Jade Chamber.
Inside the council room, two figures sat quietly in their respective seats.
Tianquan – Ningguang.
Yuheng – Keqing.
"Ningguang, you drag me here instead of resting? You might not be tired, but I'm exhausted."
Keqing's brows furrowed as she glanced at the empty seats around them, her tone sharp with fatigue.
After long, consecutive days of work, she'd finally caught a rare moment to rest before the next Qixing meeting began.
But barely a few minutes after lying down, Ningguang had called her in.
It made her chest ache with frustration.
Without rest, there's no recovery.
Without recovery, efficiency drops.
When efficiency drops, the workload increases.
Then fatigue worsens again.
An endless loop.
Now Ningguang had disrupted that fragile balance, and Keqing's irritation was justified.
Her own tiredness didn't matter, but if this interruption delayed their real business—
that would be a problem.
"I don't want to either," Ningguang sighed, rubbing her temples. "But some matters must be settled quickly."
She looked equally weary.
Since the Rite of Parting and Morax's abdication,
the burden on the Liyue Qixing had multiplied overnight.
Out of the seven, only two still had manageable workloads; the other five had been working nonstop.
The sudden retirement of the Geo Archon and the rise of a new god—none of it had been in their calculations.
The blow had been heavy, leaving them scrambling to stabilize every department.
It had taken all their skill just to keep things running.
And just when things were starting to calm down—new problems appeared.
Unprecedented ones.
Her mind was numb, but there was no delaying this meeting.
She had to drag Keqing out of bed for a quick private discussion.
"…"
Hearing that, Keqing steadied her mood.
Work was work; personal emotions had no place in it.
Otherwise, rash decisions would follow.
"Alright," she said calmly. "Let's hear it. What do you think this time?"
"Thoughts?"
Ningguang exhaled lightly. "This matter involves the Millelith soldiers and adepts who fell in The Chasm,
as well as the Yaksha leader—Xiao. It touches on national fortune, divine incense, and the people's faith."
"Every link affects the next. One mistake could ignite a powder keg—
and the blast would shake all of Liyue's foundations."
"The Millelith represent the people.
The adepts represent the noble houses.
Xiao represents the immortals.
Add in national fate and incense offerings, and the equation becomes… volatile."
She'd been thinking about it all afternoon and still couldn't see a clear path.
"This Mr. Taro," she muttered, "really knows how to hand us difficult problems."
"…You think this is difficult?" Keqing looked up.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Ningguang frowned. "I can partially grasp what 'national fortune' means,
but 'divine incense'—I barely understand half of it."
"You know what I see in that half?"
"A mass of immortal souls from every class of society."
"Before this, except for Xiao, they were all human."
"And now… they'll become gods."
"Do you think we should be alarmed?" she asked.
"No need," Keqing replied after a pause, smiling faintly.
"Ningguang, you're missing one point."
"When you analyze a situation, you always treat what Mr. Taro can create as an uncontrollable variable—
something that can't fit your strategic model."
"Because his 'miracles' defy logic, you exclude them, fearing the whole blueprint will collapse."
"But I'm different."
Leaning back in the grand chair, Keqing closed her eyes.
"I know Mr. Taro better than you do."
"Because of that, I can see what others cannot—
and deduce what lies behind the visible tip of that massive iceberg."
"For information on the new Geo Archon, Guizhong,
I've already scoured every record in Liyue's archives."
"…"
Ningguang stayed silent, waiting.
Keqing wasn't wrong.
Every family of history or power in Liyue had been searching for clues.
And all their deductions reached the same conclusion—
the dead had returned to life.
"I didn't even need to guess," Keqing continued.
"By the second day, I already knew it was his doing."
"Reviving a god dead for over two thousand years—
unthinkable, yes, but it's fact."
"My intel matches yours and the great houses' exactly.
But the difference is, I understand Taro.
So the assumptions that seem impossible to you—
make perfect sense to me."
"Guess how much information I have that you don't?"
Intelligence's timeliness and completeness decide outcomes.
One wrong link, and the entire chain collapses.
"You're impressive," Ningguang admitted, folding her arms. "Then share. How limited is our intel, exactly?"
If her information was flawed, then all 480 of her analyses based on it might be worthless.
All her conclusions would crumble.
"I'll give you just one piece."
Keqing slowly opened her eyes, a faint smile on her lips.
"Mr. Taro was invited by the Geo Archon."
"…"
Ningguang's pupils contracted sharply.
Her mental blueprint shattered in an instant.
But with her intellect, she rebuilt a new one just as quickly.
She lined up the names: Guizhong, Ganyu, Tartaglia, Xiao, Meno, Madame Ping, Zhongli, Hu Tao, Xingqiu—
and then added Taro at the center.
The relationship network became clear.
The answer surfaced silently in her mind.
"The Geo Archon… is Zhongli?"
Ningguang raised a trembling hand to her forehead.
Her expression shifted through shock, realization, and despair.
Good grief.
The Geo Archon's human form was Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's consultant, Zhongli?
She'd even tried to recruit him under her command before.
And not once—but multiple times.
Social death.
Before the Archon himself.
Her face turned pale; her eyes were blank as she looked at Keqing.
"You knew already?"
"Wasn't it obvious?" Keqing tilted her head, closing her eyes again.
"Wake me when the official meeting starts."
"…"
(End of Chapter)
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