“All forces…
hold the line!
Not a single step back!” “Fight the Tacet Discords to the death!” Hold the line?
Fight to the death?
These brief words were like two poisoned daggers thrust into everyone’s hearts.
Trapped between the Retroact Rain and the awakening Ovathrax, trapped in a desperate situation where enemies could infinitely regenerate, this military order was nothing short of an execution decree.
It pronounced a death sentence on the entire Midnight Rangers force.
“He’s mad…
Geshu Lin has lost his mind!” several nearby officers cried out in shock.
Is this a joke?
Jinhsi’s body swayed violently, her vision turning black.
She could almost see the grey rain-drenched lands of the Beiluo Barren turning into a giant meat grinder, swallowing alive those vibrant lives.
The soldiers who had smiled and promised their families at Panhua Restaurant that they would return safely.
The young warriors who had secretly hung prayer plaques during training breaks, praying for martial fortune.
They…
were all going to die.
No.
This couldn’t happen.
She bit her lower lip tightly until crimson drops of blood slid down her chin, bringing a metallic taste of rust.
She wanted to rush to the Grand Hall of Governance right now to tell Magistrate Xinyi, to tell everyone, that this was a terrible decision.
Yet the answer was obvious.
Would her words matter?
She was not yet the Magistrate.
Her words lacked weight, even if she was the designated successor chosen by Jué.
This deep-seated powerlessness made her suffocate.
Just then, a warm hand gently grasped her ice-cold fingers.
It was Mo Hai.
“Jinhsi, look at me.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable strength that pulled her back from the edge of breakdown.
Jinhsi slowly turned her head.
Through her tear-blurred vision, she saw Mo Hai’s face.
There was no panic on his face, no fear—only a calm that transcended his age and brought profound peace.
“Don’t be afraid.” Mo Hai stared into her eyes, speaking word by word.
“It’s not over yet.
I’m here.” He raised his other hand and gently wiped the blood from her lip with his sleeve, his movement delicate as if treating a priceless treasure.
The arguments between Changli and the guards, the herald’s weeping, the distant cries of terrified citizens…
everything seemed to fade away at this moment.
In Jinhsi’s world, only Mo Hai’s deep eyes remained.
She didn’t know why, but she simply believed him.
Just like any night over the past few years, as long as he was there, even if the sky fell, it wouldn’t seem like a big deal.
Mo Hai looked at her, but his heart was bleeding.
He recalled the countless nights they had spent together.
She would climb through the window carrying hot, occasionally burnt baozi, dirt on her face, but her eyes bright as stars.
They shared a rice cake under the bed, listening to the guards passing outside, anxious yet thrilled.
She mended his clothes in the faint light and tucked him under the blanket she had brought before dawn.
Those warm, beautiful moments—like a sweet dream one never wanted to wake from—constituted the most precious things in this simulated life.
He would never allow anyone or anything to destroy this dream.
Nor would he allow the heroine of this dream to face a shattered world after waking.
Ignoring the surprised looks from Changli and the guards, he gently pulled Jinhsi behind him.
“Master Changli, take care of her.” “Gather reinforcements and prepare to meet them.
We must bring our soldiers back.” After speaking, he turned resolutely and ran out of the courtyard.
“Mo Hai!
Where are you going?” Sensing a faint trace of final farewell in his brief words, Jinhsi panicked and tried to chase after him.
“Don’t worry!” Mo Hai did not turn around, only raising his hand high and waving.
“I’m just going out to clear my head…” His figure quickly vanished into the chaotic crowd.
He did not go to the Grand Hall of Governance, nor to the city walls.
He crossed familiar alleys and returned to his dilapidated cabin.
Closing the door, he shut out all external noise.
Mo Hai took a deep breath and issued a command to the system with unprecedented resolve.
“System.” “Activate Overclock mode.” [Warning!
Host!
Overclock mode will severely drain your soul essence!
