Zhao Qingsnow, Purple Lightning, and Zhou Jiaxin didn't return to Purple Lightning's private residence. The reason was simple. District Twenty One's Order Keepers had moved too fast. They'd already sealed the place and stationed people outside. If nothing unexpected happened, the house would be confiscated in a few days.

Who would've thought those people had such sharp information and such quick hands? Back when Purple Lightning was working for them, they were never this proactive. But the moment it came to raiding property, they moved faster than anyone. They were obviously rich already, yet still greedy for every last coin.

What angered Purple Lightning most was this: that was her private home. It wasn't a house assigned by the Order Keepers, and it wasn't registered in their database. Yet they still seized it. What did that mean?

It meant they'd known where she lived all along. Which also meant her every move had been under the Order Keepers' surveillance. She'd had no privacy in her life at all...

Purple Lightning and Zhao Qingsnow carefully checked the surrounding area. There were no traces of Magic Maidens or Mana. Even if someone had been tailing them, they were most likely gone by now.

So the group had no choice but to head to Zhou Jiaxin's home. After tossing and turning for most of the night, they finally managed to rest.

"So this is what I'm useful for?"

Zhou Jiaxin couldn't help but complain. Still, as the homeowner, she did have one advantage. She could sleep on the bed, while the other two had to make do on the floor. But Zhao Qingsnow was injured, and Zhou Jiaxin couldn't bear to make a wounded person lie on the ground. So she gave up her bed.

More importantly, she felt Zhao Qingsnow wasn't that old. Letting a kid like her sleep on the floor made Zhou Jiaxin feel a little guilty.

In any case, the three of them passed two nights in near silence. That wasn't strange. It was hard for them to find any common topic. Their ages and social standing were just too different. Zhao Qingsnow was the oldest, Purple Lightning came next, and Zhou Jiaxin was the youngest.

Zhou Jiaxin and Purple Lightning weren't that far apart in age, but one was a corporate wage slave who'd clawed her way through life, while the other had once been an Order Keeper admired by countless people. Their status wasn't the same.

"I've always admired you, actually. You protected the city and gave me the chance to study. But as I got older, I started realizing you've become more and more rotten. Is that just me being cynical, or is that really the truth?"

The atmosphere felt too calm to Zhou Jiaxin, so she finally spoke the words buried in her heart.

The other two fell silent. That made Zhou Jiaxin a little awkward. She could only shut her eyes, which had been staring at the ceiling, and hurriedly explain,

"I was just saying it casually..."

"It's the truth."

Zhao Qingsnow cut her off. She admitted the rot within the Magic Maidens. Since ancient times, once a regime stabilized, it would begin fighting itself, wearing itself down from within. All for greater power, more money, higher status, stronger strength.

And so countless unsatisfied people rushed toward it, all to seize one of those things, or more. The Magic Maidens of today were no different. They'd stop at nothing, as long as it meant getting more for themselves.

"You probably don't know this, but there are two major factions among the Magic Maidens. One is the Old Faction, and one is the New Faction. I've explained this too many times already, so I'll keep it simple, or the readers will complain I'm padding the word count."

Zhao Qingsnow paused, completely unaware of what she'd just said. Of course, none of them could've noticed, because that was the narrator.

"In their eyes, 'old' means holding fast to the doctrine of gods. Our 'new' means following our own hearts. At the core, they're very different. But both can draw power from that."

Zhao Qingsnow recalled things for a moment, then organized her thoughts for what came next. It was just a private conversation anyway. Talking about this shouldn't matter.

"They've become a little obsessive. Obsessed with power. We see our own hearts clearly and treat ourselves as ordinary people. They think of themselves as envoys of gods, or as gods themselves."

Just like that lofty garrison commander who called herself emperor. Or that Seeker who worshipped divinity, called herself a divine messenger, yet also wanted to become a god.

"In chasing power, they forgot themselves. They forgot why they were founded. They forgot their original goal. The Order Keepers don't even keep Order, so where would Order come from in this world? The Seekers don't even seek, so what are they seeking? The Mutual Aid Society can't offer mutual aid. All it can do is let ordinary people huddle together for warmth."

Zhao Qingsnow showed no mercy at all to those people who called themselves the Old Faction. Most of them weren't worth pitying.

Purple Lightning stayed silent for a long time. She thought Zhao Qingsnow was right. In District Twenty One, they didn't know much about what happened at the top, but anyone with eyes could tell the higher-ups' decisions had problems. Compared to some other districts, take the Twelfth District for example, it was clearly governed better. Ordinary people and Magic Maidens were united there.

District Twenty One really had rotted. She had to admit it.

"My sister and I came out of an orphanage. We were dogs raised by District Twenty One. Back then, the Order Keepers of District Twenty One were what we longed for. So we became Magic Maidens and worked for the District Twenty One branch."

Zhao Qingsnow saw the expectation in Purple Lightning's eyes. Maybe she really had once been full of passion and hope for District Twenty One.

"But we found out District Twenty One wasn't what we imagined. On the very first day we joined, they told us not to ask about the higher-ups' affairs. Just carry out orders."

