Every time Lin Yi spoke, he glanced at Zhili.
Meanwhile, countless strange ideas were already swirling through his mind.
Zhili's face remained calm, as if she hadn't noticed anything.
But internally—
her thoughts were racing.
Why does he hate the Garden of Recollection so much?
I didn't even do anything…
Those colleagues of mine really dragged me into this mess…
Zhili felt like crying.
Dongfang Qiqing noticed the awkward tension and quickly tried to smooth things over.
"Um… Sir."
"After wearing this reverse-meme crystal, nothing seems to have changed."
Zhili shot Qiqing a grateful look and quickly answered, eager to shift the topic.
"That's normal."
"This tower passively emits a subtle mental influence."
"It works gradually."
"The changes accumulate slowly and the affected person cannot perceive them."
"Only after prolonged exposure would others notice abnormal behavior."
"If the exposure time is short…"
"Then the interference is essentially nonexistent."
She smiled faintly.
"Since you seem unaffected, that's good."
"Shall I continue the story?"
"The Fool's words planted a seed in the hearts of the Rangers."
"But the seed took a long time to sprout."
"As she said, the Rangers' strength was nowhere near enough to defeat a Lord Ravager."
"Not to mention that Zhuluo commanded countless Destruction legions."
"To kill him meant fighting not only Zhuluo himself…"
"…but also the endless armies of Destruction."
"No individual Ranger could accomplish that."
"At one point someone proposed gathering all Rangers who wished to kill Zhuluo."
"Perhaps sheer numbers could close the gap."
"But the idea eventually faded away."
"Even if all Rangers gathered together…"
"…they would only go from ants shaking a tree to a mantis trying to stop a chariot."
"The difference in strength remained overwhelming."
"The Rangers were fearless."
"But they would not make meaningless sacrifices."
"Besides, Rangers usually fought alone."
"Even if they united temporarily for justice…"
"their long habit of solitude made cooperation difficult."
"And then…"
"The Fool learned of this plan."
"The turning point came during a Swarm disaster on Penacony."
"There was a Nameless man called Tiernan."
"The same Tiernan who would later become the Ranger hero."
"While leading the Firefly Family of Penacony to open new star routes…"
"…he encountered the Swarm."
"The Firefly Family was completely wiped out."
"And Tiernan himself was gravely injured during the encirclement."
"Fortunately…"
"A passing squad of Iron Cavalry of Glamoth rescued him."
"They held back the swarm's assault."
Lin Yi suddenly interrupted.
"The Glamoth Republic has been extinct for ages."
"Where did a squad of Iron Cavalry come from?"
"And a whole squad at that."
Then he quickly realized he had interrupted.
"Ah—bad habit."
"Never mind."
"Please continue."
He covered his mouth in apology and gestured for her to proceed.
When something truly interested him—
he was willing to compromise.
Zhili glanced at him briefly and continued as if nothing had happened.
Thanks to the tower's internal transport systems, they had already passed more than half the distance.
They were approaching the top of the tower.
"The Iron Cavalry held back the swarm temporarily."
"Soon nearby Galaxy Rangers arrived and rescued them."
"They also raised the same question."
"The Glamoth Republic was long destroyed."
"The Molten Knights were powerful, but their lives were fragile like fireflies."
"With such short lifespans, how could they still exist today?"
"The truth is that Glamoth truly did perish."
"And the method of creating Iron Cavalry was lost."
"But one speculation remains."
"Perhaps the technology behind the Iron Cavalry was closely tied to the Propagation swarm."
"The swarm—Glamoth's absolute enemy—might also have been the key to creating the Iron Cavalry."
"This was a bold theory proposed by a scholar from the Intelligentsia Guild."
"Long ago, the Molten Knights themselves had already perished."
"But their armors remained."
"The Glamoth Republic once ruled a territory spanning tens of thousands of light-years."
"A civilization of that size could not vanish silently."
"There were survivors."
"And not just in one place."
"After the Swarm disaster, Glamoth declined."
"It no longer had the strength to control such vast territory."
"Before its collapse, its domains had already fragmented into several civilizations."
"One of them was Autran — the Suspended Star."
"The small squad of Iron Cavalry came from there."
"During Glamoth's fall…"
"Some elites fled."
"Some refugees settled remote frontier stars."
"Some remnants invaded other worlds simply to survive."
"In countless ways…"
"…the legacy of Glamoth continued."
"But among those successor civilizations…"
"Autran was unique."
"Unlike other remnants, Autran had once been a core territory of Glamoth itself."
"It lay in a remote region."
"No resources."
"No neighboring civilizations."
"Even the star routes were sparse."
"It existed on the very edge of known civilization."
"Because of that…"
"the Swarm disaster barely affected it."
"Its institutions remained."
"Its culture remained."
"Most of its population survived."
"Some weapons and technology were preserved."
"Autran retained an almost complete structural inheritance of Glamoth."
"However…"
"With time, their ancient weapons deteriorated."
"During chaotic centuries, Glamoth's technology stagnated."
"Eventually it declined and fragments were lost."
"Autran still possessed around 800 Molten Knight armors."
"Compared with Glamoth's peak—when Iron Cavalry filled the skies—that number was small."
"But for Autran today…"
"…it was still a tremendous military power."
"And wasting it would be a terrible loss."
"The problem was…"
"The Molten Knights were deeply bonded to their original pilots."
"No one else could operate the armor."
"So Autran made a decision."
They attempted genetic modification.
"A small group of candidates underwent swarm-like genetic alterations…"
"…in hopes they could control the Molten Knight armor."
"They succeeded."
"That is how those modern Iron Cavalry were born."
"The pilots endured brutal modifications."
"And gained the ability to operate the armor."
"But they also failed."
"True Molten Knights matched armor to pilot."
"Autran did the opposite."
"They forced pilots to adapt to the armor."
"As a result…"
"Their combat strength was far weaker than the original Knights."
"Their flaws were far greater."
"Their lives also became short."
"Like disposable tools."
"Fortunately, sacrificing a few hundred people every few years was acceptable for a civilization."
"But their greatest flaw was something else."
"The collective mind created by the swarm-like modifications…"
"…did not match human intelligence."
"And that mismatch caused chaos."
"Unpredictable."
"Unstable."