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224. Shadow: Keep visiting!
"Baalzebub, you have made up your mind. I cannot persuade you any further. But please protect him and ask the general to keep in touch with Tianquan. After all, this is about - no, ask her to tell Jiujo or Yae, and then have them tell Tianquan Yuheng. This is more in accordance with etiquette."
"Thank you, Morax. I promised him eternity and treated him as a close minister. I must abide by this oath and give an explanation to the contract." Faced with Zhongli's approval, although he knew that he had resigned from the responsibility of ruling the world, Ying still did not dare to neglect it.
Zhongli is her senior - and Kong is also Zhongli's close friend. Ying already felt a little guilty about snatching his qualification. If it weren't for the fact that the Emperor's power was still gathering and needed time, in terms of the trinity of strategy, insight and martial power, this position would definitely not be hers, and even Barbatos would be more suitable.
Ying had already been feeling resentful about Eula applying for the job before him. Due to Inazuma's change of will, the recently resumed sea route was once again hit by storms for two full weeks. It was not until she left the castle tower and came to attend the meeting that the frightened fleets finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your contract is not the same as mine. No one wants regrets to leave any traces of wear and tear. So I'll leave it to you, Baalzebub."
"Ah, finally there is a result, but he has been missing for such a long time before he asked two people to help. I don't know how long it will take for him to ask for help again~"
After Zhongli, Venti, and Nashida all gave their blessings to Ying on her journey, Yae seemed to be relieved and teased, "Eula... That little girl from Mondstadt is not an easy person to deal with. Ying, you should be prepared to compete for her favor."
"…I went to clear obstacles for Sora, not to talk about love, Shenzi."
Ying frowned lightly: "I know Lawrence better than you do. She must have a higher level of awareness than me, so she stood beside Kong before me."
"Just lie to everyone, but don't lie to yourself. If you do that, you'll end up being ignored by everyone and crying in a corner~"
Yae, who had already pushed Ying's butt several times, actually felt a little regretful that he couldn't go with Ying.
The reason why she was very opposed to Ying taking Kong in was not only because she wanted to eat alone, but also because she was afraid that if she lost Kong again, Ying would become autistic again. In this way, Kong's sin was really serious.
"Your Majesty the Imperial Palace..."
The Kamisato brothers and sisters looked at the argument between Raijin and Yae and didn't know where to interrupt.
"Master Kamisato, this expedition will not take too long. If there is anything that cannot be handled, it will be decided by the Son of God and the general. I will also take the time to review it."
"Yes."
Although Ying has been a hands-off boss for a while, the situation has only improved for a year or so. If she runs away like this, it would be better for her to ask the two siblings to find Kong...
But Ming Shen's will could not be questioned, and they could only take on the work with tears in their eyes, which might become complicated again.
While some people are ready to go to war, naturally there are others who feel empty because of missing the opportunity.
After receiving the slightly apologetic look from the Emperor, Ganyu and Shenhe looked at each other, then walked back to the round table expressionlessly, staring at the Qingxin on the plate in a daze.
Fischl and Xiangling sat together at some point, their eyes somewhat empty, and not far from them, Bennett, Xingqiu, and Chongyun were scratching their heads, reading, or thinking - all of them were a little frustrated that they couldn't help their friends.
"Alas, I thought I had a chance to do something big out there, but forget it. It's a bit too arrogant to compete with God for work."
After noticing the disappointment of the children, Dixia patted the equally disappointed Nilu's shoulders and raised her chin to her: "Let's go have a big meal to ease the homesickness, shall we? As long as we make this start and know Kong's general situation, there will be a possibility of meeting again in the future - it's a good thing anyway."
"Well, yes! At least there is news!"
Nilu cheered up a little: "On Kong's birthday this year, I also want to show him the dance I created for him."
"What do you want Thor to bring over?"
"Keqing, keep your voice down. The Emperor has been very tolerant of you, but Baalzebul will not show mercy to you because of your status."
"I'm seriously discussing this with you, Ningguang. It's not like I haven't been with her before - what's wrong with asking her to bring some local specialties to Kong? Is this embarrassing for her or for you?"
Yuhengxing's diamond-shaped pupils reflected Ningguang's unwillingness, which was rarely visible to the naked eye.
"...Mora is too heavy. To ensure universality, I'll pack some herbs. I don't know if it will work...letters."
