"Art is explosion?"
Yanfei stared at Klee in a daze. She recognized every word, but strung together like this—why couldn't she understand?
"Art is… explosion?"
"It's used to describe, um… things that are very artsy."
Even people from Blue Star don't necessarily get all their own memes, let alone folks from Teyvat—and for people from Teyvat, they're even harder to explain. So Ken just gave a simple explanation.
"That's right, that's right," little Klee cheered, waving her hands. "Yanfei, wanna research bombs together? Fireworks bombs! They're super, super pretty!"
Fireworks bombs?
Yanfei was curious and nodded. "Okay!"
Before testing bombs, Ken carefully sensed their surroundings. Confirming no one else was around, he flicked his sleeve and took Yanfei and Klee high into the sky, layering a thick geo shield over them.
Klee has great intuition for bombs. Her Jumpy Dumpty packs quite a punch now, so precautions were necessary.
Before the experiments, Ken explained the principles of fireworks bombs, then taught homing bombs—the main focus today—to see which one little Klee liked more.
A homing bomb uses Pyro magic: you throw it at your target; if they flee, you manipulate the Pyro to make the bomb chase them until it sticks—firmly glued onto them.
Given Klee's talent with explosives, with time her Jumpy Dumpty would gain this property too. After all, Ken's current bomb knowledge and system come from Klee's future peak.
But Klee is still young and can't digest all of it immediately. The concept is in her head now; making homing bombs is only a matter of time.
For now, she's still a kid at heart, and prefers bombs that explode into fireworks.
Yanfei, listening to them, felt her heart quiver.
If she didn't know Ken was a good person, she'd think he and Klee were terrorists. She doesn't know much about bombs, but she understood from Ken's description that these were powerful.
Good grief…
Using bombs to fish?
That's textbook terrorist behavior!
If these bombs hit Liyue Harbor, the harbor would be finished!
Yanfei marveled inwardly, and got curious: can such a tiny bomb really be as powerful as Ken claimed?
…
Dusk fell.
Under Ken's guidance, after Klee made slight improvements to her bomb, she excitedly lobbed it toward Dihua Marsh below.
"Ta-da, Jumpy Dumpty!!"
Hugging the bomb, Klee gleefully tossed it down toward Dihua Marsh.
Ken then quickly moved the three of them farther away, standing atop the clouds to watch.
After leaving Klee's hands, Jumpy Dumpty bounced in the air as if it had its own mind. When it hit a certain height, it suddenly exploded.
Boom!!
With the blast, the black Jumpy Dumpty split into dozens of tiny bombs, leaving fiery red trails in the sky like brilliant fireworks as they fell toward the sea.
When they hit the ocean's surface, the tiny bombs exploded again.
Dozens of small blasts bloomed into gorgeous fireworks upon the water, like the Lantern Rite's sky displays.
But these beautiful fireworks churned the calm sea, hurling up towering waves—white ribbons striking skyward, rolling across the horizon.
…
At that moment.
Far away, Wangshu Inn, above Dihua Marsh, jolted at the sudden disturbance.
Though Dihua Marsh is quite distant, Klee's blast was so exaggerated that even its aftershocks made the inn shake. Diners and staff felt their hearts pound.
"What was that?"
"No idea—seems from Dihua Marsh. Don't tell me monsters are doing experiments again?"
"If it's not hilichurls, it's the Fatui. Those bastards never let anyone rest, stirring up trouble in Dihua Marsh!"
"Good thing no one lives there, or there'd be heavy casualties. Hilichurls probably couldn't pull that off—feels like the Fatui!"
"Damn those scum. I heard when they fought the god Osial, those jerks came to make trouble!"
…
Compared to Mondstadt's outskirts, Liyue's are messier.
Besides hilichurls, Treasure Hoarders, Abyss Order, and slimes, there are lots of roving Fatui instigators.
So the people harbor deep hatred toward the Fatui and Treasure Hoarders.
In their eyes, monsters aren't of our kind; if they cause trouble daily, it's somewhat understandable. But the Fatui and Hoarders are humans, and still cause trouble day after day.
So when they heard the explosion, they instinctively blamed the Fatui.
Thinking of the Fatui's countless offenses in Liyue, everyone was indignant. Sadly, they don't have Visions and can't deal with those bastards.
"Could the Fatui be conducting research again?"
Wangshu Inn's owner, Verr Goldet, frowned toward Dihua Marsh and signaled someone. "Go inform Lady Ningguang. If the Fatui are doing research over there, it must be investigated immediately."
A certain waiter hidden in the dark slipped down the mountain.
"Being a chef can't save Liyue. I'm joining the army!"
The inn's new cook, staring through the window at the huge mushroom cloud, shouted furiously.
