"For humanity, living under the constant threat of the Lament and Tacet Discords, the Sentinels are record-keepers as old as Civilization itself. Beacons that have guided us through every catastrophe. Their true forms are rarely seen. I've only witnessed Jué once, during the current Magistrate's inauguration ceremony. In Huanglong, the Magistrate is the Sentinel's Resonator and the highest executive authority of the region."
Yangyang launched into a thorough explanation, the kind of meticulous, textbook-precise briefing that revealed her for what she was: a straight-A student who never cut corners. For the female Rover, though, still dizzy from waking up with a blank slate for a memory, the flood of information was starting to make her head spin.
She glanced sideways at the other Rover.
A quiet look. Do you know something about this?
"Oh, maybe just a little." He flashed a thumbs-up.
Of course he knew. Jué, the great dragon who wielded dominion over time, had once served under the Rover. The Sentinel that Yangyang and the others revered as a god addressed the Rover as "master." That moment at the statue, the way Jué had bowed, had already made everything clear.
She nodded, satisfied. If he knew, she didn't need to ask. The bond between them had reached the point where his knowledge might as well have been her own.
"By the way, why is there a Sentinel statue out here? What's the point of building a monument in the wilderness where Tacet Discords roam?"
"Maybe it's to ward off evil spirits," he said with a grin, giving the dragon carving one last look.
Yangyang blinked. Sharp as she was, she didn't know everything. Her memory of Memento Square's history was hazy at best.
"The story goes that a terrifying Tacet Discord once appeared in this region and caused unimaginable casualties. When the defensive line was about to collapse, the Sentinel intervened. The records say Jué fought alongside an unknown hero and defeated the creature together. Afterward, the people of Gorges of Spirits built Memento Square as a memorial."
"Ohhh, so that's what happened!" Three voices rang out at once.
Both Rovers froze, then turned in unison toward Chixia, who had apparently been listening to Professor Yangyang's lecture with the same rapt attention they had.
Hang on. Aren't you the local here?
"Ehehe, I'm not as smart as Yangyang. This is the first time I've heard this story too." Chixia scratched her head with a sheepish grin.
Yangyang smiled gently, then pointed toward the path leading out of the valley. "Let's move. We're close to the exit. The Etheric Sea has fully converged, and the longer we stay, the more Tacet Discords will spawn."
"More of them? Perfect!" both Rovers said, eyes lighting up.
Those trash mobs earlier hadn't even been a warm-up. They'd been itching for proper targets to test their Fortes against.
Yangyang and Chixia exchanged a glance. Thinking back on the Rovers' absurd combat power, the urgency they'd felt a moment ago quietly deflated. With those two around, even a full Tacet Discord Tide might not be a problem.
"Before that, we need to regroup with Baizhi. She was with us when we first found you, but she went off to investigate the area on her own." Yangyang pulled out the Pangu Terminal from behind her back.
Several attempts at contact. No response. The girl sighed, eyes drifting upward toward the ocean hanging in the sky.
The Etheric Sea disrupted Frequencies across the entire region. That was why Tacet Discords were spawning en masse, and why most communication was knocked out.
"Baizhi?" the female Rover asked.
"A companion of ours. She has a rare healing-type Forte. She's the one who gave you both a preliminary examination earlier." Yangyang's expression softened at the thought of her reliable teammate. "Don't worry. We planned for contingencies. If anything went wrong, we'd rendezvous outside the Gorges of Spirits."
"Then let's get moving."
Both Rovers nodded, and the group of four set off toward the valley exit. Along the way, the Rovers treated every Tacet Discord they encountered as a live-fire training exercise, testing the limits of their Fortes while farming materials on the side.
One slash, one kill. They carved through the monsters the way a knife slides through warm butter. But Yangyang and Chixia knew the truth: these were threats that would demand caution and teamwork from any ordinary Resonator.
After clearing out a small army, both Rovers had a solid grasp of their capabilities.
"Three-second time-stop, roughly," he reported. "Ten-second cooldown before the next one. The detonation on release is strong enough to instantly destroy anything at Elite Class."
"We haven't run into anything above Elite Class yet to test the ceiling," she added. "And while we can't chain time-stops, we can channel the Forte through our weapons to amplify damage."
