"Jinzhou Blazing Dawn! Jinzhou Blazing Dawn!"
Hearing the shouts, Chixia, who was patrolling the streets, turned her head. The moment she saw the familiar figure, her eyes suddenly widened and she shouted excitedly:
"Aaaahhhhhh! Wow, Noah, when did you get back!"
Chixia took three steps in two and quickly rushed to Noah's side, forcefully punching his chest a couple of times:
"You! You left without saying a word and came back without saying a word. Next time, give us a heads-up in advance so we can go pick you up."
"Got it. Here, take this."
Noah smiled and, like magic, took out a cubic box with sides one meter long and directly shoved it into Chixia's hands. It was the big Rinascita gift package:
"I went to Rinascita to handle some minor matters. These are specialties I specially picked out for you."
"Wow, such a big gift box! You're too good to me! I basically love you to death."
Feeling the heavy weight of the big gift package in her hands, the excited expression on Chixia's face grew even stronger.
"It's nothing much. By the way, where's Yangyang? I only got back last night and haven't seen her yet."
"Her? As a member of the Midnight Rangers, she should be over at Desorock Highland. Just send her a message and she'll reply to you quickly."
As she spoke, Chixia thought for a moment and then continued:
"Right, when I ran into her yesterday, she said she learned from the Retroact Rain that Tacet Discords are gathering near Jinzhou and planning to attack Jinzhou City together. She must have gone to participate in the defense of Jinzhou City."
"Huh? Defense of Jinzhou City?"
Noah's eyes widened.
Wait, he had just returned to Jinzhou and now there was another Tacet Discord tide attacking the city?
He quickly opened the quest panel and found that no main quest had been triggered. There was only a daily quest to clear Tacet Discords, and even with the challenge, it only required clearing 25 Common-class Tacet Discords.
"Yeah."
Chixia nodded, cleared her throat, and put on a serious expression:
"Facing the attack of the Tacet Discords, I'm really very afraid that Jinzhou City will fall."
"Don't be afraid. I'll lead the charge."
Noah touched the driver's license Jinhsi had given him in his pocket, then took out the Lumiscale Construct mount with a backhand motion:
"Let's not talk about that for now. Flight is not allowed in the city, so I'll ride over to the front lines first to check the situation."
....
Desorock Highland.
Two Tick Tack Tacet Discords walked side by side, heading directly toward Jinzhou City.
On the road they had to pass, a girl wearing a blue beret stood blocking the way ahead.
"Oh, they're here?"
Yangyang slowly drew her Overture. Her movements suddenly paused. She turned her head, and a look of pleasant surprise appeared in her eyes.
A flying figure approached from afar. Seeming to sense Yangyang's gaze, the figure changed direction and soon landed beside her.
"Hi, long time no see, Yangyang."
"Noah, you're finally back!"
Yangyang's emotions surged, but for a moment she couldn't find the right words to describe what she was thinking. In the end, she only said long time no see.
Putting away her flight wings, Noah smoothed his wind-blown messy hair and took out the big Rinascita gift package with a backhand motion:
"Here! These are specialties I brought back from Ragunna."
"So much... You really spent too much." Yangyang accepted the big gift package, her inner joy clearly showing:
"Ever since you left Jinzhou, I've been really worried about you. You left in such a hurry back then, and your expression looked so anxious... Seeing you now, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief."
"Haha, I just went and handled some insignificant little things."
Noah waved his hand and then asked about the matter he was more concerned with:
"I heard from Chixia something about the defense of Jinzhou City. Is there another Tacet Discord tide coming?"
"Mm... in a sense, yes."
"Where's the Tacet Discord tide then?"
Following Yangyang's gaze toward the road, Noah finally made eye contact with the two Common-class Tick Tacks that had walked close by.
Noah: "..."
He was scared to tears. Who could understand the pressure of two Tick Tacks attacking Jinzhou City?
With two flying kicks, he effortlessly killed the two Tick Tacks. Noah clapped his hands and couldn't hold back his laughter:
"Aiyo, I accidentally resolved Jinzhou's crisis once again without anyone noticing. I really don't dare to think what would happen to Jinzhou City without me."
"Hahahaha..." Yangyang laughed so hard she couldn't close her mouth: "Then we really have to thank the Hero of Jinzhou for his assistance."
