Chapter 30

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Protagonist:

Xuan Ge

Yue Yao's blood-tear accusation reverberated in the cold interrogation room, every word wrapped in thirty years of dust and blood tears.

These words, like a rusted key, unexpectedly turned a dust-covered box deep in Xuan Ge's memory.

Siluke Star System..... thirty years ago.....

Xuan Ge leaned against the chair back, his golden eyes slightly narrowed, focus cast toward a point in the Void.

He was not evading or denying, but truly "recalling".

The details of that battle surged back like a tide.

The Divine Martial Corps did not carry out a great slaughter at all; even the killing was granting a quick death to those infected past half, because infected past half was already no different from dead.

Those of weak constitution or poor luck, even with only slight infection, could rapidly collapse, becoming empty shells manipulated by Abundance Power.

Facing such people, granting a quick end was the final mercy on the battlefield.

Ling Sha stood at his side, her lips slightly parted, preparing to calmly point out the cause of her brother's death to Yue Yao based on the records....

"Ling Sha."

Xuan Ge raised his hand, stopping her.

Yes, undeniable. That little boy was indeed executed by the Divine Martial Corps due to infection.

But as an Arbiter of the Hunt, he was most sensitive to intense emotional fluctuations like revenge and hatred.

In this Yue Yao, the so-called hatred he sensed remained on the surface, lacking a root-level burning sensation.

Yue Yao was more like a preset, continuously self-reinforcing procedural reaction.

She was like a puppet manipulated to perform hatred.

Xuan Ge stood up from the seat. The black iron seat rubbed against the floor, emitting a faint sound, exceptionally clear in the silent room.

He walked step by step to the cage front, stopping in Yue Yao's gaze of hatred nearly spitting fire, slightly lowering his head, looking at her.

"You're right." His voice was calm and waveless, as if stating an objective fact.

"The one who ordered the purge of your brother was me. The top of the command chain is me, Xuan Ge. On this point, I have nothing to refute."

Yue Yao's pupils violently contracted, seemingly not expecting he would admit it so directly.

Immediately after, that hatred burned even more twistedly, the corner of her mouth split open, emitting a silent cold laugh.

"But..." Xuan Ge changed topic, tone still steady, yet carrying an undeniable cold hardness.

"You found the wrong target for revenge, used the wrong method.

Your hatred should not be poured onto ordinary Divine Martial soldiers' heads, let alone use fraud and deception to drag them into the Bai Lang's trap."

"Heh....." Yue Yao squeezed a disdainful sneer from her throat, turned her face away, no longer looking at him, also refusing to respond.

She seemed to have long predicted this situation of each sticking to their own words, or perhaps she simply did not care about Xuan Ge's explanation.

Xuan Ge watching her this appearance, the depths of his eyes flashed a trace of extremely subtle, hard-to-detect sharp light.

He did not continue this topic further, but turned his head and called:

"Li Yi."

"Subordinate is here." Like a statue standing still, the Ten Kings Office Judge stepped forward, cupping fists awaiting orders.

Xuan Ge's gaze turned toward those five cages holding the Bai Lang women at the side, his chin imperceptibly lifted slightly.

Li Yi instantly understood. His face remained rigid and cold, merely bowing again: "Yes, General."

No superfluous questions, no questioning of the judgment.

He straightened, making a concise hand gesture to the Divine Martial soldiers standing by at the side.

The soldiers immediately stepped forward, movements crisply opening the cages, dragging out the five fox women inside who were already scared out of their wits, unable even to cry out, escorting them toward the outside of the interrogation room.

Having dealt with the others, Xuan Ge's gaze fell back on Yue Yao again.

He indifferently instructed, "Ling Sha treat her."

Ling Sha slightly startled, looked toward Xuan Ge.

On the General's face no joy or anger could be seen, only a kind of deep calm.

She instantly suppressed the doubt in her heart, did not ask a single word more.

Jade hand lightly raised, fingertips rippling with soft pink light mist full of vitality, as if guided, lightly drifting toward the caged Yue Yao, wrapping her whole person.

Light mist seeped into skin, Yue Yao's four limbs bones that had been brutally broken then crudely set, emitted fine "click" reassembly sounds, returning to position and knitting at speed visible to the naked eye.

Bruises and wounds on flesh rapidly faded, disappeared. In just a few breaths, aside from torn clothes and bloodstains, her physical condition had recovered as before.

Yue Yao moved her newly freed hands, also touched her intact neck, eyes held not a shred of gratitude, only deeper wariness and incomprehension, and that hatred that had never faded.

"What do you want to do?!" she sharply questioned, spine taut, like a wounded beast ready to pounce at any moment.

Xuan Ge did not answer, merely raised a finger toward the guards.

"Click."

The cage's energy lock released, the cage door silently slid open.

"I give you a chance."

Xuan Ge stood in place, not even assuming any defensive or combat stance, merely looking at Yue Yao, tone flat like stating a transaction condition.

"A chance for revenge. Right here, right now. If you can injure me, even just tear my hem, I will let you go. I will not go back on my word."

Yue Yao almost without hesitation, the moment the cage door fully opened, she like a bolt of black lightning, violently burst from the cage!

Target clear — Xuan Ge's throat!

Five fingers curled into claws, fingertips whitening from the force, carrying all her hatred, rage, and desperate madness to survive, she clawed viciously!

She met no obstruction whatsoever. Her fingers, solidly and truly, "touched" the skin on the side of Xuan Ge's neck.

