TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!
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Shao Yun led the group as they dove toward a concealed ruin submerged beneath the water. Guided by the system's navigation, Shao Yun knew that this was the entrance to the small workshop producing Sinthe.
Shao Yun exerted himself to move the stone blocks blocking the path. After considerable effort, the stones were cleared away, and a passage leading deeper inside gradually revealed itself.
However, even though the path was now unobstructed, the distance ahead still appeared quite long.
The group followed Shao Yun, swimming with all their strength along the underwater corridor.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally arrived at the small workshop where Sinthe was manufactured.
Only after entering the area did they realize that the so-called workshop was nothing more than a spacious cavern whose outer passage had been flooded.
Paimon widened her eyes and stared around in astonishment.
"My goodness! I never expected there to be such a hidden world down here!"
Nearby, Clorinde carefully examined the bottles scattered across the ground and the battered wooden crates, sighing in realization.
"So that's how it is. The Sinthe factory was hidden in such an obscure corner—no wonder the security force spent so much time and effort without ever finding the source of Sinthe."
Shao Yun struggled slightly as he removed the heavy, thick diving suit, then reached out and drew John's cowboy revolver from his waist.
"Chevreuse missed a perfect chance to earn merit, but that's fine. Let's keep moving."
With that, Shao Yun lifted his leg and started forward.
However, after only taking a few steps, he suddenly seemed to recall something important and stopped short.
Immediately afterward, he spun around to face everyone.
"Oh, right! Don't forget to cover your faces."
As he spoke, he deftly put on a black face covering, concealing the lower half of his face.
Hearing Shao Yun's words, Freminet froze for a moment before obediently putting his diving helmet back on, all while silently marveling to himself.
That's strange, but it feels very professional.
On the other side, Lumine and Paimon also took action, pulling out masks and putting them on, perfectly covering the upper halves of their faces.
At this moment, Clorinde looked at everyone else finishing their face coverings and couldn't help but grow anxious.
She fumbled all over herself, trying to find something to cover her face, but in the end, it was futile.
Her expression gradually turned awkward as she spoke helplessly, "I… I don't seem to have anything that can cover my face."
Seeing this, Lumine immediately understood Clorinde's predicament and pulled out a brand-new mask from her belongings.
She quickly walked up to Clorinde, placed the mask in her hand, and said softly, "I still have a spare mask here. You can use it."
As for why Lumine had so many masks, and where they came from… that remained a mystery.
After all, whenever Lumine and Paimon were out clearing enemies, they always ran into some unlucky Fatui.
Clorinde accepted the mask, put it on, and said in thanks, "Thank you."
…
The group advanced slowly along this hidden path.
As they went deeper, more and more details of the surroundings came into view, along with increasingly obvious traces of human activity.
Piles of ash left behind by extinguished campfires, several tattered camping tents.
Just as they were about to reach a corner, a burst of noisy voices suddenly reached their ears, mixed with the crisp clinking sounds of bottles colliding.
Shao Yun had originally assumed that this Sinthe workshop would be unoccupied and that they were only here to find evidence—but to his surprise, there really were people inside!
Shao Yun leaned his head out and observed carefully.
Not far ahead, several figures wearing what looked like protective isolation suits were busy working.
Considering that if Clorinde or Freminet were accidentally splashed with Primordial Seawater it could lead to serious consequences, Shao Yun took it upon himself to subdue these suspected Sinthe manufacturers.
Immediately after, Shao Yun strode straight toward the four suspects clad in heavy protective suits.
At that moment, some of the four were fully focused on processing raw materials into finished products, others were skillfully packaging the goods, while another was stacking sealed crates with nimble movements—completely unaware of the impending danger.
When Shao Yun's tall, imposing figure abruptly entered their field of vision, the four suspects froze on the spot.
At first, they mistakenly thought Shao Yun was one of their own, but that assumption lasted only a brief moment.
By the time Shao Yun reached them, before the apparent ringleader could even open his mouth—
Shao Yun suddenly swung his right arm and delivered a vicious punch, its speed and power nothing short of shocking.
The punch landed squarely on the ringleader's face. The tremendous impact sent him staggering backward before he crashed heavily to the ground.
Without pausing for even a moment, Shao Yun swiftly turned and swung his fists at the remaining three.
The other three barely had time to resist before suffering the same fate as their leader.
In the blink of an eye, all four were sprawled across the ground.
Shao Yun then quickly pulled out ropes from the Legend of the East backpack and tightly bound the four helpless men together.
After that, he tore off the helmets of their protective suits, fully exposing their faces.
By now, the ringleader responsible for producing Sinthe had been beaten beyond recognition by Shao Yun's punch—his nose was bruised and swollen, and his eyes were shut tight from pain and fear.
Gasping for breath, he asked in a trembling voice, "Who… who exactly are you people?"
Standing nearby, Shao Yun remained masked, revealing only a pair of eyes gleaming with cold light.
His entire presence exuded a ferocity akin to that of a bandit.
Shao Yun drew the dagger at his waist, pointed the blade at the ringleader, and threatened viciously, "Hmph! Listen up—we're bandits! If you know what's good for you, hand over all your Mora right now!"
At the moment Shao Yun openly resorted to robbery, Clorinde, Lumine, and Paimon were so shocked they nearly choked on their own saliva.
