Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

When the high-ranking officials of Eternal Night City heard that their city had been invaded by the Bugs, their first reaction was disbelief.

They had been entangled in conflict with the Bug Race for so many years—how could they possibly fail to recognize them?

So War God Ares directly dragged out a person, forcibly restrained earlier, who had been disguised as a human by the Bugs and showed them in front of everyone, instantly causing a wave of exclamations.

"You know him, right?" Ares kicked the human to the ground before everyone, sneering coldly as he asked.

The number of host bodies for the infiltrators was clearly not many. Among the high-ranking officials in Eternal Night City captured by Bai E and others, those disguised by the Bugs were merely secondary infiltrators, with low combat capabilities.

It was impossible for the high-ranking officials of Eternal Night City not to recognize their colleagues. "Haus!"

"What happened to you?"

"How did you get captured? Did you do something disloyal to His Excellency from the Empire?"

"My lord, there must be some misunderstanding here!"

Restrained and unable to resist, Haus struggled desperately while begging his former colleagues for help, "They've gone mad! They're not from the Empire! They just want to take our city! The diplomatic team was ambushed on their way back and betrayed us! Don't trust them! Don't believe them! Ack—"

Before he could finish his meaningless attempts to sow discord, Ares swung his blade, beheading him with a single strike.

As the man's head hit the ground and rolled a few times,

what appeared to be an ordinary human head mutated into the grotesque form of an octopus-like creature.

Nothing could be more convincing than what unfolded right before their eyes.

Seeing the monstrous head roll to nearly their feet, the nearest high-ranking official of Eternal Night City recoiled in terror, "What... what is that?"

Ares continued to sneer coldly. "Didn't you know him? You've been colleagues for so long. How could you not know what he is?"

"We knew Haus! Not this monster!"

"When did this happen?! How could Haus turn into a monster? I've watched him grow up!"

One of the more perceptive officials immediately realized the gravity of the situation. "Are you saying that many of us have already been replaced by the Bugs?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the high-ranking officials instinctively distanced themselves from their previously close colleagues.

The wary glances in the room carried the unspoken suspicion: had the trusted coworker sitting next to them already become a puppet of the Bugs without anyone knowing?

"There's no need for anyone here to engage in mutual suspicion." The deputy leader of the Imperial Vanguard Squad stepped forward and stated, "Those of you present have already been screened by Lord Bai E. Eight monsters in total have been identified and restrained. To prove the authenticity of our claims, you may eliminate them yourselves and examine their insides to see if they are still the humans you once knew."

After all, for humans, creatures driven by emotion, having to harm a familiar face was the greatest psychological barrier of all.

If this barrier couldn't be overcome, then the people of Eternal Night City wouldn't stand a chance against the infiltrators, who had turned their entire city into a sieve.

With that, the deputy leader waved toward his subordinates and ordered, "Bring them all up!"

"Yes, sir!"

The seven other people brought forward, all parasitized by infiltrators, immediately recognized their colleagues and began to plead desperately.

"Save us! Please, save us!"

"They're not from the Empire! It's all lies! They're deceiving you!"

"Don't believe their nonsense! We're all normal people!"

A member of the Imperial scientific team approached Bai E and Ares, whispering to them, "During the earlier moments, I conducted individual interviews with each of the secondary infiltrators, and I discovered something very intriguing..."

Ares's eyes gleamed with interest as he asked, "What did you find?"

"They... don't actually believe they're Bugs. They genuinely think of themselves as humans, deep down. However, some of them did mention sensing a 'great will' watching over them from the shadows. They feel that regardless of whether they have ever met this great will, as long as it issues an order, they cannot resist it. Based on my analysis, it must be the host infiltrator. As long as no orders are given by the host infiltrator, these secondary infiltrators genuinely seem to continue living as their replaced humans did."

"Is it possible to track the host infiltrator directly through its connection with these secondaries?"

The researcher gave an embarrassed smile. "Uh... no. Their connection is strictly one-way. The host infiltrator has absolute control and surveillance over its secondaries, but the secondaries cannot trace the host's location. However, it's likely they need to remain within a certain 'communication' range."

Ares quickly identified a potential risk. "Does that mean, by the time we captured these secondary infiltrators, the hidden host already knew of our presence and intentions?"

"That... is uncertain." The researcher shook his head. "We're still unable to determine the level of monitoring the host exerts over the secondaries. That's why I must remind you, my lord... If we're going to act, we need to increase our pace."