At the crack of dawn the next day, the sky was just starting to lighten.
In front of a white, elegant building, beneath a giant pure white arch, stood tall Roman columns on both sides. These columns, proportioned with the golden ratio, were all intricately carved with exquisite patterns. Above them were ticulously designed beams and cornices, displaying a profound sense of layer and beauty.
Entering this building, looking down, the floor was paved with glazed white jade. Looking up, towering columns surrounded by several people supported a do of light gray, almost blue crystal stone; various translucent glass mosaics ford murals on the do, silently narrating a solemn yet mysterious story.
It's hard to imagine that such a cathedral-like building could be rely the lobby of an office on the first floor, with its owner possessing incalculable wealth behind it.
"Welco to the Dawn Office, may I help you with anything?" the receptionist smiled.
"Uh, let tell you sothing terrifying, but don't be afraid first."
The perspective pulled back, revealing a man with a frightening appearance, his eyes full of bloodshot veins. His linen-gray clothes were almost soaked with blood, making the color even darker.
"Hmm, I will listen patiently," the receptionist nodded.
"My wife, she's gone mad, she's gone mad! She wants to kill ! A few days ago, I noticed sothing was wrong with her, acting all mysterious, talking about art, just like those lunatics from the Ascetic Sect." The man clutched his head as if recalling sothing painful.
"This morning, she picked up a chisel, aiming to stab into my eye socket, saying she wanted to carve into the most beautiful artwork. I saw her skin turning dull, as if the color had drained away!"
"We understand your request here," the receptionist maintained a polite smile. "Your wife has probably beco an Exhausted."
"In this situation, I'd recomnd you seek help from the Tuner."
"No way!" The man's bloodshot eyes moved. "I love her. Those Tuners will kill her. Please, help , she's just sick, she hasn't turned into a monster. She just needs you to control her, she'll gradually get better..."
Listening to the man's nearly pleading tone, the receptionist pondered for a mont and pointed to the side, "Then please queue up and register over there."
"Didn't you hear what I said? My wife is on the verge of madness!"
The man turned his head and froze. Not far from the circular ivory white stone platform, the line extended from the reception all the way into the depths of the lobby, so long it seed endless at a glance, a rough estimate of at least a hundred people.
Among them were many with situations similar to his, there were even handicapped individuals with severe injuries, moaning in pain while queuing.
The man's lips moved: "It's not even six in the morning yet, how could there be so many people lining up?"
In a panic, the man opened the curtain, trying to book an online appointnt, then froze.
[Dawn Office]
[Dawn Chasers: 120,147.]
"One hundred and twenty thousand people?" the man lost his spirit and stepped back.
"Yes, because we are the Dawn Office, possessing the most reliable, efficient, and top-notch service capabilities," the receptionist said. "Even though it's just a branch office on the Star of Art, people still trust us that much."
"Sir, we prioritize handling offline appointnts."
...
Above the white, elegant building, two figures walked in a transparent tal corridor, overlooking the entire King's District, directly facing the grand Crystal Tower. At this mont, a golden line rose on the distant horizon, bathing the city below in radiance.
A black-haired young man donned a long trench coat, looking worried, "As expected, we once again can't complete all the commissions today."
"Chairman, we're severely understaffed," the boy nearby quickened his pace. "With the reputation of the Dawn Office, if we raise the flag, many Cleaners will rush over to join us, right? Why not expand the recruitnt externally?"
"There will be enough later; it's not about the quantity, but the quality of the people."
"We are the ones chasing dawn, the forefront of watching the world's dawn, we need to be patient," Jian Liu said, pushing open the office door, and thought for a mont before adding, "Not the chairman, but the acting chairman."
"What is our purpose of the business trip to the Star of Art?" Ning asked. "We are already overloaded with matters on the Daylight City side!"
"Shh," Jian Liu gestured for silence, "It's the most critical period now."
The atmosphere in the office was elegant, with artworks from around the world. In a corner of the indigo redwood desk, there were so exquisitely bound books placed quietly. Within the pages, each bookmark was neatly inscribed.
Jian Liu stood in front of a painting. In the painting with a blue-black base, the young man with black hair had calm but sharp eyes, resembling an abyss that could discern the human heart. The mole under his eye added a bit of depth; it was his portrait.
"Why paint so unattractive?" Jian Liu raised his head, stood in front of the painting, drinking coffee, and took a call behind the curtain.
"Yes, I am the Dawn Office's director, Dawn Society acting chairman Jian Liu, is it the company?"
"You an, an S-class employee has gone missing on the Star of Art, you hope we can contact her."
"Her na?" Jian Liu's eyebrows furrowed but soon relaxed.
"Understood, aside from this S-class employee, you say, another senior executive with Cosmos Heavy Industries' confidential docunts has defected and is currently on the Star of Art, got it."
Ending the call, Jian Liu looked at the boy squatting in the corner by the potted plant: "Get ready for work, Ning."
"First contact, need to make a good impression, who should we send?"
"Chairman."
At this mont, the boy who had been silent in the corner spoke, maintaining a squatting posture, and in his eyes, an unusual maturity for his age radiated.
"The matter of Corrupt Nest City..."
"You must have heard rumors, right?" Jian Liu spoke in a normal tone, "Indeed, just as you've heard, an entire Nest City was destroyed by unknown paranormal creatures."
"All the people there boarded a death train heading to dusk." Jian Liu was calm. "And all this happened in just under a week."
"Such a huge incident, yet Cosmos Heavy Industries managed to keep other Nests completely unaware, even Daylight City only got wind of it."
"Millions of lives." Ning gritted his teeth.
"Let the past rest in the past, what we should do is stand firm at dawn, preventing more similar incidents from occurring," Jian Liu said in a steady tone.
He edited the email behind the curtain, selected the recipient, and sent it.
...
In the room, wherever Xu Xiaoyou walked, Tang Xin's eyes followed.
"Is there sothing on my face?" Xu Xiaoyou blinked and asked.
Tang Xin didn't speak; since returning last night, she always felt strange, her mind empty, as if a piece was missing.
She couldn't point out what was wrong. After leaving the Ocean Blue Whale flower shop, she returned ho with Xu Xiaoyou, exhausted and falling asleep earlier than usual.
The feeling was as if there was a piece of mory in her mind that didn't belong to her.
Finally, she decided to share her thoughts with Xu Xiaoyou, as the latter was one of the few people in the world she could trust and confide in.
After listening to Tang Xin, Xu Xiaoyou's small face turned serious, "You've probably been attacked by the Dye Thief."
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