The ascent to the Jade Chamber the next morning felt like a true homecoming. The view of the sprawling, golden harbor was a familiar, comforting sight, a stark contrast to the beautiful but tense, violet-hued landscapes of Inazuma.
They were escorted to Ningguang's office, where the Tianquan, Keqing, and Captain Beidou were already waiting, a pot of fragrant, steaming tea between them. The atmosphere was not one of formal debriefing, but of a quiet, serious, and slightly tense, council of allies.
Ren and Ganyu, taking their seats, recounted their adventure. They spoke of the abolition of the Vision Hunt Decree, of Ei's new, more open approach to her rule, of the friendships forged and the battles won. Ganyu, with a quiet, lingering pride, described Ren's role, his conversations with the god, his bravery, and his part in the final, spectacular, and utterly terrifying, duel with the Balladeer.
Ningguang and Keqing listened, their expressions a mixture of awe, of profound relief, and of deep, strategic contemplation.
"So," Ningguang mused when they had finished, her sharp, amber eyes gleaming with a complex, calculating light, "La Signora is dead, executed by the Shogun's own hand. And the Balladeer, after his defeat, has gone rogue, disappearing from the Fatui's own network. The Tsaritsa has, in a single, chaotic swoop, lost two of her most powerful Harbingers." She tapped a long, elegant finger on the table. "Perhaps that is the true reason the Doctor abandoned his post in Liyue. Not because you had left, Ren, but because his organization has just suffered a catastrophic, internal collapse. He was likely recalled to Snezhnaya to deal with the fallout."
Keqing, however, was focused on a different, more personal, revelation. She looked at Ren, a new, bright, and deeply intrigued, light in her amethyst eyes. "So you can wield Electro now," she stated, not a question, but a fascinated observation. "Just like that." She gestured to her own glowing Vision. "In that, you are now similar to me. Just as your Cryo is similar to Ganyu's."
She was not just seeing the political asset or the cute little boy anymore. She was seeing a kindred spirit, a fellow wielder of the storm, and the thought was, for the pragmatic and often solitary Yuheng, a surprisingly, and deeply, pleasant one.
After the initial reports were concluded, Ningguang's expression turned from one of strategic contemplation to one of serious, and slightly disappointed, business. Her sharp, amber gaze settled on the one person in the room who was not a part of their inner circle.
"Captain Beidou," she began, her voice calm, but with an underlying edge of steel. "We have another matter to discuss. The matter of the… smuggled man-made Visions."
Beidou, who had been listening with a quiet, confident smirk, did not flinch. She simply took a slow, deliberate sip of her tea.
"In the course of our initial investigation into the production line security," Ningguang continued, her voice as sharp and as unyielding as a diamond, "we discovered certain… irregularities. A discrepancy in the inventory logs. It seems a full crate of unregistered devices went missing shortly after the first production run." She leaned forward, her gaze locking with Beidou's. "And after a series of very… persuasive conversations with some of your crew members who also happen to have taken up a side job at the new factory, we discovered exactly how you managed to acquire that crate."
The air in the room grew heavy and tense.
Ren, seeing the direction the conversation was heading, felt a knot of worry in his stomach. He had to intervene.
"She only did it to save lives," he said, his voice a quiet but firm interruption. "The resistance soldiers in Inazuma… they were desperate. The Fatui were giving them Delusions. Beidou's actions… they saved people from having to use those. And," he added, his gaze pleading with the Tianquan, "she has already promised me that she will get them all back."
Ningguang's gaze softened as she looked at him, a flicker of fond, maternal affection in her eyes. "I understand your optimistic outlook, Ren," she said gently. "And I do not, for a moment, doubt the nobility of Captain Beidou's intentions."
Her expression, however, hardened once more as she turned back to the pirate captain. "But that is not the issue here. The issue," she said, her voice dropping to a low, serious, and utterly non-negotiable, tone, "is one of a major breach of trust. This technology, as you well know, Captain, is a state secret of the highest possible order. Its security, its controlled distribution… it is a matter of national, and even global, stability."
She looked at Beidou, her disappointment palpable. "And you, a citizen of Liyue, and a person this Qixing has often placed a great deal of trust in, chose to circumvent those protocols. You exploited a weakness in our own system, for your own purposes, no matter how noble. This is not just about a crate of missing devices. This is about the fact that it could happen at all, despite all the precautions we took. It is a matter of principle. And it is a matter that must be… addressed."
The final word hung in the air, a quiet, unyielding promise of a reckoning. This was not a punishment; it was a contract. A trust had been broken, and now, a price would have to be paid.