The interior of the tower felt like a completely different world compared to the outside.

It was perpetually shrouded in darkness, impossible to tell day from night. Clouded in mist and plagued with constant storms. Standing on the upper floor of the tower, all you could see below was layer after layer of swirling fog.

Lloyd stood in the room, and the warm yellow glow of the lights cast a soft hue on his face. That same gentle light illuminated the old desk and the bookshelf not far away.

But if you looked closely, the light didn't come from fire. It actually came from a floating mushroom.

As expected of the Holy Land, everything was so magical.

Lloyd felt a surge of pride.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

The Administrator rarely showed himself. Calling him here specifically… what for?

The Administrator wore a cloak and had a raspy voice and shriveled arms. He pushed a photo across the table. "These two. You bought them from the trading center, right?"

In the photo, Lloyd was at the dining table, clearly excited as he spoke to the youth. Next to them, the little sister was watching.

This was taken inside his own home. The only one who could have captured this angle… was his white-haired chauffeur.

Did the Administrator's influence really reach that far?

Lloyd stared at the photo. He was clearly displeased, but he had no choice. He swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."

He had no idea why the Administrator would care about two lowly pets. Though to be fair, those two were indeed impressive.

The Administrator gave a cold snort. "These two are infiltrators. One of them came from the base, but I still don't know exactly who he is."

Lloyd stiffened. "You mean… they approached us on purpose?"

Yin Zhu gave him a look. "What else? Do you really think your luck is that good? Scoring two top-tier pets in one go?"

Lloyd laughed awkwardly. "Well, if they came on purpose, then let them stay. It's fine. Once someone enters here, they cannot leave anyway. And he seems friendly."

Yin Zhu wanted to crack open Lloyd's skull and see if his brain had been damaged during his transformation into a pollutant.

"Do you even know who the small one is? That is Ming Rui."

Because of Ming Zhi's unique ability, Lloyd knew quite a bit about her.

She had become a legend after arriving in the Holy City twenty years ago. During a targeted capture operation, she had fetched an unprecedented price at auction. That record was just broken recently.

Time and space, these two powers were basically divine. This woman practically possessed god-like abilities.

Like the teleportation arrays and enchanted materials issued by the Holy Land, her powers allowed her to live quite freely in Mist City.

And indeed, she had a high status, almost equal to the senior residents. They didn't even turn her into a pollutant. Her body was merely modified to shield her from pollution damage. They respected her wishes. Even when her husband died in the rebellion, she and her children were spared.

You could call it… merciful.

Ming Rui and Ming Chen were the names of her son and daughter.

Wait, hadn't those two escaped before? Why were they back?

And he could have sworn the younger one was a girl?

So they were both boys?

Lloyd sank into thought.

Yin Zhu stood by the window. Outside, the storm howled. But inside, all was silent.

"Why do you think he came back?" he asked.

Lloyd guessed, "He missed his mom?"

Yin Zhu's face darkened.

Seeing his expression, Lloyd looked stunned. "Don't tell me… he is here to overthrow the Holy City?"

Relying on that long-haired youth?

Just how strong was he supposed to be?

Kemov had fought him evenly, but he couldn't be that powerful, right?

"I want you to activate your authority and cut off both of their heads."

To use the neck restraints, the pets had to be within a certain range of their master.

The Administrator's voice was cold. Lloyd stammered, unable to admit that he had already removed the collars.

As he hesitated, a strange sound broke through the storm.

Not thunder.

Lloyd's expression changed. Was that… gunfire?

Yin Zhu heard it too. He stood and walked to the window, seeing a pile of headless corpses on the ground. He grinned cruelly.

"Look at that. After all these years, there is still someone who can't help but act on their conscience."

"These rebels, once they lose contact with the stone pillars, their death will be triggered." A dry, wheezing laugh escaped the Administrator's chest like an old bellows.

Lloyd stared at him in shock.

Killing people and crushing their spirits. Two birds with one stone.

The feeling of helplessness would break even pollutants.

