A new day in Jinzhou's City Hall. Jinhsi pushed aside a stack of processed documents, her thoughts uncontrollably drifting.
"Noah probably isn't mad at me anymore."
Yesterday, she had personally gone to Noah's door to apologize, and the process had gone unexpectedly smoothly.
Perhaps all Noah wanted was her attitude—he didn't actually expect her to do anything to atone.
In any case, at least her relationship with Noah had returned to normal. Next, she should prepare for a grand confession in two years.
Before that, she needed to vigorously build Noah's favorability, aiming to capture him completely in two years.
Thinking of this, Jinhsi couldn't help but smile lightly, the corners of her mouth curling up confidently.
The one closest to the water gets the moon first. When it came to building favorability, she had plenty of energy and methods.
She had specially collected some classic romance novels from the markets, planning to learn from them as her teachers. One in particular, "The Overbearing Magistrate Falls for Me," had captivated her completely.
As she pondered this, Sanhua suddenly entered from the doorway. Jinhsi's eyes lit up.
"Sanhua, perfect timing. Help me prepare some snacks for two—I'm heading out."
"Understood, Magistrate. I have another matter to report."
Sanhua nodded and continued.
"A Patroller at the south city gate detained a traveling merchant named Aalto. He was carrying a Blake Bloom mark from the Black Shores, but the merchant had special abilities—he turned into mist and escaped. His whereabouts are now unknown."
"What! Someone from the Black Shores came to Jinzhou?"
Jinhsi stood up in shock, her expression changing.
Previously, they had received a letter from the Black Shores stating that the Black Shores was in extreme peril and begging for the Sentinel or Noah to help.
But she had politely refused that request.
Now, this traveling merchant named Aalto had come to Jinzhou—his target was either the Sentinel or Noah.
"Mobilize all city Patrollers. We must find that traveling merchant named Aalto!"
===✧✦✧===
On the other side.
Whining Aix's Mire, ferry crossing.
A speedboat slowly advanced over the sea with the waves. On the boat, Noah wore sunglasses and leisurely cast his fishing rod.
"Zhezhi, you performed outstandingly today. All morning, you were so poised—not timid at all."
"All thanks to your good teaching, hehe."
Zhezhi scratched her head a bit embarrassedly.
If she were alone, she definitely wouldn't dare conflict with anyone.
The reason she could perform without any timidity in the morning's social phobia tasks was entirely because Noah—the man everyone in Jinzhou had to give face to—was behind her.
If an ordinary person held a Gatling gun, they wouldn't fear fierce beasts in the wild—let alone with Noah behind her, who was far more powerful than a Gatling gun.
Since the issue on Mt. Firmament was resolved, the abandoned ferry crossing had ships coming and going again.
As a reward for Zhezhi's excellent performance that morning, Noah rented a speedboat from the crossing and took Zhezhi out for a ride on the sea.
Putting away the fishing rod, Noah removed a bass from the hook and casually tossed it into the nearby bucket, while issuing a new social phobia task.
"Zhezhi, when we get back to shore, you're responsible for selling all these fish by yourself."
"Ah..." Zhezhi was stunned, looking at the several plump fish tumbling in the bucket. "Sell fish... how do I sell them?"
"Just shout loudly in the market. I've prepared a megaphone—borrowed specially from the research institute. It'll definitely make you the shiniest kid in the whole market."
Looking at the large megaphone handed to her, Zhezhi felt her blood rush backward to her brain, as if she could already picture herself shouting loudly in the bustling market.
So... so embarrassing, so thrilling... but it was Noah's order. Even begging for mercy would only excite him more...
Experiences like accepting orders to do various social phobia challenge tasks were something she had never felt in her past life—but now there were still five days left—
Thinking of this, Zhezhi found it hard to describe her feelings: fear, excitement, anticipation, thrill, and a sense of wanting more.
Bang!
