"Su Yuan, what exactly is going on?"
Seeing the hesitant expression on Su Yuan’s face, Aether seed confused and asked:
"Why do you look like... you don’t believe either?"
"I admit it was wrong of Paimon and to leave without saying anything back on Watatsumi Island in Inazuma, but we didn’t have a choice!"
"Dainsleif knocked us out... and when we woke up, we had already been taken out of Inazuma..."
"We wanted to break away from Dainsleif and regroup with you, but he just wouldn’t let us go..."
"We kept heading west and eventually ended up in Natlan..."
"Dain said I had to witness everything happening in Natlan—that it was part of fulfilling my mission..."
Listening to Aether speak so earnestly, Su Yuan began to feel like this really was the real Aether.
He didn’t seem to be lying. Still, Su Yuan asked:
"Natlan is so far from Liyue—how did you manage to return in such a short amount of ti?"
"And more importantly, didn’t Dainsleif refuse to let you leave? How did you get away from him and make it back from Natlan to Liyue?"
Aether replied, "The reason we made it back so quickly is simple: teleport waypoints."
"The waypoints in Natlan didn’t seem to be affected or corrupted by the eerie power..."
"As for how we escaped Dain—it wasn’t because he let us go. We took the opportunity to flee during a mont of chaos..."
"We happened to pass by a teleport waypoint, and out of nowhere, a hooded figure in black robes appeared..."
"When Dain saw that person, he charged at them like a lion spotting a rabbit—like Keqing spotting golden shrimp balls—gone in a flash, completely ignoring and Paimon..."
"And that’s when we seized the chance to use the teleport waypoint and return to Liyue."
After listening to Aether’s explanation, Su Yuan couldn’t help but wonder—who exactly was that hooded figure in black, and why would they cause Dainsleif to completely ignore Aether and imdiately give chase?
And wasn’t it just a little too convenient for that person to appear right next to a teleport waypoint?
All in all, Aether and Paimon didn’t seem suspicious... They were probably the real ones.
But then, a thought suddenly struck Su Yuan—
If he wanted to confirm whether this "Aether" really was the true Traveler, wouldn’t it be easiest to bring Shenhe here to et him?
Shenhe seed to have a special kind of intuition when it ca to the Traveler—almost like she could sense whether he was genuine or not...
"Alright then," Su Yuan looked at Aether and said,
"Since you’re so certain that you’re the real Traveler..."
"I’ll go bring Shenhe here to et you. You don’t have any objections, right?"
Su Yuan thought to himself: if this Aether was actually Lumine in disguise, she would definitely try to co up with all kinds of excuses to avoid the eting...
But Aether replied without hesitation:
"Sure! If that’ll ease your doubts, I don’t mind being tested however you like."
"It’s been a while since I last saw Shenhe anyway—it’ll be nice to greet her again."
Before long, with the help of the Millelith and the Liyue Qixing, Shenhe arrived at Bubu Pharmacy.
And the mont she saw Aether, a clear ripple of emotion passed across her usually calm and icy expression.
A faint smile appeared on her face as she greeted him:
"Traveler... long ti no see."
"Mhm. Shenhe, long ti no see," Aether replied with a smile of his own.
Everyone around witnessed this exchange—Shenhe’s reaction was completely natural and genuine.
It was clear that she recognized him as the real Aether.
Aether let out a soft sigh and spoke to the others:
"Everyone, you believe now, right? That I’m truly the Traveler, Aether?"
"So... what exactly happened during the ti I was gone that made you all treat like this?"
Su Yuan nodded and replied, "Then let give you a quick summary..."
Over the next stretch of ti, Su Yuan told Aether everything that had recently happened in Liyue.
After listening to the whole account, Aether’s brows furrowed slightly.
He wore a sowhat sorrowful expression as he spoke heavily:
"What... I need to kneel and kowtow to Mada Ping to make her recover from her eerie corruption?"
"And the reason she was corrupted in the first place... was because I accidentally destroyed the teapot she gave ?"
"Sigh... what a terrible sha..."
Su Yuan sighed as well and spoke with so regret:
"If we had known you’d return to Liyue today... Looking at the ti now, we’d still be within the three-day window Mada Ping ntioned..."
"It’s unfortunate... fate played a cruel joke on us. We had no idea you were coming back—there was no warning or ssage at all..."
"If we had known, we wouldn’t have resorted to such asures last night... sacrificing Mada Ping..."
At the ntion of Mada Ping’s sacrifice, the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
But then Su Yuan seed to rember sothing and turned to Zhongli:
"Zhongli, what happened to you last night?"
"I told you well in advance not to go to the location where Furina and Mada Ping were going to fight—to prevent Furina from accidentally harming you..."
"So why didn’t you listen? Why did you insist on going there anyway, and even show up to collect Mada Ping’s body?"
"I know you shared a deep bond with her, but you’re also soone calm and composed. How could you take such a dangerous risk?"
"Hm? Su Yuan, what are you talking about?"
Zhongli’s face showed deep confusion as he replied:
"I didn’t go anywhere last night... let alone et with you."
At this mont, Su Yuan was completely bewildered.
If Zhongli was telling the truth, then... who exactly was the "Zhongli" who appeared before him last night?
Could it have been soone in disguise?
But the problem was—who had the ability to disguise themselves as Zhongli so flawlessly, and why were they so well-inford about everything, to the point that Su Yuan didn’t suspect a thing?
Even more importantly—what was the purpose of taking away Mada Ping’s remains?
"Su Yuan, I just had a thought..."
At that mont, Baizhu suddenly spoke up:
"I think the ’Zhongli’ you t last night might’ve actually been Yelan in disguise..."
"Yelan already has multiple identities and is highly skilled at disguises. Given the situation last night, you probably didn’t have ti to observe too carefully..."
"But there’s sothing I still don’t get—if it really was Yelan, what would she want with Mada Ping’s body?"
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