"I don't know many dishes. My best ones are only honey cakes and..."
"Stop." Noah quickly interrupted Phrolova's words and made a decisive call: "We'll go out to eat later."
"Alright, I'll listen to you." Phrolova nodded, her eyes full of obedience and gentleness.
At this moment, Noah was her only support for reviving her relatives and fulfilling her obsession. No matter what Noah ordered her to do, she would not hesitate.
"Go entertain yourself first. Don't stay here and affect my performance."
"Understood. If there's anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."
Phrolova nodded obediently and was about to leave when a flash of lightning suddenly crossed her mind. She trembled all over and hurriedly turned back:
"Wait."
"What's wrong?"
"That... after my relatives are revived, could you... keep them in a sleeping state?"
After she spoke, she seemed to see a trace of amusement flash in Noah's eyes, but when she looked carefully, it was gone.
Phrolova felt guilty again and stammered out an excuse:
"Because... I want everyone to wake up together after they are all revived. That would be better."
"That's quite an idea. You even want to secretly give everyone a surprise." Noah gave her a meaningful look and did not refuse:
"Sure, that's not difficult."
"Thank you."
After receiving approval, Phrolova breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and left the painting space, feeling extremely fortunate in her heart.
Good thing, good thing she noticed this issue in time.
Otherwise, if any of her relatives woke up and called out "Phrolova," the situation would become irreversible.
In the end, she was still interacting with Noah under a false identity. Her real self was the Fractsidus Supervisor whom Noah regarded as an enemy.
Thinking of this, Phrolova's originally joyful mood became somewhat heavy again.
A relationship maintained through false lies... how long could it last?
Forget it. Once all her relatives were revived, she would confess her true identity to Noah and let him deal with her as he wished.
Shaking her head, Phrolova tried her best not to think about what came after and redirected her attention back to the Shore of Lost Demise.
During the time she was unconscious, the Threnodian gem hidden deep in the other shore must have distorted quite a few frequencies again. She needed to correct them quickly.
With this thought, Phrolova calmed her mind and began sensing the frequencies of the entire Shore of Lost Demise.
"Huh?"
The frequencies of the Shore of Lost Demise... during the time she was unconscious, not a single place had been distorted?
Phrolova checked again repeatedly and confirmed that the frequencies of the Shore of Lost Demise had indeed not changed at all.
Not only had the hidden Threnodian gem not done anything out of line, but on the contrary, it seemed to be doing its utmost to cooperate with the concealment of the Shore of Lost Demise, perfectly retracting all its own frequency fluctuations.
There was only one possible cause for such an abnormal scene — Noah.
"As expected of you... just by coming here, you made all your enemies too scared to make any movements. Even a Threnodian has tucked its tail between its legs."
Just like her once did. The moment she heard from the Playwright that Noah had come to Septimont, she fled to Ragunna overnight.
Thinking of this, Phrolova felt nothing but gratitude.
Fortunately, she had created the Selene clone in advance, made contact with Noah early, and chosen to seek help from him.
She admitted there was an element of gambling, but she had bet correctly.
...
There was no night in the Shore of Lost Demise, only daytime.
When Noah walked out of the painting space, he could only rely on the time displayed on his terminal to confirm that he had already been here for four whole hours.
Switching characters — Shorekeeper.
With the character switch, the originally empty Resonance power in his body instantly became full, giving him immense peace of mind.
Phrolova, who had been patiently waiting in the other shore, carefully asked Noah:
"Have my relatives... been completely revived?"
"They have been revived. As you wished, they are sleeping very peacefully. If you're unsure, you can go in and take a look."
"No need. I trust you." A smile bloomed on Phrolova's face once again.
The number of times she had smiled today was more than the total from the past few years combined. But — today was truly worth being happy about.
"You helped me so much. I don't know how to thank you. Is there anything you want?"
Noah immediately became energetic when this topic came up and started probing.
"Do you know someone called Rover?"
After he spoke, a trace of confusion flashed across Phrolova's face. She then answered seriously:
"I don't know them. Is Rover very important to you? I can help you find them."
As expected, just like Scar before, Phrolova also did not know Rover at all.
From the information gathered so far, Threnodians directly remembered Rover, Sentinels needed prompting to recall Rover, and below those two levels, almost no one remembered Rover except Shorekeeper.
Even Camellya was only instinctively searching for a Rover frequency that matched her.
But... had Rover really left no traces on Phrolova?