The speedboat suddenly shook violently, as if struck by something heavy, interrupting Zhezhi's random thoughts.
She stumbled, her balance lost, about to fall—when her wrist was firmly grasped by another strong hand.
"Steady yourself. I'll go check what's going on."
Noah helped the falling Zhezhi up, then quickly walked toward the stern of the boat.
The source of the collision was a black-awning boat that headed to Mt. Firmament at fixed times.
On this familiar black-awning boat, a figure dressed very concealed came into view.
"Holy crap."
Noah took off his sunglasses, eyes full of shock. Despite the figure being extremely well-covered, he still called out the name immediately.
"Aalto—"
On the black-awning boat, Aalto froze completely upon seeing Noah.
The boat bobbed with the waves; he hurriedly steadied himself on the swaying deck, then rubbed his eyes incredulously several times.
"Astral... Astral Modulator."
The six short words started with a shout of surprise, turned to hope in the middle, and ended up choked with emotion.
"I'm not dreaming, am I? Running into you here!"
"Damn, big man—don't cry! You crashed into me! I won't make you pay for it, okay..."
A chaotic commotion ensued.
Noah used his time ability to repair the damage from the collision between the two boats, then used time stop to fix the boats in place and brought Aalto onto the speedboat.
Only then did the two sit face to face.
"You seem a bit excited. Drink some water and calm down."
Noah pushed over a cup of hot tea. Aalto drank it and smacked his lips.
What kind of tea is this? Why is it a bit sweet?
He slightly organized his thoughts before fixing his gaze tightly on Noah.
Those eyes were like grasping the last straw in desperation, making Noah's skin crawl with goosebumps and giving him a bad premonition.
"Astral Modulator, the Black Shores... has lost control."
"First off, you've got the wrong person."
Thoughts surging in Noah's mind, from Aalto's behavior he could infer that Rover was not at the Black Shores—otherwise Aalto wouldn't have mistaken him for Rover.
Temporarily suppressing his doubts, he continued.
"Second, what do you mean the Black Shores has lost control?"
"Denying your identity, huh..."
Aalto lowered his head, glanced at the Tacet Mark on the back of Noah's right hand, and gave a bitter smile.
"Fair enough. The Shorekeeper once said you've lost your past memories. Then let me tell you about the Black Shores. The Black Shores is a place that records and collects all the Lament from Solaris..."
"I know that—skip it. Get to the point."
Noah glanced at Aalto.
As a professional substitute player, how could he not know the Black Shores lore?
The so-called Black Shores was essentially a global Lament monitoring center that could predict Lament occurrences in advance.
In the story, the Black Shores was built single-handedly by Rover. Later, wherever a Lament alarm went off, Rover would rush over to help, running east and west for countless years—extremely grueling.
"Then I'll get straight to it."
Aalto took a deep breath.
"The Lament has descended on the Black Shores. The Black Shores is now a bomb that could destroy Solaris at any moment. All the Lament previously recorded by the Tethys System could potentially erupt at the same time."
"What did you say!"
Noah's figure vanished from his seat, hands fiercely grabbing Aalto's collar, eyes bloodshot with rage.
The teacup in Aalto's hand fell to the deck, shattering into pieces. He turned his head away, not daring to meet Noah's eyes, saying nothing.
Zhezhi didn't know what had happened to make Noah so agitated. She approached helplessly, trying to soothe.
"Calm down, calm down. Let's talk it out—don't get physical."
Looking at the silent Aalto, Noah finally released his grip, sat back down, and asked while breathing heavily.
"The Black Shores has existed for at least ten thousand years, right? How many Lament has it recorded in total?"
"Global Lament: 5 times. Regional Lament..."
Aalto's gaze flickered, somewhat stammering.
"Regional Lament... 300,000 times."
[Main Quest: Journey to the End of the Shore has been activated.]
[Main Quest: Like a Small Boat Sailing Through the Vast Ocean has been activated.]