The battle ended without suspense.
The Crushbone Enforcer—serving as the Riftbreaker leader—was indeed troublesome, but in the end he was still personally taken down by Chen Qianyu in a one-on-one duel, as she'd been itching to trade blows with a true expert.
Yet compared to the Dragon girl who defeated him, he seemed to hate Wolfguard even more.
"Nephis… will be here… and grind all of you to dust!"
After baring his teeth through that final curse, the Riftbreaker leader died with his eyes wide open.
Out of caution, Hao Fan stepped forward and put two more rounds into his heart—just in case the brute was faking it.
He'd already witnessed how ridiculously tenacious these Enforcers were.
No wonder every Riftbreaker "boss" they'd run into was some kind of monster—strength-wise, they absolutely had the qualifications.
"Nephis… so it really is her."
Wolfguard stared at the corpse, gravity slipping into his eyes.
"Who is she?" the Administrator asked quietly. She rarely spoke, but this time she couldn't help it.
"A complete madwoman." Wolfguard's tone tightened, as if he'd recalled something he'd rather forget. "She's infamous for doing anything it takes. She's broken nearly every rule that once existed between Riftbreaker clans."
"So Nephis is the current leader of the Crushbone clan?" Hao Fan said, voice steady.
After all this time, they finally had a name for the head of these Riftbreakers.
Nephis… sounded like a woman.
"Someone who can unify the long-chaotic Crushbone clan has already proven her capability," Wolfguard replied. He didn't explicitly confirm, but he might as well have.
"Her sudden appearance is still a mystery. But it's obvious she has methods… and a mind."
After that, Wolfguard fell silent, refusing to elaborate further.
Maybe even he, the so-called "Riftbreaker expert," didn't actually know much about that terrifyingly secretive leader.
Kaja, watching the Riftbreaker bodies on the ground, looked stunned—as if he hadn't expected these strangers to be this strong.
With his nerves finally settling, he resumed leading them forward.
They climbed a set of steps, slipped through a gap in the wire mesh hidden between stacked containers, and reached an even more concealed branch of the abandoned path.
"This route's… surprisingly winding," Wolfguard remarked, genuinely a little taken aback. He hadn't expected any usable road to exist in a place this remote.
After seeing how viciously the Riftbreaker leader had targeted Wolfguard, Kaja seemed to realize that not all Riftbreakers were the same.
He stopped fearing Wolfguard—and even answered him.
"Yeah. The way to the cave is really well hidden. That's why they haven't been able to find us."
His tone turned complicated, heavy with lingering dread.
"When I came out, they weren't nearby yet… I didn't think they'd get this close already…"
Kaja's face tightened with worry.
Meanwhile, Hao Fan noticed the terrain gradually sloping downward.
That familiar feeling tugged at him—like descending into some underground space.
"I see," Hao Fan murmured, eyes on the newly revealed portion of his map.
"Classic hiding-in-plain-sight."
The temporary shelter was underground within the Valley Passage.
The conditions were poor, but it had successfully avoided Riftbreaker searches.
A portion of the nearby residents were huddled here—faces smeared with grime, eyes hollow with exhaustion, everyone carrying the same shadow of fear about what came next.
Almost no one spoke.
Either they didn't dare—or they didn't have the strength left.
That silence made it easy to detect the sound of footsteps approaching from outside.
"We're here," Kaja announced, raising his voice toward the wary refugees. He signaled that he'd returned and that no Riftbreakers had discovered the place.
A bearded older refugee stormed forward, temper flaring.
"Kaja—where the hell did you run off to?!"
He was a one-eyed Forti man wearing a black eyepatch. His build looked sturdy, at least sturdy enough to scold.
"Your sister is this sick, and Riftbreakers are everywhere—yet you still went running around?!"
"S-Sir Soss…" Kaja shrank, guilt written all over his face.
He knew exactly how reckless he'd been. Worse—he could've dragged disaster straight back to everyone here.
Luckily, the outcome hadn't been the worst case.
He hadn't found medicine, but he'd found help.
"And who are these people you brought back?" Soss snapped, eyes sweeping over Hao Fan's group before pausing on Wolfguard for a beat. "You're bringing strangers in here just like that?"
He trusted that Kaja wasn't trying to harm them—but the shelter's safety came first.
He had to be sure.
"They're not bad people! They just beat the Riftbreakers— they're here to help!" Kaja insisted, voice rushing.
"Beat the Riftbreakers?" Soss's emotion spiked instantly—fear mixing into anger. "And you brought them back here? Are you trying to make sure trouble finds us?!"
For the powerless, this kind of thinking was natural.
Not heroic—just survival.
Right then, a weak, childish voice broke through the rising tension.
"B-Brother…? Brother's back…?"
A small Perro girl lay on the ground, barely able to move. She wore a headband and a white dress, her face twisted as if she were enduring constant pain.
She was clearly the sister Kaja had mentioned—the one who was sick.
"Aji… Aji, I'm back," Kaja said, rushing to her side, his face full of helpless tenderness. "I brought help—real help!"
He checked her condition in a panic, unsure what to do.
Soss's anger faltered. He couldn't keep yelling at Kaja with the girl like this.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the strangers.
"Soss, we're from Endfield Industries," Perlica said, keeping it brief and calm. "We don't mean any harm. Kaja told us you need help."
"Endfield Industries…?" Soss frowned, suspicion hardening his expression.
He didn't believe good fortune arrived so neatly—especially when one of these "helpers" was a Riftbreaker.
"I'm the one in charge here. I know of you. I've heard Guild people mention you before…" His gaze stayed sharp. "So what are you here for?"
"Don't be nervous—don't be nervous," Chen Qianyu said quickly, waving her hands as if she could physically push away misunderstanding.
Soss didn't seem particularly wary of the Dragon girl, though—she just looked too… harmlessly clueless.
"Kaja, that's your sister, right?" Chen Qianyu asked, shifting the topic and speaking with genuine concern. "What illness does she have?"
Kaja's answer made both the Doctor and the Administrator focus instantly.
"Oripathy."
....
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