!" The man followed closely behind Bai E.

As his eyes swept over his former bureaucratic colleagues, who were now looking at him with pleading eyes, he cautiously made a request to Bai E. "My lord, I have an additional request..."

"Speak."

"Could you inform us if there are any other mutant bugs disguised among us? Otherwise, even in conducting our duties, everyone might remain plagued by fear."

Bai E cast his gaze over the crowd and offered a reassuring answer. "Here, there are none."