"Zane, are you awake yet?"
A hurried shout yanked Zane out of his dream.
"Rover? Come in."
Zane rubbed his slightly messy white hair and struggled to get up from the bed.
With the matters at Mt. Firmament coming to an end, he, Rover, the Doctor, and Stelle had returned to Jinzhou City.
He originally thought he could rest a bit longer, but trouble always came knocking like Schrodinger's cat.
"Quick, Zane, Yangyang has an urgent communication."
"What! What happened to Yangyang!"
The moment he heard it was an urgent message from Yangyang, Zane instantly sprang up from the bed.
Nothing could be better than a well-behaved, considerate, gentle, and kind junior who even wears black stockings for you.
Seeing how worked up Zane was, Rover was afraid he might do something out of line, so she quickly waved her hand.
"Yangyang isn't in danger. She just said she received a message from a Black Shores Florist."
Hearing that, Zane finally relaxed a bit, but then his gaze shifted toward her.
"Now that you mention it, I remember we also seem to have some connection with the Black Shores. Are you trying to find your past by contacting them?"
Rover nodded, then shook her head. She stepped lightly forward, walked up to Zane, and placed a hand on his cheek. Her golden eyes were so gentle they almost seemed to melt.
"No. I'm looking for our past."
'Mom, she's so good at this!'
Seeing Zane blush, Rover let out a light laugh, then quickly pulled away, stepping back a few paces. There was a hint of mischief in her peach blossom eyes.
"How is it? I just learned that. Did your heart move?"
The Doctor, following behind Rover, couldn't help but cough lightly as a reminder.
"Let's go. Yangyang is still waiting for us at Guixu Port City."
———
Soon, Zane, Rover, the Doctor, and Stelle spotted Yangyang from a distance.
But beside her, there seemed to be another person standing.
"Senior, and Rover, you're finally here."
As if sensing something, Yangyang turned her head. When she saw them, a bright smile spread across her face.
"It's been a while… well, not really. We just saw each other honestly at the hot spring earlier."
Ignoring Yangyang's already flushed face, Zane turned his head to look at the girl standing beside her…
Her ice-blue hair was tied into twin tails, blooming like an ice flower on top of her head. There was even a coin-shaped ornament resting there.
Her lively big eyes blinked, filled with a crafty, playful gleam.
It felt like she might blurt out "trash fish" at any moment.
Ice-patterned markings appeared on her forearms, and along with the resonance marks on her upper arms, it showed that this little girl wasn't as simple as she looked.
"Youhu, what are you doing here… wait, you're not here to rob tombs, are you!"
Zane stroked his chin and leaned closer to Youhu, trying to get a taste of whether she was lying.
But the next second, a slender hand landed on his shoulder, along with a voice carrying a smile.
"Zane, who is she?"
Zane's whole body stiffened. No need to guess who it was. He immediately dropped to his knees in a sliding motion, showing he hadn't been harassing a little girl.
At the same time, a pair of ice-blue eyes rolled between Zane and the other girls, a faint teasing smile appearing in them.
"Rover, I've heard a lot about you. And the highly renowned Doctor, as well as the warrior from another world, Stelle."
No wonder Youhu recognized them. As a famous antique appraiser and also an excellent merchant, information was the primary means of production.
"She's Youhu, an expert in antiques, and a part-time shady merchant."
"Hey, who are you calling shady!"
Zane didn't take Youhu's protest seriously. Compared to that, what he cared about more right now was,
"You're an antique merchant, what are you doing in Guixu Port City?"
Hearing that, Youhu crossed her arms with a dissatisfied look. But with her small body, the gesture didn't add any authority at all. If anything, it just made her look cute.
"Of course I'm here to look for clues related to treasures! Ever since Mt. Firmament became fully accessible a while ago, my master and I noticed that items from Mt. Firmament have started appearing on the market.
Besides some antiques from Jiting, there are also items that don't show any clear origin, and they don't have any characteristics of Mt. Firmament either."
"Don't tell me you're saying those antiques are from Guixu Port City."
"Bingo, correct."
Speaking of antiques, Zane suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He immediately bent down, leaned close to Youhu's ear, and whispered, "I know some information about an antique. Want to hear it?"
As an antique merchant, the moment she heard "antique," Youhu's eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly.
"Look, right there." Zane secretly stretched out a finger and pointed toward Rover, who was chatting with Yangyang.
"See that? That's an antique. Conservatively speaking, she's lived for hundreds of years… ah!"
The next second, Zane's head got hit with Rover's newly learned strong skull-splitting move.
Seeing this, Youhu quickly waved her hands and stepped back, trying to distance herself from Zane to avoid getting blood on the clothes she had just bought.
The moment she saw that flash behind Zane's head, she knew someone was asking for trouble again.
"Yangyang! Rover hit me again, wuwuwu…"
Having once again suffered inhuman abuse, Zane cried as he ran toward Yangyang. Right now, only the embrace of a junior could bring him a bit of warmth in this cold world.
Watching her senior fooling around again, Yangyang let out a long sigh and began explaining the situation to everyone, "After the battle in Norfall Barrens came to an end, the Black Shores members in Jinzhou withdrew one after another."
"But a few days ago, they submitted a request to the Nightguard to conduct environmental monitoring in Guixu Port City."
"So I thought we could use this opportunity to meet them and ask a few questions…"
But Zane frowned. Having once been part of the Nightguard, he knew very well that environmental monitoring specifically reported to Jinzhou's border forces by the Black Shores was definitely not something simple.
Something major must have happened in Guixu Port City.
And what happened might have already gone beyond the control of the Black Shores.
Reporting it to the Nightguard was one way to obtain operational permission, and another possible reason was to use it to warn Jinzhou's authorities...
Something had changed in Guixu Port City.
It might even be a "Lament"…
At that thought, Zane stood up, a trace of seriousness appearing in his emerald-green eyes.
"Let's go. We'll meet that Florist."
Seeing Zane suddenly become serious, Rover and the others were momentarily stunned. But based on their understanding of him, something big must have happened.
"Do you need me to report the situation here to the Nightguard army?"
Zane gently shook his head. In the end, this was just his own speculation. What if the Black Shores were just here for a group activity?
But at this moment, Zane hadn't realized that this incident would nearly destroy everything.