However——

The ferocity and resolve on Yue Yao's face froze in an instant, then were replaced by vast bewilderment.

What's going on?

The sensation..... is wrong.

Not the warmth and elasticity of flesh and blood, but more like..... pressing against an intangible, formless, yet absolutely impenetrable barrier?

Xuan Ge lowered his head slightly, looking at Yue Yao, who was right before him, a full head shorter than himself.

Watching her go from an attack of utmost hatred, to exerting her full strength, to the confusion and disbelief filling her face at this moment.

The corner of Xuan Ge's mouth, almost imperceptibly, curved upward into an extremely faint arc.

"Not bad." He spoke, his voice not loud, yet it struck clearly upon Yue Yao's bewildered consciousness.

"Knowing it cannot be done yet doing it..... this all-or-nothing courage, it actually has some semblance."

Yue Yao snapped back to her senses, humiliated and furious, her other hand also lashing out violently, attempting to attack Xuan Ge's eyes or temples!

But Xuan Ge's movements were far faster than hers.

"But——"

Before his voice fell, Xuan Ge's right hand had already shot out like a ghost, striking later but arriving first, precisely and steadily clamping around Yue Yao's slender neck.

Five fingers closed, the force controlled to a nicety, just enough to make her feel a suffocating pressure and the brittle creak of cervical vertebrae unable to bear the load, yet not actually snapping her neck instantly.

"You shouldn't have——"

Xuan Ge lifted her entire body effortlessly off the ground, his gaze coldly fixed on her face, flushed red from suffocation yet still stubbornly glaring at him.

"Dragging Qiu Han and the others into this! Even more unforgivable, you nearly got them killed!"

Xuan Ge sensed that hazy, ambiguous, mist-shrouded mirror surface within Yue Yao's body, bearing traces of..... tampering and overwriting.

It was the power of Memory. And the technique was masterful, by no means ordinary.

"Ugh——!"

A pained, muffled groan escaped Yue Yao's throat, both hands instinctively clutching death-grip on Xuan Ge's arm choking her, nails digging deep into his wrist guards.

The hatred in her eyes had nearly materialized; even on the verge of suffocation, she still used every last ounce of strength trying to tear, trying to harm.

"Hmph!" Xuan Ge gave a cold snort, directly piercing through the power of memory, then his wrist abruptly exerted force, slamming Yue Yao viciously onto the hard floor!

"Bang——!!!" The dull impact sound made one's teeth ache.

Yue Yao's body smashed spiderweb-like cracks into the floorboards, she violently coughed up a large mouthful of fresh blood, vision went black, and she completely fainted, losing consciousness.

"Trouble you." Xuan Ge withdrew his hand, as if just now he had merely brushed away a speck of insignificant dust.

He clasped his hands behind his back and instructed Ling Sha, his tone returning to its usual casualness.

Ling Sha nodded silently.

She could tell, the General's final slam, though heavy, had cleverly avoided vital points, more like a..... forced interruption?

She raised her hand again, pink healing light mist gently enveloping the unconscious Yue Yao, repairing the internal organ shock and bone fractures caused by the impact.

But this time, she did not wake Yue Yao, instead letting her maintain a state of deep sleep.

Xuan Ge's gaze swept over that Shen Wu Corps soldier who had guarded the side from start to finish, personally witnessing everything—— Qiu Han.

He raised his hand, a wisp of pure and gentle Hunt power brushing over Qiu Han's body like a clear breeze.

"Qiu Han, do you recognize her? Look carefully." Xuan Ge asked, voice calm.

Qiu Han removed his face-covering helmet as bid, revealing a young face.

He walked to the unconscious Yue Yao's side, crouched down, carefully examining that face which even in unconsciousness still bore traces of stubbornness and pain.

After looking for a long while, his brows knitted tightly, and he shook his head in confusion.

"General..... this subordinate..... does not recognize her."

He lifted his head, eyes clear, carrying genuine bewilderment.

"Before today, never seen her."

"General! This....." Ling Sha's pupils contracted slightly, only now realizing, both of them had their memories tampered with.

"Go on down." Xuan Ge waved a hand at Qiu Han: "Go call your Older Brother Qiu Ye, and your squad members, all of them. I have questions to ask."

"Yes! General!" Qiu Han immediately acknowledged the order, put his helmet back on, and hurriedly withdrew.

Though full of doubts why the General suddenly asked about a strange fox woman, military orders are like mountains.

Once Qiu Han left, only Xuan Ge, Ling Sha, and the unconscious Yue Yao remained in the interrogation room.

Only then did Xuan Ge glance at Yue Yao on the ground, speaking to explain to Ling Sha, his voice low and certain:

"Only Qiu Ye's memory is correct in this matter, Yue Yao is indeed a survivor of that war, but being forced to join the Bai Lang is false, her hatred for me is also false."

Xuan Ge did not sense any feeling of revenge or hatred; as a Hunt Emissary, he is most sensitive to this kind of feeling.

So he let Yue Yao be sad and angry, he fundamentally did not want to bother with such a puppet.

After hearing the General's words, Ling Sha had already figured out the whole story.

Yue Yao's memory was tampered with by a Memokeeper, joining the Bai Lang should have been the Memokeeper's guidance, that mysterious Memokeeper also tampered with the White Wolves' memories making them believe Yue Yao is Li Li.

Then, as Yue Yao's own memory slowly fermented, she hated the General more and more, and only then did this incident occur.