“Why are you telling me this?”

Blade looked at Yin Tianchen on the screen. He stood high above the rest and knew far too much. The Twelfth District knew nothing about any of this.

It was Yin Tianchen’s appearance that connected the scattered clues and allowed Blade to uncover the hidden truth.

Blade instinctively grew suspicious. Ever since reaching adulthood, she’d constantly dealt with all kinds of people.

In her mind, someone like Yin Tianchen, who held all the trump cards, wouldn’t reveal benefits and clues without a reason. People who did that usually had an agenda—to lure or threaten others.

An ordinary person would be throwing away all their leverage. That would only put them at a disadvantage during negotiations.

So, in Blade’s eyes, Yin Tianchen was hiding ulterior motives. This cooperation and call were merely one part of his private agenda.

“Consider it a token of gratitude to her for saving my daughter and me. I’ll never forget what she did for us. Without her, I’d already be dead.”

Blade’s brows drew together even more.

A third person had entered their conversation. In other words, it was that mysterious third party’s life-saving deed that had given Yin Tianchen the idea of cooperating with the Twelfth District.

“Who is she?”

Blade desperately wanted to know the mysterious woman’s name.

Since Yin Tianchen had come to the Twelfth District to seek cooperation, this so-called third party had to be connected to the district. Or perhaps she was a member of it.

But Yin Tianchen was in the Second District. Which person from the Twelfth District had recently gone to the Second District?

Wait. There was one person.

Zhao Qingsnow had said that Night Frost had disappeared…

“Is it Night Frost?”

Blade didn’t know how Night Frost had disappeared or by what means she’d gone to the Second District. But after considering it from every angle, Night Frost was the only one who fit.

“That’s right. It was her. Without her sacrifice, Rouge Rabbit would no longer exist.”

“She came from the Twelfth District, and the Twelfth District is now going through what Rouge Rabbit once experienced. So I thought that cooperating with the Twelfth District might allow me to offer you some help.”

Blade’s brows, which had just relaxed slightly, furrowed again.

“Wait. Are you saying… sacrifice?”

At those words, a trace of grief surfaced on Yin Tianchen’s face. The scene remained vivid in his mind.

Hidden among the ruins, he could only watch helplessly as Crimson was taken away by the Order Keeper headquarters, while Night Frost was struck by the Black Dragon’s phantom and hurled into a spatial rift.

That had been a spatial rift, not a fixed passage like an Abyssal Rift.

Even with complete supplies and protection, surviving the erosion of the void currents would’ve been nearly impossible. Night Frost had exhausted her Mana and had no supplies at all.

“Is that really what happened…? Did Night Frost sacrifice herself?”

Blade murmured.

But the only thing she could confirm now was that Yin Tianchen was sincerely seeking cooperation with the Twelfth District.

Since they’d suffered the same fate and shared the same goal…

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

Blade’s expression was far from good, but she still forced a smile. It was pale and powerless, clearly something she’d squeezed out with effort.

“Pleasure doing business with you. I’ll send you the materials shortly… And please, accept my condolences.”

Blade shook her head. She wasn’t that fragile.

Being a Magic Maiden was an extremely dangerous profession. A Magic Maiden who had been laughing and joking with you the day before might be dead the next day.

She’d been experiencing that ever since she became old enough to understand the world.

The first old guardian had died in a hospital. Her body had been covered in wounds, with clear Monster bite marks everywhere. She’d held back the Monster tide all by herself.

Moon Owl’s mother, Dawnlight’s parents, and countless Magic Maidens from the First Symphony had all died during that Beast Monster tide.

After that came the Magic Maidens who died in the Insect Monster tide. Then came the former guardian Yuan Dai, who sacrificed himself while resisting the Blood Clan.

And now, there was Night Frost.

Blade ended the call and shut off the computer screen. It was hard to imagine that even Night Frost, who had escaped death so many times, would one day fail to make it back.

She deserved a gravestone. She’d contributed quite a lot to the Twelfth District…

With that thought, Blade stood up and immediately drafted an order for a gravestone.

Just then, Blade received a file.

It was Rouge Rabbit’s mobilization list. Rouge Rabbit would first dispatch two hundred experienced personnel to help the Twelfth District through its crisis.

Of course, they were only the first group. More people would settle in the Twelfth District later.

With this manpower, the Twelfth District’s problems, big and small, would no longer be problems. The district could focus entirely on the Seekers and the Order Keepers.

Now that Blade knew their objective, making plans would be much easier.

The Twelfth District was in the light while the enemy hid in the shadows, so it would inevitably be at a disadvantage.

But what if the Twelfth District switched from the light to the shadows?

That would surely make its enemies feel even more uneasy.

Since those people weren’t targeting the two newly established districts, Blade could safely pull Magic Maidens from the Cantata Two stationed there.

Blade increasingly felt that having Moon Owl in the Twelfth District was a blessing. As long as they set a mark, Moon Owl could tear open a spatial passage anywhere within her ability’s range.

That greatly reduced the time needed to move personnel around.

