After parting with Danjin, Zane finally had a moment alone. He rubbed his short white hair in frustration.
Logically speaking, no matter how large an exile camp was, whether it had dozens or hundreds of people, there should at least be the elderly, the weak, women, and children, as well as people responsible for production.
As the younger brother of the Jinzhou Magistrate, he naturally knew that the war in the north was tense. It had even affected the northern districts of Jinzhou, leading to the closure of the north gate.
But if you thought a bit deeper, with fewer merchants and travelers passing through the north gate, it would inevitably cause most of the villages in northern Jinzhou to fall into a strange cycle where goods couldn't come in and products couldn't go out.
Over time, this could lead to individual merchants in northern villages being stuck with unsold goods, their cash flow disrupted, eventually resulting in bankruptcy.
As the waves of bankruptcy gradually grew and turned into a tsunami, it would create a large number of idle people.
Those with financial means might choose to relocate with their families, while those without either starved to death on their ancestral land or turned into bandits, making a living by robbing merchant caravans.
Then it would spiral into a vicious cycle, fewer caravans, fewer goods in the market, rising prices, ordinary people going bankrupt, joining the exiles to rob caravans, fewer caravans.
From there, everything north of Jinzhou would completely collapse. It might even include defensive fortifications and military structures.
If, at that time, a Tacet Discord tide broke out in Beiluo Field…
Zane didn't even dare to imagine how many days the isolated army on the front lines could hold out.
By all reasonable logic, when a family's economy collapses, aside from young laborers, it would inevitably also produce a large number of elderly people and children.
But here, Zane hadn't found any such people.
There wasn't even a single non-combatant.
Reality wasn't a game. Even exiles needed a stable source of food and income to gradually grow stronger.
"Unless…" Zane stroked his chin. A frightening light flickered in his emerald eyes. "These exiles were created artificially…"
Somewhere deep down, Zane felt as if an invisible hand was manipulating all of this.
"Is it the Fractsidus? But what's their purpose…"
His muttering abruptly stopped. A sudden sense of suffocation washed over him, as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff, about to fall into a pitch-black abyss the next second.
Struggling through the discomfort, he forced himself to raise his head and look into the distance.
"This feeling… a Tacet Field…"
Placing a hand on his chest, Zane took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. The murky, viscous air seemed to leave his body, and only then did he regain his composure and look north.
"Is it the direction of Qichi Village?"
Having experienced Tacet Field syndrome for two days in a row, Zane felt like he was practically becoming a Tacet Field detector.
Fortunately, Qichi Village had been abandoned long ago, so for now, there shouldn't be anyone there to fall victim to a Tacet Discord attack.
"I can't let the Tacet Field keep expanding."
Dragging his legs that felt as heavy as lead, Zane broke into a run toward Qichi Village.
———
"Looks like some kind of wooden plaque used for special rituals…"
After the three of them worked together to deal with the Tacet Discords that had appeared in Qichi Village's Tacet Field, Yangyang looked at the black wooden plaque Rover had picked up from the ruins of a house and murmured, "Objects like this are usually placed in a family ancestral hall. Why would it appear here?"
Rover played with the strange black wooden plaque in her hand. Judging by its wear and tear, it didn't seem to be from this era.
Noticing that Rover seemed interested in it, Yangyang continued recalling, "There were similar events recorded in past history."
"For certain beliefs, people would hold large, ancient rituals in villages at regular intervals to pray for blessings."
"Wait." Rover interrupted her, narrowing her eyes slightly. A chill flickered in her gaze.
"A dilapidated village, a strange broken wooden plaque, ancient prayer rituals… are you sure this village wasn't devoured by some ancient god?"
"Ancient god? What's that?", Yangyang frowned, not understanding what Rover meant.
She turned to look at the Doctor, but the Doctor seemed not to notice her question at all, simply lowering her head in thought.
Rover shook her head lightly, then stood up and looked around the village.
A thin mist lingered everywhere, and beyond it, she felt as though countless eyes were quietly watching them.
"Let's check other places."
Yangyang nodded. The three split up. Yangyang and Rover went left and right, searching for clues from both sides, while the Doctor stayed at the village entrance, ready to support them at any time.
As Rover walked through the village, she looked at the leaf token Jinhsi had given her, feeling somewhat lost.
'What was she trying to tell me? Could it just be to let me know about those unknown, painful histories?'
The moment the thought appeared, she dismissed it.
As the Magistrate of Jinzhou, Jinhsi had no need to use such a method just to inform her about the current situation.
Besides, understanding Jinzhou's crisis wasn't something you could achieve just by searching this abandoned village.
Frowning, Rover continued thinking while carefully examining every clue.
"Hm? What's this…"
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something near the edge of a wall. She immediately walked over to take a closer look.
The marks on the ground were extremely messy. They didn't look like traces left by battle, but rather like something had been dragged. A sudden chill surged through her heart, making every hair on her body stand on end.
Before she could think further, Yangyang's voice came drifting over with the wind.
"Rover, Doctor, come take a look at this!"
There was urgency in Yangyang's tone. Rover didn't have time to think and immediately drew her sword, running toward Yangyang.
Very quickly, she saw a Tacet Discord standing in front of Yangyang, while the Doctor, who had rushed over after hearing the call, stood there silently with her head lowered.
As she approached, Rover finally heard the intermittent voice.
"Help… brother…"
Filled with confusion, Rover looked at Yangyang. Yangyang gently shook her head and pointed at the small Tacet Discord in front of her.
Only then did Rover realize that it wasn't Yangyang speaking just now, but this Tacet Discord.
"The reason Tacet Discords attack is that they need to devour others' frequencies." The Doctor, who had remained silent the whole time, finally spoke. Her eyes were deep, fixed intently on the Tacet Discord.
"Their birth is also the result of frequencies being shattered and recombined."
The Doctor paused for a moment. She seemed to vaguely understand why Jinhsi had guided Rover here using that strange-frequency leaf.
"When a Tacet Discord speaks human language, there are generally only two possibilities according to Jinzhou's records."
"What two?", Rover asked.
"The first is that the Tacet Discord has devoured the frequency of someone who was about to die, becoming assimilated by it, and thus endlessly repeating the deceased's final obsession."
The Doctor began pacing, walking between Yangyang and Rover as she slowly moved forward, her gaze flickering.
"The second is related to an organization recorded in the archives called the Fractsidus."
As she spoke, the Doctor slowly drew her sword.
"Those people… calling them madmen might be more accurate. Those lunatics are obsessed with fusing humans with Tacet Discords. And this Tacet Discord may very well be the work of those Fractsidus madmen."
The girl in black robes stopped walking. A pitch-black mechanical mask covered her delicate, youthful face, hiding her eyes.
The black sword in her hand slowly rose, pointing toward a man in red who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, yet also as if he had always been standing on the rooftop.
"I'm right, aren't I… Fractsidus?"