"Ughhhh—!"
The first to notice the change was Vaughn himself. By the time others realized that the pocket of his blue guard uniform had darkened from being soaked, he was already crouched on the ground, clutching his head in panic, shrieking like a banshee.
"What are you afraid of?" Victor Wang asked.
"Eh…? I-I'm fine? I'm fine?!"
Vaughn reached into his pocket and pulled out a shattered vial and a broken stopper. Some pale blue liquid still clung to the vial. Summoning his courage, he removed his gloves and touched the liquid—
Nothing happened.
"Damn you, Vacher… hahaha, you wanted to silence me? Didn't expect this, did you? With Lady Furina here, this Primordial Seawater doesn't work! It simply doesn't work!!"
Having experienced the rollercoaster of life and death, Vaughn's hysteria escalated. Suddenly, he turned toward the audience, pointing left to right as he shouted, "Vacher… I know you're hiding somewhere in the audience! You saw it, didn't you?! Hahaha… you saw it! And you still thought you could get me? No way!!"
"Enough!" Furina interrupted, glaring at Vaughn. "Tell us everything you know."
"Lady Furina… I'll tell, I'll tell everything!" Vaughn stammered in terror.
The fact that Primordial Seawater can dissolve Fontaine citizens… it was discovered by the leader of our organization… that is, Vacher.
He seemed to have been studying this substance for a long time, and the experimental subjects… were the victims in the 'Serial Disappearance of Young Women'… but I didn't know this when I joined the organization!
All I knew at the time was that the organization was making a special potion that induced extreme excitement and was highly addictive. Sales were excellent, and we profited greatly from it.
After I'd been with the organization for a long while, because of my position in the guard, Vacher sent someone to contact me, asking me to help select 'test subjects'…
That's when I discovered that Vacher was actually the mastermind behind the 'Serial Disappearance of Young Women,' and that the potion we'd been selling was diluted Primordial Seawater capable of dissolving Fontaine citizens…
I had no choice… I really had no choice! I initially joined for money, but unknowingly became an accomplice to this major case… I'm still young! I'm part of the guard! I've made a lot of money! I had no choice but to continue helping him!
This operation as well… they told me that if we successfully framed the Fatui for the 'Serial Disappearance of Young Women,' all of us would escape. It was the best opportunity!
But we underestimated Lady Furina. The Primordial Seawater failed… That's everything I know…"
"Is that so?" Furina asked. "You said Vacher is in the audience. Tell me, who is Vacher?"
"I don't know…"
"You don't know? Then how can you be sure he's here?"
"Vacher is extremely cautious in daily life. He rarely contacts us directly unless necessary, and even then, through intermediaries… including the Primordial Seawater we received—it was all delivered through other channels. We're Fontaine citizens, so we wouldn't dare tamper with it."
Vaughn held the broken vial in one hand and the destroyed stopper in the other, agitated: "So this vial should never have been touched after Vacher sealed it. But the stopper of the Primordial Seawater I had was remotely detonated! Vacher did this! He's nearby! He's watching me! He just tried to kill me too!"
Hearing this, Furina first scanned everyone on stage: Victor Wang, Lumine, Paimon, Clorinde, Neuvillette, Patricia, Vaughn… just judging by age, none of them could be Vacher.
She then looked toward the audience. In such a large, nearly full opera house, the culprit was likely somewhere in the crowd.
The audience exchanged uneasy glances. But after realizing the so-called Primordial Seawater had failed to dissolve Vaughn, panic diminished.
Before Furina could send someone to verify the audience's names, Neuvillette spoke: "Based on our prior investigation, I'm quite certain there is no one named Vacher among the audience. Nor among the opera house staff or the guards."
"Vacher is definitely in this opera house!" Vaughn insisted. "He's cunning. 'Vacher' might just be a code name, but for such an important operation, he wouldn't miss being here to supervise! He's watching me right now! He tried to eliminate me earlier!"
"That's possible, but how can we find the culprit using only a code name?"
Paimon voiced what everyone was thinking, a trace of frustration in her tone. Everyone began pondering.
Suddenly, Paimon recalled something: "Hey Lumine, that voice you heard at the Fountain of Lucine—didn't it call out 'Vacher'?!"
All eyes immediately turned to Lumine.
Lumine hesitated, then spoke her uncertain guess:
"This might sound a bit supernatural, but because my perception of Hydro is unusually strong, I actually heard a female voice calling 'Vacher' at Fountain of Lucine outside the opera house.
At the time, I didn't understand what it meant, but now I think it may have been the lingering emotion of a woman dissolved by Vacher…
Though it felt strange, the voice didn't carry hatred, just sadness and longing.
Maybe I misheard, but I believe 'Vacher' is likely his real name. The name he uses in daily life could be an alias."
The audience murmured among themselves.
"Vacher is his real name? Then he's probably male."
"Is that possible? I've passed Fountain of Lucine so many times, never heard anything…"
"People's perceptions differ. That was directed at the famous golden-haired traveler from another nation. You are…?"
Neuvillette explained for Lumine: "Fountain of Lucine is the confluence of all Fontaine waters. It retains countless memories and emotions. To protect privacy and avoid being overwhelmed by irrelevant memories, I never inspect it. But now, I might have missed my best chance to catch Vacher…"
"I also blocked my own perception of Fountain of Lucine… It's hard to judge who's right or wrong. Okay, let's temporarily trust this information," Furina said, citing Neuvillette's reasoning to justify her own Hydro Archon judgment.
"Combining these conditions, given that Vacher's first known crime was twenty years ago, he must be at least thirty, most likely over forty, and male—"
"Lady Furina, I have an idea too."
"Go ahead."
Victor Wang added, "Since Vacher dared to research the extremely dangerous Primordial Seawater and seal it for use outside Fontaine, he may not even be a Fontaine citizen."
"Reasonable… Then we filter by male, over thirty, non-Fontaine, and also high net worth, since he profited from selling diluted Primordial Seawater. The location is limited to inside the opera house. Everyone, please stay calm. Finding the culprit is only a matter of time."
===BREAK===
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