"Master!"
Seeing Cloud Retainer arrive, Shenhe quickly stood up, but the adeptus merely waved a feathered wing, signaling her to remain seated.
The atmosphere inside the room plummeted, growing suffocatingly heavy. Every gaze in the parlor locked onto Baizhu.
Yaoyao shrank her neck, her small shoulders pulling inward as she pressed closer to Qiqi.
Noting this, Ryen reached out and gently rubbed the top of Yaoyao's head, letting out a soft sigh. "Be a bit gentler, Ningguang. You are startling the children."
Ningguang shot Ryen a sharp, sidelong glance, her internal monologue undoubtedly criticizing his ever-escalating doting-father complex.
Her tone softened marginally, yet the underlying frost remained firmly in place. "The Totem of Undying is known exclusively to the highest echelons of the Five Nations and the Millelith who have personally entered that world."
"This is a supreme state secret. If you refuse to disclose exactly where you obtained this information, you will face a joint manhunt by all Five Nations. There will be no sanctuary for you in all of Teyvat."
Baizhu's expression remained entirely placid. He understood perfectly well that his name constantly occupied the top tier of Yelan's high-priority surveillance lists.
He comprehended their rationale perfectly. Possessing peerless medical expertise was, on its own, a profound blessing to the harbor.
However, when such expertise rested in the hands of a man obsessively pursuing immortality and eternal life... should he lose control, he could save countless lives, or he could slaughter just as many. Were he in the Tianquan's position, he would maintain the exact same vigilance.
"I merely overheard a rotating Millelith guard mention it in passing."
"In passing? Are you certain no specialized truth serums were involved?" Keqing narrowed her eyes, studying Baizhu with a piercing, unblinking stare.
The physician slowly shook his head. "I am a doctor. Though you esteemed leaders harbor deep suspicions regarding my true nature, I have not yet abandoned my medical ethics."
"I simply possess the innate human instinct for survival. I do not wish to die."
Keqing's gaze darkened. After a prolonged silence, she spoke. "The Millelith... It appears an extended period of peace has caused them to completely forget their confidentiality protocols."
"Upon my return, I will instruct Dashi to thoroughly discipline the ranks."
Ryen offered a light chuckle, waving his hand to break the tension. "Do not just stand there. Sit down and let us talk. There is no need for such bristling hostility."
Hearing this, Ningguang and the others withdrew their piercing stares and took their seats beside Ryen. Baizhu maintained his quiet composure.
He had originally calculated that with only Ryen present, the negotiation would proceed much smoother. Ryen appeared highly approachable, and those supreme artifacts seemed of little consequence to him personally.
The arrival of the Qixing severely complicated matters. Yet, regardless of the steep difficulty, this was his final lifeline. Should he let it slip, he might never encounter another chance.
Just as Baizhu was formulating a way to revive the conversation, Ryen shattered the quiet.
"It has been quite some time. Have none of you considered feeding Qiqi an Enchanted Golden Apple to resolve her condition?" Ryen directed a noticeably disapproving look toward Ningguang.
Ningguang pressed her lips together, rubbing her temple. They had crossed paths mere minutes ago, and Qiqi did not even know Ryen's name. Yet, this man was already laying the groundwork to officially adopt her?
Truly, the only forces in Teyvat capable of rousing Ryen from his lethargy were beautiful women and obedient daughters.
Swallowing her internal critique, Ningguang kept her voice perfectly level. "The reasoning is rather complex."
She shifted her gaze toward Baizhu, entirely discarding diplomatic pleasantries. "Firstly, we do not trust Baizhu. He is Liyue Harbor's finest physician. His medical prowess borders on resurrecting the dead and restoring flesh to bare bone."
"If he were merely an honest, benevolent doctor, we would welcome him with open arms. However, he fervently pursues longevity and immortality."
"A physician wielding absolute medical mastery while chasing eternal life is a variable we cannot afford to treat lightly."
"While it is true he adopted Qiqi and provides her with excellent care, he makes zero effort to conceal his selfish motives. He wishes to dissect her secrets to unlock the mysteries of immortality."
"If we utilize an Enchanted Golden Apple to cure Qiqi, we have no absolute guarantee regarding what he might subject her to afterward."