Every use will cause permanent and irreversible damage to your soul!] Combining Overclocking with the powerful buffs of his Innate Martial Path would be enough to make him a humanoid monster—at least in terms of raw power.
The system issued a warning in a voice carrying emotional waves for the very first time.
A blood-red warning box filled almost the entire virtual screen.
“I don’t care anymore.” Mo Hai interrupted it.
“A good dream always demands a fitting price.
If the cost is everything I have, so be it.” He closed his eyes.
In his mind appeared Jinhsi’s bright, unblemished smile when she had eaten candied haws for the first time.
[…Command received.] The system remained silent for a long time before the blood-red warning box slowly faded.
[Overclock Simulation mode activated.] [Soul essence linkage…
depletion commencing.] [Given that this is the host’s first simulation, a trial card for Quantum Slingshot has been granted.] [A flick of a finger, miles away in an instant.] [Using the Quantum Slingshot can project the host thousands of miles away.] [Initiating!] In the next second, Mo Hai’s body went limp, falling straight onto the bed.
His face turned deathly pale at a visible speed, his breathing grew faint, and his entire body gradually turned into light particles, vanishing from the room.
…
Beiluo Barren.
The battlefield was a living hell.
Grey Retroact Rain poured down, every drop carrying bone-chilling coldness.
Countless translucent, twisted phantom soldiers crawled out of the mud, brandishing rusty weapons and frantically attacking every living thing around them.
The roars of Tacet Discords mixed with the desperate screams of the Midnight Rangers, composing a symphony of death.
Along a defensive line near a cliff wall: A few dozen Midnight Rangers stood back-to-back, forming a faltering circle.
Covered in wounds and completely exhausted, they relied solely on sheer willpower to mechanically swing their weapons.
Before them were enemies several times their number.
“Captain…
we…
can’t hold out any longer…” a young soldier choked through tears.
“We hold even if we can’t!” The man called captain slashed open a wolf-like Tacet Discord pouncing at him and roared, “The General’s order is to hold the line!
We are the Midnight Rangers—even if we die, we die charging!” Though he said this, as he looked at the endless wave of enemies that seemed impossible to kill, despair flickered in his eyes.
Just then: An anomaly occurred.
A figure appeared out of nowhere between them and the enemies.
The person was slender, wearing unfamiliar black combat gear and a plain, unadorned white mask.
Like a ghost, he silently merged into this hellscape.
“Who’s there?!” the captain shouted defensively.
The masked man did not answer.
He merely raised his hand slowly.
No weapon, no sign of Resonance.
He simply threw a gentle punch toward the surging tide of Tacet Discords.
*Boom!* A crisp sound rang out with astonishing clarity over the chaotic battlefield.
In the next moment, a scene unfolded that every soldier of the Midnight Rangers would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Centering on the masked man, an invisible ripple, unseen by the naked eye, violently expanded outward.
All Tacet Discords and phantom soldiers swept by the ripple froze in an instant.
Then, as if erased by an invisible eraser, their bodies quietly and completely disintegrated from the edges outward, turning into pure particles without leaving even a trace of a tacet mark.
In a single breath: The terrifying wave that was enough to swallow them all simply…
vanished into thin air.
The entire battlefield fell into an eerie second of complete silence.
Everyone stared blankly at the mysterious figure standing alone amidst the sea of blood.
Beneath the white mask, Mo Hai suddenly dropped to one knee, pressing his hand firmly against the ground.
He panted heavily as an immense emptiness—as though his very soul was being drained dry—frantically spread outward from his heart.
It hurt so much.
But…
it was not enough.
The physique granted by the Innate Martial Path boosted his strength more than tenfold, but his foundation had suffered severe damage.
He raised his head, his gaze passing over the dumbfounded Midnight Rangers toward the center of the battlefield.
There, the massive, sickening form of Ovathrax stirred the dark clouds across the sky.
This was only the beginning.