An island nation somewhere in the depths of the ocean.
Gentle seawater rose and fell against the shore, making a crisp sound.
He Ao sat on a rock by the sea. He glanced at the documents in his hand, then looked out over the boundless ocean, quietly lost in thought.
Over the past few hours, he had visited every island nation near the Tia Empire, contacted everyone in Lin Chichi's files who might have been connected to Noktis, and examined their memories.
This carpet-style search had given him some clues, but not many.
First, too much time had passed. Based on He Ao's estimates, Noktis was around sixty-eight years old.
Those who had once had significant contact with him were from roughly the same era, around his age, or even older.
On these island nations near the Tia Empire, poor people generally only lived to around forty. Those considered long-lived might reach fifty, while very few made it past sixty.
Most of those who had dealings with Noktis back then had long since died in various accidents. The few who had lived longer—especially those suspected of bearing grudges against Noktis—had all died at the hands of Dawn's Transcendent criminals.
He Ao had not found a single living person who had directly contacted Noktis. He could only piece together some of Noktis's experiences through memories several degrees removed.
And from the information he had gathered, those Transcendent criminals should all have been subordinates of Fiya, Dawn's second-in-command.
Fiya should have been the first person in Dawn to cooperate with Noktis. She should have handled quite a few of Noktis's affairs and known many deeper secrets.
Unfortunately, Fiya was already dead. Otherwise, He Ao could have opened her memories and gained new clues.
From this perspective, Noktis, who could "prophesy," had not