Meanwhile, similar assassinations were unfolding across the solar system. Shielded by the "" particle, numerous high-ranking officials of the Caesar Group were killed, all sharing one common trait: their names were on that uploaded list.
The methods employed by the Ghost Agents were not limited to sniping; car accidents, bombings, even the crudest Molotov cocktails served as their means of execution.
To prevent the targets on the list from getting wind of the plan and fleeing, the General Staff, while formulating the Judgment Plan, demanded that the over five hundred Ghost Agents compress the timing of their operations into the shortest possible window.
The objective was to eliminate as many individuals on the list as possible before the news could spread.
At that moment, the main screen in the Ghost Agents' operations hall displayed hundreds of avatars, all belonging to members on the list. As the assassination operation commenced, faces would occasionally be marred by a large slash, signifying a completed mission.
“Everyone is doing excellently,” Yang Ying exclaimed with excitement. By then, a significant portion of the avatars on the screen were already marked, and the number continued to climb.
“Gaius, and those targets gathered at the Caesar Headquarters, we still haven't managed to take them down,” Kalia pointed to a cluster of names near the top of the list, indicating those with the strongest defensive forces within the Caesar Group—eliminating them all at once, even for the Ghost Agents, was no simple feat.
Yang Ying nodded in understanding. “It seems Gaius retreated into the fallout shelter the very moment he received the news and hasn't emerged yet.”
“If I were one of the top few on that list, hearing that others had been assassinated simultaneously, my first thought would certainly be self-preservation,” Kalia remarked, showing no disdain for Gaius’s flight; it was only human nature. Gaius was human, and no matter his rank, his mind operated on human impulses.
Furthermore, those in positions of high status were often more prone to developing a fear of death.
Katarina, pointing here and there at the screen, muttered something under her breath that was unintelligible.
“What are you doing?” Yang Ying asked, curious.
“Counting how many are left,” Katarina replied, turning around. Then, as she attempted to resume counting, she frowned, turned back again, and said, “Where was I? I forgot.”
Since no new targets were appearing, counting the remaining number accurately was proving difficult.
Seeing Katarina’s furrowed brow, Yang Ying let out a hearty laugh and called out to the Ghost Agents, “Someone, please help tally the remaining count!”
An affirmative response came from among the Ghost Agents, and a few seconds later, a number appeared in the upper left corner of the screen, displaying ‘’ (Yuan).
Yang Ying was very pleased with the efficiency of the Ghost Agents, praising them before telling Katarina, “There are ‘’ people left. Compared to the total number on the list, ‘’ (Ren), we’ve completed the vast majority. See? It’s simple; why bother counting yourself?”
Katarina obediently nodded.
Yang Ying observed her and noticed she seemed a bit downcast. A thought struck him, and he guessed the reason: “Perhaps you’re bored because there’s nothing for you to do here, so you started counting. It was thoughtless of me; you never cared for all this fighting and killing.”
Katarina, thinking Yang Ying was about to ask her to leave, quickly interjected, “No, I didn’t mean that. Don’t send me away. I want to stay here with you.”
Yang Ying gently pulled her to her feet and said with an undeniable tone, “Then I’ll leave with you. You shouldn’t always have to accommodate me.” He turned to Kalia and instructed, “Call me when the plan reaches the end of its third phase.”
“Yes, Commander,” Kalia replied with a slight bow.
The two had just returned to the command center when Yang Ying’s communicator suddenly rang. He activated it, and a medic appeared on the holographic screen.
Yang Ying recognized the medic; she was one of those caring for the children on the Floating Continent.
She snapped a salute and reported, “Commander, one of the children you brought back is showing abnormalities. It seems he is about to wake up. If you have time, please come and see.”
Yang Ying glanced at Katarina, who happened to be looking over at the same moment. He caught a flicker of worry in her eyes. He patted her hand lightly before responding to the medic, “I’ll be right there.”
He then led Katarina back to the Floating Continent, to the area where the medical pods were situated.
The medic rushed over, speaking urgently, “Commander, look at this child.” She pointed to a medical pod a few steps away, containing a white-haired girl who looked no older than seven or eight.
Even without her words, Yang Ying noticed the girl’s abnormality immediately.
Her entire body was flushed red, and the air surrounding her exhibited subtle refraction, as if the girl were a furnace heating the air around her.
The girl was writhing restlessly inside the pod, seemingly caught in a nightmare. Katarina rushed forward and simultaneously checked the screen beside the pod, which displayed various fluctuating lines representing the girl’s vital signs.
