Passing through the time-flow light screen, the view suddenly opened up.
A canvas covered in white snow slowly spread out, and the cool air carried a slight chill as it gently brushed across the scene.
Red mountains and red trees, green hot springs and a blue sky, all set off against the white snow and white clouds.
Quiet and elegant.
Specks of snowflakes hung in midair, their path toward the ground locked by the flow of time.
The mountains, which should have been filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers, were now deathly silent.
Cold and lonely.
Zane turned to look at Rover. Seeing that she didn't seem to show any discomfort, he let out a small sigh of relief.
"So this is the time flow of Mt. Firmament?"
The Doctor frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over a deer that seemed nailed in place, lost in thought.
Zane knew what the Doctor was thinking, so he shook his head.
"No. Originally, the time flow in Mt. Firmament was just slower than outside the mountain. For those who enter, as long as they don't leave the time-flow barrier, the flow inside the mountain is harmless."
"And this is what you call harmless?", Stelle pointed at a little rabbit frozen in place by time as she complained.
Such a cute little rabbit, and it could only be looked at, not eaten.
'That's just... so cruel!'
"The current situation…" Zane's gaze swept across Mt. Firmament, and a thick seriousness that couldn't be dissolved appeared in his eyes. "The time flow here has probably gone out of control."
Rover raised her head. Besides the snowflakes frozen in midair, she could also see a few birds stopped in the sky.
Time turbulence was actually this terrifying.
"What was once a gentle flow of time has become chaotic and rapid. This could mean that in some areas, time is completely frozen, while in others, it may be moving forward at an abnormal speed… or even reversing."
"Isn't that really serious?"
"Of course it's serious… I've never seen such a powerful Stand user."
Alright, not even 2.5 seconds of being serious before he starts again.
Rover rubbed her temples, but at least Zane didn't seem to be affected by the time turbulence.
The worry she was holding onto eased a little.
But since Mt. Firmament had become like this, it meant…
"The Fractsidus has already succeeded. The Sentinel has been imprisoned, which is why the time flow here has become chaotic."
"Let's go." Hearing the Doctor's analysis, Zane's expression turned serious as he took the lead and walked forward.
"See the town on the mountainside not far away? That's Hongzhen that Master Changli mentioned. There must be clues about Sister Jinhsi there."
Soon, under Zane's lead, the four of them arrived at Hongzhen.
Zane looked at the still peaceful town. It seemed no different from what he remembered.
What was strange, however, was that along the way, they still hadn't encountered any attacks from the Fractsidus.
This behavior didn't resemble the Fractsidus at all.
Shouldn't they be spawning everywhere like Hilichurls next door?
Just like how a Danjin would randomly spawn in an Exile camp, a Star Girl would spawn next to a trash can, and an elf knight would spawn in a goblin camp…
Of course, it was also possible that a goblin lair would spawn an assassin wearing worn-out armor, holding a short sword and shield, muttering "goblin" over and over.
"Stop! Who are you!"
A sharp shout interrupted Zane's thoughts. He looked up and saw two guards holding weapons, staring at them vigilantly.
"Oh?" Zane raised his brow and let out a strange laugh, completely ignoring the sharp weapons in their hands as he stepped closer.
"What you're looking at right now is the Emperor of Jinzhou, the terrifying scythe man, Solaris succubus, the one who beat Scar to death in three punches, soft and cute, able to be both loli and mature, with a soft and fragrant body who even rewarded me with stockings…"
A loud "thud" interrupted Zane's speech.
Rover had been quite happy when Zane started introducing her. But hearing the latter half of his words, she trembled in shock, her ears instantly turning red.
She immediately drew her swift blade and, half shy and half angry, struck Zane hard with the back of the blade.
"Sorry, got carried away."
Zane chuckled awkwardly, then looked again at the two guards, whose faces now looked like elderly men staring at a subway phone.
"I'm a friend of your Lady Xinyi."
"We've never heard Lady Xinyi mention you!"
"I'm the younger brother of the Magistrate."
"The Magistrate never told us her brother would be coming today!"
Seeing that the two guards wouldn't budge, Zane scratched the back of his head in frustration. He looked at Rover and the Doctor, then turned back to the unyielding guards.
Thinking about how Sister Jinhsi might currently be all alone searching for the Sentinel, he stomped his foot, steeled his heart, and loudly said to the two guards,
"I'm Zane."
Behind him, Rover didn't understand and cast a questioning look at the Doctor.
The Doctor also shook her head, indicating she didn't know why Zane said that.
Only Stelle seemed to roughly guess why Zane reported his name.
Sure enough, the two guards, who had been serious and meticulous, suddenly had their expressions change drastically upon hearing the name Zane.
"Help!"
"Zane is here!"
"Run!"
Rover and the Doctor stared in shock as the two previously cautious guards panicked and ran back into the town the moment they heard Zane's name.
The two exchanged a glance and saw the same deep confusion in each other's eyes.
"Hey.", Rover couldn't figure it out. She walked over to Zane and poked his arm. "What did you even do here? Why are they so afraid of you?"
Zane turned his head and saw the Doctor looking just as confused as Rover. He awkwardly looked away, not daring to meet their eyes.
But even if Zane didn't say anything, someone else would speak for him.
"Zane, long time no see."
Following the voice, Rover saw an energetic old woman in a coat walking toward them.
"Ahaha, Lady Xinyi, long time no see."
Zane quickly stepped in front of Rover and Xinyi, frantically winking at Xinyi.
Unfortunately, Xinyi only smiled, clearly not intending to let this little tyrant off so easily.
"It really has been a long time. I still remember the last time you came to Hongzhen, you turned the whole place upside down."
"Um, Lady Xinyi…"
"At that time, everyone saw you following behind the young Magistrate and thought you were a well-behaved child."
"Who would have thought that very night you emptied Old Li's wine cellar at the east end of the town and poured all the wine into Hongzhen's hot springs."
"You have no idea, for a whole month after that, the hot springs smelled of alcohol. Anyone who soaked in them came out acting like they were drunk."
"And there was also that time you shouted that you were naturally introverted while grabbing Widow Wang's hand at the west end of town and trying to run out of the mountain."
"The next day, you went around tricking young girls, saying you had a family technique for bone setting."
"Hm?"
Rover and the Doctor caught the key point. With gentle smiles on their faces, they each held a blade to either side of Zane's neck.
But Xinyi acted as if she didn't see anything, counting Zane's glorious deeds on her fingers.
"On your second morning in Hongzhen, you stole all the milk meant for newborn babies in the entire town to feed the Sentinel. Then you asked why the Sentinel wouldn't drink milk, was it because there was no horse…"
"After learning that the Sentinel didn't need to eat, you actually tried to use it as labor. You even said something like, where else can you find free labor that doesn't eat, drink, or rest…"
"You told everyone in town that the Sentinel had manifested at the town entrance, then while everyone went there, you bought up all the toilet paper in Hongzhen. When the townspeople came back, you resold it to them at a high price."
As Xinyi spoke, she seemed to recall something, and a trace of anger appeared on her face, "On the third day, under Changli's name, you hired the young Magistrate as a server and used the money from selling toilet paper to open a breakfast shop."
'A breakfast shop? That sounds okay…'
Just as Rover was thinking this, Xinyi continued, "But that very day, you introduced tofu pudding with strawberry sauce, the main dish was fried dough sticks dipped in yogurt, the dessert was dumplings filled with blueberries, and the soup was spicy soup with white sugar sprinkled on top…"