At that moment, Keqing stared at Lin Mo, his collar and face smeared with dust, her eyes a swirling mix of emotions.
She had never imagined it.
The assistant who had stood by her side for decades in her dreams… actually existed in the real world.
"Lin… Mo?"
Keqing couldn't help but call out softly.
"Cough, cough… Ah-Qing, it's been a while."
Lin Mo smiled awkwardly.
He hadn't expected their reunion in reality to happen under circumstances like these.
"It's really… really you…"
Tears instantly welled up and slipped from the corners of Keqing's eyes.
The gunblade in her hand, Dragon's Bane, was instantly swapped for a soft silk handkerchief.
She stepped toward him slowly, raised the handkerchief, and gently wiped the dust from his cheek with tender care.
"Stop right there!!!"
Just then, a sharp shout rang out, shattering the moment between them.
Lin Mo turned to look.
A squad of Millelith soldiers was charging toward him, weapons drawn and faces fierce.
"Ah-Qing! We have to go! We'll talk somewhere else!"
Without giving Keqing a moment to think, Lin Mo grabbed her hand and pulled her into a run.
As they fled, he shouted back over his shoulder, "Yuheng Keqing is my hostage now! Anyone who follows—I'll kill her on the spot!!!"
His threat brought the pursuing Millelith to an immediate halt.
Under the glow of the setting sun, the two figures darted through the Tianheng Mountain range.
Keqing, her hand held tightly in Lin Mo's, watched the scenery blur past her. She recognized this familiar path all too well.
She knew exactly where Lin Mo was taking her.
The great waterfall on the southwestern side of Mount Tianheng—their secret meeting place.
As they drew closer to the waterfall, Keqing's thoughts drifted back to the dream world.
Back to the moment she and Lin Mo had first met.
Liyue, General Affairs Department, Land Security Officer's Office.
"Hmm… Lin Mo, was it?"
"I'm very satisfied with the Liyue Land Planning Reform Proposal you submitted."
"Congratulations—you've passed the initial interview."
Keqing politely extended her hand in greeting.
"Thank you for your recognition, Lady Keqing," Lin Mo replied with a smile, shaking her hand.
"Good. Starting today, you're my assistant."
"You already know my work style."
Keqing's expression turned serious. "If you can't handle the high-pressure environment, tell me in advance so I can plan to recruit someone new."
"Don't worry. I won't let you down, Lady Keqing," Lin Mo said with a confident nod.
"Hmph. Everyone says that. I've heard it too many times. We'll see if you can back it up."
Truth be told, Keqing didn't think this delicate-looking young man would last long under her.
Her relentless drive had driven away countless assistants before him.
The Land Security Officer's assistants worked what amounted to a six-hour day—in name only.
Sometimes, with a single word from Keqing, overtime became mandatory.
That kind of intense environment had cycled through batch after batch of assistants.
Even the Millelith only patrolled four hours a day—and that sounded far more impressive.
No one had ever truly satisfied her.
Most quit voluntarily, unable to bear the workload.
The reason she chose Lin Mo was his attitude toward work.
It seemed more sincere than any assistant she'd interviewed before.
When it came to infrastructure reform in Liyue, most applicants gave vague, perfunctory answers to the test questions.
But Lin Mo not only offered solid suggestions—he listed every potential obstacle and provided practical solutions.
That earnestness earned her genuine respect.
Even if he looked frail and not particularly resilient, she still decided to hire him.
Keqing believed time was the only true test of character.
If Lin Mo could last a full month under her, she would consider him a qualified assistant.
Time passed quietly.
A month went by.
Inside the Land Security Office at the General Affairs Department.
Keqing watched Lin Mo bustling about… and stared at him as if he were some kind of monster.
This guy worked at least eight hours every day!
If a task wasn't finished, he wouldn't leave until it was—he seemed unable to rest otherwise.
Overtime?
He never needed to be asked.
"Hey, Ah-Qing, where's that document?" Lin Mo suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
"Huh? Which document?" Keqing blinked, caught off guard.
Lin Mo looked at her in disbelief.
"The one you need to get Lady Ningguang's signature on before the General Affairs Department closes, of course!"
"If we don't get it signed today, we won't be able to legally requisition the land tomorrow morning."
"What about the workers we already scheduled? Are we just going to waste their time?"
"Compensation for lost wages is the least of it—what are we supposed to do with our morning? Sit around staring at the Qunyu Jade Pavilion?"
"I… I…"
Keqing was rendered speechless.
What kind of workaholic was this?
Who's the Land Security Officer here—him or me?
"You what?"
Lin Mo didn't hold back. "You can fly straight to the Qunyu Jade Pavilion with lightning, right? Go! There's still time!"
"Fine!"
Keqing pouted, snatched the document, and stormed out of the office.
But only a few steps later, she froze.
"Lin Mo has been working under me… for over a month already, hasn't he?"
"This… isn't he exactly the person I've been looking for?"
