The target valley was silent.

Not a blade of grass grew on the steep rock walls, only large swaths of deep gray mineral veins, like ash solidified, lay exposed, reflecting a metallic, hard luster under the dim sky.

This is the typical terrain of the "Ash Crystal Mines."

Jeming precisely located the specific area of the previous collection round based on the coordinates in the Record Crystal.

It was a segment of the nearly vertical rock wall.

"This is the place." Jeming raised his hand, his fingertips lighting up with a glimmer of Alchemy.

With his refined manipulation power, he guided the earth and stone elements to "peel away" from the rock wall like water.

The hard rock seemed to turn into loose sand before him, layer by layer peeled away by an invisible hand.

As the digging continued, an extremely abrupt scene revealed itself to the trio.

The deep gray mineral vein, originally supposed to extend continuously and evenly, presented a huge cavity with unusually smooth and neat edges.

The cavity was roughly an irregular cuboid, about ten meters long, five meters wide, and more than eight meters deep.

Its inner wall was smooth as a mirror, as if instantaneously cut by some absolutely sharp tool, starkly contrasting with the surrounding rough natural mineral vein cross-section.

The volume of the cavity exactly matched the volume of the raw minerals recorded by Jeming.

Jeming took out the batch of Ash Crystal Mines from his inner grotto heaven, suspending it in mid-air.

The gray mineral heap formed a bizarre visual echo with the smooth gap in the rock wall.

No precise measurement was needed; a mere sweep of spiritual power confirmed that the volume and characteristic morphology of both were highly matched.

"Look here," Vivian pointed to the junction between the cavity edge and the normal mineral vein, "this fault has no traces of compression or stretching, nor of energy erosion or high-temperature melting. Normally, if such a large cavity was naturally formed, there should be various special marks."

Roland crouched down, his fingers brushing across the smooth inner wall of the gap, releasing a Microscopic Material Structure Analysis Technique:

"The composition is completely consistent with the surrounding mineral veins, and the crystallization growth lines at the cavity edge are not naturally truncated... It’s definitely a sudden ’loss,’ not a ’cavity appearing for some reason.’

Jeming nodded, returning the minerals to the grotto heaven.

The result was already clear.

Non-organic matter native to the plane, when moved entirely into an independent spacetime, does not exhibit as "never existed" in the current cycle’s timeline like biological entities do.

The gap on the rock wall is proof. This mineral vein didn’t coincidentally show an "original state" of a cavity; an empty spot suddenly appeared for real.

This is fundamentally different from the phenomenon where individuals of the Reaper Race, when stored entirely, have their existence completely erased.

And much like those instruments, extracted substances aren’t immediately erased by the paradox.

"So, the key difference really lies in ’life’ and ’non-life’?" Vivian pondered, "or rather, in whether there’s an ’independent soul,’ ’complex causality line,’ and ’social collective memory’?"

Roland proposed another possibility: "It’s also possible the difference lies in the time scale. Although the existence of the Reaper Race is ancient, it definitely doesn’t surpass the existence time of mineral veins. So the judgment method of the time paradox might likely differentiate things based on whether they appear before or after this special ability of time retrogression."

Jeming listened to his companions’ analysis, further perfecting the puzzle in his mind.

"The current evidence at least supports part of our conjecture: the reason the Reaper Race triggers a paradox, causing related memories to be corrected, may indeed be because they are living beings, and a highly socialized civilization." Jeming summarized.

"As living entities, they have individual and collective memory networks. As a civilization, their history, social relations, and even possibly existing ’civilization will’ are woven into a vast causality net. When an individual is wholly deleted from the timeline, in order to maintain the logical consistency of the entire ’story,’ this net automatically ’repairs’ related memory nodes to rationalize the ’absence.’"

"Whereas instruments and minerals," he continued, "lack a soul, lack social memory. Their ’existence’ is closer to pure material record. Upon deletion, what’s left is just the most direct physical vacancy."

Vivian’s eyes sharpened: "If this hypothesis holds, it means... Behind the Reaper Race, that potentially existing ’dominant will’—whether it’s some kind of super-individual or collective consciousness, or the cycle device itself—it controls the entire civilization down to the causality and memory levels!"

"Not only can it reset time, but during the reset process, like editing text, it ’revises’ the entire civilization’s historical memory to ensure the ’continuity’ of the story!"

At this moment, the Magic Network Terminals carried by the trio vibrated simultaneously, projecting a scarlet rune representing the highest emergency level.

It was a group war situation notification from the command headquarters at the main camp, personally issued by Frost.

The message was brief but heavy:

[All reconnaissance units note: Multiple directions detect abnormal large-scale gathering and high-speed maneuvering of Reaper Race main forces, their movement trajectory shows a clear centripetal encirclement pattern.]

[Estimated target: our main camp and nearby major forward bases. The troop scale far exceeds any previous total attack estimation.]

[Comprehensive judgment, the Reaper Race has prematurely activated the final stage operation plan, full-scale war will erupt within 24 to 48 standard hours. All dispatched units immediately cease tasks, gather at the main camp or nearest fort at full speed. Repeat, cease immediately, return at full speed!]

"So fast!" Roland’s face darkened.

"Seems our reconnaissance and the previous large-scale clean-ups probably really hit a sore point of theirs," Vivian swiftly analyzed, "They aren’t allowing the ’boiling frog’ time anymore."

Jeming put away the terminal, took a last look at the smooth mineral gap on the rock wall, and as if through it, saw deeper the shadow possibly existing that manipulates memories and time.

"Let’s go." He turned, his voice calm yet determined, "Variable experiments need more rounds to perfect, but for now, we have more pressing matters to face."

"Bring our findings and hypotheses back, fittingly, we need to enter the next round quickly to verify them."

The three figures no longer concealed their presence, turned into streams of light and shot skyward, tearing through the air at the fastest pace, speeding towards the direction of the main camp.