"Oh? Big Brother Su Yuan, didn't you recognize who I am?"
The little boy showed a slightly disappointed expression as he spoke:
"I thought for sure you would've recognized me the last time we met…"
"Even though you do look kind of familiar, I'm quite certain we haven't met before…"
Su Yuan looked at the boy in front of him, carefully digging through his memories—yet he couldn't match him with anyone he knew…
"That's true—we haven't met before. But after this, we'll have met many times."
The boy said this, leaving Su Yuan even more confused…
What did he mean by haven't met before, but have met many times after?
"Well, if you really can't remember who I am, then let's just leave it at that…"
"But just know—we share a common enemy. I won't harm you."
"So let me give you one more hint…"
"Among the Adepti of Liyue, besides being wary of Cloud Retainer, you also have to be careful of Streetward Rambler!"
"Hey! What do you mean by that?"
Su Yuan asked, "What do you mean by common enemies? And why do we have to be careful of Madame Ping?"
But the little boy just smiled slightly, said nothing more, and disappeared around the corner of the alley...
Then, time seemed to resume flowing, and everything around Su Yuan returned to normal...
"Tartaglia, Zhongli, that mysterious little boy just appeared again!"
Su Yuan said anxiously:
"He seems to have the ability to stop time, which is why you didn't notice him!"
"What? The ability to stop time?"
Hearing this, Tartaglia was very surprised and said:
"In a fast-changing battle, even stopping time for 0.01 seconds is extremely critical and terrifying..."
"In a fight against a master, you might lose before you even react..."
"What an incredible power…" Zhongli also wore a serious expression and said, "But Su Yuan, this mysterious little boy you mentioned probably isn't our enemy…"
"After all, if he truly had the ability to stop time, it would be effortless for him to kill us without us even noticing."
"Yes." Su Yuan nodded. "That boy also said that he and I share a common enemy…"
"I've thought it over carefully—my enemies can only be the Eerie and Dottore. I don't know which one he meant."
Su Yuan also noticed a detail: the boy warned him to be careful of Madame Ping, which matched the intelligence hint he had earlier on the palm of his left hand…
What exactly is wrong with Madame Ping?
"Zhongli, Tartaglia, besides Cloud Retainer, I think we should also keep an eye on Madame Ping…"
"Although Madame Ping seems perfectly normal now… there's a saying: 'No abnormalities is the biggest abnormality.'"
"Everyone, sorry I'm late!"
At that moment, Ganyu ran over from a distance and said:
"I didn't expect something so serious to happen while I was taking my afternoon nap. Fortunately, Mr. Su Yuan was here..."
"Ganyu, you've come back just in time. Come with me back to Yuehai Pavilion."
Ningguang said to Ganyu:
"Although Mr. Zhongli arrived promptly to help, many buildings in Liyue are still damaged, and there are quite a few casualties. You and I should hurry back to handle the aftermath."
"Yes, Lady Ningguang," Ganyu nodded.
"Guest Consultant Zhongli, Mr. Su Yuan, we'll head back first..."
Ningguang looked at Zhongli and Su Yuan, then at Tartaglia, and said:
"Tartaglia, although you previously tried to disrupt Liyue by releasing the vortex demon god Osial, our Liyue authorities have not held you responsible..."
"But that doesn't mean I personally approve of your actions…"
"But to be fair, setting that aside, this time you helped Liyue block the Primo Geovishap controlled by the eerie corruption, I still want to express my thanks to you…"
"Haha, Lady Ningguang, you don't need to put me on such a pedestal. I just wanted to fight with some experts and test the results of my training," Tartaglia said with a carefree smile.
.........
On Mt. Aocang, inside the cave residence of the Adeptus, Cloud Retainer...
In a large open space within the cave, Cloud Retainer was tinkering with a strange device whose purpose was unclear...
A figure hobbled over from the other side of the cave, leaning on a cane, limping with each step...
Seeing the figure, Cloud Retainer said:
"Oh, Dottore, it looks like you've recovered quite well—you can even get out of bed now…"
"So, what exactly did you go through these past few days? It was like you were struck by lightning—I've never seen you in such a miserable state before…"
"Hahaha, I'm not seriously hurt," Dottore said with a faint smile.
"It's just that I touched some bottom lines of certain existences..."
"But precisely because of that, this kind of research becomes even more meaningful, doesn't it?"
"After all, every one of my segments is an independent individual. In the worst case, I just discard that segment..."
"Anyway, through this research, I've reached a rather surprising conclusion..."
"Though not entirely certain, I at least have some clues..."
Dottore slowly spoke:
"I originally thought the eerie power was just a kind of pure material energy, similar to elemental energy..."
"The actions of those corrupted and controlled by the eerie power were just derived from their original personalities..."
"But now I realize, the eerie power seems to possess self-awareness..."
"An energy that has self-consciousness — that's incredibly fascinating!!!"
"I just don't know whether this eerie power, scattered across the world and within each person's body, is made up of independent individuals or a single complete whole..."
"But no matter what, the eerie power is truly a domineering force—only allowing itself to control others, but never to be controlled. How outrageous!!!"
"Eerie power... I, Dottore, will definitely conquer you completely..."
"Cloud Retainer..."
Dottore looked at Cloud Retainer and said:
"You and I are now in a close cooperative relationship, intimate partners..."
"You wouldn't happen to reveal my location and information to others while this segment of me is in a vulnerable state, would you?"
"Don't worry, I'm very good at talking and dealing with people..."
Cloud Retainer smiled and replied:
"I've already told them. Right now, I need to seclude myself to study mechanical arts, so they absolutely must not come to Mt. Aocang to disturb me!"
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