"To think you could bypass my detection and approach here alone." Svarog's cold mechanical voice rang out.
His gaze swept toward Clara beside him:
"You see, Clara. Even in extremely harsh survival conditions, humans cannot avoid division and conflict."
Zeig sat on the Geomarrow, scratching his head:
"I'm just mining a bit of Geomarrow—go on, go on. I'm not thinking of fighting at all. Don't slander me."
Svarog silently observed the black-clad man. He truly detected no hostility whatsoever, yet he still said to Clara:
"Clara, stay away from him. The identity of this individual is currently unconfirmed—prioritize safety."
Seeing Clara obediently climb down, Zeig immediately praised:
"You two have such a good relationship. Can robots have feelings too?"
"Clara is family." Svarog answered without hesitation.
Once Clara was back at his side, Svarog ordered several automatons to continue monitoring Zeig's every move.
He himself slowly turned back to face the Wildfire group.
"Humans attempting to overturn the calculated results pose a significant threat to the lower district's survival strategy. Calculation complete—the conclusion is clear: using force to compel Wildfire and its allies to comply is the most efficient solution."
"However…"
Svarog looked toward the pink-haired girl, the stoic one, and that triple-turbo super duck in the crowd.
Adding the unknown individual behind him who had completely evaded detection lines and was openly mining Geomarrow right under his nose.
He said slowly:
"Let us leave, Clara. External variables have appeared—recalculating. The furnace core hub requires guarding."
Clara nodded and glanced to the side.
There stood an enormous automaton, its massive frame constantly trembling as internal components operated.
Clara said softly:
"…Mills, please—I entrust this to you. Don't be too rough."
In everyone's eyes, Svarog slowly departed with Clara. At the same time, that terrifyingly large automaton suddenly surged forward, charging toward Seele and the others!
"Hmph!" Seele snorted coldly. "I'm tired of beating small fry—finally something decent. I'll play with you properly!"
A huge shadow enveloped the group. They exchanged glances and immediately scattered, leaping away.
This large tin can possessed exceptional defensive capabilities—even against the combined assault of the crowd, it showed no sign of falling behind.
Under the coordinated attacks of the others, the automaton suddenly issued a command, summoning several fist-shaped automatons.
"Bad—this type of robot can self-destruct!" Seele's expression grew grave.
Sure enough.
Upon receiving the self-destruct order, those automatons immediately curled up, their bodies erupting with immense heat as they charged menacingly toward the group!
In an instant, the pupils of Wildfire's members contracted to pinpoints.
Few among them could withstand an explosion—most were ordinary people.
Seele shouted:
"Anyone without Path protection—fall back immediately!"
Then she charged forward alone.
March 7th and Dan Heng followed closely, while Bronya provided fire support from the rear.
Yet who could have imagined—just as those self-destructing robots barreled toward them—several whooshing sounds cut through the air.
"Swish swish"—piercing the air, they struck straight into the bodies of the small robots intending to explode.
"Boom"—before they could get far from the big one, the robots were detonated prematurely one after another.
Exploding into a brilliant spray of sparks.
The large automaton closest to them was also staggered by the blasts.
Dan Heng halted, his gaze solemn.
He had clearly seen something thrown by Zeig, sitting far away on the Geomarrow, pierce into the robots' bodies.
"Such incredible speed and power." Even Seele was shocked by the scene.
Since Zeig was within their line of sight, Seele had clearly seen his motion.
She shouted toward the distant Zeig: "Hey! Aren't you a physician? What did you just throw—it blew up those small robots instantly?"
In the distance,
Zeig shrugged and revealed what was in his hand.
It was one of the vagrant masks he'd picked up earlier—several pieces broken off, and the fragments from those broken edges were exactly what he'd just thrown.
He remarked leisurely:
"The material of these masks is really good. If they could sell them, why bother robbing miners for food?"
From the crowd, Oleg stepped forward and laughed:
"Down here, the ground is full of metal ores. In the lower district, this stuff is the least valuable."
Zeig paused, then realized:
"No wonder the vagrants had such good gear—it's basically worthless."
"Physician, I didn't expect your skills to be so steady. Last time at the Goethe Hotel, we parted in a hurry—truly sorry about that, haha." Oleg laughed.
The massive automaton warily eyed Zeig. Confirming no further action, it reluctantly fled.
"Hey, why didn't you stop it!" March 7th shouted loudly.
When the automaton hurriedly passed Zeig, he didn't even try to block it. The same went for Svarog and Clara earlier—they'd all taken the path right beside Zeig.
Hearing this,
Zeig immediately jumped down from the Geomarrow, kicking up a cloud of dust. He patted his clothes and walked toward the group, saying calmly:
"Let it run—it's not some life-or-death grudge. Why make it so ugly?"
Dan Heng nodded:
"Indeed. After Svarog secured the mining area, he took no further action. He likely only wanted to stop the dispute between miners and vagrants."
Seele snorted coldly:
"The vein originally belongs to the miners—what's the meaning of driving the miners out too?"
Dan Heng stroked his chin and analyzed:
"Probably to save effort. He didn't want to waste time distinguishing who was a miner—just the most efficient way to halt the conflict."
In the back,
Bronya had been standing stunned in place since earlier.
Her mind kept replaying Zeig's move just now.
What he threw were merely fragments from a vagrant mask—yet they precisely and instantly destroyed those small automatons.
If he could achieve such destructive power with random picked-up objects, why had he used an AK before?
It was completely unnecessary.
If, back in the upper district, during the capture of March 7th and Dan Heng, he'd shown this level of skill—they wouldn't have had any chance to escape.
He could have subdued them right outside the Goethe Hotel.
"Executor, is this your true strength?" Bronya's voice was utterly flat, making it impossible to discern joy or anger.
Her own fire support earlier hadn't been absent against those small self-destruct robots—she naturally knew how formidable their defenses were.
Yet Zeig, using only fragments thrown by hand, had instantly obliterated them.
This meant he had never seriously assisted the Silvermane Guards in the capture before.
"!!!" Noticing Bronya, Zeig instantly paled in shock.
Damn—got too into showing off and couldn't stop!
Bronya had barely registered earlier, and Zeig's attention had been on Wildfire and Svarog—he'd genuinely forgotten he was still undercover.
His brain immediately kicked into overdrive.
He quickly said to Bronya:
"I have unspoken difficulties, Your Excellency—let's talk privately over there!"
He pulled Bronya away from the group, into a corner, and sighed:
"Actually, I promised my master that I…"
"Hey!" From afar, Seele called out:
"We're heading off first! You're spying in the upper district, right? Leader Oleg says Wildfire will cover all your expenses at the Goethe Hotel!"
"?!!" Zeig's gaze went blank.
Bronya: "…"
…