"Bang!"
"Clang."
Two bodies, one large and one small, were thrown onto the ground. One was engulfed in crimson flames, while the other was mostly exposed mechanical parts, looking eerily strange.
"Are all you Fatui Harbingers not human?" Ember asked Childe, turning his head to look at the Lady and Balladeer lying on the ground.
"Uh…" Childe scratched his head. He had originally wanted to say "No!" very decisively, but upon closer thought, it seemed most of the Harbingers truly weren't human.
This caused Childe to fall into silence. After a long silence, Childe offered a pale defense: "At least I'm still a pure human."
This made Shikanoin Heizou, who was nearby, perk up his ears. Most of the Harbingers aren't human? This was information not found in books.
So, he ignored his blistered hands and quickly wrote it down. As for how Shikanoin Heizou's hands got blistered, it could only be said that the Lady's body temperature was incredibly high; just touching her was enough to burn him.
"What's the point of discussing this? Speak, what do you want to do? This time… I… I don't want to admit defeat!"
As Childe spoke, he knelt on the ground. To be trapped by Ember immediately upon arriving in Inazuma, he wished he were dreaming. At the very least, he should have just run back to Snezhnaya.
But unfortunately, he had followed the Lady and Balladeer to Inazuma.
Childe looked up at the sky, hands raised above his head, almost in tears.
"Xiao Lu, show the evidence!"
"No problem!"
At Ember's command, Shikanoin Heizou pulled out a large pile of documents he had "acquired" from the Evil Eye Factory.
"This is your Fatui's project proposal for the Evil Eye Factory…"
"This is your assessment of the Delusion's effects…"
"These are your accounts of extortion…"
…One piece of evidence after another was presented by Shikanoin Heizou. This included not only firsthand evidence but also evidence derived from Shikanoin Heizou's own deductions.
It could be said that both human testimony and physical evidence were present, making it impossible to deny.
"Now do you know why I intercepted you?" Ember said, standing beside Childe and looking down at him.
Childe looked at the large expanse of pristine white documents on the ground. Though white, the events recorded within were utterly vile.
After a while, Childe simply gave up the idea of defending himself. He collapsed onto the ground, covering his ears with his hands, squirming like a loach.
"Ah, ah, ah! Don't tell me, tell them! My brain isn't that good, and I only handle rough work like debt collection. Just tell me what you want me to do!"
As Childe squirmed, he pointed at the Lady and Balladeer lying motionless beside him.
Compared to his other colleagues, his brain had always been less sharp, which was why he only handled rough work like collecting debts for the Northland Bank.
Even when going to Liyue to seize the Geo Archon's Gnosis, he was merely a smokescreen for the Lady. His reputation within the Harbingers was self-evident.
In fact, besides "Childe," Tartaglia also had another title: "Captain."
Not the powerful "Captain" who was the Fatui's chief, but the captain of the debt collectors. Because he was present at every debt collection and was so capable, the debtors affectionately called him "Captain."
Thinking of this, Childe twisted even more violently. He hadn't realized it before, but now that he thought about it, he was just a miserable wage slave in the Fatui, wasn't he?
"Alright, alright, get up!" Ember pulled Childe to his feet. "Now is your chance to make amends. Take all these people away!"
Ember pointed at the unconscious Fatui on the ground, unceremoniously ordering Childe around.
"Where to?" Childe asked, his face ashen, with one Fatui member tucked under each arm.
"Inside, there's a platform I set up." Ember and Shikanoin Heizou weren't idle either. They hoisted the Fatui from the ground and ran off… "Ugh… where am I?" The Lady opened her eyes. She remembered that at the last moment before she fainted, a searing heat had pierced her back, causing her, the Witch of Burning, to pass out.
"Oh, your strength isn't up to par. The other one woke up before you." Ember looked down at the Lady, pointing at the rigidly standing Childe and Balladeer behind him.
It had to be said, the Fatui's training was indeed thorough. With Ember's command, "Snezhnaya lads, attention!", Childe and Balladeer stood straighter than pine trees.
This made the Lady immediately abandon any thoughts of escaping. If her two colleagues were like this, what was the point of her struggling? She wasn't any stronger than Childe and Balladeer.
"Stand in front, I have something to say." After giving a casual instruction, Ember immediately ran towards the wooden platform not far away.
However, this time he didn't go directly up but stood to one side of the platform.
Waving his hand to dismiss the nearby people, Ember turned to face the vast crowd, then raised his hand and punched the wooden platform.
"Boom!"
Wood chips flew, dirt splattered, and a powerful shockwave swept across the surroundings, causing many weaker individuals to fall to the ground.
When everything settled, what appeared before everyone was a massive trench stretching as far as the eye could see.
"At first, I tried to talk nicely, but you wouldn't listen. So now I don't want to be nice anymore."
"I announce that, from now on, you are renamed the 'Fatui Post-War Reconstruction Brigade'!"
"Let these three be your leaders. Who agrees? Who objects!"
Ember pointed at Childe and the others at the very front, shouting loudly.
"Gulp…"
Aside from the sounds of swallowing and gasping, no other sounds were heard.
"Very good, no objections. Then I'll assume everyone agrees!"
Ember nodded with satisfaction when he saw no one objected. Indeed, being tough was easier; he wasn't good at being gentle.
"But the war isn't over yet?" Someone below raised a question.
Ember immediately slapped a thick stack of papers at him. "Isn't this all your doing?"
The person immediately fell silent. He must have been "convinced" by such a thick pile of evidence.
After all, the evidence weighed over ten catties, which was not light.
"No, as long as the Raiden Shogun doesn't get involved, even without us, Watatsumi Island wouldn't fail."
Balladeer said a few words, refuting Ember's statement.
Watatsumi Island had now accepted a large number of Vision wielders who had fled, and its strength was no longer what it once was.
Even without the Fatui's assistance, with the advantage of terrain, the Shogunate Army wouldn't be able to conquer Watatsumi Island anytime soon.
"Well, at least not so many messes would have happened!" Ember expressed that he didn't want to debate with Balladeer. The Fatui's involvement in Inazuma's civil war was undeniable.
Balladeer said nothing more upon hearing this, mainly because he was afraid that if he said more, Ember would beat him severely.
"Alright then, what do we do now?" Childe spread his hands, looking utterly resigned.
Fatui Post-War Reconstruction Brigade? That sounded like a terrible job.
"Do what?" Ember stroked his chin, lost in thought. To be honest, he only wanted the Fatui to clean up the mess they had created. As for what exactly they should do, he hadn't really thought about it.
As Ember pondered, he looked around. He saw the withered plants nearby and had a sudden inspiration.
"Since the war won't end anytime soon, you'll start by transporting food to the civilians!"
"Once they've eaten their fill, then you can do other things!"
Ember clapped his hands, immediately feeling that having the Fatui handle this was perfect.
The Fatui had outposts all over Inazuma and were not short on money. If they could genuinely channel their energy from doing bad deeds into transporting food, it would definitely improve the current livelihood of Inazuma's people.
"Go, go, go, hurry and talk to the leader of Watatsumi Island! I'm a genius!"
As soon as the thought struck him, Ember was eager to go and talk to Watatsumi Island's ruler.
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