"A pleasure to meet you both. I am Sanhua, the Magistrate's personal guard. I've been waiting here for some time. Thank you for answering the invitation."
For someone who radiated the chill of an unsheathed blade, her voice was surprisingly gentle. She dipped into a slight bow before both Rovers, the gesture perfectly calibrated: respectful without a trace of subservience.
Everything about her screamed professional bodyguard.
The female Rover's eyebrows rose. Sanhua hadn't so much as hesitated, hadn't asked a single question. One glance at the two of them and she'd made her call. They were the Magistrate's honored guests.
"How did you know it was us?"
"Because it couldn't have been more obvious. The Magistrate told me nothing about either of you, but she did say that when her true guests arrived, I would recognize them on sight."
Sanhua raised a hand to the edge of her left eye, and the female Rover noticed it then: a Tacet Mark shimmered inside the guard's left iris, pulsing with a faint golden light.
A rare placement, to say the least.
A Resonator's Tacet Mark could manifest anywhere on the body. Hers and the male Rover's sat on the backs of their right hands. Yangyang's graced her forehead, Chixia's her waist, Baizhi's her thigh. But an eye...
A Tacet Mark grown directly into the eyeball was something else entirely.
"My ability is somewhat unusual. This eye can perceive the innate Frequency of living things. Or rather... Frequency is all it can see."
A flicker of something complicated passed through Sanhua's gaze.
The world she saw bore little resemblance to anyone else's. With that eye laid bare the raw Frequency of all things, she could read a person's essence as plainly as words on a page.
"Your Frequencies are extraordinarily powerful, hundreds, thousands of times beyond any ordinary Resonator. And they share a quality with the Magistrate's own: pure. Undistorted. The truest form of what Frequency can be."
Her stare never wavered as she spoke, those crimson eyes fixed on both Rovers with an intensity that bordered on reverence, as though she were gazing at two impossibly rare, impossibly beautiful landscapes laid out before her.
The Rovers exchanged a glance and shrugged. They were curious what they looked like through that eye, but that was a secret only Sanhua would ever know. No point pressing it.
"Since you've confirmed we're the Magistrate's guests, can you take us to her now?" the female Rover asked.
"My apologies. I'm afraid that isn't possible at the moment. The Magistrate is currently away from Jinzhou City Hall, and with dignitaries from every faction converging on Jinzhou, the attention on the city is far too intense. This is not a good time for a meeting." Sanhua paused. "The broadcast that went out across Jinzhou today drew an enormous amount of scrutiny. Too many eyes are watching. And beyond that..."
"The Magistrate asked me to convey that she needs time to prepare properly before meeting you both. You are far more important to her, and to all of Jinzhou, than you might realize. She asks for three days. At the end of that period, she will meet with you formally."
Both Rovers stared at Sanhua, caught off guard. Three more days of waiting, and yet there wasn't a whiff of negligence in the request. If anything, it reeked of the opposite: Jinzhou was rolling out the red carpet.
Three days? That's nothing.
They needed time to adjust to this world anyway. Three days gave both sides room to breathe and prepare. A perfect buffer.
"Thank you both for understanding. Please accept these."
Sanhua produced a small box containing several items whose purpose wasn't immediately obvious. The female Rover took it and tilted her head.
"What are these?"
"Tokens from the Magistrate. Forgive the indirect approach, but the matter is sensitive. They serve as both a signal and proof of identity. As for their true meaning..."
"We'll figure that out when we crack the code. Right?"
He slipped Jinhsi's tokens into his Tacet Mark storage space. If he were solving the puzzle blind, it would be a genuine brain-teaser. But he'd already played through this storyline. He knew exactly what the tokens meant.
All they had to do was wait three days and meet with Jinhsi.
Then Sanhua asked for both their Pangu Terminals.
"Hm? You want to give us your contact info?" he said with a half-grin, handing his terminal over alongside the female Rover's.
The dead-serious guard blinked.
"Ah... that was an oversight on my part. Yes, I'll add my communication address to both your terminals, along with contacts for the Patrol Station, the Huaxu Academy, and every other public channel in Jinzhou. If either of you need anything at all, you can reach me or any branch of the Jinzhou government at any time. Your clearance credentials have also been transmitted to every checkpoint and beacon in the region. From this moment forward, you have unrestricted access to all of Jinzhou."
In a fortified city like Jinzhou, moving freely without verified identity or a guarantor was next to impossible. Without Yangyang and the others vouching for them earlier, two amnesiacs with zero history wouldn't have made it past the gates.
But now? They could go anywhere within Jinzhou's borders. The clearance level was so absurdly high that if either of them walked up and demanded to lead a battalion out of the city, nobody would stop them.
"Uh... that generous?"
"The Magistrate insisted. She said you're worth it."
Anyone else would have called it reckless. Handing that level of access to two strangers who'd arrived out of nowhere? It bordered on insanity.
Sanhua herself had been stunned when the order first came down. But her loyalty to Jinhsi was absolute. If the Magistrate deemed it necessary, there was a reason. That was enough.
And if anyone ever learned the true connection between these two Rovers and Jinzhou... every last shred of doubt would shatter into dumbstruck silence and vanish without a trace.
"One last question, if I may. Do you have lodgings arranged in Jinzhou? If not, the Magistrate has already prepared quarters for you here in Jinzhou City Hall."
The City Hall served as Jinzhou's administrative heart and data archive both, doubling as the sitting Magistrate's personal workplace. Having rooms set aside there carried more weight than buying a mansion in the city's most coveted district.
The Rovers looked at Sanhua, then at each other. Without a word, they both declined. Prior commitments.
"Oh? Well then. It seems our concern was unnecessary."
"Please pass along our thanks to the Magistrate. We appreciate the offer, but my companion and I have already arranged to stay with a friend."
The message had come through on their terminals moments ago: Yangyang had rooms ready for them.
Jinzhou City Hall might have been the grander option, the more convenient one. But neither Rover was about to brush aside that girl's kindness. So the Magistrate's generosity would have to wait. Maybe next time.
"I see. I'm glad you have somewhere to stay. Oh, and one more thing: any expenses you incur within Jinzhou, please charge them to Jinzhou City Hall. If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask."
"Ha! Well, we'd be rude to refuse that."
"Mm. Jinzhou sure knows how to treat its guests."
Jinhsi, you absolute legend!!
Neither Rover could help but marvel at the situation. Who does this happen to? Freshly awoken on Solaris-3, and already being bankrolled by Jinzhou's very own dragon-girl Magistrate before they'd even met face to face. The woman's sincerity was off the charts.
The only downside? She was a bit too fond of riddles.
After confirming the three-day appointment one final time, both Rovers left Jinzhou City Hall to meet up with Yangyang. The moment they were gone, Sanhua issued a few quiet orders to her subordinates.
Then she followed after them, sword in hand.
This is also the Magistrate's directive: protect both guests without being detected. Given their strength, they likely don't need it, but...
Orders were orders. Hers was to execute, not to question.
And so, the number of people tailing the Rovers ticked up by one.
The count now stood at: one camellia, one butterfly, and one drawn blade. And the rest were already on their way.
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Note: Hello everyone!
So I made a few changes and have been editing the chapters all day. Both of them will now be called Rovers, as many of you requested. He also doesn't remember his past life name anymore.
I noticed some chapters were a bit messy here and there, so I've fixed those as well.
I'll be updating regularly from today onward.
If you're enjoying the story, please leave a review!
(Although not much has changed besides his name, I'd suggest re-reading from the start.)