Lloyd looked down at the approaching figure. As the person got closer, he finally saw his face. He leaned against the window, barely believing that youth had actually lasted the full thirty minutes and made it here.

Guilt flashed across Lloyd's face. He glanced at the Administrator. "Seems like it is too late now. He is about to break in."

Yin Zhu returned to the table and looked at the markings on the floor in the corner, sneering. "After the rebellion, none of us could open the door anymore. Only the teleportation array works. He can't get in."

Ruan Xing stood at the foot of the tower and looked up.

The towering structure pierced the clouds. The massive door, several meters high, was tightly shut, and ancient patterns twisted together across its surface. Metal rivets were firmly embedded in the door, glinting faintly in the lightning.

He ran his fingers along the black stone. A sense of fullness pulsed from his fingertips into his heart.

Found it.

Ruan Xing silently said to himself.

Fu Gui peeked out. "Is this your Mage Tower?"

Ruan Xing gave a quiet "Mm."

Fu Gui asked, "So… how do we get in? Can you try saying 'Open Sesame' or something?"

Fu Gui knew nothing about the magical side of things. He had no idea that Mage Towers actually had tower spirits, like intelligent AIs.

Normally, when they sensed their master's call, the tower spirit would open the doors.

But if it was injured or dormant, a key was needed to awaken it.

Ruan Xing picked up the key.

He remembered the last time he used it, and how much pain Fu Zhi had been in.

So he set it down.

Intelligent management systems were nice and all, but humans managed just fine before them. Likewise, a Mage Tower without a tower spirit still had a very old-school way of being opened.

Ruan Xing took a deep breath and pulled out a dagger. He rolled up his sleeve and cut into his own wrist. Blood gushed out, dripping down steadily.

Fu Gui panicked. "What are you doing?! Victory is right in front of us! Don't do anything crazy!"

It wasn't a death wish. This was the other way to open the tower. A complex blood sigil was required, and his blood was a perfect ink.

Ruan Xing guided the blood down to his fingertips and began drawing symbols on the giant door.

Fu Gui watched, wide-eyed and unblinking, terrified that he might try something even crazier. After all, this guy almost killed himself in an explosion.

In the rain, under the storm, the youth stood before the tall door, painting with his own blood. His face was pale, but his lips were bright red. The wind tried to knock him over, and rain streamed down his long hair, but he kept going.

The blood patterns became clearer and eerier.

Ruan Xing chanted a long incantation. The pattern on the door began to glow. Then, with a sharp "click," the door cracked open.

A cool breeze slipped out, carrying a decayed, ancient, familiar scent that made his soul tremble.

His hand trembled and his eyes gleamed in the shadows as he gently pushed the door open.

Creeeaaak—

It was dark and silent inside. His footsteps echoed through the whole tower.

Ruan Xing looked up. At the very top, the glowing orb that should have been there was gone.

The tower spirit was missing.

The spirit was bound to the tower. The tower was its body. If the body were gone, it was like having your heart ripped out. It must have hurt terribly.

Ruan Xing pressed his hand to the pendant around his neck.

Click. Footsteps sounded.

Ruan Xing looked up.

A woman held up an oil lamp. The mushroom on it bobbed gently.

She looked about thirty-something, wearing a white gown. Her black hair was tied up, exposing a gray collar on her neck, and her skin was porcelain white, glowing under the lamp.

She looked shocked to see someone there.

"How did you get in?" Ming Zhi asked.

The lamp's light was dim, making it hard to see the youth's face. But it was clear that he came from outside. Rain was dripping from his body, pooling on the floor.

He didn't care. He just stood there, like he was remembering something.

He pointed behind him where the door was still slightly ajar.

Ming Zhi's eyes widened. He came through the main door?

How?! That door hadn't opened in eight years!

She didn't sense any hostility from him, so she lifted her skirt slightly and walked down the stairs toward him.

"This is incredible. Are you one of the new arrivals? You still seem human—"

Halfway through, she got a good look at his face, and the lamp slipped from her hand.

