After hours of conversation, Liyue and Fontaine formed an alliance.
The reason was partly that the threat brought by the apocalypse was indeed great enough, and partly that Neuvillette's display had shocked the people of Liyue.
An ordinary-looking object could actually be used to communicate across such a distance between two nations, while also transmitting images. Fontaine's technology was simply a dimensionality-reducing strike to Liyue.
Anyone with a bit of brains knew what the appearance of the mobile phone meant, let alone the Liyue Qixing and the Adepti present.
So actually, the result was decided from the beginning. As long as Fontaine's conditions were reasonable, Liyue would accept. Otherwise, they would be slapped dead on the beach by the wave of the times.
Furthermore, with Lumine and Paimon serving as intermediaries, Liyue could also let down some of its worries.
Although everyone present did not know Neuvillette very well, they knew Lumine and Paimon.
Since Lumine and Paimon were willing to act as intermediaries, it meant Neuvillette's character couldn't be too bad.
After reaching this conclusion, a rare smile flickered across Neuvillette's face.
"Dad, I want to play with the phone!"
Along with a soft voice, a small head popped into the frame, two big eyes looking curiously at everyone present through the screen.
Neuvillette frowned, first glancing at the tightly shut door, then at the open window. The look of helplessness on his face immediately became more pronounced.
"Otillia, not right now."
Thud! The door was violently thrown open.
Neuvillette sighed. Without even turning around, he knew exactly who the newcomer was.
"Lia, I told you not to get involved with this man! Hasn't he caused us enough trouble?"
Just thinking about how countless members of the Cult of the Dragon had appeared to provoke her, and even targeted Otillia, whenever she went out lately, Apep, seethed with rage.
She just wanted her daughter to live a carefree life, but it seemed that whenever she got close to Neuvillette, nothing good ever happened!
Although those people posed little threat to her, Otillia was still so young. What if they left a psychological scar on the child?!
Every time she went to Neuvillette to handle things, all he could do was shrug. Hmph, what a useless dragon!
At this thought, Apep's temper flared again, and she forcibly dragged Otillia away.
"Lia, be a good girl. Mommy will buy you ice cream. Stay far away from this irresponsible man!"
After saying that, Apep turned back and glared fiercely at Neuvillette.
He can't even manage his subordinates properly. Truly useless!
The Liyue crowd who witnessed this scene were instantly stunned. No matter how you looked at it, Neuvillette was a complete scumbag dragon. Especially the murderous intent in Apep's eyes, which was impossible to hide. What kind of mistake could he have made to make his wife look at him like an enemy?! Suddenly, they weren't so confident in Neuvillette's character anymore.
"Ice cream!"
Otillia's eyes lit up.
"Dad, Lia will come find you after she finishes her ice cream!"
After watching the figures of Apep and Otillia disappear, Neuvillette breathed a sigh of relief, then once again turned his gaze to the mobile phone screen, and saw the shocked faces of everyone on Liyue's side.
"Um, Monsieur Neuvillette, I think we need to reconsider the alliance between Liyue and Fontaine."
Neuvillette:
After spending quite a lot of time, Neuvillette finally cleared up the misunderstanding with Lumine and Paimon's help.
Neuvillette breathed another sigh of relief,he'd almost completely ruined his image with Liyue.
After hanging up the video call, Neuvillette had the Melusine Secretary call Furina and Focalors in for a meeting.
"What, Numbered Members have also appeared in Liyue? With heavy casualties?!"
When Furina and Focalors heard this news, their expressions immediately turned grave.
"How could this be? Hasn't the Geo Archon of Liyue taken action?"
"That one has already taken action."
Hearing this incredibly shocking statement from Neuvillette, Furina and Focalors were immediately even more alarmed.
One must know that the strength of Liyue could be said to be far stronger with its larger selection of strong fighters. Even with Neuvillette currently holding the Great Authority of Water, his strength would struggle to defend against all of their fighters. Under the protection of such a force, the Numbered Members had still turned Liyue upside down.
This result could not help but make Furina and Focalors marvel at Fontaine's good luck again; if Emily had not intervened, Fontaine's situation now would definitely not be any better than Liyue's.
At this moment, Neuvillette proceeded to share the information he had learned.
"The Numbered Members who appeared in Liyue this time are No. 3 Persephone and No. 9 Chen Feng."
