Shen honestly wasn't sure what he would do in those people's place.
If he acted rebelliously and was captured, would he fight to the end or accept his insurgency had failed and his Path was cut short? Would he temporarily submit while seeking a way out or look down on such a possibility? Would he rather die with a spear in his hands or preserve a shred of honor in submitting to a stronger foe?
After mentioning a trial, his forty-one prisoners turned into thirty-six. They had still hoped he might be corrupt and offer them an alternative. Still, Shen saw a kind of honor in how they chose to face an overwhelming enemy to the bitter end. He honored them with a swift death and even left their corpses mostly intact so their family and friends could do with it as they would.
Shen didn't know what other crimes they had committed besides standing in his way, and maybe they thought he would kill them for it, but he didn't feel bad about executing them. It had been their choice not to trust him, even if their perception might've been skewed by previous circumstances in Samir. He wasn't willing to do more for people who had tried to hinder someone who was deployed.
Dealing with the fugitives, on the other hand, would require him to exercise a more nuanced judgment—starting with whether to trust the Guardian System itself.
In the Alliance, the worst criminals still had access to the system. The Guardian System only recorded their illegal actions and didn't act directly, like throwing death rays on top of anyone's head—as it had done against Void Spawn in the tutorial. The system was meant as the Big Brother of Earth's politic-philosophical fiction, not as a direct intervening force. An automatic Bounty was only generated if someone's crimes exceeded a threshold, partly to avoid mistakes. Bounties that demanded someone's death had to be approved by someone higher in the hierarchy. Every death was later investigated, even when dealing with traitors.
In the military, there were no Bounties and no crime threshold. A Guardian's every misdeed was recorded, and their superior got a notification and was supposed to deal with it. When it came to treason, anyone the system marked as such could be killed on sight. It was up to someone's goodwill to capture them instead, but it came with a risk; exploiting the ability to capture a betrayer to prolong their lives was harshly punished. One of the reasons was that the time and other resources spent dealing with prisoners could be better spent protecting the Alliance from more significant threats.
In other words, the Guardian System had much more discretionary power on the front lines; the circumstances required it.
Shen had researched the subject but found no instance of the system abusing its authority. Sure, the system could ensure all witnesses were also killed, but he tended to believe that if it would ever twist the truth, it would do so for something more important than getting rid of weaklings. The System Administrator was an S-rank. She could act directly if she wanted an entire Corps gone. It was doubtful whether another S-rank would care about it unless she annihilated too many Corps or their closest descendants were involved. No one would bat an eye if she killed a few C-ranks or D-ranks just because she felt like it—and that was assuming such weak people could even make her care about their lives or deaths.
Though there was an argument to be made that other S-ranks would also ignore her manipulating the Guardian System, Shen disagreed with it. The system's reach was too vast. A single abuse in one place suggested the Admin had changed her perspective and approach. If he were an S-rank, he would never allow it. If such corruption took root, the entire Alliance would crumble because it depended too much on the system and its impartial truth.
So, as Shen opened the corridor's bedroom doors and found the fugitives, he didn't doubt their criminal records, which he could access because he had been tasked with judging them. Most bedrooms were empty except for six, each covered by magic runes that formed a B-tier enchantment to keep the system out. The magic broke when he opened the door without following some specific procedures, allowing the system to finally locate those people.
He found not twenty but thirty-six fugitives. Either the Major hadn't known about the extra people, or he had only revealed enough to ensure Shen would head here.
Shen directly killed ten people as soon as he read their files.
These Guardians had been categorized as fugitives instead of MIA for a reason. The system or their superiors believed them to have done evil before disappearing, but the lack of witnesses or some circumstantial evidence pointing otherwise created some doubts. Still, unlike missing people, fugitives were almost always traitors kept from the label by a technicality.
For instance, one of them was not branded a traitor only because he was considered not to have the connections or resources to deal with the aftermath of a systemic betrayal. It might look like a silly detail, but only a complete imbecile would commit the mistakes he had on purpose, which together amounted to treason, and then disappear unless they were sure they could get away with it. Their superiors claimed he was smarter than that. There had been a chance of his innocence if he had been found anywhere but in a mobile fortress.
