The battle ended quickly. Scar, reverted to human form, panted heavily, lingering fury still on his face.
He lashed out with a heavy kick, sending the barely breathing Sanhua tumbling into the Whisperin Erosion's range.
"Five instruments—two destroyed. Now the experiment's success rate has dropped by more than half again."
Scar muttered under his breath, irritation covering his face. At that moment, a squad of Fractsidus members jogged up to report:
"Report to Overseer Scar—the two intruders: the male has been captured alive; the female just escaped the Sonoro Sphere. We expect to recapture her within half an hour…"
"Useless! Two people and you only catch one—yet you dare come claiming credit? Bunch of trash!"
Scar glared coldly at the Fractsidus members, then changed tone:
"Go. Bring Jiyan here."
Soon, the battered and bruised Jiyan was dragged before Scar.
Scar handed over a basic revival spray, signaling his subordinate to administer it to Jiyan.
After a short while, Jiyan's weak breathing stabilized. He opened a pair of black-purple eyes—empty, unfocused.
"Everyone fully corrupted by the Whisperin Erosion ends up the same: losing independent thought, becoming puppets that obey orders."
Scar murmured to himself, stepping forward to Jiyan and issuing a cold command:
"Jiyan, I am the new Magistrate of Jinzhou—Scar."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jiyan mechanically stood from the ground and bowed to Scar:
"Greetings, Magistrate. What are your orders?"
"I order you to lead a squad of Fractsidus Artificers and capture as many people as possible from the outskirts of Jinzhou. Bring more samples for Fractsidus's live-conversion Tacet Discord experiments."
"As the Magistrate commands!"
...
Outside the Sonoro Sphere.
"Baizhi, can you hear me? Baizhi!"
Enduring her wounds, Taoqi sprinted across the ruined streets of Jinzhou, urgently trying to contact Baizhi through her terminal. Finally, a response came.
"I'm here, Taoqi. How are you?"
The heavy fog over Jinzhou had lifted. Baizhi, hidden on the mountainside of the Court of Savantae, controlled a drone that clearly overlooked a pink-haired figure fleeing in distress in the distance.
"Listen to me, Baizhi. Jinzhou's citizens are all inside the Sonoro Sphere, but they're conducting an inhumane experiment…"
Fractsidus, Jinzhou citizens, live-conversion Tacet Discord experiments, Magistrate, Scar…
Taoqi concisely relayed everything she had seen and heard. The more Baizhi listened, the grimmer her expression became.
"Wearing the Veil-Proof Bracelet grants immunity to the pollution from that terrifying eyeball… General Jiyan!"
Taoqi's words cut off abruptly.
A cyan dragon spear pierced through her abdomen from behind. She spat blood, painfully twisting her head to see a familiar face in her blurring vision.
"Don't kill her—we need her for the experiments."
A Fractsidus member shouted from behind. Jiyan nodded silently and withdrew the spear.
Taoqi collapsed.
A pool of crimson spread beneath her like ink soaking into tissue, stinging Baizhi's eyes and hammering her mind until it buzzed.
Once, a teammate from her research expedition had fallen before her the same way. And now, she was still powerless.
"You should know where the most people are nearby, right, Jiyan?"
"Then lead the way. The more people you capture, the more companions you'll have in the future—hee hee hee."
"As a general, those were the people you once risked your life to protect. Yet now you'll harm them with your own hands!"
"Hey! This guy shows no reaction at all—boring."
"Whoa, what's with that drone?"
A few muffled lines of dialogue came through the terminal before a Fractsidus bullet shattered the drone.
Jiyan led a group of Midnight Rangers and Fractsidus members farther and farther away.
Baizhi heard little, but the information was immense.
Jiyan was taking them to capture people on the outskirts of Jinzhou.
The closest settlement to Jinzhou was Taoyuan Vale!
Her mind in chaos, Baizhi ended the call with Taoqi and immediately opened a channel to Jianxin:
"Jianxin—evacuate the Taoyuan Vale villagers now!"
...
Taoyuan Vale.
The once-peaceful village was now filled with clamor and unrest.
"What? General Jiyan is bringing Fractsidus to capture us? I don't believe it."
"I'll agree to evacuate, but I have a lot of things—I need time to pack."
"I'm not leaving. I'd rather die in Taoyuan Vale."
The patrollers in charge of organization were overwhelmed, struggling to calm the agitated villagers, but with little success.
Chixia, trying to help with the evacuation, felt a massive headache. She walked to the outskirts, pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed:
"Before, we worried that evacuating would inevitably leave tracks. Now—great—no one even wants to leave."
"No need to panic. I'm here."
Noah sat on a natural boulder, showing no sign of urgency, calmly reviewing his panel data.
On the way back to Taoyuan Vale, he had smoothly obtained an Overlord-class Stonewall Bracer Echo.
Though the main stat had rolled into Resonance Efficiency and the substats were mediocre, it belonged to the Sacred light! set, successfully activating the 2-piece bonus.
[Sacred light! (2-piece): Spectro DMG +10%.]
Looking at his stats:
Character: Rover
HP: 21664
ATK: 1634
DEF: 1605
Resonance Efficiency: 146%
Crit Rate: 41%
Crit DMG: 237%
Aside from HP and DEF, the other numbers were on the lower side—serviceable for now.
Though the panel looked underwhelming, Noah didn't mind.
After all, these were five hastily assembled Echoes, and his weapon was still the 4-star Commando of Conviction.
Once he equipped all five Echoes, Noah's panel improved slightly. At the same time, as naturally as water flowing into a channel, he gained control over an ability he hadn't had before.
Previously, he could only achieve brief area time-stop through Resonance Liberation. Now, like Rover (Spectro), he could perform area time-stop anytime, anywhere.
Though the ability consumed Resonance Energy heavily—preventing prolonged use and only stopping living targets for a few seconds—it was undeniably a divine skill.
Noah guessed that only when his panel reached full graduation level would he truly master the complete power of the "Rover" character.
"Sigh. I shouldn't have told the villagers it was General Jiyan coming."
Yangyang sighed, walking over slowly. Just from her expression, it was clear she was exhausted.
"Originally, even if the villagers were reluctant to leave Taoyuan Vale, they would have cooperated quietly with the evacuation."
"But once they learned it was General Jiyan coming, some refused to leave, saying they wanted to see him."
"When some refuse, it influences more to stay too, causing huge trouble for the evacuation."
At this, Yangyang sighed again, completely at a loss.
Chixia stood from the boulder, motioned for Yangyang to sit and rest, and shared her own view:
"I actually think we don't need to panic too much. It's General Jiyan, after all—he definitely wouldn't harm us."
She slapped her forehead, suddenly looking enlightened, raising her right index finger as if a phantom lightbulb glowed above it:
"Hey!" (Here's a bowl of noodles for you—Iron Ox Beef Noodles)
"Isn't it possible that General Jiyan is working with Fractsidus right now because he has some unspeakable hardship, or he's playing along to lure them in?"
"That's how it always goes in storybooks: the hero is threatened by villains and can only pretend to cooperate, then seize the chance to wipe them all out."
Her simple words immediately drew Noah's and Yangyang's attention—both wearing amused, incredulous expressions. Chixia scratched her head sheepishly:
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, you make perfect sense—if Baizhi hadn't been the one to warn us to evacuate Taoyuan Vale's villagers."
Yangyang held back laughter, shaking her head slightly:
"That's just how Jinzhou is. We just handle everything properly—that's enough. Chixia has a lot more to think about."
"What kind of talk is that? Yangyang, you're teasing me."