Houses on both sides of the street had collapsed in large sections, with people of unknown status trapped beneath the rubble and debris.
Many corpses lay scattered across the streets, their skin clinging tightly to their bones and their eye sockets sunken. It was a miserable sight—the result of their life force being completely drained by the sacrificial array.
The air was thick with dust and a faint scent of blood. Occasionally, a weak groan or cry could be heard coming from beneath the ruins.
Catherine directed the surviving members of the Order to begin rescue operations:
"Spread out and search! Prioritize rescuing those who still show signs of life!"
They split into different squads, moving through the ruins. They used magic to detect life signs and moved shattered stones and broken timber by hand or with magic.
Jiang Lin also began searching through a section of the ruins.
He moved a broken beam, revealing a mother and son trapped beneath.
The mother had already stopped breathing, her body withered, but the child in her arms still had a faint heartbeat.
Jiang Lin carefully lifted the child out and handed him over to the team members responsible for transport at the rear.
Continuing forward, they found three members of the Order in a half-collapsed shop.
Two had already perished, and another was unconscious with severe injuries, but he was still breathing.
Jiang Lin used healing to stabilize the man's injuries and carried him out.
"Over here!"
Aria suddenly shouted. Her eyes, shimmering with silver light, pierced through the piled-up rubble, spotting a weak aura below.
Jiang Lin and the big guy immediately stepped forward. Together with two other paladin warriors, they carefully moved the broken pillars and masonry.
An older woman was trapped underneath. One of her legs was crushed, and her face was deathly pale, but she was still conscious.
"Hold on, we’ll get you out right away."
A warrior comforted her in a low voice while casting healing to stabilize her condition.
Jiang Lin helped clear the stones, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings—similar scenes were playing out on every street.
Some were successfully rescued, but many more were already cold corpses.
The air was filled with dust, blood, and a faint stench of decay.
Surviving residents sat blankly by the ruins; some were weeping, while others just stared vacantly at the sky.
The entire city looked like an anthill trampled by a giant beast, a landscape of complete devastation.
As dawn approached, reinforcements from the Royal Capital finally arrived.
Hundreds of carriages loaded with supplies and medical personnel drove into the outskirts of Emerald City. They were escorted by a standing army of two thousand members of the Paladin Order, responsible for maintaining order and security.
More healers, construction mages, and logistics personnel joined the work.
Temporary medical stations were set up in the open space outside the city, and the wounded were gradually transferred there.
Inside the temporary camp, the sounds of crying, groaning, and comforting words intertwined.
Construction mages began clearing the debris from the main streets and used magic to temporarily reinforce unstable buildings to prevent secondary collapses.
Jiang Lin stayed busy all morning, rescuing over a hundred survivors and carrying out thousands of corpses.
When he returned to the temporary headquarters—an open space outside the city with tents set up—everyone was exhausted.
Catherine gathered the core personnel for a short meeting:
"Preliminary statistics show that the permanent population of Emerald City is approximately five hundred and twenty thousand.
"Currently, the confirmed death toll exceeds one hundred and eighty thousand. There are about fifty thousand seriously injured, and the number of those with minor injuries or who are homeless is uncounted.
"As for the Order, seventy-eight elites entered the city; twenty-three are confirmed survivors.
"Nineteen sets of remains have been found so far, and the remaining thirty-six are missing. Search and rescue is still ongoing."
Silence fell over the tent. The death toll was cold and brutal.
"The third array left by Aaron Brightstar was deeply tied to the earth veins. Its extraction efficiency was extremely high when activated. Even though Her Eminence the Proxy destroyed it quickly, over a third of the residents were drained dry in just ten or so seconds,"
Catherine continued.
"This is a major failure of our intelligence and defense systems.
"Headquarters has ordered a thorough investigation into all branch temples and important officials across the country, especially those in positions involving earth vein management and urban construction approvals."
However, this was just a small interlude.
The rescue work continued.
After a section of ruins had been thoroughly searched, a logistics team arrived at the scene.
They began chanting toward the deserted ruins.
Using themselves as nodes, a faint golden light membrane quietly spread over the debris. Wherever the light touched, time seemed to flow backward.
Shattered bricks flew up on their own, precisely embedding themselves back into broken walls. Collapsed beams were straightened as if by invisible hands, their joints interlocking perfectly once more. Even the cracked pavement of the streets healed rapidly, returning to a smooth surface.
