For the next period of time, Jiang Yan accompanied Alice as she traveled across all of Liyue.
To be honest, sometimes even Jiang Yan—whose mind jumped around a lot—could barely keep up with Alice's ideas.
After all, not everyone would think of tying a Hilichurl to a newly invented bomb just to see if it could fly from Qingce Village to Cuijue Slope.
Finally, after staying in Liyue for about over a month, Alice was at last preparing to leave.
Jiang Yan almost wanted to set off firecrackers to celebrate the glorious moment.
Seriously.
It had been torture.
Jiang Yan now felt that compared to accompanying Alice in those wild experiments, handling government affairs at Yuehai Pavilion was actually much more relaxing.
Liyue Harbor – The Docks
As a massive cargo ship sailed into the harbor, its long and echoing horn broke the city's quiet dawn.
A new day had begun.
Jiang Yan arrived at the port early with Alice.
"Hmm…"
Alice stretched lazily, her graceful curves accentuated as she did so.
"Time really flies. I'm actually a little reluctant to leave Liyue now."
Hearing this, a bead of sweat slid down Jiang Yan's temple.
Grandma, please just leave already!
If you stay one more day, something might explode somewhere in Liyue!
Seeing Jiang Yan's expression, Alice suddenly laughed.
During the past month, she had formed a pretty good impression of him.
After all, there were very few people who could keep up with her bizarre ideas and even accompany her through them.
"Relax, I'm not really planning to stay!"
Alice said with a smile.
"After all, I still need to travel across all the beautiful lands of Teyvat."
"I can't stop my journey here!"
Jiang Yan nodded quickly.
"Yes, yes! I think that's exactly right!"
"But…"
Alice suddenly stepped closer to him.
A faint fragrance drifted into Jiang Yan's nose.
He froze for a moment.
Then suddenly—
"Ow!"
His head hurt slightly.
Alice held up a small tuft of white hair in her hand.
"Gotta leave something behind, after all."
She waved the strand of hair playfully.
Jiang Yan touched his head, confused.
What a strange woman.
Soon after, Alice boarded the ship leaving Liyue, heading toward Inazuma.
What Jiang Yan didn't see was that once the ship had left Liyue's waters, Alice carefully wrapped up the strand of hair she had plucked from him.
A mysterious smile appeared on her lips.
After all—
When she said she wanted to leave something behind in Liyue, she hadn't been joking.
She wondered what Jiang Yan's reaction would be when he discovered the surprise she left him in the future.
Standing at the railing, Alice gazed at the endless ocean.
After seeing Alice off, Jiang Yan planned to return to Yuehai Pavilion to handle his duties.
But just as he was about to leave—
A crying sound caught his attention.
Half an Hour Earlier
A dark-gold cargo ship from the south slowly docked at Liyue Harbor.
This ship was much larger than ordinary merchant vessels.
Ships like this were usually used for international trade.
The deck was loaded with goods—Inazuman ingredients, fabrics, clothing, and many other commodities.
Workers from Liyue had already gathered at the docks.
Once the ship stabilized, they immediately began unloading cargo.
All these goods had to pass inspection by the Eight Bureaus before entering Liyue's market.
As usual, workers carried down the cargo while inspectors carefully checked each crate.
But when they opened one particular small box—
Everyone froze.
Because inside wasn't merchandise.
It was a little girl.
Instantly, the inspectors from the Eight Bureaus became tense.
Some immediately called over the Millelith guards stationed nearby.
When the Millelith learned about the situation, they rushed over with their spears aimed at the Inazuman sailors.
"Don't move!"
"Squat down!"
"Hands on your heads!"
The Millelith shouted angrily.
Good grief.
Were these Inazumans insane?
This was a trade shipment between nations, and they had transported a child inside a cargo crate?
Were they planning to traffic people in Liyue?
Did they have a death wish?!
No matter where you went, human trafficking was absolutely intolerable.
Especially in Liyue.
Jiang Yan had personally issued strict policies against it.
Anyone caught trafficking people could be beaten to death on the spot.
And if they somehow survived—
Jiang Yan would personally skin them and stuff the hide with straw, hanging it on the execution grounds as a warning.
The Inazuman sailors unloading cargo were also completely dumbfounded.
They quickly raised their hands and squatted down.
Are you kidding me?!
We would never dare do human trafficking!!!
We have no idea why there's a little girl in that box!
Some Millelith escorted the sailors away for interrogation.
The rest approached the girl.
Only then did they clearly see her appearance.
Inside the crate lay a little girl with snow-white hair and a clean, adorable face.
At that moment, the loud shouting of the Millelith woke her up.
Her gray-blue eyes opened wide as she looked around in fear and curiosity.
She began speaking rapidly in a language the Millelith couldn't understand.
"What is this kid saying? I can't understand a word!"
One guard scratched his head in confusion.
"Probably an Inazuman local."
"Maybe she's still too young to have learned the Teyvat common language yet."
Another guard said.
Then he turned to a tall, burly colleague beside him.
"Hey, Zhang San."
"Didn't you always brag about how good your Inazuman language skills are?"
"Well, now's your chance."
"The girl looks scared."
"Tell her we're the Liyue Millelith."
"And ask her why she was on this cargo ship." ⚓👧
To read 30+ future chapters, head over to patreon:
patreon.com/ToastWizard