Dottore's view was momentarily obscured by the swaying paper doors of the theater.
The people of Sumeru did not know how resourceful and cunning the Fatui Harbingers were. They simply felt that with their God present, there was nothing left to fear.
Thus, waves of verbal abuse erupted from the crowd.
"Azar is a sinner sentenced to death by the Lord Dendro Archon! What right do you have to take him away?!"
"Exactly! What's so special about a Fatui Harbinger? Do you know where you are?!"
"You are scorning the majesty of the current Lord Dendro Archon by taking her key prisoner! Do you have no respect for her at all?!"
"This is Sumeru! Get out of your territory!"
"Fatui, get out of here! If the Lord Dendro Archon gets angry, you won't make it back!"
...
Amidst the crowd, the floating emergency food placed her hands on her hips, indignant.
"This Harbinger is too much! Did he not see how powerful the Dendro Archon was just now?!"
"In Inazuma, [The Fair Lady] was cut down in one strike by the Raiden Shogun!"
"Traveler, let's go teach him a lesson! We have the Dendro Archon to back us up anyway!"
Lumine awkwardly held Paimon back. "Wait a minute. We can't proactively go and cause trouble!"
She worried that the Dendro Archon might not want to recall those memories, and if she ran out and attracted attention, it might only annoy the Archon.
In fact, just as Lumine thought, Nahida was desperately trying to think of a way to avoid this conflict.
The [Heart of God] she had just regained was currently in a weakened state. Attempting to use it directly would likely be a struggle; she didn't know how to mobilize such vast power yet, and erosion was their greatest concern.
However, the reality was that the Fatui Harbinger was incredibly powerful. He was not someone she could rival in her current state.
This outcome was truly terrible!
The people, who had been awakened with such difficulty, were guided only by momentum. If she were to force Dottore to leave now... once Azar proclaimed the name of the False God at the Grand Ceremony, the prestige she had built up would vanish!
Her authority might even plummet!
"A mere Fatui Harbinger taking a prisoner right in front of the Dendro Archon's temple, and yet the Dendro Archon is helpless? Such a god is too cowardly!"
If the people started thinking like that, she would completely lose their hearts!
But the problem was, keeping Dottore there by force was also impossible.
With the power of the General Mahamatra Cyno and the Scribe Alhaitham lurking in the crowd, they were absolutely no match for a Fatui Harbinger!
The situation was like riding a tiger—impossible to get off.
The worst part was that when she and Ye Xi had predicted today's outbreak, they hadn't anticipated that a Fatui Harbinger would personally come to retrieve the prisoner. Nor had they expected the person who came to be so powerful.
"Heh, heh, heh."
Dottore let out a few cold, mocking chuckles and spoke, "Since the God of Wisdom remains silent, I shall take them with me."
As soon as these words came out, the crowd went into an uproar.
"Presumptuous! Fatui, don't you dare run wild here!"
"Lord Dendro Archon! You must make this Harbinger pay the heaviest price!"
"Kill him! He must not leave Sumeru City alive!"
"Oh God, bring down your punishment!"
Looking at the indignant crowd, Nahida clenched her small fists. A thought formed in her mind.
That was to use "protecting the safety of the people of the Grand Bazaar" as a reason to let the other party leave.
Even so, under such fury, this reason would still cause public opinion to hit rock bottom.
There was no helping it. If Dottore had brought many Fatui soldiers, establishing the condition of "not harming the public" would have been acceptable.
But right now, Dottore had come alone, and he didn't appear to have brought a large army.
Letting him go like this would definitely cause the believers to lose all confidence! A massive disappointment!
Seeing Nahida's dilemma on the stage, a trace of a smile curled up the corner of Dottore's mouth.
This was, of course, his scheme.
Right here and now, within the Grand Bazaar, there were many of his subordinates.
It was all to provoke the Dendro Archon into acting, causing her to lose the people's hearts, after which he would put the entire city to sleep.
This was also to ensure that when Nahida used the [Heart of God], he could use psychological suggestion through her to replace the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's position in people's minds.
Thus, he used this tactic to lure the enemy, intending to wear Nahida down in a political vortex.
A god who lost faith would lose power. He wanted to verify this theory.
It was a new experiment.
Nahida's small body trembled, her tightly furrowed brows revealing her difficult choice.
She had no bargaining chips in her hand. In the face of absolute power, wisdom was futile.
"It seems that hoping for the wisdom of that god... there is still a very long way to go."
Just as Dottore was about to make his arrogant declaration...
Suddenly, a mutation occurred!
Everyone watched as several Fatui soldiers hiding in the crowd exploded like smashed watermelons. Pop! They burst apart, splattering Dottore's entire body with blood!
This sudden scene left everyone frozen in place.
"Uh... What happened?!"
"What, what is going on!"
"Who killed that person... He's dead?!"