Even here, Shen might have to consider his innocence if he didn't feel so calm when Shen opened the door, only to panic as soon as he got a notification of being reconnected to the system. He had expected himself to be safe from the system's prying eyes. Even if these people had picked him up by chance, he had accepted getting away with his misdeeds. Thus, he was a de facto traitor.
Shen's spear cut his brain and heart in a single swing.
A few others were proven guilty just by being alive. They had been marked as fugitives instead of MIA because their previous actions suggested a scheme but weren't enough to brand them traitors. However, the mere fact that they didn't seek the military but a way to bypass the system proved they had a guilty conscience.
Shen's logic was similar to the too-smart guy: they might've survived if they didn't look calm and at peace before the system found them.
Lastly, a trio who shared a single bedroom was proven guilty by being found partaking in each other when Shen opened the door. There was no sign of abuse or unwillingness in any of them despite them having fought against each other and become "sworn enemies" months before they disappeared. After that, coincidently, each ended together with the enemies of the other, and dozens died before they disappeared.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Well, they might have simply made peace with each other afterward, but that wouldn't explain why their enemies died at each other hands. Now, here they were, alive and enjoying life. It was too much of a coincidence.
Thirteen others, including a few D-ranks, tried to attack him or flee. Shen cut the nine attackers down and captured the ones who attempted escape. The system told them they were fugitives and had to surrender themselves to the nearest Guardian. Anything else was considered proof of treason. Still, he would decide on whether the escapees were traitors himself. He had the authority. Although statistically unlikely, they might just be afraid of a place that had been corrupt for so long.
Of the 17 survivors, twelve were C-ranks and five D-ranks. Together with the previous thirty-six C-ranks Shen had captured, he had fifty-three prisoners.
"I'll tell you the same as I told your would-be protectors," Shen declared after grouping everyone together. "You are to follow me. I'll kill any who resist, but I promise a fair trial if you don't." He waited a moment before adding, "If you have information about other fugitives, you can say so now, and it'll make things easier for you in your trial."
He released the people under his Aura-Material Suppression to let them speak freely. One of them tried to run again and got killed. Another two tried to use what they hoped would be a long and distracting fight to flee and were similarly put down.
After Shen had said his piece, he was done being merciful. Trying to escape now was enough proof of treason for him.
"I'm the bastard child of—" a stunningly beautiful female C-rank high elf started saying.
Unfortunately for her, the only factor keeping her from being branded a traitor was whether she knew who her B-rank mother was and was willing to use it. Only that connection, nothing else, could make her disappear after a possible betrayal. Her words sealed her fate.
Shen used the opportunity to keep future annoyances to a minimum.
"Trying to flex your political clout won't work," he said. "I don't know if you got the message when you reconnected with the system, but Samir is on lockdown. I was ordered by the Acting General himself to capture and judge fugitives with the full weight of the law. If I let you go because of your background, I will be killed for treason. Even if executing you means upsetting your backing forces, that only means choosing whether I get killed now at the Acting General's hands or later by your forces." He smirked. "As you, of all people, must understand that every extra second of life means an extra second of possibilities. I'll not choose certain death now over merely almost certain death in the future." His smile died. "That said, you'll be allowed to defend yourself with whichever words you like during your trial. I suggest not trying anything like this, but if you must, wait until the right time."
He added the last couple of sentences to avoid other kinds of trouble. If he let them think he was some merciless tyrant who disregarded rules in the General's name, he would be going against the primary purpose of an Exemplary Brigade. According to the rules, speaking was not an offense that would see these people executed. The girl had been killed for her circumstances, not her isolated words.
One thing was using a slight misdirection to keep them from sprouting bullshit; another was letting people believe an outright wrong assumption that would border on psychological torture as they were led like cattle to what they believed to be a nightmare.
A few people got the underlying meaning of his words and talked to each other, but none tried to speak to him again. Sadly, that included no one telling him where to find other fugitives.
