"What?! Someone went and destroyed your flower field?!"
This... this is like disturbing the sleeping tiger, asking for death! Durandal treasures her flower field. Even if a single flower is broken, she makes people pay the price, and they actually destroyed a large patch of it.
No wonder she was so angry when she returned. If someone stole her Mora or Originium, Lumine would react the same way, and her complaints instantly subsided.
"What then? Did you get anything out of those Treasure Hoarders?"
"Those people said the Fatui asked them to do it. One of the Fatui members accidentally let slip that The Doctor asked for it to be done. My current target is this 'The Doctor' they spoke of."
The Doctor? Based on titles like The Lady and Childe, this The Doctor should also be a Fatui Harbinger.
As a Harbinger, did he not know about Durandal? Two Harbingers had already suffered setbacks at Durandal's hands, even nearly getting killed by her. Yet, this Dottore still dared to provoke Durandal. His courage was truly extraordinary.
"Next, I will search all of Mondstadt at the fastest speed. If he is within Mondstadt's borders, I can probably find him in about two days. During this time, I cannot act with you."
"Do you need my help? I'm very good at finding people."
"No need. As a thorn in the Fatui's side, moving around freely would easily expose your whereabouts. Moreover, you are an honorary knight of Mondstadt; it's better if you don't get involved in this matter."
Durandal, not wanting to make things complicated, still intended to handle this matter herself. Lumine's identity was not suitable for intervention. Shenhe could help, but Lumine was out.
Hearing Durandal's explanation, Lumine also understood that she was not suitable to help at this time and sighed helplessly.
She couldn't help Durandal this time, which was so frustrating. Why did she feel like she couldn't help at all?
"I... I can't do anything."
Lumine hugged her knees, sat on the bed dejectedly, and said with a crestfallen expression.
"You don't need to do anything special, Lumine."
Durandal shook her head: "You just need to stay by my side. That is my only request. If you fulfill that, I will be very content."
Durandal wasn't that greedy. Although she would feel very uncomfortable when she saw Lumine with other girls, she wouldn't excessively interfere with Lumine's affairs.
As long as Lumine let her stay by her side, Durandal's request was very simple. Fulfilling that was enough.
"Durandal... Ah!!! Why are you so cute!?"
Lumine hugged Durandal, moved, and kept rubbing her face against hers. She was truly touched; how could this person say such moving words?
"You... why did you suddenly hug me again? Didn't I say not to do such things suddenly? Let go of me quickly."
Seeing that this fellow was acting up again, Durandal pushed her face, constantly "struggling." She seemed to be using force, but in reality, she wasn't using any at all.
Lumine saw through Durandal's pretense, which was why she dared to be so uninhibited. Barbara was right; Durandal really fell for this kind of thing.
"So envious."
Shenhe looked at this scene enviously. She also wanted to join in and get close to the two of them.
Shenhe, who usually had no chance for intimate contact with Durandal, was very envious and wanted to join them, but she had to hold back. She couldn't guarantee that imitating Lumine's behavior wouldn't make Durandal dislike her. Maintaining her current status was the best choice.
The next day, the Dottore's search operation officially began. Almost all airborne members were enhanced by Durandal with Humus Power, allowing them to better track the Fatui's whereabouts.
Agalu also participated in this operation. Among all airborne members, it had the highest understanding of the Fatui's secret camps in Mondstadt.
The airborne units first searched for the Fatui's traces. They carried ground units, which were generally small and inconspicuous creatures like lizards.
Letting them secretly enter the Fatui's secret camps to search for the Dottore's traces was the best choice. These two units acting together would surely find the Dottore's location in the shortest time.
Incidentally, these discovered Fatui secret camps were reported to the Knights of Favonius. Upon receiving this intelligence, the Knights of Favonius would immediately dispatch forces to destroy these bases.
The first day of the operation went smoothly, but on the second day, some strange mechanical monsters appeared within Mondstadt.
Unlike the Ruin Guards commonly encountered in the wilderness, these mechanical monsters were more powerful in combat and did not have the weakness of being paralyzed by concentrated attacks on specific points.
The appearance of these mechanical monsters put considerable pressure on the Knights of Favonius. To prevent ordinary people from being attacked, Jean, Kaeya, and other Vision wielders within the Knights of Favonius were dispatched to eliminate these mechanical monsters.
While these mechanical monsters were outside Mondstadt City, many mechanical birds also appeared inside Mondstadt City.
The appearance of these mechanical birds was quickly noticed, and they were all destroyed by Durandal before causing much impact.
Diluc knew the purpose of these mechanical birds: they could attract nearby beasts and make them go berserk.
These actions were definitely arranged by the Dottore, aiming to hinder the Knights of Favonius' efforts to eliminate the Fatui's secret bases.