"The crystal core and the dream solvent are there. He will need them."
"I'll include a glass lily, that's all."
It's okay to have some things in his possession if he has a pure heart, but Ying obviously underestimated how much these women care about Sora.
The girls from the Liyue group quickly pushed a pile of packages that looked like a small hill, hoping that Ying would help "deliver" them... in front of her.
Friends from Mondstadt and Xumi came in a hurry, but the total amount of goods they brought was nearly a thousand kilograms, and they also temporarily mixed in some knight's sword, dagger, Lisa's tea set and even Kaeya's treasured half-body armor - if Mona and Barbara hadn't strongly opposed, Jyn would have taken down the Wind Hawk and put it in the package to have Baalzebub mail it.
I will protect him well. You guys are just worrying for nothing by asking me to bring so many junk.
Ying Ding stared at the three piles of goods, his helplessness evident in his words, but soon, when Manye also presented a sword, Xiao Gong stuffed a few fireworks, Yae packed some amulets and lacquerware, and even Kujo felt embarrassed and carefully pushed an arrow made of her feathers in front of Ying, all the words of refusal were choked.
Seeing their colleagues being more and more inhuman, Ayato and Ayahua's faces became more and more gloomy. Finally, they had no choice but to stuff the round fan, which had more symbolic meaning than practical value, in as everyone had stuffed a lot of weapons, supplies and medicines in.
Even so, if we were to weigh them, a person carrying so many things would probably be as heavy as half a truck.
"…Then I will go. You don't have to worry, just wait for me to return victoriously."
"It would be even better if you could bring Sora back to Teyvat, Ying, come on!"
The Son of God made a fox head gesture to the blurred shadow.
"..."
After Ying nodded silently, she turned into rice light and reached the sky - the momentum of the expedition was so grand, but when she thought of the messy things that were stuffed in her pure land, her mentality was inevitably affected.
“…He really left.”
Xiangling sighed loudly.
"I finally mustered up the courage to come here after my birthday... but I still wasn't called away by Brother Kong."
"It's not that your big brother doesn't want to call you, but right now you have to prioritize the powerful. Go and improve your cooking skills, and wait for Kong to come back and make him a good meal--"
Beidou, who couldn't bear to see the little girl feel lost, patted Xiangling's shoulder hard, almost knocking her unconscious but also stopping her wild thoughts.
"Yeah - that's right! I'll go to the kitchen downstairs to add some food for everyone, wait for me for a while!"
……
While the Teyvat Old Friends Meeting was in full swing, Sora had already finished compiling the development report and handed it to Himeko.
"It was handled without any problems. Whether it was first confronting and then winning over Mr. Swarovski, or bringing the three organizations together to carry out activities on the surface, in the end we were able to force Cocolia to reveal the location of the star core."
After the younger generations went underground, Lao Yang and Ji Zi could only understand what they had experienced through the noisy sounds on the public channel.
Old Yang naturally admired Kong's skills and lamented that he was still as skilled as ever. Ji Zi, on the other hand, was slightly worried about Sanyue. Based on Dan Heng's report without any exaggeration and Sanyue's report of the battle results which was almost diluted, she understood that the children who went down there had endured too much in just three days.
Originally, they hoped that Kong would take the children to gain some experience. However, if he had not helped to shoulder the responsibility, control the degree of information sharing and make arrangements throughout the process, Sanyue and Danheng would definitely let the situation escalate. Especially for the key figure Bronya, without Kong's guidance, she would not be able to lead a large army to fight against her mother with only a few words from her peers. At that time, there would be another obstacle on the road to finding the star core.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kong. If you hadn't been there, I don't think the Great Guardian would have dealt with Sanyue and the others as gently as expelling them."
Although Ji Zi was smiling, it was just a smile of approval for Sora's decision. Deep down, she was angry about the injustice that the young people on the train had suffered.
If it was just a misunderstanding, it would be fine, but Cocolia was bewitched by the star core, so she was an obstacle that the train could not avoid, an enemy that could not be escaped, even without the cover of the Iron Guards and the Earth Fire -
Lao Yang and Ji Zi were both mentally prepared for cruel things... that is, even if the people on Yalilo VI did not oppose Cocolia, they would still find a way to get rid of the Great Guardian.
"Can that be called gentle?"
