"Danjin, you're too extreme."
Outside the interrogation room, Noah pulled Danjin aside to talk:
"Although exiles are very bad, you can't just get murderous intent the moment you hear the word 'exile.' I won't bring you on this mission. I'll find you later to exterminate some bandits."
"Okay..." Danjin replied in a muffled voice.
At the same time, the door of the interrogation room opened, and Taoqi and Yinlin walked out one after another.
"The relevant inquiry is complete. Your friend is indeed a Patroller."
Walking out of the interrogation room, Taoqi stretched and smiled at Noah:
"I'll personally follow up on her identity verification. It will definitely be ready by tomorrow morning."
"Good, thank you for the trouble."
"Haha, it's just a simple favor."
Taoqi secretly glanced at Yinlin behind her. The latter immediately turned her head away somewhat embarrassedly.
Seeing this, Taoqi became even more interested. She immediately revealed all of Yinlin's little secrets to Noah:
"Let me tell you, she actually thought you had some ulterior motive and was on guard against you the whole time. But that's a common issue with underground agents. I've already given her some psychological guidance."
"Huh? What do you mean by being on guard against me?"
Noah raised an eyebrow, looking at Yinlin with surprise. The latter bit her lip lightly, stepped forward, bowed deeply, and held out the Fusion Star Disc that Noah had given her earlier with both hands as she sincerely apologized:
"I'm very sorry. I judged a gentleman's heart with a villain's mind. Mr. Noah, you are a good person."
Noah glanced at the dark muzzle of the Fusion Star Disc and couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth:
"A good person deserves to be pointed at with a Rectifier?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's my fault."
After another round of apologies and conversation, Yinlin finally explained the full reason behind all the misunderstandings and returned the Rectifier and 100,000 Shell Credits that Noah had given her earlier.
"As an underground agent, my creed has always been to not trust anyone. So when I suddenly encountered someone as sincere as you, my first reaction was suspicion."
As she spoke, Yinlin apologized once more. Noah, who now fully understood the situation, smiled helplessly:
"It's fine, I can understand. So can you take me to find the mastermind behind the Séance Society now?"
"Yes. The Dollmaker has actually been hiding in the puppet factory in Whining Aix's Mire the whole time. As long as no one triggers his alarm mechanisms, he won't run around."
Yinlin nodded and turned to look at Taoqi:
"However, there aren't just the missing Jinzhou residents there. There are also many exiles. Group Leader Taoqi, do you want to come along?"
"No need. This kind of work doesn't fall under the Border Defense Department's responsibilities. However... if it were given to a certain patroller, it would definitely be a big achievement."
"Even so, I'm not a patroller from Jinzhou, and I've been undercover for a long time. Once my identity is restored, the merit itself won't be small."
As she spoke, both women simultaneously shifted their gazes to Noah's face. It could no longer be called a hint — it was practically a direct suggestion.
Noah understood and took out his terminal to make a call:
"Blazing Dawn, do you want some merit?"
Chixia on the other end of the call was clearly a bit confused, her voice doubtful:
"What merit?"
"Don't ask. Just bring as many patrollers as possible to help me. The more the better. I'll send you the location later."
Without waiting for Chixia to reply, Noah directly hung up the call and put the terminal back into his backpack.
Seeing this, Taoqi and Yinlin smiled in unison. Everything was understood without words.
"By the way."
As if remembering something, Taoqi suddenly spoke:
"General Jiyan just sent a message saying that there are signs of the Threnodian Ovathrax reviving, but its location is unknown. Hero of Jinzhou, if you go out of the city later, please help keep an eye out for any suspicious places recently."
"No problem."
...
Jinzhou, Whining Aix's Mire.
Inside the abandoned factory, several exiles who had become mentally unstable due to long-term contact with Remnant puppets were sluggishly moving boxes of scrap parts out.
One of the exiles stumbled, accidentally touching a copper wire, which immediately triggered alarm bells throughout the entire factory.
"Idiot! Be more careful! Don't trigger Lord Dollmaker's alarm mechanisms. Be careful or you'll never see your family again."
