"So, you came from beyond the world—traversed here."
In the Cloud Ridge Valley, Chixia's voice rang out in surprise.
"That's right. My name is Noah."
Noah nodded. The sunset glow in the evening was warm, the gentle breeze brushing his face. The intensely realistic sensation convinced him—
He had truly traversed!
As a professional proxy player, while grinding accounts as usual, he had encountered what seemed like an easter egg plot or bug in Wuthering Waves.
He hadn't expected that right after finishing that segment of the game—before he could even complain—everything went black. When he opened his eyes again, he was already in Solaris-3.
Standing before him were two young women he knew better than anyone from the game: the poster girls Yangyang and the "queen" Chixia.
One wore a blue beret, her features soft and delicate, elegant and refreshing. The other had red hair tied in a backward skyward braid, her eyes large and bright, full of enthusiastic energy.
In the Wuthering Waves storyline, the protagonist Rover was picked up in the wild by these two beautiful girls, beginning a legendary life from there.
"Yangyang, what do you think?"
Chixia poked Yangyang with a finger, occasionally glancing at Noah before pulling Yangyang aside to whisper:
"This guy looks pretty normal. He doesn't seem polluted by Threnodian power at all. How can he say lines straight out of a play script with such confidence?"
"Chixia~"
Yangyang gently scolded her, hinting that the words were impolite, then spoke seriously:
"The idea of someone from beyond the world does sound absurd, but I see he has no Tacet Mark—he's not a Resonator. He has no weapons or terminal on him either. We should take him back for now."
At this point, Yangyang sighed: "The wilderness is too dangerous these days. We can't leave an ordinary person out here."
"That makes sense!"
Chixia nodded, turned, and extended her hand to Noah:
"Hello, Noah. I'm Patroller Chixia of Jinzhou… Uh, that doesn't feel quite right to say, since Jinzhou—"
The girl stopped mid-sentence, finally giving only a simple introduction:
"I'm Chixia. She's Yangyang."
Noah shook Chixia's hand briefly and let go, missing the fleeting sadness on her face because his mind was in total panic.
Good news: he had traversed.
Bad news: he had traversed into Wuthering Waves.
This was not a good place at all!
Wuthering Waves was a game set in a post-apocalyptic world—civilization had collapsed multiple times, humanity displaced and suffering.
While it was thrilling for players to embody Rover and repeatedly turn the tide, saving the world from ruin—if you traversed here as an ordinary person…
Your entire life would be doomed from the start.
Dangerous, deadly Tacet Discords could appear anytime in the wild or even in cities. You also had to watch for vicious, crime-laden exiles.
Even if you spent your whole life in relatively safe Jinzhou City, you could still fall victim to persecution by the Fractsidus.
And even if luck was extraordinarily good and you avoided all that, the prices in Jinzhou City were terrifyingly high.
Top-tier painter Zhezhi's monthly salary couldn't even buy a few pieces of tofu from the horse and grocery shop.
In short… an ordinary person's life here was spent walking on thin ice.
Thoughts racing, Noah decided—he would cling to the protagonist Rover's thigh.
As the protagonist of Wuthering Waves, Rover's character and strength were completely trustworthy.
With his professional proxy player's deep knowledge of the game plot, directly pledging loyalty to Rover and becoming his number-one subordinate—why worry about danger then?
Maybe when Rover fully recovered their memories in the future, he could even claim some merit for early support?
Thinking this way, Noah actually felt a small thrill of excitement!
"Um… Chixia, do you know where Rover is?"
Hearing this, Chixia tilted her head in confusion:
"Rover? What Rover? Are you asking about exiles? Most of them aren't good people."
"No, no."
Noah shook his head awkwardly, his mind spinning rapidly.
As the guide character at the game's launch, Chixia didn't know Rover? Could it be—
Could it be… the plot hadn't reached the launch timeline yet!
Then he would first build good relations with Yangyang and Chixia, find a way to make a living in Jinzhou, and quietly wait for the story to progress to that point.
In any case—the future looked promising!
At this thought, Noah's eyes brightened slightly, but he saw Yangyang step closer, her voice gentle:
"Noah, dangerous Tacet Discords can appear in the wilderness at any time. It's getting late—you should come with us."
"Okay. Thank you, Yangyang, and Chixia."
After a brief thanks, the three set off side by side.
Noah forced a smile, organized his thoughts, and tried to get closer to the two game heroines.
"Are we heading to Jinzhou City?"
"No. Jinzhou City has already fallen."
"Oh, okay, that's—wait! What do you mean Jinzhou City has fallen?"
Noah froze, stopping in his tracks, staring blankly at Yangyang and Chixia leading the way ahead.
Yangyang lowered her gaze and sighed softly, her voice carrying unspeakable sorrow:
"Three days ago, Jinzhou was still peaceful… Under the Magistrate's governance, the people of Jinzhou weren't exactly carefree, but their days were fulfilling."
Before Yangyang could finish, Chixia burst out angrily:
"But suddenly a red-clothed freak showed up, claiming to be some overseer of the Fractsidus. He used his resonance ability to create a red barrier that enveloped the entire Jinzhou City."
"Yangyang and I were out on patrol at the time. We nearly went crazy seeing Jinzhou attacked. That damn barrier—you could see it, touch it, but you couldn't pass through, break, smash, or destroy it."
"What happened next?" Noah couldn't help asking.
"Later…" Chixia's tone grew heavy: "General Jiyan of the Midnight Rangers urgently led troops back to reinforce Jinzhou. He broke an opening and rescued a small number of people—but he never came out again."
"Most of the rescued people had their minds polluted by Threnodian power. They were raving mad, constantly talking about how Jinzhou had fallen."
As Chixia finished, Noah felt his brain had turned into complete mush.
What did it mean that Scar of the Fractsidus had enveloped the entire Jinzhou?
Was this the Scar he knew?
The Scar he was familiar with was certainly the Fractsidus overseer and extremely powerful, but he shouldn't be stronger than a combined Sentinel Resonator like Jinhsi and General Jiyan.
Logically, if Scar challenged Jinhsi and Jiyan alone, he should end up in Jinzhou's prison sewing clothes.
Moreover, Rover hadn't even appeared yet—how had Scar already taken control of Jinzhou one step ahead?
At this moment, Noah suddenly realized—the Wuthering Waves world he had traversed into… the plot was somewhat broken.
Yangyang sighed again and shook her head:
"Today, we were patrolling the Cloud Ridge Valley outside Jinzhou as usual. Now we're heading back to Taoyuan Vale."
"That's when we ran into you on the road."
"Though the situation sounds pretty bad," Chixia patted Noah's shoulder:
"But don't worry—someone has already gone to seek help elsewhere. I believe everyone will be fine. Don't be too scared."
In the twilight, Chixia stood tall, one hand on her hip, the thumb of the other pointing at herself, striking a confident pose—as if encouraging herself as well:
"As soon as that red-clothed freak lifts the barrier, I, Chixia, will be the first to charge in, beat him until he's searching for his teeth on the ground, and save Jinzhou!"