The buildings were like a scroll being unrolled in reverse, "growing" back from the ruins to their original forms—tiles returned to their spots, and window frames were restored.
In the span of about a dozen breaths, the pile of ruins had transformed back into its previous state.
Since this architectural restoration magic only worked on inanimate objects, they did not dare use it until the interior conditions were fully scouted.
Otherwise, wounded people who hadn't been evacuated might end up fused into the ground or stuck inside walls when the structure reappeared.
That would be a terrifying scene.
At the same time, another group composed of many priests walked to the ruins of the central square's fountain, which was now just a deep pit.
Low chants echoed through the air like the tolling of bells, and endless life energy surged forth like a spring tide.
The bottom of the dried-up fountain suddenly gushed with clear water. Trees and plants that had withered due to the sacrifice began to sprout new branches and buds. Fallen flowers bloomed again. The wounds of the injured healed at a visible speed, and broken bones knit back together.
However, the withered corpses lying in the streets did not come back to life.
Once life was completely extinguished, it was very difficult to resurrect without prior preparation.
Soon, the area that had been searched was no longer a ruin.
The streets were as clean as before, and the houses stood tall and straight. Even the clothes drying on windowsills fluttered again.
However, these buildings were now empty.
From the camp, Jiang Lin watched the scenes unfolding inside Emerald City.
"A city can be rebuilt, and pain can be healed, but the lost souls will never return.
"May the holy light protect the living, and may the dead find peace."
A priest standing beside Jiang Lin spoke.
The reconstruction of Emerald City lasted for three days.
Although Jiang Lin had not officially joined the Paladin Order as an apostle of god, he had spontaneously stayed behind to help with the search and rescue.
Through the joint efforts of many members of the Order, the shell of the city had basically returned to its original state.
The streets were repaved, the buildings were repaired, and even the destroyed public facilities—fountains, streetlights, and square sculptures—were restored one by one.
But everyone knew that some things could never be repaired.
The empty houses, the alleys where no one walked anymore, and the laughter and greetings that had vanished forever.
In the temporary camp, the registration of survivors continued.
Long lines stretched from dawn until dusk, faces filled with exhaustion and vacancy.
Some had lost their entire families, some had lost their means of livelihood, and some had lost their health.
As the sun rose, Jiang Lin sat on a rock at the edge of the camp, looking at the distant streets and houses being gradually repaired. His heart felt heavy.
Though the city's shell was being restored, the one hundred and eighty thousand lost lives would never return.
He had only ever seen casualties of this scale in books.
It wasn't until he experienced it personally that he felt the weight of that number.
Those deceased commoners were once living people who had stood before his eyes.
Now, because a 7th-rank cultist wanted to become a secret cult's Holy Son, they had lost everything in a single night.
Sighing, Jiang Lin stopped thinking about it.
He had done his best in this operation.
It had been six days since he first arrived in Emerald City.
Even if he went back now, Saint Brilliance Magic Academy wouldn't start for another four days.
However, he wondered if the news of Emerald City had spread.
At least in the Boulder City Morning Post he had read before, he had never seen news about an entire city being sacrificed.
But neither the Order nor the Saintas Kingdom seemed to have any reason to hide the news.
After all, they could let more people know about the dangers of the secret cults.
It would also make people more alert to potential cultists among them and encourage them to report to the Order.
Furthermore, with so many people involved, the news was impossible to keep secret.
In fact, things were exactly as Jiang Lin thought.
On the second day after the incident, various cities in the Saintas Kingdom began printing related newspapers:
"The Emerald City Tragedy: Secret Cult 'Holy Son' Plot Foiled, 180,000 Residents Perish; Order Launches Nationwide Investigation," "Night of Sacrifice: Order's Lightning Action Crushes Evil Cult; Path to City Reconstruction Begins," "Survivor Accounts: The Night We Lost Our Homes and Loved Ones," "Rebirth After Disaster: A Record of Emerald City's Three-Day Reconstruction, Pain and Hope Coexist," "Secret Cult Alert Remains: Saintas Kingdom Initiates Nationwide Scrutiny, Public Must Remain Vigilant"...
All kinds of newspapers flooded various cities like an overwhelming tide.
Combined with word of mouth, the event soon spread across the entire country.
It even began to spread to other kingdoms, warning everyone to be wary of cultists.