Mitsuki couldn’t sense the “murderous intent” of the two adults, and was still complaining about Himeko’s “inappropriate choice of words.”
“Little Sanyue, you don’t understand how terrifying human beings can be. If Ji Zi’s orbital cannon shadow had not been observed, you might have been hunted down even if you hadn’t instigated the Iron Guard uprising.” Old Yang’s indifferent statement made Sanyue’s hair stand on end.
"...pursuit?"
"Old Yang is right. What we are doing now will undoubtedly overthrow the rule of Cocolia. For an insane tyrant, the only fate he will bestow upon his opponents is death. There is no other fate."
Although Kong had already explained in the report that Cocolia needed to be controlled, if the other party did something that seriously endangered the lives of the crew... he would never show mercy.
"Bronya is her daughter. If she is caught, there is still room for leniency. But if we are caught, we will basically have to accept internal trial and go to the guillotine."
March's face turned pale:
"I, I get it. Just don't get caught."
"That's right, so now you should go immediately--"
Kong snapped his fingers and stood up first to ease the atmosphere. "Wash up and continue to rest. Haiya and I will take care of the duty tonight and tomorrow morning. After the supply of Rivet Town is explored and the lower level starts large-scale conscription, our mission will change from ensuring the trade route to serving as instructors for the new Iron Guards. There will be opportunities for you to show your skills."
"Oh, teacher, can I be an instructor too?" Asuna immediately became excited when she heard that.
"Of course you can. Beloberg's guns are still relatively close to traditional firearms. You have an innate advantage in this regard."
Kong made this arrangement after specifically calculating each person's working hours. The more stressful the environment, the higher the probability of causing the Valkyries... ahem, the girls' mental illnesses. Dispersing everyone's pressure so that the battles are not too concentrated is an art.
Haiya now has plenty of mental energy left, and as the first person to get a passport, she can quickly return to her hometown to replenish her energy even if it runs out. Now if she is offered the chance to use it for a while, she will not refuse - of course, except for her, everyone else still has to focus on conserving energy.
"Don't you have to go back to the space station? Is it too late if you don't hurry up now?"
Before Kong was about to give some pointers to the students, the black tower doll placed in the observation car suddenly moved its head over, giving the entire train crew a fright.
This guy never plays by the rules whenever he participates in a discussion.
"Then I'll go back and do a quick shower. Xiao Sanyue, Danheng, remember to relax well—"
“This is too lacking in urgency—but it doesn’t feel bad!”
"Anyway, you can do anything as long as you can be lazy, right?"
"Of course not, Teacher Danheng. I quite like the sleeping bag on the lower level. Uh, but the fragrant and soft conductor doll and the big bed are still my favorites..."
As soon as Kong left, the five female passengers who were attending the meeting all ran away, leaving the compartment suddenly deserted.
Seeing this scene, Lao Yang was worried about Kong's waist, Ji Zi was worried about Kong's rest, only Heita hoped that Kong would not alarm his students when he returned to the station - although it seemed inevitable.
"Are you coming back tonight?"
After entering the room, Paimon hurried to take a nap. Knowing that someone from Eula's hometown might be coming, Haiya and Befa tacitly chose to leave some private space for Eula and Kong to discuss how to "deal with it".
"We may have to spend the night on the lower level. If the investigation goes well, we'll be able to come back. I guess the rescue will have arrived by then... Eula, use your bathroom. I sweated a lot yesterday."
"Well, before we go back to the station... do we need to do it?"
As she said this, Eula also took off her tights and boots, leaving only the suspenders, exposing her white back to Sora: "Maybe the chances will become fewer and fewer... Today I want to come from behind."
"...I think even if someone from Teyvat comes, they won't leave you without food."
The corner of Kong's mouth twitched, and after hesitating for a moment, he still gently placed his hand on her waist: "Besides, we don't have much time..."
"It's okay, I'll put a little more pressure on you."
But before Sora could react to Eula's joke that showed no regard for his self-esteem, his system began to sound an alarm -
[Baalzebub is forcing his way through the transmission channel, please pay attention to the surrounding clearance - warning, the transmission parameters do not conform to the calculation of the original god system, and the summoning time is greatly advanced. ]
225. Why don’t you go and dabble with some gods?
"broken!!"
When the system's warning hit Kong's head like a fatal knock, it was too late for Kong to retract his hand.