Hu Tao walked towards the Maguu Kenki she had just defeated, stopping among the scattered parts to observe them carefully.
Klee, supporting a weak Yoimiya, curiously watched Hu Tao's serious expression, wondering what she was looking for. Could a Maguu Kenki, smashed to pieces like this, still play dead?
Hu Tao's plum-blossom eyes stared intently at the scattered parts, but she found nothing, unable to sense the fluctuations from before.
At this moment, as if remembering something, she said to the parts on the ground, word by word: "Since that's the case, then we'll be good to the end and escort the two of them back to Inazuma City."
When Hu Tao said the words 'Inazuma City', a glint flashed in her eyes, and with lightning speed, she picked up a part that looked like a small ball.
Feeling the familiar aura emanating from within this part, a smile finally appeared on Hu Tao's face. She took the part and returned to the three of them.
Klee was the first to ask: "Hu Tao, what is this thing?"
Hu Tao merely shrugged and said: "I don't know either, consultant, do you know what this is?"
Zhongli took the part from Hu Tao's hand, examined it, and then praised: "This is the energy core of that puppet warrior. Remarkable. It turns out Inazuma also possesses mechanical arts no less impressive than Cloud Retainer's.
If I'm not mistaken, this energy core also has an automatic repair function. Generally speaking, if we just leave, this energy core will automatically repair the puppet warrior that the Director smashed, restoring its function."
Yoimiya and Klee's faces showed expressions of disbelief. Not only was this puppet warrior so powerful, but it also had such a buggy auto-repair ability? Who on earth researched this? And how did it end up here?
Unexpectedly, Hu Tao didn't seem happy at all after hearing Zhongli's explanation. She snatched the part from Zhongli's hand and complained: "Oh, who asked you to care about that? I wanted you to see that inside this part, one of our clients is hidden."
Hu Tao held the core, made a gesture of the Rite of Parting, and solemnly declared: "Born at the time of birth, deceased at the moment of death. Follow your heart, fulfill your duty. Appear!"
As soon as Hu Tao finished speaking, the puppet warrior's energy core emitted a faint blue light, and then a blurry blue soul abruptly appeared before everyone.
This scene startled Klee, who hid behind Yoimiya. Yoimiya, though shocked, gradually calmed down seeing Hu Tao and Zhongli's composed demeanor.
Yoimiya: "Miss Hu Tao, what is this?"
Hu Tao looked at the incomplete blue soul before her, with no joy on her face, but rather some disdain. She said impatiently: "This is a human soul! Haven't you seen one in Inazuma? Oh? No, not necessarily human. The consultant said Inazuma has many yokai, so it might be a yokai's soul."
Yoimiya shook her head repeatedly after hearing Hu Tao's question. She was just an ordinary fireworks shop owner in Inazuma City; how would she have the chance to encounter souls or ghosts? Weren't these the duties of the Grand Narukami Shrine miko?
As for Klee, there was even less to say. In Mondstadt, there wasn't a single ghost, because Lord Barbatos, the Anemo Archon knew the names of all Mondstadters. Even if a soul were to manifest, Barbatos would take it away.
Hu Tao sighed. This soul before her was not only indistinct in appearance, but she couldn't even tell if it was human. Based on Hu Tao's experience, this soul had been around for at least several hundred years.
It hadn't dissipated or turned into a vengeful spirit. Was it because it was hidden inside this energy core?
Generally, when a person first dies, their soul is clearest. If there are still lingering regrets, the soul will remain in the world. As time causes it to erode, the soul's form will gradually dissipate, its appearance will become blurry, and its memories will fade, turning it into a wandering lonely ghost in the mountains.
These lonely ghosts wandering in the world of the living can cause various effects. Whether these are positive or negative depends entirely on fate.
And the work of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is to send souls in the world of the living to the land of the departed as soon as possible, to the world they are meant to go to.
The reason for Hu Tao's bad mood was that it was not an easy task to eliminate the lingering regrets of a soul that had existed for hundreds of years and send it to the land of the departed.
Moreover, Regent had hired her and Zhongli to come to Inazuma to deal with the souls of soldiers who died in Inazuma's civil war in the past two years. The soul before her was completely a case of finding trouble for herself.
But as the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, if she were to ignore a soul wandering outside, then she wouldn't be Hu Tao.
Hu Tao opened her mouth and asked the soul: "This client, do you still have any lingering regrets? As the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, I can help you fulfill them, so you can peacefully pass on."
The incomplete soul remained silent, as if it hadn't heard. Seeing this, Hu Tao couldn't help but sigh and say: "Oh dear! It's just as I thought. A soul this old, its mind isn't working properly anymore. There's no way to communicate. I don't even know what it's been clinging to all this time."
Yoimiya then reacted and said: "Miss Hu Tao, is this what your Wangsheng Funeral Parlor does?"
Hu Tao: "Yes! The consultant and I were personally invited by your Regent. He told me that Inazuma had just gone through a war, with countless casualties, and he was worried that the souls of the fallen soldiers would have an adverse effect on Inazuma. So he specifically sought us out, hoping we would open a branch of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Inazuma."
Yoimiya was a little surprised to hear the familiar name: "You also know Regent?"
Hu Tao: "Of course we do! Speaking of which, when we first met Miyashiro, he wasn't the Inazuma Regent yet. I didn't expect that after only a few months, he suddenly rose to prominence.
Wait, you just said 'also'? You also know Miyashiro?"
Yoimiya nodded, glanced at Klee, and said: "My relationship with Regent isn't close, but Klee is a guest Regent specifically invited from Mondstadt, and he entrusted me to look after her."
Hu Tao: "That's great then. Just now, when I sensed something amiss, it was when I said the words Inazuma City. Since that's the case, this soul's lingering regret should be related to Inazuma City.
Tracing the origins of a soul from hundreds of years ago is something I can't do without the help of the government.
Given that, let's return to Inazuma City. We can treat Yoimiya and Klee, and coincidentally take this ghost to try our luck."
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