“Pull Lu Shi and Qiu Sheng out. Their strength isn’t bad, and they’re exactly the two nails I have in mind. Everyone else can continue as usual.”

…

Outside the Twelfth District, inside a modest abandoned warehouse, a refined-looking man sat in a wide redwood chair.

Both of his hands had been replaced with mechanical prosthetics. Anyone who knew their stuff could tell that they were the newest models on the market, and they certainly hadn’t been cheap.

He wore an angry expression as he berated the rows of lean, muscular men standing before him.

They were all ordinary people. To make a living, they’d been forced to join a mercenary force operating beyond the district’s borders.

After enduring brutal selection, they’d become mercenaries.

“You useless idiots! I spent so much money training you, and you’re telling me you couldn’t find her?”

“If you didn’t find her, then keep looking! Don’t stop until you do!”

The refined man clenched his fists and slammed them into the ground in fury.

The dry concrete cracked like a spiderweb beneath his blows. Even the old warehouse shook twice, as though it might collapse at any moment.

The lean, muscular men all lowered their heads and clenched their fists. They seemed to be forcing down their anger.

They were dissatisfied with the refined man in front of them, but they couldn’t say a word. After all, he was their new boss.

He hadn’t given them anything or made them any promises. He hadn’t trained them, either.

If their former boss hadn’t died unexpectedly, this man would never have taken his position. He had no right to order them around.

But no matter how unwilling they were, they had no choice but to obey.

They needed the mercenary organization to survive. In this world, getting anywhere without money was nearly impossible.

Besides, chips had been implanted in the heads of some of them. They could only obey the man before them.

“This client doesn’t have much patience. You have one week…”

“If you still haven’t found her by then, you know what will happen, right?”

His expression was gloomy.

The power behind that client wasn’t someone he could afford to provoke. If he did well, he’d rise through the ranks. If he failed, this mercenary organization wouldn’t remain in business.

“Oh my~ My lord, anger’s bad for your health…”

The refined man’s brows drew together.

He threw a punch behind him. The shock wave pierced through the abdomen of a young, beautiful woman, tearing a horrifying hole through her body.

Yet no bright red Blood flowed from the wound.

The woman gently stroked the hole through her body with one fingertip.

In an instant, she transformed into a pool of silvery-white liquid, leaving behind only a woman’s skin.

The silvery-white liquid on the ground gathered again, taking human shape once more.

“Ah~ Ah—”

She tested her voice and barely managed to produce a sound. That was one of the drawbacks brought by her power.

“It seems the mission wasn’t completed.”

Her voice was unpleasant to hear. Everyone present wanted nothing more than to cover their ears.

But no one dared make that move. This bizarre woman was more than capable of killing every one of them.

Any Magic Maiden capable of manipulating metal was the natural enemy of cyborgs.

The woman before them was even more terrifying. She’d wrapped herself in mercury.

Even though the refined man’s mechanical prosthetics contained Obsidian Stone powder, he’d have no chance of survival if the mercury entered his body.

“We’ll succeed next time. We definitely will!”

The refined man stammered. His legs began to tremble.

He vaguely remembered that night, when a group of Magic Maidens had stormed the headquarters of their mercenary organization.

The woman leading them had held his elder brother’s token in one hand and a bloody sheet of skin in the other.

It had been his elder brother’s face.

His elder brother had been the true master of the mercenary organization. After killing him, those Magic Maidens had planned to install the refined man as the new leader.

The Magic Maiden’s strength had been overwhelming. He had no way to fight back, so he’d obediently submitted.

But after sitting in his elder brother’s former position, he discovered that the feeling was incredible.

He didn’t have to do anything every day. As long as he made the people under him work, money would keep flowing in.

This wasn’t a mercenary organization. It was practically a private kingdom!

The only thing he had to worry about was the mission those Magic Maidens had given him.

If he failed, he was probably the one who’d lose his head.

Of course, to defend himself against those Magic Maidens, he’d secretly undergone some basic modifications.

If the modifications were extensive enough and he had enough men, he might stand a chance of winning.

But for now, he’d better stay under someone else’s protection… and wait for an opportunity.

“Next time?”

The woman smiled.

“That’s what you said. If you still can’t find her, I won’t mind giving your position to someone else.”

“Everyone here would love to become you…”

He shuddered.

At some point, cold mercury had brushed across his skin. He hadn’t noticed it at all.

The people below looked at him strangely.

There was anger in their eyes. Envy, too. And fear…

It seemed some of them were practically praying for his death.

It looked like he’d have to take action personally.

This operation could only succeed. Failure was not an option.

Streams of mercury surged into the bodies of the men.

The woman’s figure visibly shrank by several inches, while silver-white armor appeared over the bodies of the men she had possessed.

The refined man walked to the corner and pulled open the door.

The mercenary organization had its own headquarters. Its technology and capabilities couldn’t compare with those famous organizations, but they weren’t bad, either.

Here, he planned to undergo his final modifications.

After that, he would personally pay a visit to the Magic Maidens of the Twelfth District.