442 Frostplate: Past Events

It began to rain in the Outland, a freezing rain.

There was once a joke about a group of scholars seriously discussing why raindrops falling from the sky did not kill people.

While they cited classics, ran all kinds of calculations involving air resistance, mass, and hardness, trying to explain it—

A farmer walked over and abruptly asked, "Have you people never been rained on?"

Crack! Lightning tore through the red-black night, and the brief silver flash illuminated fragments of a Frostplate National Flag on the ground.

The freezing rain soon began to fall, each drop blooming into an icy flower.

Du Zexin waited inside a rocky cavern. Shadows wrapped around his ruined body, while the miniature reactor had been turned down to its lowest output, just enough to sustain this body's functions.

The sound of rain was like an old melody, rising and falling steadily on the oscilloscope. It was not harmonious, yet it lured memories of the past to the surface.

Forty years ago, Frostplate Republic, the Medvi era.

Li Aoz drove the train and coolly left Frostplate territory. To uncover his destination, Law Enforcement Division Three Agency dragged Du Zexin out of the hospital room, where he had only just recovered from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Law Enforcement Division Three's deputy agent was named Foli Xi. With his slicked hair, powdered face, and pale cold complexion, he was clearly descended from Outland People. With that background, reaching such a position could practically be called inspirational.

He looked like Li Aoz, but Du Zexin got an entirely different impression from him.

Li Aoz was casual, free-spirited, and unrestrained. Foli Xi, on the other hand, was a bootlicker who always said, "According to regulations."

"According to regulations, Level Three Agent Du Zexin, after completing the material support operation for