Panhua Restaurant.
"Aunt Panhua, three bowls of small noodles—extra spicy for mine and Yangyang's!"
As soon as Chixia's enthusiastic voice rang out, Noah also waved and shouted:
"Aunt Panhua, add some for mine too!"
"Wow!" Chixia excitedly pulled out a bottle of champion hot sauce: "So you like spicy too, Noah? Want to try my champion hot sauce today?"
"No thanks, that's devilishly spicy. I can only handle mild."
Noah awkwardly waved his hand. Last night, he had tried a bit of the champion hot sauce Chixia raved about, and it spiced him up so much he turned red hot on the spot, making Chixia think he didn't like spicy food at all.
The three bowls of small noodles were quickly served. Chixia enjoyed eating her noodles, speaking muffledly:
"If you're leaving the city today, I can't come along—I can't delay my patrol duties. Yangyang, make sure to protect Noah well."
"It's the other way around—I'm very strong."
Noah grumbled in dissatisfaction, slurping down the last strand of noodles, rubbing his belly as he leaned back in the chair: "I'll protect Yangyang properly."
Yangyang nodded slightly, agreeing with Noah's opinion, though her ear tips unconsciously turned a bit red.
"Wow, you ate so fast! Oh right, I prepared a gift for Noah!"
Chixia clapped her hands, and an auxiliary drone flew over from nearby:
"Here, your usual weapon is the swift blade with short attack range—this little auxiliary drone is for you. It can fire bullets to hit targets from very far away."
"This was invented by Baizhi, you know—impressive, right?"
[Exploration Module "Auxiliary Drone · Shooting" — Activated.]
"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Next time there's a chance, I'll give you a good gun in return."
Noah didn't refuse and accepted it straightforwardly.
If it were someone else giving him a gift, Noah would definitely decline, either not accepting it at all or not taking it for free.
But Chixia and Yangyang were different.
They're all bros—what's with the politeness?
Under the gazes of the two girls, the little auxiliary drone vanished into thin air, stored into Noah's inventory.
"Ah! What the heck, Yangyang—my big auxiliary drone just disappeared."
Chixia rubbed her eyes, full of disbelief. Yangyang was also stunned, turning to look at Noah.
"It didn't disappear—it's with me."
Noah snapped his fingers, and the little auxiliary drone appeared out of thin air, then vanished again.
"Y-y-you—you can do magic too? That's amazing!"
Chixia put down her noodle bowl, moved her chair to sit next to Noah, her face full of pleading:
"Teach me, teach me—please!"
Noah looked surprised: "Haven't you seen me pull out the Commando of Conviction from thin air before? I thought you knew about this ability of mine."
With that, he cupped his hands emptily, and the Commando of Conviction appeared in his hands, placed on the table.
"This..." Yangyang explained: "Some powerful Resonators can indeed store weapons close to their own frequency into Tacet Marks. We thought that's what you were doing."
"Personal storage space—is this part of your Resonance ability too? Then I can't learn it." Chixia looked envious, sat back, and continued slurping her noodles.
It has to be said, Chixia's words immediately inspired Noah.
On the Solaris-3 continent, there are all sorts of bizarre Resonance abilities. In the future, any strange things about him could be attributed to Resonance abilities.
"Chixia, you're a genius!"
Noah praised: "Watch closely—I'll teach you a magic trick you can learn right away."
The two girls, hearing it was a magic trick, focused their full attention. They saw Noah hold up one finger on each hand:
"Watch carefully, don't blink—these are two ones!"
His hands suddenly collided, and when separated, the right hand's finger curled, while the left held up two fingers:
"Now, they've become a two!"
In an instant, the two girls were stunned together, as if the folds in their cerebral cortex were instantly smoothed out, stretched flat, bringing a momentary relaxation—like strolling through a Norwegian forest.
They suddenly burst into laughter.
"It really is something you can learn right away!"
After finishing breakfast, Yangyang led Noah toward the north gate of Jinzhou City.
"Yangyang, wait for me a sec."
Noah climbed onto the stone lion on the left side of the road, taking out three bird eggs.
It was basically an occupational habit kicking in—he hadn't turned off auto-pickup.
"You..."
Yangyang, witnessing the whole process, started to speak but stopped.
Which city's great hero steals bird eggs? This is... too down-to-earth.
Noah patted the dust off his hands and continued walking toward the gate.
Going straight the whole way, they arrived at the city gate, where Jianxin was talking with the rotating soldiers.
"This humble Taoist promised the missing person's grandfather that I must find him back. I implore the two soldiers to make an exception."
"No, without passage permission, you can't pass."
The rotating soldier shook his head, with no intention of letting her through. When his gaze fell on the person behind Jianxin, his eyes instantly lit up with excitement.
"It's Jinzhou's great hero! May I ask what instructions you have? I'll go report to my team leader!"
"Hey, no no no—don't make it so formal. I don't have any big matters."
Noah quickly stopped the soldier who wanted to report, smiled politely, handed over his terminal, and pointed at Jianxin:
"This is my friend. I'm taking her out of the city for a trip. We have the Magistrate's passage permission— is that okay?"
The soldier carefully checked the permission and found it was the highest level.
With this level of permission, even if Noah wanted to lead troops out of the city, it would be allowed.
The soldier inwardly marveled at how much the Magistrate valued Noah, returned the terminal to him, and made a welcoming gesture:
"No problem—please go ahead!"
"Thanks, comrade."
The word "comrade" made the soldier's heart bloom with joy.
The great hero who saved Jinzhou calling him comrade—this sense of achievement was more exciting than any praise, making him want to shout "Loyalty!" at the top of his lungs.
Jianxin joined the team.
The three-person squad headed straight into the wilderness.
Jianxin: "Thank you, young hero, for helping this humble Taoist leave the city. Today, I was entrusted by a retired elder to go out and search for his grandson who went to the military camp..."
Noah: I know this plot well—skip.
Being familiar with the plot, he of course knew that the person Jianxin was looking for now was named Zhiyuan, a hot-blooded youth eager to join the army. Since last year, he had been secretly following behind the military camp wanting to help.
One could only say this spirit was commendable, but Zhiyuan was an ordinary person who didn't want to accept training and wanted to go straight to the front lines.
That was... a total mess.
Was the front-line military camp something an ordinary person could casually get involved in?
If the front lines needed ordinary people to contribute, it would mean the front had already collapsed.
Now, Zhiyuan was at the Rearguard Base. Later, when Jianxin found him, he still refused to leave and got beaten by Jianxin before behaving.
Quickly sorting through the plot in his mind, the group chatted as they walked, easily arriving at the Midnight Rangers camp.
Noah planned to first help Jianxin find the person—after all, it was on the way.
At the Midnight Rangers camp, the three smoothly confirmed that Zhiyuan was at the Rearguard Base.
At the same time, Yangyang received a commission to check two scouting towers that had lost contact along the path.
Seeing everything actually proceeding in the direction of the plot, Noah even felt a bit touched inside.
This utterly derailed main story had finally gotten a little back on track!