"No. 3 Persephone's ability is currently unknown, but it should be more inclined towards a martial type. No. 9 Chen Feng's ability is similar to a Wishing Machine, but it requires paying an equivalent price. He currently seems to have been intercepted by Persephone and has gone missing."
"There's actually an ability like that?!"
To be honest, Furina was tempted. She had already sent someone to look for Emily's traces, but there wasn't a single clue. If she could use this ability, she could definitely see her again!
Seeing the expression on Furina's face at this moment, Neuvillette knew what she was thinking without her saying a word, and he gently shook his head.
"Chen Feng has opened a channel between the continent of Teyvat and the World of the Dead. Recently, spirits have occasionally appeared in Liyue, and this situation is continuing to spread. We must make preparations as soon as possible."
"Oh, you can rest assured, Neuvillette!"
"Don't forget, the people from the Fontaine Research Institute have plenty of powerful weapons designed to deal with spirits."
Furina spoke nonchalantly.
"Hmm."
Neuvillette nodded. He knew about this, of course. After all, he was the one who had Dottore taken away by Rene. It was just that he wanted to set up another layer of insurance just in case.
At this moment, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Furina's heart was truly too big. Hadn't she heard that Liyue had it so bad even with the Geo Archon taking action?
Neuvillette looked at Focalors, whose face was full of agreement, and silently sighed.
Sigh, at this moment, he did not feel comfortable leaving Fontaine entirely to these two at all!
"We still need to explain this to the others in advance, to avoid any accidents happening later."
After hearing Neuvillette's words, Furina and Focalors nodded.
"By the way, Neuvillette, since Fontaine and Liyue have now formed an alliance to advance and retreat together, shouldn't we also send people to search for No. 3's whereabouts?"
Facing Furina's expectant little gaze, Neuvillette felt as if the beads of her abacus were bouncing right off his face. However, since he couldn't find any fault in her words, he could only nod in the end.
"Lady Furina, you are right. I will have someone look into this matter."
Having gotten her way, Furina left with Focalors, feeling completely satisfied, leaving Neuvillette to shake his head in resignation once again.
Just at that moment, the Melusine Secretary knocked on the door and entered the room, addressing Neuvillette.
"Monsieur Neuvillette, Monsieur Rene from the Fontaine Research Institute wishes to see you."
"It is said that Monsieur Rene discovered a long-hidden Fatui Harbinger within the Fontaine Research Institute."
Upon hearing the Melusine Secretary's words, Neuvillette was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected a Fatui Harbinger to be able to spawn another one. But after letting Rene interrogate Dottore for a while, Rene had now returned him two of them!
A moment later, Neuvillette snapped back to his senses, straightened his expression, and said slowly.
"Take me to see them..."
Halfway through the sentence, Neuvillette recalled Otillia's words from before. Thinking that if Otillia couldn't find him when she returned, she would probably search for him everywhere, he quickly added:
"Have Monsieur Rene come see me instead."
-
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was extremely busy right now.
Business was booming!
But Hu Tao, the Director, was not happy. There were simply too many victims this time.
After personally arranging a funeral, Hu Tao sat on the threshold, staring at the scene outside, lost in thought.
The streets were full of dilapidated houses, yet the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor remained completely undamaged. In the eyes of others, this was simply a miracle, but Hu Tao felt it wasn't that simple. Perhaps Chen Feng had done something.
Just like now, she should have been angry and sad, but under the influence of Chen Feng's mysterious power, her emotions in this regard were very faint.
Hu Tao felt it was unfair to Chen Feng. He had sacrificed so much, even going so far as to violate his own principles, yet in the end, everything was given to others to enjoy.
It would have been better to listen to her, put everything from the past behind, and just live a quiet life with her.
"Sigh..."
Hu Tao sighed softly, then stood up.
There were still several more funerals she had to personally oversee, so she had very little time to rest.
After returning to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao passed through the courtyard and saw Zhongli sitting on a stone stool, staring thoughtfully at the chessboard before him.
The teacup on the stone table was no longer steaming; the tea inside had gone cold long ago.
Zhongli had been in this state for two days. Hu Tao had a vague idea of what was going on, but in the end, she never said anything directly.
After all, the Rex Lapis she had encountered back then felt all too familiar.
"Consultant Zhongli, once this Director finishes tidying up, let's go to Wanmin Restaurant to eat together."
Hu Tao's voice brought Zhongli back to his senses. He nodded, watching Hu Tao's figure gradually walk away.
The events of this incident had greatly diminished the people of Liyue's faith in Rex Lapis. Originally, Zhongli should have been pleased about this, as it had always been his goal.
