"At that time, I fought while retreating. That Rover held a big blade weighing three thousand five hundred jin in her hands, and when she swung it, it was completely airtight. Even I almost died under her blade…"
"And then… big brother, what happened next?"
"If you want to know what happens next, stay tuned for the next episode… of course, if you offer up your lollipop, I might reluctantly work a little overtime and continue."
The pink-haired little girl thought for a moment, and a sad expression appeared on her small round face.
"But big brother, I already gave you all my lollipops just now. Now Encore doesn't have a single lollipop left. Right, Cosmos, Cloudy?"
Two sheep-like creatures, one black and one white, floated behind the little girl and nodded in agreement.
As it turned out, after Zane sneaked out in the middle of the night and was delayed for quite a while by Cameliya, he still couldn't escape from Rover's hands.
After nearly having his skull twisted open, Zane was forced to swear that for the near future, he would stick with Rover.
And the reason Jihnsi made Zane swear like that was mainly because she was about to leave Jinzhou City and needed someone to keep an eye on him.
Taoqi was still in the army, Teacher Changli was busy with government affairs, and although Sanhua could keep an eye on him, she was a bit high attack but low defense.
As for the others, there was no need to mention them. It would already be a blessing if they didn't get led astray by Zane.
After thinking it through, Jihnsi felt that only Rover seemed capable of handling Zane.
Of course, although she was a bit unwilling, there was also a bit of her wanting Rover to protect Zane mixed in, but that wasn't something to tell outsiders.
By the time Zane woke up the next day, it was already afternoon. According to Rover, she had been followed by a stalker.
'Ah~ that must have been Cameliya.'
Then Zane was dragged out onto the street by Rover, saying they were going to look for clues about "Black Shores."
And then they ran into the little girl he often tricks (crossed out) lollipops from.
There was also a gray-haired man wearing sunglasses who took the initiative to approach the two of them.
Seeing Zane tricking the little girl out of her lollipops again, veins popped on Rover's forehead as she smashed a punch onto Zane's head.
"Ow, what are you doing!"
"Stop bullying her. Give the lollipops back."
But Zane curled his lips and stubbornly argued, "I traded them for stories. How can something a scholar does be called cheating?"
"Oh?" Rover raised her brows. "By your logic, telling 'stay tuned for the next episode' eleven times in a ten-minute story is also normal, right?"
"Well…"
Zane scratched his head, embarrassed, and turned away, not daring to look at her.
"What, not convinced?" Rover's red lips curled slightly into a mischievous smile. She cracked her fingers, making popping sounds.
"I think compared to boring stories, Encore would prefer a live-action fight scene. Encore, am I right?"
"That's right. Encore and Cosmos and Cloudy all really, really like stage plays."
Encore's innocent voice now sounded like a death sentence in Zane's ears.
When had Zane, a proud man, ever suffered such grievance? A real man should stand tall in life. Looking at Rover stepping closer and closer, he immediately clenched his fists.
Then he returned all the lollipops in his hand to Encore.
Don't misunderstand. He just couldn't bear to see a little girl get tricked. He was contributing his part to building a harmonious society.
It definitely wasn't because he was afraid of Rover.
Encore was overjoyed to have her lollipops back, happily spinning in circles with the two little sheep behind her.
"Yay, big sister is a good person."
Looking at the cute Encore, a gentle smile appeared on Rover's pretty face as she bent down and softly patted Encore's pink hair.
On the other side, after finishing messing with Encore, Zane turned to look at Aalto, who was watching him and Rover suspiciously.
"Mr. Aalto, can you perform that for me?"
Hearing Zane's request, Aalto, who had been thinking about their purpose, found it a bit strange. They had only just met, and he was already being asked to perform something.
"Sorry, Mr. Zane. I'm just an ordinary businessman. I don't know what performance you're referring to."
But Zane acted as if he didn't understand the refusal in Aalto's words. He waved his hand casually, took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it over.