Moreover, at the end of these articles, the public was urged to stay alert and actively report suspicious individuals. The Order also announced a comprehensive screening of earth vein security and personnel backgrounds in all towns and cities starting immediately.
The reconstruction task of Emerald City had come to an end, and subsequent matters no longer had anything to do with Jiang Lin.
He prepared to leave Emerald City via the teleportation array.
But he felt like he had forgotten something.
Right, he remembered when he first arrived in Emerald City, he said that after finishing the task, he would go to that little tavern for a meal.
The taste of the grilled meat and wheat ale there was unparalleled.
There was also a fierce little girl named Molly. When she met him, her loud voice had turned into a soft whisper, and she was even teased by the adventurers nearby.
He didn't know if they had survived this catastrophe.
For some reason, Jiang Lin felt a bit hesitant to go to the location of the little tavern.
In fact, not knowing the other party's situation might be better; at least he could keep the hope that they were still living their normal lives.
But he feared that the cruel reality would leave him feeling disheartened.
After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Lin finally decided to go and check.
He arrived at the street where the tavern was located.
Under the influence of the reconstruction magic, the street had returned to its original appearance.
The wooden building still stood, and the sign still read "Oak Barrel Tavern." The font color was as bright as new, and the wind chimes made a crisp tinkling sound in the breeze, as if nothing had ever happened.
On the street were some ordinary people who had finished their registration and were trying to return to their normal lives.
Jiang Lin walked to the door of the Oak Barrel Tavern. It wasn't locked. As the wind chimes rang, he pushed the door open and walked in.
The creaking of the wooden door was particularly piercing in the empty room.
The tables and chairs inside were neatly arranged, and the floor was polished clean as if it had just been swept.
But there was no scent of grilled meat in the air, nor the rich aroma of wheat ale. There was only the cold, lonely scent of dust mixed with wood.
The entire tavern was empty; no one had come.
Perhaps they haven't recovered yet and are still tending to their injuries?
Jiang Lin thought to himself.
Yet, for some reason, he felt a void in his heart.
Standing at the bar for a while, Jiang Lin took a few silver coins from his pocket and placed them gently on the counter.
The slight clinking of the coins was exceptionally clear in the silence.
He took one last look at this small space that had once been filled with the breath of life, then turned and walked out.
The door closed gently behind him, and the wind chimes rang once more, like a farewell.
The street was still empty. The newly rebuilt city looked bright and beautiful, yet it felt like an exquisite empty shell.
One hundred and eighty thousand vanished lives were a hole that could not be filled.
Some shops might welcome new owners, and some houses might take in new families, but some people, some voices, and some scents remained forever in that night.
Jiang Lin walked out of the tavern, the brand-new scenery of the rebuilt street forming a sharp contrast with the gloom in his heart.
He said goodbye to the members of the Order he had gotten to know over the past few days in the camp.
Hearing that Jiang Lin was about to leave, everyone came to bid farewell to this unbelievably handsome young man.
Catherine's previously heavy expression had softened considerably by now.
She looked at Jiang Lin:
"Your performance in this operation was quite outstanding.
"Remember to go to the Order's headquarters in the Royal Capital to collect your gold badge member insignia. With this status, you will have the authority of a middle-level member in the vast majority of temples.
"Your information has already been sent over. Just tell them you are Jiang Lin, and once your identity is verified, you can collect it.
"Additionally, there is a substantial amount of prize money and other rewards."
"Understood, no problem."
At this moment, the big guy and Aria also approached:
"Are you heading back? Let's go together, then. We're also preparing to leave."
Jiang Lin nodded:
"Let's head out together."
Afterward, the three of them stepped onto the teleportation array heading for the Royal Capital.
The Court of Space had been caught in the crossfire during the previous battle, and the long-distance spatial teleportation arrays inside were non-functional. Although the building had been restored, the inscribed arrays were still in a damaged state.
Fortunately, there was a temporary long-distance teleportation array in the camp leading to the Royal Capital.
The three stepped onto the array.
A familiar sensation of dizziness washed over them.
It was more intense than the dizziness from the Court of Space.
But it was much better than the Proxy's previous teleportation.
So far, the most comfortable long-distance teleportation experiences Jiang Lin had were probably when entering and exiting the God-blessed Land and the Blood Realm.
As the light of the teleportation faded, a strange small room appeared before them.
The destination of the long-distance teleportation array they had taken was none other than the interior of the Paladin Order headquarters in the Royal Capital.
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