"Zane, look, what is this?"
Stelle's crisp voice echoed inside the cave, like a bright shooting star cutting through the cold, pitch-black air.
Following the sound, Stelle and the doctor walked out together from the depths of the cave.
Before entering the cave, the group had already discussed their plan... Zane and Rover would go look for Jinhsi, while the brains of the team, the doctor, and the combat powerhouse, Stelle, would go search for the core of the Miangloong Chamber.
Of course, there was another reason for letting Stelle go look for the core.
As the Fourth Calamity, there wasn't a single monster or material that could slip past her eyes.
As long as it dared to show a health bar, even a passing dog would get kicked a couple of times by her to see if it would drop gold coins.
If it didn't drop anything, she would even start suspecting whether she kicked it the wrong way, then kick it a few more times, trying to unlock some kind of achievement.
"That is…" Jinhsi looked at the sphere in the unfamiliar gray-haired girl's hand, compared it with the core in her memory, and immediately showed a shocked expression, "The core of the Miangloong Chamber?!"
Then Jinhsi turned her gaze toward Zane, her eyes full of doubt.
Only at this moment did Zane remember that Jinhsi hadn't met Stelle yet. He quickly introduced Stelle to her.
After listening to Zane's introduction, Jinhsi stared at him with a faint, lingering look, her eyes fixed on him.
She looked exactly like a little wife who had been abandoned.
'...I've only been at Mt. Firmament for one day, and you've already hooked up with another one? Who knows how many you got involved with?'
Being stared at like that made Zane's scalp prickle, and he immediately cast a pleading look at Rover, who was still watching the drama from the side.
Zane: Big boss, save me.
Rover: Payment?
Zane: Treasure chests from Mt. Firmament?
Rover: …
Zane: Then… I'll cover food and lodging?
Rover: I want you to agree to three requests.
Zane: …Fine, you call the shots.
'When you're under someone else's roof, you have no choice but to bow your head.' Zane could only agree to Rover's unequal treaty.
No way around it, his Rover had to be spoiled by him.
With the agreement made, Rover showed a faint smile at Zane's indulgence. Then she walked over to Jinhsi and whispered something softly into her ear.
Very quickly, Jinhsi's expression changed. She looked at Rover, then at Zane. Her face turned complicated, and she let out a soft sigh before finally nodding helplessly.
Zane had no idea what Rover said to her. He could only watch in confusion as Jinhsi took the core from Stelle's hand.
"Oh right.", Stelle clapped her hands as if she suddenly remembered something, a greedy smile appearing on her face.
"Zane, you need to compensate me. You didn't tell me there were so many guys in red clothes guarding the core."
Zane immediately knew Stelle had run into the Fractsidus. But running into Stelle meant those guys had hit a wall of steel.
"So how did you deal with them?"
"I took them down one by one with a swing," Stelle said, making a motion of swinging her bat. "But those guys were really tight-lipped. None of them said who sent them."
The doctor, standing nearby, had a dark expression on her face when she heard this. "By the way, did you ask them that question before hitting them?"
"Seems like I didn't."
"If you didn't, how would they answer?"
"If I didn't, does that mean they can't answer?" Stelle said righteously, hands on her hips, chin raised, like a little chick that had just won a fight. "They couldn't even understand what I meant. They deserved to get beaten."
Jinhsi suddenly looked at Zane with a hint of concern.
How should she put it… if these two ever had a child… she didn't even dare imagine what would happen.
Now that they had obtained the core to control the Miangloong Chamber, all they needed to do next was return to Hongzhen, activate the mechanism, and release the Sentinel. Then everything would be settled.
Time was tight. Soon, Zane returned to Hongzhen with Jinhsi, Rover, and the others.
From afar, the guards of Hongzhen spotted them and shouted in surprise as they ran back toward the town.
"It's Magistrate Jinhsi, Magistrate Jinhsi is back!"
Another guard also recognized them and ran toward the town as well.
"Zane is here again!"
Zane scratched his head in confusion. "Did they see a ghost? Why are they running so fast?"
Rover shot him a speechless glance. This guy had nearly destroyed Hongzhen's food culture. Saying they saw a ghost was an insult to ghosts.
A crime like that couldn't even be condemned with words. It could only be judged as heresy.
Not long after, Zane took the core and found Xinyi. Xinyi accepted it, walked to the control hub, and placed the core onto it.
A series of gears interlocking echoed up from underground.
Taking advantage of the moment, Zane asked a question that had been bothering him for a long time, "By the way, how did the Fractsidus even imprison the Sentinel?"
"That thing is huge. It's hard enough just trying to jump up and kick its knee… don't tell me they're already piloting Gundams?"
Zane's confusion was also shared by Jinhsi and Rover. Both of them turned to Xinyi, waiting for her answer.
Xinyi simply shook her head with a hint of regret.
"The prisoners from the Fractsidus are too tight-lipped. We couldn't get any useful information out of them."
Hearing this, Stelle immediately became dissatisfied. "Hey, they won't confess, right? Leave it to me, I guarantee they'll talk!"
As she spoke, she started swinging her bat again.
But before she could swing more than a few times, there was a crash. A vase placed on a nearby shelf shattered instantly…
An eerie silence spread through the air.
Stelle fell silent for a moment, then looked at Zane.
"Why did it break by itself?"
"Why don't you ask it?"
Fortunately, Xinyi didn't plan to hold Stelle responsible…
With Jinhsi's approval, the compensation was taken from Zane's small treasury.
Of course, Zane had no idea about this.
But if they couldn't pry the Fractsidus's plan out of their mouths, the society would remain hidden in the shadows.
That kind of situation was extremely unfavorable for Hongzhen.
"How about I give it a try?"
After thinking for a moment, Zane decided to try it himself. After all, he had read quite a lot of books and learned plenty of techniques from them.
Things like binding, whipping, wooden horse, wax dripping... he was basically proficient in all of them.
Thus, under the guard's guidance, Zane went to the prison alone.
Step by step, he walked down the bright staircase deeper inside. Various paintings hung on the surrounding walls. At the corner of the corridor, there was a wooden rack, and on it sat a vase.
Bright flowers were in full bloom, and two or three droplets of water on the petals made them look even more delicate.
As the guard led Zane forward, he described just how "cruel" they were to the prisoners,
"These prisoners have to wake up at 8 every day. After getting up, they must spend 30 minutes organizing their rooms. Then for the next 30 minutes, they can only have milk and bread."
"After that, they have to carry out heavy labor for up to 4 hours. Even at noon, they only get 2 hours of rest. In the afternoon, they are forced to work another 4 hours. If they don't complete 4 hours, they don't get to eat."
"Only after working a full 8 hours a day can they freely move around the activity area for 2 hours in the evening. There's not much to do there anyway, just billiards, basketball, music, books…"
"They only get two days off each week, can only eat three meals a day, and must go to bed at 10 at night…"
"Uh, Mr. Zane, why are you kneeling?"
As the guard walked, he suddenly felt someone grabbing his pant leg. Turning around, he saw Zane clutching him, tears streaming down his face and nose running.
"Are you still taking prisoners here? I'm very capable, please lock me up!"