Outside Liyue Harbor, the atmosphere—once on the brink of open conflict—had grown increasingly strange after Ganyu's words.
Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, and Moon Carver exchanged glances, each half-believing and half-doubting.
The adepti feared this might be a scheme by the Liyue Qixing, yet Ganyu was not someone who would lie.
She would never stain the name of the teacher she revered and adored.
Caught between suspicion and trust, the adepti hesitated.
Seeing this, Ganyu pressed on.
"I can bring Sister Makoto to meet you. She can prove that what I said is true."
Sister Makoto?
The adepti fell silent.
They watched as Ganyu hurried away, choosing—for the moment—not to take any further action.
If what she said was true… if Luo Li had truly returned… then acting rashly would indeed be unwise.
At that point, everything could simply be handed over to him.
Seeing the adepti pause, Keqing finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
Despite her tough words, her body had been tense the entire time. She truly feared things might spiral out of control.
If a conflict broke out, the already-grieving Liyue Harbor would suffer even more.
Now, all that remained was to wait.
Deep down, she trusted that man—the one whose heart felt strangely aligned with her own—would be able to persuade the adepti.
She had no concrete reason.
But sometimes, a woman's intuition needed none.
After exchanging glances and murmuring among themselves, Cloud Retainer spoke coldly:
"Until Ganyu returns, we will not act. But if you dare deceive us together—then we will immediately breach Liyue."
Keqing snorted softly, showing no fear.
No matter what, she could not lose ground in front of them.
Unlike Ningguang, who favored diplomacy and subtlety, Keqing believed in meeting force head-on.
The waiting felt unbearably long.
Though little time passed, each moment stretched as if time itself had slowed.
At last—
The tense silence tightened once more as Ganyu returned.
The three adepti fixed their gaze upon the city wall, emotions difficult to describe.
Then, following closely behind Ganyu, a graceful, gentle woman appeared before them.
The moment he saw her, Mountain Shaper's eyes widened.
"Y-Your… Your Highness?!"
Not just him—Cloud Retainer and Moon Carver were equally shaken.
"Ba—"
Before they could finish, Raiden Makoto calmly interrupted.
"I am merely a mortal named Makoto now. There is no need to address me by that title."
The two adepti immediately lowered their heads, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.
A joke this was not.
The appearance of the First Electro Archon here meant Ganyu had spoken the truth.
Luo Li had truly returned.
In that case, their aggressive stance no longer seemed necessary.
If the sky were to fall, someone taller would hold it up.
With Luo Li back, even the death of the Geo Archon no longer left them without an anchor.
Because of this, the hostility between the two sides quickly softened.
Smiling gently, Raiden Makoto spoke again:
"It has been a long time, honored adepti. Why not come inside and share a drink with me?"
"We would not dare refuse Your—"
They quickly corrected themselves.
"—Miss Makoto's invitation."
The three adepti agreed at once, fully restraining their presence.
Seeing the confrontation dissolve before her eyes, Keqing no longer stopped the adepti as she had earlier, allowing them to enter the city and descend to Raiden Makoto's side.
Watching the once-arrogant adepti—who moments ago had threatened to suppress Liyue—now stand respectfully before this woman, Keqing's doubts deepened.
Just who were this mature, gentle woman and Luo Li?
They seemed to stand even above the adepti.
But above them… was there not only the Geo Archon?
Clearly, neither of them was Rex Lapis.
She couldn't make sense of it.
For now, she buried her questions.
There was still much work to do.
With the adepti crisis resolved, her focus had to shift elsewhere.
Once the danger had passed, Ganyu patted her chest and let out a breath.
"Thank goodness… nothing happened."
She wondered where her teacher had gone to investigate, and when he would return.
With hope in her eyes, she exchanged a glance with Keqing. The two nodded to each other.
At this moment—perhaps because Luo Li seemed to view Keqing differently—Ganyu found herself less resistant to interacting with her.
Outside Liyue, Elsewhere
Seeing the conflict fade away, Lumine and Paimon also sighed in relief.
After all, it was they who had summoned the adepti and relayed all the information—nearly causing a catastrophe.
If many had died because of it, Lumine would never forgive herself.
"Thank goodness… thank goodness they didn't fight."
Paimon patted her chest, calming her racing heart.
"Did you see that? It looked like Sister Makoto was there—she stopped everything!"
Lumine nodded.
"That's right. It was Sister Makoto. But her identity is really strange… and Mr. Luo Li too. It feels like he knows everything—he's everywhere."
Chatting casually with the Anemo Archon, commanding respect from the adepti…
The more she thought about it, the more unsettling it became.
"Well… it's a good thing anyway!" Paimon said cheerfully.
"They've always treated us well. That's what matters!"
Lumine found that reasonable and nodded.
"Next, let's meet up with that Fatui Harbinger again. He seems to have another task lined up for us."
"The Northland Bank, right?!"
Lumine narrowed her eyes slightly.
She wasn't a helpless pawn to be pushed around.
Through all these events, she was also piecing together the Fatui's true objective.
Both sides were simply using each other.
"Let's go. We'll find him."
Obtaining the Geo Archon's body through official channels was clearly difficult.
So for now, cooperation with the Fatui was still acceptable—until it wasn't.
With her resolve set, Lumine set off with Paimon toward the Northland Bank.
But to her surprise, she didn't find Tartaglia there.
Instead, she encountered someone far worse.
La Signora.
The woman who had torn Venti's Gnosis from his body right before their eyes.
The moment she saw them, the cold beauty scoffed disdainfully.
"You wasted so much of my time. Truly useless. I have no idea why he took an interest in you."
Lumine and Paimon were furious—
But when they heard the word "he", they noticed something unsettling.
Signora's tone… was strangely gentle.
It was horrifying.
This woman… actually had a soft side?
"Enough. Come with me."
Though impatient, Signora still gestured for them to follow.
Unsure of her intentions, Lumine and Paimon exchanged looks and hesitated.
"Move. Don't make me say it twice."
The cold command echoed again.
Lumine: "..."
Paimon: "..."