His face was pale, and his lips were colorless. Rain clung to his skin like a water ghost, and a mole below his eye shimmered in the candlelight. And those deep green eyes stared straight at her.

Oh god. What was she seeing?

Ming Zhi clutched her mouth. She had seen this person before.

She had seen his portrait. Someone had drawn him countless times, obsessively, as if pouring their whole soul into every detail.

Now he stood in front of her, exactly as he had in those paintings.

Ruan Xing bent down to pick up the lamp. Even after being dropped, the little mushroom glowed on. He infused it with more magic, and the mushroom perked up, wobbling excitedly.

"You are Ming Zhi?"

He had never seen her photo. But she resembled Ming Chen, and Ming Rui had described her clearly.

Ming Zhi took the lamp from him. "Yes… do you know me?"

The youth's eyes softened a little, and his distant aura faded. "Ming Rui asked me to come."

The lamp almost fell again, but Ruan Xing caught it.

Her voice trembled. She realized he wasn't just some challenger.

"No. You can't be here. You need to leave. Now."

Ruan Xing asked, "Why?"

Ming Zhi looked anxious. "Please go. The Administrator is here. You can't save me."

She hadn't expected him to be connected to her children. Bitterness welled up inside.

She had always been a woman both lucky and unlucky.

Born to an ordinary family, she had dreamed of joining the Investigation Corps. She made it into a top academy and graduated as planned. On her very first mission, she even awakened a rare space ability. She became one of the base's rising stars.

Even the Tower reached out to her. She was all set to become the first female knight, and her name would go down in history.

Then fate played a cruel trick.

She woke up one day inside a cage, already trafficked to Mist City and labeled a pet.

Ming Zhi was furious and terrified. But the collar on her neck sealed her powers. All she could do was wait inside the cage for her fate.

"One million." That was Kermo's voice at the auction. He had bought her.

At first, she planned to bide her time and escape. But then he sent her directly to the Holy Land.

The moment she saw the man under the hood, she felt as if she was struck by lightning.

He was one of the Tower knights.

"You… you made deals with pollutants?!"

She had been shocked. How could the so-called beacon of humanity harbor someone like this?

But the withered old man ignored her outrage and asked instead, "Why not? Why do you think that the Tower is humanity's safe haven?"

She was stunned. People believed in the Tower because it controlled pollutants, so cities grew around it, hoping for protection.

But in reality, it was the Enforcement Division saving people. The Tower… what was it really doing?

Ming Zhi started to doubt.

After joining, she learned that the Tower's items couldn't be transported directly. They had to be "relayed" first, put into her space, then transferred via teleportation array.

Yin Zhu used her powers like a delivery mule, extracting strange objects from the tower. The so-called "Holy Land" was more like an emptying prison.

Day by day, she was brainwashed into submission.

"You should pass your powerful genes down," they told her.

The man they paired her with was another of Kemov's "pets". Young, lively, unlike anyone in this place. He confessed nervously, like someone who had never been in love.

She didn't dislike him. When he asked, she softly said yes. She remembered that the sunset was beautiful that day.

Pets had no rights, and love was the only freedom Kemov allowed.

She became pregnant. Somehow, the child awakened powers at birth.

The father had jumped with joy. Years of slave life had made his pollution more visible, and the growths on his face were impossible to miss. But he refused to fight in the arena, and he also wouldn't turn into a pollutant. So, he worked the hardest jobs.

Then, eight years ago, on a stormy day like this one, she had seen him.

A man with cropped black hair stepped into the tower.

He stood where Ruan Xing was currently standing, staring up at the tower's peak. His face was streaked with rain and tears alike, both streaming down to crash upon the floor like thunderclaps.

She didn't know him. But when she saw the overflowing agony in his ice-blue eyes, her heart twisted so tight that she could barely breathe.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" His lips quivered, murmuring the words again and again.

He was clearly apologizing to someone.

But to whom?