"You don't need to do anything much. Just read what's written here."
Although Rover was puzzled, she didn't intend to stop Zane. She was also curious what exactly he wanted Aalto to perform.
Aalto looked at the words written on the paper. Although he also felt a bit lost, just reading a sentence shouldn't be a problem.
After all, these two people were going around the streets looking for "Black Shores," so they must have some kind of purpose.
Thinking this, Aalto cleared his throat. An expression naturally formed in his mind for how he should look while saying the line.
He raised his head, looked up at a 45-degree angle toward the sky, and sincere devotion and longing appeared in his eyes.
"The beauty of the Pure Beauty Goddess Idrila is unmatched in the universe."
For some reason, after saying that line, Aalto felt like there was a voice in the cosmos calling him to set out on a journey to search for the "Pure Beauty" in his heart.
But very quickly, he came back to his senses. After all, work was the most important thing right now.
"So, tell me, why are you two looking for Black Shores?"
As he spoke, Aalto looked toward Rover. After all, as an "information merchant," he knew a bit about Zane's background.
In his view, unless there was some special commission, Zane wouldn't actively look for Black Shores.
So the one putting in all this effort to find it was most likely this mysterious Rover.
"My background is related to Black Shores."
For someone she wasn't that familiar with, Rover only kept the minimum level of trust, so she didn't intend to say much.
But Aalto seemed to have expected this. He rubbed his hands together and showed the look of a businessman.
"As you can see, I'm an 'information merchant.' No matter what, I'm still a businessman, not some charity worker. When it comes to information, we have to follow the principle of 'equal exchange.'"
Looking at the man in front of him, Zane felt like he had seen someone similar before.
Also a main story engine, also calling himself a merchant…
"You're not going to scam us, right?"
It wasn't that Zane was overly suspicious. It was just that his PTSD had kicked in.
Aalto was stunned by the question. After all, he was affiliated with Black Shores. How could he possibly do something like scamming customers?
"You can rest assured. I, Aalto, conduct business with fairness and integrity. I won't take anything I shouldn't."
Since Aalto said so, Zane could only put his mind at ease.
Although she didn't know why Zane was acting like this, Rover didn't question it.
"The reason we're looking for you is actually because we want to make a deal with you. I hope you can go with us to the Jiting Ruins and assist us in retrieving a 'data beacon.'"
Encore also nodded at the side, although her nodding didn't add any weight to Aalto's words, it only showed... she was very cute.
"After this mission is over, as payment, I will share all the information we know with you."
Rover didn't immediately agree. Instead, she turned to look at Zane, who was deep in thought.
Zane seemed to sense it and turned his head, meeting those questioning eyes.
"This should be important to you, right?"
Zane looked at her, a gentle smile on his face. "I don't know why you say Black Shores is related to your background, but didn't I already promise you? I won't leave you."
"So whatever you want to do, go ahead. I'll stay by your side the whole time."
Zane placed his hands on his hips and showed a bright smile. Sunlight fell on him, coating him in a layer of radiant glow that made it hard to look away.
"Wow, big brother, you're so handsome, way more handsome than Uncle Aalto."
Encore's eyes were wide open, her face full of a big smile.
"Hey, Encore, I'm about the same age as him."
Aalto tried to defend himself, but Encore acted like she didn't hear him and quickly ran to Zane's side, as if she could get something just by being near him.
Looking at the three of them playing around, Rover took a few deep breaths to forcibly calm her stirred heart.
Of course, Zane also had his own purpose.
He also wanted to learn more about Black Shores.
He was clearly born in Jinzhou, yet Cameliya said he was a "gardener" raised to nurture flowers…
And Black Shores was related to Rover's background…
'Could it be a past life?'
Zane thought to himself, as if he had vaguely figured out why he felt such a strange familiarity and closeness to Rover the first time they met.
It must be a love between human and ghost that never ended.