Outside the window, moonlight spilled like water.
Inside the small cabin, the lamp cast a dim yellow glow.
Several years passed quietly during these secret rendezvous.
Mo Hai was no longer the little child who barely reached the edge of the table; his frame had grown, turning him into a slender youth.
With the enhancement of his Innate Martial Path, he had become one of the top powerhouses in Jinzhou City—though few knew it.
Jinhsi had also shed her childhood baby fat.
Her features bore a touch more cold elegance and composure, showing the early grace of a future Magistrate.
Yet whenever she skillfully climbed through the window and saw Mo Hai, that cold composure melted instantly into a smile she couldn’t hide.
Their conversations had long shifted from candied haws and street gossip to deeper, broader topics.
Mo Hai would tell her unbelievable stories—concepts like “equality for all” and “building a nation through technology.” Although Jinzhou’s technology was already highly advanced, technology clearly represented a greater beacon of hope in this chaotic era.
Jinhsi listened intently.
Though she could not understand many parts of it, these novel ideas were like pebbles expanding the boundaries of her world, breaking through the rules that bound her.
The late-night snacks she brought had changed from burnt baozi at the start to exquisite, delicious pastries—and even tonic soups infused with medicinal aromas that she had learned to brew herself.
“I noticed you’ve been staying up late recently.
I asked the Culinary Steward for this recipe to help you recover.” Jinhsi opened the food box and handed a bowl of warm soup to Mo Hai.
Taking it, warmth flooded Mo Hai’s heart.
He knew the girl before him had come to view him as the most important and unique presence in her life.
Between them, words were no longer necessary.
A single glance or gesture was enough to understand each other’s hearts.
Everything was as beautiful as a dream one never wished to wake from.
Until that day.
A sharp, mournful bell shattered the peace of Jinzhou without warning.
*Clang!
Clang!
Clang!* This was no ordinary clock chime.
It was Jinzhou’s highest-level warning alert, sounded only when facing a crisis capable of shaking the very foundation of the prefecture.
Mo Hai, reading in his cabin, felt his heart tighten violently.
He stood abruptly, pushed open the door, and rushed out.
The entire city was in chaos.
Countless guards poured out of the barracks, sprinting toward the city walls with grim expressions.
Patrol officers ran through the streets, shouting to soothe the panicked populace and guiding them into shelters.
The air was thick with the suffocating tension of an impending storm.
Something terrible had happened.
A term flashed through Mo Hai’s mind instantly: *The Battle of the Crescent Blade?* According to the game’s timeline, it should happen around these years.
This battle, commanded by Geshu Lin, the former General of the Midnight Rangers, would ultimately turn into a tragic catastrophe that swallowed the lives of countless soldiers.
“Hurry!
Urgent report from the front line!” A messenger on a swift horse galloped through the city gates, his face covered in bloodstains and terror.
He dismounted in a roll, practically tumbling to the entrance of the Grand Hall of Governance.
“Magistrate Xinyi!
Disaster!” “The Midnight Rangers…
the Midnight Rangers encountered Ovathrax in the Beiluo Barren!” “What?!” An incredulous gasp from the current Magistrate, Xinyi, echoed from inside the hall.
Mo Hai’s heart sank to the bottom.
He knew the gears of fate had begun to turn.
Ovathrax, the Threnodian.
A kind of Threnodian known as the “Poison of Civilization,” the physical embodiment of collapsed human willpower.
Its mere appearance signified calamity.
Mo Hai ran toward Jinhsi’s residence regardless of anything else.
He wove through the panicked crowds and, for the first time in broad daylight, openly charged into the courtyard he had only ever visited at night.
In the courtyard, Jinhsi stood alongside her master, Changli.
All color had drained from her face, and her usually calm eyes were now filled with anxiety and unrest.
She was not yet the Magistrate—she was merely an appointed successor receiving guidance at the court.
Facing a disaster capable of shaking all of Jinzhou, she was clearly shaken.
“Jinhsi!” Mo Hai rushed up to her.
“Mo Hai?
Why are you here?” Seeing him, the anxiety in Jinhsi’s eyes receded slightly, replaced by a trace of surprise.
Changli frowned, but now was clearly not the time to question why this boy was here.
“How is the battle on the front line?” Changli asked the newly arrived guard in a deep voice.
Despair covered the guard’s face.
“General Geshu Lin…
General Geshu Lin led his personal guard into a decisive battle against Ovathrax, and…
he’s missing!” “And at the Beiluo Barren, it started to rain…
Retroact Rain!” Retroact Rain!
These words struck everyone’s hearts like a heavy sledgehammer.
Others might only know that Retroact Rain attracted Tacet Discords and was an omen of ill fortune.
But Mo Hai knew its true horror.
When catalyzed by a Threnodian, the phantoms emerging from Retroact Rain would turn into physical killing machines.
The Midnight Rangers, already surrounded, would have to face endless enemies from every direction.
It was true hell.
“The Midnight Rangers…
have suffered heavy casualties…” The messenger’s voice trembled.
Jinhsi swayed, almost unable to stand.
She bit her lower lip fiercely, her nails digging deep into her palms, yet feeling no pain.
In her mind appeared the smiling faces of those Midnight Rangers officers who had said goodbye to their families at Panhua Restaurant before marching out.
They…
“Who is commanding the remaining forces now?” Changli pressed.
A sliver of hope finally appeared on the messenger’s face.
“Commandant Jiyan is organizing the remaining troops to break out!
But…” But facing Ovathrax’s domain and the endless physical phantoms, breaking out was easier said than done.
Mo Hai’s heart twisted.
He knew Jiyan would ultimately succeed.
He would take over from Geshu Lin, harness the wind into a dragon, carve a path out, and become the new General of the Midnight Rangers.
However, behind that achievement lay a road paved with the blood and lives of countless soldiers.
And after the war, Jinhsi—at the fragile age of thirteen—would take over this broken, severely damaged Jinzhou.
She would carry a crumbling world on her delicate shoulders.
Just then, another herald rushed in, stumbling and rolling, bringing news that plunged everyone into ice.
“Order from Magistrate Xinyi…
General Geshu Lin’s final military order has arrived from the front line…” The herald’s voice was hoarse and despairing.
“Hold the line at all costs!
No retreat!”