Outside the doors of the Northland Bank, Nadya stood rigidly at her post, diligently carrying out her duties as a guard.
The Snezhnayan girl lifted her gaze toward the dim, overcast moon hanging above Liyue Harbor. Before she realized it, her eyes had grown just as bleak.
She thought of her family back home.
Then she looked down at the bustling traffic along the street below. Liyue Harbor was lively and warm—yet that only made her, an outsider, feel more alone.
Maybe… I should write to my big brother?
Just a letter home—surely the bank supervisor wouldn't scold her for that?
As Nadya slipped the finished letter into an envelope, she noticed a black-haired youth ascending the steps toward the bank. Instantly, she snapped back into work mode.
"Sir, are you here to deposit funds or make a withdrawal?"
Ji Ming blinked and examined her nameplate. Under the Liyue script, the name Nadya was written clearly.
Her attitude was far better than that Vlad fellow's.
Ji Ming took out the Fatui mask he'd prepared in advance and handed it to her.
"Recognize this?"
Nadya accepted it cautiously, studying it with confusion—then her expression changed abruptly. She paled and hurriedly bowed.
"L–Lord Harbinger, please forgive my lapse in attention while on duty!"
"Harbinger?" Ji Ming waved his hand. "You're mistaken. I'm not a Fatui Harbinger. I'm a collaborator. This mask is a credential given to me by one of your Harbingers."
"…Eh?"
Ji Ming retrieved the mask and tucked it back into the cloth sash at his waist, then continued casually,
"Where's the intelligence collected by the Northland Bank? Take me inside—I want to have a look."
"E–EH?!"
Nadya panicked completely.
She was just a low-ranking bank guard! In her understanding, the Northland Bank handled funds—since when did it deal in intelligence?
Was the Northland Bank secretly an intelligence agency too?!
I'm done for. I've heard a secret. I'm going to be silenced!
Tears welled up in the Snezhnayan girl's eyes. Ji Ming stared at her, baffled.
He wasn't scary-looking, was he? Or did Snezhnayans just have a wildly different sense of danger?
Forget it. Fatui guards are all a little unhinged anyway.
Just as Ji Ming was about to head inside on his own, Nadya suddenly grabbed his sleeve, eyes brimming with tears.
"M–My lord! Anyone who learns secrets like this is doomed! Please—please help me mail this letter when you have the chance! I beg you!"
She shoved the envelope into his hands.
Ji Ming looked utterly innocent. Why did Snezhnayans all love overthinking things so much? He hadn't said a word and she'd already turned into a sobbing mess.
He stuffed the letter back into her hands, frowning.
"Handle your own affairs. If you want to mail it, do it yourself. Don't trouble others."
With that, Ji Ming walked into the bank, leaving behind a visibly relieved Nadya.
She's safe…
If he told her to mail it herself, that must mean the Fatui wouldn't send debt collectors after her, right?!
Inside the Northland Bank, Ji Ming headed straight for the main counter and revealed the mask at his waist.
"I'd like access to the intelligence gathered by the Northland Bank."
Having previously seen him dining with Tartaglia, the Fatui receptionist recognized Ji Ming immediately. After a polite greeting, she pointed him in the right direction.
The intelligence division had its own reception area. The staff there served only Fatui personnel, and several oddly dressed Fatui members were already waiting.
Ji Ming, a model five-star Liyue citizen, naturally didn't cut in line. He waited patiently and tapped the shoulder of the man in front of him.
"Hey, you here to look up intel too?"
"No," the man replied. "We're picking up assignments. Gotta go clean up a few Liyue merchants who've been defaulting on their debts."
"Oh?" Ji Ming nodded solemnly. "Then they deserve it. Not paying debts is seriously uncivilized."
—completely ignoring the fact that he himself owed the Fatui a fortune.
The debt collector turned around and sized him up.
"Brother, are you a local? If you're a debt collector, why aren't you in uniform? Zero professionalism."
Ji Ming grinned.
"I'm local, but I'm not a debt collector."
"Then you must be one of the orphans from the House of the Hearth, sent back to Liyue for intelligence work."
Ji Ming: "..."
He immediately put on a sour expression.
"Lord Tartaglia personally requested you as a sparring partner. Tomorrow. No weapons, no armor. Be at the designated location. Don't disappoint him."
"W–WHAT?!"
Ji Ming said nothing more and waited until the debt collectors finished receiving their assignments before stepping forward himself.
"I'm looking for information on Liyue's gangs."
"Yes," the receptionist replied smoothly. "There are currently eighteen gangs operating in Liyue. Aside from the Old Nine Gates behind you, all others are supported by local aristocratic families."
Ji Ming paused briefly.
"Does the Li Clan keep gangs?"
"They do. Three of them. Detailed records are reportedly stored in the Li Clan's granaries."
"I want the key to the Li Clan's ancestral estate. Can you get it?"
The receptionist smiled and raised three fingers.
"Of course. Three million Mora. Thank you for your patronage."
Your grandma—every Snezhnayan capitalist deserves to be hung from a lamppost.
Ji Ming forced a smile.
"I can pay part of it. Could the rest be waived… for Lord Tartaglia's sake?"
"Hm… unfortunately, I don't report to Lord Tartaglia. His name carries no weight here."
"Then forget it. I won't need the key."
Ji Ming turned and left without hesitation.
He'd originally planned to infiltrate the Li estate through more legitimate means—after all, he was a five-star Liyue citizen.
But if a single key cost three million Mora, then alternative methods it was.
If necessary, he'd simply sneak in on a moonless night and climb the walls.
The Li Clan's only Vision holder was Keqing, and in her efforts to prove her own merit, she'd spent years living on Yujing Terrace without once returning to the countryside estate.
Ji Ming had learned plenty from his sworn brothers over the years—stealth, infiltration, self-defense. With no Vision holder present, he could easily handle multiple opponents alone.
Did anyone really think Ji Ming had survived the jianghu with just his mouth?
Without Keqing around, the Li Clan estate was practically his private garden—come and go as he pleased.
He intended to see for himself what secrets were hidden there—secrets worth supporting three major gangs.
And as the saying went: Never leave empty-handed.
If he happened to pocket a few silver notes, Mora, or bits of gold and jade along the way, that would only be fair compensation.
As for whether Keqing would be furious?
Sorry.
No one cared.
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