"Ahhh—! So much blood! Gag..."
"But how did he die!? I didn't even see a shadow!"
"Right, what kind of attack was that! None of us saw anything!"
"Could it be the power of the Lord Dendro Archon!"
"How is that possible? The Lord Dendro Archon looks so gentle!"
"My God! This is too terrifying!"
...
For a moment, the entire Grand Bazaar descended into chaotic noise.
Even the Great Sage and Sage Khawaja stared wide-eyed, scared out of their wits.
Dottore was also shocked internally.
He had absolutely no idea what had happened!
The most terrifying part was that he hadn't sensed the source of this power at all!
Nor did he detect anyone revealing their form the moment his accomplices died, and he felt no gaze lingering on him.
Every trace of it seemed non-existent!
"Who is it?"
At this moment, no matter how calm Dottore tried to be, he couldn't suppress his panic.
He had many segments, but he couldn't afford to lose one here.
However, each segment was an individual with its own desires and selfish thoughts.
Speaking for himself, he was afraid of death.
He knew very well that this method could absolutely not belong to the Lesser Lord Kusanali.
"Who is it?!"
Hearing Dottore's fierce roar, the entire venue fell silent again.
The ordinary people thought it was the work of the Dendro Archon.
But the two scholars on site, as well as the Corps of Thirty and Cyno, knew very well.
This was definitely not the Dendro Archon's method.
However, within a thirty-meter radius, aside from Dottore and Khawaja, the ground had cleared out.
"Show yourself before me immediately!"
"Otherwise..."
Dottore waved his hand, controlling a massive mecha to fly into mid-air, aiming it at the heads of dozens of ordinary people!
They had been lurking around the Grand Bazaar all along.
The companions who had just died had been exposed so quickly they didn't even have time to react!
Seeing so many Fatui suddenly appear, the scene instantly fell into panic and chaos.
"There are actually so many of them! Does Snezhnaya want to massacre us all?!"
"So dangerous, shouldn't we slip away while it's chaotic?!"
"Don't be afraid, the Lord Dendro Archon is here!"
"Does the Fatui Harbinger intend to use force against the Lord Dendro Archon here and forcibly take the prisoner?!"
...
The deathly silence at the scene had people holding their breath, their eyes fixed on the space above.
Dottore had no time to pay attention to the fallen Fatui. Under his beak mask, his brows were knotted together.
"Kill a few rats. Force him to show himself."
"Yes!"
Hearing Dottore's order, the fully armed Fatui locked their gazes onto the crowd.
Suddenly, the silent scene erupted again.
Without warning, without alarm!
Dottore subconsciously took half a step back, his heart filled with shock once more.
He wanted to see clearly what exactly was happening.
Who on earth was executing his subordinates and the commanding officer?
But he saw nothing!
Who was the opponent? What weapons were they using? He didn't perceive any of it!
"Protect these scholars! Their brains are still useful!"
Upon hearing this, the remaining Fatui immediately grabbed the panic-stricken Scholar Khawaja and retreated.
However, the only response they received was the continuous splatter of blood!
Fatui soldiers kept falling beside the scholars.
In an instant, including Khawaja, the other scholars all fainted.
Everyone surrounding the Fatui became corpses lying on the ground!
Silence.
A deathly silence filled the venue.
This was not an execution ground. Even if they had committed grave crimes as Azar's accomplices, a day should have been selected for their processing.
But amidst the shock, they were all exiting the stage in this manner.
Too bloody, too violent!
So much so that the brain couldn't react in time to feel the satisfaction of punishment.
Instead, the heart felt panic, even terror.
Who exactly was this person, to be so ruthless!
Dottore's face was also incredibly gloomy.
His purpose in coming here was naturally to humiliate them and further complete the [God-Making Mass Production Plan].
Now, all the accompanying Fatui had been killed!
Trying to replicate the God-Making Plan again would be troublesome!
This made him extremely unhappy deep down!
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from the main entrance of the theater.
Click-clack—
Click-clack—
Shoes struck the wooden floor, making a crisp sound.
For a moment, everyone looked towards the sound.
The footsteps gradually approached.
Finally, a figure slowly appeared in the direction of the theater's main entrance.
"It really is you, Khaenri'ahn."
Dottore snorted coldly. Although he had long known of Ye Xi's existence, he hadn't expected him to be this tough.
He couldn't see through what method Ye Xi had used when he took out Azar.
Hearing Dottore's voice, the people of Sumeru exclaimed in succession.
"What? He is that Khaenri'ahn?!"
"Master Ye Xi? It's him!"
"Didn't they say Master Ye Xi was a piece of trash? How can he be so handsome! Ah—if I had known earlier, I would have proposed marriage with a commission to that blonde girl!"
"No wonder everyone who marries Master Ye Xi says it's good. If I could too, I'd be willing even without Mora!"
