Matins's gunshot startled his subordinates awake.
Without further words, his actions had already expressed his discontent.
The newcomers of Phoenix still felt a bit ashamed, they should not have been daunted just by witnessing something unexpected.
Now, the only way to redeem themselves in the eyes of their displeased commander was through practical action.
They spread out silently and swiftly, keeping a watchful eye for any potential enemies while dispersing throughout the area.
They began placing bombs in various locations to ensure that everything within the building would be destroyed.
Meanwhile, Matins casually walked forward to Irong Fetches, whose eyes were still flickering with electricity.
He drew out his power sword.
And at that moment, the woman with only half a body left, her eyes' electric glimmer subsided, revealing the human-like pupils underneath.
"Human, please hear me..."
Matins, without uttering a second word, raised his power sword high and cut her in half at the waist.
With a crackle of electricity, Irong Fetches's body was pulled by the tubing at the back of her head, drooping without falling.
But the words she had not finished saying were still coming out.
"...say, no matter how you view the God of Many Changes, the will under the Throne of the Mechanical God has never changed..."
Matins, silent, raised his sword again and severed the many tubes connected to the back of Irong Fetches's head as well.
This really caused her speech to become intermittent, filled with shrieks of static.
Betwixt the squeals and whirrs, she managed to leave one last sentence:
"...ever tolerant of humans... always gracious... there's always a place for you... flesh is frail, mech..."
Behind Matins, a few elite soldiers approached carrying a black coffin; they incorporated the half-mechanical, half-human carcass of Irong Fetches into it.
Then, more of Ms. Wu Jiarong's direct disciples, wearing sealed iron masks, started checking every part of the machine silently and solemnly, collecting data, searching for anything of value.
He had intended to stop these people's actions.
As he had thought earlier, such sacrilege should not exist in this world at all. Listening to those few blasphemous words spoken by Irong Fetches had only confirmed this belief.
However, in the end, Matins did not voice his objections.
These people must have come on the orders of Ms. Wu Jiarong, and Wu Jiarong was a technical officer greatly trusted by the Governor, who mostly refrained from meddling in external affairs.
Her sudden dispatch of a team for this task suggested great importance, and it was very possible that the Governor was aware of it.
After considering the matter, Matins decided not to escalate the issue.
Thinking of the Governor's capabilities, perhaps there wouldn't be any issues, right?
The Governor that Matins was pondering was currently on Korolya III.
Gu Hang was aware of the events transpiring in Blackbird City.
Matins was right: Wu Jiarong, who normally avoided external affairs, had acted upon Gu Hang's instructions.
The reason stemmed from the moment the allied forces came near Blackbird City; while on Korolya III, Gu Hang noticed the [Event] option flashing incessantly on the system interface.
Upon clicking it, he discovered an unknown event that could be unlocked for two hundred points of Grace.
This was similar to the initial activation of the [Phoenix Will Die] event—a mystery that became clear only after unlocking it.
Considering the returns from that time and also factoring in the abundance of Grace points at his disposal—over thirty thousand accumulated over six months, on top of what was previously saved—the two hundred points' expenditure seemed trivial.
Even if it turned out to be a worthless event, Gu Hang could opt to ignore it and not proceed.
Once the event was unlocked, it was named [Iron Mystery].
[Event Activated: Iron Mystery]
[Your planet is experiencing an Iron Rebellion, but have you ever been curious about how, during humanity's conquest of the universe, all intelligent devices, which were once the greatest aids to humans, eventually became anathemas feared throughout human society?]
[Search for clues related to the Irons, conduct research, and perhaps you will gradually discover some answers.]
Gu Hang admitted that there were certain risks involved with this. For such blasphemous entities, the most reasonable course of action, in accordance with Empire regulations, was to annihilate them immediately upon discovery, eradicating all traces of their existence without mercy.
The reason for such stringent and absolute rules regarding these blasphemous entities was, of course, due to the painful experiences the Human Empire had suffered during past encounters with such entities, and the lessons learned therefrom. Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire
This approach was undoubtedly the safest.
However... On one hand, Gu Hang was genuinely curious about the questions raised by the event; on the other hand, the 'unknown' reward tantalized him.
Of course, if this had been a gift from some other entity, wrapped up in the most attractive packaging, he would not have accepted it so readily.
But this came from his system.
It's not that he absolutely trusted his system one hundred percent. Maybe it was a plot conceived by a Subspace Evil God, with some grand, shocking conspiracy at play?