Chapter 414: Returned to Its Original Owner
"You!" Camus snapped, his eyes narrowing into a furious glare as he stared down Vermouth. Her blatant pragmatism in the face of their capture was clearly grating on his nerves.
Vermouth, however, did not spare him a single glance. She kept her focus entirely on the imposing figure before them. While her posture remained carefully guarded, a flicker of genuine curiosity danced in her pale blue eyes. "Look," she began, her tone smooth and conversational despite their dire circumstances. "Both of us are entirely in your hands. We certainly aren't going anywhere. So, since you are a person of such great stature, why not indulge my curiosity just a little? Hmm?"
Vermouth had no intention of asking Raiden Ei outright if she was the legendary figure who had lived for centuries. Supernatural secrets of that magnitude were hardly the sort of thing one casually confessed to captured outsiders.
She could, however, probe about the 'Pandora' stone. Based on the subtle hints Glenlivet had dropped earlier, this Inazuma Department Head did not seem to place much value on the very gemstone rumored to grant eternal life. If she truly cherished it, she would never have left Pandora lying around without a fortress of heavy protection. Therefore, Raiden Ei might not mind letting slip a few details about the stone itself.
"Tell me, Madam," Vermouth asked, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Have you ever laid eyes on the 'Pandora' stone?"
Raiden Ei arched a single, elegant eyebrow, her expression remaining perfectly unreadable. "If you are referring to that peculiar gem within a gem, then yes. I have indeed seen it."
A sharp, collective intake of breath echoed in the quiet room as both Vermouth and Camus tensed.
Before they could press further, Ei continued, her voice cutting through the heavy air like a blade. "But you are a step too late. I have already returned the gemstone to its original owner."
Technically, Ei never explicitly confirmed that the stone she returned was the mythical Pandora they were so desperately seeking. Yet, she wasn't lying. She had certainly seen stones that contained smaller gems nestled within their cores. When one associated frequently with the Geo Archon, encountering such rare and bizarre geological anomalies was a rather common occurrence.
Ei observed the fleeting flash of bitter frustration that crossed the faces of both Black Organization operatives. Without missing a beat, she delivered an even more crushing blow.
"Just the day before you arrived, Miko received intelligence from an outside source," Ei stated flatly. "She learned that a rather secretive organization has been scouring the globe for a gemstone identical to the one I held in my possession."
She paused, her violet eyes locking onto Vermouth. "They intended to use that stone as bait. A trap to lure the members of your little syndicate out of hiding and wipe them out in one fell swoop. To execute this plan, they asked to borrow the stone from me."
Ei let out a soft, dismissive sigh. "I found the entire scheme far too troublesome to entertain. And since the stone originally belonged to their dep... boss, anyway, I simply returned it to them directly. So, as I said, you are unfortunately a step too late."
Despite her polite use of the word 'unfortunately', Ei's face remained a mask of absolute indifference. A biting chill seeped into her tone, dropping the temperature of the room by several degrees.
"So, it stands to reason that you two are the rats from that mysterious organization Ningguang mentioned wanting to exterminate. I certainly didn't expect you to willingly deliver yourselves right to my doorstep." Her grip on the wooden sword tightened. "I have no interest in discovering how you learned I once kept that gemstone. But since you have trespassed into my domain, there is no need for you to ever leave."
Vermouth's mind went into overdrive. 'Returned to its original owner.' That meant the gemstone had been sent straight to the Liyue Department of the Teyvat Organization.
She quickly latched onto the slip of the tongue Ei had made. 'Dep.' Department Head. Vermouth hadn't anticipated that the original owner of Pandora was the allegedly retired Department Head of Liyue. If the stone had once belonged to him, did that mean he had already consumed Pandora's tears?
Taking the terrifying logic a step further, were all seven Department Heads of the Teyvat Organization immortal? If they were, it perfectly explained why the overarching Boss of the Teyvat Organization seemingly held no absolute control over them.
But how could a single drop of the legendary tears be enough for seven or eight people? Did they dilute the tears with water before dividing the spoils? That theory perfectly aligned with the critical intel Glenlivet had provided earlier: the Inazuma Department Head wasn't truly immortal. She hadn't consumed the pure, undiluted tears of Pandora, which was why she merely possessed an unnaturally extended lifespan. It wasn't true invincibility, but living for several centuries was more than enough to make her a terrifying adversary.
Vermouth's thoughts raced at lightning speed, desperately trying to memorize every single syllable Raiden Ei had spoken while simultaneously analyzing the massive lore drop. However, before she could analyze the Teyvat Organization's secrets any further, a lethal shift in the atmosphere abruptly shattered her concentration.
Raiden Ei had officially exhausted the last remnants of her patience. The very instant the final word left her lips, the wooden sword resting in her grip blurred into motion. Like a jagged bolt of purple lightning, the weapon snapped forward, aiming a devastating strike directly at the backs of Vermouth and Camus's heads. Her intention was crystal clear: knock them unconscious in a single, brutal motion.
Fortunately, both operatives were seasoned veterans of the underworld. They had remained on a razor's edge of high alert, never letting their eyes stray from the Inazuman woman's subtle muscle twitches. The moment Ei's shoulder shifted, their survival instincts flared. Moving with synchronized, desperate speed, Vermouth and Camus dove in opposite directions, narrowly evading the blindingly fast strike.
But Raiden Ei's assault was far from over.
Her violet eyes tracked their evasive maneuvers with predatory precision. With a mere flick of her wrist, the wooden sword halted its forward momentum and traced a flawless, deadly arc through the air. The weapon changed trajectory in a fraction of a second, sweeping toward the two operatives like a suffocating shadow. The follow-up slash was so impossibly fast, so relentlessly fluid, that it completely robbed them of any chance to draw breath, let alone mount a counterattack.
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