The皎洁 moonlight swept across every corner of Sumeru City,
The lights and moonlight illuminated the darkness of Sumeru,
As the main city of Sumeru, although it was late at night,
It should also be brightly lit and bustling with people,
But Sumeru City at this time could only see the lights,
The streets of the city were deserted,
Lumine and Paimon walked on these empty streets,
They had already passed through three nations,
They had subconsciously felt that the atmosphere around them was a bit off.
“There’s not a single person, did they find out about our actions?”
Paimon thought of the worst outcome,
They had worked with Nahida, possessing the body of Katheryne, to turn the Akademiya scholar, Setaria, to their side during the day,
Driven by guilt towards her desert compatriots,
Setaria promised to send them the “classified documents” they wanted tonight.
This was already a very dangerous thing to do,
And now the anomaly in Sumeru City,
Made them even more aware of something being wrong.
Beside the Traveler, Nahida, possessing the body of Katheryne, also felt a sense of doubt in her heart,
But whether for Setaria's safety,
Or to learn the true purpose of the Akademiya,
They had to go.
The few of them strolled along the deserted streets,
Soon reaching the entrance of the Akademiya.
At the entrance of the Akademiya,
The sight they saw,
Was completely different from the streets below Sumeru City,
A dozen or so Sumeru scholars were smiling,
Their hands clapping incessantly,
Some scholars even let out cheers,
As if in front of them,
Were not two travelers and a member of the Adventurers' Guild,
But rather heroes who had just defeated a monster,
The quiet environment became lively,
Lumine assumed a combat stance,
Looking around cautiously as she clapped her hands and slowly approached the scholars who were moving towards them,
At the same time, the culprit of this incident appeared before them,
The second-in-command of the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger,
The Doctor!
The Doctor, while introducing the results of his tampering with the Void Device,
Controlled the crowd to surround Lumine and the others.
Lumine couldn't make a move due to their status as ordinary people,
The situation was very unfavorable for them,
Even though Nahida could use her remaining divine power to control these scholars,
But with the Doctor, the instigator, present,
This kind of control could only have a temporary effect,
‘For now, the only option is to have the Traveler leave first.’
Just then.
A voice, sounding somewhat lazy yet filled with excitement, rang out from a distance,
“What a lively scene, is this a welcome ceremony for me?”
The few with conscious minds were immediately drawn to the sound.
They turned to look,
A crimson figure accompanied by the sound of “tap tap tap” footsteps,
Slowly appeared before them.
As if they had planned it,
As soon as the figure appeared, the moonlight started to shift towards its position,
With the help of the moonlight, Lumine, the Doctor, and the others could clearly see the person's face,
Long and powerful physique, sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, handsome features,
The tips of his deep black hair had a red gradient.
His pupils were deep red, and the depths of his eyes seemed to have flames burning fiercely,
On his crimson open windbreaker, there were auspicious cloud patterns,
A fiery red God's Eye was worn as a pendant on his shoulder.
However, compared to other people's God's Eyes,
This Pyro God's Eye seemed slightly dim,
Hidden beneath the windbreaker, on both sides of his waist,
There was a holster, each holster contained a handgun,
Looking at the appearance of the handguns,
They were not Fontaine's Blasters,
But a type of double gun with a shape that was very close to modern weapons.
“It’s you~”
The Doctor obviously knew the newcomer,
With the mask, the Doctor's expression couldn't be observed,
But Nahida was very perceptive and noticed a problem,
‘The Doctor’s tone seems to have some fear, fear of this man?’
The man walked to Nahida’s side,
Stopping there, without any intention of continuing forward,
This action was equivalent to directly stating his position to the Doctor,
This move made the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger’s second-in-command frown,
Paimon approached Lumine and whispered in her ear,
“Who is this guy?
He seems to have a powerful aura.”
Lumine could only say,
You, a local, don't even know,
How could I, an outsider, know?
So Lumine turned to Nahida,
Although Nahida was controlling Katheryne's body,
But she didn't read the other person's intentions,
Trapped in the Palace of Alcazarzaray for five hundred years,
She didn't know much about the world outside Sumeru,
“So you intend to stand on the Traveler’s side?
The Fontaine diplomat, Si Xuan de Fontaine.”
As soon as this name appeared,
The three of them immediately had their doubts answered,
Even in this tense atmosphere,
Paimon still couldn't help but blurt out,
“He’s actually that legendary diplomat?”
Lumine also looked at Si Xuan with a strange gaze,
Fontaine diplomat,
This title she had heard so much of since Mondstadt,
She didn't expect to meet him in Sumeru.
“It’s just a new investment,
I think the target of this investment has great potential.
Tsk, don’t you think so, Dottore?
It’s too noisy here.”
