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After lying in the hospital bed for two whole days, Zhiqiong finally woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Victor Wang. A flash of fear crossed her face, but after taking in the surroundings, she attempted to speak.
"V-Victor… Senior Victor, why didn't you tell me earlier that your adventurer experience is even older than Lumine's?"
"That's the first thing you ask?"
Seeing her reaction, Victor Wang guessed these ideas probably came from the fake version of himself. He explained, "I only became an adventurer a few days earlier than Lumine."
"A few days earlier still counts! And—so you really are a Grand Adventurer?"
"The title of 'Grand Adventurer' is basically empty. I just made a bit of a scene in front of the Raiden Shogun, and the Adventurers' Guild recognized my strength. There's… not much to say."
"Ah, so when you said before that you'd been in close contact with the Raiden Shogun, you were serious? I thought it was like participating in the Rite of Descension or something…"
"It's true. I don't like lying."
"Pfft— cough cough cough!"
"Don't move, your injuries haven't healed."
"I can't even laugh…? It really hurts…"
Despite the pain twisting her face, Zhiqiong continued complaining. "Last time you said, 'I never lie,' right?"
"I do… never lie."
"Hehe… Among people who hold a Vision, not many can stand out in front of the Shogun. I'd say your Grand Adventurer title is pretty weighty."
After a few exchanges, the tension she held unconsciously finally began to ease. Staring at the ceiling out of boredom, Zhiqiong asked, "Right… how long has it been?"
"From when you and Yelan first entered that space, twenty-five days have passed."
"That long?!"
"At first, Paimon thought we'd been inside for half a year. Compared to that, twenty days is nothing."
"Paimon? Paimon went down too? Then Lumine is also here?"
"Yeah. Everyone came down eventually. But you were the first to find that space—just with that shabby device from Khedive."
"Then… was the missing Yaksha found? And the truth Yelan was looking for?"
"Found. Everything was found."
Night had fallen, and the others weren't around. Victor Wang relayed Yelan's message. "Yelan already reported the existence of that space and everything learned from it to the Liyue Qixing. They'll send people to seal it. You were the first one to discover it. Yelan said the credit belongs to you—though it can't be made public."
"It's not a pity. As long as something came out of it! But at the time… sigh, we were trapped, then everything went wrong. I thought I was going to ruin everything."
"...What did that 'me' say to you?"
"...That wasn't you. That was my imagination. Back when Yelan and I were trapped, I thought, If only you were still around. Even if you follow too closely sometimes… it's reassuring. Then shortly after, my imagination became reality."
That wasn't your fault—that was what Zhiqiong was really saying.
"Aiya, enough about that. A bunch of people entered that space? When I was unconscious, I heard a warm voice in my mind. It was really strange—like, even without consciousness I could still feel it. Who could it be?"
"It should've been… me."
"No way. It was clearly a woman's voice."
Victor Wang stared at Zhiqiong; she stared right back. After the awkward pause, curiosity settled in. "What did she say?"
"Something like telling me not to resist… I've never heard that voice before. Maybe one of the people I don't know?"
Never heard…
Was it Paimon?
Inside the mysterious space, Paimon seemed to sense distortions in time better than anyone. Originally, if he hadn't interfered, it was Paimon's sudden, dramatic movement that knocked the Tawei Instrument aside, inspiring Yanfei to think of using combined human and adeptal power to manipulate it and break through the space. Hard not to suspect something.
Victor Wang shook his head. "I'm not sure who you heard. If you're interested, I can tell you everything that happened."
…
After that, Zhiqiong rested for another five days before she could get out of bed. During that period, Arataki Itto and Kuki Shinobu returned to Inazuma. Lumine's injuries had healed days ago. Yanfei had work to handle, so everyone returned to their respective lives. Only Yelan insisted on taking time from her duties to visit frequently.
Victor Wang stayed to look after her… Zhiqiong had no family… and the one who injured her was his own copy…
Yet this didn't stop him from training—either through sword training or refining combat techniques. He had learned sword-form quickly thanks to his memory, and sword-aura quickly thanks to his strong spiritual force. But now, facing Sword-Intent, he finally found no shortcuts. Even though he had a few fingers hooked on the threshold of it—something that traps most fighters for half a lifetime—this stage was anything but simple.
Time passed until mid-September. The rumor that Ningguang intended to rebuild the Jade Chamber before this year's Lantern Rite was finally confirmed.
The reconstruction required a large area, so Ningguang arranged it at the abandoned mining yard outside the Golden House. Anyone passing by could see it; she hadn't intended to hide it, and such a large project couldn't be hidden anyway.
But with her personality—and her love for Mora—she naturally wouldn't allow others to raise prices. So before the market could surge, she had already purchased almost all the required materials. The demand was enormous, and stockpiling took time. Now the shipments were arriving batch by batch, and once the workforce was gathered, the preparations were complete.
Then began the true reconstruction of the Jade Chamber.
The chamber was huge. To ensure balance, construction was divided into two phases. Before finding the right piece of Scarlet Vermillionite, workers would first build the base structure on the ground. After the Levistone was prepared, it would be fused with the base to lift the entire chamber.
Aside from Ningguang, the other Qixing were also swamped. The mysterious space under the Chasm needed sealing; the new Guizhong Ballistae required mass production and deployment; and regular duties couldn't be paused.
Time moved from mid-September to mid-October. After a month of recovery, Zhiqiong was lively again. She said goodbye to Victor Wang and returned to the Chasm, apparently planning to partner with Yelan afterward.
By early November, reconstruction hit a snag. For the second phase of the Jade Chamber, the half-finished structure needed to be lifted into the sky—level with the mountaintop—so construction could continue mid-air.
It was time to gather the remaining materials.
Scarlet Vermillionite, Wonder Core, Adeptus Talismans.
The first three people to gather the materials would earn a chance to ask Ningguang one question. Exactly the same as in his memory.
Victor Wang originally had no intention of joining the competition—until Shenhe dragged him along. She seemed quite eager to win that one chance, so he could only follow.