"Small matter, small matter. Do you still have work today? I'm free anyway, so I'll do it with you."
Seeing Noah actively wanting to participate, Yangyang naturally wouldn't refuse.
Not long after, under Yangyang's lead, they quickly found other clustered groups of Common-class Tacet Discords.
[Daily Quest: "Clear Tacet Discords" (Challenge) completed.]
"Normally, Tacet Discords have different habits and activity ranges, but starting from four days ago, they suddenly began gathering together regardless of type."
Four days ago?
Noah carefully recalled. Wasn't that exactly the time he entered the Black Shores for the second time?
Could there be some connection between the two?
"Listening to you say that, it suddenly feels a bit eerie. It couldn't be that Ovathrax is reviving, right?"
He had just casually mentioned it as a joke, but the girl nodded seriously:
"You know, the uneasy information the Retroact Rain has been giving these past four days does bear some similarity to the information from that previous Tacet Discord tide."
Upon hearing this, Noah fell into thought.
He opened the panel and scanned the quest list, but no new main quest had been unlocked.
Noah finished thinking:
"You're worrying too much. If Ovathrax really was reviving, the Retroact Rain would have already started falling."
"That's true."
The girl's mood lightened. She extended an invitation to Noah:
"Thanks to you, my work for today finished early. But I still need to patrol near the front lines for a while. Want to walk around with me?"
"You've already finished your work, so why keep patrolling? Come on, I'll help you skip work."
He switched role — Shorekeeper.
A pure white light circle expanded beneath their feet. Yangyang closed and opened her eyes, only to find she had already returned to inside Jinzhou City. The girl widened her eyes in astonishment:
"This is..."
"Short-distance teleportation." Noah smiled: "I'll send you back when it's almost time to get off work."
Skipping out during work hours to play was definitely wrong... But... why did it feel so exciting and satisfying?
A pleasure known as slacking off arose spontaneously from the bottom of Yangyang's heart. She hesitated for a moment, then nodded heavily.
Anyway, the surrounding Tacet Discords had already been cleared. Continuing to patrol would just be a waste of effort. This was called making reasonable use of work efficiency.
"You guy, you've secretly gotten stronger again."
After a light reproach, Yangyang smiled faintly:
"Since we've returned to Jinzhou City, my residence is not far from here. Want to come over and sit? I'll show you my skills."
...
Jinzhou City Hall.
"That distinguished guest first visited Counselor Changli at the City Hall. At the same time, Magistrate, you had just arrived at his house."
Sanhua calmly recounted Noah's whereabouts:
"After chatting with Changli for a few minutes, the distinguished guest left the City Hall. At the same time, Magistrate, you had just returned to the City Hall."
"Stop right there." Jinhsi bit her lip lightly: "You don't need to mention my whereabouts. It sounds a bit heartbreaking."
"Understood. Afterwards, the distinguished guest went to Peach Blossom Restaurant for breakfast. On the way to Huaxu Academy, he encountered Patroller Chixia, and then his route suddenly changed, heading straight for Desorock Highland."
"Based on the positioning route from the terminal, the distinguished guest should have cleared a batch of Tacet Discords and then used some unknown method to instantly teleport back to Jinzhou."
"By the afternoon, after strolling around Jinzhou, the distinguished guest is now staying at Huaxu Academy. Do you want to go check on him, Magistrate?"
Looking at the large number of invitation letters from all over the world in front of her, Jinhsi bit her lip and shook her head:
"Never mind. I won't go for now. I'll visit him after Noah returns home."
With a soft sigh, Jinhsi picked up an invitation letter sent from the Ming Court.
The disappearance of the Black Shores had once shocked the world.
The return of the Black Shores had also shocked the world.
Just last night, while she and Noah were happily chatting, the Black Shores had announced the reason for their disappearance to the highest powers across the world.
Almost every high-level figure still felt lingering fear regarding the global Lament — Slaughterblade of Carnage.
As for this mysterious person Noah, who could be said to have saved Solaris, the top figures of all powers were extremely curious.
One invitation letter after another, hoping to befriend him, arrived from all over the world.
"You spoke so lightly about it, but it turns out you've been doing such dangerous things all along."
Jinhsi sighed softly once more. She tossed the invitation letter in her hand aside, a trace of heartache flashing in her eyes:
"You must have worked really hard."
...