Thinking of this, Noah made a request:
"Since we have nothing to do, this used to be your old home, right? Why don't you invite me to sit at your house?"
"Alright."
...
On the other side.
Septimont.
"Still no contact with the Playwright?"
A craftsman respectfully bowed to an unremarkable-looking man and replied:
"Grand Architect, it has been ten days. We still cannot contact Supervisor Cristoforo."
"It seems Cristoforo is truly dead. How unexpected."
The man's voice was calm, without the slightest ripple, as if he felt neither sorrow nor joy about Cristoforo's passing.
He placed the paper report in his hand on the nearby table. His fingers tapped unhurriedly on the name "Noah":
"Noah, what a Noah. As expected of the savior who resolved the Black Shores Lament that even troubled me."
"Being able to kill Scar and Cristoforo means he has the ability to replace these two Supervisors."
"A person like this deserves a seat behind the Doors."
Listening to the Grand Architect's indifferent words, the craftsman trembled and spoke weakly:
"Grand Architect... I once heard Supervisor Playwright say that Noah is the Fractsidus's slaughter machine... If you invite him to join the Fractsidus, wouldn't that be..."
"You want to say inviting a wolf into the house? Or raising a tiger that will cause trouble?"
The corners of the Grand Architect's mouth rose, forming a faint smile:
"Hehe. Extraordinary people naturally require extraordinary methods to recruit. I have my own ways to make him submit to me."
...
Shore of Lost Demise.
Noah took another lap around Phrolova's house but did not find the classic game line "He didn't come. He won't come anymore." Instead, he found some strange items.
Seven balls marked with different numbers of stars, an antique-looking smoking pipe kettle, a broken Chronosorter, a box engraved with Prajnaparamita...
Phrolova stood to the side somewhat embarrassed and patiently explained:
"These are things I collected before. It's said they have the ability to grant wishes or rewind time, but most of them were useless and have been kept here."
It was clear that at one point during the past few hundred years, she had truly run out of options.
Noah picked up the antique smoking pipe kettle, wiped the lid, and immediately wisps of smoke rose from the spout, gathering into an illusory altar.
The illusory altar spoke in a profound and mysterious voice:
"Three wishes!"
Noah answered without hesitation: "World peace, the Lament disappears, infinite Astrite."
"Friend, I am to grant you three wishes. I want one Shell Credit, one Tick Tack Crab, and one Tick Tack Crab mutation."
There was even the Tick Tack Crab treasure side quest from Wuthering Waves?
As a professional farmer, Noah was extremely familiar with this. The so-called Tick Tack Crab altar was actually a legend made up by a seafood merchant to sell Tick Tack Crabs.
However, players could indeed get many treasure chests from it.
"The things you collect are quite weird. They don't look reliable at all."
Noah casually dispersed the smoke-formed altar. Phrolova stood to the side watching his actions, her eyes curved in a smile:
"While you were in the painting space earlier, I went to Ragunna and bought the dishes you wanted to eat from Trattoria Margherita."
She said attentively:
"However, those dishes have already gone cold. Wait here, I'll go heat them up for you."
Hearing this, Noah turned sideways and looked at the exquisite takeout boxes on the table behind him, then shook his head.
"There's no convenient stove here. Lighting a fire would be too troublesome. I'll take you out to eat instead."
Even though the current Phrolova posed no threat to him, this was still main quest time. He would not eat any food given by an enemy.
Phrolova thought Noah didn't want her to work hard and felt a warmth in her heart. She immediately wanted to decline:
"No need. Heating the dishes will be quick."
"Hmm?" Noah frowned slightly.
"Alright." Sensing the change in Noah's expression, Phrolova feared displeasing him and instantly changed her words:
"I'll listen to you. We'll go out to eat."
"By the way."
As if remembering something, Noah casually mentioned:
"You said before that you used certain methods to bring the other shore into this world. If it's convenient, can you tell me what methods?"
When asked about this topic, Phrolova's expression stiffened. Her mind raced.
To bring the other shore into this world, she used the Threnodian gem. She could not let Noah know about the Threnodian gem for now.
"It's rather complicated to explain. It involves some unsightly parts of my past."
She carefully chose her words and pleaded:
"After all my relatives are revived, I will confess everything to you. Is that alright?"
Noah gave Phrolova a deep look and finally relented:
"Fine."
Reviving all the townspeople would take five days. Then he would wait five days. If he still didn't see the Threnodian gem after five days, he would see whether Phrolova could withstand being stabbed.