Verr Goldet: "…"
Listening to her cook, Verr looked helpless. The Fatui are detestable, sure, but the Millelith aren't a job you just take. The selection is strict.
Her scrawny cook?
He'd fail the most basic requirements.
"Even if I just cook in the army, I'd be contributing to Liyue!"
Noticing Verr's gaze, the cook declared hotly.
Such chuunibyou lines echoed now and then through Wangshu Inn.
Verr grew thoughtful. People's patience with the Fatui was nearing its limit. Hopefully Lady Ningguang would deal with them soon, or public anger would erupt.
Especially after the archon incident, the Fatui's open meddling already left a bad taste.
"Can Lady Ningguang suppress the Fatui in Liyue?" a waitress asked anxiously.
The whole inn works for Ningguang; they can guess some of her intentions, knowing she's trying to curb the Fatui's influence in Liyue.
But it's not easy. There are treaties between nations; without concrete proof, it's hard to handle such diplomatic matters.
"Lady Ningguang must have her own way," Verr said with confidence.
Ningguang rose from a poor, unknown girl to Liyue's Tianquan—her resolve and methods are formidable.
Besides, even if this is thorny and bothers her—there's that Great Prophet, isn't there?
Verr knows Ningguang is courting the Prophet's support.
Maybe one day, that Great Prophet will become Liyue's son-in-law, and Ningguang can rest a bit.
Then those Fatui doing blast tests in Dihua Marsh will be severely punished.
Thinking back to the Prophet's manifested form that day—so handsome and dashing—if she didn't know Ningguang liked him, Verr herself might have competed.
…
The blast's aftereffects took a long time to fade.
"Wow, the fireworks bomb Daddy taught me is amazing! It's as powerful as Mom's bombs, but even prettier!"
Klee was very satisfied with the explosive power.
She hadn't expected that a small tweak would make it stronger than what she used against Osial.
Perfect for Osial's wife next time.
She'd be doing a good deed; let the couple go together, so they won't be lonely on the road.
"Klee, your mom makes bombs too?"
Yanfei stared at the boiling sea, mind unsettled.
She'd known from Ken's lesson that these bombs were powerful, but she hadn't imagined this powerful.
Heavens…
A few more could level Liyue Harbor.
Before she could snap back, she heard that Klee's mother also does bombs?
"Yup! Klee's mom is the great adventurer Alice! Has Yanfei sis heard of Klee's mom?"
Klee asked with a bright smile.
Yanfei: "…"
Faint!
Even if she didn't have friends in Mondstadt, Alice's reputation across the continent was well-known; of course she'd heard.
So Klee is that witch's daughter!
So the whole family are terrorists!
Yanfei's heart trembled. She rapidly scanned legal statutes in her mind.
"I've got it…"
She swallowed, almost trembling as she spoke. "Klee, as your friend, let me remind you: if you drop bombs like that near towns, causing casualties or property damage, you'll be locked up for life."
With a dad like Ken, even if Klee did something like that, she probably wouldn't end up in prison—but Yanfei felt obliged to warn her.
Not that she didn't trust Ken, but Klee's so young and lacks clear judgment; better to mention it.
If a whole family loves playing with bombs, one slip and they become real terrorists!
Klee, still excited a moment ago, jolted. "For… for life?!"
In Mondstadt, bombing fish gets her a week of confinement at most.
In Liyue Harbor, it's life?
"That's right. For life!"
Yanfei said seriously, a bit shaken herself.
If Klee lived in Liyue, she'd probably get special attention from the Qixing, right?
Because she's dangerous!
"Yanfei's right. If you bomb around Liyue's residential areas or outskirts, you'll be punished—and very severely, because in Liyue you must follow local law," Ken took the chance to educate his daughter.
Klee had spent too long in freewheeling Mondstadt, with a mother famed as a great demon king, and she's still a child—naturally a bit flighty.
An occasional warning is good.
Even with him and Alice as backing, they shouldn't cause deaths. That would be bad.
"Mm-hmm! Klee gets it! Klee won't bomb randomly!"
Klee waved her hands quickly, afraid she'd be taken to prison. A life sentence? That's terrifying.
And she isn't stupid; she doesn't want to hurt people—her ideas just get wild sometimes.
Ken patted her head. "Good. If you want to bomb-fish, Daddy will take you. Now let's try other bombs and see which you like."
"Okay!"
Klee then tested more than a dozen bombs in a row.
The sky, already nearing night, grew even darker from the powdery clouds.
Many monsters in Dihua Marsh trembled, not knowing what was happening.
Even several hilichurl camps were blown away—absolutely tragic.
At Wangshu Inn, the night was equally nerve-wracking.
A single line echoed in the inn over and over—
"Being a chef can't save Liyue!"