The roar of battle gradually subsided, replaced by a heavy silence laced with the stench of scorched flesh and blood.
The Midnight Ranger soldiers, acting with strict discipline, fanned out efficiently. One group vigilantly blockaded all major pathways in and out of the valley, while the others began meticulously sweeping the battlefield. They inspected every single piece of wreckage—whether Maker or Echo—ensuring not a single enemy slipped through the net, while taking the few critically injured survivors into custody as prisoners.
Baizhi retracted her You'tan, and the cold, soothing Glacio force field dissipated along with it. She crouched beside an injured Midnight Ranger soldier. A faint, icy blue light shimmered in her hands as she healed his wounds with professional, clinical precision.
Chixia blew on the smoking barrels of her dual pistols. Resting her hands on her hips, she surveyed the devastated battlefield with immense satisfaction. "Done! These guys look intimidating, but they ain't much when it actually comes to a fight!"
Yangyang wiped the remaining blood from her swift blades, her gaze still vigilantly sweeping their surroundings—especially the mangled remains of the Executioners. Clearly, she still harbored a lingering dread toward these cloaking enemies. "Do not let your guard down, Chixia. Their cloaking ability is incredibly troublesome. Check carefully to make sure there are no survivors."
Changli let out a soft sigh. With a graceful twirl of her bladed weapon, the raging phoenix fire retracted, returning the blade to its usual, shimmering, multi-colored state.
She surveyed her surroundings. Looking at the battle-scarred valley and the corpses littering the ground, a shadow of exhaustion fell over her brow.
As the Counselor to the Magistrate of Jinzhou, the fact that a Fractsidus combat force of this scale had managed to infiltrate her jurisdiction and launch such a massive attack left her feeling an incredibly heavy weight in her heart.
Cartethyia sheathed her sword and walked over to Rover. Her icy blue eyes gazed up at him as she spoke softly. "Righteous One, earlier... thank you."
She wasn't just referring to him saving her life, but also the incredibly timely mental soothing he had provided.
Rover shook his head, signaling that there was no need for thanks. However, his gaze didn't relax. Instead, it was fixed entirely on the charred, twisted "corpse" of the Executioner leader that Changli had just barbequed with True Fire.
His golden eyes narrowed slightly. Relying on a perception far sharper than that of ordinary people, he had seemingly captured an incredibly faint, minuscule pulse of life emanating from the charcoal-like wreckage in that brief moment.
"Hm?" He let out a soft sound of surprise and walked over.
Noticing his actions, Changli followed closely behind, her brow furrowing slightly as she spoke softly. "What is wrong? That person should be thoroughly dead."
She had absolute confidence in her True Fire. The purifying power of those scorching flames was more than enough to obliterate the life force of almost any living creature.
Rover crouched down in front of the charred remains. He extended a black-gloved finger, but didn't touch it directly, letting it hover just above the chest cavity—the area with the highest degree of mechanical coupling, which was also the most severely damaged.
A microscopic thread of Aero force, acting as the finest probe imaginable, carefully seeped inside.
A moment later, he spoke in a low voice. "He isn't completely dead. The coupled machinery used to modify his body is forcibly holding onto his final breath, or rather... his final shred of consciousness."
This taboo-crossing technology, capable of extending life in such a grotesque, unnatural manner, was truly chilling.
Hearing this, everyone gathered around, looks of shock appearing on their faces.
Rover stared sharply at the nearly melted visual sensor on the charred skull. His voice carried an overwhelming, penetrating authority. "I know you can still hear me. Tell me, what was your true objective in coming here this time? Who sent you?"
The charred remains didn't move an inch, looking exactly like a dead object.
But Rover's perception was firmly locked onto that faint mental fluctuation.
He could sense the extreme agony hidden within it, along with... a strictly bound loyalty, or perhaps terror.
"Silence is meaningless," Rover's voice grew colder. "Your operation reeked of observation and recording, completely unlike a simple attack-and-destroy mission. Your target... was me, wasn't it? You came to probe my strength?"
The exact moment he said the words "probe me," that mental fluctuation violently shuddered. Though there was still no verbal response, that reaction was practically equal to a confirmation!
The expressions of Changli, Cartethyia, and the others instantly changed.
Understanding dawned on Rover. He continued to apply pressure, attempting to pry out more information. "Who sent you? Which Overseer was it? Christopher? Scar? Phrolova? Or... someone hiding even deeper?"
This time, the emotion surging from that mental fluctuation wasn't just a shudder; it was an absolute, mind-shattering terror on the verge of complete collapse.
It was as if merely guessing at the existence of a certain entity had triggered some sort of deeply planted restriction within the very depths of his soul.
"Heh... heh..." The charred remains finally let out an incredibly faint, bizarre gasping sound, like a broken bellows. It seemed to be trying to say something.
Rover immediately focused all his attention.
However, the voice was so incredibly weak it was impossible to distinguish clearly. Only a few broken syllables could be heard. "...Gaze... Unspeakable... Lord..."
Before the final word could even finish, that stubborn mental fluctuation was violently severed by an invisible force, dissipating completely without a trace.
At the very same time, the remains of the coupled mechanical core in the Executioner leader's chest let out a soft pop. Emitting a wisp of black smoke, it shut down entirely.
The trail had gone cold.
Rover slowly stood up. His expression remained calm, but a heavy trace of solemnity had surfaced deep in his eyes.
"He is dead," Baizhi calmly announced from the side. The instrument in her hands could no longer detect any life signals.
"...Gaze... Unspeakable Lord..." Rover repeated those broken words, letting out a cold sneer. "Hmph. Hiding their heads and burying their tails, yet going through all this simply to probe my strength."
"Quite the grand operation, sacrificing an entire vanguard unit and so many Executioners just for intel."
Changli's expression was icy. "To calculate so deeply... the level of importance the Fractsidus places on you far exceeds our previous estimates. We must immediately raise the alert level across the entirety of Jinzhou."
Cartethyia clenched her fists. The enemy's covetous gaze upon the Righteous One filled her with intense anxiety and fury, while simultaneously hardening her resolve to grow stronger and protect him.
At that moment, a Midnight Ranger squad leader approached to report. "Counselor, Lord Rover, the preliminary sweep of the battlefield is complete. We captured a total of three prisoners. All of them are critically injured and drifting in and out of consciousness. They have been transported for emergency treatment, but... this subordinate cannot guarantee whether we will be able to extract any useful intelligence."
Clearly, the inner workings known by ordinary grunts would be extremely limited.
Rover nodded. He wasn't surprised by this outcome. Since the mastermind behind the scenes possessed such meticulous planning, they wouldn't have left any other tails that could be tracked.
"Thank you for your hard work. If no useful intelligence can be extracted, dispose of them," Changli nodded to the squad leader before turning to the group. "It is not safe to remain here for long. We must return as quickly as possible to report this incident in detail to the Magistrate so we can plan our next move."
The setting sun began to dip in the west, casting incredibly long shadows across Xuanji Ridge.
The stench of gunpowder in the valley seemed to be dyed with the colors of twilight, signaling that the immediate storm had passed, yet the undercurrents continued to rage unseen.
Rover gazed deeply toward the direction of Jinzhou City.
One Fractsidus probe directed at him had temporarily ended, but he knew this wasn't the end—it was only the beginning.
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