The Celestial Principle God took the initiative to hurl the mountain of insect corpses toward the Foreigner’s point of origin.

Anyway, this Apocalypse Contamination would be forcibly overwritten by the Foreigner’s pollution, and this mysterious ally from beyond the world was very good at making use of waste...

·

The sky gradually dimmed.

In front of the Lord’s manor, Margaret paced with some irritation, those long legs swinging back and forth making the militia lad at the gate a little dizzy.

"It’s almost evening already. How much longer do I have to wait?" She looked into the Guard’s eyes.

"I can’t tell you the exact time, ma’am."

The militia lad shook his head, and the next second, his voice was abruptly cut off by a strange sound coming from the sky.

Margaret instinctively looked up, the impatience on her face instantly turning to shock as she watched a long, exaggerated rift tear open in the sky.

The scattered wind and snow dissipated into nothing.

The next instant, grotesque, terrifying steel insect bodies poured out of the rift, plummeting straight down onto the open ground with a deafening crash.

Staring at those uncanny insect shells, Margaret’s pupils trembled!

She stared fixedly at the mountain of insect corpses and cried out, "What is that?!"

"Oh, you mean that."

The militia lad scratched his head and explained, "Lord Lin Lan often uses some sort of magical power to bring back useful and reliable materials for the territory."

By now, the citizens of Seagull City were already used to the grand spectacles the Lord came up with.

Wasn’t the Ark Kingdom built up this way? Outsiders really made a fuss over nothing.

The corner of Margaret’s eye twitched uncontrollably; the unease in the Countess’s heart had already reached its peak.

Useful and reliable materials?

What a joke?! Those were clearly the incarnate forms of the Nightmare Celestial Calamity! They were evil spirits and demons that had crawled out from the world’s nightmares!

"Let me in first!" Margaret quickly moved toward the manor gate.

"Please stop where you are."

The militia lad’s face went taut as he decisively raised the Ash Soil Long Spear in his hands. The look in his eyes as he met the Countess’s gaze was full of vigilance: "Without permission, no one may intrude into the Lord’s manor."

"You don’t understand. If any feigned-death Nightmare entity is mixed in with that pile of insect shells, it will definitely go to ground, then bide its time until it can lay eggs in your dreams!"

Margaret’s eyes grew intensely anxious: "I’ve dealt with the Nightmare Celestial Calamity for a full eight years. I can use my experience to eliminate unnecessary hidden dangers for the Ark Kingdom!"

The militia lad shook his head firmly, wearing an expression that said, ’If you want to force your way into the manor, you’ll have to step over my corpse.’ A moment later, a few Sun Warriors not far off also noticed the Countess’s odd behavior.

They subtly closed in.

Their movements naturally did not escape the Duke’s Daughter’s eyes.

Margaret lifted her hand expressionlessly. That hand was wrapped in a black silk glove that clung tightly to her skin, strange patterns drawn across its surface. With a snap, she flicked her fingers.

An invisible psychic shockwave spread out.

The lad’s gaze instantly turned vacant; he sat down on the ground in a daze. The steps of the nearby Sun Warriors suddenly grew sluggish, but they merely swayed a little, and clarity quickly returned to their eyes.

A hint of surprise flashed through Margaret’s eyes. Just as she was about to take the opportunity to step into the manor, another cool voice suddenly sounded behind her.

"Lady Margaret, I advise you not to do anything unnecessary."

The Empire’s Countess froze. She slowly turned her head and found that Elio was somehow already standing nearby, the mechanical arm mounted on the "boy’s" back having locked onto her.

"Why?"

Margaret’s face was cold as she voiced the anger in her heart: "You should be very clear what that pile of Disaster Insect Shells means!"

"Lord Lin Lan is different from others. He has the ability to properly handle the Nightmare Celestial Calamity. That is also why Lord Frost Falcon values the Ark Kingdom."

Elio replied blandly: "It’s enough for you to know that much."

The Countess fell silent. The Sun Warriors, their eyes unfriendly, quickly formed a tight ring around her.

Margaret paid no attention to the hostility of the Ark Soldiers; she only stared at the face of the other Imperial Count, as if an intractable frost lay hidden in her eyes.

"You knew everything..."

She murmured, "You’d already been using the Night Owl to contact Lord Lin Lan a long time ago. You rescued No. 444, yet you still refuse to tell me anything."

Elio shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it.

"I don’t understand..."

Margaret clenched her teeth: "Just because my father is the Blood Vulture Duke, you’re this wary of me?"

Seeing the other’s indifferent gaze, she suddenly realized she’d just said something incredibly foolish.

Margaret lowered her head, clenching her fists tight.

Clearly she had already worked hard enough. She had even voluntarily left her father’s protection at a young, impressionable age and thrown herself into the Extreme North Ice Abyss administered by the Raven Duke, yet she still couldn’t break free of the shackles brought by the title "Duke’s Daughter."

"No one denies your patriotism, Count Margaret."

Looking at this stubborn, headstrong young woman before him, a rare hint of a smile surfaced on Elio’s face: "In fact, I’ve always admired your courage."

"Then why do you..."

"Do you know Dennis?"

Elio cut her off, giving a completely unremarkable name.

"Who is he?" Margaret frowned.

"A lad from a humble background who finally managed, with great difficulty, to qualify for a technical position."

Elio sighed: "Before departure, he told me he was going to win glory for the country, so that his parents, bedridden with severe illness, could be proud of him."

"But just not long ago, Dennis became a ’Sleeper’ whose brain was wrecked by information."

Elio said flatly, "Guess whose military order led to all this?"

Margaret’s words stuck completely in her throat.

Everything the Frost Falcon Duke did was for the people of the Empire living amid wind and snow, whereas the Blood Vulture Duke only ever considered the gains and losses of the Empire itself.

She had ultimately still been influenced by her father, because since childhood she had been chasing that solemn, austere back.

It had been so in the past, and it was the same now.

"So we are destined never to walk the same path."

Elio moved to stand beside the Sun Warriors and said softly, "Do you understand now?"

One of the warriors had already hoisted the now-unconscious militia lad onto his back.

"Come with us for a bit, Lady Margaret."

Decurion Jason regarded the Imperial Countess coldly—this woman who had used strange means to interfere with soldiers’ minds and tried to slip into the Lord’s manor. Even if she was a guest from afar, Lord Lin Lan’s authority must never be lightly slighted!

This was the bottom line of every citizen of the Ark Kingdom!