"So we obeyed and went to the Twelfth District. My sister died because of that..."

Zhou Jiaxin seemed to understand the whole chain of cause and effect now. Zhao Qingsnow had killed her sister, which was why Purple Lightning was so dissatisfied with her. But what she hated even more was the District Twenty One branch that had sent them on that mission in the first place.

"A Seeker from District Twenty One nearly killed the younger sister of the current garrison commander of the Twelfth District. She's still in a coma. That's why we were deployed."

Now all the reasons had surfaced. Every disaster had begun with District Twenty One. Because District Twenty One was greedy for power, Illusory Glass of the Twelfth District was gravely injured. So the Twelfth District sent them out, only to search for a way to wake Illusory Glass.

During that mission, Zhao Qingsnow's group happened to run into the Old Woman, who was fleeing with the Key while being chased down by another group of Magic Maidens.

Night Frost and Zhao Qingsnow drove those people back. Purple Lightning's sister died in that battle. After that, the Old Woman, who had ties to the Twelfth District, also went to District Twenty One for the sake of Night Frost's father's notes.

Because they were carrying the Key, the Magic Maidens of District Twenty One, who had long learned from books some of the Key's uses and the Array Pattern, began hunting Night Frost's group.

That was why Night Frost was now missing, the Old Woman and Kaneko had been captured, and only Zhao Qingsnow was left, working together with what could be called a local traitor.

"So that's how it is. District Twenty One was the one in the wrong from the very start..."

Purple Lightning had figured it out too. If District Twenty One hadn't pursued power, maybe today's tragedy would've never happened.

"So, have you made up your mind?"

From the bed, Zhao Qingsnow looked at Purple Lightning, who was lying on the floor. Purple Lightning nodded. Maybe she really did need to make a clean break. Maybe District Twenty One was no longer a place she could stay. The confusion in her eyes faded slightly.

"Come to the Twelfth District?"

Purple Lightning shook her head at Zhao Qingsnow's invitation. No matter what, Zhao Qingsnow had killed her sister. Even though she understood the full cause and effect, she'd still have the urge to draw her sword and stab Zhao Qingsnow a couple of times. If all this ended, she wanted to go to the border first, find a quiet place with no one around, and bury her sister there.

"Sleep. It's not that late. Tomorrow's the day we leave as agreed. You too, go to sleep."

Zhao Qingsnow closed her eyes first, then spoke to Zhou Jiaxin not far away.

"Huh? I have to sleep too? Can't I not sleep...? I was just passing by. I never planned to get involved in your plan at all..."

Even if you don't join, I'm still afraid you'll talk.

Zhao Qingsnow didn't say that out loud. After all, Zhou Jiaxin already knew the whole plan, so there was basically no way she was being let go. Of course, if she could join them, that would be even better.

"Wuwuwu, what does any of this have to do with me? You were the ones who dragged me here. You're staying in my house and still restricting my personal freedom. That's way too much!"

"Sleep."

Zhao Qingsnow sealed Zhou Jiaxin's mouth with Mana. After spending the last few days together, she'd discovered that this girl didn't have many other traits, but she sure talked a lot. And she especially loved to ramble. Rambling wasn't unacceptable, but rambling at night was pretty loud. It could easily disturb Zhao Qingsnow.

At the abandoned pit in District Twenty One, after crossing the First Symphony defense line set up by the Order Keepers branch, more than a dozen Seekers gathered together.

After hundreds of rounds of research and Mana analysis, they had finally pinpointed the nearest Key's location.

The Key was inside the crater Kaneko had created. They didn't know its exact position, but if they dug three feet into the ground, they'd find it eventually. The Key couldn't exactly grow legs and run away.

The Seekers in front set up a Formation to hide their figures and deceive the satellites in the sky. Then the people below began to move, using Magic Spells to shift away the dirt and rocks.

An hour passed, and they still hadn't found the Key. The crater Kaneko had blasted out wasn't exactly huge, but it wasn't small either. Kaneko's Mana still lingered inside it and hadn't dispersed, covering up most of the Key's Mana.

So they could only search bit by bit, carefully. The Key was only that tiny. At this rate, who knew how long it would take to find?

At the top of the Seekers' tower, a crack tore open. A woman covered in Blood landed steadily on the tip of the tower. She held her head, recalling everything that had happened so far, yet unable to remember some parts. But that didn't matter. At least she'd survived that damned deep sky.

The Monsters in that deep sky had been powerful. In the end, hadn't they still been killed by the one inside their belly? There, in that deep sky, she had grasped a sliver of the threshold. She could see the brightest star in the Abyss. She only needed to take one more step...

"This smell?"

She used a Magic Spell to sweep the Blood from her body, revealing the deep blue markings on her face. Then she draped herself in a pitch-black cloak and appeared in the center of the crater in an instant.

"My lady."

Ignoring the bows and greetings from the Seekers, she raised a hand and swept away the Mana on the surface. Her fingers pinched lightly at empty air, and a rust-covered Key was pulled up from beneath the earth.

"This is exactly what I seek... a miracle."