"…"
"…"
"Whew…"
The sea breeze blew, carrying the dry, withered leaves on Watatsumi Island to the middle of the two groups.
The rustling of the leaves as they pushed against each other made the atmosphere even more awkward.
"S-sirs, the nearest village is Bourou Village. Just keep walking straight along this path."
When the leading bandit saw that the target was the Fatui, he instantly became warm and hospitable. He bent at the waist, pointing his hand towards Bourou Village behind him, decisively acting as a guide.
[Damn it, how did I run into the Fatui on my first robbery? Why are these guys using a small path instead of the main road?!]
The leading bandit was filled with regret. Heaven knows, he had finally graduated under his Nobushi big brother, and just as he was about to make a name for himself on the vast Watatsumi Island, his first job involved the Fatui.
That was the Fatui! An existence even his Nobushi big brother wouldn't dare to rob, yet he had accidentally robbed them. If his Nobushi big brother found out, he'd surely say, 'The student has surpassed the master.'
The bandit cautiously smiled, his eyes darting around, searching for the right moment to escape.
While the bandits' eyes were darting around, the Fatui on the opposite side weren't faring any better.
[How about it?]
[I think it's good.]
[Alright, run!]
After their eye contact, the Fatui no longer hesitated. They put away their weapons and took off running, disappearing in just a few breaths, fully demonstrating the physical prowess of The Seven Nations' strongest soldiers.
"B-boss, what happened?" The bandit leader's henchman blinked in confusion, seeing such a large group of Fatui vanish instantly.
The Fatui were here just a moment ago, right? Where are they now?
"Maybe… we're dreaming?" The bandit leader said, a little unsure.
As he spoke, he fiercely pinched the henchman's thigh beside him.
"Ah!"
A pained expression appeared on the henchman's face, but a smile emerged on the bandit leader's lips.
"Brothers, it's not a dream! Let's go see what good stuff we've robbed!" The bandit leader didn't suspect any trickery. With a wave of his hand, he took the lead and ran to the carriage abandoned by the Fatui.
He ripped off the canvas covering the carriage, revealing wooden crates before the bandits' eyes.
"Boss, this crate is crystal marrow!"
"Boss, this crate is hemostatic medicine!"
"Boss, the sacks below are all grain!"
…One after another, familiar calls of "Boss" came, making the bandit leader lose himself and question life.
It turns out, getting rich overnight really wasn't a dream!
Whether the bandit leader questioned life or not, Ember himself was truly on the verge of questioning life.
"Why are the Inazuma Fatui also worms?" He now felt that Inazuma was truly a land of outstanding people.
Worms kept appearing in various factions, was there something wrong with Inazuma's feng shui?
It was true that the Fatui in other places had incompetents, but an entire standard squad of incompetents, that was truly a first for Ember.
Soon, an even more shocking scene appeared before Ember.
The bandits in the distance were still celebrating their day's haul, not even noticing the resistance's gradually shrinking encirclement.
"You are under arrest!"
"Everyone, throw down your weapons!"
"Hands on your head, swords have no eyes!"
"Ah? No… you…"
From great joy to great sorrow in the blink of an eye, this left the bandit leader utterly incoherent.
Was today's experience a little too exciting?
"What me? Hands on your head, squat down!"
A Sergeant used the butt of his gun to strike the bandit leader's hand holding the knife. Caught off guard, the bandit leader's weapon was directly knocked away.
Looking at the still-wobbling blade on the ground, the bandit leader was on the verge of tears. He hadn't even resisted, and it was already over?
If it was over, then it was over. Today's experience was too bizarre; he needed to digest it.
Seeing their boss with his hands on his head, obediently squatting down, the other henchmen naturally lost the will to resist.
From the bandits jumping out to rob the Fatui, to the Fatui fleeing, and finally to the robbers being captured by the resistance, the entire process took no more than a quarter of an hour.
The speed was astonishing.
Ember looked down at his notebook, hesitating to write—he didn't know what score to give the resistance for this performance.
Such a fast response speed left Mondstadt and Liyue far behind.
"Write what? There's definitely something wrong!" Ember decisively closed his notebook, abandoning the idea of writing. He began to carefully observe every move of the resistance from the side.
Anyone with half a brain would know there was something fishy going on. With such a fast response speed, why wasn't the resistance flying to the sky?
"Well, well, it seems we've caught a 'big boss' this time!" The resistance Sergeant's face lit up with joy when he saw the large amount of urgently needed supplies in the carriage.
"Sir, sir! Please don't misunderstand, this wasn't stolen by us, this is… this is…"
"These were left here by the Fatui, we just picked them up, we absolutely didn't steal them, sir!"
Just as the bandit leader was stammering, unable to make sense, the henchman beside him, whose thigh had just been pinched, had a flash of inspiration and quickly explained.
These items could be said to be priceless. If they were truly pinned on them, then these "heroes" would surely be set for life.
"Right, right, right! That's exactly it, we picked these up, picked them up from the Fatui!" The bandit leader immediately nodded, and in his haste, he even gave a thumbs-up to the henchman behind him.
When he got out, he would definitely promote this henchman to second-in-command!
"Why are you so nervous?" The Sergeant found their appearance amusing. He said, with a hint of meaning:
"Don't worry, you won't be locked up for long. Simple robbers like you are quite rare, and you have a bright future ahead!"
The Sergeant smiled and patted the bandit leader's shoulder, looking very optimistic about him.
Then, with a wave of his hand, this squad of resistance soldiers, escorting the goods and the robbers, turned and left the area.
The air fell silent once more, with only the scattered wheel tracks and dense footprints on the ground testifying to the former "liveliness" here.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"
The bushes nearby rustled, and the one who emerged was not Ember, but a young man with short, reddish-brown hair.
The young man wore short clothes, but what was most noticeable about him were his armguards and leg guards, identical to those of the Shogunate's Tenryou Commission.
Such an outfit, appearing openly on Watatsumi Island, was quite peculiar.
"Hmm… so one of the resistance's supplies is the Fatui…"
Shikanoin Heizou rubbed his chin with one hand and twirled a pen in the other, seemingly deep in thought.
"Hehe, although General Kujou wants me to investigate military equipment, I am truly dull and haven't seen anything."
Clutching the pen in his hand, Shikanoin Heizou pulled out a notebook identical to Ember's and began to write and draw.
However, everything he wrote was about the customs and traditions of Watatsumi Island. As for the military situation that Kujou Sara was concerned about, there wasn't a single word.
"Watatsumi Island patrol Sergeants have excellent reaction speed, and local public order is good!" After some thought, Shikanoin Heizou still wrote down some irrelevant but potentially critical characteristics that could point out flaws in the Tenryou Commission.
This way, he wouldn't be betraying General Kujou's trust in him.
Shikanoin Heizou had no interest in getting involved in the conflict between the Shogunate Army and the resistance. His main job was a detective, not a ninja. A detective solves cases, not carefully collects intelligence.
Moreover, he was also a Vision wielder. Currently, his Vision hadn't been confiscated because he was a Tenryou Commission's Tenryou Commission, but that might not be the case in the future.
This mission was a perfect opportunity to both lie low and enjoy a publicly funded trip to Watatsumi Island.
Why not?
Shikanoin Heizou whistled. He truly was a genius!
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