Especially Paimon, who stared at the scene in disbelief. Weren't they here to look for evidence of last night's mastermind?
Meanwhile, Freminet quietly curled up at the back of the group, doing his best to minimize his presence.
Seeing Shao Yun's ferocious, masked appearance, the ringleader felt his heart skip a beat.
Coupled with Shao Yun's immediate attempt at robbery, the ringleader mistakenly assumed he was a Treasure Hoarder.
Mustering his courage, he asked, "No way… Ever since the 'Great Bandit Boss' vanished, haven't you Treasure Hoarders already disbanded?"
When Paimon heard the title "Great Bandit Boss," she didn't immediately react.
"'Great Bandit Boss'? That name sounds familiar, but I just can't remember."
Seeing this, Lumine quickly whispered a reminder, "Paimon, don't you remember? It's that 'person' we ran into before in the Abyss ruins in Liyue."
With Lumine's reminder, Paimon slapped her forehead as realization dawned.
"Oh! I remember now! So, it was him!"
At this moment, Clorinde also picked up the thread and began explaining about the "Great Bandit Boss."
"Come to think of it, about half a year ago, that 'Great Bandit Boss' suddenly disappeared."
"Since then, the large Treasure Hoarder groups in Fontaine have basically scattered."
"Any remaining small groups are mostly just sneaking around to mine minerals."
After hearing this, Paimon immediately thought of the Treasure Hoarders in The Chasm and couldn't help but curl her lips in mockery.
"Sneaking around mining minerals… that's exactly like the Treasure Hoarders in The Chasm. Either way, they're all shady people up to no good!"
At this moment, Shao Yun pressed the dagger firmly against the ringleader's neck and threatened again, "Enough nonsense. Hurry up and hand over the money!"
However, to everyone's surprise, the restrained ringleader suddenly began trying to ingratiate himself in a panic.
"You've got it all wrong! We're members of the Confrerie of Cabriere! We've already paid this month's protection fees in full and on time!"
Hearing him so casually reveal the name of his organization, Shao Yun couldn't help but pause slightly.
Had he not already known the truth, he might've actually thought this man was lying.
"The Confrerie of Cabriere?" Shao Yun frowned and repeated the name quietly.
Seeing this, the ringleader secretly rejoiced, thinking this really was just a misunderstanding.
Seizing the opportunity, he hurriedly pressed on, pleading earnestly, "Yes, yes! The Confrerie of Cabriere! Since the misunderstanding's cleared up, could you please untie us now?"
"If this drags on and alerts the higher-ups, none of us will come out of it well!"
Shao Yun said slowly, with a hint of mockery and deeper meaning, "Hmph. That went smoothly… a little too smoothly."
Before the words had even faded, Shao Yun suddenly swung the hilt of his dagger down hard onto the bound suspects sitting on the ground.
After several dull thuds, the suspects didn't even have time to scream before their vision went black and they passed out cold.
Clorinde glanced over the Sinthe workshop and said to Shao Yun, "I knew coming with Lumine to find you would pay off."
…
Next, Shao Yun, Lumine, and Paimon took responsibility for searching the Sinthe workshop for evidence.
For safety reasons, Clorinde and Freminet stayed behind to closely guard the Confrerie of Cabriere members who had already been beaten unconscious by Shao Yun.
After searching for a while, Shao Yun looked at the ledgers, schedules, and other evidence they'd found and muttered to himself, "Never thought the Confrerie of Cabriere would hire such a bunch of idiots…"
Seeing that Shao Yun and Lumine seemed to have gained something, Clorinde hurriedly asked, "How is it? Did you find anything of value?"
Lumine nodded lightly and selected the most critical information from a thick stack of documents, handing it to Clorinde.
"We found a lot. There's a great deal of very valuable information here."
Clorinde's eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the evidence proving the Confrerie of Cabriere's involvement in selling Sinthe. Her lips trembled slightly.
"This… Although the case hasn't been fully concluded yet, and I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions so hastily…"
"But the Confrerie of Cabriere is a brother organization of the Spina di Rosula. On the surface, they've always fought fiercely against prohibited substances like Sinthe. Who could've imagined that behind the scenes, they were actually the masterminds producing it…"
At this point, Clorinde didn't dare imagine what kind of devastating blow it would be if Navia were to learn of this.
Just thinking of Navia wearing that look of utter heartbreak again made Clorinde's chest ache.
At that moment, Paimon suddenly remembered something and asked, "Oh right, Clorinde. Ever since yesterday, I've had a question on my mind—what exactly is going on between you and Navia?"
"It feels like your relationship is kind of strange. You seem close, yet distant; unfamiliar, yet also like you care about each other."
When Paimon brought up this old matter, a flash of panic passed through Clorinde's eyes, though she quickly regained her composure.
She cleared her throat lightly and changed the subject. "Um… about that. Let's first safely deliver these people and the evidence to the security force and arrange for this place to be sealed off. Then, tonight over dinner, I'll explain everything to you in detail."
Paimon clearly hadn't expected such an answer and froze on the spot.
"Dinner together?"
Clorinde looked at Shao Yun and said seriously, "You said last night that you'd invite me to your family dinner. Have you forgotten?"
Seeing that Clorinde was someone who took jokes seriously, Shao Yun said helplessly, "You really are stubborn to the core…"
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