The gathering didn’t end until late at night. Grandma Dean led the little Sorceresses and the children back to the staff dormitory Qianchun had arranged for them.

Only Qianchun, Hao Wenqian, and Chen Xiaoyin remained around the dining table, chatting about everyday matters.

They had all grown considerably. Chen Xiaoyin was now a captain with several First Symphony recruits under her command.

Qianchun handled all sorts of matters in Aklatia, while Hao Wenqian had also learned to stand on her own. She had saved many people during the disaster.

A few months could truly change a person.

After the dinner ended, Night Frost took out her father’s notes for the first time in a long while. She began studying the Formation he had left behind.

She would soon be heading to the Order Keeper headquarters. During the remaining days, Night Frost had to make her preparations early, just in case.

The next day, Night Frost attended Aklatia’s gathering. She only showed her face briefly.

During the gathering, she ran into Zhou Jiaxin. That woman really hadn’t changed at all.

After Night Frost settled her “debt,” she hurried back to Aklatia’s staff dormitory.

Apart from Qianchun, no one knew what Night Frost had done behind the locked door.

They only knew that, ever since Night Frost returned, Aklatia’s headquarters was no longer peaceful after midnight.

The Xun family’s supplies arrived quickly. Aklatia received its first batch of scientific equipment.

Before Night Frost—the “boss”—could even approve it, the Eye Orb ordered people to move everything into his laboratory.

He desperately needed those things. As it happened, he had been planning to go outside for a walk.

Then he caught sight of the large and small packages piled outside the door. After scanning them, he discovered that they were all scientific instruments.

The Eye Orb had reached a bottleneck in his research. He needed higher-precision equipment to analyze that power.

Someone had delivered a pillow just when he felt sleepy. Naturally, the Eye Orb accepted everything without hesitation.

“Who cares who bought it? At least Aklatia didn’t.”

The Eye Orb knew very well that Night Frost didn’t have enough money to pour into scientific instruments.

The Aklatia established by Qianchun had no research laboratory. Besides, the only person in Aklatia who could focus on research was the Eye Orb himself.

“With these instruments, it might actually be possible.”

The Eye Orb drove all the workers out. Once he had arranged every instrument, he immediately began testing them.

He pressed the Eye Orb against the Mana circulation device, simulating Aphrodite’s condition from back then.

A line of tiny golden words appeared in the center of the pitch-black Eye Orb—

“Creation and destruction in endless rotation. Life and death in eternal exchange. The Transmutation of All Things.”

The Eye Orb hurriedly recorded the characters.

They were the Magic Spell necessary for a Magic Maiden to cast her power. As long as a Magic Maiden recited them, she could obtain unmatched strength.

She could release the power within her Magic Stone, as well as the power buried deep inside her body.

The tiny words vanished quickly. Fortunately, the Eye Orb had already photographed them.

Next, he planned to examine its cells and genes, to determine exactly what the owner of this Eye Orb was…

Once everything was ready, Night Frost set out for the Fourth District—the location of the Order Keeper headquarters.

“Come back soon.”

Qianchun brought a large group of people to see Night Frost off.

The Zone Fifteen Guardian and Moon Owl had not come to send her off. Instead, many people from here had shown up.

With so many people seeing her off, Night Frost felt rather embarrassed.

“I will.”

Night Frost told Qianchun to take everyone home early. She shouldn’t let them delay too many things for her.

In the current Twelfth District, staying outside for too long also carried the risk of attracting attention.

Night Frost boarded the jeep. Moon Owl took the wheel, while the Zone Fifteen Guardian and Night Frost sat in the back.

Night Frost glanced at the rearview mirror.

The little Sorceresses and the orphanage children waved goodbye to her.

“I’m jealous.”

The Zone Fifteen Guardian suddenly spoke.

She tilted her head back, and several figures surfaced in her mind. Whenever she went into battle, those people would cheer behind her.

But the rain had corroded them all.

Among the survivors of Zone Fifteen, there was no trace of their voices. Their chances of surviving that monster were less than one percent…

The Zone Fifteen Guardian shook her head. In the end, she said nothing.

Night Frost knew what had happened to the Zone Fifteen Guardian.

Perhaps that scene had reminded her of her former companions. Sorrow filled the Zone Fifteen Guardian’s eyes.

Those companions of hers had probably all…

Moon Owl switched on the radio. Its out-of-place noise echoed through the cramped vehicle, dispersing much of the oppressive atmosphere.

Perhaps Moon Owl was simply too cold. Or perhaps the three of them weren’t very familiar with one another.

Either way, they barely spoke throughout the journey.

Moon Owl constantly released her aura. As a result, no Monsters dared approach their vehicle while they traveled along the border roads.

After three days and three nights of travel, the three finally arrived before the Obsidian Stone walls of the Fourth District.

Like the other walls, the surface of the Fourth District’s walls was covered in the marks of time.

Even the Fourth District, home to the Order Keeper headquarters, couldn’t escape Monster invasions. Brutal wars still erupted here.

“We won’t enter through the main gate. Be careful.”

Moon Owl nodded.

