Inside the Tacet Field.
“Rarely do I get to indulge so thoroughly.
It really leaves one wanting more.” Scar rubbed the back of his neck as he walked out of a room, his other hand clenching into a loose fist to ease the exhaustion brought on by overclocking.
A pair of cold, aggressively wolfish eyes narrowed as he glanced at the Fractsidus member beside him.
“How long was I out?” “Reporting to Overseer, sir!” The Fractsidus member snapped to attention, respectfully reporting, “You fought fiercely for three days, defeating General Jiyan of the Midnight Rangers—who was severely overclocked—yesterday.
Afterwards, due to prolonged overclocking, you fell unconscious…” Seeing Scar’s gaze suddenly turn ferocious, the Fractsidus member instantly shifted his words: “Uh, no—you rested for eighteen hours!” Those few sentences immediately brought back the unpleasant experiences of the past few days for Scar.
With the aid of the Whispering Oculus, he should have taken Jinzhou on the very first day and turned all of its citizens into puppets.
Yet just as he deployed the barrier around Jinzhou with the help of the Whispering Oculus, the Magistrate of Jinzhou, Jinhsi, detected it instantly and arrived to confront him without delay.
The Whispering Oculus was a creation of the Threnodian, originating from the Threnodian of War, the Formless Incinerator.
It possessed intense mental corruption capable of enveloping all of Jinzhou.
Any living creature within the range of the Whispering Oculus would gradually lose their sanity amidst the Threnodian’s whispers, becoming puppets under the control of whoever wielded the Oculus.
The Magistrate had fought him for only a brief moment before immediately realizing the threat posed by the Whispering Oculus.
After just a few minutes of battle, the Magistrate of Jinzhou skillfully baited him and all the Fractsidus members together, then drew forth a wondrous artifact of the Sentinel—freezing them all in time alongside the Whispering Oculus.
Thinking back to this, Scar felt a surge of nameless rage boil within his heart.
Had he known that this Sentinel Resonator possessed such a treasure, he never would have launched such a rash attack on Jinzhou.
Fortunately, the corruptive power of the Whispering Oculus was potent enough that even while frozen in time, it continuously eroded the Magistrate’s abilities.
In this battle of attrition, even with the Sentinel artifact’s aid, the Magistrate of Jinzhou no longer had the strength to freeze anything beyond the Whispering Oculus.
Thus, they were able to break free.
“That Magistrate of Jinzhou…
Jinhsi.
How is she doing now?” Scar stroked his chin, asking suddenly.
“Reporting to Overseer, according to our observations, that Sentinel Resonator is severely overclocked and suffering intense backlash from her Resonation abilities.
White dragon scales have sprouted across her body.” The Fractsidus member carefully watched Scar’s expression before continuing: “Although she is still managing to suppress the Whispering Oculus, her strength is constantly waning.
The Whispering Oculus can now corrupt everything within a ten-meter radius.” “Only ten meters?” Scar snorted, his impatience visibly flaring.
“Damned woman…
Jinzhou has already fallen, so what is she still holding on for?” After fuming for a moment, Scar held his forehead and accepted reality.
“Whatever.
Ten meters it is.
Proceed to the next phase of the plan.
What about the civilians of Jinzhou?” “They’ve all been captured and locked inside the domain.” Hearing this, the corners of Scar’s lips finally curled into a cruel, ruthless smile.
He issued a heartless order: “Bring them, one by one, to within ten meters of the Whispering Oculus.
Turn on the Fractsidus tech equipment and execute the live-subject Tacet Discord conversion experiments!” “Yes, sir!” At the edge of the Tacet Field, cell doors were thrown open one after another.
Countless unarmed Jinzhou civilians were herded toward another area by Fractsidus members.
“Stop dawdling!
Move faster!” A tall, skinny Fractsidus member barked harshly, raising his gun and impatiently pointing it at a limping little girl.
The little girl stared up blankly, her dull, unfocused eyes facing the dark barrel of the gun.
Her dry, cracked lips parted, issuing a raspy plea: “Water…
Want…
water…” “Damn it, I must be an idiot, trying to threaten someone who’s been corrupted into a brain-dead fool.” The tall member grabbed the girl by the back of her collar, lifted her up, and sprinted forward before flinging her straight into the Whispering Oculus’s corruptive zone.