"You two are ridiculous," Chixia said flatly.
"Time-stop..." Yangyang's voice dropped. "That's the Temporal Mandate, isn't it?"
Watching the Rovers tear through wave after wave had already numbed them. Learning what their Forte actually was made them realize they hadn't been nearly shocked enough.
Power over time. That was Jué's Authority.
Did these two Rovers have a genuine connection to the Sentinel?
"But the Sentinel already has a Resonator in the Magistrate. Only the Sentinel and their chosen Resonator can wield the Temporal Mandate. That's... that should be how it works, shouldn't it?"
Everything Yangyang thought she knew was crumbling. One Sentinel, one Resonator. That was the most basic rule. The most fundamental constant.
A long pause.
Then Yangyang chose to stop thinking about it.
She was an Outrider. Her role in the Midnight Rangers was reconnaissance, investigation, and intelligence relay. The impossibility of these two Rovers could wait for Baizhi, the actual researcher, to puzzle over.
Better to focus on what she could handle.
From that point on, Yangyang and Chixia joined the fighting too. Strong as the Rovers were, the two girls refused to stand on the sidelines doing nothing.
Yangyang also helped activate the Rovers' Pangu Terminals, the black-and-white tech gourds that had been hanging on their backs the whole time. The devices were all-in-one tools packed with features: Grappling Hook for rapid traversal, environmental scanning, information extraction, photography, positioning, and more.
"Your Terminal models are a design I've never seen before," Yangyang said, turning one over in her hands. "The core functions are identical, though, and the compatibility is better than our latest versions. It's just... all the previous data has been wiped clean. Like a fresh initialization."
He took a look. She wasn't kidding. Scrubbed spotless. Not a single browser history entry left behind.
Squeaky clean. In a way, that was reassuring.
"There. The last module is activated: Glide." Yangyang tapped a few final commands. "There's actually a new module in development called Flight. It apparently originated from a nation called Rinascita, and it lets Resonators fly freely through open air. But my clearance isn't high enough to unlock it, and it requires a proficiency exam. We'll have to wait until we reach Jinzhou proper. I'm sure you'll both pass with no trouble."
"Thanks, Yangyang," they said together.
Both Rovers gave her a grateful nod. Between her patience and her thoroughness, the girl had been indispensable. Neither of them would know half as much about this world without her help.
"N-no, it's nothing."
Yangyang waved her hands quickly, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks.
These two mysterious Rovers. Beyond their jaw-dropping combat ability and their Forte that mirrored the Sentinel's own... they were, to put it mildly, devastating to look at.
Black hair, golden eyes. Two faces of equal and striking refinement. His was sharp and handsome; hers was fierce and beautiful. Those identical eyes, like cat's-eye chrysoberyl, caught light the way a sunset catches still water, warm and luminous as polished amber. The close-cropped dark hair lent them both an air of quiet composure, and their skin carried a warm, smooth luster. Paired with an effortless elegance that defied description, they were the kind of people who drew every gaze in a room without trying, the kind whose faces imprinted themselves on your memory and refused to fade.
Yangyang took a deep breath and forced herself to look away.
Her face was definitely burning.
"W-we're almost there! The valley exit is right ahead!"
The words tumbled out as she pointed forward, grateful for the excuse.
The narrow trail carved between the cliffs finally opened up. Both Rovers felt the tension ease from their shoulders as blue sky and pristine white clouds filled their vision. A few more steps and they'd be clear of the Etheric Sea's reach, free from Tacet Discords spawning out of thin air to ambush them. The thought quickened their pace.
When they reached the mouth of the gorge, the cramped valley walls fell away and the world erupted into view. Lush, wild, impossibly vast. And there, in the distance, nestled beside a towering mountain range...
The silhouette of a great city.
An ancient fortress, imposing and unyielding, its walls promising safety and strength. Even from this far away, the grandeur was unmistakable.
Jinzhou.
Both Rovers stared, transfixed.
"So, where do we..."
"Already decided."
No need to say more. They'd reached the same conclusion without a word between them. One was a newcomer hurled into this world from another life. The other, a wanderer stripped of every memory she'd ever held. Both had been adrift, uncertain of where to go or what to do in a world that felt foreign and strange.
Now they had a destination.
That city would be where their story began.