Night Frost and the Zone Fifteen Guardian got out of the vehicle. Their mission was to secretly protect Moon Owl and find the mysterious person holding the lives of Zone Fifteen’s citizens in their hands.

Registering at the gate would expose their movements.

With the abilities of Chapter Three, climbing over the Obsidian Stone walls was easy. They successfully slipped into the city.

Unlike the Twelfth District and District Twenty One, the Fourth District was gray and hazy despite the sun hanging brightly outside the city.

Neon lights flashed dazzlingly along the streets. Giant screens on the high-rise buildings played advertisements for products endorsed by Magic Maidens.

Before coming here, Night Frost had learned a little about the Fourth District. She knew it was called the “Gray City.”

Still, seeing it with her own eyes was quite shocking.

As its name suggested, the Gray City was a gray-colored city.

That grayness had not come from nature. It was a product of industrialization.

The Fourth District was the earliest region to industrialize. As technology continued to advance, it also brought pollution.

They called this pollution “smog.”

At the time, the people there had been proud of the ever-rising gray clouds.

But more and more people began collapsing because of them. Only then did they realize that the smog was harmful to the human body.

They had awakened too late.

The smog had already caused irreversible damage and pollution throughout the Gray City.

The people from the old world government had tried every method to eliminate it, but none had worked.

As long as industry continued to develop, the gray clouds would keep pouring forth without end.

After the Magic Maiden government took power, it also tried to clear the smog.

Although they achieved some results, the root of the problem remained.

At that time, the Order Keeper organization did not yet exist. The Magic Maidens formed teams using their own power to govern and protect the city.

Those people had been blinded by greed and profits. Magic Maidens warned them again and again that their emissions exceeded the limits.

But for the sake of profit, they treated those warnings as nothing more than words in the wind.

“The Gray City is already like this. We might as well make more money while we can.

“All it takes is sacrificing a small patch of land for a steady stream of wealth. Isn’t that wonderful?”

The Magic Maiden government realized that it needed a sharp blade.

A blade to deal with the corrupt lawbreakers in every city.

A blade to slay Monsters and protect those cities.

That was why the Order Keeper was established.

To explore the Abyss, pursue wisdom and knowledge, and gain a deeper understanding of the origins of Magic Maidens, the Seeker also came into being.

The moment the Order Keeper was established, it issued a series of laws.

If anyone violated them more than twice, the Magic Maidens had the right to send them to meet God.

The Order Keeper headquarters—the towering structure—was built in the Fourth District, the most difficult region to govern.

Because of that tower’s presence, most companies began reducing their emissions. Some even withdrew from the Fourth District entirely.

They moved beyond the district’s borders, into places the Magic Maidens couldn’t control.

As a result, the Fourth District became peaceful.

But the pollution and damage caused by the smog had never been reversed.

The Fourth District’s population continued to decline. Those who remained had to wear masks whenever they went outside, or risk contracting lung diseases.

As a Chapter Three practitioner, Night Frost wasn’t afraid of the smog.

Even so, she took a mask and a baseball cap out of the Spatial Box.

If she acted too differently from everyone else, she might still be exposed. Concealing her face was important.

The Zone Fifteen Guardian also put on a mask and baseball cap. Night Frost had prepared them especially for her.

The Order Keeper might not recognize Night Frost, but they definitely knew the Zone Fifteen Guardian.

“Let’s find somewhere to stay.”

Night Frost recalled the information Blade had prepared for them.

Night Frost was already quite experienced at finding a place to lie low. She had done the same thing in District Twenty One.

However, the Fourth District was somewhat different from District Twenty One.

On the surface, everyone here obeyed the Order Keeper completely. In reality, almost anyone picked at random from the streets had a rebellious streak.

This was the Order Keeper headquarters. Naturally, the laws here were the strictest.

The law enforcers here tolerated not even the slightest flaw.

Whether they were capitalists or ordinary citizens, everyone struggled to breathe beneath the pressure of the Order Keeper tower.

For the sake of survival, they naturally formed alliances in secret.

The city appeared law-abiding on the surface, but it had already begun to rot beneath that facade.

The moment the Order Keeper relaxed its vigilance, the accumulated evil would erupt.

But what did that have to do with Night Frost?

Those underground organizations hiding in the shadows were excellent places to lie low.

Their members included citizens and capitalists dissatisfied with the Fourth District’s laws, as well as foreign refugees seeking a stable place to live.

In short, the underground organizations here were a mixed bag. They didn’t care about your identity.

“There’s a march ahead. Want to take a look?”

Night Frost lowered the brim of her baseball cap and slipped into the marching crowd. The Zone Fifteen Guardian followed her.

She had visited the Fourth District many times, but this was the first time she had seen a protest.

“What are you protesting?”

Night Frost looked around and discovered that the marchers were all young people around her age.

She casually approached one of the girls.

“You don’t know? You must be new here. Then let me explain…”

“Recently, the Order Keeper headquarters issued a trial regulation. They want to cancel everything related to agents.”

“On top of that, they’ve added two mandatory courses.”

“Two?”

“One is called *Faith*. The other is called *Physical Health*.”