Outside the ten-meter range of the Whispering Oculus, five cold, precision Fractsidus devices flared with red light simultaneously.
Thrown to the ground, the little girl cried out in pain.
She looked left and right, and a glimmer of light suddenly flickered in her lost eyes.
“Magistrate…
Lady Jinhsi!” The little girl scrambled to her feet and stumbled into a faltering jog toward the frozen white figure standing a few meters away.
With every step closer, the whispers in her mind grew exponentially more violent, forcing her to clutch her head in visible agony.
“Nannan…
hurts…
Magistrate…
save…” Unable to complete a full sentence, the little girl collapsed into complete unconsciousness, her hand outstretched in vain toward Jinhsi.
Behind her, a dark purple, hideous eyeball half the height of a person hung frozen in midair, black mist continuously billowing out from it.
This was the Whispering Oculus that Jinhsi was pouring all her strength into suppressing.
“Heh, what an idiot.” The tall Fractsidus member sneered, looking at the figure of the young girl with white dragon horns with a mocking grin, shaking his head as he muttered: “Your precious Magistrate can barely save herself, yet you still try to beg her for help.” “Cut the jabber!” Scar walked up from behind and smacked the back of the tall member’s head hard, barking: “Two rats have snuck in.
Go catch them—and remember, I want them alive!” “Yes, sir!” The tall Fractsidus member hurriedly led his team away.
Scar leisurely examined Jinhsi’s frozen stance, sighing to himself in admiration: “Hehehe…
A Sentinel Resonator indeed has a few tricks up her sleeve.
She almost made me capsize in a shallow ditch.” Scar sneered, muttering to himself, his chilling voice sounding like a demon’s whisper: “Getting trapped in a time-freeze along with the Whispering Oculus certainly threw off Fractsidus’s plans.
Although we can’t interfere with you from the outside…
isolated and helpless under the Threnodian’s corruption…” “How much longer can you last?” As soon as he spoke, another row of shattered dragon scales suddenly bloomed across the girl’s snow-white neck.
*** On the other side.
“Honestly, you didn’t need to take this risk with me.” Taoqi stood before the blood-red gate, looking sideways at Yuanwu beside her.
The latter simply adjusted the white bowler hat on his head and replied softly: “Leaving a woman to brave danger alone…
whether it’s my upbringing or my dignity as a man, I could never allow myself to do that.” Exhaling heavily to ease the tension in his heart, Yuanwu took a step forward, turning his head with a smile: “If we run into danger later, you run first.
I’ll cover your back.” “I don’t think so,” Taoqi frowned.
“It’s settled then.
Let’s go.
Baizhi is still waiting for our good news.” Leaving those words behind, Yuanwu was the first to step into the Tacet Field.
The suddenly shifting world caused him a brief moment of dizziness.
Immediately after, Taoqi entered the Tacet Field as well.
As Resonators, both quickly adjusted their state, carefully observing everything within the Tacet Field.
A bleak, desolate sky above; floating, interconnected isolated islands below.
The smallest airborne island was no bigger than a ping-pong table, while the largest was barely the size of a soccer field.
Looking down from the islands revealed a bottomless abyss.
“So this is a Tacet Field?
It feels quite desolate,” Yuanwu couldn’t help remarking.
“Look out, there’s movement over there!” Taoqi suddenly pointed excitedly toward a distant island.
Yuanwu turned his gaze, his spirits instantly lifting.
“It’s the people of Jinzhou City!
Great, they really are still alive!” “Don’t celebrate just yet.” Taoqi drew her broadblade, her cold edge pointing straight at the red-clad figures rushing over from a short distance away.
They did not come with good intentions, but luckily, it was only a few enemies.
Yuanwu removed his white bowler hat, put on his gauntlets, and stared intently at the approaching Fractsidus members.
His voice remained calm: “I’ve sparred with countless people at the Jinzhou Martial Arts Club, but I’ve never beaten anyone to death.
How about you?” Though he didn’t address her by name, Taoqi knew Yuanwu was asking her.
She broke into a sudden smile, her grip tightening on her blade: “Never before today.” Under the desolate sky, the two stood side by side, radiating murderous intent.