Listening to Ningguang ruthlessly expose his core ambitions, Baizhu did not display a shred of embarrassment. He maintained a shallow, refined smile, the absolute picture of gentlemanly grace.
He had never masked his thirst for prolonged life; the entire upper echelon of Liyue was well aware. Ningguang's public unmasking meant little, for his conscience remained clear.
Though he harbored ulterior motives regarding Qiqi, he genuinely believed he had never mistreated the child.
Ryen shot a brief glance at Baizhu, offering no commentary, before returning his attention to Ningguang.
"Secondly..." Ningguang's expression grew complicated. "The adepti have clarified that Qiqi is not suffering from an illness. She is a zombie."
Beside her, Cloud Retainer's eyes dimmed. The crane let out a heavy sigh, the weight of ancient guilt evident in the downward slope of her neck. "In the past, Qiqi tragically wandered into our battlefield, suffering mortal wounds from the crossfire."
"Rex Lapis and the rest of us bore deep remorse. Combined with Qiqi's overwhelmingly fierce desire to live, we forcefully sealed a massive quantity of adeptal energy within her body. From that moment onward, she became a zombie."
"She is not sick. She exists in a delicate, twilight state suspended between life and death."
"We cannot definitively ascertain what effect an Enchanted Golden Apple might have on her unique constitution."
"However, as a result of this ordeal, Qiqi became Liyue's sole mortal to ascend to adeptus status after birth, granted the title of Fortune Preserver."
Qiqi offered no reaction to Cloud Retainer's recounting, standing quietly beside Ryen in a blank daze. Only when the title 'Fortune Preserver' drifted into her ears did she slowly raise her head. Her gaze remained glassy, yet a faint spark of recognition glimmered within. It was the singular name she could retain.
"That does present a unique complication." Ryen knitted his brow, silently calculating the functional mechanics of the Enchanted Golden Apple.
"Thirdly," Ningguang continued, taking over from the adeptus, "Qiqi spends her days confined to Bubu Pharmacy or wandering the peaks of Jueyun Karst gathering herbs, making her difficult to track. Even when she is at the pharmacy, Baizhu maintains a suffocating watch over her, barring our agents from making contact."
She shot another hostile glare toward the physician.
"Furthermore, Qiqi currently faces no immediate threat to her life. She merely suffers from severe memory retention issues. Truthfully, there is no absolute, pressing necessity to cure her."
"Naturally, I will not deny that my primary concern remains that a cured, purely innocent Qiqi would be easily deceived and subjected to Baizhu's experiments." With that, Ningguang firmly closed her mouth.
Ryen offered a slow nod. He turned to the quietly observing physician, his voice smooth. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Baizhu shook his head. "I cannot deny her accusations. If Qiqi were fully restored, I would indeed conduct further studies."
"However, having lived alongside her for so long, I am not a cold-blooded reptile devoid of attachment. I harbor genuine affection for her."
"I simply wish to survive. If my deductions are correct, the esteemed adepti have dedicated considerable resources to monitoring my every move."
"If I posed a genuine, malicious threat to Qiqi's safety, why would they permit her to remain under my roof?"
A bitter, hollow smile twisted Baizhu's lips. His shoulders sagged heavily. "For so many years, I have pulled countless patients from the brink of death. Yet, when it comes to my own failing body, I am utterly powerless."
"My life ticks away like a relentless countdown with every passing second. I refuse to accept this fate."
"I am hailed as the greatest healer in Liyue. Why am I granted the power to save others, only to be forced to watch myself march toward the grave?"
"Among the thousands of souls in this world, aside from Director Hu, who can truly face oblivion with a tranquil heart?"
"I am not a saint. I am a mundane man anchored to this mortal coil. I possess a heart full of unfulfilled aspirations, and I simply want to live to see them realized."
"From the moment I drew my first breath, my body has condemned me to an existence of perpetual agony. This world is breathtaking and endlessly diverse. Why am I denied the right to admire it with a healthy vessel?"
Baizhu fell silent for a long moment. His serpentine eyes drifted softly toward Qiqi. "When I journeyed to Jueyun Karst seeking the adepti, I crossed paths with Qiqi. Her existence, being neither truly alive nor dead, neither fully human nor adeptus, offered me a beacon of hope."
