"But… how did you end up at the Black Shores?"
Facing Aalto's question, Rover carefully explained everything that had happened at Guixu Port City.
The fallen Overseers, the person who called herself Hode, and the blue formation that teleported them away at the last second.
Aalto's expression changed, and a rare hint of seriousness appeared on his usually carefree face.
"An Overseer died!? Tch… looks like things aren't looking good." Aalto placed a hand on his chin, his narrow eyes slightly narrowing, his long brows knitting together.
"That person calling herself Hode might not even be one of us."
"Exactly." Zane said as he raised his fist and swung it through the air a few times, as if he wanted to punch that riddling freak in the face.
"That guy even tried to mess with Rover. Just for that alone, I've got enough reason to tear them apart!"
Seeing how worked up Zane was, Rover quickly stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder. "Alright, I'm fine, aren't I?"
Even though her tone sounded calm, almost like she was scolding his recklessness, the slight curve at the corner of her lips couldn't be suppressed.
Aalto gave the "idiot couple" a long look, then glanced with interest at the Doctor and Stelle.
It seemed that life at the Black Shores was about to get a lot more interesting.
"By the way, didn't you say earlier that an antique dealer gave you something? Can I take a look at it?"
"No!" Zane and Stelle, both naturally rebellious, refused in unison.
"Unless you're willing to wear a gorgeous set of silver armor for a while, dye your white hair bright red, and say to everyone you meet, do you praise..."
Unfortunately, the two of them didn't have the final say. In this three-person team, Rover and the Doctor were the leaders, and Stelle was the mascot and muscle.
Then Rover handed the hard drive over to Aalto.
"What is this?" Ignoring Zane and Stelle's resentful looks, Rover asked softly.
Aalto turned the device over in his hand for a moment before speaking. "This is a storage unit deployed by the Black Shores around the world to monitor the state of the Threnodians."
"If anything happens to them anywhere, we'll know immediately."
"I just didn't expect this thing to come out of Mt. Firmament. And at the same time, it's also been used in Guixu Port City to record abnormal frequencies."
Hearing Aalto's explanation, Rover and the others fell into thought.
Jue had clearly already left Mt. Firmament, and right when that happened, a device used to monitor Threnodians appeared in the antique market.
So… was it possible that this thing had been taken out of Mt. Firmament by Jue on purpose and then sold to an antique dealer?
Thinking this, Rover's expression suddenly stiffened.
This was bad. The little dragon at home had learned how to stash private savings.
At the same time, somewhere far away in Jinzhou, a certain Threnodian suddenly shivered. The two little buns on her head trembled as she looked around. Seeing no one nearby, she finally let out a long breath.
"Strange… can Threnodians catch colds after taking human form?"
"Or did the Magistrate find out about my private stash?"
Then the little girl shook her head. Looking at the boxes full of shells and treasures in front of her, her eyes sparkled.
"The Magistrate spends all day stuck to Zane. How would she have time to look for these?"
"Besides, all these treasures are right here. How could she possibly find out?"
Everyone knew dragons liked shiny things. Even a Threnodian was no exception. Every year, aside from food, everything the people of Jinzhou offered her had been secretly kept.
After being a Threnodian for so many years, why couldn't she enjoy herself a little?
Back then, she had gone through so much trouble to move these things out of Mt. Firmament right under the Magistrate's nose and bring them back to Jinzhou. Of course her secrecy had been perfect.
There was no way the Magistrate would ever find out.
Jue nodded to herself, then pounced onto the boxes and took a deep breath of the treasures. After that, she carefully hid everything again and went off to find Jinhsi.
———
After organizing his thoughts, Aalto let out a long sigh. It looked like before the interesting life at the Black Shores could begin, they would have to deal with something far less pleasant.
"The most urgent thing right now is for us to get to the greenhouse as soon as possible, return what you brought to the Tethys System, and resolve the situation at Guixu Port... wait…"
As Aalto spoke, his eyes suddenly widened and his voice stopped.
'One, two, three… weren't there supposed to be four people standing here just now?'
'Why are there only three left after he turned his head?'
Aalto couldn't help but wonder if working overtime had made him hallucinate, so he rubbed his eyes and counted again.
Standing in front of him… there were indeed only three people left.
"Where's Zane!?"
Compared to everything else, letting Zane wander freely around the Black Shores was the real problem.
Hearing Aalto's anxious question, Rover and the Doctor finally snapped out of it. Only then did they realize that Zane, who should have been trailing behind them, had disappeared again.
"Quick! Sound a Level One alert across the Black Shores. This is no less than a mass extinction event!"
Aalto grabbed the Pangu Terminal on his chest and shouted into it, his tone as urgent as if the world were ending. "This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! And I'm not joking!"
If things went wrong, the entire Black Shores might suffer.
Meanwhile, at the center of the storm, Zane was climbing up an extremely long staircase. Not far ahead of him, a glowing blue butterfly was fluttering away as if trying to escape.
"Little butterfly, don't run. Big brother's got something nice for you. Don't worry, it won't hurt."
Zane grinned wickedly and then lunged forward at the blue butterfly...
The next second, he felt his face press against something soft. A faint floral scent drifted into his nose without restraint.
Zane felt his heart skip a beat. If Rover found out he ran into someone while chasing a butterfly, he'd probably be torn to pieces.
With that thought, he hurriedly got up, ignoring the increasingly strange atmosphere.
As long as he could get the other party's forgiveness, Rover probably wouldn't be able to do much to him…
But when he clearly saw the girl standing up and dusting herself off, all the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.
Two strands of sea-blue hair fell to the girl's chest, blending with the cool tones of the Black Shores. Together, they formed a quiet, ethereal harmony.
Her deep, distant purple eyes calmly looked at the boy who had just knocked into her. A faint light flickered within them, with a softness that couldn't be hidden.
A light, sheer garment formed a deep V at her chest, yet the first thing Zane felt upon seeing her wasn't crude sensuality, but a kind of refined, otherworldly beauty.
A crystalline crack extended downward from her chest, faintly glowing in the night. It made people want to bury their face in it to find out more, yet at the same time stirred a sense of concern.
With a blue-white veil and a skirt like butterfly wings, she looked both like a solemn, elegant nun and like a princess from a distant land standing atop a tower. Like a butterfly that had just emerged from its cocoon, she was gentle and pure.
"Welcome home, mm…" The butterfly-like girl in blue seemed to notice the stiffness in the air. After a brief pause, she calmly broke the silence.
"Do you want to bathe first, eat first, or eat me first?"