In the crowd, quite a few girls started swooning.
Lumine hurriedly pulled Paimon back and said, "Traveler, wait until this is over, then we can go ask about your brother's whereabouts."
"By the way, that weird and terrifying thing just now... could he have done it?"
"He's not a werewolf, is he!"
Lumine shook her head upon hearing this. She didn't know the answer to Paimon's question either.
Ye Xi had now become the focal point of the entire venue.
The people standing there held their breath in anticipation. Ye Xi paid them no mind, looking instead at Dottore.
"You're finally willing to show yourself, Doctor."
As soon as these words came out, a bad premonition flashed through Dottore's heart.
Wait, this sentence gave him the feeling that Ye Xi had long anticipated he would come!
Could this be a layout prepared in advance?
How was that possible?
He hadn't been to Sumeru many times, and he had always interfaced with Azar and his group.
Reasonably speaking, Ye Xi shouldn't even know of his existence.
How could he calculate his appearance and deliberately set a trap?
Suddenly, he thought of the two Fatui agents he lost contact with a while ago.
That night, two Fatui went to the Akademiya to retrieve the God-Making data, but their whereabouts became unknown.
He assumed those two Fatui had met with an accident, likely the work of other factions in the Akademiya, such as the Scribe.
If they had been caught by the opponent and tortured to extract information about him, then all of this would make sense!
However, even so, this hidden danger ended here.
That meant the current layout had been designed from the start to hunt him, to lure him out.
And while lurking in the dark, he couldn't escape either!
Ye Xi did not answer this meaningless topic but started counting on his own: "Dottore, you bear two counts of guilt."
"First, as a subject, you blasphemed the divine body of a god, using her for experiments, injecting god residue into her body, causing the resentful spirits of demon gods to possess her."
"As her master, I want to seek justice for Collei."
"Pfft~~"
Dottore laughed loudly upon hearing this, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Heh, so that's what you were talking about."
"Indeed."
"I remember that was a long time ago. I was still a student studying in Sumeru back then, recruiting a batch of children who had lost their families as experimental subjects."
"However, regarding those you mentioned... I don't know which number subject that was."
Hearing these words, the crowd instantly erupted in indignation.
Especially the scholars of the Akademiya, the Sage of the School of Biogenesis, Nafis, and his students.
"Absurd! Using human bodies as experimental subjects!"
"This is simply a defilement and insult to life! You have insulted the very concept of life—!"
"Fatui Harbinger, your hands are stained with sin. You must pay a painful price!"
For the scholars present, biology and medicine were sacred. All research had to be based on the keynote of 'respecting life'!
Under no circumstances was conducting experiments on living humans forgivable!
Especially when it involved betraying the trust of their families!
What angered them the most was Dottore's extremely contemptuous attitude!
Meanwhile, in the crowd, those girls couldn't take their eyes off Ye Xi, whispering among themselves.
"Master Ye Xi is so domineering, I like him so much!"
"Is he doing this to vent anger for his woman?!"
"Even though this happened many years ago, he specifically brought it up. I'm so envious of that girl named Collei!"
"Ah~ I can't take it, my heart is a mess! I want a man like that too!"
...
Dottore smiled and said faintly, "I am very curious about the second count of guilt you mentioned. Let's hear it."
Ye Xi spoke, "Second, the Lesser Lord Kusanali requested me to solve the trouble you created and cut off the black hand you extended towards Sumeru."
Instantly, there was an uproar, and the crowd boiled over again.
"The Lord Dendro Archon asked Master Ye Xi to help her solve the trouble?!"
"Did I hear that right! Just now when I heard about Collei... so it was Master Ye Xi who stepped forward to save the Lord Dendro Archon!"
"No wonder! So Master Ye Xi has been secretly joining forces with the Dendro Archon all along!"
"Even the Lord Dendro Archon has to rely on Master Ye Xi to solve difficulties! Just how strong and big is Master Ye Xi?!"
"So, the weirdness with Azar and the others dying just now was Master Ye Xi's doing, right?! That's too terrifying!"
...
Ye Xi remained silent, while Dottore smiled calmly.
He didn't care at all that Ye Xi was standing there.
For him, the purpose of this trip had already failed.
He hadn't taken away the experimental subjects or the people, and he had lost the tools for the God-Making Mass Production Plan.
However, the two Hearts of God were still in his hands. The conditions to continue constructing a god were all there.
At worst, he would manufacture some Void Terminals and use the Hive Mind of Wisdom to carry out the God-Making Mass Production Plan.
As for the procedures, there was plenty of time to research slowly.
Next, he just needed to leave here.
And no matter how strong Ye Xi was, it was impossible for him to keep him here.
Thinking of this, Dottore said with a playful expression:
"So, do you intend to judge me based on these two counts of guilt? Welcome, Man of Justice."
________________________________________
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