“Snap~”
Si Xuan snapped his fingers,
The Void symbol in the ears of those scholars quickly turned blue,
The cheers and applause stopped,
Those scholars stood there, their expressions dull,
Standing in place without any action,
Si Xuan stroked his chin and took a few steps forward,
Carefully examining his “work,”
“Hmm, the effect is not bad, those guys from the Academy of Sciences aren’t just eating for nothing.”
This move scared both the Dendro Archon and the Doctor,
They could project their thoughts and memories into the minds of Sumeru people through the Void,
Because one was the god who ruled Sumeru,
And the other had partial authority and familiarity with the Void,
But the man in front of them, who came from Fontaine,
Could easily override the Doctor’s projections on the brain’s surface,
These were two completely different changes,
The Doctor was like having a key,
He could directly open the door and decorate the space inside,
But Si Xuan was like a strong man with a hammer in his hand,
Shouting “eighty” at the door of the mind,
Then he smashed the door open with one hammer blow,
Then he walked into the room and started smashing walls,
The result was the same,
But the difficulty involved was worlds apart,
‘This guy, he’s becoming more and more unfathomable.’
The Doctor knew that his plan had basically failed with Si Xuan’s appearance,
Not only had he not intimidated the Traveler,
Even Lesser Lord Kusanali’s consciousness couldn’t be located or captured,
But compared to his experiment,
These were secondary,
Since he was going to fail anyway, he might as well give Si Xuan some face,
But before that, the Doctor needed to figure out this guy’s sudden purpose in coming to Sumeru,
“What is your purpose in suddenly coming to Sumeru?”
The Doctor knew that Si Xuan was the kind of person who disliked beating around the bush,
So he asked directly?
Si Xuan looked at the Doctor strangely,
“In what capacity are you asking this question?”
The Doctor was speechless for a moment and said no more,
But Paimon, on the other hand, curiously asked,
“What capacity? Isn’t he just a Fatui Harbinger? Is there some other identity?”
Si Xuan glanced at the Doctor,
“This is Sumeru, I have no obligation to answer a question from a Fatui Harbinger on Sumeru’s territory.”
Paimon scratched the back of her head,
Literally, there was nothing wrong with what Si Xuan said,
But her small brain always felt something was wrong,
But as a qualified sidekick, she still subconsciously asked,
“But I remember the Doctor is also a Sumeru person.”
Si Xuan gave Paimon an approving look,
This sidekick was great,
“A expelled Sumeru scholar, not worthy!”
The situation instantly became tense,
Lumine almost subconsciously took out her three-edition, unsharpened sword,
Vigilantly staring at the Doctor who was messing around,
This diplomat’s action was almost like a face-to-face ultimate move,
In her impression, not many Harbingers had a good temper,
Sure enough, the Doctor’s aura instantly changed,
Cold, intense killing intent enveloped Si Xuan and the others in an instant,
The domineering aura of the second-in-command of the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger,
Made Lumine break out in cold sweat,
‘This guy is way more powerful than La Signora in Inazuma.’
Lumine had heard the Eleventh Harbinger, Scaramouche, say that,
The Fatui’s ranking was based on strength,
Now, Lumine understood the weight of those words,
Six seats apart, the strength was already worlds apart,
Facing the Doctor, Lumine even felt the pressure she had felt when facing the Stormterror, Dvalin, in Liyue,
“Fontaine diplomat,
Can I consider this a provocation against Snezhnaya?”
The Doctor’s every word made the pressure Lumine’s side felt heavier by a fraction,
Of everyone present, only Si Xuan was as if nothing had happened,
He quickly pulled open his clothes, drew a handgun and pointed it at the Doctor,
Purple light began to appear at the muzzle of the gun,
At the same time, the auspicious cloud pattern on his clothes began to glow with a dark golden light.
Paimon was already so scared that she hid behind Lumine,
Although Nahida, possessing Katheryne's body, was willing to stop them,
Her current power was simply not enough to make the two stop.
Just as the two were about to draw their swords,
The Doctor’s next move caught Lumine by surprise,
He withdrew the aura he was emitting.
“It seems there’s nothing I can ask in front of so many people,
Never mind, I’ll leave it at that today.”
Si Xuan gave Lumine and Nahida a wink,
Turning around, he snapped his fingers again,
The Void in the ears of those scholars who had been controlled by the Void returned to green,
But they didn’t continue their previous frenzied behavior,
The Doctor looked at Si Xuan’s gradually disappearing figure,
Lost in thought, he began to mutter to himself,
“A new investment, in your eyes, Lesser Lord Kusanali, who has nothing,
Will she be the ultimate victor?
It seems Azhdaha has been completely abandoned by you.”
Si Xuan quickly left the vicinity of the Akademiya with the others.
On the way, Paimon was still thinking about asking other things.
But Si Xuan didn’t stop,
“Leave here first, this place is full of Akademiya scholars and Fatui eyes.”