"Will your frequent attacks on the Fatui's bases during this period have any adverse effects?"
Durandal originally didn't want to disclose this intelligence to the Knights of Favonius, but considering that the existence of these secret bases would bring adverse effects to Mondstadt, and also thinking that most of the Knights of Favonius usually had nothing to do, she decided to reveal the information to them.
This was not Durandal's original intention. She didn't want to attract the Dottore's attention, but the current situation had already made the Dottore realize that someone was hunting him.
Would the frequent actions of the Knights of Favonius implicate them? This was not what she wanted to see.
"If they did nothing, such behavior would certainly be accused. But we found a lot of secret intelligence in the camps, all of which are detrimental to Mondstadt. With this intelligence, Snezhnaya's envoy would not dare to act presumptuously."
Since that was the case, she could safely deal with the Dottore. As long as no one from Mondstadt City was among those who killed the Dottore, Snezhnaya would have nothing to say.
Even if there were, Durandal wouldn't mind personally going to Snezhnaya to threaten them. To some extent, she should be able to serve as a deterrent.
"The Indestructible: We will not use Durandal first."
It took a few days longer than expected to find the Dottore, and this was only discovered after her extensive search, otherwise, it would have been truly impossible to find the Fatui's traces.
The Dottore's location was near a cliff. To enter this Domain, one had to jump down from the cliff.
No wonder it hadn't been discovered before. Such a secret location, who could find it without guidance?
Durandal came to this Domain alone and walked in without any hesitation.
This was clearly a place for experiments; upon entering, the sound of machinery operating could be heard.
After a few steps, Durandal felt a familiar aura in the air—the aura formed by the archon residue.
That Dottore actually used the archon residue for experiments? How bold. Ordinary people would go mad from just inhaling a little, yet he dared to use it for research.
Did the power of Delusion come from the archon residue? Was that the product of his research?
This Dottore should be a sage like Albedo, except that the former kind of sage was clearly not liked by people.
Despite entering the enemy's base, Durandal showed no vigilance, as if she had returned home.
Whenever she encountered a Fatui member, Durandal would envelop them in a black mist filled with deadly Virus. Regardless of what equipment they wore, they would eventually die in painful wails.
No one could stop Durandal's advance. The Fatui's vanguard couldn't, the mechanical monsters set up there couldn't, and the traps laid in the dark were even more useless.
Durandal leisurely walked to the depths of the base. As she looked for any other secret entrances, she noticed a cage not far away.
She hadn't noticed it before, but upon closer inspection, she found a very faint life signal there. There were people there, and not just one person.
Durandal's expression finally changed. She looked around and found many such cages in the area, and faint signs of life emanated from within them.
She walked towards the cage closest to her. As she approached, she saw several Children, appearing to be under ten years old, imprisoned inside.
However, unlike the lively Children she usually saw in Mondstadt, strange purple marks appeared on their bodies, clearly signs of corrosion by the archon residue.
This was not something Children could resist. Some Children in the cages had already lost their vital signs, sitting in the cold cages, completely lifeless.
This scene brought back unpleasant memories for Durandal, causing her to clench her fists involuntarily.
At this moment, a little girl in one of the cages seemed to sense something. She slowly raised her head, weakly opened her eyes, and saw Durandal in front of the cage.
The moment she saw her, she smiled, a very weak smile, like glass, ready to shatter at any moment.
"Big sister... are you here... to save us? Xiao Duo has been trying very hard... very hard to hold on. I believe... I believe someone will come to save us."
It was this belief that sustained her life, allowing her to hold on to her last breath amidst the torment of the archon residue.
Seeing her life signs gradually change, Durandal stepped forward, roughly pried open the cage with her hands, came to her side, and used her ability to extract all the archon residue from her body.
This was not enough; her vitality had been too severely corroded. This alone was not enough to save her life.
There was no other way; she could only inject Humus Power into her body, using this powerful life force to restore her body.
To prevent the Humus Power from having adverse effects on her, Durandal also injected her own life force, which prevented her from dying.
After tending to this girl, Durandal checked the condition of the other Children in the cage. The few Children who still had breath were equally weak, and Durandal could only perform the same recovery work for them.
Soon, the Children who were still alive in this cage were healed by Durandal, but those who had died could not be brought back.
It wasn't over yet; besides this cage, there were other cages here, and other Children inside were waiting for her rescue.
Just as Durandal stepped out of the cage, applause sounded. A man in a suit wearing a strange mask walked towards Durandal, clapping.
He was the Doctor, whom Durandal had been searching for all this time.
He wore an arrogant smile on his face, looking at the Children Durandal had healed, and admiringly at Durandal.
"Although I heard you can cure all diseases, I didn't expect you could even treat problems caused by the archon residue. Excellent, truly excellent. With your participation, the experimental subjects can be continuously reused."
"..."
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