The leading exile scolded, then hurriedly picked up the walkie-talkie to explain to the other side.
Before long, the alarm bells inside the factory subsided. The exiles left the factory and closed the heavily rusted large door.
Inside the factory, the leader of the Séance Society, the Dollmaker, who had been so frightened by the alarm that he nearly dropped his boxed meal, slammed the walkie-talkie down heavily:
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash! Scared me half to death. Why hasn't Yinlin returned yet?"
Picking up the boxed meal again, the Dollmaker took a couple of bites but found it tasteless. He had an ominous premonition in his heart, as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at him.
Yet when he turned around, there were only countless puppets of various sizes.
"Damn it." The Dollmaker cursed irritably in a low voice and continued eating.
Most of the puppets in the factory were ordinary mechanical puppets. Only a very small portion were Remnant puppets.
Remnant puppets could use Resonators' memories to help them see their deceased loved ones again. However, long-term contact with Remnant puppets would increase the risk of Overclocking and could even cause abnormal mental states.
The Dollmaker created Remnant puppets to "help" Jinzhou residents see their deceased relatives. Once the puppets absorbed enough memories and frequencies, he would sell them to the Fractsidus for research.
This was undoubtedly a mutually beneficial transaction. However—
"Starting from four days ago, I haven't been able to successfully create a single Remnant puppet."
Throwing the empty meal box into the trash, the Dollmaker was puzzled.
He had never failed at making puppets before, but starting four days ago, every time he used his Resonance ability, it felt suppressed by some unknown force, causing him to be completely unable to exert his full power.
As a result, puppet creation failed again and again.
For this reason, the Dollmaker had even consulted the Fractsidus, which gave him two answers.
One: The Sentinel or a Threnodian was near him.
Two: He had contracted a strange illness named after him.
If the Dollmaker had to choose one of the two answers—
"Could it be that I really am sick?"
Setting aside his doubts for now, the Dollmaker pressed a mechanism on the console. The holographic projections throughout the large factory shut off, revealing a massive object densely wrapped in countless wires and metal.
His proudest Overlord -class creation — the Mech Abomination.
"The Fractsidus previously wanted me to stir up trouble inside Jinzhou to attract a certain guy back from Ragunna — what a joke. This is my baby. I'm not willing to use it."
Muttering to himself, the Dollmaker reached out and pressed several buttons on the control panel, then looked up at the Mech Abomination with appreciative eyes.
"Good child, come here. Hold me up so I can get closer to look at you."
In the next second, the Mech Abomination indeed moved and extended its massive mechanical claw toward him.
The Dollmaker was about to jump onto the giant claw as usual, but he found that the giant claw had gripped him tightly. A distorted whispering sound came from within the massive mechanical body.
"...Mother..."
"Huh— wasn't the AI program broken long ago?"
Facing the puppet that had suddenly learned to speak, the Dollmaker was at a loss.
He found that no matter what he did, he couldn't break free from the mechanical giant hand. On the contrary, the hand gripped tighter and tighter, squeezing him until his face turned purple and he could barely breathe.
"...Mother..." The Mech Abomination's eyes lit up with blood-red killing intent.
The Dollmaker spoke in panic:
"Good child, I'm your father. Let go..."
Before he could finish speaking, an angry whispering sound erupted from within the Mech Abomination, deafeningly loud.
"...Mother... needs war... needs power..."
"All transgressions... must be repaid with blood!"
Bang!
With a loud explosion, the mechanical giant hand clenched completely. The Mech Abomination's entire body was dyed red with spurting blood.
The Mech Abomination twisted its form, finally breaking free from the shackles of wires and metal. It stood on the ground and let out a piercing screech:
"Puppet Legion... make Jinzhou pay the price!"
Inside the entire abandoned factory, thousands of puppets rose. Whisperin Cores emerged above their heads. They moved with stiff steps, silently marching out one by one, their bodies flashing with dark purple electric arcs.
The heavily rusted large door was suddenly pushed open. Two figures were illuminated by the cold moonlight as they stepped into the dark factory.
...