“Her brainwave frequency is rising; she will wake up within a minute,” Katarina stated quickly after just one look.
Yang Ying knew the hypnotic gas in the medical pod was potent enough to put an adult to sleep; the fact that it couldn't keep the girl peacefully asleep clearly indicated something unusual about her.
“I’m taking her out immediately; she cannot see the Floating Continent,” Yang Ying told Katarina and the medic, then carefully lifted the medical pod back into the real world. Of course, Katarina followed.
Back in the command center, Katarina immediately knelt before the medical pod to run further diagnostics. She exclaimed in surprise, “Her body temperature has reached sixty degrees Celsius, and it’s still rising! A normal person’s brain proteins would have denatured at this temperature, yet her brainwaves are steadily increasing.”
“Sixty degrees Celsius. It’s quite remarkable she’s alive,” Yang Ying murmured, looking at the girl’s face.
“This can’t go on; we need to find a solution,” Katarina said, looking at the fiercely hot girl, which instantly stirred her maternal instincts.
She immediately manipulated the controls on the medical pod, lowering the temperature inside, and retrieved an emergency fever-reducing injection from the pod's storage compartment, administering it into the girl’s arm.
However, it had no effect.
At this point, the girl’s brainwaves reached a normal state of wakefulness, but she did not stir.
“How can this be?” A tear glimmered in Katarina’s eye. Ignoring everything else, she grabbed another fever shot and injected it into the girl’s arm.
Yang Ying was unfamiliar with this procedure and could only watch from the side. After a while, the girl’s brainwaves continued to climb, yet there was still no sign of her waking up.
“Is anyone there to hear me?”
Suddenly, a small, tender voice echoed in his mind, seemingly implanting itself directly into his brain without passing through his ears.
“Telepathy?!” Yang Ying knew a great deal about telepathy and reacted almost instantly upon hearing it.
He glanced at Katarina; indeed, she had heard nothing.
“Is anyone there? Can someone talk to me?”
The childlike voice sounded again. At this moment, Yang Ying was certain this was the voice of the little girl before him.
The girl remained still, perhaps still under the effects of the anesthesia.
“No wonder. I should have realized this long ago; this child has awakened,” Yang Ying muttered softly to himself.
“Commander, what did you say? Is this child an Awakened?” Katarina heard Yang Ying’s words and looked at the child with a gaze complexly interwoven with curiosity and concern.
“Yes, she just spoke to me using telepathy. Wait a moment, let me converse with her for a while.”
Yang Ying placed his hand gently on Katarina’s shoulder and whispered.
“But her temperature?” Katarina remained worried.
“That’s likely caused by the Psionic Heat Generation technique. The high temperature didn't radiate outwards but affected her own body. I should be able to solve it using a cooling technique.”
As Yang Ying spoke, he released his Psionic Cooling Technique and simultaneously transmitted a thought via telepathy: “What is your name?”
“Can you hear me? Can you talk to me? But… I don’t know what my name is,” the soft voice replied with a tone of delight, as if having discovered a new continent.
The Psionic Cooling Technique proved effective, quickly bringing her temperature down. Fortunately, even without dedicated training, an Awakened person’s body is inherently more resilient than an ordinary person’s. Although her body had suffered damage from the intense heat, Katarina could still save her.
Through their conversation, Yang Ying learned that the girl had spent her entire conscious life in that grim cell. Because she displayed an early aptitude for psychic power, the researchers treated her like a precious artifact, exempting her from the more dangerous experiments.
However, shortly before, the researchers apparently intended to study her psychic capabilities. She was taken for an unknown experiment, which resulted in her losing her sight, hearing, and speech. Fortunately, her psychic abilities remained intact, so the researchers did not discard this hard-won experimental subject and returned her to the cell.
Unable to see, hear, or speak, the little girl could only send out telepathic pleas for help. But since there were no other Awakened individuals in that facility, her calls had gone unanswered until Yang Ying heard her, allowing her to communicate again.
Katarina grew angry upon hearing Yang Ying’s retelling: “She was turned into a vegetative state? Those bastards in the Caesar Group, they could lay hands on such a sweet girl.”
“She unconsciously unleashed the Psionic Heat Generation technique this time. If we hadn't stopped it in time, she might have died just like that,” Yang Ying sighed. “The Caesar Group has added another crime to their ledger. But then again, they probably aren’t short on those; they must be used to it by now.”
After chatting with the little girl via telepathy for a while longer, Kalia’s signal came through: “Commander, the time for the final phase has arrived.”