"Even if he's a little strict with me…"
"Hmph! I'm the Land Security Officer! There's no way I'm losing to him!"
In the days that followed, Keqing finally adapted to Lin Mo's intense work rhythm.
996? 007?
She remembered those terms coming from Lin Mo's mouth—his own self-imposed standards.
What Keqing didn't know was that Lin Mo worked so hard because of his mission.
The mission title: "Assist Liyue in completing its transformation, fully implementing the people-centered philosophy."
At first, he thought it would be simple.
He assumed that after the crisis orchestrated by Zhongli and La Signora—unleashing the ancient god Osial as a trial—Liyue would naturally shift from divine rule to human governance.
But in this parallel world, the Fatui never collected the Geo Archon's Gnosis.
Morax never faked his death at the Rite of Descension.
With no trial laid out by Morax, Lin Mo turned his attention to the one among the Liyue Qixing who most desired change—Yuheng, Keqing.
Following her vision should speed things along, he thought.
As for the grueling hours?
996? 007?
Having lived on Earth, Lin Mo was long accustomed to it.
And now, getting to push Keqing a little—watching her occasionally frustrated expressions—became a small pleasure amid the endless work.
Time flew by. Five years passed.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Lin Mo and Keqing, the city's scale had grown to five times its former size.
In the past, people from other nations spoke of Liyue as merely a prosperous harbor city known for trade.
Now, it had been renamed Liyue City.
The harbor?
Just one important commercial district among many.
With the city's expansion came more jobs, better healthcare and housing, and a richer variety of lifestyles.
People from villages across Teyvat flocked to the city.
At the very least, the rural villages on the outskirts of Liyue had become ghost towns—nearly all their residents had relocated to Liyue City.
In Lin Mo's words: "A nation's development and urbanization are inseparable!"
As the city grew, Lin Mo and Keqing no longer had to handle everything personally.
They had recruited many talented assistants to carry out and execute orders from the Land Security Office.
One day, Lin Mo felt unusually puzzled.
"That's strange… why hasn't the mission been completed yet?"
"There's no progress bar either… how long am I supposed to keep this up in this world…"
"Right, where did Keqing go?"
"She's always so responsible—how could she be late?"
It was already half an hour past starting time.
Curious, Lin Mo walked to the window and looked outside.
"Huh? There she is."
He spotted Keqing at the training grounds.
She was wielding Dragon's Bane, slashing fiercely at a straw training dummy.
From a distance, Lin Mo thought he saw something odd.
Her eyes looked red—not from makeup, but as if she had been crying.
"What's going on? Someone dared to bully Keqing?"
Lin Mo couldn't sit still.
He hurried out of the office and toward the training grounds.
"Ah-Qing! What's wrong?"
His voice reached her ears, making her body tremble slightly.
She slowly turned, her reddened eyes meeting his.
When she saw the concern in his gaze, the last wall holding back her tears crumbled.
"Waaah…"
"Lin Mo~"
"On my way to work this morning…"
"Before I even reached the General Affairs Department… someone said…"
Keqing clutched his arms tightly, tears streaming down her face.
She looked so pitiful it tugged at the heart.
"Ah-Qing, take it slow. Tell me everything."
Lin Mo asked gently, "What did they say?"
"Waaah… they… they said that as Land Security Officer…"
"That I'm not worthy…"
"They said… I'm just scraping…"
"That even when I unleash my full burst of Electro power… I can't easily take down the Treasure Hoarders raiding merchant caravans…"
"That I'm not fit to be Land Security Officer…"
"That they're going to petition Lady Ningguang… to remove me from my position…"
"Waaah…"
"Uh…"
Lin Mo looked at her heartbroken expression and, for a moment, didn't know how to comfort her.
He glanced at the nearby straw dummy.
It was covered in scratches, but none of the cuts were deep.
Her swordsmanship… really was a bit lacking.
"Waaah… why… why are you looking at the dummy…"
"Do you think I'm weak too…"
"That I don't deserve to be Land Security Officer…"
"Waaah…"
Keqing cried even harder.
Lin Mo quickly pulled the sobbing Keqing into his arms.
She didn't resist.
She simply wiped her tears and snot onto his sleeve.
"Waaah… waaah…"
"We've worked so hard these past few years…"
Keqing continued to sob quietly.
Indeed, the two of them had poured day and night into building the glorious Liyue City of today.
Yet the voices criticizing her used one single weakness to dismiss all her efforts.
Even Lin Mo couldn't stand to hear it.
At that moment, he gently stroked her purple hair and said softly,
"Ah-Qing, they're all lying to you. You're not weak at all."
"You… you're just saying that!"
Keqing clearly believed deep down that she was weak.
"I'm not. You've just been so focused on work that you haven't practiced swordsmanship in too long. It's gotten rusty."
"If you trust me, let me teach you."
"I promise—within half a year, I'll make them all shut their mouths and admit they were wrong!"
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T/N:
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