However, things were different now. To defeat Persephone, he needed the people's faith.
Not only that, he was already preparing to reclaim as much Mora as possible. Of course, he knew this would not be easy to achieve, but he had no choice but to do it.
The threat Persephone posed to the world was simply too great. He had to stop her before the situation became irreversible. For this, he needed sufficient power.
Zhongli was even considering traveling to Snezhnaya to temporarily reclaim his Gnosis.
"Alright, Consultant Zhongli, let's go."
At this moment, Hu Tao finally reappeared, asking Zhongli to join her for a meal.
Zhongli fell silent for a moment, then stood up.
Zhongli realized that Hu Tao might have guessed something. After all, for the past two days, she had let him stay idle without forcing any work upon him, even when the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was incredibly busy.
But since Hu Tao did not take the initiative to speak of it, he also acted as if he had noticed nothing. Between them, they remained Director and Consultant.
Next, Hu Tao and Zhongli left the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor together and headed toward Wanmin Restaurant.
On the way, Hu Tao happened to encounter a spirit. With a simple swing of her Staff of Homa, she easily sent it on its way.
Zhongli merely watched silently, his thoughts unknown.
"Director Hu Tao, Zhongli!"
At that moment, Paimon's voice called out from the side, and soon Lumine, Paimon, and Enjou approached.
"What a surprise to run into you here! What a coincidence!"
Hearing Paimon's words, Hu Tao also spoke with some surprise.
"Oh my, I didn't expect to meet the three of you."
"Traveler, are your injuries from before doing okay?"
Just as Hu Tao finished speaking, Zhongli also nodded to Lumine and Paimon. Then, his gaze lingered on Enjou for a moment, making Enjou straighten his back and feel a chill run down his spine, before Zhongli finally withdrew his gaze.
"The Traveler's injuries have mostly healed. She's just a bit weak from excessive power consumption, but she's basically fine now."
Hearing Paimon's words, Hu Tao finally relaxed.
"Director Hu Tao, are you doing okay now?"
At this moment, Lumine and Paimon both turned their concerned gazes toward Hu Tao.
"I'm doing fine, just a bit busy. Everything else is pretty much the same as before," Hu Tao said, waving her hand.
"Have you three eaten yet? Would you like to join us for a bite at Wanmin Restaurant?"
Seeing Hu Tao seem to be avoiding the topic, Lumine and Paimon did not press further.
In truth, they also wanted to ask Zhongli, who was standing beside her, but the current situation was not very suitable.
"No thank you, Director Hu Tao. The Traveler and I have already eaten. We were actually on our way to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to say goodbye to you and Zhongli, but we didn't expect to run into you on the street."
"Say goodbye? Are you leaving so soon?"
Hearing Paimon's words, Hu Tao showed a hint of surprise.
"Won't you stay a little longer? This Director hasn't even fulfilled her duties as a host yet!"
"No need, Director Hu Tao. Let's save that for next time," Paimon said, waving her hand in refusal.
"We have business in Mondstadt and Inazuma, so we can't stay for long."
"Once we've finished our business, we'll come back to Liyue to get together with everyone again."
Hearing this, Hu Tao nodded.
"Since you have important matters to attend to, this Director won't insist you stay."
"Oh, by the way, since you're going to Mondstadt and Inazuma, could you help this Director test the waters?"
"This Director is planning to open Wangsheng Funeral Parlors across all Seven Nations. What do you think?"
Just as Hu Tao finished speaking, Paimon and Lumine exchanged a glance, then broke into smiles.
"Director Hu Tao, Ningguang already mentioned this to us."
"Ningguang also asked us to pass along a message, saying she has something to discuss with Director Hu Tao."
"Ningguang needs to see this Director?"
"Then this Director will go see her first. Consultant Zhongli can keep you company in the meantime."
With that, Hu Tao immediately rushed off in a hurry.
"Director Hu Tao is still as whirlwind-like as ever!"
Paimon remarked. Lumine seemed to realize something and gestured to Paimon.
Catching Lumine's gaze, Paimon understood instantly.
"Enjou, the Traveler wants to eat shrimp balls. Go prepare the ingredients, we need shrimp..."
Not long after, watching Enjou's retreating figure, Lumine glared fiercely at Paimon. It was clearly you who wanted to eat it!
Anyway, at least Enjou was temporarily sent away. Next, they could talk to Zhongli.