"They'd always been by my side, helping me quite a lot," Su Yuan continued, "but later on, it seemed something unexpected happened on Arlecchino's side, and they left in a hurry…"
"They're not in Fontaine right now. I haven't seen any trace of them," Neuvillette replied.
"If there was a problem involving Arlecchino, they probably returned to Snezhnaya with her."
Su Yuan nodded slightly, and Neuvillette went on, "Su Yuan, back when you were in Liyue, didn't you mention wanting to return to the very beginning — to see Furina's old suite at the top of the Palais Mermonia?"
"Since you're here now, why not go take a look?"
Su Yuan suddenly remembered — there really had been such a thing.
But the rule prompt had said that when feeling lost, he might find answers by returning to the starting point...
However, right now, Su Yuan wasn't lost at all.
He had urgent and clear matters to attend to, so he shook his head and replied,
"Neuvillette, forget it. Time's too tight — this isn't the moment for that kind of thing."
"The Traveler and I still need to visit other nations to seek support, so we'll be heading out first!"
"When Dvalin arrives in Fontaine, just have Clorinde and Sigewinne board right away."
"By the way, I haven't seen Furina — what's she up to these days?" Su Yuan suddenly asked before leaving.
"Furina went to watch a play at the Opera Epiclese," Neuvillette replied with a faint smile.
"If she had known you were coming today, she probably wouldn't have gone anywhere — she'd have waited here in my office for you instead."
"Haha, it's fine if we didn't get to see her this time," Su Yuan smiled.
"I can use teleport waypoints under certain conditions now, anyway. Once the Mondstadt situation is resolved, I'll come back to Fontaine to visit everyone properly — and have a good reunion with Furina!"
After that, Su Yuan and the Traveler bid farewell to Neuvillette, preparing to return to Mondstadt first to relay the news to Dvalin, so he could come to Fontaine to pick people up — before heading to Inazuma via teleport waypoint.
"Su Yuan, time's short. I'll head back to Mondstadt first to deliver the message!" Aether furrowed his brow slightly; just thinking about the sensation of being sliced apart thousands of times again made him shudder.
"Alright, you go ahead, Aether," Su Yuan nodded. "I'll find a waypoint nearby with no one around and head back to Mondstadt soon after."
With that, Aether and Paimon touched the teleport waypoint and left first.
Meanwhile, Su Yuan rose into the air, flying toward the outskirts of Fontaine City to find a waypoint where no one else was around.
Soon, Su Yuan arrived at a cliff to the north of Fontaine Court.
There stood a teleport waypoint, and because of the steep terrain, there didn't seem to be any signs of people nearby…
Su Yuan slowly stepped forward, closed his eyes, and placed his hand on the waypoint, silently focusing his mind on his destination — Mondstadt City.
But in the next moment, nothing happened.
The teleport didn't activate, and Su Yuan remained standing exactly where he was, motionless.
"That's strange… why did the waypoint's teleportation power suddenly fail again?" Su Yuan frowned slightly, confusion flickering across his face.
"Could it be that someone else is still nearby?"
He began searching the surroundings.
He pushed aside bushes, lifted stones, even climbed a tree and knocked around — but found no one.
"How odd… isn't the condition for me to use a waypoint that no one else can be nearby?"
"Or… could this teleport waypoint itself be malfunctioning?"
With that thought, Su Yuan immediately took to the air again, searching for another waypoint.
Before long, he spotted another one on the northern shore, near the edge of the water.
As he flew toward it, he happened to glimpse his reflection in the water — his own figure hovering in midair.
Staring at his mirrored face and silhouette on the surface of the water, a strange idea suddenly came to him.
Today was already a brand-new day — meaning his special ability, "Rule Insight," should have refreshed by now.
An idea sparked in Su Yuan's mind.
A question that had been troubling him for a long time — perhaps today, he could finally find the answer.
That was… could he, too, be affected and controlled by the Eerie force?
And if he could be corrupted, then under what conditions would his transformation occur?
"No one's ever said that 'Rule Insight' can't be used on oneself… right?"
Su Yuan muttered under his breath as he stepped up to the shore, gazing into his reflection on the water's surface.
His heart tensed with nervous anticipation.
"If this ability activates in a moment, and something appears in my mind… then it would prove that I can be contaminated and controlled by the Eerie — and that I have my own conditions for Eerie state…"
"Once I know the condition, I have to avoid it at all costs — because if I ever fall into an Eerie state, who knows whether I'll still be able to perform a death rewind?"
"And if… nothing appears in my mind afterward, wouldn't that mean I simply can't become Eerie — that I don't even have such a condition?"
Taking a deep breath, Su Yuan stared into his reflection on the water's surface and activated his ability — 'Rule Insight'!!!
However, in the next instant, something completely unexpected happened…
A stream of text really did appear in his mind —
But all of it was:
[️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️aSdhf&&）%&Oi8iaSi=G^R^%]
"What the—? What's going on? Why is it censored and scrambled again?"
And this time, the distortion was different…
Previously, the text that had appeared on his left palm had been blacked-out squares, but now it had turned into complete gibberish.
Could this be a sign… that the force interfering with his results came from two entirely different powers?
Even so, a chill crept up Su Yuan's spine.
Because although the words had turned into indecipherable code, the fact remained — after activating Rule Insight, text did appear.
Which meant that he very likely did have conditions for Eerie state— that he could be contaminated and controlled by the Eerie force.
At that thought, Su Yuan couldn't help feeling a wave of disappointment.
So it was true — he still couldn't escape the fate of possibly being consumed by Eerie corruption…
Then what exactly… could his Eerie state condition be?
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