[No, I thought Liyue was playing one country, two systems, but you're telling me Liyue is practicing feudal enfeoffment?]
[No, the Qixing and Ziwei — I thought they were the same series, but these are two different ruling classes?]
[This is going to be a bit hard to fight. The enemy is already at the doorstep, yet the family is still having internal strife.]
[I don't quite understand. Based on the information and plot text analyzed from Silver Wolf's side, the legitimacy of the Ziwei Star was acknowledged by Jun Bai. Under such circumstances, Liyue Harbor still dares to say the Guili Assembly betrayed the gods?]
The last question was also asked by Lumine in the game:
"But even Jun Bai acknowledged the correctness of the Ziwei Star. Did no one from the Guili Assembly ever explain?"
Ningguang closed her eyes and sighed: "They can't hear it."
Paimon asked in confusion: "Ah? What do you mean by can't hear it?"
"Whether in the past or now, the residents of Liyue Harbor cannot hear, and are unwilling to hear, that the Guili Assembly's human governance was approved by the gods."
"People only want to see what they want to see and do not care about the truth of the matter."
"The residents of Liyue Harbor fundamentally do not care about the fact that when the Guili Assembly stepped into human governance, neither Rex Lapis, the Marshal, nor any of the Adepti came forward to stop it."
"From beginning to end, Liyue Harbor can only see one thing —"
"The Guili Assembly betrayed the gods. The orthodoxy of Rex Lapis lies in Liyue Harbor."
[? Isn't this forgetting one's roots? The original citizens of Liyue Harbor all migrated south from the Guili Assembly!]
[The thoughts of the people in a place depend on the actions of the leadership. It seems the management of Liyue Harbor has held power for so long that they have forgotten their origins.]
[Ideas are passed down from generation to generation. By now they are deeply rooted. Without an opportunity, it will be very difficult to change.]
[It feels like Ningguang sees things very clearly, but is somewhat powerless about the current situation.]
"All because of such a meaningless matter?" Paimon was shocked.
"Yes, all because of such a meaningless matter." Ningguang sighed, "Aren't both Liyue Harbor and the Guili Assembly Rex Lapis's people?"
"So that's why Jun Bai specially instructed me to tell you that the Guili Assembly and Liyue Harbor need to join forces." Lumine said thoughtfully.
"Perhaps the Marshal also wants to use this incident to break the ice between Liyue Harbor and the Guili Assembly."
Ningguang pondered.
"Speaking of which, there is one thing I don't understand." Lumine frowned, "Hiding the Exuvia brings no benefit to the Qixing at all. It would even cause people to misunderstand that the Qixing are plotting against the Rex Lapis."
"Yet I still chose to hide the Exuvia, right?" Ningguang smiled, "What happened on Yujing Terrace was too sudden. Even I could not remain calm."
"That's why there was that ridiculous order."
Ordering the Millelith to arrest any possible assassins capable of killing the Geo God.
"As for hiding the Exuvia…"
"Liyue's enemies have already entered Liyue Harbor and have taken action. I also had to take corresponding measures."
"Stir up the waters of Liyue Harbor and let all parties with their own agendas enter the stage. Only then can we turn passive into active."
Lumine understood: "You hid the Exuvia to use it as bait?"
"As expected of someone the Marshal has taken a liking to. Your thinking is sharp." Ningguang praised.
"So that's how it is!" Paimon realized, "But you said the enemy has already… Who is the enemy?"
"Whoever wants to see the Exuvia the most, and even went so far as to organize the Rite of Sending Off the Adeptus, is the one." Lumine said.
"Uh… aren't you talking about us?"
[Paimon's best speaking episode.]
[As expected of you, emergency food.]
[Not just us, Jun Bai is also a culprit! (dog head.jpg)]
"..." Lumine rolled her eyes furiously at Paimon, "I'm talking about the Fatui."
"The Fatui… Oh! Besides us, the one who cares most about the Exuvia is that Fatui Harbinger, Childe!"
"He even offered to fund the Rite of Sending Off the Adeptus." Paimon finally reacted, "If he hadn't given too little money, we wouldn't have had to wait for him to send money while shopping."
"Wait, could it be that he didn't give enough funds from the beginning because he wanted a sufficient reason to intervene in the preparations for the Rite of Sending Off the Adeptus and obtain information from Zhongli?"
"The situation is probably not far from what you said…" Lumine frowned. That Harbinger who looked extremely warlike actually had such thoughts.
As expected of the old Liyue saying — one cannot judge a person by appearance.
"Although the scenery here is nice, it is still quite windy at high altitude. Please follow me inside. The reception preparations have already been made."
Ningguang led the two through the luxurious hall and arrived at the office where she usually worked.
The moment they entered, Paimon saw the "wall" mentioned by the storyteller and felt a little itchy for a moment.
But remembering what Jun Bai had said, Paimon stopped her impolite thoughts.
If it were really as the storyteller described, she might not have been able to endure it. But now that Paimon already knew the storyteller was exaggerating, most of the papers on that wall were no different from normal paper.
Now that she had returned to her most relaxed territory, Ningguang no longer avoided the topic of the Fatui.
"Rex Lapis's passing seems beneficial to the Qixing, but in reality, no one in Liyue is a beneficiary."
"Rex Lapis is like the pillar of Liyue Harbor, an existence different from the Marshal and the Dust God."
"Rex Lapis's passing is an unimaginable disaster for Liyue. He is the foundation of Liyue. Even if a new Geo God is born in the future, the current citizens of Liyue will always be Rex Lapis's old people."
"No one among the Liyue Qixing can bear the crime of raising a blade against Rex Lapis."
"To put it bluntly… we don't even have the qualification to face Rex Lapis directly."
"Yet in today's Liyue Harbor, rumors of [the Qixing usurping the throne] are everywhere on the streets…"
"The Fatui's methods are rather unseemly." Ningguang finished speaking and smiled as if mocking herself.
After all, she was currently being restricted by these unseemly methods.
"I ordered the hiding of the Exuvia, on one hand to stabilize the current situation. On the other hand…"
"It was to prevent Liyue's Gnosis from falling into the hands of the Fatui."
"Then what about the reason for not letting the Adepti see the Exuvia?" Lumine asked the question she had always wanted to ask.
Guizhong had brought Cloud Retainer to discuss matters related to the Exuvia with the Liyue Qixing, yet there had been no news until now.
This already showed that the Qixing were doing their best to prevent the Adepti from seeing the Exuvia.
Lumine and Jun Bai had already anticipated the previous questions after their discussion. They only needed Ningguang to confirm them.
In fact, the only question that truly needed answering was this one.
"…Speaking of this question, you two might think I am doing useless work."
"I refused to let the Adepti pay respects to the Exuvia in order to prevent the Fatui from getting the news and acting first."