"Who's there?!"
The moment Childe heard that voice, he was already moving — pulling back in an instant, putting distance between himself and the sound.
But when he spun around to look, he stopped dead.
Because the person standing there was none other than the very one he'd been searching for these past few days: Mobius.
She was the same as before — perched atop something, though what exactly it was remained a mystery.
"Forgotten me already?" Mobius looked at the thoroughly startled Childe and gave a small, amused smile.
"Of course not — it's just that you appearing behind me out of nowhere like that, Miss Mobius, what was I supposed to do?" Childe spread his hands wide in an exaggerated display of helplessness.
"You already know my name. That fellow must have told you."
She seemed genuinely surprised that he knew it, and said so directly.
That fellow?
Does she mean Kaito?
They seem to be on pretty good terms, actually.
Listening to Mobius's question, Childe couldn't help turning that thought over in his mind. He'd only thought to ask about Mobius before — never about the nature of her relationship with Kaito. So on that front, he was completely in the dark.
"Of course it was him. What an insufferable person."
Without waiting for Childe to answer, Mobius muttered that to herself.
But for all that she was calling him insufferable, Childe could hear absolutely zero genuine dislike in her voice. Not a trace of it.
However you looked at it...
Kaito and Mobius were definitely a thing.
Just where on earth does that guy keep finding all these terrifying women...
Childe listened in silence, quietly filing that observation away with a private shake of his head. That was simply the impression Kaito had left on him — somehow, impossibly powerful women just kept materializing around the man. He was genuinely, sincerely curious how he did it.
Right — actually...
The thought of that thing lurking underground just now suddenly surfaced in his mind. Childe was intensely curious about what it had been.
So he asked: "Right, so — Kaito's friend told me, yes. But what was that thing just now?"
"Thing? What thing?" Mobius tilted her head as though she genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.
"That underground thing from just now. Was that your doing, Miss Mobius?"
As he spoke, Childe glanced toward the spot where the dark green claw had erupted from the earth. He was already certain it had to be her work — he just didn't know what exactly it was. All he'd caught was a glimpse of a single claw breaking the surface, and nothing more.
"Oh, that?" Mobius answered without hesitation, meeting his gaze. "That's my pet. Though — if you'd broken my little test subject just now, I'd have had to collect compensation from you instead."
With that, she looked him up and down in a slow, deliberate once-over — as though she were already calculating exactly what she intended to do with him. A chill crept up Childe's spine.
Is she planning to use me as a research subject?
And that thing was actually her creation...
Your pet is absolutely terrifying, Miss Mobius...
Childe could not stop himself from thinking it. Especially because Mobius looked for all the world like a small child — and yet she had something like that as her pet. The contrast was deeply, profoundly unsettling.
Still, he quickly caught himself. There was something more important he needed to ask her. The pet could wait.
"Speaking of which, Miss Mobius — there's something I wanted to ask you. Have you—"
"Someone's coming."
Before he could finish the question, Mobius cut him off — and looked past him, over his shoulder.
Someone's coming?
Childe instinctively turned to look. Sure enough, a group of figures was approaching in the distance — but it was already dark, and he couldn't make out who they were.
"Then let's— hm? Where'd she go?"
He'd turned back a second later, fully intending to suggest they move — and Mobius had simply vanished. Gone without a sound.
Well... fine.
Better get out of here first.
After looking left and right and finding no trace of her, Childe made the call and slipped away. Based on the fact that Mobius had been willing to speak with him at all, he had to think she was open to cooperating — just not yet. Not tonight.
With that thought settled in his mind, he was gone.
Not long after he left, a unit of Millelith soldiers arrived on the scene.
"Captain... what... what happened here?"
One of the soldiers looked around at the unmistakable signs of a fight and couldn't help asking. He knew a battle had taken place here recently — the details, however, were anyone's guess. What he did know was that it must have been fierce: their unit had already moved a considerable distance away, and they'd still heard the sounds echo all the way to them.
More importantly, they'd only just been assigned to investigate why the Hilichurl population in this area had been dropping so sharply — and then a battle breaks out here the moment they step away. That couldn't be a coincidence.
"I'm not sure either. But we need to get word back to Lady Ningguang as fast as possible."
The captain shook his head at the question, then pointed to a pair of soldiers and began issuing orders.
"You and you — go back now and report what we've found here to Lady Ningguang. The rest of you stay with me and keep sweeping the area. Understood?"
"Understood!"
-----
Liyue.
I don't think they saw me...
Pretending to browse a street stall by the roadside, Childe listened to the retreating footsteps of the Millelith unit passing behind him, and turned that question over quietly in his mind.
Those soldiers must have heard the sounds of his earlier scuffle with the Hilichurls. As for Mobius — she'd vanished on him again, and he had no idea where she'd gone.
He'd been right on the verge of laying out his proposal for cooperation, and then — of all the moments — the Millelith had showed up. Impeccable timing, truly.
Still, something about it nagged at him. Why had Mobius chosen to leave? With her level of power, the Millelith weren't even worth a second glance. There was no reason she needed to go.
Was it because of Kaito?
Thinking back on the tone Mobius had used when she mentioned him, Childe was more convinced than ever that those two were definitely something. Whatever else was true, they were certainly no enemies.
Guess I'll just have to go ask Kaito's friend about it...
____
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