Shen put corpses and their possessions in his Inventory and led the survivors away.
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Hukzun had fulfilled Shen's command and set up a base of operations outside the mobile fortress. His Battalion stood in a defensive perimeter around a massive tent they had set up. There were no separate rooms inside the tent, only a vast empty area, but it was only meant to deflect prying eyes, nothing else.
Inside, Shen found an injured Blue Sky, but at least her Battalion was unscathed. More telling, Vinamour's entire Battalion was missing instead of locking the fortress down.
Still, the worst part was the missing Luthdel and Rayna. Neither had reported anything, either. That left him without a C-rank helper and in an informational darkness, which meant operational inefficiency. He couldn't contact them first because if an enemy was blocking the system from getting to them, said enemy might also have a way to detect Shen's message, which would let them know he had noticed something was wrong.
"Blue Sky, report," Shen said as he entered the tent.
The lansier had lost three hair strands. Her presence here meant the ego-serpents had been destroyed, or her instincts would keep her protecting them as new lansiers grew up. She was also lacking half her left arm and her tongue.
She made the air tremble with mana to reply, "Commander, Captain Ryul Qira intercepted me when I was returning from the Investigation Department with the fugitives list. Our orders were to back off if ordered by a B-rank, not to let them directly interfere with our internal operations. I refused to surrender the list, and he took it from my hand." She raised her stump. "He also said I didn't need so many minds if they were so stupid." That explained the missing egos in the hivemind.
She was taking her loss well, considering how big of a deal it was for a lansier to lose her three minds. Captain Qira had been ridiculously cruel. When a lansier lost a mind, their bodies focused solely on regaining it, which could take years. In the meanwhile, their bodies didn't heal any non-critical injury. A missing limb wasn't considered critical. She could circumvent that with the help of a special item or B-rank healer, but it was costly—if she could even find one during the Calamity.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Shen said. Blue Sky had just lost three people who were very close to her. "Have you reported it to the General?"
"Yes, Commander, but I received no response."
"Any news on Vinamour?" Shen asked. Neither Blue Sky nor Hunzuk had any.
As Blue Sky had said, they had been told to move away if a B-rank blocked them. That meant protecting fugitives or placing obstacles in their way, not taking things away from them. Direct interference was something else, and even the General had likely not expected it. For a B-rank to dare to act so overbearingly, they obviously believed the General wouldn't react out of camaraderie or fear—or that the information would never get to him.
The lack of acknowledgment after Blue Sky's report meant that either the General had decided not to help the Exemplary Brigade or the Captain had blocked the system message. The first made no sense to Shen because there were easier ways of killing that bunch of weaklings like them than bringing them here to despair at the hands of a B-rank. He bet Ryul's actions were a warning not to try too hard while seeking fugitives, and he had blocked the message to show he had real power. Vinamour's absence also pointed at that.
From the little Shen knew of politics, his actions made sense. Shen could interpret it as Ryul hindering the investigation and step away. Neither side had to do more than what they already had; it was a win-win situation.
But from what Shen knew of war, Ryul was just waiting for the opportunity to get rid of the entire Exemplary Brigade.
A B-rank had attacked Shen's Brigade, which had no way to defend itself without the General's assistance. They were isolated in an unknown territory. Moreover, Shen had just left the mobile fortress, and he knew just enough to understand the system coverage was a little weaker here than the inside.
He was at the mercy of someone who had already attacked his people, and the longer he waited to act, the greater the other party's advantage would become.
So, he said, "I declare Captain Ryul Qira a traitor."
If the system didn't get the message, it would show he was already cut from critical parts of it, and death would be a matter of time. The traitor report subsystem was of a higher priority and more challenging to affect than the message system.
If the system got it, it would show that Ryul's power over the system wasn't as big as he wanted Shen to believe.
Whatever the case, the only way to survive was through the General. Shen really hoped Long Hei's scheme, whatever it was, didn't involve the Exemplary Brigade dying as pathetically as this.