"Thus, I brought her back to the harbor."
"Over these many years, while I admit to harboring ulterior motives regarding her constitution, I swear I have never crossed the boundaries of human morality in my treatment of her."
"I solely analyze the flow of her adeptal energy, desperately searching for a thread of hope to extend my own life."
"Tragically, up to this very day, my efforts have yielded absolutely nothing."
"But searching my conscience, Qiqi lives a comfortable life at Bubu Pharmacy. I have never once subjected her to cruelty."
At this admission, the hard lines on Ningguang's and the others' faces relaxed slightly. Truthfully, their intense dislike and targeted surveillance of Baizhu stemmed purely from his inherent danger.
They harbored deep-seated fears that Baizhu might spiral down the same depraved path as The Doctor. Delving into Qiqi's physiology and tampering with the taboos of life and death was undeniably a treacherous, diverging road.
Yet, despite the passage of many years, they had uncovered zero evidence of Baizhu performing any transgressive experiments on the zombie. Had he done so, the Millelith would have mobilized and crushed the pharmacy long ago.
"A short time ago," Baizhu paused, a distant, reflective haze settling over his eyes, "when sweeping changes enveloped Liyue, I returned from an herb-gathering expedition to discover the harbor completely devoid of sick patients."
"That miraculous panacea, known as dimensional milk."
"A single bucket of milk managed to eradicate one hundred percent of the populace's ailments. Bubu Pharmacy's consultation services were rendered entirely obsolete."
"No matter the affliction plaguing a citizen, a simple bucket of milk provided an instant cure."
"I cared little that my business was decimated. May the world be free of suffering, even if the medicine on the shelves gathers dust. That is the fundamental moral pillar every physician must uphold."
"I was consumed by sheer ecstasy. If this substance could cure every known disease, why not mine?"
"I do not blindly covet immortality simply for the sake of living forever. If I can merely cure my terminal illness, that would be enough."
"Regrettably, much like my ability to save countless others while failing myself, the milk purged all earthly diseases, yet proved completely impotent against my rotting core."
Baizhu let out a hollow, self-deprecating laugh, his voice barely a whisper. "It is the universe's most cruel joke."
"However, the existence of this milk did inject me with renewed vigor."
"While it failed to eradicate the disease, it successfully suppressed the agonizing pain of my sudden flare-ups."
"Consequently, I dedicated every waking hour to analyzing the dimensional milk and your alchemical healing potions."
"I successfully engineered a novel formula fusing the milk with the alchemical potion. This resulting hybrid agent possesses a vastly broader healing spectrum and exhibits significantly higher efficacy than standard healing potions."
"Yet, as always, it failed to produce a single ripple against my own condition."
Upon hearing this revelation, Ningguang and Keqing exchanged a sharp, highly meaningful look.
They considered Baizhu to be a volatile hazard, but his staggering intellectual brilliance was absolutely undeniable.
Fusing dimensional milk with alchemical potions was a project the Ministry's alchemy workshops had been grinding away at for weeks. Without Albedo's direct supervision, they had hit a complete dead end.
Yet Baizhu had silently shattered that technical barrier in the privacy of his own courtyard.
If he were not such a monumental flight risk, they would have forcibly conscripted him into the national workshops on the spot.
Easily reading the shifting calculations behind Ningguang's eyes, Baizhu spoke softly. "The complete formula for my new agent, alongside several physical prototypes, is securely stored at Bubu Pharmacy. Lady Ningguang, you may dispatch personnel to collect them at your leisure. I have already instructed Herbalist Gui to cooperate."
Pausing briefly to let the leverage settle, Baizhu continued. "I had genuinely surrendered to despair, resigning myself to rot away in this failing vessel."
"That was until the day a Millelith guard arrived to purchase herbs. In casual conversation with his comrade, he mentioned the Bedwars tournament and the Totem of Undying."
"Every tangled dead-end in my mind instantly unraveled."
"I finally understood."
Baizhu locked his serpentine gaze onto Ryen, an intense, feverish fire blazing in his eyes. His voice grew thick with raw desperation. "Liyue has successfully conquered another dimension. And within that realm lies the singular miracle I require... the absolute treasure of immortality!"